2. Mythology pp. 96-104
3. Write a comment on this post in which you think about the two readings, one from Genesis, one about Cupid and Psyche. The cultures that created each were obviously very different. In what ways? Or you may make an observation about either reading and do some "column two" thinking about that observation.
In chapter 19 of the book of genesis, Lot dwells in a cave with his two daughters, and the daughters resolve to get their father drunk and sleep with him, as to impregnate themselves. Because the daughters believe that they will never have a husband, they are so determined to have children that they figure their only chance of bearing a child is through their own father. Perhaps in this culture, people are so incredibly driven to have children because they want and need to continue their religion, which, at the time,has yet to become widespread, so they need to have as many descendants as possible to pass their religion and culture on through, and those descendants must have children and pass on religion through them, and so on.
ReplyDeleteTonight i found both readings very different but both very interesting. I have chosen to make an observation about the passage in Genesis. I thought that the story of Lot and his daughters was very disturbing because Lot's daughters lay with him when he was drunk, which in my oppinion was completely disgusting. On another note, i found chapter 22 extremely touching. God gives Abraham a test that he must sacrifice his one and only son and Abraham doesnt even think twice about disobeying God! "He bound his son Isaac and laid him on the altar, on top of the wood. Then he reached out his hand and took the knife to slay his son. But the angel of the Lord called out to him from heaven," This shows the true relationship between God and Abraham and that he would do absoloutely anything for God because of the loving relationship that they shared. I think that this is the purest form of love and that everyone can learn from this story.
ReplyDelete-Erin Moody
I agree with Erin that I didn't find anything that was similar between the reading from the Book of Genesis and The Mythology Book. But just like she said I thought that it was a scary at first but then touching story in chapter 22. The scary part about the whole thing was when Abraham was about to kill his son because God told him, but the touching part about the entire thing was that God only told him as a test. He just wanted to see if he would really do it and if he was afraid of him. And I completely agree with Erin when she says that it shows a true relationship between God and Abraham, because now that God can trust Abraham that he will listen to him and do anything for him, that, in a way, brings them closer together.
ReplyDeleteI didn't find any parallels between Book of Genesis & Mythology. It's a shock how God tells Abraham that he shall surrender his own son. The fact that he went ahead and killed him was irregular. Abraham is willing to do anything for God, and it is a question to how he can be that hooked on to obeying God. The interesting part of it is how it was just a test to see how strong/weak Abraham really was. The connection between God and Abraham is a genuine one, and God can fully trust him. Abraham wants to do only the best for him, and believes in going by God's wishes.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. (not trying to be mean) I think that one connection between the chapters that we had to read was that in both of the books, mortals had to listen to God. God(s) was very powerful in both of the passages. I really enjoyed reading chapters 19 through 22 in the book of Genesis because the story was very interesting. Even though in Chapters 19 and 20, the stories were kind of weird, they were still very interesting to me.
ReplyDeleteIn the mythology book, I thought that the story of how Venus was jealous of Psyche's beauty. Venus used Cupid to smite Psyche by sending Cupid to make her fall in love with the ugliest creature in the land, but instead, Cupid ends up falling in love with her beauty. It's almost comical how Venus intended to harm Psyche's status by making her fall in love with something ugly, but instead, she falls in love with Venus' son, meaning that Venus' plan ultimately backfires. In the Book of Genesis, chapter nineteen displayed a very socially taboo issue, which is incest. Lot's daughters lie (sleep with) him so that they can bare him male children due to the fact that they have no other men to reproduce with. I think it's also very interesting that Lot brought wine with him to the cave.
ReplyDeleteAlthough this does not apply to comparing differences between the Bible and Mythology, it does compare different aspects of different stories. In the story of Cupid and Psyche we can find many different references (or influences) to European folk tales. The most obvious being Cinderella and Rapunzel. When Cupid runs away, leaving Psyche with no idea where he went, it is echoed in Cinderella, when Cinderella runs away from the Prince, except with reverse gender roles. Another blatant reference is when Psyche must work for Venus in order to see Cupid. The work she must do is sorting seeds, and when the ants see her they go to help her. Maybe I'm wrong maybe I'm right, but I think that the Ancient Greek stories had great influence on our own.
ReplyDeleteMy blog is about the Mythology story. What I noticed was that once one finds true love, it doesn't matter what they look like on the outside, and no one can break them apart. For example, Phsyche falls in love with her new "husband", but she is forbidden to look at him. In the story she even says that though she isn't allowed to see him, she knows she loves him anyways. And when Venus tries to make Physche less beautiful and tries to break up the love, her plans fail because the loving bond is so strong it overcomes them. I think this is even true in real life. If someone finds true love, there is not much that can change that.
ReplyDeleteTonight I have decided to write about the Book of Genesis. In tonight's reading I found it interesting how Lot's two daughters manipulated their father using the power of alcohol, wine to be exact. They both wanted to conceive a child so badly that they went to extremes to get the "job" done. The two children did this routine for two nights while stranded in a cave. Gave their father wine, got him drunk, and lay with him to conceive children. At the end both of them got what they wanted, children. They both bared one boy each. The eldest daughter named her son, Moab, and the youngest daughter named her son, Benammi.
ReplyDeleteI agree with Julian in where I feel that people would do such desperate things to keep religion going and to keep god pleased, even though sleeping with you're father wasn't really pleasing god it was keeping the religion in the family going. This is also shown where Abraham has to give his son to god and so to please and obey god Abraham kills his own son.
ReplyDeleteAfter reading both the Bible and the book of Mythology, I found major differences. In Mythology, love and beauty plays a big role and are both very important to the plot of the story. For example, if attractiveness were not an aspect in this chapter, Venus would have no one to be jealous of. There was also the devastatingly pure love that follows up to the marriage of Cupid and Psyche. These show both importance of lovely and delicate things in the Greek culture and the significance of caring for one another. On the other hand, the Bible basically never recognizes love and essentially completely ignores it, and not just the adoration between a man and a woman, but the trust and compassion between parent and child. Like when God told Abraham to kill his own son. Not only does the bible never mention love, but also there seems to be a lack of social courtesy and common societal skills. For example, on page 17 when the two daughters of Lot decide to get them selves pregnant by sleeping with their father. This is not just a creepy statement, but it shows that lack of importance there is between love and the production of offspring. I think that this can tell a lot about a societies culture, traditions and values.
ReplyDeleteI thought that there was a contrast between the culture in genesis and the culture in the mythology story of Cupid and Psyche and it was about the varying interpretations of marriage. In genesis marriage seems to be less about love and desire and more about "your offspring" (your children). In genesis the pursuit of children even goes so far as to become disturbing. The fact that Lots daughters would be so desperate to have children that they get their own father drunk and sleep with him shows something about the culture they were living in. Much was focused on the genealogy you left behind and the nation that came from you or your sons. Also on a personal level one could maybe feel worthless if they left behind no offspring. This is not to say that love did not exist but rather that it seemed not to be the most important thing.
ReplyDeleteIn mythology marriage (at least for Psyche and Cupid) was about love, desire and emotion. Psyche was desperate to have a romantic connection not to have children.
I know that this idea has already been shown but I still thought it was interesting how human-like (and not in a good way in this case) the gods and goddesses were depicted as being. Venus so easily lets jealously (an extremely human quality) get the best of her and puts her own vanity before the well being her own son and Psyche.
-Alana
I have read
ReplyDeleteBoth Greek Mythology and the Bible tell of moral stories, but their types are different. Greek Mythology tells its stories in points of interests of beauty, strength, love of the people and gods, whereas the Bible illustrates its morals based on the personal connection with God. While the morals (don’t sin, obey the gods, be faultless) are quite similar, their expression of telling it is very different. The Greeks value the aesthetic characteristics of a person or god, but the Hebrews value the relationship with God. I wonder if these values were influenced by their contexts? If so, how different were their contexts to lead to these resolutions?
ReplyDeleteWhen I read chapter 19 of genesis, I was a little confused because I didn't know if the actions Abrahams daughters meant well being. It was wrong to intoxicate their father and basically "hypnotize" him so that they could sleep with him. But by the end of the chapter it seemed that they did it in hopes of bearing children. Which I know is very important to these people because they have so much trust and faith in their religion. In order to spread your religion abroad you need a higher population of people to carry on the tradition and beliefs. It is proof that religion is was the priority back then because in chapter 22, Abraham willingly sadrifices his only son, Isaac, as a burnt sacrifice.
ReplyDeleteWhen I read mythology chapter 5, I immediately picked up on a problem that could arrise with a polytheistic religion; Even though it is considered sin, Gods can envy each other. Because Psyche was more appealing than Venus, she became the center of attention and left Venus behind. However things are turned around when Psyche completes the tasks Venus asked her to do and she becomes imortal.
In these two chapters from Mythology and the Bible, there werent many similarities however there is one distinct difference. In the Bible, most of the story revolves around Mans comunication with the Gods, and in Greek Mythology, most of the story is about comunication amongst the Gods and heroes.
I posted a comment on the other blog, but here it is again:
ReplyDeleteThese stories in Genesis almost don't relate because one will be about Abraham and Sarah setteling in the land, and another is about Abraham sacraficing his son. However, they are related because of Abraham's faith and dependance on the Lord. The last short story (chapter 22) talks about how Abraham was willing to sacrafice the only son he had with his wife Sarah because God wanted him to. In the end, he was blessed because he listened to God, but to give something that you love so much shows true appreciation, faith, and love in something. The story about how Sarah and Abraham told people they were sister and brother was somewhat confusing because in one sense. they lied by leaving out a large part of the truth, being that they were married. However, each sstory in Genesis has moral and meaning behind it, and this one seems like it would mean being faithful and not letting yourself be blind to the truth.
In mythology, the story of the beautiful young girl and the monster really had depth in the way it was told. She went from being the favorited sister to the lonely admirer, and then to a beloved wife of a monster no one else would love. I almost wonder if because she was so sad and lonely after no one would ever love her, that what she is describing as sweet and peaceful really wouldn't seem that way to people today. However, I interpereted the story to mean that love is blind. Blind to both the cruelty and lies, and also on the surface and if you love something, you love it. No matter how it looks or others describe it. You can't help it. Love is love.
-Maddie Adams
I have read.
ReplyDeleteI did read these last night but I forgot to say "I have read" and when I finally did remember it was about 11:45 and we had a fire drill and by the time we were back inside it was past 12 and the internet was off.
Sorry!
Alana