David Baxter

Professor M Coy
Classical Mythology
February 6, 2014
The ancient Greeks created myths between 1600 and 1100 BC. These myths
spread across the ancient world to the island of Crete, Delphi and Egypt. These various
cultures then adapted the myths to better fit their ways of life; most apparently, changing
names of gods. This implies a great universality of the Greeks original myths. That is,
these other people applied the stories and their meanings to the already existing cultures
and changed the names only to facilitate an easier method of retelling the tales. Greek
myths state that Gaea, the Earth, mated with Uranus, the sky, and consequently birthed
the titans from the water. Egyptian myths recount the tale as the sea, Nu, creating the first
set of eight gods, known as the Ogdoad, through parthenogenesis.
In a Greek myth, Demeter came across a kings home while on a journey to find
her daughter, Persephone. She served as a nurse to the kings two sons. She so loved one
son, Demophon, to the extent she wished to transform him to an immortal like the gods.
She covered the boy in ambrosia oil and held him over a fire, burning away his mortal
flesh. During this ceremony one night Demophons mother, Metanira, witnessed her son
dangling over a burning fire and screamed. She would not allow Demeter to continue
with the process. The ancient Egyptians tell a very similar story of Isis, wife of Osiris.
After Osiris brother, Set, tricks and kills him, his body becomed trapped in a log that
releases an enticing fragrance. A king smells this fragrance and turns the tree into a
column and places it in his palace. Isis longs for her late husbands company, so she

becomes a nanny to the king. She, like Demeter, loves the kings boy so much that she
dips the boy in fire to turn him immortal. His mother interrupts the ceremony and Isis
reveals herself as a goddess. This illustrates the universality of myth in relation to
location.
Not only are myths universal in location, but also universal in time. Joseph
Campbell recounts the Egyptian tale of Isis in his video Power of Myth. After the king
returns the column containing the body of her dead husband, she set his body afloat in the
Nile River. She immaculately conceived a son, Horace. Campbell states that she stands at
the first model of the Madonna. Three thousand years later, the Christian faith begins to
spread the tales of Jesus Christ and his immaculate conception from Mary. This story
connects very closely with Isis birth of Horace. Both Horace and Jesus must endure pain
in order to claim the throne, either of his father in the tale of Horace, or set by his father,
in the tale of Christ.
As we can see, myths act as sort of a multi-tool across land and time, allowing
application of itself within many cultures, regions, and purposes. As human beings, we
enjoy knowing from where things come and why certain things happen. Because of this,
perhaps, myths have withstood the test of time.