Similarities Between Greek And Iroquois Creation Stories

Civilizations throughout time have sought to explain how humans and the earth came into existence. Although all creation stories are similar, there are glaring differences as is the case between the Greek and Iroquois creation stories. The differences begin with the core spiritual belief system. The Greeks believed in multiple Gods and Goddesses contrasting with the Iroquois who believe in the Sky Woman and that everything from plants to animals has a spirit.

The beginnings of the stories are somewhat similar in that there was basically nothing before the main entity or creator came into being. According to the Iroquois Creation Story, “the sky women was falling from the sky when she landed on the back of the turtle but became pregnant with the twin brothers. The animals that lived in the

In the Iroquois story, the Sky Woman gave birth to twin boys one was the good mind the other the bad mind. The good mind created the good things in the world that were useful to man, from the fish in the rivers to edible plants. The bad mind wanted to undo all the good that his brother created so he added things such as bones in fish and thorns to bushes that would make it difficult for humans. In the Greek story, Gaia and Uranus soon had children and grandchildren including Zeus. Zeus sent his sons Prometheus and Epimetheus to the earth to create man and animals. Zeus gave his sons gifts to give to their creations. Epimetheus gave all the gifts to the animals and left nothing for Prometheus to give to man. Again, both stories are similar in that both sets of boys created man and the other beings on it. They differ in a couple of aspects, in the Iroquois story one brother was good and while the other was basically evil and in the Greek story not only were the boys in charge of creating man and animals but they were to give a special gift to each creation. (Greek