Papers....

I don't have anything to post that's why I decided to put here my analysis paper, poems and some other stuffs that I've passed as a requirement on my subjects....

Comparative Analysis of Bible and Metamorphoses by Ovid




“Who created man, the world and everything surrounds us? How we were created? Is God really true?”


These are the basic yet important questions about our existence. Many folklores, myths and different fables passed from generation to generation and tried to describe and explain the history of the world. Two of those prominent masterpieces are the Bible particularly the first book which is Genesis and the narrative poems in fifteen books by Ovid entitled Metamorphoses. Those two are known to be influential literary pieces in which it transcends time and culture. It touches each and everyone’s life. Like me for example, I am raised with Christian beliefs and strongly consider and respect the seven days creation by God and Adam and Eve story. But when I started to be exposed to various texts in school particularly classical literature of Greece and Romans, I somehow wonder for truth. I am curious about supernatural powers of Gods and Goddesses which made up the world and universe in these books. This paper will not intend to find whether which belief is true or not but rather this will just analyze the similarities and differences of Metamorphoses stories compare to the Bible. As we all know, basically they differ in formats since Metamorphoses was in a verse form while the bible was simply in a narrative prose but we can’t deny the fact that these two are canons and represent every written arts thus holding their own style and respect in the literary world.


Book 1: The Creation


The story of universe and mankind’s creation in Metamorphoses has lots of resemblance and variations compare in the first book of the bible which is Genesis. In Metamorphoses, before land, sea and sky existed in the whole world, it was said that the earth is an undivided mass, naught but a lifeless bulk with warring weeds. This is also the same on the bible accounts in which in the beginning all of the elements of the universe were at odds with one another until a God came to create everything. Both accounts conceded that universe is in total darkness and just made up of spacious water. Both stories have one Supreme Being who walk in the surface of water above the earth and made up everything that surrounds us. But as we see the likeness of the two stories, we can also notice the differences on details. As we all know, the Father God was the one responsible for the world's existence today as what was stated in the Catholic’s belief. But in the Metamorphoses it was Prometheus who made up the world and universe. Maybe they differ in name but as we can observe, both Gods have supernatural powers that can create the whole mass in just a snap.
In terms of emphasis, Ovid's purpose for writing the creation story is geared more towards explaining creation as it happens, in his opinion, whereas the Bible stresses the fact that the God of the Hebrews is responsible for the world's existence today. So generally, Ovid was very detailed in explaining and describing the formlessness of earth using figurative depiction. The Biblical account seems to be more plain, simple, and organized. It does not spend time on intricate detail.
One detail that we can still compare side by side is the time frame of creation. In Metamorphoses, it was depicted that Prometheus seems to make up everything in just a wink of an eye but in the bible God himself consumed six days of creation and rested on the seventh day. Each life being and mankind was fashioned separately in days in contrast with Ovid’s in which light, sky, birds, trees, fishes and many more were produced in an instant.
Many accounts adopted the ideas of these two masterpieces just like our own country’s folklore which is the story of Malakas and Maganda from bamboo shoots and a big bird flying between the sky and sea of our ancestors. There are lots of versions of this story in every province here in Philippines. One example is the story in which the bird made sky and the sea in a total argument. The bird was tired of flying all his life because there is no land to rest for that is why he made the sky and sea’s conflict. The clash between the sky and the sea made the land because the sky threw rocks and stones to the sea. Here, it was implied that the earth before was in a spacious water. Just like in the accounts of Metamorphoses and Genesis book of the Bible, the world was shapeless and in void plus a water covers up everything in which no man can swim on it because it’s gigantic.
Yes, those two literary pieces were dissimilar in some details yet those two were both amazing writings which transcend time and culture. They both stood out and mutually exclusive from each other. Many literary pieces which tried to explain creation were based on Metamorphoses and Bible. They both tried to explain the basic questions of our existence here in this world. How we were made? Who created us? Where we came from?




Book 1:
 The Flood
 Deucalion and Pyrrha


Something that catches my interest while reading Metamorphoses was the story about the flood and the couples Deucalion and Pyrrha. In reminds me of Noah and his ark story in the bible. It was said that because of humankind’s sins, God was angry and send a flood to wipe out everything. But God chose Noah and his family to survive since they are the only morally righteous and obedient family. The Almighty One told Noah to make an ark before the flood. He also commanded the old man to bring pairs of all animals with them in the ark. The flood lasted for forty days and forty nights.
On the other hand, Ovid’s depiction of blood was almost the same. Because of immorality and disobedience, Jove called a meeting of the gods and goddesses to determine what to do with the degenerate mortals. Jove swore by the river Styx that he had tried everything to purge the evil from mankind, but the only solution was to destroy the human race in order to save the earth itself. Jove had descended from Olympus and walked the earth in mortal disguise to determine the severity of mankind's ruin. He went to the palace of Lycaon, where the mortal greeted the disguised god with disbelief and scorn. Although Jove had made his true identity obvious to the mortals, Lycaon tried to feed him the boiled flesh of a mortal man to test whether or not Jove was a god. As a punishment for Lycaon's impudent action, Jove destroyed the man's home and turned him into a wolf. Jove sentenced all mankind to death for their sins and promised that a greater race of humanity would be created after this first race was destroyed. He sent a flood to wipe out the first race of mankind. Jove locked the north wind in a cave and sent out the south wind to bring storms. Iris, the rainbow and messenger of the gods, refilled the rain clouds, and Neptune, god of the seas and brother to Jove, called forth the rivers and oceans to rise from their beds and cover the globe. The world was covered in water and the flood destroyed everything living. But just like in the Genesis, Jove chose a couple, Deucalion and Pyrrha to be the start of earth’s humankind because they are righteous.
So as we can analyze these two accounts, there are lots of similarities and differences. Like the creation story in Metamorphoses, the flood story gives no
specific time frame for the length of the flood. However, Genesis gives a
detailed time frame for this event. The rains last forty days and forty
nights. When the rain stops, it was said that the water prevails upon the earth for
one hundred and fifty days. After ten months, the mountain tops become visible. At the end of one year, one month, and twenty- seven days, Noah,
his family, and the various animals exit the ark.
Another thing to compare between these two accounts is the explanation of existence after the flood. In Metamorphoses, Deucalion and Pyrrha, the two
survivors, throw stones over each of his and her shoulder. The stones that
Deucalion throw become men, and the ones that Pyrrha toss, turn into women. In Genesis all of the earth is populated by Noah, his wife, Shem, Ham, Japheth, along with their wives. But as we can notice, it was stated in Metamorphoses that we came from Mother Earth’s bone which is the rocks or the soil. This testimony cites the story in Genesis that we came from mud or ash. So these two masterpieces both conceded to the premise that we, all the humankind came from ash. And as what the Catholics believe, we will return to ash when we die and be part of Mother Earth’s body again.
Another addition to these is that in Ovid's tale, the animals of the
earth form, or evolve, from heat and water amongst the mud. The creatures
of the earth repopulate themselves in Genesis since Noah brought one pair of all kinds of animals for reproduction of their species for the new world.
Just as these tales have had their differences, they also share features and characteristics. As what I mention at the previous part, the flood, in each story, was sent because of humankind’s immorality and disobedience to God in which they should be the subject of humankinds’ worship.
In both accounts, only one family is "chosen" or "spared" to continue existence of the human race. In Metamorphoses it was Deucalion and Phyrrha. And Noah's family is chosen by God in Genesis. Both families seem to be in a right standing with God, or the Gods, when the flood occurs. It is very interesting to notice that in both accounts, as soon as the families are delivered safely from the flood, each worship and show reverence to God, or the Gods, in ultimate control. Also, both accounts of the flood, give some explanation, though very different, for the survival of the human race and animal species.
Both versions and explanations stated that it was due to super powers of God that the flood emerged. In the bible the Almighty God was the one who brought the inundation to earth while in Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it was Neptune’s power who made it, of course, under the commands of Jove which is the highest ruler that time. We can observe in this statement that in Metamorphoses, two different Gods created the earth and the one who brought the flood. Prometheus as what I’ve mentioned before was the one who formed and crafted the Earth and the universe. But here in another poem, Jove was now the one who controlled the earth. In the bible, the supreme ruler and the deluge maker was only one or the same.

In these two masterpieces, Metamorphoses and the Bible, we can also compare the Gods and Godesses. In the bible, we only have one supreme ruler who manipulate and lead the world. He is known to be omniscient or all-knowing and omnipotent or all-powerful. He is dominant yet righteous. According to our Christian faith, no one sees him and he has no direct or physical contact with the humankind because he is in the sky watching us all- his creations. But as we can compare it to the Metamorphoses by Ovid, there is more than one God in the world. We have God and Goddesses. They pilot different fields. Such for example is Hera who is known to be goddess of marriage, Venus as godess of beauty and love and Apollo who is kown to be the god of the sun, poetry, music, and oracles. But the supreme above them all is Jove or Jupiter who is the King of the Gods and the storm, air, and sky god.
Aside from the number of Gods or Godesses who ruled the Earth in these two accounts, we can notice that in Metamorphoses Gods and Goddesses can go down to earth and interact with the humankind if needed. As for example in Jove, in which he went to earth to court his mistresses. We can cite it in the story of Io in which he made himself as a shooting star to touch the maiden Io. Another is the story of Apollo and Daphne in Book One of Metamorphoses in which Apollo fell in love with Daphne and chased to rape her and later on the lady becomes a laurel tree. We can see how Gods in the said book was somehow immoral compare to the God in the Bible. We can see how some of Gods and Goddesses in Metamorphoses used their supernatural powers and influences to take advantage to humankind especially those things between the lover Gods and poor beautiful maidens.
As one can see, when comparing each of the accounts of the stories of creation, the flood, Deucalion and Pyrrha and even the qualities of Gods and Goddesses in Ovid's Metamorphoses and Genesis, there are some very similar
actions or events that take place in each of these accounts putting emphasis on very different messages. It is due to these variations in writing and technique that each of these narrative literary pieces have acquired and maintained the respect they truly deserve through many years of evaluation and criticism. Still, these two masterpieces are both works of art. It’s up to us if we will believe on either of them. What is more important is to stay in our faith, give importance to our precious life and everything surrounds us and remember to thank whoever created us all. That’s the truth about life.