A Comparison Between the Goddess Image in Ancient China and Ancient Greek Mythology from the Perspective of Female Values
Abstract
Mythology, as a special cultural carrier, can reflect people’s spiritual values in a certain period and region. In ancient Chinese mythology and ancient Greek mythology, there are some goddess with similar attributes or symbolic meaning. Their symbolic attributes essentially represent some specific areas of women’s values, such as fertility, wisdom, love and marriage. Based on the mythology of ancient China and Greece as well as the ancient social background of the two countries, this paper analyzes and compares the goddess images in the myths of the two countries from the perspective of fertility, wisdom, love and marriage in the female values. In the aspect of fertility, China in the matriarchal society showed the worship of the supremacy of women. In the aspect of wisdom, the ancient Greek society affirmed the importance of moral wisdom, and also emphasized the necessity of acquiring personal skills, interests and reputation. In the aspect of love and marriage, women in both countries were victims of the patriarchal society, but the ancient Greek society emphasized the pursuit of individual hedonism and freedom. What’s more, the goddess images in Chinese mythology are romantic, while the goddess images in ancient Greek mythology is more humanistic. From these aspects, the comparative analysis of the two goddesses can reveal the characteristics, social causes and evolution of the ancient women’s values of the people of the two countries.
Â
References
Ovid. The metamorphoses. Gregory H (translator). New York: Signet Classics; 2009.
Sheng X. Cultural and value differences of goddess in ancient Greece and China. European Scientific Journal 2017; 102-114.
Schwab G. Gods and heroes of ancient Greece. New York: Pantheon Books; 2001.
Hesiod. Theogony. Works and Days. Testimonia. New York: Harvard University Press; 2007.
Liu Y, Song H. Comparison and cultural integration of Chinese and western female values (in Chinese). The Border Economy and Culture 2016; (8): 47-48.
Guo C. The view of women in ancient Greece from the perspective of myth and legend (in Chinese). Journal of Inner Mongolia Radio & TV University 2014; (6): 27-29.
Wu T. A comparative study of Chinese and Greek mythological female images (in Chinese). Journal of Neijiang Teachers College 2008; (5): 86-88.
Yang L. Myth and mythology (in Chinese). Beijing: Beijing Normal University Press; 2009.
Yuan K. Chinese myths and legends (in Chinese). Beijing: Beijing Joint Publishing Company; 2012.
Jiang D. Nu Wa and ancient Chinese female worship (in Chinese). Jiangxi Social Sciences 1993; (1): 55-59.
Xu H. A preliminary study on the wisdom view of ancient Greeks (in Chinese). Journal of Hebei Normal University; 2011.
Song Y. On the changes of the social status of women in ancient Greece from the perspective of Greek myths and legends (in Chinese). Youthful Days 2014; (21): 16.
Zhao F. The historical evolution of Chinese ancient wisdom view and its axiological significance (in Chinese). The Journal of Humanities 1995; (5): 25-30.
Zhang Y. Confucianism and the concept of marriage in ancient China (in Chinese). Great River Weekly 2011; (1): 50-51.
An F, Liu X. An analysis of ancient Greek views on love and marriage (in Chinese). Journal of Hunan University of Science and Technology 2013; 34(9); 63-66.
Copyright (c) 2020 Learning & Education
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License.
Authors contributing to this journal agree to publish their articles under the Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial 4.0 International License, allowing third parties to share their work (copy, distribute, transmit) and to adapt it, under the condition that the authors are given credit, that the work is not used for commercial purposes, and that in the event of reuse or distribution, the terms of this license are made clear. With this license, the authors hold the copyright without restrictions and are allowed to retain publishing rights without restrictions as long as this journal is the original publisher of the articles.
