Mythology Made Easy

Greek mythology, so confusing to many, has its origins in the story of Noah and his descendants, particularly the line of Ham. When this is understood, mythology becomes easy.

Table of Mythologised Monarchs

There are two sets of source material used in this study:

  • The authentic fragments of Berosus, a 3rd century BC Chaldean priest. These are available in Cory's Ancient Fragments, (1) together with fragments from other ancient authors.
  • The unauthentic fragments, known as "pseudo-Berosus", which have never been found. A history, based on these alleged fragments, was written by a Dominican Friar called 'Annius of Viterbo". This history may have some value, in the sense that fabrications can only be made out of events that are possible, and he might have been seeing some real events behind the mythologies.

Whether we use the authentic of unauthentic fragments, we have to bear in mind that we are only dealing with fragments that have survived the ravages of time, and there are no complete histories. For details of both types of source material, see the Lost Works of Berosus.

The following table gives a comparison of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythologies with the real characters of the Bible. The link between them is a history based on the unauthentic fragments, given by Holinshed (2) and Lynche (3). However, even without these, most of the table still holds together. For details of a genealogy, based entirely on the authentic fragments, see From Noah to Dardanus.
Bible Berosus, according to Holinshed and Lynche Egypt Greece Rome
Noah Noah
Had various titles:
Ogyges Saga (Great Patriarch, Sovereign Priest and Mighty Sacrificer)
Olybarma (Heaven)
Arsa (Sun)
Janus (giver of wine) 		Shu (air, supporter of sky)
Created by the sun god Atum. 		Uranus (Sky or Heaven). Janus.
Porter of the heavenly court.
Has two faces, looking forwards and backwards.
Wife of Noah, not named. Tytea (Earth)
Wife of Noah.
Otherwise called Vesta, Aretia, Terra, Regina Sacrorum, Magna Cybeles, Materque Deorum, Atque Vestalium Princeps, Sive Abbatissa. 		Tefnut (moisture)
Wife of Shu. 		Gaia (Earth) Terra, Tellus (Earth)
Ham
Son of Noah.
Saw his father drunk and naked in his tent and told his two brothers Shem and Japheth.		 Ham (Esenuus, Pan).
Son of Noah.
Castrated his father (according to Holinshed).
Used magic to disable his father from having children (according to Lynche).		 Geb (Earth)
Son of Shu and Tefnut. 		Cronos
Son of Uranus and Gaia.
Castrated his father. 		Saturnus
Wife of Ham, not named. Noegla (or Noela).
Wife of Ham. 		     
  Hammon
King of Lybia.
Descendant of Ham. The genealogy is: Ham, Cush, Saba, Triton, Hammon. 		     
  Rhea
Daughter of Noah and Tytea, born after the flood.
Wife of Hammon, but left him because he had an adulterous relationship with Almanthea, and married her brother Ham. 		Nut (sky, heavens)
Daughter of Shu and Tefnut.
Sister and wife of Geb. 		Rhea
Wife of Cronos 		 
  Dionysius
Son of Hammon and Almanthea.		      
Mizraim
Son of Ham 		Osiris (Jupiter Justus).
Son of Ham and Rhea.
His parents had overthrown Hammon, king of Lybia.
Dionysius came back and took revenge, but was merciful to Osiris and adopted him as his son, and gave him a learned man called Olympus as his tutor, so that Osiris became surnamed Olympicus.
Osiris married his sister Isis, but he had many other wives.
He conquered many parts of the world, then returned to Egypt and was killed by a rebellion led by Typhon.
Osiris
Son of Geb and Nut.
Killed by Set.
Deified as god of the underworld, capable of having sex with his wife Isis after his death, so that she gave birth to their son Horus.
Zeus
Son of Cronos and Rhea.
King of the gods, ruling from Mount Olympus.
Had many women, including Europa, Leto, Callisto, Hera, Io, Semele, Alcmena.
He was attacked by Typhon, but unlike Osiris, he was not killed.		 Jupiter, Jove
Son of Saturn.
  Isis (Juno)
Daughter of Ham and Rhea.
Sister and wife of Osiris. 		Isis
Sister and wife of Osiris.
Egyptian mother goddess, crowned by a throne or by cow horns enclosing a sun disk		 Io
Priestess of Hera.
Zeus seduced her, and Hera turned her into a cow (or maybe Zeus turned her into a cow to avoid detection). Then Zeus turned himself into a bull. 		 
  Typhon
Son of Ham and Noegla.
Killed his half-brother Osiris, in conspiracy with other giants, and cut his body in pieces. Avenged by Hercules.		 Set (Seth)
Son of Geb and Nut.
Killed his brother Osiris and cut his body in pieces and threw it into the Nile.
Avenged by Horus.		 Typhon, a hybrid monster with human form but reptile from the thighs downwards.
Son of Tartarus and Gaia.
He is thought to be the Greek version of Set, although he is a generation older (possibly confused with Tuyscon, a giant son of Noah and Tytea).
He fought against Zeus and cut off his sinews, disabling his hands and feet. Hermes and Aegipan recovered the sinews and refitted them to Zeus, so that he regained his strength and defeated Typhon by throwing Mount Etna at him.		  
Lehabim
Son of Mizraim (Gen. 10:13) 		Hercules Lybidicus
Son of Osiris and Isis.
Fought against Typhon and avenged the death of Osiris, then went on many voyages, overcoming tyrants, mostly around Europe.		 See Horus. There is a remote possibility that Hercules and Horus could be the same, although they are more likely to be brothers. Isis had given instructions to all her children to avenge the death of Osiris, so Hercules and Horus were both involved in the same mission.
There are major differences between the two characters, for example Horus was king of Egypt and Hercules was emperor of a large part of Europe. Also there is no mention of Hercules losing an eye.		 Heracles
Son of Zeus and Alcmena. (Her husband was Amphitryon, but Zeus took his form while he was away).
Heracles was given twelve labours to perform. The second labour was to kill the Lernaean Hydra, offspring of Typhon and Echidna, a monster with nine heads, including one that was immortal. He chopped off all the heads and buried the immortal one by putting a heavy rock on it. Since the Greek mythology places Typhon one generation higher, the Lernaean Hydra would be the same generation as the Egyptian Set, or the Typhon described by Berosus.		 Hercules
Son of Jupiter
    Horus
Son of Osiris and Isis, according to the legend that Isis went down to the underworld and had sex with Osiris after his death.
Horus was deified as Osiris in a new body.
He fought against Set, to avenge the death of his father, and lost an eye, but eventually overcame him and became king of Egypt. 		   

For further details of the Egyptian, Greek and Roman mythologies, see Egyptian Gods Theme and Greek Mythology Link.

Notes on the Biblical and Mythological Characters

Noah (Shu, Uranus, Janus) and his son Ham (Geb, Cronos, Saturn)

Uranus is the Greek interpretation of Noah, as they both represent Heaven. The story of the castration of Uranus, by his son Cronos, identifies Uranus as Noah, and Cronos as Ham.

There are two versions of Ham's offence against Noah. Either he castrated him, or else he disabled him from having children using magic. The castration story is unlikely, because such an event could hardly have been missed out of the Bible. However, for the purpose of matching the Greek mythology with the Bible characters, it does not matter if either of these stories are true. It only matters that people believed them and incorporated the events into the mythology.

Mizraim (Osiris, Zeus, Jupiter)

Holinshed (4) identifies Osiris as Mizraim, with the statement that his son Hercules Lybidicus is the same as Lehabim who is mentioned in Gen. 10:13.

Josephus (5) associates Mizraim with Egypt, calling the country Mestre and the people the Mestreans. In modern Hebrew and Arabic, the country is known as Mizraim and Misr respectively. Mizraim must have been king of Egypt, after it had been founded by his father Ham, and he must be the same person who Borosus calls Osiris, the son of Ham and Rhea.

Lehabim (Heracles, Hercules)

This son of Mizraim (Osiris) went all over Europe overthrowing tyrants, after avenging the death of his father.

Three Kings

Throughout the ancient world, the first king in any new settlement was called Saturn (in addition to any other names he might have). His successor was called Jupiter, and the third in line was called Hercules. The wife of each Saturn was called Rhea, and the wife of each Jupiter was called Juno, Isis or Io. There have been many kings and queens with these titles in different parts of the world, but there is only one Uranus, who was Noah. This tradition is explained by Holinshed (6). Note: Holinshed does not give a name for the wife of Hercules Lybidicus, but we know from Lynche that his three wives were Araxa, Omphale, and Galathea.

Additional Children of Noah

Noah and his wife Tytea had at least 30 other children, born after the Flood (according to Lynche). The Bible only mentions the three eldest sons, Shem, Ham and Japheth, who were born before the Flood and were with him in the ark. If there were additional children, why is the Bible silent about them? Possibly the reason is that, unlike the three eldest sons and their descendants, they were not appointed as kings, but travelled and assisted with the building up of kingdoms. However, this is not an entirely satisfactory explanation, because there is an exception to the rule. Tuyscon, one of the sons of Noah and Tytea, was appointed by Noah as king of Almaign, now called Germany.

Although the Bible is silent about the additional children of Noah, it does not say anything that would deny their existence. In fact there is a strong hint that they should exist.

And God blessed Noah and his sons, and said unto them, Be fruitful and multiply, and replenish the earth. (Gen. 9:1)

This command was to all of them, including Noah, so there is every reason to expect that he should have more children.

Neither Holinshed nor Lynche give a reason why Ham wanted to stop his father from having more children, but the reason is fairly obvious. He was probably concerned that Noah would give away more of the world as kingdoms to these children.

Variations of the Theme

As the Egyptian mythology was passed on to the Greeks, some of the stories changed, but they are similar enough to be recognised as variations of the theme. For example:

These are just minor differences, considering the imagination and creativity of the Egyptians, Greeks and Romans, as they deified their ancestors and transported them from one culture to another.

Mythology at School

Only a few decades ago, it was commonplace for Greek and Roman mythology to be taught in schools, using the classic works of Homer, Virgil and other ancient authors. Now it is less common, partly because of the emphasis on science, but mainly because people have forgotten what it means and find it confusing. Many people wonder why it was taught in the first place. Basically it has been inherited from the Renaissance period when the works of ancient authors became common knowledge.

Probably the greatest assault on the classics has been evolution. If the Greek mythology starts with Noah, and you are not supposed to believe in someone called Noah, then clearly the Greek mythology is impossible to understand.

References

1. Hodges, E.R., Cory's Ancient Fragments, A New and Enlarged Edition, Reeves & Turner, London, 1876. Facsimile reprints from Ballantrae, Ontario, Canada. This Chaldean fragment is from Alexander Polyhistor.

2. Holinshed's Chronicles of England, Scotland and Ireland, 6 volumes, Raphael Holinshed and others, 1587 edition. Reprinted 1807 for J. Johnson and others, London. Facsimile reprint 1965 by AMS Press Inc, New York, NY 10003.

3. An Historical Treatise of the Travels of Noah into Europe: Containing the first inhabitation and peopling thereof. Done into English by Richard Lynche, Printed by Adam Islip, London, 1601. See my article on Travels of Noah.

4. Holinshed, Vol. 1, page 433.

5. Josephus Antiquities, 1.vi.2.

6. Holinshed, Vol. 1, page 38.

Copyright 2000 Updated February 2002

Mike Gascoigne
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