Divine Roles Across Cultures

HUM/105 Version 4

University of Phoenix Material

Divine Roles Across Cultures
Part I
Select one common divine role that recurs in world mythology.
Possible options of divine roles include the following: father or mother divinities, divinities of war, home or
hearth divinities, divinities of love, divinities of wisdom, divinities of medicine or health, divinities of the
wind, divinities of agriculture, divinities of the sky, ruler of all the gods, and so on.
Identify the role in the title of your table.
Select two myths, each from a different culture, in which the divine role appears. Identify the divinity
names and cultures in columns A and B.
Complete the table by answering each of the five questions for both selected divinities.
Title:

Column A
Divinity Name:
Culture of Origin:

Column B
Divinity Name:
Culture of Origin:

1. How is this divinity

portrayed? Describe the
divinitys role within the myth.

Zeus is the ruler of all Olympian

gods as well as the master of all
men. Zeus is the lord of the
sky, winds, clouds, light, clouds,
thunder as well as a few others.
He is also said to be the god of
justice,mercy, as well as the
protector of the weak, and is said
to punish the wicked ones.

Odin like Zeus is also the ruler

of all gods, but of the Norse
mythology. He lives in Valhalla,
where half of all dead warriors
gather after death. Odin is said
to mount his throne while
viewing the entire world. Odin
the ruler of gods is also the
god of war, magic, poetry and
wisdom. He is also the wisest
god of all in any world. Odin
could also transform or shape
shift into many different things
including animals and objects.

The God Zeus is a male. Being a

male his power shown by him
being the god of gods. Also Zeus
is the ruler of all gods, a
characteristic of the Greek
society.

The wise and powerful god

Odin is a male. A female ruling
all gods would have not been
accepted impossible society
like this one.

Is the divinity male or

female? What function does
this gender play?

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Divine Roles Across Cultures

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What are the divinitys

attributes, such as divine
powers or characteristics?
What objects does the
divinity possess, such as a
weapon or animal, that assist
him or her?

Zeus is a cloud gatherer as well as

the rain god. He is known for
punishing those who break an oath
or anyone who would displease
him in anyway by hurling a
thunderbolt their way.

Odin is like an omniscient god,

having wisdom about
everything from the past,
present, as well as the future.
Along with him are his magical
horse and spear which he has
with him at all times to help
him reach his goals. Odin also
has two ravens that fly out
during the day to gather
information and return to him
at night with the news.

Within the myth of origin, how

does this divinity compare
with other divinities? How
does this divinity interact with
or compare to divinities of the
same gender and to divinities
of the opposite gender?

Zeus was the very last son of the

Titans Cronus and Rhea. Cronus
was evil and he would swallow all
of his children after their birth, but
Rhea hid Zeus in a cave. After
Zeus grew up he went to Cronus
and made him vomit his siblings
up, in return they joined Zeus to
fight the Titans and Cronus for
control of the universe. After he
defeated his father along with the
other Titans Zeus imprisoned them
to the underworld. He then divided
the universe between himself and
his brothers leaving Poseidon with
the sea, Hades with the
Underworld, and the sky to himself
along with supreme authority on
Mount Olympus and Earth. Since
Zeus is the ruler of all divinities in
Mount Olympus both male and
female must answer to him.

Odin and his grandfather Ymir

are complete opposites. Odin
was the good god as his
grandfather Ymir was the bad
seed in the family and very
cruel, because of this Odin and
the other gods killed him. After
this Idin and his brothers made
the Earth among other things
from the parts of Ymirs body.
The sisters of Ymir were angry
about how their brother was
killed so the often liked to start
trouble for everyone.

Copyright 2014, 2011 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

Divine Roles Across Cultures

HUM/105 Version 4
1

Identify one character from

contemporary culture that
shares characteristics of
each divinity and explain why
you chose each character.
What real-life ideals does this
divine role represent? How
attainable are these ideals?

Zeus should only be compared to

the Hulk because his power
unmatched. He is as well a god
that has affairs and is now always
faithful to his loved one. The reallife ideals represented by Zeus as
a god is just a really
powerful character that will punish
all who are not good but are bad.
Zeus, being as powerful as he is,
he is the whole system as it would
be today the meaning that he
would be the judge jury and
executioner.

Odin which could be moody

and abuse his powers by
causing unnecessary wars.
Unfortunately, these situations
have been seen by many
rulers throughout history. When
comparing Odin to a character
from contemporary culture, I
chose Muammar Gaddafi.

Part II
Write a 150- to 350-word short essay addressing the following: Why do so many cultures have divinities
in similar roles?

As we have read throughout this class so far, mythology has and is still evolving within the
different cultures. Mythology is a way that questions have been answered and that can relate to the
human condition through out history. As many myths have expressed at one point or another. How was
the world we live in created? In I believe most if not all cultures there is something somewhere were the
weak or more vulnerable people are protected or looked after. There are also the thoughts that the bad or
evil people should have to pay for being evil or wrongdoings.
When it comes to Greek mythology the almighty Zeus came to be a supreme god, a male god as
the Greek society was a patriarchal society, who not only have power over the sky and everything
happening over the Earth, he is also a god of justice as well as mercy. He punished the bad while he
brought justice to the those in need. This is also similar to Israelite mythology and only one god is the all
powerful ruler. Other religions believe in one God as well, they also believe that he will bring justice all
who deserve it as well be their protector.

References
THE NORSE CREATION. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2015, from
http://www.bigmyth.com/myths/english/2_norse_full.htm

Copyright 2014, 2011 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.

Divine Roles Across Cultures

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Norse Creation Myth. (n.d.). Retrieved December 9, 2015, from http://www.metareligion.com/World_Religions/Ancient_religions/Europe/norse_creation_myth.htm

Copyright 2014, 2011 by University of Phoenix. All rights reserved.