This volume offers an instructive comparative perspective on the Judaic, Christian, Greek and Roman myths about the creation of humans in relation to each other, as well as a broad overview of their enduring relevance in the modern Western world and its conceptions of gender and identity. Taking the idea that the way in which a society regards humanity, and especially the roots of humanity, is crucial to an understanding of that society, it presents the different models for the creation and nature of mankind, and their changing receptions over a range of periods and places. It thereby demonstrates that the myths reflect fundamental continuities, evolutions and developments across cultures and societies: in no context are these more apparent than with regard to gender.Chapters explore the role of gender in Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian creation myths and their reception traditions, demonstrating how perceptions of ‘male’ and ‘female’ dating back to antiquity have become embedded in, and significantly influenced, subsequent perceptions of gender roles. Focusing on the figures of Prometheus, Pandora, Adam and Eve and their instantiations in a broad range of narratives and media from antiquity to the present day, they examine how variations on these myths reflect the concerns of the societies producing them and the malleability of the stories as they are recast to fit different contexts and different audiences.The study takes as its starting point the idea that the way in which a society regards humanity, and especially the roots of humanity, both male and female, is crucial to an understanding of that society. Different models for the creation and nature of mankind, and their changing receptions at different periods and places, reflect fundamental evolutions and developments in society, particularly with regard to gender. This project thus investigates the Graeco-Roman and Judaeo-Christian stories of the creation of the primordial couples – Prometheus and Pandora and Adam and Eve – and their reception in the Western world, shedding light on attitudes towards male and female, at a range of influential periods and places.It explores how the Judaic, Christian, Greek and Roman myths stand out from each other, and also cross-fertilise between each other at different times and cultures, as well as examining what the respective depictions of male and female reveal about the roles and perceptions of the different genders both in their original sources and in their receptions in later societies. Through analysis of how and why the tales have been recast and adapted at various periods, it considers how far the myths still have relevance in the modern Western world by considering both traditions separately, and also by teasing apart points at which they intermingled or separated, thereby deepening our understanding of the two main threads that are assumed to have given shape to Western civilization.

Gender, Creation Myths and their Reception in Western Civilization: Prometheus, Pandora, Adam and Eve PDF

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