"The nice thing about an education that teaches you about happiness and wisdom and the difference between man’s ends is that it is actually the most practical education you can get. The skills you learn from such an education are skills that make you better whatever you do, whether you end up being a carpenter or a mechanic—or a college professor.” —Martin Cothran
Other than for pure enjoyment, reading the Great Books of antiquity helps us to understand ourselves—who we are and why we do the things we do—not only as individuals, but in societies as a whole. Reading the stories of ancient civilizations from creation to the Renaissance broadened my own perspective and helped me better understand our global origin stories and the deeply ingrained collective consciousness of our cultures. I’m grateful to Valencia College this semester for offering this liberal arts course which has helped lay a foundation of knowledge for me in how the world has worked throughout millennia.
In taking this Survey of World Literature course, I had the opportunity to delve more deeply into the beginnings of written literature and analyze how stories of civilizations developed and evolved throughout history. Some ways I engaged with the texts were to define new terms, compare texts with other existing writings of the time, discover what circumstances affected the writings, and find out how the literature relates to society both then and now.
The Hebrew leader, Moses is attributed to writing the first five books of The Tanakh, including the creation/destruction story in Genesis. The successive nature of the one Creator working within the six days of creation, countered the Egyptian’s pantheon creation story. Moses penned the Hebrew creation story in a way that contrasted with their former oppressors. The Hebrew creation narrative had already been passed to Moses through oral tradition, so there is no way to date its earliest origins; however, Moses affirmed that the Hebrew creation story originated with the first people—Adam and Eve.
In Genesis, chapter 1, the word “day” can be interpreted as an extended time period with a beginning and end, but not necessarily a 24-hour period. Those like myself who look to the books of the Old and New Testament as the source texts for our faith, can reconcile our beliefs with either a literal, miraculous six-day creation view or a figurative, poetic view. With either view, we still hold the creation story as a reliable reference for understanding humanity as not being the result of a cosmic accident but as a part of the planned grand design of a Creator within the Biblical metanarrative of creation, fall, redemption, and restoration.
In The Tanakh, humanity’s ideas of good and evil, light and darkness find their roots in Genesis. In the Genesis text, after the nothingness of darkness, creation began with light. With each additional day of creation, the Creator acknowledged that “it was good.” (Genesis 1:10, ESV).” The theme of light being equated with goodness and darkness being equated with evil or chaos emerges in chapters one through three.
Furthermore, the repetition of “And God said…” for each successive day in the creative process, indicated the power of the voice of the Creator. A mere word created the celestial bodies, earth, plants, and all living creatures. The same voice spoke a covenantal command to the first created people. “And the Lord God commanded the man, saying, ‘You may surely eat of every tree of the garden, but of the tree of the knowledge of good and evil you shall not eat, for in the day that you eat of it you shall surely die.’” (Genesis 2:16,17, ESV). This contrasts with the words of the antagonist of the narrative, the serpent, who brought in darkness by questioning, “Did God actually say…?”(Genesis 3:1), ESV). The contradiction is the catalyst for the man and the woman to doubt the goodness of the Creator and preceded the first people breaking the command. Both hid because of their evil deed, further reinforcing that darkness is not good.
For their transgression, the man, woman, and serpent all received a curse by the Creator. Yet, in mercy, a prophesy was declared for a final end to the curse. A chosen one or Messiah will destroy the serpent who would wound him, “he shall bruise your head, and you shall bruise his heel” (Genesis 3:15). Christians attribute this prophesy to the redemption found in the crucifixion and resurrection of Jesus the Messiah and His final triumph over evil: “In him was life, and the life was the light of men. The light shines in the darkness, and the darkness has not overcome it” (John 1:4,5, ESV).
Unlike any of the other civilizations of the ancient creation stories, the Hebrews as a people group still exist in modernity as Jews who live around the world and in the nation of Israel. Those who still hold to the teachings of The Tanakh agree that creation and the fall have taken place, but redemption and restoration will only happen with the introduction of the Messiah or divine Shepherd King. Some Jewish people recognize Jesus as the Messiah and are called Messianic Jews (mjaa.org). They keep their Jewish ethnicity, yet follow the Old and New Testaments. For them, redemption has taken place through the sacrificial death of Jesus the Messiah, who became the divine sacrifice to atone for the world’s sins, fulfilling the prophecy in Genesis 3:15. They hold to the eyewitness accounts of the Jewish followers of Jesus in the gospels of Matthew, Mark, Luke, and John of the New Testament that Jesus rose from the dead and ascended to His throne in heaven.
For these people, the restoration of the Garden of Eden has not yet taken place. Under Roman occupation, Jewish rulers worked to have Jesus crucified because He claimed to be God and their King, but they did not recognize him as God and he was not the kind of king they wanted. They were looking for the Messiah to release Israel from the oppression of Rome, not to atone for the sins of the world.
Those who hold to the teachings of Jesus recognize that all of creation has fallen since Adam and Eve ate the forbidden fruit. Redemption has been initiated through the Messiah’s sacrifice, but has not been consummated through the second advent of His return as King.
The time period right before the return of the Messiah has been called “The Apocalypse,” but instances in The Bible where God pulls back the curtain between heaven and earth—revealing both the seen and the unseen—is called ‘apokalupsis’ in the original Greek translation. Therefore, “apocalypse” doesn’t necessarily mean the end of the world as we know it, but a revelation of the mysterious work of God. According to the creators of Bible Project, “an apocalypse is what happens when someone is exposed to the transcendent reality of God’s perspective. An apocalypse is a confrontation with the divine so intense that it transforms how a person views everything” (bibleproject.com).
The destruction, re-creation story of the book of Revelation is a cryptic text that has many interpretations, but the main theme is restoration through the reign of the Messiah when he returns as King. His followers, the church, are to be light in a dark world and spread the good news of redemption and ultimate restoration to those who have listening ears to hear.
In reading through the Babylonian story, The Epic of Gilgamesh, I found the same shepherd king theme that I discovered within the Hebrew creation and epic stories of Genesis. Both the Babylonians and Hebrews desired a king that would lead them, protect them, and care for them like a shepherd rather than a tyrant who would oppress them. Other than the mythic figure, King Gilgamesh, the Babylonian kings rose to power through might and main. This contradiction in their literature—the longing for a shepherd king compared to the reality of their tyrant rulers—is a theme that reveals something about the nature of humanity. In the Hebrew creation story, the fall of man and the subsequent curse could be an explanation as to why world leaders in ancient times ruled through oppression. The thorns and thistles of our environment demands a strong hand to subdue the chaos.
Times have changed in modernity, but some claim that humanity could descend into the same chaos as ancient civilizations given climatic changes which cause droughts, floods, and civil unrest. In times of survival, people tend to lose their sense of refinement and resort back to more primal modes of living. World leaders in this environment would be oppressive to maintain a sense of order and people would welcome it.
The oppression of women has greatly improved since ancient times. Compared to the ancient epics, women in the western world have gained citizenship along with the rights to vote and run for office. We have the right to earn equal wages, and we may wear as we please without being victim-blamed for sexual assault.
These rights were not even considered in the ancient world. To the ancient Greeks, men and women had different roles and responsibilities. In these respective roles, women were not given equal rights to men. Homer’s The Iliad, highlighted the rights of kings, priests, and warriors. Even though King Agamemnon already had Clytemnestra as his wife, he exercised his right to a war prize—namely the woman, Chryseis. The legendary warrior, Achilles, the “best of the Achaeans” (Lattimore, 86), also claimed this right and won the “fair-cheeked Briseis” (Lattimore, 80).
Along came Chryses (not to be confused with his daughter, Chryseis), the priest of Apollo. He brought ransom to King Agamemnon, to buy back his enslaved daughter. Agamemnon had no fear of the gods and did not want to give back his prize whom he claimed to love more than his wife (Lattimore, 78). Achilles stood up to King Agamemnon and convinced him to give back Chryseis to avoid the wrath of Apollo on his people. In return, the king forced Achilles to give up his war prize and give her to himself. Mighty warrior that he was, Achilles wept at his loss, which stoked the fires of contempt in his heart toward his narcissistic king. At this disrespect, Achilles convinced his mother to go to his father, Zeus and curse the king in his war efforts against the Trojans and increase her own son’s honor instead.
Women in this epic story played a supportive role or subservient role. Heroic parts in epics like The Iliad were reserved for men. The war prizes, the wives, the mothers had little to no self-agency. Women were objects of beauty, property, and in turn were traded for favors or wealth. Women were not allowed to carry weapons to protect themselves. Rape and enslavement were indeed a risk and reality for them. The best they could do in life was to serve their husbands, raise children, and practice hospitality. Though the nine muses, the honored daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, inspired those who practiced the arts, mortal women could not practice anything outside of homemaking.
In contemporary societies, women have vastly different options in their rights, roles, and responsibilities. Being a married mother of four myself, I do find homemaking and raising a family to be a respectful calling; however, I like the ability in modernity to stretch myself to other endeavors outside the home. Women can now choose whether to marry or devote themselves to a career, or both. It is no longer acceptable for women to be treated as less than equal to men. There are now laws that keep men accountable for treating women unfairly in the workplace where they are supposed to have equal opportunity. Far from women being war prizes, we are given dignity and not considered property. Women are valued as much as men and rape is considered a crime punishable in a court of law.
At the same time, we see in the political sphere that men are exalted despite their past crimes against women. Those who sexually assault women are rarely found guilty due to “lack of sufficient evidence.” If there is no DNA evidence or eyewitnesses apart from the victim’s testimony, there is little chance of a perpetrator being prosecuted for his crimes. Even though women now have more rights, darkness and evil continue to exist in the world. With the way the world still works, the best a woman can do is develop street smarts to keep herself safe. Even then, there’s no guarantee that at some level, a woman will be degraded and treated as an object to be used and abused.
On top of that, the darkness of human trafficking is out of the public eye but nonetheless a reality of our time. Like ancient civilizations, slavery still exists in the world either in the sex trade or slave labor. My family supports International Justice Mission who works alongside law enforcement to rescue families, women, and children from slavery and helps to restore their God-given dignity. It seems an impossible battle, but even one life rescued matters.
In modernity, we may have more technology, more food security, and more equality, but human nature has not changed. We are no different from Adam, Eve, Gilgamesh, and Achilles. Our goals of security, status, and satisfaction are essentially the same. There is light and there is darkness. There is good and there is evil. Reading the Great Books of antiquity helps us to get in touch with our deepest longings for immortality and a world made right. Beneath the flashy false fronts of pride, possessions, and prestige, we really desire to be at peace, as individuals and societies.
Works Cited
1. “Bible Gateway Passage: Genesis - English Standard Version.” Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Genesis+1&version=ESV. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024. 2. “Bible Gateway Passage: John - English Standard Version.” Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=John+1&version=ESV. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024. 3. “Bible Gateway Passage: Revelation - English Standard Version.” Bible Gateway, www.biblegateway.com/passage/?search=Revelation+21&version=ESV. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024. 4. Bible Project. “Are You Ready for an Apocalypse?” BibleProject, BibleProject, 14 Nov. 2024, bibleproject.com/articles/are-you-ready-for-an-apocalypse/. 5. Carnahan, Wolf. “The Epic of Gilgamesh.” Epic of Gilgamesh: Tablet I, www.ancienttexts.org/library/mesopotamian/gilgamesh/tab1.htm. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024. 6. Cothran, Martin. “Wisdom & Happiness: What Classical Education Can Do for Your Soul.” Memoria Press: Classical Education, 4 Oct. 2016, www.memoriapress.com/articles/wisdom-and-happiness-what-classical-education-can-do-for-your-soul/. 7. “Messianic Movement - Messianic Jewish Alliance of America.” Messianic Jewish Alliance of America - Since 1915, 22 Oct. 2024, mjaa.org/messianic-movement/. 8. “The Internet Classics Archive: The Iliad by Homer.” The Internet Classics Archive | The Iliad by Homer, classics.mit.edu/Homer/iliad.html. Accessed 22 Nov. 2024.
