Mythology: Korean Mythology vs. Greek Mythology

Changsega (창세가)

In the Changsega, it tells the story of Mireuk and Seokga. In the beginning, Mireuk destroys each of the two suns and moons and creates the stars with the destroyed sun and moon. He is a very powerful god. Later, an evil god named Seokga attempts to overthrow Mireuk in three contests to win the world. The last contest, the most famous, involved growing magnolia flowers. If the magnolia flower grew towards Mireuk, Mireuk would win and vice versa. The flower grew towards Mireuk, but Seokga brok the stem of the plant and took it. Seeing that Seokga did Mireuk cursed both the magnolia and the mortal world, causing the mortal word to be imperfect and for the magnolia flower to die quickly.

	Korean Mythology: Changsega	Greek Mythology: Pandora’s Box	Similarities
Themes	Creation, Evil	Creation, Evil	Both create evil
Symbols	· Seokga’s cheating during the contests represents unjustness · Mireuk’s anger in response symbolizes the evils of the world.	· The box represents the evils of the world. · Her opening the box represents the natural curiosity that mankind has. · Closing the box before hope could escape symbolizes that although there will always be bad things in the world, there will also be hope.	· Both involve the evils of the world being unleashed by some symbol. They also both stemmed from gods. · In Korean mythology, it was by the god's (Mireuk's) unintentional mistake; in Greek mythology, it was by the god's (Zeus) too, but on purpose.
Characters	· Seokga – The one who tried to overthrow Mireuk and take his place. · Mireuk - He was one of the main creators after the world was already created. He lost to Seokga due to Seokga’s cheating in their contest	· Pandora – The girl who opened the box of the world’s sufferings. · Hephaestus – The one who made the vase · Zeus – The one who gave her the box on purpose, knowing she’d try and open it.	· Both have a character trying to trick the other, and the other character falling into their trap. · In Changsega, Mireuk was tricked by another god, while in Pandora's Box, Pandora was a mortal tricked by a god.
Setting	· Korea	· Greek	· Set in country of mythology
Problems	· After being cheated by Seokga and losing in the contests, Mireuk was furious. Due to his anger, he cursed the earth and created prostitution, betrayal, mental disorder, bragging, and other imperfections of the world.	· After Zeus gave Pandora the box, he told her not to open it. However, due to her curiosity, she opened it anyways and unleashed the world’s sufferings and other imperfections of the world.	· Both show how the world’s evils come to be. In both myths, the evils are created due to a person’s fault and selfish emotions (anger vs. curiosity)

Cheonjiwang Bonpuli ( 천지왕 본풀이)

In the beginning, there were no sky and no earth; there was only an empty void. One day, a gap formed in the void. All that was lighter than the gap headed upwards and formed the sky. All that was heavier than the gap fell down and became the earth. From the sky, a clear blue dew droplet fell and from the earth a dark black dew droplet rose. The two droplets mixed and formed all that existed (except the sun, moon, and stars). The gods were formed from the droplets as well. The leader of the gods, Cheonjiwang meaning the King of the Heavens and the Earth, awoke to the cry of three roosters. They were the Rooster Emperor of the Sky, Earth, and Humans. Cheonjiwang knew that the three roosters were crowing because there was no sun. To make the roosters happy, Cheonjiwang made two suns and two moons and made the two suns ride and fall every day and the two moons rise and fall every night.

	Korean Mythology: Cheonjiwang Bonpuli	Greek Mythology: The Creation of the World	Similarities
Themes	Creation	Creation	Creation
Symbols	· Dew droplets mixing – creation of the earth · Rooster Emperors – time · Void – the beginning, before creation	· Chaos – void, before creation	· Both started with void · In Korean Mythology, creation was more natural, while in Greek mythology, it was from the emergence of the gods.
Characters	· Cheonjiwang – the Supreme God · The Rooster Emperors of the Sky, Earth, and Humans	· Gaea – Mother of Earth · Uranus – the god of the heavens	· Both Cheonjiwang and Uranus were supreme gods.
Setting	· The beginning of time and the world	· The beginning of time and the world	· Both started at the beginning of time and the world.
Problems	· There was no Earth or world to begin with; there was only a void. · Creation began with a gap appearing in the void. · The rest of the earth and all its existences stemmed from droplets of dew. · The suns and moons were creations of a god.	· There was no Earth or world to begin with; there was only a void (Chaos). · Creation began with Erebus appearing from the void. · Earth and all its existences stemmed from the emergence and power of the gods.	· Both began with a void and the creation of the world began with something emerging from the void. · Creation in Korean mythology stemmed from the dew drops while in Greek mythology it was from the power of gods

Gumiho (구미호)

A 구미호, gumiho, is a nine-tailed fox. A fox that lives a thousand years is said to turn into a gumiho. In Korean mythology, a nine-tailed fox can freely transform into, usually, a bewitching girl that seduces men to lower their guard. Then, once they have the chance, the gumiho will strike and devour the victim's liver. They are believed to be an evil creature in Korean mythology that feeds on human hearts or livers and to consume male energy, yang, which they need to survive. Some tales say that if gumiho doesn't kill or eat humans for 1000 days, it can become human. Other tales say that gumihos can turn into a human if the man who sees her true nature keeps it a secret for ten years.

	Korean Mythology: Gumiho	Greek Mythology: Sirens	Comparison
Themes	Evil, Creatures	Evil, Creatures	Both are evil creatures in mythology
Symbols	· Evil · Seduction	· Evil · Lure men	· Both are evil and lure men in some way
Characters	· · Gumiho – nine tailed fox disguised as a woman	· Siren – half women, half bird-like creatures	· Both are women that have some affiliation to an animal or vice versa
Setting	· All around us, disguised as women (generally)	· The unreachable part of the ocean	· · Both are hidden in some way · They dwell in different places
Problems	· Seduces men to feed on them later	· · Lure men from sea with their songs, but the men end up dying	· Both creatures involve fooling men and luring them into some death trap · Gumihos seduce men and lure them for their own gain while sirens just lure them to their death with no personal gain.

The Sun-Goddess of Korea (해순)

One day, a tiger came to three sisters', named Byeon-sun, Dael-sun, and Hae-sun, house. Seeing the tiger, the tree sisters ran out of the back door and climbed a tree. When the tiger tried to climb the tree to go after them, the sisters prayed to the gods to save them. Their prayers were answered. An iron chain fell from the skies and the three sisters climbed up the chain to the safety of the sky. The lived joyously in the land of the gods. Eventually, Byeon-sun was transformed into a star, Dael-sun into the moon, and Hae-sun into the sun. When Hae-sun set out across the skies on her first day out as the sun, people on earth came out of their homes to stare at her. Hae-sun was a shy girl, and she became bright with embarrassment when she saw people staring at her. The more the stared, the brighter she became, until finally she was so bright that they couldn't stare at her anymore. From then on, she continued to shine brightly in the sky as the sun.

	Korean Mythology: The Sun Goddess of Korea	Greek Mythology: The Birth of the Twins of Apollo and Artemis	Comparison
Themes	Creation	Creation	Creation
Symbols	· Tiger – cruelty · Iron chain - escape	· Birth – something new	· They have all different symbols.
Characters	· Byeonsun – one of three sisters, later turns into the star goddess · Daelsun – one of three sisters, later turns into the moon goddess · Haesun – one of three sisters, later turns into the sun goddess	· Apollo · Artemis · Zeus · Leta · Hera	· Haesun and Apollo are both sun gods/goddesses. Daelsun and Artemis are both moon goddesses. Apollo and Artemis are siblings; Haesun and Daelsun are siblings. · In the Korean myth, there is another sister, but there is not another sibling in the Greek myth. In the Greek myth, they were born a god while in the Korean myth they were made into a god.
Setting	· Korea	· Greece	· Both in their own countries
Problems	· The three sisters were being chased by the tiger. By praying to the gods, they were able to find an escape and solve their problem. In the end, they lived amongst the gods and even became goddesses themselves.	· Apollo and Artemis were twins born from Zeus and Leto. While her pregnancy, Hera found out and despised Leto. The cursed Leto and forbade any place to give shelter to Leto as to prevent her from giving birth. Zeus felt bad for Leto so he made her into a quail so that she could give birth. Eventually she found Asteria and gave birth to the twins.	· In both stories, there was aid from a god · Both stories had people becoming gods (Apollo and Artemis became gods when they were born) · Apollo and Artemis were born gods while the three sisters got turned into gods.

Hwanung

Hwanung wanted to descend from the heavens to found a city on Earth. However he needed the consent of his father to do so. In the end, he won over his consent and continued with his plan. He descended form heaven to Mount T'aebaek and founded the City of the Gods beneath a sacred tree. From the city, he ruled the people and helped them with agriculture, medicine, and justice as well as other matters. He was hailed and worshipped by the people and was called the "King of Heaven".

	Korean Mythology: Hwanung	Greek Mythology: The Founding of Athens	Comparison
Themes	Creation	Creation	Creation
Symbols	· Mountain (T’aebaek) – strength, power · Tree – sacred, peace	· Olive tree – serenity and peace · Horse – strength, courage, war	· Both myths involve both a symbol for strength and a symbol for peace
Characters	· Hwanung – King of Heaven	· Poseidon – god of the seas · Athena – goddess of wisdom	· Both include powerful gods · The gods have different powers
Setting	· Korea	· Greece	· Both in their own countries
Problems	· Hwanung wanted to descend from heaven to Mount T’aebaek to found a City of the Gods beneath a sacred tree. He had to receive consent from his father, a major god, in order to do so. He ended up being able to receive the consent and continued as he planned. He ruled the people of the city.	· Poseidon and Athena were fighting over the property of Athens. Whoever would end up receiving the country would be the source of the name for the country. They had to give the country a gift and whoever had the best gift won the Athens. In the end, Athena won for giving her olive tree over Poseidon’s horse.	· Both involved the founding of a place by a god/goddess · Both had conflict between two gods · Athens was named after the founder, and the City of the Gods was named after the Gods that helped Hwanung in founding the city. · Hwanung helped the people and ruled the city while Athena did not, she was merely just the “founder and owner”