West+African+Myth+Differences

By: Steve Hamilton

In west African myths, there are a number of ways how West African myths are different than greek mythology. One thing is in Greek mythology, the palaces are usually in the sky, whereas in African myth, there can be palaces in many areas. Also, there are not too many human attendants in greek myth, as there are in African mythology.

While there are Kings in Greek mythology, we usually refer to the "higher up" people as gods/godesses or giants. As you probably have noticed, African mythology is real, whereas Greek mythology are just myths of what may have happened. For example: "Today, there are about 30 million Yoruba people in West Africa, most in Nigeria."(African Mythology). You would find something like this for greek mythology: Odysseus, the 1000ft giant got his eye stabbed out from travelers no bigger than 5-6ft. tall.

Something that may be similar for both sets of myths could be Shango (god of thunder) and Thor(Greek- God of thunder). West African saw the earth once as very watery, and on the other hand, the Greek saw this earth as nothing more than a ball. The greek didnt think one man created the earth, they thought it was a mixture of things that created earth: Fire,wind, water, land. While Greek had special objects for each character, Part of the earth was not granted to anyone person, as is given to olorun in West African.

The Mande myth talks about creating the earth, but failing the first time and getting another chance. If you were to fail at something in Greek myth, then you would forever remember that, or be dead. It also says how the god doesnt have hardly any influence on the creation of earth. Greek thought that the god had a significant influence on the creation of earth, even though, he himself didn't create it.

In West African Myths, they like to play the race game(whites are minorities), but in Greek they play the size game(small is minority until proven to be a majority).Bumba creates nine animals, and same in Greek (9 godesses) __SOCIETY THAT ORIGINATED THESE MYTHS__

Well, with what I have found I think that the society and the myths origins come together as one in a certain way. What I mean is the society and the actions of everyone reflects the way they live their everyday lives.

A better example of this would be how the Greeks were giants, and gods. The giants and gods had complete control over the smaller people. The gods and giants battled eachother. Just hearing the names God/Giant pretty much tells you that they have control. That's what I mean when I say The way they are is the way they live.

That also goes for West African Myths, because the people get second chances, are rescued and saved from the worst thing in the world, death! So, they live a pretty laid back lifestyle compared to Greeks. The Greeks kill, slaughter, hang to suffer, anything they can think of to make each and everyones life a living hell. That's the only way the Greeks know how to survive. Chances are, unless you're a god you have a good chance of dying anyways. So, you don't have anybodies shoulder to lean on when you're having an off day. If they found theirself having a bad day, it could very well be their last!

The ghana empire was founded by a mande's people, Soninke. It was the eighth century when it was founded. Mande's people typically lived around the empire. The empire was located around the city of [|Kumbi] Saleh.

Thor and Shango (left to right)


 * 1) Info.com
 * 2) Creation Mythology of Africa
 * 3) Google resources( I don't remember)