摘 要

神话是通过口口相传或者文献记载的方式保留下来的文化瑰宝，其内容丰富多彩，一般分为创世神话、英雄神话、战争神话、洪水神话等。其中，尤以创世神话最为重要。创世神话是各民族原始人类对于自然现象及社会问题的思考与解释积淀下来的民族文化，切实反映了远古人类的思维方式、价值观念和审美情趣， 并对后世的民族性格和心理产生了深远的影响。

本文以中国和希腊创世神话为例，着重探究二者关于宇宙开辟和人类起源方面的差异性。同时分析两民族不同的思维方式以及由此形成的不同的价值取向和审美情趣。最后简要地从中希的地理环境和经济政策的角度寻找差异性产生的原因。对中希创世神话作品的比较，有助于更好地了解中西方文化之间的差异，追寻不同民族制度、性格特征形成的根源。

关键词：中国；希腊；创世神话；文化差异

Differences between Chinese and Western cultures from the perspective of creation myth

——Take China and Greek’s myth for example

ABSTRACT

The myth is the cultural treasure that spread by word of mouth or preserved in the literature, including creation myth, hero myth, war myth, flood myth and so on. The creation myth occupies an extremely important position. It is the national culture that the primitive people thought and explained natural phenomena and social problems. It reflects their ways of thinking, values and aesthetic taste, and it has a profound influence on the national character and psychology of later generations.

This paper takes China and Greek’s creation myth as an example, focusing on the differences between the two in relation to the development of the universe and the origin of mankind. At the same time, two different ways of thinking, different values and aesthetic taste will be analyzed. Finally it makes a brief inquiry to search for the causes of the differences from this two countries’ geographical environment and economic policies. The comparison of China and Greek’s myth helps to better understand the differences between Chinese and western cultures, and to trace the origin of the formtion of this two national systems and personalities.

Key words: China; Greece; creation myth; cultural differences

目 录

前言 . - 1 -

一、文化渊源的差异.................................................................................................................... - 3 -

（一）创世神的构成............................................................................................................ - 3 -

（二）创世方式与人类起源................................................................................................ - 4 -

（三）神人关系.................................................................................................................... - 5 -

（四）神的形象.................................................................................................................... - 5 -

二、思维方式的差异.................................................................................................................... - 7 -

（一）地位与等级划分........................................................................................................ - 7 -

（二）整体性与解析性........................................................................................................ - 8 -

（三）形象性与抽象性........................................................................................................ - 9 -

三、民族性格的差异.................................................................................................................. - 10 -

（一）利他与利己.............................................................................................................. - 10 -

（二）和合与分争.............................................................................................................. - 10 -

（三）性禁忌与性自由...................................................................................................... - 11 -

四、差异产生的原因.................................................................................................................. - 14 -

（一）内陆与农耕文明...................................................................................................... - 14 -

（二）海洋与商业文明...................................................................................................... - 14 -

结语.............................................................................................................................................. - 15 -

致谢.............................................................................................................................................. - 16 -

参考文献...................................................................................................................................... - 17 -

前 言

在神话当中，宇宙起源是最重要的内容，无论是中国神话还是希腊神话，打开神话的第一章，都会写到宇宙是怎样形成的，世界是怎样开辟的，天地是如何分开的，这类神话我们可以称之为创世神话。

创世神话主要介绍了宇宙和万物的产生以及人类起源等问题，在文化传播过程中，生动地体现了不同地区原始人类对于新兴世界的幻想。其本身作为各民族文化的一部分，是先民们口口相传或记录保留下来的文化载体，以语言、文字为媒介，表现原始人类的社会生活。因而各国的创世神话内容丰富、独具特色，不同民族之间对于神话的描述也各不相同。

作为古代西方文化孕育的摇篮，希腊始终以其庞大的文化体系屹立于世界文化之林中。而希腊神话不仅是希腊文化的源头，更代表着西方早期的文学，常常被用来与中国神话进行对比研究。目前，学界对于中希神话的研究大多集中在神话主题、神的品质、神话中众神谱系、神话影响、神话传承等方面，相关的文献和论著较为丰富。但也存在论题切入点较大，研究过于笼统的问题。本论文将从中国和希腊创世神话的对比出发，更为具体地来探寻中西文化之间的差异。