Are god myths political spin from ancient history?

Question

Are god myths sometimes the outgrowth of stories made up by "leaders" seeking to control the lives of others? Do you know any authors that write to this?

Answer 1

Undoubtedly some are; others are explanations of what people saw about them. In particular, I had heard that the Gilgamesh (he who is 2/3 divine--don't ask me how) tales of mighty monsters he defeated far from home were likely other city-states in Sumer/Mesopotamia. I don't doubt that other cultures did similar things, esp with divine parents. The Aenead (sp?) is like that--the ultimate founder of Rome (Aeneas) is the son of Venus and related to the Trojans; Romulous & Remus were supposed to be descended from him.

Answer 2

Sure. In Egypt, the Pharaoh was considered to be a living god. In Roman cultures, saying that your city was "the home of a god" helped out commerce, and having Zeus by the capital ensured that it would be the most important city. Also when it went to war, it would call on their god to help, so people would fight to defend the name of their respective god.

In medevil times, the catholic church and crown outlawed the Bible in a readable language, meaning that the people had to rely on them for information on the God they worshiped, and the Catholic church really made the people suffer for it, all for political gain.

Answer 3

That is certainly possible but not proven. And also I believe that because there is not one culture that I know of in history that did/do not believe in a higher power that it shows that their really has to be one (I do have faith in God and am a christian) he simply takes form in whatever will help society and cultures. So anyway back to my point -- I believe that man uses God as a way to take power -- but not that man made God up to be powerful.

Answer 4

yes