Untitled - Memorial University of Newfoundland

think themselves to be above the gods do not gel away unpunished.; the fact that Zeus
himself "gave his nod; in the literal sense of the word. demonstrates that Dion ysos
acted in acco rdance with the will of Zeus .
Aware of the parallels between Greek and Yoruba mythology and ritual s.
Soyinka underscores the significan ce of the elder god, Ogun , who is synonymous with
Dion ysos. Like the Gree ks, the Yorubas have a multiplicity of gods and several
aetio logica1 myths. In Yotuba Myths. U11i Beier records :
In the beginning there was Orisha.. Orisha lived alone in a little hut
which wasat the foot of a huge rock. He hada faithful slave . who
cooked his food and looked after him in every way .. . One day the
slave waylaid Orisha. He waited for him at the rapof the rock. and
when he saw Orisha return borne fro m his farm, he roll ed a huge
boulder onto the hut. Orisha wascrus hed into hundred s o f pieces and
they were scattered thro ughou t the world ...Orunmila [Yoruba crea tion
god} put all the pieces he had collected into a large calabash which be
called Orisha Nla , or Orishanla, and deposited them in a shrine at Ife .
But hundreds of fragments are still scattered throu ghout the world today
(6-7) .
Orisba's household slave , reminiscent of Cadmus, is one of the earliest examples of
resistance to servitude in the Yoroba mytho logy. Beier suggests that the Yoru bas say
they have 401 otisha. or divini ties . meaning that DO one knows the exact number.
Ogun, like the Dionysos depi cted by Euripides in the B4cc:J:M. symbolizes the
creative/d estructi ve principle in humans and nature . In Myth. Soyinka records the
myth about the gods ' journey through an impenetrable void and Ogun 's importance:
A long isolation from the world of men had created an impassable
barrier which they [the gods ] tried, but failed. to demo lish. Ogun finall y
took over . Armed with the first techni cal instrum ent which he had
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