ROMSO Cyprus Knowledge Base

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Resurrection of the dead is a common plot in mythologies of various peoples and religions of the resurrection (revival) of a dead being (man, in particular), often performed by a deity or a saint. It is part of the idea of life after death.

Origin of the word
In the Etymological Dictionary of Contemporary Russian by N. M. Shansky (1968), the word “resurrection” is derived from the Church Slavonic kr s – “revival, health”.

In the Etymological Dictionary of Modern Russian by A. K. Shaposhnikov (2010) it is said that the word comes from the Church Slavonic *vskr,shati from the base of the verb *vzkresiti, a prefixed derivative of *cresiti "to carve fire".

In the Historical and Etymological Dictionary of the Modern Russian Language P. Y. Chernykh, with reference to I. I. Sreznevsky, it is explained that the word “to shred” came from the other Russian kr,s, which meant “solar turn” (a sharp change in the flow of time).

In the XIX century, there was a version that the word “resurrection” is a calculus of the Greek “ανάστασης”, which literally translates as “restoration” or “rebellion”. It entered the Russian language through the Christian tradition.

In Sumerian-Akkadian mythology

In the mythology of ancient Sumer and Akkad, the supreme god Marduk and the goddess-healer Gula were endowed with the ability to resurrect the dead.

In the most ancient work of the Epic of Gilgamesh, the goddess Ishtar threatens to raise the dead: “I will pave the way to the depths of the underworld, I will raise the dead so that the living will be devoured, then there will be fewer living than dead!”

In Ancient Egyptian Mythology

In the mythology of ancient Egypt, the goddess Isis resurrects Osiris by collecting pieces of his body scattered throughout various parts of Egypt. According to the myth, Osiris becomes the god of death and rebirth, the afterlife, and the judge of the souls of the dead.

In ancient Greek mythology

Adonis.
Glavk, the soothsayer Polyid, noticed that the slain serpent came to life from the grass laid on it by another snake, and with the help of the same herb Glavka resurrected.
Pelops - as a boy, Pelops was offered food to the celestials gathered for a feast at Tantalus, but the gods understood the deception and resurrected Pelops, and eaten by Demeter, who was distracted because of the missing daughter Persephone, the spatula was replaced by an insert of ivory.
Asclepius became such a great physician that he learned to raise the dead, and people on Earth stopped dying. The god of death Thanatos, having lost prey, complained to Zeus about Asclepius, who violated the world order. Zeus agreed that if humans became immortal, they would cease to be different from the gods. With his lightning, the Thunderer struck Asclepius, but the great physician did not fall into the realm of the dead, but became the god of healing.
There is a legend about Empedocles of Agrigent as a miracle worker of extraordinary power who was able to resurrect a woman who had been without breathing for a month before.
The mythical Orpheus and Eurydice, according to legend, loved each other so much that when she died suddenly, he went after her to the realm of the dead and, thanks to his talent, managed to achieve the end of his life