Hellenism and Hinduism

Both Hinduism and Hellenism are very ancient traditions. However, Hinduism still survives today, being the third largest followed religion in the world.

Gods and Goddesses
The gods and goddesses of the two religions have many similarities, as they both derive from the Proto-Indo-European religion. For example, both Indra and Zeus hold a lightning bolt as a weapon, sit atop a cloud and the day of the week, Thursday represents these particular gods. The cult of Mithras in Greece and Rome spread from Persia. Mitra is a sun-god in Indo-Iranian and Hellenistic traditions. He is not a true Hellenistic deity because his legend was not founded in the ancient Hellenistic world. Each god and goddess also has his/her own special attribute of nature.

However, despite the apparently uncontroversial similarity between two traditions, these commonalities do not necessarily guarantee the same genealogy between them. According to structural anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss, it is a common phenomenon to find out the same stories, even similar characters, among various cultural tradition. The commonality should be traced back to the a priori human understanding rather than historical and sociological origins.

Asuras and Titans
In both, the group of evil spirits opposed to the good gods areisentified. They are Asuras in Hinduism and Titans in Hellenism.

Iconography
The Hindus use fire as a way of worshipping as did the ancient Greeks and Romans.

In Greek legends, Prommetheus brings down fire from heaven while in Hinduism (from the Rig Veda) it is Matarishvan who does likewise.

Monism
Although the two religions do have a pantheon of gods and goddesses, Hinduism has theistic, pantheistic and monistic forms. Hinduism believes that all the gods are merely form of the One Brahman. Hinduism says, "The Universal Reality is the same, but different people can call it by different names" ("Ekam Sat Viprah Bahuda Vadanti.")