The Greek Myth of Phrixus and the Koranic Story of Ismail

The present article studies a common mytheme within two different cultural and geographical contexts: the Greek mythology of Phrixus and the Koranic story of Ismail Zabiholah (sacrificed for God), a story also stated in the Old Testament with slight differences. The stories are quite similar in terms of general process of events and the acts of the heroes. The archetypes of filicide as a sacred event by God’s command prevent the mentioned stories from turning into a tragedy. The aim of this research is to draw upon the similarities and differences of the two stories; moreover the emersion of the sacrifice ritual as a myth of rebirth has also been analyzed.