(Eternal Life).
Or, if they do, they always include a trick-so that living forever isn’t good at all (like the Greek myth about the woman granted immortality-she forgot to ask for eternal youth, so she shriveled up like a mummy).
In my (cursory) study of mythology, immortality seems to be the one thing that the gods are very reluctant to grant.
Gilgamesh made a hazardous journey to find immortality, but when he meets the only two humans granted it, they discourage him from finding it-when he does finally get the magic plant, a snake slithers up and devours it.
So why are the gods so stingy with it?
Maybe because immortality, by definition, makes a mortal… well, not, and thus one step closer to god-like?
Or else even then people realized that immortality would kinda suck in a lot of ways?
uh, because the gods never existed, and people needed a way to explain why nobody was ever immortal?
The mythological gods were, by and large, petty masochistic jerks. They were reluctant to grant much of anything, unless they knew that it would turn out poorly.
The Gods as given were very Human like.
But one variant/ideal of the Gods vs. Men chain was that the only thing the Gods had over us was their Immortality, because we had it all over them on Ambition. Now make a Human immortal and what have you got? A huge threat to the Gods.
Alternately, it was our mortality that made us ambitious, which made us strive to build and improve. If we were immortal, we would lose that.
Kinda suck in a lot of ways is right. You’re basically condemning yourself to spend eternity trapped or buried somewhere, because given enough time, that’s going to happen.
Oh, and that popular movie/book ideal (as in Highlander and the series of the name) of being heroic and fighting in wars and so forth? Not a chance. How’d you like a Dr. Mengele to capture you? That would be hellish.
This is preyyt much it – the myths explain why we’re not immortal. Since we clearly aren’t, some reason must be given. In Gilgamesh there are actually two different “reasons” given – Utnapishtim (and, although it’s not explicitly stated, evidently his wife) are immortal, but tell Gilgamesh that it’s a burden, and have him try to stay up for several days to show him ( evidently immortality is like staying u all night). This is supposed to convince him that It’s Not Worth It.
But then he relents, and gives Gilgamesh the Herb of Immortality. I suspect this is from a different myth, but they included it in the epic because it was Too Good to Pass Up. Gilgamesh doesn’t eat it at once, because he wants to take it back to the Elders in Ur. but the snake gets it, and so Man loses it. (Almost certainly the story is supposed to explain why snakes are immortal – the snake being held to get more life every time it strips off its skin.)
I’ve long suspected that the Biblical story of adam and eve is closely related, and that in its original form the snake persuaded Eve to eat the fruit of the Tree of the Tree of the Knowledge of Good and Evil, and when God chased Adamn and Eve out of Eden the snake snuck over and ate from the Tree of Life 9that God was afraid A and E would eat), thus gaining immortality for himself.
In other myths from elsewhere people themselves choose to die, since otherwise the land will get overpopulated, or people have to choose an unseen choice from inside a basket, or shoot a dark or light animal at night, or something, and end up selecting the “death” choice. The myths very clearly seem to be saying why it is that people have to die, while possibly some animal gets immortality (in that case, they obviously cheated us out of it).
It‘s a pity you can’t get someone banned for atheism on this board. 
- With my pedant hat on, I must point out that you mean sadistic, not masochistic.
- With my Athena-worshipper hat off, I will agree with you so long as that correction is made.
- With my Athena-worshipper hat off, I’m gonna need you to take it back either way.
Because the threat of death is something the gods hold over you. If they eliminate that threat it reduces their power over you.
From the myth of Adam and Eve in the garden the answer seems to be because we are not in a place where we can enjoy it. It is a act of mercy of God that we live only a short time and are gone and seems to me to be the reason why God prevented A&E from eating the fruit of the tree of life and live forever.
Also note that when mankind had very ling lives, living nearly 1000 years before the flood, that in as little as 10 generations mankind have become so wicked that all his thoughts were continuously evil all the time to the point where God had to restart everything over, which would include a shorter life.
The mythologies of other civilizations all were inspired, so would have common reasoning, and all the gods knew each other anyway.
because myths ought to try be realistic. People who are extra lucky, or skillful, or intelligent, or have “miraculous recovery” from illness do exist in reality. So, you can credibly attribute them to the action of the gods. Whereas nobody heard about any human immortals. Even the allegedly very long-lived fairy tale magicians eventually end up dying violently.
In Christianity, eternal life is one of the rewards.
John 3:16: …whosoever believes in him shall not perish but have everlasting life.
Oh yeah, except wasn’t that a man – Tithonus?
And how was Achilles treated fairly? His mother (who loved him greatly) sought to protect him (by dipping him in the River Styx).
He is rendered unkillable-except for the spot where her hand gripped his heel, his body in invulnerable-till a lucky shot kills him.
Why didn’t the goddess (who advised his kother), tell her to shift her grip a little?
Talk about malice!
You’ll note that I specified “by and large”, implying the existence of a small number of exceptions. Athena, obviously, is one of them. She doesn’t grant immortality because she only gives gifts that are actually useful, like wisdom or olives.
And you’re right that I meant to say “sadistic”, not “masochistic”.
Reading this out of the corner of my eye, I thought the quote was from “Judy 3:16”, which made me sit up and take notice.