Post by Shade on Sept 25, 2009 23:16:47 GMT -6
Minor Essay on Greek Mythology
Greek Mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greek culture. This encompasses their beliefs in gods, deities, and their epic stories. Greek Mythology has had an influence in the western world through culture, art and literature. The way that we have come to know about the mythology in the Greek culture is through literature and representations of visual media. One such example are Homer's two epic poems entitled the Iliad and the Odyssey. The mythology in Greek culture has changed over time. This was due to the need for accommodation for the evolution of their culture. Earlier Greeks were mainly agriculturally focused, thus their mythology assigned a spirit to everything in nature. These spirits were then anthropomorphized and became gods and goddesses. When another group of Greeks invaded they brought with them a new group of gods who were based on things like conquest, force, heroism, and efficiency in battle. The older deities fused with this new group of gods and others just became obsolete.
In Greek Mythology there exists a "creation myth" similar to other cultures. It was an attempt to explain the unfathomable origin of the world. The most widely accepted of the creation myths was the one explained and reported by Hesoid's Theogony. The creation myth begins with Chaos and nothingness into which the Earth emerges. During this time other things emerge as well, such as divine beings like Eros (love) and the Abyss (Tartarus). Asexually, the earth gave birth to Uranus who then fertilized her. From that fertilization came the Titans. There were six males and six females. Following the birth of the Titans were the births of the Cyclops and the Hecatonchires. The myth continues and explains that the youngest of the Titans, Cronus, overtook his father and became ruler of the gods with his Titan sister/wife, Rhea. This father/son conflict was repeated in the creation myth when Zeus confronted Cronus. Because Cronus overtook his father he was afraid that his own offspring would do the same in turn, so each time that Rhea had a child, Cronus would eat it. Rhea hated this and so she hid one son, Zeus, away from Cronus and in his place swaddled a stone in a blanket and let Cronus eat that instead. When Zeus had grown up he drugged his father, which caused Cronus to throw up all of the brothers and sisters to Zeus, along with one stone. Zeus then challenged Cronus for kingship of the gods and with the help of the Cyclops, Zeus was successful in conquering Cronus. The Titans were then thrown into Tartarus and imprisoned.
According to the mythology, after the Titans were imprisoned, this gave rise to the new pantheon of gods and goddesses who resided atop Mount Olympus. The Greeks did not worship these gods alone; they also worshiped spirits like nymphs, dryads, and satyrs. Like many other cultures there was also a duality to their myths. Along with the "good" deities, there were also "bad" forces at work. Some examples of these are the spirits or gods that resided in the Underworld, such as the Furies. A constant theme with Greek deities was that they were immortal and could only be wounded under highly unusual circumstances. These deities retained their immortality by the continual usage of nectar and ambrosia, which was for the purpose of renewing their divine blood. Most gods in Greek mythology were associated with specific aspects of life. Covering the basic and well known gods of Greek Mythology there was Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Ares was the god of war and Hades was the god of the deceased. Greek Mythology peaks with the Trojan War. Greeks regarded their mythology as part of their history and it was part of everyday life in their culture.
Greek Mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greek culture. This encompasses their beliefs in gods, deities, and their epic stories. Greek Mythology has had an influence in the western world through culture, art and literature. The way that we have come to know about the mythology in the Greek culture is through literature and representations of visual media. One such example are Homer's two epic poems entitled the Iliad and the Odyssey. The mythology in Greek culture has changed over time. This was due to the need for accommodation for the evolution of their culture. Earlier Greeks were mainly agriculturally focused, thus their mythology assigned a spirit to everything in nature. These spirits were then anthropomorphized and became gods and goddesses. When another group of Greeks invaded they brought with them a new group of gods who were based on things like conquest, force, heroism, and efficiency in battle. The older deities fused with this new group of gods and others just became obsolete.
In Greek Mythology there exists a "creation myth" similar to other cultures. It was an attempt to explain the unfathomable origin of the world. The most widely accepted of the creation myths was the one explained and reported by Hesoid's Theogony. The creation myth begins with Chaos and nothingness into which the Earth emerges. During this time other things emerge as well, such as divine beings like Eros (love) and the Abyss (Tartarus). Asexually, the earth gave birth to Uranus who then fertilized her. From that fertilization came the Titans. There were six males and six females. Following the birth of the Titans were the births of the Cyclops and the Hecatonchires. The myth continues and explains that the youngest of the Titans, Cronus, overtook his father and became ruler of the gods with his Titan sister/wife, Rhea. This father/son conflict was repeated in the creation myth when Zeus confronted Cronus. Because Cronus overtook his father he was afraid that his own offspring would do the same in turn, so each time that Rhea had a child, Cronus would eat it. Rhea hated this and so she hid one son, Zeus, away from Cronus and in his place swaddled a stone in a blanket and let Cronus eat that instead. When Zeus had grown up he drugged his father, which caused Cronus to throw up all of the brothers and sisters to Zeus, along with one stone. Zeus then challenged Cronus for kingship of the gods and with the help of the Cyclops, Zeus was successful in conquering Cronus. The Titans were then thrown into Tartarus and imprisoned.
According to the mythology, after the Titans were imprisoned, this gave rise to the new pantheon of gods and goddesses who resided atop Mount Olympus. The Greeks did not worship these gods alone; they also worshiped spirits like nymphs, dryads, and satyrs. Like many other cultures there was also a duality to their myths. Along with the "good" deities, there were also "bad" forces at work. Some examples of these are the spirits or gods that resided in the Underworld, such as the Furies. A constant theme with Greek deities was that they were immortal and could only be wounded under highly unusual circumstances. These deities retained their immortality by the continual usage of nectar and ambrosia, which was for the purpose of renewing their divine blood. Most gods in Greek mythology were associated with specific aspects of life. Covering the basic and well known gods of Greek Mythology there was Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Ares was the god of war and Hades was the god of the deceased. Greek Mythology peaks with the Trojan War. Greeks regarded their mythology as part of their history and it was part of everyday life in their culture.