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Greek culture and its influence in western society
Greek culture and its influence in western society
The role of gods in ancient Greece
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According to ancient Greek mythology there were twelve gods called the Olympians, who lived on Mount Olympus. Apollo was one of these gods. He was the god of many things including: poetry, music, archery, and prophecy, among many other things (Daly). Apollo was a god who had many love lives, had an interesting birth and establishment story, and is represented by many items and symbols. Apollo has one of the most interesting birth and establishment stories in all of Greek Mythology. Apollo’s mother, Leto, was forbidden by Hera to give birth on earth. In order to give birth safely, Leto gave birth to Apollo and his twin brother Artemis on the floating island of Ortygia, later called Delos (Grimal), (Pantheon). Apollo grew to manhood in four
“Apollo is considered the god of music, prophecy, oracles, healing, plague and disease, song, poetry, archery, and the protection of the young. He is always depicted as a handsome young male with long flowing hair, with his bow and his lyre in hand. His Mother and Father are Zeus and Leto. (Leto is a female titan.) Apollo has a twin sister named Artemis. She is the goddess of hunting, wilderness, and wild animals. Apollo was not only a very skilled musician he was also very skilled with his Silver bow.” (1)
Apollo is a very important and powerful god. He is the god of music, poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague, medicine, sun, light, and knowledge. His valuable abilities granted him a seat in Mount Olympus with 11 other powerful deities. He is the ideal of Kouros: beardless and an athletic youth. His gift of prophecies and oracles were given to him due to the fact that he is unable to speak a lie. (Weaver)
Often known as one of the greatest Greek heroes of all time, Bellerophon was the man most favored by the gods before Hercules. Bellerophon is the son of Poseidon and Queen Eurynome making him demigod. Queen Eurynomes husband was King Glaucus of Corinth who believed that Bellerophon was his own son and continued to raise him as if he was. At the age of sixteen Bellerophon set out to find adventure. Bellerophon befriends Proteus who was very jealous of Bellerophon. Because of this Proteus sent a sealed letter to his in-laws telling them to kill Bellerophon. Unaware of this, it is where Bellerophon's story starts.
On the island of Tucsonia in the southern Aegean Sea, numerous ancient Greek pilgrims and other observers come together in this little island to celebrate Apollo and his significance to the mortal world. Apollo the sun god was the son of Zeus and Leto, and the twin brother of Artemis. He was known for being the most “Greek” of all gods and was known for his young physical attributes. Apollo was also the god of sailors, colonizers, and prophecy. Although he had such important tasks as a god, his remarkable skills for music, predominantly identified with the lyre, was also acknowledged. One of Apollo’s most important daily tasks was to harness his four-horse chariot across the sky in order to move the sun. Thus, the festivities begin during the
The story of Athena’s birth is a very interesting one, as her birth like most from older pathos is not a normal birth story like todays births. Most of Athena’s birth stories state that she had no mother and only a father, Zeus. The story starts with two people, a God and a titan; we know them as Zeus and Metis.
Apollo is the god of music, poetry, art, oracles, archery, plague, medicine, sun, light, and knowledge. He is known as "Pythian," because he killed a giant python snake which had terrorized Delphi, and "Phoebus," because of his role as the god of light. Apollo is most recognized wearing a laurel, which symbolizes when his most famous lover, a nymph named Daphne, went to her father, River Peneius, and he transformed her into a laurel tree. Also, Apollo is the only god to wear a laurel. Apollo is known for carrying a silver bow which is said by others that the arrows can cause illness, but at the same time, he could heal the injured and sick himself. He is also recognized with a golden lyre which was gifted to him by the messenger god, Hermes,
Apollo is an interesting god in Greek mythology with an interesting background. An interesting story about him is when he followed Mother Earth’s Python to Mount Parnassus and “skinned the great snake and saved the hide for a gift.” This caught my attention because I always saw Apollo as a calm, forgiving god. Killing the python seemed very aggressive and I didn’t see that coming from Apollo. Another shocking moment is when Apollo challenges a satyr, Marsyas, to a competition to see who is the better musician and rigs it so that he will win. After Marsyas lost, Apollo “flayed Marsyas alive and nailed his skin to a tree. This act was quite brutal and I didn’t expect it to be done by Apollo. By fixing the competition you see how immature and
Hermes is an Olympian god who plays many roles in Greek mythology, and even appears in The Odyssey. He is the messenger of the gods, the personal agent of Zeus, and rules over a wide range of things. For example, Hermes is the god of travelling. One reason I chose Hermes is because he is the god of travelling, and travelling is something I enjoy doing. The second reason I chose Hermes is because he is crafty. I have discovered many of these interesting facts and the roles of Hermes using www.theoi.com
The main theme in Trials of Apollo: The Dark Prophecy is the change of perspective Apollo undergoes throughout the book (and the entire series). Apollo is an ex god sent to save the world as a mortal because he upset Zeus, this isn’t the first time, but he begins to emphasize with his new mortal friends. When Apollo returned from the Dark Oracle with an unconscious Meg McCaffrey, he encounters a demigod who’s been killed in battle; “I felt no pulse. I didn’t know whose side he had fought on, but that didn’t matter. Either way his death was a terrible waste.”
Imagine that you are walking into a psychic’s office with some issue on your mind. What would you want to hear? Your future? An answer? Advice? Apollo could do all of this for you. Apollo is the Greek god of light, poetry, music, truth, and healing. He is the son of Zeus and Leto, and he is the twin brother of Artemis. He’s famous for his oracle at the city of Delphi. Apollo is well-suited to being a psychic because he can forge connections with people, remain mystical when he talks, and always predict the future correctly.
Many people would blatantly state that the importance of the gods in Greek society derives from the fact that Gods in any society are usually used to explain phenomenon that people cannot logically comprehend, but in ancient Greece gods were actually entities that took part in the workings of society itself. Even simple aspects of day-to-day life such as sex and disputes between mortals were supposedly influenced by godly workings. Unlike modern religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, where an omnipotent force supposedly controls the workings of the world, a hierarchy of Gods characterized religion in ancient Greece. Working as one big family, which they actually were, each one of the Greek gods governed a certain aspect of the world in a way that usually reflected their own humanlike personalities. These unique personalities also contained many human flaws such as envy and greed, and were where the Greek God’s importance lay. Greek religion was more concentrated on the way an individual dealt with situations that popped up in the world around him than on understanding the world itself. In other words the Greeks were more interested in the workings of the mind than in the workings of the environment around them.
The Classical mythology contains tales and epics of the ancient Greek and roman literatures and myths. On the other hand, Homer’s two epic poems, the Iliad relates to the events of the Trojan War while the Odyssey details Odysseus expedition after the war. Homer’s epic poems, the Odyssey and the Iliad present a major part of ancient history as modern fictional heroic stories. In ancient Greek, heroes were humans who were depicted to possess superhuman abilities. A key example in the classical mythology is Akhilles who is later known in Homer’s Iliad as Achilles. Achilles is he greatest hero of the Iliad whereas Odysseus is the greatest hero of the Odyssey. The greatest heroes from classic mythology and the modern fictional hero’s stories are mortal, and subject to death. The Odyssey and the Iliad marks the beginning of modern fictional literature.
Apollo is the younger twin brother of the goddess Artemis and the son of Zeus, king of gods, and the Titan Leto, goddess of motherhood. Apollo’s story begins like many in Greek mythology, with jealousy, monsters and curses. Legend has it that even though Zeus married Hera after he had already impregnated Leto, Hera was still jealous of Leto. She forced Leto out of Olympus and sent a snake-like dragon, called Python, after her. She then put a curse on Leto that would prevent her from ever finding land on which she could rest to give birth to her children. Luckily for Leto, she found the floating rocky island Delos, which (because it was a floating island) did not count as “land”. She was able to give birth first to Artemis and then to
Apollo is the child of Zeus and Leto, and is the twin brother of the god Artemis. Apollo was born second, because Leto was not welcome in most cities or nations. This is because Hera was angry with Zeus for having an extramarital affair, so most of these places were afraid to take her in and having to risk the wrath of Athena. It wasn 't until Leto came across the small, decrepit island of Delos that she found the birthplace of Apollo. Leto offered for Apollo to make his temple on the island of Delos, and Delos gladly agreed. This is evidenced when Morford, Lenardon, and Sham write, "Leto, most renowned daughter of great Coeus, I should receive your son..." (Morford, Lenardon, and Sham 226). After this Apollo was born, and the island of Delos became Delphi, and was incredibly prosperous and the island housed the Oracle of Delphi, the main messenger of Apollo. This story about Apollo is incredibly interesting, because one would not expect this much struggle for a God to be born. This story is one that exemplifies the human nature of Apollo, and shows that if one waits long enough, good things will come of patience. Apollo 's birth story is not only extraordinary because he is a God, but also because his story is one that includes struggle that all people can relate
Zeus hurls his thunderbolt and the world trembles. Odin invites fallen warriors in the halls of Valhalla for a drink. Jesus Christ spreads the words of his father and gathers disciples. Buddha sits and meditates the meaning of the universe. Across the world there have always been mythological stories. From the first civilization to modern times, mythologies help explain the vents of the world and attempt to provide answers for unanswerable questions. Though every mythology appears different, if one looks close enough, commonalities appear. Joseph Campbell spent his life studying mythologies and religions along with compiling the commonalities amongst them. This study on the works of Joseph Campbell focuses on the following areas: