The Greek myths evidently demonstrate that the ancient Greeks value wisdom and leadership. Myths that show the Greeks value wisdom are the Birth of Athena and Prometheus helping the humans. Greeks myths that show leadership was valued are Zeus’s battle with Cronus and the Titans and Jason journey for the Golden Fleece. Wisdom is extremely important and is greatly respected by the Greeks. A myth that displays wisdom is the Birth of Athena. Zeus ate his wife, Metis, after he turned her into a fly. This came back to bite him because he developed a pounding headache. Hephaestus realized that the most logical solution was to slice open Zeus’s head with a razor sharp ax and, “Athena sprang out, fully grown and dressed in armor” (“Athena”). Athena gained her wisdom and knowledge from Hephaestus’s wise decision in splitting …show more content…
Cronus consumed all of his offspring except Zeus, who was saved by his mother, Rhea. When Zeus grew up, he was furious for what his father ad done and wanted to punish him. He tricked his father to throw up his siblings and they battled Cronus and the Titans. “Zeus… battled the Titans in a conflict that lasted ten years… In the end, the Titans were overthrown, and Zeus sent all those who had opposed him to Tartarus” (“Zeus”). Zeus showed his leadership because he defeated the Cronus and the Titans and it would not have been possible without him. The Greek hero, Jason, displayed leadership in his quest to get the Golden Fleece. After King Pelias told Jason he could have the throne if he brought him the Golden Fleece, “Jason assembled a band of brave adventurers… to accompany him on his quest” (“Jason”). He showed leadership by immediately taking charge and leading the handpicked Argonauts to accomplish a nearly impossible feat. Leadership is a highly respected quality and is important to the Greek
The people of Greece believed in mythology and believed they were blessed by the deity which inspired the artists’ creation of the spectacular sculptures including Athena Parthenos, the goddess of wisdom. Wisdom during this period was highly regarded. Most of the sculptures in Athens were made of different types of bronze. (See Figure 1.)
Mythology was very important to the men and women of ancient Greece. They worshipped the gods and goddesses, wrote poems about them, and based a great deal of art work off of them. The people of Greece looked to the gods and goddesses for help in all aspects of their lives; including health, agriculture, and war. Reading about Greek mythology can inform people about the society of Greece because the Greek gods were created by the people of Greece. Three main goddesses who were worshipped by the Greeks were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite.
In modern society, wisdom can be defined as the quality of having experience, knowledge, and moral judgment; the quality of being wise. However, Socrates had the idea that wisdom was knowing oneself. Socrates’s was beyond brilliant compared to the average Athenian; he was self-aware and just. Although Socrates tended to meddle in the affairs of others, he consequently had the ability to spark enlightenment among the people in Athens. To Socrates, philosophy served as the study of humans. He highlights this in The Apology when he goes from one social group to the next in search for the wisest of all the land. This is of course in response to the Oracle of Delphi addressing the fact that Socrates presents himself as the wisest of the entire known world. This was dangerous since Socrates dared to challenge the Oracle by trying to demonstrate he was not the wisest. Through this, however, Socrates learns that he was the wisest because he could admit that he did not have knowledge in all subjects; he could explicitly declare that he has not achieved ultimate knowledge of everything, unlike most Athenians.
Greek mythology exhibits gods facing mortal problems. This makes these myths very relatable and applicable to one’s everyday life. Through reading Medusa, Icarus and Pandora’s myths, many valuable lessons and truths are learned. A philosophical lesson from Medusa’s myth is “beauty is only skin deep, whereas true beauty comes from one's self”. A thoughtful moral from Icarus’ myth is “don't push your luck, sometimes it's better to just follow the rules to avoid trouble”. Lastly the moral found in Pandora’s myth is “Curiosity sometimes kills the cat”.
Zeus, Lord of the Skies, King of the Gods, was the last sibling of the Titan Kronos and the Titaness Rhea. He would have suffered the same fate as his other five Olympian siblings, Demeter, Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, and Hera, being swallowed alive, if it had not been for his mother hiding him and tricking Kronos into eating a large stone instead. He was raised in a cave with nine spirits, the Kouretes, and a goat, Amaltheia, that nursed him with her milk and the bees of the mountain provided honey. As a baby, adding on to the fact that his voice was booming, being the thunder god, he was quite boisterous and would have attracted the attention of his father, but the Kouretes banged their shields in order to drown out the child’s cries (Atsma) (Atsma).
Greek mythology has been around for hundreds of years, and it has influenced much of our culture with it’s outrageous stories and fables. With epics like “The Odyssey” teaching morals to ancient Greece, or myths like Hades and Persephone “explaining” how seasons were created , “the group of stories known as classical myths were first written down by the ancient Greeks,” each having their own plot and storyline, but all leading to one another in a combined piece (Bingham, 6). The stories of Greek Mythology have influenced the arts and literature of the world, displayed the morals that the Greeks believed in, and changed how they thought about science and natural events.
Zeus had been through a lot of terrible things, For example, he was the last child of titans Cronus and Rhea, and avoided being swallowed by his father when Rhea sought help from Uranus and Ge. Cronus had previously swallowed Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon. Zeus had shared the rule of the world and became king of Olympus as the children of Cronus were filled with admiration
Those are not the only examples of intellectualism in Greek/Roman Mythology though, for there are still serval others. A major example of that is when looking at the way Roman Mythology was created. The founding of Roman Mythology was done through taking Greek Mythology and altering it to better their views and culture. This is an example of intellectualism because of the way that the people of Rome needed to reflect on the Greek Myths and then debate on how to alter them to fit their values. On top of that, The Way the Roman’s used the new Myths to incorporate the old religion of Rome was a fascinating thing. This was shown in Ovid’s writings, this is best seen in his tale of Fasti. As said by Wasson, “In Fasti he portrayed the festivals of
... children, Zeus, survived and it ultimately led to Cronus’s downfall. In order to uphold his preeminence, Cronus needed to limit the competition, which were his children. Also, in the myth of Medea, Medea assassinated both her children and her younger brother, without any sympathy. To be certain that her younger brother did not rebel against her in the future, she took the necessary steps to eliminate him. Medea as well murders her own children in which she bore to Jason, only to make him suffer. The vicious ways in which parents used to control their children’s lives just sparked a more hostile relationship.
When relating to the intricate term of “Wisdom”, most merely describe it as “Intelligence” or just simply “Prudence” but, according to Socrates, it means more than just those two undemanding words. Socrates, prominent for being a well-known Greek philosopher, epitomized the idea of “The Pursuit of Wisdom” as he traveled throughout the city of Athens in attempt to find words true philosophical meaning. Philosophy relates wisdom to “the love or pursuit of wisdom” and this term was highly exemplified throughout Socrates’ life. Furthermore, in Plato’s early teachings, it explained how Socrates had searched for the true meanings of undefined words such as: Truth, wisdom, and beauty to rather gain insight. He was very persistent in the sense that
As Leroy Eimes once said “a leader is one who sees more than others see, who sees farther than others see, and who sees before others see.” Just like the quote implies qualities of a leader go beyond that of just power. As the term “leader” is easy to define, leadership is difficult to fully implement. In Homer’s “The Odyssey,” leader Odysseus is the definition of Leroy Eimes quote - generally looking beyond certain situations when his crew members don’t. Trust over power is what contributes to the many attributes of a leader.
The Greek myths, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus, have characters that exhibit pride as well as disobedience, which lead to their downfall, both figuratively and literally. Literary elements are used by the authors of both myths in order to describe and develop characters and events, and to teach a lesson. Through the use of characterization, imagery, and conflict, the mythical protagonists, Phaethon and Icarus, demonstrate a common theme that a prideful disregard of the warnings from those who are older and wiser is likely to lead to disastrous consequences.
What is leadership, and how do we attain the best and most effective leaders? These are questions that are as old as civilization itself. Bass (1974) wrote that, “from its infancy, the study of history has been the study of leaders” (as cited in Wren, 1995, p. 50). Since the study of history in the West is commonly held to begin with Herodotus of ancient Athens, it is not surprising that we should examine the historical views of leadership through the eyes of two titans of Greek thought: Plato and Aristotle.
In the Greek world, stories were told in the form of myths. These myths are what tell us the stories of their pasts, their lives, what they believed in, and more importantly what they saw within their society. So many things we know and are inspired by come from the Greek world but rarely do we look at the myths that shaped them into a society that they were. The myths we learned about from ancient Greeks world incorporated different deities, demigods, monsters, and heroes that were all praised and admired by the Greek people. These figures we imagined to lived on Mount Olympus but were something that was incorporated in the Greeks everyday lives. Some of the way this myths shaped the Greek world were through comparing and differentiating male vs. female, polis vs. polis, and Greek vs. "barbarian," to create this Greek identity.
Philosophy can be defined as the pursuit of wisdom or the love of knowledge. Socrates, as one of the most well-known of the early philosophers, epitomizes the idea of a pursuer of wisdom as he travels about Athens searching for the true meaning of the word. Throughout Plato’s early writings, he and Socrates search for meanings of previously undefined concepts, such as truth, wisdom, and beauty. As Socrates is often used as a mouthpiece for Plato’s ideas about the world, one cannot be sure that they had the same agenda, but it seems as though they would both agree that dialogue was the best way to go about obtaining the definitions they sought. If two people begin on common ground in a conversation, as Socrates often tries to do, they are far more likely to be able to civilly come to a conclusion about a particular topic, or at least further their original concept.