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Greek mythology influence on modern society
The influence of Greek mythology on modern society
Greek mythology influence on modern society
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Mythology is an essential part of all cultures. Through myth, ancient cultures attempted to explain the world and make sense of their daily lives. Myth helps us to live in the minds and time period of people who lived many centuries ago with no technology, no running water, and a basic education. Greek myth is possibly the most commonly recognized myth simply because it is likely the most developed and best recorded. Modern Greek myth originated around 1000 B.C. in the writings of the famous Greek poet Homer in the Odyssey and the Illiad. Although early Greek myths are often vague and contain many primitive elements regarding their understanding of death, sacrifice, and fate, later myths show Greek culture developed and changed over time. To the early Greeks, death was dark and mysterious. Early myth about the underworld and life after death is very vague, and it is likely that the Greeks just did not understand death or the underworld. In Homer’s myths the underworld, Erebus, was the child of Chaos along with Night. The early Greeks, according to Hamilton, believed that …show more content…
They believed, that they had a set destiny that they could not alter. In Greek myth, Fate was often very mysterious and hard to explain and quite possibly more powerful than Zeus. Early myth explains Fate as a power, much like death. Hamilton says Homer makes, “Hera ask him (Zeus) scornfully if he proposes to deliver from death a man Fate has doomed,” (Hamilton 26). Despite the Greek beliefs that they could not change their fate, they still attempted to understand it. Early Greek myth shows humans trying to understand fate through myths about Apollo’s oracle. Apollo’s oracle is able to predict the future, but its messages are often vague and puzzling. So even though people could be told their future they did not necessarily understand it. The early Greeks clearly believed that life was fixed and nothing they did could change
Long ago, stories of gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters in ancient Greece were essential to everyday life. Mythology is a culture’s collective rationalization of events, history, and super natural power. Myths are told to have originated in ancient Greece during but the concepts true source is unknown. Influences mythology has on Greeks and Romans include religion, history, art, and entertainment.
Myth: The word myth comes from the Greek word 'mythos' which means 'to tell a story.' Myths can help to explain nature, history, cultural customs, and provide a form of entertainment. Myths often carry an important message for a culture, and help to convey belonging, shared religious experience, and teach moral lessons. The main characters in myths are usually Gods, Goddesses, or supernatural humans often portrayed as heroes. Myths were traditionally passed through the oral tradition (spoken word).
Mythology is the study of a compiled group of stories that describe the culture’s practices and past experiences. Mythology is a valuable aspect of every culture. It communicates the culture’s truthful everyday experiences or fabricated details of past events, roles, and traditions such as family, sexuality, art, religion, philosophy, laws and marriage. A culture’s collective group of stories help communicate loyalty, ethical and rational teachings, and social models. Ancient Greece and Egypt are two cultures that we’ve studied in this course so far that I will discuss the Creation Myth associated with each culture.
A mythology is an important feature of many cultures. A myth is a sacred narrative that explains how the world and humankind assumed their present form. In a broad sense, it can refer to any traditional story. A myth’s function is to provide a model for behavior and to provide a religious experience. By reenacting myths societies bring themselves closer to the divine.
The origin of the word myth seems to be a myth in itself. Myths have generally originated from a Greek history that used an oral tradition to explain events that occurred before the written word. Often supernatural beings or fictitious characters were used to explain popular ideas concerning phenomena's of nature or the history of people. The myths that were carried on from generation to generation were often very imaginative in an attempt to spark the interest of young listeners. These would be told at social gatherings. The main purpose of a myth was to relay historical information among groups. Early myths often dealt with the origin of man, customs, religious rights, incidents involving the lives of gods, stories of culture heroes, adaptations of old world myths, or the retelling of biblical stories.
“Without a knowledge of mythology much of the elegant literature of our own language cannot be understood and appreciated,” Thomas Bulfinch once proclaimed. Greek Mythology is often misunderstood as the main religion of Greece, but in all actuality Greek Mythology is simply a genre. A genre with the same equivalence to any other genre but this genre did something that no other could’ve accomplished. This genre has inspired religions, poets and artist all over the world and continues to influence somebody’s life every day. So why was Greek Mythology created, what is Greek Mythology, how does it compare to other mythologies, how does it exemplify the human race, and why has it affected so many people?
Mythology was an integral part of the lives of all ancient peoples. The myths of
The ancient Greeks portrayed the underworld as a place for all the dead and clearly visualized it in their myths and legends. The underworld in Greek mythology was not a lively place, for it was where all the dead souls went. When a person dies, the soul is sent to Hades, a more formal name for the underworld. The dead would go to Hades because there was no annihilation in the Greek mythology. The dead are dead because they have a flavorless and unhappy existence".
While many people today seem to be scared to die, and make great strides to avoid an early death, this is not a new human concern. In fact, Dr. Peter J. Brand did some extensive research on how people in Ancient Mesopotamia viewed death and the afterlife. He believes death was extremely scary to people of this region. In his article titled: Dying: Death and the Afterlife, Brand states, “Like all human cultures, the people of Ancient Egypt and Mesopotamia were greatly troubled by death.” (Brand pg. 1) Apparently, it death was even more dreadful in the minds of the Mesopotamians. “Mesopotamian views of death were more pessimistic, resulting in less elaborate preparations for death.” (Brand pg.1) On the contrary, it seems that there would have been a lot of preparation involved, since the journey to the underworld alone was a perilous feat. This tells us that there was nothing glorified about death, and nothing exciting about traveling to the underworld. However, it reveals that there was a lot of confusion surrounding death, and confusion how to deal with it. Dr. Brand goes on to talk about how the underworld was a ...
Thousands of years of superstition and spiritual worship evolved into Greeks’ religion, which was based on mythology and the belief that gods of the Olympus controlled the lives of men. Sophocles brings to light the Greeks’ beliefs in several scenes as the gods are consulted through the oracles. In one scene, Iokaste tells Oedipus that an oracle told Laios that his doom would be death at the hands of his own son. His son born of his flesh and mine (II. 214-220). Iokaste and Laios had asked an oracle about their baby’s future (Oedipus) to have better understanding of the child’s fate. Upon receiving this information, and realizing the tragic destiny o...
Greek mythology is a body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks concerning Titans, gods, and heroes. According to Alan Dundes, a myth is a sacred narrative explaining how the world and humankind assumed their present form (Dundes 1). Though now it may be referred to as mythology, to the ancient Greeks it was an aspect of their religion. Like many other pre-Christian societies, the ancient Greeks deemed things that were important in their lives, such as fire, water, air, and lightning to be gods which govern the world. The gods of the ancient Greeks had a complicated genealogy with many generations of gods and goddesses. The tales of these gods were woven into an immense variety of fables. The fables of the Greek gods were handed down through word of mouth, from one generation to another, long before written logs were used (History). The fables that were passed down show that the Greeks used the tales to give answers to the questions, such as where do we come from? How did we get here? Why are we here? Questions like these are human nature and the basis of all religions.
Greeks have been telling mythology stories for centuries. There are plenty of different uses for the many stories told long ago by the Ancient Greeks. However, the major purpose of these stories was to help the Greeks come up with explanations for why things are the way they are. Some examples of Greek mythology doing this is when they used their stories to interpret why a plant is a certain color, where some animals come from, what the stars in the sky represent, etc..
Out of all the mythologies of the world, Greek mythology has had the most influence on our society. The Greeks started their civilization and even though it only lasted 1,300 years, yet their influenced went beyond. Many people don’t realize that their influence is everywhere around us and there influenced has helped us with our language, films, and Companies.
Greek mythology is a compilation of the Ancient Greek stories that are based on their culture and practices. It's also about their gods and heroes, as well as their origins. Each of the Greek myths has a moral message through the stories that are written. It teaches us the good deeds and wrongdoing of the gods and goddesses, and how we, as a human being, should act. Thus, Greek mythology should be taught to high school students.
In conclusion, myths reflect show us the Greeks view on the world, religion, and nature. Their understanding of the world is both similar and different compared to modern society. Myths also reflect the importance of gods in the Greek society and how each god represented something different. In addition, we can see the role of monsters in myths, what they represent and how were they important. Myths also show us the role of women in society and whether they were as important as men or not.