Classical Mythology Essay

Since the beginning of time the people of the world have their share of beliefs. Greek mythology is the arguably the most popular region of study. In Ancient Greece every citizen had a patron that would protect them and pantheism was commonplace. The Romans admired the Greeks in their art and culture and even took different aspects of their gods. Polytheism was widely accepted in all cultures so the seed of mythology bloomed. The time line of the creations of gods to the end of their reign is an important factor in Greek Mythology.

Ancient Greek society fell over 2000 years ago but despite this, its mythology still continues to influence our western society. References to Greek mythology can be found all through time and in our western culture. The influence of Greek mythology can be found in our science, arts and literature and our language. When Ancient Greece fell to the Roman Empire, Rome adapted its mythologies which still influence us today as they have through history. That is not to say that Greek mythology wasn’t influenced itself – Greek mythology has links with the bible and the early Mycenaean’s. It has also been recognised as one of the earliest forms of paganism.

Greek mythology is the body of myths and legends belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of their own cult and ritual practices. They were a part of religion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to, and study, the myths, in an attempt to throw light on the religious and political institutions of Ancient Greece, its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making itself.

Growing up as a citizen of ancient Greek and Rome being raised to follow Greek and Roman mythology caused the ancient people to believe that they must act and behave like the gods. In creating this ideology, the people developed same personality and behavior habits as the gods in various myths. But even as the myths were written, the personalities of the gods and goddesses reflected the average human in that time period. The gods were so much like humans that it was normal to behave like them. Ancient Greek Philosophy stated “the gods depicted by Homer acted selfishly and were driven by emotions such as favoritism and jealousy. They behaved like ordinary people except they were immortal and had supernatural powers.” Unlike other religions were the gods have never sinned and are very different from humans, the gods in ancient Greek mythology make mistakes and commit horrific crimes that in today’s society would be highly unacceptable. For the people, it is a lot easier to be human and make mistakes rather than try to be perfect and sinless.

     Mythology is a way that the ancient societies explained why things are the way they are and how they came to being. Two ancient societies are infamous for their mythology. These societies are Greece and Rome. Great authors were made be the mythological works they wrote. Homer was a famous author who is best known for his epics. It is from these epics that most of the gods and actual myths well known. I am writing of two of these gods in particular, Saturn and Dionsysus.

The very first thing I am able to think of with this is the Bible. It encompasses everything that has

The ancient Greeks were a highly superstitious and spiritual people. As the Greeks had no written book or scripture of their faith, it can be assumed that the ancient peoples lived their lives based on the stories told within their mythology. Mythology was used for various reasons, the three major ones being as a cosmogony, as etiological stories to explain otherwise unexplainable phenomena, and as a means to deter mortals from

Edith Hamilton is the author of the book Mythology. This book is about the Mythology of the Romans and Greeks through her eyes and the way she interprets it. In the beginning of the book Hamilton writes an introduction to Classical Mythology and how, and why it came about. She starts off by writing that Greek and Roman Mythology is meant to show us how people felt about the human race and about where they came from many years ago. She points out that Mythology describes the Earth when it was young and people cared for the Earth more than today. This is true, because in today?s world not many people are caring about the Earth and its going by us fast.

There once was a god named Perculus, he was one of the three lost gods that were destroyed by Zeus. He was the god of education; he was responsible for teaching all the citizens of Greece the basic ways of living. Once Zeus got into power he was jealous that someone other than himself was teaching the citizens so he sent him to Hades, along with two other gods for other personal reasons, Diminutive the original god of Truth and, Gargantuan the god of punishment.

Greek Mythology played a monumental role in the structural development of ancient Greece, not only as a society, but as individuals. Surprisingly, their religion was not exactly one of originality. In fact, their religion was loosely based on earlier cultures’ religions. It bears many strikingly similar resemblances to some of the oldest recorded religions in history. Ancient Greek religion is a type of polytheism called “Monarchial Polytheism.” That is, they believe in several different gods and deities but there is a supreme ruler above all of them. In order to fully understand how similar the mythological systems of religions have been throughout the years, you must look back towards the earliest of recorded civilizations. Polytheism

Greek Myths are kind of a half-and-half type of deal. They could be either superstitious tales and sound fake or they could be realistic.The way that some authors write them they make it sound like they could be superstitious tales. While others put it in a realistic perspective persuading the reader that these things actually happened.

In Greek Mythology, perhaps one of the most rudimental yet one of the most important elements are the Greek Gods and Goddesses. The ancient Greeks created the stories about the lives and journeys of the Greek Gods, known as myths, simply as an endeavor to elucidate nature and all phenomena which were difficult to explain using modern science and logic. These myths about the Gods were spread around the world by explorers and storytellers, and later merged with Greek religion. To this day, numerous myths survived through many writings and through much art. Each of these myths is very unique, and moreover, tells us much about the Greek Gods. The Greek myths in particular convey to us that Greek Gods and Goddesses looked and acted like humans,

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:

Greek mythology is a very valued body of literature, and had inspired, taught, and grounded many people who has either read or listened to these great tales. These stories of gods, goddesses, and heroes reflect the unexplained beginning of many ways of nature, moral stands, and entertaining legends. The book, “Gods, Heroes, and Men of Ancient Greece”, is a bible of the relations and narratives of ancient Greece. Many stories of Zeus, Athena, Demeter, Hermes, and many more gods and goddesses have entertained people for centuries. The legends of Pandora, Persephone, and Cronos have directed, justified, and amused communities will continue to do so for years to come.

When people think of mythology they usually get an idea of gods’ monsters and magic. However people don’t realize how mythology is so connected to the existence of humanity and how we will grow and fall as a species. It’s not the easiest concept for us as a species to wrap our heads around but these stories in mythology almost tells us how our future might end up. David Leeming has a definition for mythology that states, humans are always on a quest for fulfillment in the face of entropy. Entropy is the idea that we are always moving toward chaos and disorder. Based on what I’ve seen and read in mythology it almost seems like these stories and ideas but me more relevant than we actually believe.