Greek Mythology: Fear of the Unknown

“Mythos”- a Greek word meaning “tale” and the origin of the word mythology; according to the dictionary mythology means, a traditional story aiming to explain the meaning of things concerning deities and demigods.

myths were sacred in the Greek culture and it helped people figure out how everything was

When people wonder about Ancient Greece the first thing that comes to their minds is Greek mythology; gods and goddesses that have helped shape many historical events. “In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life.” (“Greek Mythology.”) The civilization showed that numerous characters and stories helped shape Greeks. The beliefs the Greeks had with mythologies was they understood the meaning behind all the characters that are known today. However, to the Greeks, they were not just characters, these were their gods and goddesses who gave them meaning and understanding of the world around them. Worshiping the gods and goddesses helped them with their religious rituals and the temperament of the weather. A famous wine-jar that was made during this time period was “Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea, 540-530 BCE, black-figured amphora”. (Khan Academy) The civilization that they lived in grew around their worship and achievements.

First, in the story of Phaethon, Phaethon is characterized as a thoughtless and headstrong boy. These characteristics lead to catastrophic results, and help relate back to the main theme; A prideful disregard of the warnings from those who are older and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences. For example, while driving the sun chariot and contemplating flying closer to Earth so everyone will see him, Phaethon exclaims, “Apollo said not to come too close to the Earth, but how will he know? And I won't stay long, just dip down towards the villages.” (53). This implies the Phaethon does not think about his actions, nor their consequences, and only does what benefits him and his reputation. Another adjective that could be used to describe Phaethon is stubborn, which is also demonstrated in this quote. It illustrates the idea that Phaethon was being overconfident and arrogant about

The relationship between gods and mortals in mythology has long been a complicated topic. The gods can be generous and supportive, and also devastating and destructive to any group of humans. Mortals must respect the powers above them that cannot be controlled. The gods rule over destiny, nature, and justice, and need to be recognized and worshipped for the powerful beings as they are. Regardless of one's actions, intentions, and thoughts, the gods in Greek myth have ultimate power and the final decision of justice over nature, mortals, and even each other.

Almost every Greek myth in Heroes, Gods, and Monsters of the Greek Myths has arrogance as a sin. The story of Phaethon reminded me the most of arrogance as a sin. Phaethon was a son of Apollo and he was talking to the son of Zeus, who didn’t believe that he was the son of Apollo. Phaethon out of arrogance, told the son of

If there’s one thing one can count on when it comes to Greek gods, it’s that they’re critically flawed. Anyone reading Homer’s The Iliad can see the Greek gods act just like humans, constantly bickering, deceiving and throwing fits. The only people who can’t see through this facade of glorious immortality are the Greeks themselves. Throughout Homer’s entire epic, the gods continuously help the mortals based upon their own motives, and yet, the humans still worship them, ask them for help and forgiveness and blessings. Any reader would throw up their hands, disgusted that the humans glorify these beings that possess all the character flaws that mortals do. Homer is very successful in portraying humanity throughout his text, both through the perspective of the gods, and the perspective of the humans. While readers are allowed insight to both worlds, the characters themselves only see one dimension, resulting in the unequal nature of the humans constantly working to please the gods, sometimes to no avail. The Iliad exposes the fatal character flaws of the gods to readers, while also maintaining the mortal Greek perspective that gods are perfect beings, looking out for the greater good of mankind.

The ancient Greeks thought the gods affected everything. They believed that Mount Olympus was where the gods lived, earthquakes were a message from the gods, and their first olive tree was a gift from Athena. Mount Olympus was assumed to be home to the gods because the mountain rises 9,570 feet in the air. The entrance to Olympus was a “...great gate of clouds, kept by the Seasons.” (Document 2) Another important geographic feature the Greeks made into a religious belief was the landscape and environment. Greece is “...smack-dab in the middle of a very active volcanic zone,” (Document 3) so the Greeks formed a religion called oracles, and the belief was “Oracles are the gods speaking to people, often in the form of minor earthquakes,” (Document

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

The Hero’s Journey, as defined by Joseph Campbell, is a set of stages a protagonist must undergo to reinter into his known and normal world after facing many challenges. One specific challenge the hero must face is described as the Supreme Ordeal, which is the moment the greatest fear is confronted. In The Odyssey, Odysseus must kill the suitors who took over his household to reach the next stage of his journey. As Odysseus slaughters the suitors in the hall of his home in Book 22, not only does he enter the Supreme Ordeal stage of the Hero’s Journey to face his greatest fear, but also is one phase closer to reintegrating with society.

“Gods can be evil sometimes.” In the play “Oedipus the King”, Sophocles defamed the gods’ reputation, and lowered their status by making them look harmful and evil. It is known that all gods should be perfect and infallible, and should represent justice and equity, but with Oedipus, the gods decided to destroy him and his family for no reason. It might be hard to believe that gods can have humanistic traits, but in fact they do. The gods, especially Apollo, are considered evil by the reader because they destroyed an innocent man’s life and his family. They destroyed Oedipus by controlling his fate, granting people the power of prophecy, telling Oedipus about his fate through the oracle of Apollo, and finally afflicting the people of

The gods in the Iliad are manifested not just to have a direct hand in the lives of mortals, but moreover to be picky about whom they would like to help. Greek religion held powers and fears of all kinds so therefore the reasons behind their motivation and resolutions is not like the modern Christian notion where they think that whoever deserves to have the honor will be it. From what I have read to see, its gods were within the world, one that they did not create. Power such as gods, spirits and nymphs did not die but yet were born. The Greek gods were immortal and had a long life with all

“Let battle-stirring Athena appear and contest her skill with mine'; (Rosenberg and Baker 128). The gods were jealous of each other too and competed on things like their children. “Hera felt even more embarrassed when Hephaestus, the child she hoped would compete with Athena’s excellence, turned out to be lame'; (Rosenberg and Baker 52). The gods were often jealous when mortals exclude them in their offerings and would not hide their anger. Jealousy was a weakness the Greek gods possess and would usually lead to foolish mistakes.

Ancient Greece was filled with so much character, from their religion to even the stories that followed them through generation to generation. One important thing to remember is how they took their religion very seriously and believed very much in their goddesses and their gods. This strong belief carried out into their everyday lives, where they began to believe that everything that happened within their day, was from the gods. With such a love and respect for these gods, they held them up on a pedestal and gave them all their respect and looked at them only as positive. These gods that play a role in their life, often act more as a spiritual guide more than anything. They take on mortal disguises to allow them to help the world without becoming noticed. As we can see in The Odyssey, the relationship between gods and mortals is close knit, but the main difference that is evident, is the power between the two. The gods may not be able to cause death upon a mortal, but they can do everything to lead towards that. In the book, the gods can make or break your day. We see within several relationships between the gods and mortals, that the power from the gods can be not only positive, but also negative. Each mortal has been influenced in some way by the gods, for either the greater good, or bad. Which goes without saying, that the Greek take their theology in believing in the gods, very seriously.

"A myth is a collective term denoting a symbolic narrative in religion, as distinguished from symbolic behavior (cult, ritual) and symbolic places or objects (temples, icons)". (The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. 24)Mythology is a collection of myths meant to explain the universe. Mythological stories were told in many different cultures and civilizations. The existence of myths is known in every society. Many different myths were conceived to explain occurrences that happened in nature.