Greek Mythology: Greek Moral Lessons

The Ancient Greeks believed in many gods and heroes during their time. Each one had a sole purpose in a mortal’s lifetime. Greek mythology had a huge impact on religion in Ancient Greece. The Greeks performed rituals in order to honor their gods. Mythology affected the Ancient Greeks in many ways. The origins of mythology, the influences of mythology through a human’s lifetime and lessons taught in the ancient myths will be examined.

on our history and mythology helped shed light to it’s culture, religion, and government of ancient Greece. The Mediterranean has served as a vessel for the early civilizations., Greek mythology has influenced the life style and religion of the Greeks, especially because Greek mythology served as the primary basis of Greek belief, it became the nearest thing the Greeks had to a holy bible.1 These mythologies served as the center of Greek life and these mythologies served as their basis for their life and in turn the mythologies shaped the foundation of the Greek life style, culture, religion that we know today.

Greek mythology is one of the coolest things anyone could think of. The ideas of gods and goddesses coming down to earth to interact with the human race, is quite an amazing thing. In many cultures, gods are very important. The ancient greek culture is an example where mythology is very important to the people, the gods are everywhere in daily life. Yet with the made up mythology, they needed a place to begin with and the greeks are no exception, but the story of the gods beginning is very interesting.

The Odyssey was an extremely popular story that is told around the world. The Odyssey shows many of the traits that the Greeks would have valued. In The Odyssey, the hero Odysseus is coming home from the hard fought Trojan War. On his journey back, he goes through many difficult quests that delays his return by 10 years. Once getting home, he is faced with even more challenges that he has to overcome. During his many adventures, many of the Greek’s valued traits are shown. The Odyssey reflects the Greek values of loyalty, obedience, and hospitality; those who don’t follow it are punished.

Greek Mythology has been known to be one of the footprints left by the civilization of ancient Greece to our history and these mythology somehow shed a light to the culture, life style, religion and history of ancient Greece since the mythology were the primary basis of the origin of the ancient Greeks and they believed that these mythologies explained the origin of why things turned out to be like that.

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.

The two myths, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus, describe the fatal mistake of 2 foolishly ambitious young boys. Throughout the two texts the authors, Bernard Evslin and Geraldine McCaughrean, who respectively rewrote Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus, use the literary elements of characterization and imagery to convey their shared theme. Through the use of characterization and imagery, both mythological protagonists, Phaethon and Icarus, demonstrate a common lesson that a prideful disregard of the warnings from those who are older and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences.

In conclusion the ancient greek myths and fables still inspire and teach lessons to people today by showing us some consequences the fables and myths had. Some bad consequences were like in “The Miser” and “The Hen and The Golden Eggs” when they lost their chance to have something good but did not because they did not make the right choice. Some good choices that happened is in Perseus because in that story he was thinking and used his resources wisely and in the end he had accomplished his mission. So to wrap it up the lesson is to appreciate and cherish things

Using the myth of Icarus, the speaker establishes the importance of myths in her relationship with her father and the lessons that follow them as they mature.

Daedalus carefully explains to his son, Icarus, how to use the wings he has invented. Even though Icarus is very mischievous, Daedalus trusts that he will take his warnings into consideration; however, his warning foreshadows Icarus’ downfall. His instructions connect to Icarus’ death since Icarus both melts the wax from the feathers and becomes too heavy to escape the waters. Given Daedalus’ instructions, Icarus was determined to fail since he had to delicately fly in between the waves and the sun, no explicit boundaries are in place. It is ironic that Daedalus fails to predict his son’s behavior, yet he equips Icarus with a such an instrument that requires a high skill to operate; therefore, Daedalus indirectly kills his only son.

“According to Brueghel when Icarus fell it was spring…” (Williams). Icarus, was the son of Daedalus, a skillful craftsman, who had created wings to help him and his son to escape the labyrinth they were trapped in. Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun, but Icarus didn’t listen. Icarus was very close to the sun, and his wings were made out of wax, the sun melted his wings, and Icarus fell into the ocean below. In both the poem and painting of Landscape with the fall of Icarus, Bruegel and Williams both portrayed, how ignorant and narcissistic the human population can be.

Icarus was not a man given to defeat. He was a hero and rose above the insurmountable, above the sea and sky itself, and achieved his lofty goals. But now he is the lowly cubicle drone,

The role of morality in the Odyssey sharply differs from our own notions of morality. Textual support for a morality in line with today’s common notions of morality is frail at best or otherwise fragmented and insufficient. Even the notion of justice, which stands as one of the fundamental pillars of western society today, is often inconsistent and contradictory, particularly among the gods. In the Odyssey, acts of kindness are not a product of some benevolent altruistic tendency, but rather, a consequence of selfish desires. Acts of kindness such as hospitality, Telemachus’ voyage, and the gods’ portrayed benevolence are actually exploitive and selfish in nature.

With this quote, it shows Icarus’ immaturity, foolish and playfulness when it comes to his father’s inventions and his life. Icarus is a young boy which is evident from the quote above because he is playing with the wax and watching and admiring his dad. If it was an older boy, he’d probably be off by himself or helping his father with his inventions instead of playing with the wax in the wings. Icarus is an innocent boy who doesn’t understand the importance of being responsible. Not being responsible leads him to his death, which could have been avoided if he had paid attention to what his father had told him. Icarus got swept up in the moment when he was flying, and lost all of his thoughts which lead him to the mistake of flying too high.

“The truest characters of ignorance are pride and arrogance. This quote by Samuel Butler is truer than gold in the two greek myths Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus. The protagonists of both stories boastful,arrogant and prideful natures lead them to their agonizing deaths and downfall. The two myths would be lifeless and stale without the use of of literary elements like conflict,imagery,and and characterization. Conflict shapes the story,Imagery foreshadows and provides color,and characterization develops the characters personalities and behaviors. These elements are how the authors were able to teach the lesson in the theme. The two stories’ main characters, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus share the same moral theme of a prideful disregard from those elder and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences,existing thanks to these literary elements.