In order to look at the reason why mythology has survived as part of our common understanding in the world today, we must first look at the reason they were written. These stories were not written for the purpose of entertaining but were intended to teach us lessons. Lessons of human stupidity, errors or failure of principles. The same mistakes that people were making back then, they are still making in today’s society. The men who wrote them such as Plato, Euripides, and Sophocles were extremely wise men that wrote myths which rarely had happy endings to teach lessons without being drab or uninteresting. If you were waiting on a happily ever after, you were sorely disappointed. The mistakes that were made usually ended in tragedy. These …show more content…
In the Story of Icarus and Daedalus, Daedalus who is the father of Icarus warned his son to not fly too close to the sun with the wings that he made Icarus. Icarus did not listen to his father and therefore suffered a horrible fate. This myth was written to show a lesson to younger people about listening to their elders. A lot of young people today seem to not want to listen to their elders, but if they were to read this tragic myth they might start listening to them a little bit more. These are just two examples of myths that teach some sort of lesson. There is a myth for almost every human mistake. These mistakes are made as much today as they were back then. In conclusion, it is obvious that etiological myths have stood the test of time when it comes to explaining some tangible aspect of the world in our common understanding. These myths hold the reader’s attention with gods, goddesses, and mythical powers only to have an underlying life lesson that show mistakes ending in tragedy. These myths are still very useful in today’s society as people make the exact same mistakes that were made at the time these myths were written. They act as a valuable tutor today and will no doubt be a valuable tutor for tomorrow. As long as humans make mistakes they can draw on the wisdom of
In old times, humankind has looked to utilize stories to clarify the world in which it lives. Similarly, as old man utilized stories of divine beings and creatures to clarify the world; superior person utilizes stories of exceptional legends and colossal scoundrels to do likewise (Stuller). Comic books are modern mythology, in that they are superior man 's strategy for clarifying their general surroundings through the fantastical. The characters frequently handle such major, philosophical, (Ahrens, Jörn, and Meeting) social and story ideas as the nature of sound and malevolence, man 's inward battle, the wannabe, the women 's activist, and the rescuer.
Mythology serves to create an explanation for why the world is the way it is. All religions have mythology in them and myths help people understand history. Myth can mean so many different things to different people. Some myths are total fiction, while others may have a hint of truth in them. But most myths are more of a symbolic and metaphoric truth, rather than a literal truth, because most of the time myths cannot be proven and people are not trying to prove that they are true. Myths become true to the people who believe in them and they use them as a sort of lens through which they see the world. They use myths to create explanations for themselves as to why the world is the way it is and they use them to help cope with the difficulties of life. Myths are a natural outgrowth of our imagination and our passions.
Myths still endure today, because it sets a moral cod, explains natural phenomenon, and entertains the reader. One reason mythology sill endures is because it sets a moral code for future people to follow. For example in the story Achene, the wise goddess Athena turns Arachne into a arachnid, because Arachne was being very cocky, arrogant, and rude, cause Athena to kick Arachne off her “high horse”. Athena tells Arachne to “live on wicked girl, live on and spin you and your decedents” (Coolidge 51). A second reason mythology is still relevant is because is explains natural phenomenon. For example in the story Pandora, Curiosity truly kills the cat because Pandora opens a “do not open” box, which releases all the terrible things in this world,
Greek myths are all that 's left of the ancient Greek religion, in which beauty, poetry, and creative activities were a vital part of the tradition. Centuries ago, the Greeks created numerous stories and poems, which are still being shared today, that showed their view of the world that existed not only in the mind of the Greek poets, but in the hearts of the humble and long suffering natives of ancient Greece. From the stories of the Olympians, to heroes ' greatest adventures and from romantic stories to savage beasts, the Greeks used stories not only for entertainment but also for answers to nature 's mysteries. Mythology helped to explain aspects of the natural world to the ancient Greeks. Some of the greatest mysteries of nature that
The Greek fables that were written in the past still inspire us today. Well lets just say that their are a lot of lessons inside of these fables and myths that can inspire people today and people can learn a lot of lessons from it. For example, in some fables the greeks teach a lesson about appreciating and cherishing what one has before it is won’t have them and when they are gone you will want to have them back again. Some fables that support this claim is “The Hen and The Golden Eggs”, “Heroes Every Child Should Know Perseus”and “The Miser”. These are some fables that can teach people to appreciate and cherish things before they are gone and some myths that show that how to use things appropriatly and to use things usefully.
In the two Greek myths, “Phaethon” and “Daedalus and Icarus”, the main characters go through a major trial that enforces their pride, which eventually leads to their death. The literary elements in these two myths include characters, imagery, and conflict. These elements help the author express the bright scenes, understandable reasonings, and unfortunate downfalls. The lesson in both tales is equivalent, as the theme is: A prideful disregard of the warning from those who are older and wiser can quickly lead to disastrous consequences. However, the way this present this lesson is what makes it different from each other. The main characters --being Phaethon, Daedalus, Icarus-- imagery, and conflict all work together to form the theme.
The two myths, Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus, describe the fatal mistakes of two foolishly ambitious young boys. In both stories both characters, Phaethon and Icarus, make bad decisions that lead to deadly consequences. Some literary elements are shown in these texts, these are imagery and characterization by developing the characters and showing mental images in the stories. Through the use of imagery and characterization, both mythical protagonists, Phaethon and Icarus, demonstrate a shared lesson that a prideful disregard of the warnings from those who are older and wiser can quickly lead to deadly consequences. Firstly, imagery is shown in both Phaethon and Daedalus and Icarus by being illustrated through deadly consequences.
Introduction- Mythology in Ancient Greek society was extremely important. Myths are traditional, socially powerful stories, usually about life, death, the afterlife, the world, humans, good and evil and the gods. Greek myths had many purposes in ancient Greek society that still hold value in today’s society. Myths did shock and entertain their audience but they also explained phenomena, taught lessons and values and allowed a connected between humans and the gods they worshipped.
Different myths still have an effect in society today (Barnett 6). “Myths may be described as traditional tales that have significance for the people they belong to,” says Barnett (6). They are related to the early religions, social behaviors, and ceremonies (Barnett 6). They may also explain why a group celebrates triumph over another group (Barnett 6). Barnett also states, “They are occasionally explanations of natural phenomena or allegories for the subordination of savage forces to rational order” (6). Myths give good explanations about why society is currently the way it is and how human experiences were shaped (Barnett 6).
Mythology has had extensive influence on today and many years to come because there are many things that people research and want to know more about. Many people had to tell stories and talk about what they heard or what they were told because they did not have computers, printing and many other things that we have today. Many of the myths are told today that are interesting and still today makes people want to learn more which is exactly what myths are suppose to do, want to learn and believe in certain things. Today there are a lot of books paintings and many other inspirational things that makes everyone want to know what happened, along with all of us making our own myths today to pass down to future generations to come. The human experiences are great because just like a certain group of people that test the myths and find out if they are true or not but the whole time they are testing the myths they have fun doing so, along with teaching many of the myths that they are testing.
Greek mythology, as in past ways humans detailed lives, was used as a way to explain the environment in which everything around us happened and lived. The natural wonders they had seen in their lifetimes and the passing of time through were a way to explain things in myths. Myths were also in a way a bond to religion and gave an awareness of where they came from and what are the lives of the gods. The myths helped serve as a guideline to show were people came from and what was the after life. It gave almost a rule on the best way to be in a happy life.(History Staff) Myths were used to tell historical events so that people could maintain contact with their ancestors, the wars they fought, and the places they explored.
Mythology and religion are different yet they have similar features. Mythology is most often considered one part of a religion. Religion is a broader encompass of rituals, morals and experiences. If a mythology is pulled away from the religion that it originated with, a myth loses its sacred importance and starts to be looked on more as a legend or tale.
You are correct in pointing out that we think we know everything just like Icarus. I like how the myth connected the Fathers and sons, and showed the results of not listening to the father. It showed the importance of the follow up with Theseus forgetting to change the flag, and how Icarus was punished to death for flying to close to the sun.
These tragedies that ancient heroes face are necessary in present-day due to many aspects. For instance the Disney heroes are giving children an unreal standard about what the world outside their home would be like, which sets them up for a large wake-up call later in life. Such as that everything won’t always end in a happily ever after and you won’t stay the size of a twig or be super ripped. So if children only knew this as a truth then then they may have issues with self image, and such, but if the young viewers were informed of morals present in ancient myths then they might be more well adjusted to their surroundings.
If religion is a mythology, then is a mythology a religion? Well, Religion and mythology may seem like too different things, but yet they still do overlap on some aspects. Both talk about a system that has a high importance to many people. Religion is based an organized collection of beliefs, culture, and perspectives, that’s spread around the world. While, mythology is referred to a collection of “myths” which is told by a group of people. This is used to explain nature, history, or customs!