Mythology today can take many connotations in its meaning thus spurring a debate on what it is that myths actually mean and what they should teach us. It seems that myths and mythology should create both independent and creative thought while solidifying the culture/s that the myth is designed thus creating both a sense of individuality and community with in the world. When fundamentally broken down mythology is a collection of stories (myths) that usually belong to a specific culture or religious group. Myths then can be broken down into sets of stories that depict different aspects of the groups’ beliefs or history that are handed down from the elders for generations. It is these stories that help cultures and religions interpret the meaning of life while explaining humanity, life, and ultimately death. It is my opinion that these collections of stories hold a vital and elemental place in the hearts and souls of those that they belong to. Myths try to teach how to act and how to learn not only from our successes but from the deepest of failures. It is these failures that show teach us who we really are and what it is that we stand for. Another aspect of mythology that seems to go unnoticed is that mythology teaches us how to adapt and deal with the uglier things of this world. It shows us that no life is perfect and that everyone will have their own individual strife, which is what makes us human. Furthermore, it is these struggles that make each of us unique unto
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.
In my opinion, I do not think that it is important to study ancient myth. I feel that it is more so for the sake of entertainment because myth essentially offers explanations for things we already have in society. The stories behind how we have the institutions that we have today are interesting however not vital to further developing our knowledge. Furthermore, I do not think that our modern society can still gain from its study because of the way that we already have these institutions and studying ancient myth would not enable us to make further advances in society.
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.
Greek myths are stories that explain the meaning of life and teach moral lessons through the values of heroes, gods and mortals. In Ancient Greece, myths were an important part of the culture, first being told orally and in poems, then seen in architecture and theatre. Homer, the Greek poet, wrote epic poems such as the Iliad and the Odyssey, which are still revered and read extensively today. Greek myths have carried over to contemporary American culture, appearing in movies, children’s toys, clothing and books and the values of Greek myths are entrenched in today’s society. Notably, heroism is a prominent value that plays a major role in Greek mythology and continues to influence American culture today, as heroes inspire society with their nobility, bravery and patriotism.
Mythology is word derived from Greek ‘mythos’ (means story of people) and ‘logos means (the spoken story of people). It is the study of sacred tales of culture which we called ‘Myths’. Myths are supposed to be real stories and they are usually observed as truthful explanations of history. Myths passed from one generation to other and can be grown to take several versions and diverse stories. The ultimate characters in mythology are mostly considered supernatural beings like gods and goddesses. Over these unseen characters there is a visible effort to describe the evolution and the mysteries of the cosmos. Some might accept an indifferent attitude towards myths and reject them any truth-value, while others might be generous and consensus some cognitive-value to them.
Myth is a body of story that matters—the patterns present in mythology run deeply in the human psyche
Mythology is the study of the language used to express experiences with and understandings of the “absolute reality.” There are four main functions that make up and are the foundation of mythology: Each of these functions plays a major role in categorizing the ideas and characters in their respective groups or section. To name these four functions there is the Mystical function which is also known as the sacred or universal function. The next function is the cosmological function or metaphor (character) function. Then comes the social or profane (personal function) which is one of the main functions that is involved in the idea of mythology. The last of the four functions is the pedagogical function or the moral function of
Often times we hear the word Myth and don’t have a complete understanding of what the word means. Mythology can vary greatly but it is one thing that countries, cultures, and religions have in common. While beliefs, knowledge, mythology and religion may intersect they also can differ greatly from each other. Like other countries myths have come to help sculpt and shape American cultural values and behaviors.
With this, Armstrong states that myths influence various cultures and societies, past and present. Myths gave emotional insight to many cultures, and allowed men and women to experience the insight firsthand. Though many people today view mythology as mere boring, uninteresting “fairytales” of unrealistic gods, Armstrong presents the underlying meanings lie in the pathetic fallacies within the myths, such as thunderstorm representing
consequently troubles in our lives. Therefore this powerful force Greek Mythology posses is unlike the others and is one of the main reasons why it will be forever remember and never to be forgotten.
Seekers, researchers, philosophers and simple average individuals share an excellent trait, and that is to seek the divine truth. Humans were born with an insatiable hunger to discover where we come from, who we are, what makes us unique and most importantly what is our sole purpose of existence on this earth. Greek mythology can best tame the hunger. Therefore, mythology is alive in the present day because within ourselves we find that the inspiration is reborn, of an imaginary yet real world. In which we see ourselves as the protagonists and antagonists of the Greek mythology stories. As a matter of fact, Greek myth's are one of the most fascinating of all time literature ever created by humankind. Consequently,
Mythology is a series of stories made by one culture to entertain or to increase the knowledge of their own beliefs to the world. Over the last few centuries, many cultures have created stories to demonstrate their valiant strength or superiority amongst other cultures. Not only that, but, they used these myths to increase faith in their religions. Nevertheless you may find texts confusing because you many think it is about a hero or the importance of religion. On an example, of a myth that has received a large amount of criticism is the mythical story of Beowulf.
Myths have been a part of humanity since as far back as we can imagine. Most of the myths or stories you hear today are modern takes on ancient oral tales. These tales have been retold many times. Each time a myth is retold it is reflective of the time and place it is being retold. The author and the audience must relate to the story, therefore it will be told in such a way that the people of its era can easily understand and relate to the theme. Myths are often used to help us understand many different aspects of our lives. Love, death, hatred, compassion, religion; these are all topics commonly found in myths. These are also topics which are hard to define. Rationalized versions of a myth represent the storyteller and audience, their beliefs, traditions, and everyday lives.
In many of tradition, a myth carries within it a sense of sacred tradition and primordial relation. These myths are also serving as model for chosen tradition. Myths are extremely complex cultural reality that can be approached and interpreted from various viewpoints. These viewpoints are often related to the whole of
Mythos, the Greek word for myth means story, appertain to colorful tales that enlightens about the origins of humans and the universe. Myths, as amazing as it sounds, is also a cause for birth of new religions, where and how they originated. Many cultures have myths about how the gods and goddesses came to be, even elucidating the origin of humanity and its traditions. Even ideas about how this world of ours came to existence have many myths, creation myths behind it, disparate in every culture and society, which demonstrates a view on its role in the world. Mythology is simply the study of the myth. There are many psychological theories and meanings that explicate mythology. The most recurrent belief about the psychological value of myth is that myths emblematize contrasting elements of our own psyches or souls. The psychoanalytical frames of reference on myths have indisputably been ineluctable. Myths were and still are progressively seen as expressions of desideratum in the human psyche. But the big question is, what is the beneficence of mythology towards the amelioration of society? If there are myths to decipher or exhibit certain things, character or situations, there also are science and technology, which accommodate every explanation needed to understand each of those things. Many go to science for such interpretation, which conveys the impression of taking care of the signification behind all those natural phenomena,