Myths And The Reason Behind Mythology

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.

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.

A myth defined is a traditional or legendary story, usually concerning some being or hero or event, with or without a determinable basis of fact or a natural explanation, especially one that is concerned with deities or demigods and explains some practice, rite, or phenomenon of nature the study of these traditional and legendary stories is called mythology. Now within mythology there are four functions which help us gives it meaning and purpose in life while also helping us understand the concepts presented in the different myths.

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

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.

Mythology is something that has always gone hand in hand with human development, so it must be addressed in relation to the human psychology as well as the impact that human culture has on an individual’s psychology. In order to interpret mythology accurately, a variety of psychological approaches must be used in order to guarantee an adequate understanding of the material. The most useful approaches originate from the schools of thought initiated by Sigmund Freud and Caldwell’s work in theoretical psychology, and they are very helpful when used to interpret Hesiod’s myths The Sacred Marriage of Uranus and Gaia and Their Offspring/The Castration of Uranus and the Birth of Aphrodite (M&L, p64-66, 72-73)

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

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 witnessed and the passing of time through the days, months, and seasons. Myths were also in a way connected to religion and explained where they came from and what are the lives of the gods. Also stated where humanity had come from and what it they should expect after death. 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. (Cartwright)

Myths influence the beliefs, theories, and the life style of people and their culture. There’s a huge variety of myths around the world belonging to cultures based on how the world started. Australian mythology says the myth of Aborigines believe that during Dreamtime the god Wandjina created the galaxy and earth along with Baiame teaching the humans their morals.

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

You need myths to find your truth. You have elaborate myths to compare to everyday experiences and to other myths. “Myths give a meaning to life (Campbell, 5). Mythology is a collection of stories based on one’s knowledge and stories of experience. Myths are clues to life meaning. They are clues to “spiritual potentialities” or your potential to develop spiritually and finding your inner self. For example, marriage creates a transformation in us spiritually because it transforms our perspective of ourselves and our ability to sacrifice.

Myths like the loch ness monster and Bigfoot were big stories but no real proven evidence of their existence. Many investigations were made and a lot of so called “evidence” to prove that such myth exist. But there is one thing that most myths don’t have and that’s government officials getting involved. If a myth is that serious in order to involve the government, it’s got to be a pretty big myth. Similarly aliens were really never proven to exist until the summer of 1947 on a small ranch outside of Roswell, New Mexico (History pg.1).a Man by the name of Mac Brazel witnessed a supposed alien crash in his own backyard. This simple phone call to a sheriff’s office turned into a secret government cover-up in a matter of minutes (History pg.1). And with these myths comes all the conspiracies and “ideas” as to a real explanation of said myth.

Myths are universal and transcendent through time; many ancient myths are seen recreated in modern times. The author uses Oedipus as a way of comparing myth to psychology. Dreams have also played a major role in civilization; the people who could interpret dreams can understand and create myths.

"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.