Parent Child Relationship in Greek Mythology Essay

In Hesiod’s Theogony, the Greek family relationships were often a repeated cycle between the husband, wife and their children. Based on the generations including Ouranos, all the men that came to rule automatically loathed their child, because they believed their children would take away their power. Since this behavior was similarly recurring every generation, the women were often forced to create wicked plans involving their children’s rise to power. The cycle of power, deceit and achievement created by the families in the first generation of Greek mythology became dominant characteristics that future generations would inherit.

Demeter’s inability to rescue her daughter from Hades’ clutches diminishes the power of female will. She is unable to even discover where her daughter is until Helius, a male god, takes pity on her and tells her what has happened (The Homeric Hymn to Demeter 70-77). The image of the matriarchy is not good enough to solve her own problems and must rely on a man to do so for her. Again, this sentiment is echoed towards the end of the story, when Zeus is the one to rescind his order to Hades. This order is given under duress, but the fact that Demeter must once again rely on a male god to rescue her child is an obvious depiction of male dominance

Since the beginning of time the people of the world have their share of beliefs. Greek mythology is the arguably the most popular region of study. In Ancient Greece every citizen had a patron that would protect them and pantheism was commonplace. The Romans admired the Greeks in their art and culture and even took different aspects of their gods. Polytheism was widely accepted in all cultures so the seed of mythology bloomed. The time line of the creations of gods to the end of their reign is an important factor in Greek Mythology.

The relationships between parents and their sons in the Iliad are not relationships we expect to see in today’s society. The Iliad portrays the relationships between fathers and sons as something more than just physical and emotional. It is based on pride and respect for one another. The expectations of their son are more so to pass on their fathers reputable name and to follow in their father’s footsteps of being noble warriors. These relationships are the driving forces in the Iliad, making each son in the Iliad identifiable first by their father’s name. An outcome of the father–son relationships is ancestral loyalty among the characters which play a prominent role in war. Therefore, not only does the Iliad share a major war story, but

In Toula’s family, her father lies in the top rank and he is the boss, so he has absolutely the largest power among all the family members. They tend to accept the father’s power and authority simply on the basis of the father’s position in the hierarchy and to respect the father’s right to that power. Authority is inherent in their position within this hierarchy. Everyone must listen to him and he is expected to make decisions autocratically. In the following part, four examples will be given to better illustrate the high power distance in Greek family:

Father and son relationships in The Odyssey are very important. This novel tells us the story of the hero Odysseus and his journey back home after the Trojan War. His complications start after the fight when he is on his way back. On his journey home, he encounters multiple challenging obstacles. However, Odysseus and the gods are determined to get him back home to his son. In The Odyssey by Homer, we see the importance of father and son relationships between Poseidon and his son Polyphemus and Odysseus and his son Telemachus and we can see which aspects of the relationship that the Greeks valued.

The family relationships of the gods and mortals of ancient Greece were similar if not exactly the same making these unruly behaviors acceptable in society of ancient Greece and Rome.

In The Iliad, Homer offers incredible insights into the themes of human interactions. While the epic narrative moves forward, these dynamics are kept intertwined with the devastating battlefield. One of the prominent themes is the father-son relationship and this Iliadic father-son dynamic is focused mostly between Priam and Hector. Looking at scenes featuring both characters, their interactions feature mutual feelings of love, concern, and, most importantly, interdependency. Priam cares for Hector, imparts values tied to the heroic code, and carries expectations for his son. On the other hand, Hector aims to meet Priam’s expectations and repay his father for all that he has done for him. In the background of this relationship, Homer

However, Uranus was afraid that Cronus might overpower him and one day obtain all his power. Knowing this Uranus purposely tried to kill Cronus in multiply occasions, but Gaea would always protect him. One day Gaea and Cronus made a plan to have Cronus challenge Uranus and take over his power. So it happened, Cronnus challenged his father and was victorious during their battle and Uranus was left to rot (Bernard 1) "Now Cronus had become king of gods by killing his father Uranus” (Bernard 3). In both Greek and Roman Mythology, the relationship between parents and children are distorted, strained, and bizarrely transformed, because of their greediness for power and obsessiveness to be better than the other.

In Greek mythology, there is always a perpetual notion of power. The desire for power is associated with the father figure of a family. Furthermore, a father sets the tone for his family by setting rules and establishing their reputation. From the beginning of time, there has been angst in losing power, starting with the Earth and sky. Arising fear occurs when a father finds that one of his children is a threat to his throne. It also develops when a father realizes that since he sabotaged his own father, potentially his child could the same. Taking into consideration both of these cases, it is understood that a male parent in ancient Greek consciousness seeks a role having power. This thirst for power has resulted in the betrayal of wives and the attempt to destroy an upbringing of children. Through the fatherhood of Ouranos, Cronos, and Zeus, it is clear that their role is to exercise dominance, moreover keep away potential threats.

In Hesiod’s Theogony, the Greek family relationships were often a repeated cycle between the husband, wife and their children. Based on the generations, including Ouranos, all the men that came to rule automatically loathed their child, because they believed their children would take away their power. Since this behavior was similarly recurring every generation, the women were often forced to create mischievous plans to help their children’s rise to power. The cycle of power, deceit and achievement created by the families in the first generation of Greek mythology became dominant characteristics that future generations would inherit due to the repetitive cycle that was unable to be broken.

1) I was intrigued by the map because I myself have a biological father, and a man that I actually look up to as a father. I have been reading the Odyssey and the Iliad over the past couple months focusing on the story telling of the books and never paying much attention to the father aspect. I do remember many times when I was reading, I would start thinking that this sounded somewhat like the bible in terms of is speaking to family lineage so often, but I never really just focused on fathers in this book. I remember in book 9 of the Iliad, Phoenix is speaking to Achilles and says to Achilles “I have made you my son, I tried, so someday you might fight disaster back”. He goes on to try to speak words of wisdom to Achilles. This still lingers in my mind because I am trying to guide my 17-year-old step son to graduation and hopefully he will have a good life. That conversation reminded me of several conversations that I have with him. When I found this map, I figured I would dive in because fathers and father figures are huge issues in todays society, and I thought it would be fun to dive into fatherhood from an ancient standpoint.

In his book, Children and Childhood in Classical Athens, Mark Golden discusses how the ancient Athenians viewed children, the role of children in the community and the household, and children’s relationships with others. In an excerpt from the Nicomachean Ethics, Aristotle concludes that parents love their children more than children love their parents. Amongst other things, Golden argues that parents loved their children despite high infant mortality rates, sons had obligations to their parents, and siblings were ideally close to one another. Golden’s work illuminates the depth of the parental and filial love that Aristotle refers to.

In the early stages of a child’s character development, the family is the first social group that the child has. The relationship that is fostered between the family and the child is important, because it is the role of the family that influences the child’s behavior. Although the child may be influenced by the father and siblings, these relationships are looked to second. The child realizes early that the family belongs to him. This leads to jealousy towards other siblings because he may strive to be significant, and establish a position of superiority. Once the child comes to trust the family, it no longer feels threatened. By fostering a good relationship with the family, the child develops trust which leads to the child developing

Kahn, in her psychoanalytic exploration of the childhood origin of Coriolanus's character structure, writes of Volumnia: “By thrusting him from dependency and thrusting onto him a warrior self of her own devising, Volumnia effectively murdered the babe in Coriolanus, the loving and vulnerable self within him” (p. 172.).3 Adelman expresses a similar formulation in her essay: “Coriolanus incorporates not only his mother's attitude toward food but also the transformations in mode implicit in her image of Hector. These transformations—from feeding to warfare, from vulnerability to aggressive attack, from incorporation to spitting out—are at the centre of Coriolanus's character and our responses to him; for the whole of his masculine identity depends on his transformation of his vulnerability into an instrument of attack” (p.149). Garber concurs, arguing that “[Coriolanus] is a boy in his uncritical submission to Volumnia; he is either her submissive son or a mechanical man ….” (p. 46) And, of course, all of these formulations are completely consistent with modern developmental psychology, which holds that the child's earliest experiences with the mother are crucial for personality formation and that difficulties in this area bode ill for the child's future