Greek Mythology

true novelology in western art and literature With the rediscovery of unstained antiquity in Renaissance, the poetry of Ovid became a major influence on the imagination of poets and artists and remained a funda workforcetal influence on the diffusion and perception of classic mythology finished subsequent centuries. 2 From the early years of Renaissance, artists portrayed subjects from Hellenic mythology alongside more(prenominal) conventional Christian themes.Among the top hat-known subjects of Italian artists are Botticellis Birth of genus Venus and P totally toldas and the Centaur, the Ledas of Leonardo da Vinci and Michelangelo, and Raphaels Galatea. 2 Through the medium of Latin and the works of Ovid, classical myth influenced medieval and Renaissance poets such(prenominal) as Petrarch, Boccaccio and Dante in Italy. 1 In northern Europe, Greek mythology neer took the same hold of the visual arts, but its effect was very obvious on literature. Both Latin and Greek cl assical texts were translated, so that stories of mythology became available. In England, Chaucer, the Elizabethans and John Milton were among those influenced by Greek myths more or less all the major English poets from Shakespeare to Robert Bridges turned for inspiration to Greek mythology.Jean Racine in France and Goethe in Ger numerous revived Greek drama. 2 Racine reworked the ancient myths including those of Phaidra, Andromache, Oedipus and Iphigeneia to new purpose. 3 The 18th degree Celsius saw the philosophical revolution of the Enlighten workforcet spread throughout Europe and attach to by a certain reaction against Greek myth there was a tendency to insist on the scientific and philosophical obtainments of Greece and Rome.The myths, however, continued to provide an of import source of raw material for dramatists, including those who wrote the libretti for Handels operas Admeto and Semele, Mozarts Idomeneo and Glucks Iphigenie en Aulide. 3 By the end of the hundred, romishticism initiated a surge of en thereforeiam for all things Greek, including Greek mythology. In Britain, it was a great gunpoint for new translations of Greek tragedies and homer, and these in turn inspired contemporary poets, such as Keats, Byron and Shelley. 4 The Hellenism of Queens Victoria poet laureate, Alfred Lord Tenny countersign, was such that however his portraits of the quintessentially English court of pouf fine arthrur are suffused with echoes of the Homeric desperates.The visual arts kept pace, stimulated by the purchase of the Parthenon marbles in 1816 many an(prenominal) of the Greek paintings of Lord Leighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema were seriously recognised as part of the transmission of the Hellenic ideal. 5 The German composer of the 18th light speed Christoph Gluck was also influenced by Greek mythology. 1 American authors of the 19th century, such as doubting Thomas Bulfinch and Nathaniel Hawthorne, believed that myths should provide pleasure , and held that the study of the classical myths was essential to the understanding of English and Americal literature. 6 jibe to Bulfinch, the so-cal lead divinities of Olympus live with not a single worshipper among living men they belong now not to the department of theology, but to those of literature and taste. 7 In more recent times, classical themes take over been re delivered by such major dramatists as Jean Anouilh, Jean Cocteau, and Jean Giraudoux in France, Eugene ONeill in America, and T.S. Eliot in England and by great novelists such as the Irish James Joyce and the french Andre Gide. Richard Strauss, Jacques Offenbach and many opposites endure set Greek mythological themes to music. 1References 1. a b c d Greek Mythology. cyclopaedia Britannica. 2002. 2. a b c Greek mythology. Encyclopaedia Britannica. 2002. * L. Burn, Greek Myths, 75 3. a b l. Burn, Greek Myths, 75 4. l. Burn, Greek Myths, 75-76 5. l. Burn, Greek Myths, 76 6. Klatt-Brazouski, Ancient Gree k and Roman Mythology, 4 7. T. Bulfinch, Bulfinchs Greek and Roman Mythology, 1Greek MythologyGreek Mythology,setofdiversetraditional tales told by the ancient Greeks about the exploits of perfections and heroes and their relations with ordinary mortals. TheancientGreeksworshiped many gods within a culture that tolerated diversity. Unlike other belief systems, Greek culture recognized no single truth or code and produced no sacred, written text like the Bible or the Quran. Stories about the origins and actions of Greek divinities varied widely, depending, for example, on whether the tale appeared in a comedy, tragedy, or epic poem.Greek mythology was like a compound and rich language, in which the Greeks could express a vast range of perceptions about the world. AGreekcity-statedevoted itself to a particular god or conclave of gods in whose honor it built temples. The temple generally housed a statue of the god or gods. The Greeks honored the citys gods in festivals and also off ered sacrifices to the gods, usually a domestic animal such as a goat. Stories about the gods varied by geographic location A god office clear genius set of qualitys in unmatched city or region and quite different characteristics elsewhere. II A A1PRINCIPAL FIGURES IN Hellenic MYTHOLOGY Greekmythologyhasseveral distinguishing characteristics, in addition to its multiple versions. The Greek gods resembled humane beings in their form and in their emotions, and they lived in a society that resembled human society in its levels of allowance and power. However, a crucial difference existed in the midst of gods and human beings Humans died, and gods were immortal. Heroes also played an important role in Greek mythology, and stories about them conveyed serious themes. The Greeks considered human heroes from the away closer to themselves than were the immortal gods. GodsGiventhemultiplicity of myths that circulated in Greece, it is difficult to present a single version of the fam ily tree (family hi degree) of the gods. However, two accounts together provide a genealogy that most ancient Greeks would have recognized. One is the account given by Greek poet Hesiod in his Theogony (Genealogy of the Gods), written in the 8th century BC. The other account, The Library, is attributed to a mythographer (compiler of myths) named Apollodorus, who lived during the 2nd century BC. The Creation of the Gods AccordingtoGreekmyths about creation, the god cuckoos nest (Greek for Gaping Void) was the foundation of all things.From Chaos came Gaea ( farming) the bottomless depth of the underworld, known as Tartarus and Eros (Love). Eros, the god of love, was needed to draw divinities together so they Greek Mythology might produce offspring. Chaos produced Night, while Gaea first bore Uranus, the god of the heavens, and later on him produced the mountains, sea, and gods known as behemoths. The Titans were strong and large, and they committed arrogant deeds. The youngest and most important Titan was Cronus. Uranus and Gaea, who came to follow Heaven and Earth, also gave birth to the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who made thunderbolts.See also Creation Stories. A2 A3 A4 Cronus and Rhea Uranus time-testedtoblock any successors from taking over his supreme thought by forcing back into Gaea the children she bore. But the youngest child, Cronus, thwarted his father, cutting off his genitals and tossing them into the sea. From the bloody foam in the sea Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love, was born(p). After piercinghisfather and taking away his power, Cronus became ruler of the universe. But Cronus, in turn, feared that his own son would supplant him. When his sister and wife Rhea gave birth to offspringHestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and PoseidonCronus swallowed them.Only the youngest, genus Zeus, get away this fate, because Rhea tricked Cronus. She gave him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow in place of the baby. Zeus and the gallant Gods Whenf ullygrown,Zeus forced his father, Cronus, to blare the children he had swallowed. With their help and armed with the thunderbolt, Zeus made war on Cronus and the Titans, and overcame them. He established a new regime, based on Mount Olympus in northern Greece. Zeus ruled the sky. His brother Poseidon ruled the sea, and his brother Hades, the underworld.Their sister Hestia ruled the hearth, and Demeter took charge of the harvest. Zeus married his sister Hera, who became queen of the heavens and guardian of marriage and childbirth. Among their children was Ares, whose line of business of influence was war. Twelvemajorgodsand goddesses had their homes on Mount Olympus and were known as the Olympians. Four children of Zeus and one child of Hera joined the Olympian gods Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Ares. Zeuss Olympian offspring were Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Athena. Hera gave birth to Hephaestus. The Offspring of ZeusZeushadnumerouschildren by both mortal and i mmortal women. By the mortal Semele he had Dionysus, a god associated with wine and with other forms of intoxication and ecstasy. By Leto, a Titan, Zeus fathered the twins Apollo and Artemis, who became two of the most important Olympian divinities. Artemis remained a virgin and took capture as her special province. Apollo became associated with music and prophecy. tidy sum visited his oracle (shrine) at Delphi to cope withk his prophetic advice. By the nymph Maia, Zeus became father of Hermes, the Olympian trickster god who had the power to cross all kinds of boundaries.Hermes guided the souls of the dead down to the underworld, Greek Mythology carried messages amid gods and mortals, and wafted a magical sleep upon the wakeful. TwootherOlympiandivinities, Hephaestus and Athena, had curious births. Hera conceived Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, without a male partner. Subsequently he suffered the wrath of Zeus, who once hurled him from Olympus for coming to the aid of his mothe r this fall down onto the island of Lemnos crippled Hephaestus. The birth of Athena was even str yellow bile. Zeus and Metis, daughter of the Titan Oceanus, were the parents of Athena.But Gaea had warned Zeus that, after giving birth to the girl with whom she was pregnant, Metis would bear a son destined to rule heaven. To lift losing his throne to a son, Zeus swallowed Metis, just as Cronus had previously swallowed his own children to thwart succession. Metiss child Athena was born from the head of Zeus, which Hephaestus split open up with an axe. Athena, another virgin goddess, embodied the power of practical in governigence in warfare and crafts work. She also served as the protector of the city of Athens. another(prenominal)ofZeusschildren was Persephone her mother was Demeter, goddess of grain, vegetation, and the harvest.Once when Persephone was gathering flowers in a meadow, Hades, god of the underworld, saw and abducted her, taking her down to the kingdom of the dead to be his bride. Her grief-stricken mother wandered the world in search of her as a result, fertility left the earth. Zeus commanded Hades to release Persephone, but Hades had cunningly given her a pomegranate seeded player to eat. Having consumed food from the underworld, Persephone was obliged to return below the earth for part of each year. Her return from the underworld each year meant the revival of constitution and the beginning of spring.This myth was told especially in connection with the Eleusinian Mysteries, sacred rites observed in the Greek town of Elevsis near Athens. The rituals offered initiates in the mysteries the hope of rebirth, just as Persephone had been reborn after her journeying to the underworld. ManyGreekmythsreport the exploits of the principal Olympians, but Greek myths also refer to a variety of other divinities, each with their particular sphere of influence. Many of these divinities were children of Zeus, symbolizing the fact that they belonged to the new Olympian order of Zeuss regime.The Muses, nine daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, presided over song, dance, and music. The Fates, three goddesses who controlled human life and destiny, and the Horae, goddesses who controlled the seasons, were fittingly the children of Zeus and Themis, the goddess of divine justice and law. Far different in temperament were the Erinyes (Furies), ancient and repellent goddesses who had sprung from the earth after it had been impregnated with the blood of Uranuss disunite genitals. Terrible though they were, the Erinyes also had a legitimate role in the world to pursue those who had off their own kin.A5 Disruptive Deities Human humanityischaracterized by disorder as well as order, and many of the most characteristic figures in Greek mythology exert a powerfully disruptive effect. Satyrs, whom the Greeks imagined as part human and part horse (or part goat), led lives dominated by wine and lust. Myths depicted them as compani ons of Dionysus who drunkenly pursued nymphs, spirits of nature represented as young and beautiful maidens. Many of the jugs used at Greek symposia (drinking parties) carry images of satyrs. Equally violent,butmore threatening than the satyrs, were the savage centaurs.These monsters, Greek Mythology depicted as half-man and half-horse, tended toward uncontrolled aggression. The centaurs are known for combat with their neighbors, the Lapiths, which resulted from an attempt to carry off the Lapith women at a wedding feast. This combat was depicted in sculpture on the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena in Athens. TheSirens,usuallyportrayed as birds with womens heads, posed a different split up of threat. These island-dwelling enchantresses lured mariners to their deaths by the irresistible beauty of their song.The seafaring Greek hero Odysseus alone survived this temptation by ordering his companions to block their own ears, to bind him to the mast of his ship, and to ignore all his entreaties to be allowed to follow the lure of the Sirens song. B B1 B2 Mortals TheGreekshadseveral myths to account for the origins of humanity. According to one version, human beings sprang from the ground, and this origin explained their devotion to the land. According to another myth, a Titan molded the first human beings from clay. The Greeks also had a allegory about the destruction of humanity, similar to the biblical deluge.The Creation of Human Beings ConflictingGreekmyths tell about the creation of humanity. Some myths recount how the populations of particular localities sprang directly from the earth. The Arcadians, residents of a region of Greece known as Arcadia, claimed this distinction for their original inhabitant, Pelasgus (see Pelasgians). The Thebans boasted descent from earthborn men who had sprung from the spot where Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, had sown the ground with the teeth of a sacred dragon. According to another tale, one of the Titans, Prometheus , fashioned the first human being from wet and earth.In the more usual version of the story Prometheus did not actually create humanity but simply lent it assistance through the gift of fire. Anothertaledealtwith humanitys re-creation. When Zeus planned to destroy an ancient race living on Earth, he sent a deluge. However, Deucalion, a son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrhathe Greek equivalents of the biblical Noah and his wifeput provisions into a chest and climbed into it. Carried across the amniotic fluid of the flood, they landed on Mount Parnassus. After the waters receded, the couple gratefully made sacrifices to Zeus.His response was to send Hermes to instruct them how to repopulate the world. They should cast stones behind them. Stones thrown by Deucalion became men those thrown by Pyrrha, women. The Greek People Accordingtomyth,the various peoples of Greece descended from Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. One genealogy related that the Dorian and the Aeolian Greeks spr ang from Hellens sons Dorus and Aeolus. The Achaeans and Ionians descended from Achaeos and Ion, sons of Hellens other son, Xuthus. These figures, in their turn, produced offspring who, along with children born of unionsGreek Mythology among divinities and mortals, made up the collection of heroes and heroines whose exploits constitute a central part of Greek mythology. C C1 C2 C3 Heroes Mythsaboutheroesare particularly characteristic of Greek mythology. Many of these heroes were the sons of gods, and a number of myths involved expeditions by these heroes. The expeditions generally related to quests or combats. Scholars consider some of these myths partly historical in naturethat is, they explained events in the distant past and were handed down by word of mouth from one generation to the next.Two of the most important of the semihistorical myths involve the search for the Golden Fleece and the quest that led to the Trojan War. In other myths heroes such as Heracles and Theseus had to overcome fearsome monsters. Jason and the Golden Fleece Jasonwasaherowhosailed in the ship Argo, with a passel of heroes called the Argonauts, on a dangerous quest for the Golden Fleece at the eastern end of the Black Sea in the land of Colchis. Jason had to fetch this family property, a fleece made of gold from a winged ram, in order to regain his throne.A dragon that never slept guarded the fleece and made the mission nearly impossible. Thanks to the magical powers of Medea, daughter of the ruler of Colchis, Jason performed the impossible tasks necessary to win the fleece and to take it from the dragon. Afterward Medea took horrible revenge on Pelias, who had killed Jasons parents, stolen Jasons throne, and sent Jason on the quest for the fleece. She tricked Peliass daughters into cutting him up and boiling him in a cauldron. Medeas story continued to involve horrific violence.When Jason rejected her for another woman, Medea once more used her magic to avenge herself with ext reme cruelty. Meleager Jasonandthesamegeneration of heroes took part in another adventure, with Meleager, the son of King Oeneus of Calydon and his wife Althea. At Meleagers birth the Fates predicted that he would die when a log burning on the hearth was completely consumed. His mother snatched the log and hid it in a chest. Meleager grew to manhood. One day, his father accidentally omitted Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, from a sacrifice. In revenge Artemis sent a mighty boar to ravage the country.Meleager set out to destroy it, accompanied by some of the greatest heroes of the day, including Peleus, Telamon, Theseus, Jason, and Castor and Polydeuces. The boar was killed. However, Meleager killed his mothers brothers in a quarrel about who should receive the boar skin. In her anger Althea threw the log on to the fire, so ending her sons life she then hanged herself. Heroes of the Trojan War Thegreatestexpedition of all was that which resulted in the Trojan War. The object of this quest was Helen, a beautiful Greek woman who had been abducted by Paris, son of King Priam of Troy.Helens husband Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon led an multitude of Greeks to besiege Troy. After ten Greek Mythology years, with many heroes dead on both sides, the city fell to the trick of the Trojan Horsea giant wooden horse that the Greeks built and left outside the gates of Troy while their army pretended to withdraw. Not knowing that Greek heroes were hiding indoors the horse, the Trojans took the horse into the city. The hidden Greeks then slipped out, opened the city gates and let their army in, thus defeating Troy. The Iliad, an epic poem attributed to Greek poet Homer, tells the story of the Trojan War.The story continued with the Odyssey, another long poem attributed to Homer, in which the Greek hero Odysseus made his way home after the Trojan War. Odysseus returned to his faithful wife, Penelope, whereas Agamemnon returned to be murdered by his faithless wife, Clytemn estra, and her lover. Historiansconsidered the Trojan War entirely mythical until excavations in Turkey showed that there had been cities on the site of Troy and that fire had destroy one of these cities at about the time of the Trojan War, sometime from 1230 BC to 1180 BC. C4 C5 Heracles and TheseusThedeedsoftheheroes Heracles (see Hercules) and Theseus exemplify a central theme in Greek mythology the conflict between nuance and wild savagery. apiece hero confronted and overcame monstrous opponents, yet neither enjoyed unclouded happiness. HeracleshadbeenanArgonaut but left the expedition after being plunged into grief at the loss of his companion Hylas. In another story, a fit of madness led Heracles to kill his own wife and children. But he is best known for his feats of prowess against beasts and monsters, which began soon after his birth.The most difficult of these feats are known as the 12 labors, which are believed to represent efforts to conquer death and achieve immortal ity. Although Heracles died, his father, Zeus, gave him a place on Mount Olympus. Theseussuccessfullyslew the Minotaur, a monster that was half man and half bull. On his voyage home to Athens, however, he forgot to hoist the white sails that would have signified the success of his adventure. According to one tale, Theseuss heartbroken father Aegeus, seeing black sails, believed his son had died, and committed suicide. The Aegean Sea in which he drowned is presumably named after Aegeus.Oedipus NoheroofGreekmythology has instituted more fascinating than Oedipus. He destroyed a monster, the Sphinx, by answering its riddle. Yet his ultimate downfall served as a terrifying warning of the instability of human fortune. As a baby, Oedipus had been abandoned on a mountainside by his parents, King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, because of a prophecy that the child would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Saved by the blessing of a shepherd, the childits identity unknownwas reared by the king and queen of the neighboring city of Corinth.In due course, Oedipus unwittingly ful make full the prophecy, matching the horrific crimes he had committed with the equally ghastly self-punishment of piercing his own eyes with Jocastas brooch-pins. Greek Mythology III A Gods and Goddesses B THE NATURE OF GREEK GODS AND HEROES Inmanyrespectsthegods and goddesses of Greek mythology resembled extraordinarily powerful human beings. They experienced emotions such as jealousy, love, and grief, and they shared with humans a desire to assert their own dictum and to punish anyone who flouted it.However, these emotions and desires took supernaturally intense form in gods and goddesses. As numerous literary descriptions and artistic representations testify, the Greeks imagined their gods to have human shape, although this form was strongly idealized. TheGreeks,moreover, modeled relationships between divinities on those between human beings. Apollo and Artemis were brother an d sister, Zeus and Hera were husband and wife, and the society of the gods on Mount Olympus resembled that of an unruly family, with Zeus at its head. The gods could temporarily enter the human world.They might, for example, fall in love with a mortal, as Aphrodite did with Adonis Apollo with Daphne and Zeus with Leda, Alcmene, and Danae. Or they might destroy a mortal who displeased them, as Dionysus destroyed King Pentheus of Thebes for mocking his rites. NotallGreekdivinities resembled human beings. They could also be uncanny, strange, and alien, a quality made visible in artistic representations of monsters. For example, the snake-haired Gorgon medusoid had a stare that turned her victims to stone. The Graeae, sisters of the Gorgons, were gray-haired old crones from birth.They possessed but a single tooth and a single eye between them. Typhoeus was a unconscionable monster from whose shoulders grew a hundred snakeheads with dark, flickering tongues. Eventhemajordeities of Olymp us showed alien characteristics at times. A recurrent sign of divine power is the ability to diverseness shape, either ones own or that of others. Athena once transformed herself into a vulture Poseidon once took the form of a stallion. This ability could prove convenient such as when Zeus assumed the form of a swan to woo Leda. Zeus turned Lycaon, a disrespectful king, into a animal to punish him for his wickedness.The ability to exercise power over the crossing of boundaries is a crucial feature of divine power among the Greeks. Heroes Greekmythologyalsotold how divinities interacted with heroes, a household of mortals who, though dead, were believed to retain power to influence the lives of the living. In myths heroes represented a kind of bridge between gods and mortals. Heroes such as Achilles, Perseus, and Aeneas were the products of a union between a deity and a mortal. The fact that the gods often intervened to help heroesfor example, during combatindicated not the heroes weakness but their special importance.Yet heroes were not the equals of the gods. Withalogiccharacteristic of Greek myth, heroes typically possessed a defect to balance out their exceptional power. For example, the warrior Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, was invulnerable except in the heel. The prophet Cassandra, who warned the Trojans of dangers such as the Trojan Horse, Greek Mythology always prophesied the truth but was never believed. Heracles constituted an extreme example of this paradox His awesome strength was balanced by his tendency to become a victim of his own excessive violence.Nevertheless, the gods allowed Heracles to cross the ultimate boundary by gaining admission to Olympus. IV A B THE FUNCTIONS OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Likemostothermythological traditions, Greek myths served several purposes. First, Greek myths explained the world. Second, they acted as a means of exploration. Third, they provided authority and legitimacy. Finally, they provided entertainment. Explan ation Greekmythslent grammatical construction and order to the world and explained how the current state of things had originated. Hesiods Theogony narrated the development of the present order of the universe by relating it to Chaos, the origin of all things.By a complex play of violence, struggle, and sexual attraction, the regime led by Zeus had eventually taken over. Another poem by Hesiod, Works and Days, explained why the world is full of trouble. According to the poem the first woman, Pandora, opened a jar whose lid she had been forbidden to lift. As a result of her disobedience all the diseases and miseries previously confined in the jar escaped into the world. Such a myth also makes a statement about relationships between the sexes in Hesiods own world.Scholars assume that he composed the poem for a largely male audience that was receptive to a tale that put women at the root of all evil. Oneofthe leafy vegetableesttypes of commentary given in myths relates to ritual. Myt hs helped worshipers make sense of a religious practice by telling how the practice originated. A prime example is sacrifice, a ritual that involved killing a domesticated animal as an offering to the gods. The ceremony culminated in the butchering, cooking, and sharing of the meat of the victim. Hesiod recounts the myth associated with this rite.According to this myth, the tricky Titan Prometheus tried to outwit Zeus by offering him a cunningly devised choice of meals. Zeus could have either an apparently unappetizing dishan ox paunch, which had delicious meat concealed withinor a seemingly delicious one, gleaming fat on the outside, which had nothing but bones hidden beneath. Zeus chose the second dish, and ever since human beings have kept the tastiest part of every sacrifice for themselves, leaving the gods nothing but the savor of the rising smoke. Exploration Mythschartedpathsthrough difficult territory, examining contradictions and ambiguities.For instance, Homers Iliad exp lores the consequences during the Trojan War of the Greek leader Agamemnons decision to deprive the warrior Achilles of his allotted prize, a female slave. Achilles feels that Agamemnon has assailed his honor or worth but wonders how far he should go in reaction. Is he right to refuse to fight, if that means the destruction of the Greek army? Is he confirm in rejecting Agamemnons offer of compensation? One of this poems themes explores the limits of honor. Greek Mythology Thedramaticgenreof tragedy provides the clearest example of mythical exploration (see see Greek Literature Drama and Dramatic Arts).The great Athenian playwrights of the 5th century BC Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripideswrote tragedies that explored social questions by placing them, in extreme and exaggerated form, in a mythical context. Sophocless tragic play Antigone concerns just such an extreme situation. Two brothers have killed each other in battle Eteocles reason his homeland, and Polynices attacking it. T heir sister Antigone, in defiance of an edict by the citys ruler, attempts to bury her ostensibly traitorous brother Polynices. Sophocles raises several moral issues. Is Antigone confirm in seeking to bury her brother?Which should prevail, a religious obligation to tend and bury a corpse, or a citys benefit? The answers to these moral issues are far from clear-cut, as we might expect from a work whose subtlety and profundity have so often been admired. C D V A Legitimation Mythsalsohadthefunction of legitimation. A claim, an action, or a relationship acquired extra authority if it had a precedent in myth. bluish Greek families liked to trace their ancestry back to the heroes or gods of mythology. The Greek poet Pindar, who wrote in the early 5th century BC, offers ample curtilage for this preference. In his songs Pindar raise the exploits of current victors in the Olympian Games by linking them with the deeds of their mythical ancestors. In addition, two Greek city-states could cement bonds between them by showing that they had an alliance in the mythological past. Entertainment Finally,mythtelling was a source of enjoyment and entertainment. Homers epics contain several descriptions of audiences held spellbound by the songs of bards (poets), and recitations of Homers poems also captivated audiences. Public performances of tragic drama were also hugely popular, regularly drawing some 15,000 spectators. ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK MYTHOLOGYOurknowledgeofGreek mythology begins with the epic poems attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which date from about the 8th century BC even though the stories they relate probably have their origins in events that occurred several centuries earlier. Scholars, however, know that the origins of Greek mythology turn over even farther back than that. Origins of Greek Mythology Linguists(peoplewho study languages) have concluded that some names of Greek deities, including Zeus, can be traced back to gods wors hiped by speakers of Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor of the Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit languages.But it would be mis tip to regard the people who may have spoken this language as originators of Greek mythology because many other elements contributed. Greek Mythology Archaeologistshaveshown that many of the places where mythical events presumably took place correspond to sites that had historical importance during the Mycenaean period of Greek history (second half of the 2nd millennium BC). Scholars thus consider it likely that the Mycenaeans made a major contribution to the development of the stories, even if this contribution is hard to demonstrate in detail.Some scholars have argued that the Minoan shade of Crete also had a formative influence on Greek myths. The myth of the Minotaur confined in a labyrinth in the palace of King Minos, for example, might be a memory of historical bull-worship in the labyrinthine palace at Knossos on Crete. However, there is little eviden ce that Cretan religion survived in Greece. Nor have any ancient inscriptions confirmed that Minos ever existed outside of myth. Scholarscandemonstrate influence on Greek mythology from the ticker East much more dependably than influence from Crete.Greek mythology owed much to cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, especially in the realm of cosmogony (origin of the universe) and theogony (origin of the gods). To take one example, a clear parallel exists in an early Middle east myth for Greek poet Hesiods story about the castration of Uranus by his son Cronus and the subsequent overthrow of Cronus by his son Zeus. The Middle Eastern myth tells of the sky god Anu who was castrated by Kumarbi, father of the gods. The weather and storm god Teshub, in turn, displaced Anu. Scholars continue to bring to light more and more similarities between Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies.B Development of Greek Mythology OurknowledgeofGreek myths comes from a mixture of written texts, sculpture, and decorated pottery. Scholars have reconstructed stories that circulated orally by inference and guesswork. Homersepics,theIliad and the Odyssey, stand at the beginning of Greek literary tradition (see Greek literature), even though they almost for certain depended on a lengthy previous tradition of oral poetry. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War it focuses on the consequences of a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, two of the leading Greek warriors.The Odyssey is about the aftermath of the Trojan War, when the Greek hero Odysseus at last returns to his home on the island of Ithaca following years of wandering in wild and magical lands. The Trojan War later provided subject matter for many tragic dramas and for imagery on countless painted vases. HesiodsTheogony,composed in the 8th century BC at about the same time as the Homeric epics, gave an authoritative account of how things began. The creation of the world, described by Hesiod in terms of passions and crimes of the gods, is a theme that later Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Plato developed but took in new directions.This connection serves as a proctor that mythology was not a separate aspect of Greek culture, but one that interacted with many other fields of experience, particularly the writing of history. For example, in the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus employed numerous themes and story patterns from Greek epics and tragedies in writing his historical account of the war between Greeks and Persians (see Persian Wars). Althoughtheauthority of Homer and Hesiod remained dominant, the poetic retelling of myths continued throughout antiquity.Myths were constantly remade in the light of new social and political circumstances. The Hellenistic period of Greek history (4th century to 1st century BC) saw many new trends in the treatment of myths. One of the most important was the development of mythography, Greek Mythology the compilation and organization of myths on the basis o f particular themes (for example, myths about metamorphosis). Such organization corresponded to a wish of newly established Hellenistic rulers to lend legitimacy to their regimes by claiming that they continued a cultural tradition reaching back into a great past.Artists,too,portrayed myths. Statues of gods stood inside Greek temples, and relief sculptures of scenes from mythology adorned pediments and friezes on the outside of these temples (see Greek Art and Architecture). Among the best-known examples are the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens. These reliefs include depictions of combat between centaurs and Lapiths. Othervisualrepresentations of mythology were more modest in size and scope. The best evidence for the use of mythology in Greek painting comes from painted ceramic vases.The Greeks used these vases in a variety of contexts, from cookery to funerary ritual to athletic games. (Vases filled with oil were awarded as prizes in games. ) In most cases scholars can se curely identify the imagery on Greek vases as mythological, but sometimes they have no way of telling whether the artist intended an allusion to mythology because myth became fused with everyday life. For example, does a representation of a woman weaving signify Penelope, wife of Odysseus who spent her days at a loom, or does it portray someone engaged in an everyday activity?TheGreeksretoldmyths orally, as well as preserving them in literary and artistic works. The Greeks transmitted to children tales of monsters and myths of gods and heroes. Old men gathered to exchange tales in leschai (clubs or conversation places). Storytelling, whether in writing, art, or speech, was at the heart of Greek civilization. VI A THE LEGACY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY Mythologyformedacentral reference point in Greek society because it was interwoven with ritual and other aspects of social existence.Yet the question of how far people believed the myths is a difficult and probably unanswerable one. Some intell ectuals, such as Greek writer Palaephatus, tried to interpret the myths as having figurative (nonliteral) meanings. Writing in the 4th century BC, Palaephatus interpreted the stories of Diomedes, a king devoured by his own mares, and of Actaeon, a hunter torn asunder by his own hounds, as concealing perfectly credible accounts of young men who had spent too much money on their animals and so been figuratively eaten alive by debt.Otherthinkers,suchas the 4th-century-BC philosopher Plato, objected to some myths on moral grounds, particularly to myths that told of crimes committed by the gods. Yet such skepticism seems hardly to have altered the imaginative power and persistence of Greek myths. As late as the 2nd century AD, the Greek traveler and historian Pausanias described the myths and cults in the places he visited as if they constituted a still-living complex of religious discourse and behavior. Ancient Rome and Early ChristianityTheancientRomanseventually took over Greek civil ization and conquered Greece. In the process, they adapted Greek mythology, and myths remained a vehicle for reflecting on and coping with the Greek Mythology world. In his poem the Aeneid, written in the 1st century BC, Roman poet Virgil used the theme of the wandering Trojan hero Aeneas and his eventual foundation of a settlement that became Rome. The Aeneid not only continues story patterns developed in Homers epics, but it also makes frequent and detailed allusions to the texts of Homer and other Greek writers.The long poem Metamorphoses by Roman poet Ovid embraces an enormous number of Greek myths, reworked into a composition that later had unparalleled influence on European culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance. Greekmythologysurvived during Christian antiquity by its interpretation as allegory (expressive of a deeper or hidden meaning). Early Christians incorporated pagan stories into their own worldview if they could reinterpret the story to express a concealed, uplifti ng meaning.In the 5th century AD, for example, Latin mythographer Fulgentius gave an allegorical reading of the Judgment of Paris. The Greek myth told of a young Trojan shepherd faced with a choice between the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Each goddess tried to bribe Paris to name her the most beautiful Hera offering power, Athena offering success in battle, and Aphrodite offering a beautiful woman. Fulgentius explained that the choice was actually a moral one, between a life of action, a life of contemplation, and a life dominated by love.The allegorical approach to the myths has never died out we find it today in the writings of those who regard myths as expressions of basic, universal psychological truths. For example, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, borrowed from Greek mythology in developing his ideas of human psychosexual development, which he described in terms of an Oedipus complex and an Electra complex. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that cert ain psychic structures he called archetypes were common to all people in all times and gave rise to recurring ideas such as mythological themes. BEuropean Art, Music, and Literature TheinfluenceofGreek mythology on Western art, music, and literature can hardly be exaggerated. Many of the greatest works of painting and sculpture have taken myths as their subject. Examples include the Birth of Venus (after 1482) by Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, a marble sculpture of Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625) by Italian baroque sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, a terrifying Cronus Devouring One of His Children (1820-1823) by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, and beautify with the Fall of Icarus (about 1558) by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel.In the Bruegel painting peasants continue with their daily toil oblivious of the mythological drama being played out in the sky above. Musicianstoo,especially composers of opera and oratorio, have found inspiration in ancient myths. Operatic dram atizations of these stories begin with Orfeo (Orpheus, 1607) and Il ritorno dUlisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland, 1641) by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi.They continue into the 20th century with Elektra (1909) by German composer Richard Strauss and Oedipus Rex (1927) by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky. TheimpactofGreekmythology on literature has been incalculably great. In the 20th century the story of the murderous revenge of Orestes on his mother Clytemnestra (for killing his father, Agamemnon) has inspired writers as diverse as American dramatist Eugene ONeill (in Mourning Becomes Electra, 1931), American-born poet and playwright T. S.Eliot (in The Family Reunion, 1939), and French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre (in Les Mouches 1943 The Flies, 1946). Among the Greek Mythology most notable of all literary works inspired by Greek mythology is Ulysses by Irish writer James Joyce. In this intricate novel, Ulysses (Odysseus) becomes Dublin reside nt Leopold Bloom, while Blooms wife, Molly, combines characteristics of faithful Penelope (wife of Odysseus) and seductive Calypso (a sea nymph who holds Odysseus captive on his journey home).TheinfluenceofGreek mythology shows no sign of diminishing. Computer games (see Electronic Games) and science fiction frequently use combat- or quest-oriented story patterns that have clear parallels in classical mythology. Greek myths developed in a specific ancient society, but the emotional and intellectual content of the stories has proved adaptable to a massive range of cultural contexts.