Greek mythology

Greek mythology is the set of myths which come from the religion of ancient Hellenic civilization. These stories were familiar to all ancient Greeks and, although some thinkers professed skepticism, they provided the people with both rituals and history. Like the religions of most of their neighbors, the Greeks believed in gods and goddesses who were associated with specific aspects of life. For example, Aphrodite was the goddess of love and sex, while Ares was the god of war and Hades the god of the dead. Although there were hundreds of beings that could be considered "gods" in one sense or another, most figured only into obscure bits of folklore, perhaps as fragments of remembrances of more ancient deities. Actual worship was centered on only a few gods, mostly the thirteen Olympians. The Olympians were the center of large pan-Hellenic cults, although Persephone (patroness of the Eleusinian mysteries) is a prominent exception. Many regions and even individual villages had their own cults centered on nymphs or minor deities virtually unknown elsewhere. Foreign gods like Cybele from Phrygia were well-known in Greece, but not actively worshipped.

Overview

In Greek mythology, the gods in the pantheon are given human form, but are first and foremost personifications of the forces of the universe. As such, they are more or less unchanging. While they sometimes seem to have a sense of justice, they are often petty or vengeful. The gods' favors are won by sacrifices and piety, but this does not guarantee them, for the gods are known to be prone to frequent changes of mind. Their anger is harsh and their love can be just as dangerous. The gods of the Greeks only feared one thing, the blood of the Golden Hind which nullified their immortality from ichor.

The world of Greek mythology is quite complex. It is full of monsters, wars, intrigue, and meddling gods. In addition, there are heroes to help overcome these problems. Men and women were much greater in those days, of course, though the Greeks did not see any wide gulf between their history and their religion (see, for example, The Iliad and The Odyssey). The Greeks saw themselves as the direct descendants of the mythological heroes and their culture.

In addition to the continuing use of and allusion to mythology in literature, Greek mythology today makes for some wonderful stories that remain enjoyable. Greek mythology continues to be an important cultural reference long after the Greek religion with which it was entwined ceased to be practiced. There was, to be sure, a Christian move to deface or destroy idols and other images that reflected the public cult of the gods when Christianity replaced paganism as the official faith of the Roman Empire. Literature posed a harder problem to the Christians; it would be impossible to erase the influence of Greek mythology there without casting aside the Iliad and the other works of Homer, Theocritus, Vergil, Ovid, and hundreds of other authors that none but a few zealots were willing to cast aside. Greek mythology thus has persisted for more than a millennium after Greek religion became extinct. Even much classical Christian literature contains allusions to Greek and Roman mythology, as a glimpse at Milton's Paradise Lost makes plain:

By younger Saturn, he from mightier Jove

His own and Rhea's Son like measure found;

So Jove usurping reign'd: these first in Crete

And Ida known, thence on the Snowy top

Of cold Olympus rul'd the middle Air

Thir highest Heav'n; or on the Delphian Cliff,

Or in Dodona, and through all the bounds

Of Doric Land; or who with Saturn old

Fled over Adria to th' Hesperian Fields,

And ore the Celtic roam'd the utmost Isles.

—Paradise Lost, book I

Quotes

"For the last two thousand years it has been the fashion to dismiss the myths as bizarre or chimerical fancies, a charming legacy from the childhood of the Greek intelligence, which the Church naturally depreciated in order to emphasize the greater spiritual importance of the Bible." (Robert Graves, The Greek Myths, introduction)

Some important mythical places and characters

• List of Greek mythological characters
• Elysium
• Hades
• Helicon
• Hyperborea (Hyperboria)
• Lethe
• Mount Olympus (Olýmpos)
• Styx
• Tartarus (Tartaros)

Primary sources

• Aeschylus, Plays
• Apollodorus, Library and Epitome
• Apollonius of Rhodes, Argonautica
• Apuleius, The Golden Ass
• Euripides, Plays
• Homer, The Iliad and The Odyssey
• Hesiod, Theogony and Works and Days
• Ovid, Heroides and Metamorphoses
• Pausanias, Description of Greece
• Pindar, Odes
• Sophocles, Plays
• Virgil, Aeneid

See also

• Greek religion, Roman mythology, Roman religion, paganism, List of movies based on Greco-Roman mythology

External links

• Timeless Myths provides information and tales from classical literature.
• The "Lovers' Legends" series uncensors the gay Greek myths.
• Greek Mythology provides a complete overview of Greek Myths
• The Androphile Library Greek mythology section presents brief renditions of the Greek myths of male love.