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- Greek mythology, body of stories concerning the gods, heroes, and rituals of the ancient Greeks and Classical antiquity. That the myths contained a considerable element of fiction was recognized by the more critical Greeks, such as the philosopher Plato in the 5th–4th century bce.
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Jan 13, 2020 · Believing in myths versus not believing in myths. It is quite apparent that the vast majority of people in ancient Greece believed in the existence of the Greek gods, but they had differing conceptions of what those gods were like.
In Northern Europe, Greek mythology never took the same hold of the visual arts, but its effect was very obvious on literature. The English imagination was fired by Greek mythology starting with Chaucer and John Milton and continuing through Shakespeare to Robert Bridges in the 20th century.
Jul 29, 2012 · Probably, the Greek myths, as with any religious or non-written sources, were believed by some and discounted by others. Myths were certainly used for religious and educational purposes but also may well have had a simple aesthetic function of entertainment.
- Mark Cartwright
Feb 15, 2024 · Are all Greek myths based on facts? No, not all Greek myths are based on factual events. Many myths were created to explain natural phenomena, teach moral lessons, or entertain audiences, blending elements of fact and fiction. How can we distinguish between fact and fiction in Greek mythology?
- Overview
- The Homeric poems: the Iliad and the Odyssey
- The works of Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days
- Other literary works
- Archaeological discoveries
Greek myth takes many forms, from religious myths of origin to folktales and legends of heroes. In terms of gods, the Greek pantheon consists of 12 deities who were said to reside at Mount Olympus: Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Poseidon. (This list sometimes also includes Hades or Hestia). Other major figures of Greek myth include the heroes Odysseus, Orpheus, and Heracles; the Titans; and the nine Muses.
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Learn more about ancient Greek religion, which is different from, but closely related to, Greek mythology.
What are some major works in Greek mythology?
Some of the most important and well-known works of Greek mythology are the epic poems of Homer: the Iliad and the Odyssey. In these, many of the characteristics of the Olympian gods and notable heroes are outlined. The fullest and most important source of myths about the origin of the gods is the Theogony of Hesiod, which also includes folktales and etiological myths. Hesiod also contributed Works and Days, an epic poem about the agricultural arts which includes elements of myth.
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The 5th-century-bce Greek historian Herodotus remarked that Homer and Hesiod gave to the Olympian gods their familiar characteristics. Few today would accept this literally. In the first book of the Iliad, the son of Zeus and Leto (Apollo, line 9) is as instantly identifiable to the Greek reader by his patronymic as are the sons of Atreus (Agamemno...
The fullest and most important source of myths about the origin of the gods is the Theogony of Hesiod (c. 700 bce). The elaborate genealogies mentioned above are accompanied by folktales and etiological myths. The Works and Days shares some of these in the context of a farmer’s calendar and an extensive harangue on the subject of justice addressed to Hesiod’s possibly fictitious brother Perses. The orthodox view treats the two poems as quite different in theme and treats the Works and Days as a theodicy (a natural theology). It is possible, however, to treat the two poems as a diptych, each part dependent on the other. The Theogony declares the identities and alliances of the gods, while the Works and Days gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, and Hesiod urges that the most reliable—though by no means certain—way is to be just.
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Fragmentary post-Homeric epics of varying date and authorship filled the gaps in the accounts of the Trojan War recorded in the Iliad and Odyssey; the so-called Homeric Hymns (shorter surviving poems) are the source of several important religious myths. Many of the lyric poets preserved various myths, but the odes of Pindar of Thebes (flourished 6th–5th century bce) are particularly rich in myth and legend. The works of the three tragedians—Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides, all of the 5th century bce—are remarkable for the variety of the traditions they preserve.
In Hellenistic times (323–30 bce) Callimachus, a 3rd-century-bce poet and scholar in Alexandria, recorded many obscure myths; his contemporary, the mythographer Euhemerus, suggested that the gods were originally human, a view known as Euhemerism. Apollonius of Rhodes, another scholar of the 3rd century bce, preserved the fullest account of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.
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The discovery of the Mycenaean civilization by Heinrich Schliemann, a 19th-century German amateur archaeologist, and the discovery of the Minoan civilization in Crete (from which the Mycenaean ultimately derived) by Sir Arthur Evans, a 20th-century English archaeologist, are essential to the 21st-century understanding of the development of myth and ritual in the Greek world. Such discoveries illuminated aspects of Minoan culture from about 2200 to 1450 bce and Mycenaean culture from about 1600 to 1200 bce; those eras were followed by a Dark Age that lasted until about 800 bce. Unfortunately, the evidence about myth and ritual at Mycenaean and Minoan sites is entirely monumental, because the Linear B script (an ancient form of Greek found in both Crete and Greece) was mainly used to record inventories.
Geometric designs on pottery of the 8th century bce depict scenes from the Trojan cycle, as well as the adventures of Heracles. The extreme formality of the style, however, renders much of the identification difficult, and there is no inscriptional evidence accompanying the designs to assist scholars in identification and interpretation. In the succeeding Archaic (c. 750–c. 500 bce), Classical (c. 480–323 bce), and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear to supplement the existing literary evidence.
Dec 2, 2009 · Getty Images. Ancient Greek mythology is a vast group of legends about gods and goddesses, heroes and monsters, warriors and fools, that were an important part of everyday life in the ancient...
Greek Mythology: Stories, Characters, Gods, and Culture | History Cooperative. Greek mythology contains some of the Western World’s most celebrated myths and legends. As with most other mythologies belonging to ancient civilizations, the Greeks used their myths as a way to explain the dangerous world around them.
