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Ancient Greek Mythology

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Myths were a very important part of the ancient Greek civilization. They explained the world to the people of ancient Greece, including how and why the physical world worked, human emotions and relationships, how and why the gods acted, but arguably the most important thing they did was give the people of ancient Greece values to live. However, these values often varied by gender. For example, myths showed how women should belong to men and be treated as something evil. Differently from what they said about women, myths showed men how to obtain honor and glory. By studying these myths we can begin to understand the values held by the people of ancient Greece. One of the values that can be seen most clearly in ancient Greek myths is views on women. These myths show how women were thought of as something bad and untrustworthy. The view that women were trouble can be seen in the myth of Pandora. Pandora is the first women. She was given many wonderful gifts by the gods, but Zeus, the king of the gods, gave her the gift of curiosity along with a special jar she was told never to open. However, because she had been given curiosity she opened the jar “with the result that countless miseries in the forms of silent spirits enter the world introducing mortal men for the first time to hard work and sickness.” (Pandora, ABC-CLIO) Pandora releasing sources of evil into the world caused women to be viewed as a source of misery and unpleasantness and gave men the view that women caused

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