Mythology In Greek Mythology

The Ancient Greeks believed in many gods and heroes during their time. Each one had a sole purpose in a mortal’s lifetime. Greek mythology had a huge impact on religion in Ancient Greece. The Greeks performed rituals in order to honor their gods. Mythology affected the Ancient Greeks in many ways. The origins of mythology, the influences of mythology through a human’s lifetime and lessons taught in the ancient myths will be examined.

Greek Mythology has been known to be one of the footprints left by the civilization of ancient Greece to our history and these mythology somehow shed a light to the culture, life style, religion and history of ancient Greece since the mythology were the primary basis of the origin of the ancient Greeks and they believed that these mythologies explained the origin of why things turned out to be like that.

People from early civilizations created myths which they followed in their everyday lives. These myths carried three details to explain how the world was created. Those three details were

To start examining some of the inconsistencies between Hercules and Greek Mythology, one ought to include one trivial point of the movie. In Hercules, Hercules is born an offspring of Zeus and Hera. Hercules’s parents and other characters residing in Mt. Olympus bestow upon him many gifts, at the time of his birth, planning his bright future as a god. However, in the authentic myth of Heracles, the child was born a son of a mortal woman and the god Zeus. Hera as a matter of fact never was an immense fan of Heracles because he was the son of another female

One of the biggest differences between “Hercules” and Heraclês is the fact that in the movie, “Hercules”, Zeus has only one son, which is Hercules. This difference falls underneath the family values portion. Zeus, the ruler of Olympus, has multiple children in the myths. While in the movie he has the one, Hercules. Zeus focuses only on Hera, he is deeply infatuated with her. On the other hand Zeus in the myths is a “player”, lots of women got his love. The Disney version applies more to modern day life than the myths do. In today’s society a man is supposed to have one wife and have kids with her only. However in the myths, Zeus, had multiple wives and a great deal children. Disney is working to connect with the audience by having it look like a typical family.

When people wonder about Ancient Greece the first thing that comes to their minds is Greek mythology; gods and goddesses that have helped shape many historical events. “In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life.” (“Greek Mythology.”) The civilization showed that numerous characters and stories helped shape Greeks. The beliefs the Greeks had with mythologies was they understood the meaning behind all the characters that are known today. However, to the Greeks, they were not just characters, these were their gods and goddesses who gave them meaning and understanding of the world around them. Worshiping the gods and goddesses helped them with their religious rituals and the temperament of the weather. A famous wine-jar that was made during this time period was “Achilles killing the Amazon Queen Penthesilea, 540-530 BCE, black-figured amphora”. (Khan Academy) The civilization that they lived in grew around their worship and achievements.

Greek mythology has been passed on and retold over generations. Literature and movies have been created to entertain as well as provide specific themes based off of myths. There are many heroes that mythology talks about and each one has lived an epic life, but there is one famous hero that has been immortalized throughout history. Hercules is the son of Zeus and a mortal named Alcmene. Zeus impregnated her while her husband was away and this is where his story began. Zeus' wife, Hera, found out about the affair and was outrageous about his careless actions. She tried to prevent Hercules' birth; however, when that didn't work she sent snakes to kill the baby. Hercules was too mighty for the snakes and strangled them before they could even hurt him. As stated in this source, "Hera remained angry. How could she get even? Hera knew that she would lose in a fight, and that she wasn't powerful enough to prevent Zeus from having his way. Hera decided to pay Zeus back for his infidelity by making the rest of Hercules' life as miserable as she could" (Crane WEB). Hercules grew up to be a great young warrior and was all around. With this god-like strength, also came an uncontrollable temper that made him react at times without thinking, but later made him realize the wrongdoings of his violence. He later then married a woman named Megara and had two beautiful children. But one day, Hera instilled a fit of rage into Hercules and made him slaughter his family with his very own hands. He was shocked by his actions and asked Apollo for assistance since he was drowning in guilt. Apollo later then gave him specific tasks to help Hercules redeem himself for the bloodshed he caused. The hero was sent to Eurystheus, and under his strict hand, he was to accomplish twelve labors over the next twelve years.

In my research I have learned an addition of facts and stories about Greek mythology. Like how “the Pegasus and Chrysor came from the blood of Medusa’s head after Perseus cut it off” (Greek Mythology). Or how the “Amazonian group of warriors was all females” (Greek Mythology). The more that I have research about my topic the more fascinating and interesting it becomes. I hope that everyone will further their research and knowledge on this topic whether it’s reading a book, researching on the Internet, or even just watching a movie.

Select the sentence that contains no semicolon errors. (Note that some of the sentences may not require a semicolon.)

Society at that time, and possibly still today, craved stories that highlight the drama within a family, the problems it can cause, and the opportunities it can create. These subtle changes Disney made to their Hercules movie helps draw out the differences between American Society today and Ancient Greek Culture.

Later in the movie we are introduced with Philoctetetes (a goat) the trainer who trains Hercules in gaining valuable exercises and activities that he may later has to challenge. Hercules then encounter with 12 tasks and he overcome them all with his bare hands Phil Comes to realize that Meg Hercules love is betraying him, Hercules ignores him treating him unfair and leaves him. Unfortunately, Hercules found out that it was true ad felt awful forgave Phil he needed him at the end Hercules being a kind individual listened to all the good advice that Philoctetes had to offer.

The average viewer might not notice but there are a lot of differences between the Disney movie Hercules and the actual Greek myth. The reason being that Disney was targeting a younger audience with their movie and did not want to obviously put in some of the more graphic content of the actual myth.

Hercules marries Megara later, after having proved himself an excellent warrior and she birthed him two daughters. Hera caused Hercules to go crazy, and he killed his wife and daughters. When Hercules finally came to his senses he was distraught, and went to King Eurypterus and requested punishment. King Eurypterus asked the gods to help him come up with a punishment, and Hera is the one that responded to his request.

"A myth is a collective term denoting a symbolic narrative in religion, as distinguished from symbolic behavior (cult, ritual) and symbolic places or objects (temples, icons)". (The New Encyclopedia Britannica. Vol. 24)Mythology is a collection of myths meant to explain the universe. Mythological stories were told in many different cultures and civilizations. The existence of myths is known in every society. Many different myths were conceived to explain occurrences that happened in nature.

Throughout the course of time, different civilizations across the world hold one thing in common by which a society or culture can be based upon or help influence the structure. The one common thing that has help a civilization grow throughout the period of time would be the formation of a religion. Religion is a center point for many societies throughout history. As the center for the different civilizations, it helped form their different traditions and customs. The same could be said about the people of ancient Greece, where religion or mythology played an important role in their lives as it was the pedestal of their culture and how they base their lives upon. The formation of a religion across the large number of regions of Greece, help the different locations mold themselves by the customs that were created from the adaptation. During what was known as Ancient Greece, the people would hear tales of the twelve Olympians and how their actions influence the world around them. Within this period of time for the people of Greece was that of growth, as they sought to bring new ideas into light as they exited from a dark period within their own history.