Inside The Palace Of Illusions In Greek Mythology

In a world whereby diverse cultures and religions collide amongst the disparate and polarized people of our planet, there are few pervading threads that adhere the seams of human life and experience as vividly and profoundly as mythology. Emerging from the first primordial peoples of the earth, from the Occident to the Orient, mythology appears to be an almost innate and inbuilt feature of the human psyche; as religion fuels the contention of superhuman gods who perhaps once sowed the seeds of life, mythology yields the direction and

In the world of film, there is usually a stereotypical role for each gender. For example, the man is usually portrayed as the hero and the woman is in some sort of distress and needs to be saved. Women in movies are generally shown as weak and needing a man to survive. For example, in the Disney movie “Cinderella”, Cinderella lives a horrible and unhappy life until she meets Prince Charming. When Prince Charming rescues Cinderella, they fall in love, she becomes happy, and they live happily ever after. There are a few movies out there, though, which show the opposite. Both “She Done Him Wrong” and “Scarlet Street” are films that portray the main female characters, Lady Lou and Kitty March, as strong and independent women, both acting how

Both authors develop different female characters, who are not seen as level with man but as inferior to them.

Deception in ancient Greece meant something almost entirely different than it does in the modern United States. For example, today, ‘deception’ is used most frequently in talking about a bad one night stands and how one member of the ‘night out’ cannot believe that he/she was fooled by someone just for sex. In ancient Greece, however, deception was most commonly attributed to females, and it played on the point that women were out to foil men’s plans of fulfilling their destiny in their manhood. Some of the most prominent female deceivers in Greek literature are the goddess Demeter, Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, and the goddess Athene.

According to Greek mythology, gods often disguise themselves as human beings to hide their true, overwhelming identities. In The Odyssey, for example, Athena took on the form of a young girl and guided Odysseus around King Alcinous’s city. Later on, Odysseus disguised himself as a poor, old man in order to make it into Ithaca without being noticed by his enemies (Fagles, 1996). In many cases, guises become a necessary part of accomplishing tasks. In the criminal justice field, detectives must occasionally disguise themselves as “Johns” in order to save women who are being sold into prostitution.

The different roles women and men characters play in the stories are also largely influenced by the society’s views. Women are portrayed

The roles portrayed in the movie are well developed and compliment each other as well as the final outcome of the story. Although the males in the movie play a crucial part, it is the females who contribute to the viewer's ability to watch and understand the story from various angles and

Male characters easily speak their minds, they outnumber the women characters, and they have a lot more action going on for the audience to see. Therefore, they have a more dramatic impact than women.

Ancient Greek society fell over 2000 years ago but despite this, its mythology still continues to influence our western society. References to Greek mythology can be found all through time and in our western culture. The influence of Greek mythology can be found in our science, arts and literature and our language. When Ancient Greece fell to the Roman Empire, Rome adapted its mythologies which still influence us today as they have through history. That is not to say that Greek mythology wasn’t influenced itself – Greek mythology has links with the bible and the early Mycenaean’s. It has also been recognised as one of the earliest forms of paganism.

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 is one of the coolest things anyone could think of. The ideas of gods and goddesses coming down to earth to interact with the human race, is quite an amazing thing. In many cultures, gods are very important. The ancient greek culture is an example where mythology is very important to the people, the gods are everywhere in daily life. Yet with the made up mythology, they needed a place to begin with and the greeks are no exception, but the story of the gods beginning is very interesting.

Myth still remains one of the major links that merges the different cultures and religions from various ethnicities. “The Creation of the Titans and the Gods”, as well as “The Creation, Death, and Rebirth of the Universe”, are among the many creation myths that highlight these combinations. Throughout history, myths have created various similarities and differences between the cultures and religions of the world.

Hope is a dangerous curse, cleverly disguised as a blessing. People bring suffering upon themselves by hoping things will happen. Hope is a common theme in Greek Mythology and drives gods to their fall. We saw in this unit, the myths of Greek gods imitating the human race’s struggles through hope. Hope is a curse not a blessing for the gods in Greek Mythology because it tricks and controls you.

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.

"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.