Ancient Greek Mythology

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Ancient Greek Mythology

• What do I need to know?

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• Modern man often holds the mistaken belief that
  myth is about magic and nature rather than
  religion.
• In ancient times, the stories we refer to as myth
  were considered truthful accounts of the past.

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Mythology

• A myth is traditional narrative considered a
  truthful account of the past in society in which
  it is told. Generally, myth expresses and
  confirms religious values and norms.

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Mythology versus Folklore

• Myth is different from folklore or fairytale
  (admittedly fantastic). Both contributed to the
  cultural base of oral stories finally put to
  paper.

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Oral Tradition

• For centuries, stories, history, et cetera were
  passed down by word of mouth. Finally committing
  this information to written form fixed the
  stories and allowing them to be organized and
  reflected upon in art, philosophy, and theatre.

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Why begin with the gods?

• The Greeks, unlike other early polytheistic
  cultures on record, imagined their gods in their
  own image.
• Before then, deities were monsters that inspired
  a crippling fear, like the sphinx.

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Human form grounded the gods in reality. Greeks
could understand them and be at ease with them.
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• Though Hercules spent his life battling monsters,
  he was born in Thebes.
• One can point to the exact spot where Aphrodite
  rose out of foam in Cythera.
• Pegasus, the winged horse had a stable.
• Even the gods have houses built by Hephaestus and
  beds they sleep in.

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• Even though the gods and goddesses were beautiful
  and powerful (and most were, of course,
  immortal), they were also jealous, silly, and
  vengeful. They could be tricked. They fell in
  love. They chose favorites.

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What Classical Lit really shows us

• It shows us how members of the human race thought
  and felt during a time period.
• One may argue that this is what all literature
  does. We learn about a time period by mean of
  its records.
• These texts provide amazing insight into an early
  civilization and early man, which is particularly
  significant as the Greeks are our predecessors
  intellectually, politically, and artistically.

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The Iliad

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Homers Iliad

• Homer is said to be the first teller of
  adventures of all times. He was not the first
  author because in his day stories were passed
  down---they were told. He was a blind man whose
  date of birth is unknown.

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Eris, Goddess of Discord
Angry because she was not invited to the wedding
of the Sea Goddess Thetis to King Peleus, Eris
tossed the Golden Apple marked To the Fairest
into the banquet.
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The Fairest

• Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena wanted the apple
• Zeus would not choose, he did not want the
  goddesses angry with him
• Paris was asked to make
  the decision

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The Decision

• Hera offered to make Paris ruler of Europe and
  Asia
• Athena offered to let him lead Sparta in a
  victory over the Trojans
• Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in
  the world

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Paris Chooses Aphrodite

• The most beautiful woman in the world is Helen,
  the wife of King Menelaus
• Aphrodite helps Paris seduce and kidnap Helen

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The Beginning of War

• King Menelaus called on all those who were loyal
  to him.
• They gathered a huge army, and built a thousand
  ships to carry the army to Troy
• Helen of Sparta was now called Helen of Troy
• She was The face that launched a thousand ships

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The Trojan War

• The battle raged for 10 years
• Many great heroes lost their lives
• A prophet predicted that Troy could be captured
  only with the help of Achilles.

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Achilles
His mother was Thetis, a goddess of ocean. Zeus
loved her but their love was hopeless because of
her fate. Her son had a fate to be more excellent
than his father. So, she married a human being
named Peleus.
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The Hero Achilles

• Knowing of the prophecy, and worried that her son
  would be killed in war, Achilles mother dipped
  him in the river Styx to make him immortal.
• His only weakness was the place on his heals
  where she held him.
• Achilles is not a Greek or a Trojan, but a hired
  mercenary- fighting for glory, honor, and prizes

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Hektor

• He was born as the first son of Priam, the king
  of Troy, and his wife Hekabe.
• Hektor means a maintainer or a resister.
• He became a commander in chief during Troy war.
• He was so angry about Paris who kidnapped Helen
  that he even asked Paris to give her back to
  Menelaos
• Hektor is presented as a foil to Paris

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10 Years of War

• The Gods are tired of watching men kill each
  other, and decide to help end the war. Athena
  whispers an idea in the Spartan hero Odysseuss
  ear.

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The Trojan Horse

• Odysseus tells them they will build a huge horse
  of wood.
• Some would climb inside and hide.
• The rest would sail around the tip of the island,
  where they could not be seen.
• One would stay behind and tell the Trojans that
  he had been abandoned by the Greeks, and that the
  horse was an offering to Athena.

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The Fall of Troy

• The Trojans believed the trick.
• They had a huge banquet to celebrate the end of
  the war.
• At night the men from inside the horse came out
  and unlocked the gates to the city.

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The Burning of Troy

• The city is invaded by the army.
• The Trojans are drunk and spent from their night
  of revelry, unable to fight back.
• The Spartans destroy and burn the city.
• Aphrodite saves Helen from the destruction.

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The War Ends

• King Menelaus accepts Helen back.
• The Warriors can now return home.
• Odysseus leaves for home, and his wife and son.