What is Mythology?

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What is Mythology?

• Its the study of myths

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Myths attempt to Explain

• a. Nature
• Where did earth come from?
• Heavens
• Sun, moon, stars, comets, clouds, storms,
  thunder, lightning
• Seasons
• Climate, rain, fertility, agriculture
• Geography
• Oceans, mountains, forests, rivers,

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Myths attempt Explain

• b. Man
• Where did man come from?
• His life
• Birth, growth, reproduction, death
• His victories
• Glories in battle and against adversity
• His defeats
• Misfortunes, adversities, unhappiness
• His end
• Rewards and punishments, the afterlife

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Myths attempt to Explain

• c. Gods
• Where did the gods come from?
• How many gods are there?
• What regions do they inhabit?
• What roles do they fulfill
• Powers and weaknesses, characteristics and
  character flaws

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How do we know these things?

• The major source of our knowledge of ancient
  myths is from literature.
• Homers Iliad and Homers Odyssey
• Hesiods Theogony and Works and Pays
• Virgils Aeneid
• Ovids Metamorphoses
• There are several other minor works of Greek
  mythology, as well as mythos from other cultures
  including Norse, Chinese, and Native American
  culture.
• Roman mythology is largely based on Greek
  mythology, with many of the names and stories
  changed to fit Roman values and needs however,
  the universe and hierarchy of the gods is quite
  similar

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Why is Mythology important?

• Because its
• Interesting
• Entertaining
• Shows how the ancient people viewed their world
• Going to show up in references all around for the
  rest of your life

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Where does Mythology show up?

• In Literature
• Famous examples include
• Dantes Inferno
• Sophocles Oedipus
• Euripides Trojan Women
• Goethes Iphigenia In Taurus
• Shakespeares Troilus and Cressida
• Racines Andromache
• Aeschylus Prometheus Bound
• WM Morris Life and Death of Jason

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Where does Mythology show up?

• In Music
• Ravels Daphnis and Chloe
• Maeterlincks Peleas and Melisande
• Holsts The Planets
• Glucks Orpheus and Eurydice
• Wagners Ring of the Nibelungen
• Mozarts Jupiter Symphony

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Where does Mythology show up?

• In the Arts
• Mythology has been a source of subject matter and
  inspiration to painters and sculptors since art
  began.
• The Renaissance saw the reintroduction of the
  myths into various art forms.
• Todays artists borrow heavily from ancient myths
  and create their own myths through surrealism and
  symbolic art

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Where does Mythology show up?

• In advertising
• Brand names based on mythological characters
  indicate high quality
• Atlas Cement
• Midas Mufflers
• Mercury Cars
• Ajax Cleaner
• Venus Pencils
• Apollo Pianos

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Where does Mythology show up?

• In History
• Study of the Iliad and Odyssey and other myths
  can
• Produce facts about ancient people not
  discoverable through formal research
• Cite causes for war
• Show religious beliefs of an ancient people
• Provide anthropologists with keys to
  understanding a peoples history

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Where does Mythology show up?

• In Language
• Mythology is the source of words such as
• Janitor- Janus
• Martial- Mars
• Museum- Muses
• Volcano- Vulcan
• Hypnotism- Hypnos
• Days of the Week
• Thursday (Thors day) Missiles (Nike)
• Months of the year (March Mars) Birds (Phaethon)

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Mythology is of special use to

• Psychologists
• Who see in myths the expression of subconscious
  needs for love, acceptance, self-worth, and power
• Theologians
• Who study religions and myths to understand
  people and their own religion
• Students of Literature
• Who must understand myths to understand much of
  poetry and other works

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For more information, click on the individual
deities in this group portrait of THE OLYMPIANS.
These twelve immortals dwelt in a magnificent
palace on the heights of Mount Olympus, from
which they took their name.
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DIONYSUS (dye-oh-NYE-sus Roman name Bacchus) was
the god of wine. Dionysus was the son of Zeus and
the mortal heroine Semele. Dionysus rescued
Ariadne after she had been abandoned by Theseus.
Dionysus also saved his mother from the
Underworld, after Zeus showed her his true nature
as storm god and consumed her in lightning. It
was Dionysus who granted Midas the power to turn
whatever he touched into gold, then was kind
enough to take the power back when it proved
inconvenient.
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Aphrodite

• APHRODITE (a-fro-DYE-tee Roman name Venus) was
  the goddess of love, beauty and fertility. She
  was also a protectress of sailors. The poet
  Hesiod said that Aphrodite was born from
  sea-foam. Homer, on the other hand, said that she
  was the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

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The Goddess of Love

• In Homer's Iliad , Aphrodite saves Paris when he
  is about to be killed in single combat by
  Menelaus. The goddess wraps him in a mist and
  spirits him away, setting him down in his own
  bedroom in Troy. She then appears to Helen in the
  guise of an elderly handmaiden and tells her that
  Paris is waiting for her.
• Helen recognizes the goddess in disguise and asks
  if she is being led once more to ruin. Aphrodite
  had bewitched her into leaving her husband
  Menelaus to run off with Paris. She dares to
  suggest that Aphrodite go to Paris herself.
• Suddenly furious, the goddess warns Helen not to
  go too far, lest she be abandoned to the hatred
  of Greeks and Trojans alike. "I'll hate you,"
  says the mercurial goddess, "as much as I love
  you now."

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Apollo

• APOLLO (uh-POL-oh Roman name Apollo) was the god
  of prophesy, music and healing. Like most of his
  fellow Olympians, Apollo did not hesitate to
  intervene in human affairs. It was he who brought
  about the demise of the mighty Achilles. Of all
  the heroes besieging the city of Troy in the
  Trojan War, Achilles was the best fighter by far.
  He had easily defeated the Trojan captain Hector
  in single combat. But Apollo helped Hector's
  brother Paris slay Achilles with an arrow.

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Apollo

• When someone died suddenly, he was said to have
  been struck down by one of Apollo's arrows.
  Homer's epic of the Trojan War begins with the
  god causing a plague by raining arrows down upon
  the Greek camp.
• As god of music, Apollo is often depicted playing
  the lyre. He did not invent this instrument,
  however, but was given it by Hermes in
  compensation for cattle theft. Some say that
  Apollo did invent the lute, although he was best
  known for his skill on the lyre.
• He won several musical contests by playing this
  instrument. In one case he bested Pan, who
  competed on his own invention, the shepherd's
  pipe. On this occasion, King Midas had the bad
  sense to say that he preferred Pan's music, which
  caused Apollo to turn his ears into those of an
  ass.

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Ares, God of Bloody War

• ARES (AIR-eez Roman name Mars) was the god of
  war, or more precisely of warlike frenzy. Though
  an immortal deity, he was bested by Heracles in
  battle and was almost killed when stuffed into a
  jar by two giants. When another hero wounded him
  during the Trojan War, he received scant sympathy
  from his father Zeus. In appearance, Ares was
  handsome and cruel. He is often depicted carrying
  a bloodstained spear. His throne on Mount Olympus
  was said to be covered in human skin.

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Ares, God of Bloody War
The Roman god Mars, with whom Ares was
identified, was the father of Romulus and Remus,
the mythological founders of Rome. Thus he was
more important to the Romans than his Greek
counterpart. He was also more dignified.
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Athena, Goddess of Wisdom

• ATHENA (a-THEE-nuh Roman name Minerva) was the
  goddess of crafts and the domestic arts and also
  those of war. She was the patron goddess of
  Athens. Her symbol was the owl. She was
  originally the Great Goddess in the form of a
  bird. By the late Classic, she had come to be
  regarded as a goddess of wisdom Zeus was once
  married to Metis, a daughter of Ocean who was
  renowned for her wisdom. When Metis became
  pregnant, Zeus was warned by Earth that a son
  born to Metis would overthrow him, just as he had
  usurped his own father's throne.

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Athena

• So Zeus swallowed Metis. In time he was overcome
  with a splitting headache and summoned help from
  the craftsman god Hephaestus (or, some say, the
  Titan Prometheus). Hephaestus cleaved Zeus's
  forehead with an ax, and Athena sprang forth
  fully armed.

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Artemis

• ARTEMIS (AR-ti-mis Roman name Diana) was the
  virgin goddess of the hunt. She helped women in
  childbirth but also brought sudden death with her
  arrows. Artemis and her brother Apollo were the
  children of Zeus and Leto. In some versions of
  their myth, Artemis was born first and helped her
  mother to deliver Apollo.

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Demeter

• DEMETER (dee-MEE-tur Roman name Ceres) was the
  goddess of agriculture. Demeter as the sister of
  Zeus and the mother of Persephone. Persephone was
  gathering flowers in a meadow one day when a huge
  crack opened up in the earth and Hades, King of
  the Dead, emerged from the Underworld. He seized
  Persephone and carried her off in his chariot,
  back down to his realm below, where she became
  his queen. Demeter was heartbroken. She wandered
  the length and breadth of the earth in search of
  her daughter, during which time the crops
  withered and it became perpetual winter.

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Hephaestus, God of Metalcraft

• HEPHAESTUS (he-FEE-stus or he-FESS-tus Roman
  name Vulcan) was the lame god of fire and crafts
  or the two together, hence of blacksmiths.
  Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera or, in
  some accounts, of Hera alone. He limped because
  he was born lame, which caused his mother to
  throw him off Mount Olympus.

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Hera, Queen of Olympians

• HERA (HEE-ruh Roman name Juno) was the goddess
  of marriage. Hera was the wife of Zeus and Queen
  of the Olympians. Hera hated the great hero
  Heracles since he was the son of her husband Zeus
  and a mortal woman. When he was still an infant,
  she sent snakes to attack him in his crib. Later
  she stirred up the Amazons against him when he
  was on one of his quests.

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Hermes, Winged Messenger Of Gods

• HERMES (HUR-meez Roman name Mercury) was the
  messenger of the gods and guide of dead souls to
  the Underworld. A prankster and inventive genius
  from birth, Hermes aided the heroes Odysseus and
  Perseus in their quests. Hermes was the son Zeus
  and a mountain nymph. As a newborn he was
  remarkably precocious. On his very first day of
  life, he found the empty shell of a tortoise and
  perceived its utility as a sounding chamber.
  Stringing sinews across it, he created the first
  lyre.

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Poseidon, God of the Deep Blue

• POSEIDON (puh-SYE-dun or poh-SYE-dun Roman name
  Neptune) was the god of the sea, earthquakes and
  horses. Although he was officially one of the
  supreme gods of Mount Olympus, he spent most of
  his time in his watery domain. Poseidon was
  brother to Zeus and Hades. These three gods
  divided up creation. Zeus was ruler of the sky,
  Hades had dominion of the Underworld and Poseidon
  was given all water, both fresh and salt.

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Zeus, King of Olympians

• ZEUS (zoose or zyoose Roman name Jupiter) was
  the supreme god of the Olympians. He was the
  father of the heroes Perseus and Heracles, the
  latter of whom once wrestled him to a draw. Zeus
  was the youngest son of the Titans Cronus and
  Rhea. When he was born, his father Cronus
  intended to swallow him as he had all of Zeus's
  siblings Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter and
  Hera. But Rhea hid the newborn in a cave on Mount
  Dicte in Crete. (To this day, the guides at the
  "cave of Zeus" use their flashlights to cast
  shadow puppets in the cave, creating images of
  baby Zeus from the myth.)