Preview

Mythology vs Natural World: How mythology helped to explain aspects of the natural world to the ancient Greeks

Good Essays
Open Document
Open Document
1277 Words
Grammar
Grammar
Plagiarism
Plagiarism
Writing
Writing
Score
Score
Mythology vs Natural World: How mythology helped to explain aspects of the natural world to the ancient Greeks
Greek myths are all that 's left of the ancient Greek religion, in which beauty, poetry, and creative activities were a vital part of the tradition. Centuries ago, the Greeks created numerous stories and poems, which are still being shared today, that showed their view of the world that existed not only in the mind of the Greek poets, but in the hearts of the humble and long suffering natives of ancient Greece. From the stories of the Olympians, to heroes ' greatest adventures and from romantic stories to savage beasts, the Greeks used stories not only for entertainment but also for answers to nature 's mysteries. Mythology helped to explain aspects of the natural world to the ancient Greeks. Some of the greatest mysteries of nature that are explained in mythology are the origins of mankind, the four seasons, and how flowers got their colors and names.

One of the greatest mysteries for all cultures concerns how men were first created. In ancient Greek mythology, this aspect of the natural world is explained with several different stories. One story tells about how Epimetheus, a scatterbrained Titan, gave all the best gifts to the animals: strength, swiftness, courage, shrewdness cunningness, and fur, feathers, wings, and shells. Since there was nothing good left for men, Epimetheus was truly sorry so he asked his brother, Prometheus, to help him. Prometheus created men in a nobler shape than the animals and he even went to the heaven and stole the fire for men. Another story about mankind claims that the gods themselves created mankind--this story is known as the five ages of man. The first age, Golden Age, which consists of happy mortals who lived like gods, ends when Zeus overcame the Titans. The Silver Age came and the children could play for hundreds of years before growing up. However; since the people did not honor the gods, they were soon destroyed. The Bronze Age came in third but men, made with ash trees, were all destroyed by the flood in the time of

You May Also Find These Documents Helpful

  • Satisfactory Essays

    All cultures create myths to explain the origins of the earth, its people, and the places and objects in their worlds. Legends tend to glorify heroes. Take a closer look at Greek mythology. Find a myth that intrigues or interests you, summarize it in writing and explain why you found this particular myth interesting and whether it has any relevance to today’s world.…

    • 2175 Words
    • 9 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    the Franco-Dahomean War

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages

    The purpose myths served to ancient people were to keep them entertained and keep them interested in the stories.…

    • 428 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    1: In classical Greek civilization, people interacted with the environment. People used the Mediterranean basin in many different ways. One reason was for irrigation, which produced fertile soil throughout the land and made agriculture great in this society. Some of the plants they grew were olives and grapes. These were soon turned into olive oil and wine, which was a very popular item to trade. This basin was also used as a travel route, which did spread cultures around the areas.…

    • 596 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    In ancient Greece, mythology was a part of the Greek religion. Mythology was a tool used to explain various aspects of ancient life, such as, the environment in which humankind lived, the creation of the world, and the natural phenomena they witnessed. Myths in relation to Greek religion refers to the ancient Greek gods, explaining their origin and their lives. The accounts of Greek mythology were originally disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition, today, however, the myths are known primarily from Greek literature, such as the poems of Homer and Hesiod. These poems help determine the origin of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses along with the creation of the world and the re-telling of historical events.…

    • 909 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Better Essays

    Myths are tales told throughout time for generations to pronounce how the world was designed and created. These creation stories also tell how originally the first people came to inhabit it. There are a wide variety of altered myths for different cultures that try to explain exactly how the world came to be from the very beginning.…

    • 1099 Words
    • 5 Pages
    Better Essays
  • Good Essays

    As we were told when we were young children, too much of a good thing is not a good thing. The same phrase can apply to aspects in lives now. Literature shows how pride can be a good thing, but too much of it is not. In fact, the opposite of pride, humility, is an extremely important value. The Bible and Edith Hamilton’s Mythology both show how a lack of the value humility will result in consequence through characterization and plot.…

    • 622 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Nowadays, People laugh at myths for being silly and nonsensical but myth are what kept our ancestors alive. Some of us still believe that God created Earth because there is no other sensible reason that exists until date. This was also true in Ancient Egypt. People thought that the most sensible answer to ANY question would be coming from their deities. In general, mythology helped Egyptian people to understand natural phenomena. It encouraged the acceptance of one's place in the world as being justified by the gods. Additionally, serving the gods gave people a purpose in life.…

    • 287 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A Myth is a traditional story, specifically one concerning early history of a people group explaining some natural phenomenon or social occurrence typically involving the supernatural. It comes from the Latin word mythus which means speech, thought, story, or anything delivered by word of mouth. Mythology is simply an attempt to answer the unknown. It implemented a sense of security to the ancients who could not explain the aspects of the universe with science or reason as we can today. These stories transformed ancient Greek and Roman cultures, creating literature, architecture and social laws. As society grew and new ideas were formed, mythology became exceedingly irrelevant. Soon Western cultures stopped worshiping a plethora of gods and replaced the fear of the unexplained with curiosity. Though the spiritual importance of mythology is irrelevant today, mythology has created the building blocks of modern society; through literature,…

    • 672 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Satisfactory Essays

    Ancient Greece was a civilization that set many precedents. One of the most notable earmarks of Ancient Greece is It’s mythology. Though not the only polytheistic culture, Greece is one of the most prominently thought of cultures when referring to Gods and Goddesses. The deities of ancient Greece held a huge sphere of influence in their culture. The Gods and Goddesses affected many aspects of everyday life. These myths became their religious and spiritual foundations. “In ancient Greece, a myth was not simply a story, or a tale, rich in religious and poetic meanings, but rather a body of scientific knowledge about the world and a normative conception of human beings” (Javier Lopez Frias, Isadora,Hadjistephanou Papaellina).…

    • 179 Words
    • 1 Page
    Satisfactory Essays
  • Good Essays

    Complete the matrix section and the question section on the worksheet for each week. For each culture, identify the starting and ending dates of the culture, the structure of government, the role of the city government, and type of law created by the culture. Describe how the culture viewed the relationship between gods and people and how it defined citizenship. List the major events the culture experienced.…

    • 1672 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Apollo In Greek Mythology

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages

    Greek mythology was used as a way to explain and provide reason for what was going on in the world. (Hamilton,1) These stories were used to "lead us back to a time when...people had a connection with the earth." (Hamilton,1) In this time, people had "little distinction between the real and unreal." (Hamilton, 1) The Greeks recognized twelve main gods, the brothers, sisters, and children of the king of the gods Zeus. (Bleiberg) Among these twelve was Zeus's son Apollo. Although Apollo is best known as the Greek god of music, archery, healing, light, and truth, he was also known for acts of destruction and nature's control of life.…

    • 1600 Words
    • 7 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    A myth is a story that is told by people from an earlier time period. They explain what they think to be happening or how they view the world at that point in time. Many of them focus on gods, goddesses, or a mythical creature in order to explain the events that define their culture. The most common myths are within Greek mythology that help to explain culture and gave the world around them a meaning. These were an important part of their everyday life and help to explain religious practices and help influence art and literature years after its…

    • 101 Words
    • 1 Page
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Grade 9 English Isu

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages

    A Greek Myth is a made up story of how or why things are in nature. One example explains how gold came to be in the river Pactolus, the story of Midas, Greek myths also have leader gods and gods that are lesser, god that are leaders. Gods that are leaders live on Mount Olympus these include, Zeus, Hera, Athena and many others. Some gods are also heroes like Heracles who, because he killed al l6 of his children had to do 12 penances one including killing Meduca.…

    • 469 Words
    • 2 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Essay On Greek Myths

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages

    “The characters, stories, themes and lessons of Greek mythology have shaped art and literature for thousands of years. They appear in Renaissance paintings such as Botticelli’s Birth of Venus and Raphael’s Triumph of Galatea and writings like Dante’s Inferno; Romantic poetry and libretti; and scores of more recent novels, plays and films.” I think that it is great that the ancient Greeks came up with these myths. When I first started reading and listening about the Greek myths, I thought they were totally absurd. However, I now think that some myths tell entertaining stories and teach great lessons. Through this paper I will tell you about one of the myths we share today in our culture, share what Sigmund Freud and Carl Jung had to say about mythic structures of the human psyche, and explain why myths such as these bring us together socially and culturally. (2)…

    • 553 Words
    • 3 Pages
    Good Essays
  • Good Essays

    Mythology In Society

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages

    One of the big things that keep Mythology alive is that we do not know everything. We actually don’t know more things than we do know. Mythology is giving us ideas of what the truth is to some things. Many of the myths are probably not true, but the thing about it is that there has to be some that are…

    • 786 Words
    • 4 Pages
    Good Essays

Related Topics