Greek Mythology And Religion Essay Research Paper

Greek Mythology And Religion Essay, Research Paper

Mythology is the study and interpretation

of myth and the body of myths of a particular culture. Myth is a complex

cultural phenomenon that can be approached from a number of viewpoints.

In general, myth is a narrative that describes and portrays in symbolic

language the origin of the basic elements and assumptions of a culture.

Mythic narrative relates, for example, how the world began, how humans

and animals were created, and how certain customs, gestures, or forms of

human activities originated. Almost all cultures possess or at one time

possessed and lived in terms of myths.

Myths differ from fairy tales in

that they refer to a time that is different from ordinary. The time sequence

of myth is extraordinary- an “other” time – the time before the conventional

world came into being. Because myths refer to an extraordinary time and

place and to gods and other supernatural beings and processes, they have

usually been seen as aspects of religion. Because of the inclusive nature

of myth, however, it can illustrate many aspects of individual and cultural

life.

Meaning and interpretation

From the beginnings of Western culture,

myth has presented a problem of meaning and interpretation, and a history

of controversy has gathered about both the value and the status of mythology.

Myth, History, and Reason

In the Greek heritage of the West,

myth or mythos has always been in tension with reason or logos, which signified

the sensible and analytic mode of arriving at a true account of reality.

The Greek philosophers Xenophanes, Plato, and Aristotle, for example, exalted

reason and made sarcastic criticisms of myth as a proper way of knowing

reality.

The distinctions between reason and

myth and between myth and history, although essential, were never quite

absolute. Aristotle concluded that in some of the early Greek creation

myths, logos and mythos overlapped. Plato used myths as metaphors and also

as literary devices in developing an argument.

Western Mythical Traditions

The debate over whether myth, reason,

or history best expresses the meaning of the reality of the gods, humans,

and nature has continued in Western culture as a legacy from its earliest

traditions. Among these traditions were the myths of the Greeks. Adopted

and assimilated by the Romans, they furnished literary, philosophical,

and artistic inspiration to such later periods as the Renaissance and the

romantic era. The pagan tribes of Europe furnished another body of tradition.

After these tribes became part of Christendom, elements of their mythologies

persisted as the folkloric substratum of various European cultures.

Greek religion and mythology are

supernatural beliefs and ritual observances of the ancient Greeks, commonly

related to a diffuse and contradictory body of stories and legends. The

most notable features of this religion were many gods having different

personalities having human form and feelings, the absence of any established

religious rules or authoritative revelation such as, for example, the Bible,

the strong use of rituals, and the government almost completely subordinating

the population’s religious beliefs. Apart from the mystery cults, most

of the early religions in Greece are not solemn or serious in nature nor

do they contain the concepts of fanaticism or mystical inspiration, which

were Asian beliefs and did not appear until the Hellenistic period (about

323-146 B.C.). At its first appearance in classical literature, Greek mythology

had already received its definitive form. Some divinities were either introduced

or developed more fully at a later date, but in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey

the major Olympian gods appear in substantially the forms they retained

until paganism ceased to exist. Homer usually is considered responsible

for the highly developed personifications of the gods and the comparative

rationalism that characterized Greek religious thought. In general Greek

gods were divided into those of heaven, earth, and sea; frequently, however,

the gods governing the earth and sea constituted a single category.

Principal Divinities

The celestial gods were thought

to dwell in the sky or on Mount Olympus in Thessaly. The Earth, or chthonic

(Gr. chtho n, “earth”), deities were thought to dwell on or under the earth,

and were closely associated with the heroes and the dead. The lines separating

these divine orders were indefinite, and the deities of one order were

often found in another. The gods were held to be immortal; yet they were

also believed to have had a beginning. They were represented as exercising

control over the world and the forces of nature. Ananke, the personification

of necessity, however, limited this control, to which even the god

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