Greek mythology

The Greek mythology is the whole of the Mythe S coming from the ancient Greece. These accounts, familiar with all the former Greeks, form the bases of their Rite S as of the representation which they were made world, at least until Protagoras. This Mythologie is also in the beginning, for a great part, Roman Mythologie.

Presentation

In Greek mythology, the gods of the the Pantheon polytheist are anthropomorphic and are before all the personification of forces which control the universe. Although some of them seem to have a certain direction of the Justice, they can be petty and rancorous like Héras for example. The favor of the gods is gained by Sacrifice S and the Piété, but this does not guarantee anything; indeed, they are famous for their frequent changes of mood; their angers are terrible and their loves can be quite as dangerous.

The world of Greek mythology is complex: monsters, wars, intrigues and gods inquisiteurs are numerous there, there are also several heroes such as Bellérophon or Héraclès and the Généalogie S intersect.

It is notable that the Old ones mingled the events with their mythology with those of their history. Thus, Iliade and the Odyssey were regarded as histories. The Greek Évhémère seems to have been the first to put forth the assumption that the mythological accounts are deformations of real historical facts. Very many archaeological research of 19th and 20th centuries wanted to consolidate and refine this approach. The very famous work of Robert Low registers, the Greek Myths , recapitulates the elements in favor of this assumption. The question of continuity between the time of the gods and the time of the men, apparently difficult to solve, seems to be able to be explained by phenomena of synthesis, simplification and symbolization of concrete events (conquests, ritual,…). The events described in different the théogonies thus proceed in a time apparently parallel with that of the humanity, of which the durations are not transposable.

At the time “history”, an attitude with respect to the mythological accounts could have been a literal and not-critical interpretation of the texts (at least certain public figures were condemned for impiété). This approach is sometimes compared with the way in which, for example, some Christian creationnists of today interpret literally the Bible like a historical account. It seems that the Greeks were considered themselves downward mythical heroes, tendency which would have increased with the evhemerism.

The Greek theater, with Eschyle, Sophocle and Euripide, watch the way in which the men conceive the action of the gods in their world. In the work of Eschyle, the concept of ananké chairs what can be conceived as an equivalent of the Destin of which the concept of Déterminisme would miss.

In addition to its constant use in arts and the social sciences (like the Psychoanalysis and its Oedipus complex ), Greek mythology provides very rich accounts on which are based the majority of the problems and the topics of the Western literature, that one can still appreciate today.

Worship and religion

Characters of Greek mythology

Hero and demigods

At least at Hésiode, the term of hero indicates a race different from that of the mortals and gods.

Thereafter, one thus named the demigods - characters resulting from the union of a mortal and a god - or the mortals honoured after their death, whose destiny, if it is worthy to be told, is extraordinary (by the birth, courage, qualities or the defects, even the monstrous character, which is not inevitably the reflection of the evil). Thus, Tantalum, Oedipus or Cécrops is of the heroes, as well as Héraclès, Achille or Persée. Their behavior often leads them to the Hybris and their death is most of the time violent. The heroes are often founders: Thésée is that of the Synœcisme of Athens, Orphée of the rites orphic, Pélops gives its name to the Peloponnese.

By extension, any character having known a worthy destiny to be told is named hero , like the military chiefs of Iliade or the Héros éponyme S of Athens, even if their divine origin is remote.

The demigods are very often the wire of Zeus (like Héraclès) with the mortals, whom it approached in varied forms, as for the mother of Persée, Danaé, it was transformed into a gold rain to enter inside the tower where the young woman was imprisoned.

Mythology and philosophy

What thought the large Greek philosophers of their mythology? One finds a brief reply at Nietzsche:

“ Subtlety in the shortage. - especially Keep you to make fun you of the mythology of the Greeks, under pretext which it resembles if little your deep Métaphysique! You should admire people which, in this particular case, imposed a stop on his rigorous intelligence and which had a long time enough tact to escape the danger from the Scolastique and of the sophistical superstition.” Nietzsche, Dawn §85

The sources

Several types of ancient sources are interesting for the study of Greek mythology.

The sources visual, iconic, provided by the innumerable illustrated representations which decorate the objects and the buildings produced by the ancient Greek culture are invaluable.

As regards the written sources, let us announce on the one hand the epigraphy, on the other hand the ancient Littérature:

the antiquated poetry of the periods and traditional, mainly intended to be déclamée at the time of aristocratic banquets or lyric contests. It includes:

works of the Homeric corpus : Iliade , Odyssey , Anthems ;
works of the corpus hesiodic: Théogonie , Work , Catalog ;
dramatic works: Eschyle, Sophocle, Euripide and Aristophane;
lyric poetries of Pindare and Bacchylide.

works of the Historian S (like Hérodote, Diodore of Sicily, Plutarque and Denys d' Halicarnasse) and of the Geographer S (like Pausanias and Strabon), which travelled in the Greek world and consigned the accounts that they heard in many cities.
works of the Mythographe S, primarily of the summaries or the treaties testing of reconciling the contradictory versions of the old legends. The Bibliothèque of Apollodore is the best example of this kind, with the Fables of Hygin and the Metamorphoses of Antoninus Liberalis.
the hellenistic poetry of the times and Roman, more related with the literature than with the lyric art, which nevertheless preserved many details important which would have if not lost. It counts:

poets hellenistic Apollonios of Rhodos and Callimaque de Cyrène;
Roman poets Virgile, Ovide, Properce, Stace and Valerius Flaccus;
Greek poets of the late Antiquity, like Nonnos de Panopolis, Tryphiodore and Quintus of Smyrna.

old the novelists like Parthénios de Nicée, Longus, Apulée and Héliodore.

See too

Random links:

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