greek mythology

Greek

mythology

is

the

body

of

myths

and

teachings

that

belong

to

the

ancient

Greeks,

concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world, and the origins and significance of

their own cult and ritual practices. It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece.

Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives, stories and arts,

ranging from pottery and vase-painting to dramas, such as tragedies and comedies.

Greek

Myths

have

always

been

an

indispensable

part

of

the

Greek

mentality

and

culture;

Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an attempt to throw light on the religious and

political institutions of Ancient Greece and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the

nature of myth- making itself. For the stories told by

Greeks,

since the

antiquity,

feature so

many real elements intertwined in the telling that you can hardly say that a person or a place

did not really exist.

The origin of Greek Mythology

Since

the

ancient

years,

Greeks

were

creating

myths

to

justify

and

explain

anything

they

couldn’t understand, things that happened in nature, the birth of flowers and animals, the b

ad

or good luck and anything they wanted to commemorate and glorify. So Greek myth attempts

to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of

gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines and mythological creatures.

These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition as in most other cultures.

However, the particular richness and complexity of Greek mythology owes much to the fact

that the stories were fashioned into literature from early times.

The

oldest

sources

of

Greek

Mythology

are

the

two

epic

poems

written

by

Homer:

the

Odyssey and the Iliad, focusing on the Trojan War and its aftermath.

But the very essence of Greek mythology itself, lies at the texts of Homer's near contemporary

Hesiod,

the

Theogony

and

the

Works

and

Days

,

containing

accounts

of

the

genesis

of

the

world,

the

succession

of

divine

rulers,

the

succession

of

human

ages,

the

origin

of

human

woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Especially,the

Theogony.

Till today, Theogony is

considered

the

basis

of

the

Greek

mythology,

probably

the

most

comprehensive

literal

creation of that time.

Later, hymns, poems, tragedies, plays, arts, artists, everyone tried to explain and reproduce the

myths

about

the

Gods,

heroes,

important

kings,

the

wars

of

the

gods,

and

the

wars

of

the

people.

Origins of the world and gods

In the beginning, the universe is a cosmos evolving from Chaos.

Out of the void emerged Gaia (the Earth) and some other primary divine beings: Eros (Love),

the Abyss (the Tartarus), and the Erebus.

Without male assistance, Gaia gave birth to Uranus (the Sky) who then fertilized her.

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