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Greek mythology
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Bust of Zeus, Otricoli (Sala Rotonda, Museo Pio-Clementino, Vatican).
Greek mythology
Euboean amphora, c.550 BCE, depicting the fight between Cadmus and a dragon
Deities
Primordial Titans
Olympians Nymphs
Sea-deities Earth-deities
Heroes and heroism
Heracles / Hercules (Labors)
Achilles Hector (Trojan War)
Odysseus (Odyssey)
Jason Argonauts (Golden Fleece)
Perseus (Medusa Gorgon)
Oedipus (Sphinx)
Orpheus (Orphism)
Theseus (Minotaur)
Bellerophon (Pegasus Chimera)
Daedalus (Labyrinth)
Atalanta Hippomenes (Golden apple)
Cadmus (Thebes)
Aeneas (Aeneid)
Triptolemus (Eleusinian Mysteries)
Pelops (Ancient Olympic Games)
Pirithous (Centauromachy)
Amphitryon (Teumessian fox)
Narcissus (Narcissism)
Meleager (Calydonian Boar)
Otrera (Amazons)
Related
Satyrs Centaurs Dragons Demogorgon
Religion in Ancient Greece
Mycenaean gods
Birth of Venus detail.jpg Greek mythology portal
v t e
Greek mythology is the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Gr
eeks, 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 r
eligion in ancient Greece. Modern scholars refer to and study the myths in an at
tempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greec
e and its civilization, and to gain understanding of the nature of myth-making i
tself.[1]
Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives, and
implicitly in Greek representational arts, such as vase-paintings and votive gif
ts. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the liv
es and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines and myt
hological creatures. These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poeti
c tradition; today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek litera
ture. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odys
sey, focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Two poems by Homer's near contem
porary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the gene
sis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages,
the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are al
so preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle,
 in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians and comedians of the fifth centu
ry BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts fr
om the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.
Archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mytholo
gy, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifact
s. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the
Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, C
lassical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes
appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence.[2] Greek mythology has ha
d an extensive influence on the culture, arts, and literature of Western civiliz
ation and remains part of Western heritage and language. Poets and artists from
ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and h
ave discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes.[3]
Contents [hide]
1 Sources
1.1 Literary sources
1.2 Archaeological sources
2 Survey of mythic history
2.1 Origins of the world and the gods
2.1.1 Greek pantheon
2.2 Age of gods and mortals
2.3 Heroic age
2.3.1 Heracles and the Heracleidae
2.3.2 Argonauts
2.3.3 House of Atreus and Theban Cycle
2.3.4 Trojan War and aftermath
3 Greek and Roman conceptions of myth
3.1 Philosophy and myth
3.2 Hellenistic and Roman rationalism
3.3 Syncretizing trends
4 Modern interpretations
4.1 Comparative and psychoanalytic approaches
4.2 Origin theories
5 Motifs in Western art and literature
6 References
6.1 Primary sources (Greek and Roman)
6.2 Secondary sources
7 Further reading
8 External links
Sources
Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representatio
ns on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. 900 800 BC onward.[4]
In fact, literary and archaeological sources integrate, sometimes mutually suppo
rtive and sometimes in conflict; however, in many cases, the existence of this c
orpus of data is a strong indication that many elements of Greek mythology have
strong factual and historical roots.[5]
Literary sources
Mythical narration plays an important role in nearly every genre of Greek litera
ture. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Gre
ek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus. This work attempts to reconc
ile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditi
onal Greek mythology and heroic legends.[6] Apollodorus of Athens lived from c.
180 125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the bas
is for the collection; however the "Library" discusses events that occurred long
after his death, hence the name Pseudo-Apollodorus.
Prometheus (1868 by Gustave Moreau). The myth of Prometheus first was attested b
y Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly
by Aeschylus, consisting of Prometheus Bound, Prometheus Unbound, and Prometheus
Pyrphoros.
Among the earliest literary sources are Homer's two epic poems, the Iliad and th
e Odyssey. Other poets completed the "epic cycle", but these later and lesser po
ems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the "Homeric H
ymns" have no direct connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the earli
er part of the so-called Lyric age.[7] Hesiod, a possible contemporary with Home
r, offers in his Theogony (Origin of the Gods) the fullest account of the earlie
st Greek myths, dealing with the creation of the world; the origin of the gods,
Titans, and Giants; as well as elaborate genealogies, folktales, and etiological
myths. Hesiod's Works and Days, a didactic poem about farming life, also includ
es the myths of Prometheus, Pandora, and the Five Ages. The poet gives advice on
the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, rendered yet more dangerous by it
s gods.[2]
Lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gr
adually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, B
acchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, relate
individual mythological incidents.[8] Additionally, myth was central to classica
l Athenian drama. The tragic playwrights Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides too
k most of their plots from myths of the age of heroes and the Trojan War. Many o
f the great tragic stories (e.g. Agamemnon and his children, Oedipus, Jason, Med
ea, etc.) took on their classic form in these tragedies. The comic playwright Ar
istophanes also used myths, in The Birds and The Frogs.[9]
Historians Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, and geographers Pausanias and Strabo,
who traveled throughout the Greek world and noted the stories they heard, suppl
ied numerous local myths and legends, often giving little-known alternative vers
ions.[8] Herodotus in particular, searched the various traditions presented him
and found the historical or mythological roots in the confrontation between Gree
ce and the East.[10] Herodotus attempted to reconcile origins and the blending o
f differing cultural concepts.
The poetry of the Hellenistic and Roman ages was primarily composed as a literar
y rather than cultic exercise. Nevertheless, it contains many important details
that would otherwise be lost. This category includes the works of:
The Roman poets Ovid, Statius, Valerius Flaccus, Seneca and Virgil with Servius'
s commentary.
The Greek poets of the Late Antique period: Nonnus, Antoninus Liberalis, and Qui
ntus Smyrnaeus.
The Greek poets of the Hellenistic period: Apollonius of Rhodes, Callimachus, Ps
eudo-Eratosthenes, and Parthenius.
Prose writers from the same periods who make reference to myths include Apuleius
, Petronius, Lollianus, and Heliodorus. Two other important non-poetical sources
are the Fabulae and Astronomica of the Roman writer styled as Pseudo-Hyginus, t
he Imagines of Philostratus the Elder and Philostratus the Younger, and the Desc
riptions of Callistratus.
Finally, a number of Byzantine Greek writers provide important details of myth,
much derived from earlier now lost Greek works. These preservers of myth include
Arnobius, Hesychius, the author of the Suda, John Tzetzes, and Eustathius. They
often treat mythology from a Christian moralizing perspective.[11]
Archaeological sources
The Roman poet Virgil, here depicted in the fifth-century manuscript, the Vergil
ius Romanus, preserved details of Greek mythology in many of his writings.
The discovery of the Mycenaean civilization by the German amateur archaeologist
Heinrich Schliemann in the nineteenth century, and the discovery of the Minoan c
ivilization in Crete by the British archaeologist Sir Arthur Evans in the twenti
eth century, helped to explain many existing questions about Homer's epics and p
rovided archaeological evidence for many of the mythological details about gods
and heroes. Unfortunately, the evidence about myths and rituals at Mycenaean and
Minoan sites is entirely monumental, as the Linear B script (an ancient form of
Greek found in both Crete and mainland Greece) was used mainly to record invent
ories, although certain names of gods and heroes have been tentatively identifie
d.[2]
Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Tro
jan cycle, as well as the adventures of Heracles.[2] These visual representation
s of myths are important for two reasons. Firstly, many Greek myths are attested
on vases earlier than in literary sources: of the twelve labors of Heracles, fo
r example, only the Cerberus adventure occurs in a contemporary literary text.[1
2] Secondly, visual sources sometimes represent myths or mythical scenes that ar
e not attested in any extant literary source. In some cases, the first known rep
resentation of a myth in geometric art predates its first known representation i
n late archaic poetry, by several centuries.[4] In the Archaic (c. 750 c. 500 BC),
Classical (c. 480 323 BC), and Hellenistic (323 146 BC) periods, Homeric and variou
s other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence
.[2]
Survey of mythic history
Phaedra with an attendant, probably her nurse, a fresco from Pompeii, 60-20 BC
Greek mythology has changed over time to accommodate the evolution of their cult
ure, of which mythology, both overtly and in its unspoken assumptions, is an ind
ex of the changes. In Greek mythology's surviving literary forms, as found mostl
y at the end of the progressive changes, it is inherently political, as Gilbert
Cuthbertson has argued.[13]
The earlier inhabitants of the Balkan Peninsula were an agricultural people who,
using Animism, assigned a spirit to every aspect of nature. Eventually, these v
ague spirits assumed human forms and entered the local mythology as gods.[14] Wh
en tribes from the north of the Balkan Peninsula invaded, they brought with them
a new pantheon of gods, based on conquest, force, prowess in battle, and violen
t heroism. Other older gods of the agricultural world fused with those of the mo
re powerful invaders or else faded into insignificance.[15]
After the middle of the Archaic period, myths about relationships between male g
ods and male heroes became more and more frequent, indicating the parallel devel
opment of pedagogic pederasty (eros paidikos, pa?d???? ????), thought to have be
en introduced around 630 BC. By the end of the fifth century BC, poets had assig
ned at least one eromenos, an adolescent boy who was their sexual companion, to
every important god except Ares and to many legendary figures.[16] Previously ex
isting myths, such as those of Achilles and Patroclus, also then were cast in a
pederastic light.[17] Alexandrian poets at first, then more generally literary m
ythographers in the early Roman Empire, often readapted stories of Greek mytholo
gical characters in this fashion.
The achievement of epic poetry was to create story-cycles and, as a result, to d
evelop a new sense of mythological chronology. Thus Greek mythology unfolds as a
phase in the development of the world and of humans.[18] While self-contradicti
ons in these stories make an absolute timeline impossible, an approximate chrono
logy may be discerned. The resulting mythological "history of the world" may be
divided into three or four broader periods:
The myths of origin or age of gods (Theogonies, "births of gods"): myths about t
he origins of the world, the gods, and the human race.
The age when gods and mortals mingled freely: stories of the early interactions
between gods, demigods, and mortals.
The age of heroes (heroic age), where divine activity was more limited. The last
and greatest of the heroic legends is the story of the Trojan War and after (wh
ich is regarded by some researchers as a separate fourth period).[19]
While the age of gods often has been of more interest to contemporary students o
f myth, the Greek authors of the archaic and classical eras had a clear preferen
ce for the age of heroes, establishing a chronology and record of human accompli
shments after the questions of how the world came into being were explained. For
example, the heroic Iliad and Odyssey dwarfed the divine-focused Theogony and H
omeric Hymns in both size and popularity. Under the influence of Homer the "hero
cult" leads to a restructuring in spiritual life, expressed in the separation o
f the realm of the gods from the realm of the dead (heroes), of the Chthonic fro
m the Olympian.[20] In the Works and Days, Hesiod makes use of a scheme of Four
Ages of Man (or Races): Golden, Silver, Bronze, and Iron. These races or ages ar
e separate creations of the gods, the Golden Age belonging to the reign of Crono
s, the subsequent races the creation of Zeus. The presence of evil was explained
by the myth of Pandora, when all of the best of human capabilities, save hope,
had been spilled out of her overturned jar.[21] In Metamorphoses, Ovid follows H
esiod's concept of the four ages.[22]
Origins of the world and the gods
Further information: Greek primordial gods and Family tree of the Greek gods
Amor Vincit Omnia (Love Conquers All), a depiction of the god of love, Eros. By
Michelangelo Merisi da Caravaggio, circa 1601 1602.
"Myths of origin" or "creation myths" represent an attempt to explain the beginn
ings of the universe in human language.[23] The most widely accepted version at
the time, although a philosophical account of the beginning of things, is report
ed by Hesiod, in his Theogony. He begins with Chaos, a yawning nothingness. Out
of the void emerged Gaia (the Earth) and some other primary divine beings: Eros
(Love), the Abyss (the Tartarus), and the Erebus.[24] Without male assistance, G
aia gave birth to Uranus (the Sky) who then fertilized her. From that union were
born first the Titans six males: Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oce
anus; and six females: Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and Tethys. After
Cronus was born, Gaia and Uranus decreed no more Titans were to be born. They w
ere followed by the one-eyed Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires or Hundred-Handed On
es, who were both thrown into Tartarus by Uranus. This made Gaia furious. Cronus
("the wily, youngest and most terrible of Gaia's children"[24]), was convinced
by Gaia to castrate his father. He did this, and became the ruler of the Titans
with his sister-wife Rhea as his consort, and the other Titans became his court.
A motif of father-against-son conflict was repeated when Cronus was confronted b
y his son, Zeus. Because Cronus had betrayed his father, he feared that his offs
pring would do the same, and so each time Rhea gave birth, he snatched up the ch
ild and ate it. Rhea hated this and tricked him by hiding Zeus and wrapping a st
one in a baby's blanket, which Cronus ate. When Zeus was full grown, he fed Cron
us a drugged drink which caused him to vomit, throwing up Rhea's other children
and the stone, which had been sitting in Cronus's stomach all along. Zeus then c
hallenged Cronus to war for the kingship of the gods. At last, with the help of
the Cyclopes (whom Zeus freed from Tartarus), Zeus and his siblings were victori
ous, while Cronus and the Titans were hurled down to imprisonment in Tartarus.[2
5]

Attic black-figured amphora depicting Athena being "reborn" from the head of Zeu
s, who had swallowed her mother Metis, on the right, Eileithyia, the goddess of
childbirth, assists, circa 550 525 BC (Muse du Louvre, Paris).
Zeus was plagued by the same concern and, after a prophecy that the offspring of
 his first wife, Metis, would give birth to a god "greater than he" Zeus swallowed
her.[26] She was already pregnant with Athena, however, and she burst forth fro
m his head fully-grown and dressed for war.[27]
The earliest Greek thought about poetry considered the theogonies to be the prot
otypical poetic genre the prototypical mythos and imputed almost magical powers to i
t. Orpheus, the archetypal poet, also was the archetypal singer of theogonies, w
hich he uses to calm seas and storms in Apollonius' Argonautica, and to move the
stony hearts of the underworld gods in his descent to Hades. When Hermes invent
s the lyre in the Homeric Hymn to Hermes, the first thing he does is sing about
the birth of the gods.[28] Hesiod's Theogony is not only the fullest surviving a
ccount of the gods, but also the fullest surviving account of the archaic poet's
function, with its long preliminary invocation to the Muses. Theogony also was
the subject of many lost poems, including those attributed to Orpheus, Musaeus,
Epimenides, Abaris, and other legendary seers, which were used in private ritual
purifications and mystery-rites. There are indications that Plato was familiar
with some version of the Orphic theogony.[29] A silence would have been expected
about religious rites and beliefs, however, and that nature of the culture woul
d not have been reported by members of the society while the beliefs were held.
After they ceased to become religious beliefs, few would have known the rites an
d rituals. Allusions often existed, however, to aspects that were quite public.
Images existed on pottery and religious artwork that were interpreted and more l
ikely, misinterpreted in many diverse myths and tales. A few fragments of these
works survive in quotations by Neoplatonist philosophers and recently unearthed
papyrus scraps. One of these scraps, the Derveni Papyrus now proves that at leas
t in the fifth century BC a theogonic-cosmogonic poem of Orpheus was in existenc
e.[30]
The first philosophical cosmologists reacted against, or sometimes built upon, p
opular mythical conceptions that had existed in the Greek world for some time. S
ome of these popular conceptions can be gleaned from the poetry of Homer and Hes
iod. In Homer, the Earth was viewed as a flat disk afloat on the river of Oceanu
s and overlooked by a hemispherical sky with sun, moon, and stars. The Sun (Heli
os) traversed the heavens as a charioteer and sailed around the Earth in a golde
n bowl at night. Sun, earth, heaven, rivers, and winds could be addressed in pra
yers and called to witness oaths. Natural fissures were popularly regarded as en
trances to the subterranean house of Hades and his predecessors, home of the dea
d.[31] Influences from other cultures always afforded new themes.
Greek pantheon
Further information: Ancient Greek religion, Twelve Olympians, Family Tree of th
e Greek Gods, and List of Mycenaean gods
Zeus, disguised as a swan, seduces Leda, the Queen of Sparta. A sixteenth-centur
y copy of the lost original by Michelangelo.
According to Classical-era mythology, after the overthrow of the Titans, the new
pantheon of gods and goddesses was confirmed. Among the principal Greek gods we
re the Olympians, residing on Mount Olympus under the eye of Zeus. (The limitati
on of their number to twelve seems to have been a comparatively modern idea.)[32
] Besides the Olympians, the Greeks worshipped various gods of the countryside,
the satyr-god Pan, Nymphs (spirits of rivers), Naiads (who dwelled in springs),
Dryads (who were spirits of the trees), Nereids (who inhabited the sea), river g
ods, Satyrs, and others. In addition, there were the dark powers of the underwor
ld, such as the Erinyes (or Furies), said to pursue those guilty of crimes again
st blood-relatives.[33] In order to honor the Ancient Greek pantheon, poets comp
osed the Homeric Hymns (a group of thirty-three songs).[34] Gregory Nagy regards
"the larger Homeric Hymns as simple preludes (compared with Theogony), each of
which invokes one god".[35]
The gods of Greek mythology are described as having essentially corporeal but id
eal bodies. According to Walter Burkert, the defining characteristic of Greek an
thropomorphism is that "the Greek gods are persons, not abstractions, ideas or c
oncepts".[36] Regardless of their underlying forms, the Ancient Greek gods have
many fantastic abilities; most significantly, the gods are not affected by disea
se, and can be wounded only under highly unusual circumstances. The Greeks consi
dered immortality as the distinctive characteristic of their gods; this immortal
ity, as well as unfading youth, was insured by the constant use of nectar and am
brosia, by which the divine blood was renewed in their veins.[37]
Each god descends from his or her own genealogy, pursues differing interests, ha
s a certain area of expertise, and is governed by a unique personality; however,
these descriptions arise from a multiplicity of archaic local variants, which d
o not always agree with one another. When these gods are called upon in poetry,
prayer or cult, they are referred to by a combination of their name and epithets
, that identify them by these distinctions from other manifestations of themselv
es (e.g., Apollo Musagetes is "Apollo, [as] leader of the Muses"). Alternatively
the epithet may identify a particular and localized aspect of the god, sometime
s thought to be already ancient during the classical epoch of Greece.
Most gods were associated with specific aspects of life. For example, Aphrodite
was the goddess of love and beauty, Ares was the god of war, Hades the ruler of
the underworld, and Athena the goddess of wisdom and courage.[38] Some gods, suc
h as Apollo and Dionysus, revealed complex personalities and mixtures of functio
ns, while others, such as Hestia (literally "hearth") and Helios (literally "sun
"), were little more than personifications. The most impressive temples tended t
o be dedicated to a limited number of gods, who were the focus of large pan-Hell
enic cults. It was, however, common for individual regions and villages to devot
e their own cults to minor gods. Many cities also honored the more well-known go
ds with unusual local rites and associated strange myths with them that were unk
nown elsewhere. During the heroic age, the cult of heroes (or demi-gods) supplem
ented that of the gods.
Age of gods and mortals
Bridging the age when gods lived alone and the age when divine interference in h
uman affairs was limited was a transitional age in which gods and mortals moved
together. These were the early days of the world when the groups mingled more fr
eely than they did later. Most of these tales were later told by Ovid's Metamorp
hoses and they are often divided into two thematic groups: tales of love, and ta
les of punishment.[39]

Dionysus with satyrs. Interior of a cup painted by the Brygos Painter, Cabinet d
es Mdailles.
Tales of love often involve incest, or the seduction or rape of a mortal woman b
y a male god, resulting in heroic offspring. The stories generally suggest that
relationships between gods and mortals are something to avoid; even consenting r
elationships rarely have happy endings.[40] In a few cases, a female divinity ma
tes with a mortal man, as in the Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite, where the goddess li
es with Anchises to produce Aeneas.[41]
The second type (tales of punishment) involves the appropriation or invention of
some important cultural artifact, as when Prometheus steals fire from the gods,
when Tantalus steals nectar and ambrosia from Zeus' table and gives it to his o
wn subjects revealing to them the secrets of the gods, when Prometheus or Lycaon i
nvents sacrifice, when Demeter teaches agriculture and the Mysteries to Triptole
mus, or when Marsyas invents the aulos and enters into a musical contest with Ap
ollo. Ian Morris considers Prometheus' adventures as "a place between the histor
y of the gods and that of man".[42] An anonymous papyrus fragment, dated to the
third century, vividly portrays Dionysus' punishment of the king of Thrace, Lycu
rgus, whose recognition of the new god came too late, resulting in horrific pena
lties that extended into the afterlife.[43] The story of the arrival of Dionysus
to establish his cult in Thrace was also the subject of an Aeschylean trilogy.[
44] In another tragedy, Euripides' The Bacchae, the king of Thebes, Pentheus, is
punished by Dionysus, because he disrespected the god and spied on his Maenads,
the female worshippers of the god.[45]

Demeter and Metanira in a detail on an Apulian red-figure hydria, circa 340 BC (

Altes Museum, Berlin).
In another story, based on an old folktale-motif,[46] and echoing a similar them
e, Demeter was searching for her daughter, Persephone, having taken the form of
an old woman called Doso, and received a hospitable welcome from Celeus, the Kin
g of Eleusis in Attica. As a gift to Celeus, because of his hospitality, Demeter
planned to make his son Demophon a god, but she was unable to complete the ritu
al because his mother Metanira walked in and saw her son in the fire and screame
d in fright, which angered Demeter, who lamented that foolish mortals do not und
erstand the concept and ritual.[47]
Heroic age
The age in which the heroes lived is known as the heroic age.[48] The epic and g
enealogical poetry created cycles of stories clustered around particular heroes
or events and established the family relationships between the heroes of differe
nt stories; they thus arranged the stories in sequence. According to Ken Dowden,
"There is even a saga effect: We can follow the fates of some families in succe
ssive generations".[18]
After the rise of the hero cult, gods and heroes constitute the sacral sphere an
d are invoked together in oaths and prayers which are addressed to them.[20] Bur
kert notes that "the roster of heroes, again in contrast to the gods, is never g
iven fixed and final form. Great gods are no longer born, but new heroes can alw
ays be raised up from the army of the dead." Another important difference betwee
n the hero cult and the cult of gods is that the hero becomes the centre of loca
l group identity.[49]
The monumental events of Heracles are regarded as the dawn of the age of heroes.
To the Heroic Age are also ascribed three great events: the Argonautic expediti
on, the Theban Cycle and the Trojan War.[50]
Heracles and the Heracleidae
Further information: Heracles, Heracleidae, and Hercules
Heracles with his baby Telephus (Louvre Museum, Paris).
Some scholars believe[51] that behind Heracles' complicated mythology there was
probably a real man, perhaps a chieftain-vassal of the kingdom of Argos. Some sc
holars suggest the story of Heracles is an allegory for the sun's yearly passage
through the twelve constellations of the zodiac.[52] Others point to earlier my
ths from other cultures, showing the story of Heracles as a local adaptation of
hero myths already well established. Traditionally, Heracles was the son of Zeus
and Alcmene, granddaughter of Perseus.[53] His fantastic solitary exploits, wit
h their many folk-tale themes, provided much material for popular legend. Accord
ing to Burkert, "He is portrayed as a sacrificer, mentioned as a founder of alta
rs, and imagined as a voracious eater himself; it is in this role that he appear
s in comedy, while his tragic end provided much material for tragedy Heracles is
regarded by Thalia Papadopoulou as "a play of great significance in examination
of other Euripidean dramas".[54] In art and literature Heracles was represented
as an enormously strong man of moderate height; his characteristic weapon was t
he bow but frequently also the club. Vase paintings demonstrate the unparalleled
popularity of Heracles, his fight with the lion being depicted many hundreds of
times.[55]
Heracles also entered Etruscan and Roman mythology and cult, and the exclamation
"mehercule" became as familiar to the Romans as "Herakleis" was to the Greeks.[
55] In Italy he was worshipped as a god of merchants and traders, although other
s also prayed to him for his characteristic gifts of good luck or rescue from da
nger.[53]
Heracles attained the highest social prestige through his appointment as officia
l ancestor of the Dorian kings. This probably served as a legitimation for the D
orian migrations into the Peloponnese. Hyllus, the eponymous hero of one Dorian
phyle, became the son of Heracles and one of the Heracleidae or Heraclids (the n
umerous descendants of Heracles, especially the descendants of Hyllus other Hera
cleidae included Macaria, Lamos, Manto, Bianor, Tlepolemus, and Telephus). These
Heraclids conquered the Peloponnesian kingdoms of Mycenae, Sparta and Argos, cl
aiming, according to legend, a right to rule them through their ancestor. Their
rise to dominance is frequently called the "Dorian invasion". The Lydian and lat
er the Macedonian kings, as rulers of the same rank, also became Heracleidae.[56
]
Other members of this earliest generation of heroes such as Perseus, Deucalion,
Theseus and Bellerophon, have many traits in common with Heracles. Like him, the
ir exploits are solitary, fantastic and border on fairy tale, as they slay monst
ers such as the Chimera and Medusa. Bellerophon's adventures are commonplace typ
es, similar to the adventures of Heracles and Theseus. Sending a hero to his pre
sumed death is also a recurrent theme of this early heroic tradition, used in th
e cases of Perseus and Bellerophon.[57]
Argonauts
For more details on this topic, see Argonauts.
The only surviving Hellenistic epic, the Argonautica of Apollonius of Rhodes (ep
ic poet, scholar, and director of the Library of Alexandria) tells the myth of t
he voyage of Jason and the Argonauts to retrieve the Golden Fleece from the myth
ical land of Colchis. In the Argonautica, Jason is impelled on his quest by king
Pelias, who receives a prophecy that a man with one sandal would be his nemesis
. Jason loses a sandal in a river, arrives at the court of Pelias, and the epic
is set in motion. Nearly every member of the next generation of heroes, as well
as Heracles, went with Jason in the ship Argo to fetch the Golden Fleece. This g
eneration also included Theseus, who went to Crete to slay the Minotaur; Atalant
a, the female heroine, and Meleager, who once had an epic cycle of his own to ri
val the Iliad and Odyssey. Pindar, Apollonius and the Bibliotheca endeavor to gi
ve full lists of the Argonauts.[58]
Although Apollonius wrote his poem in the 3rd century BC, the composition of the
story of the Argonauts is earlier than Odyssey, which shows familiarity with th
e exploits of Jason (the wandering of Odysseus may have been partly founded on i
t).[59] In ancient times the expedition was regarded as a historical fact, an in
cident in the opening up of the Black Sea to Greek commerce and colonization.[60
] It was also extremely popular, forming a cycle to which a number of local lege
nds became attached. The story of Medea, in particular, caught the imagination o
f the tragic poets.[61]
House of Atreus and Theban Cycle
Further information: Theban Cycle and Seven Against Thebes
In between the Argo and the Trojan War, there was a generation known chiefly for
its horrific crimes. This includes the doings of Atreus and Thyestes at Argos.
Behind the myth of the house of Atreus (one of the two principal heroic dynastie
s with the house of Labdacus) lies the problem of the devolution of power and of
the mode of accession to sovereignty. The twins Atreus and Thyestes with their
descendants played the leading role in the tragedy of the devolution of power in
Mycenae.[62]
The Theban Cycle deals with events associated especially with Cadmus, the city's
founder, and later with the doings of Laius and Oedipus at Thebes; a series of
stories that lead to the eventual pillage of that city at the hands of the Seven
Against Thebes and Epigoni.[63] (It is not known whether the Seven Against Theb
es figured in early epic.) As far as Oedipus is concerned, early epic accounts s
eem to have him continuing to rule at Thebes after the revelation that Iokaste w
as his mother, and subsequently marrying a second wife who becomes the mother of
his children markedly different from the tale known to us through tragedy (e.g.
Sophocles' Oedipus Rex) and later mythological accounts.[64]
Trojan War and aftermath
El Juicio de Paris by Enrique Simonet, 1904. Paris is holding the golden apple o
n his right hand while surveying the goddesses in a calculative manner.
In The Rage of Achilles by Giovanni Battista Tiepolo (1757, Fresco, 300 x 300 cm
, Villa Valmarana, Vicenza) Achilles is outraged that Agamemnon would threaten t
o seize his warprize, Briseis, and he draws his sword to kill Agamemnon. The sud
den appearance of the goddess Athena, who, in this fresco, has grabbed Achilles
by the hair, prevents the act of violence.
Further information: Trojan War and Epic Cycle
Greek mythology culminates in the Trojan War, fought between Greece and Troy, an
d its aftermath. In Homer's works, such as the Iliad, the chief stories have alr
eady taken shape and substance, and individual themes were elaborated later, esp
ecially in Greek drama. The Trojan War also elicited great interest in the Roman
culture because of the story of Aeneas, a Trojan hero whose journey from Troy l
ed to the founding of the city that would one day become Rome, as recounted in V
irgil's Aeneid (Book II of Virgil's Aeneid contains the best-known account of th
e sack of Troy).[65] Finally there are two pseudo-chronicles written in Latin th
at passed under the names of Dictys Cretensis and Dares Phrygius.[66]
The Trojan War cycle, a collection of epic poems, starts with the events leading
up to the war: Eris and the golden apple of Kallisti, the Judgement of Paris, t
he abduction of Helen, the sacrifice of Iphigenia at Aulis. To recover Helen, th
e Greeks launched a great expedition under the overall command of Menelaus' brot
her, Agamemnon, king of Argos or Mycenae, but the Trojans refused to return Hele
n. The Iliad, which is set in the tenth year of the war, tells of the quarrel be
tween Agamemnon and Achilles, who was the finest Greek warrior, and the conseque
nt deaths in battle of Achilles' beloved comrade Patroclus and Priam's eldest so
n, Hector. After Hector's death the Trojans were joined by two exotic allies, Pe
nthesilea, queen of the Amazons, and Memnon, king of the Ethiopians and son of t
he dawn-goddess Eos.[67] Achilles killed both of these, but Paris then managed t
o kill Achilles with an arrow in the heel. Achilles' heel was the only part of h
is body which was not invulnerable to damage by human weaponry. Before they coul
d take Troy, the Greeks had to steal from the citadel the wooden image of Pallas
Athena (the Palladium). Finally, with Athena's help, they built the Trojan Hors
e. Despite the warnings of Priam's daughter Cassandra, the Trojans were persuade
d by Sinon, a Greek who feigned desertion, to take the horse inside the walls of
Troy as an offering to Athena; the priest Laocoon, who tried to have the horse
destroyed, was killed by sea-serpents. At night the Greek fleet returned, and th
e Greeks from the horse opened the gates of Troy. In the total sack that followe
d, Priam and his remaining sons were slaughtered; the Trojan women passed into s
lavery in various cities of Greece. The adventurous homeward voyages of the Gree
k leaders (including the wanderings of Odysseus and Aeneas (the Aeneid), and the
murder of Agamemnon) were told in two epics, the Returns (the lost Nostoi) and
Homer's Odyssey.[68] The Trojan cycle also includes the adventures of the childr
en of the Trojan generation (e.g., Orestes and Telemachus).[67]
The Trojan War provided a variety of themes and became a main source of inspirat
ion for Ancient Greek artists (e.g. metopes on the Parthenon depicting the sack
of Troy); this artistic preference for themes deriving from the Trojan Cycle ind
icates its importance to the Ancient Greek civilization.[68] The same mythologic
al cycle also inspired a series of posterior European literary writings. For ins
tance, Trojan Medieval European writers, unacquainted with Homer at first hand,
found in the Troy legend a rich source of heroic and romantic storytelling and a
convenient framework into which to fit their own courtly and chivalric ideals.
Twelfth-century authors, such as Benot de Sainte-Maure (Roman de Troie [Romance o
f Troy, 1154 60]) and Joseph of Exeter (De Bello Troiano [On the Trojan War, 1183]
) describe the war while rewriting the standard version they found in Dictys and
Dares. They thus follow Horace's advice and Virgil's example: they rewrite a po
em of Troy instead of telling something completely new.[69]
Some of the more famous heroes noted for their inclusion in the Trojan War were:
On the Trojan side:
Aeneas
Hector
Paris
On the Greek side:
Ajax (there were two Ajaxes)
Achilles
King Agamemnon
Menelaus
Odysseus
Greek and Roman conceptions of myth
Mythology was at the heart of everyday life in Ancient Greece.[70] Greeks regard
ed mythology as a part of their history. They used myth to explain natural pheno
mena, cultural variations, traditional enmities and friendships. It was a source
of pride to be able to trace the descent of one's leaders from a mythological h
ero or a god. Few ever doubted that there was truth behind the account of the Tr
ojan War in the Iliad and Odyssey. According to Victor Davis Hanson, a military
historian, columnist, political essayist and former classics professor, and John
Heath, a classics professor, the profound knowledge of the Homeric epos was dee
med by the Greeks the basis of their acculturation. Homer was the "education of
Greece" (????d?? pa?de?s??), and his poetry "the Book".[71]
Philosophy and myth
Raphael's Plato in The School of Athens fresco (probably in the likeness of Leon
ardo da Vinci). The philosopher expelled the study of Homer, of the tragedies an
d of the related mythological traditions from his utopian Republic.
After the rise of philosophy, history, prose and rationalism in the late 5th cen
tury BC, the fate of myth became uncertain, and mythological genealogies gave pl
ace to a conception of history which tried to exclude the supernatural (such as
the Thucydidean history).[72] While poets and dramatists were reworking the myth
s, Greek historians and philosophers were beginning to criticize them.[7]
A few radical philosophers like Xenophanes of Colophon were already beginning to
label the poets' tales as blasphemous lies in the 6th century BC; Xenophanes ha
d complained that Homer and Hesiod attributed to the gods "all that is shameful
and disgraceful among men; they steal, commit adultery, and deceive one another"
.[73] This line of thought found its most sweeping expression in Plato's Republi
c and Laws. Plato created his own allegorical myths (such as the vision of Er in
the Republic), attacked the traditional tales of the gods' tricks, thefts and a
dulteries as immoral, and objected to their central role in literature.[7] Plato
's criticism was the first serious challenge to the Homeric mythological traditi
on,[71] referring to the myths as "old wives' chatter".[74] For his part Aristot
le criticized the Pre-socratic quasi-mythical philosophical approach and undersc
ored that "Hesiod and the theological writers were concerned only with what seem
ed plausible to themselves, and had no respect for us ... But it is not worth ta
king seriously writers who show off in the mythical style; as for those who do p
roceed by proving their assertions, we must cross-examine them".[72]
Nevertheless, even Plato did not manage to wean himself and his society from the
influence of myth; his own characterization for Socrates is based on the tradit
ional Homeric and tragic patterns, used by the philosopher to praise the righteo
us life of his teacher:[75]
But perhaps someone might say: "Are you then not ashamed, Socrates, of having fo
llowed such a pursuit, that you are now in danger of being put to death as a res
ult?" But I should make to him a just reply: "You do not speak well, Sir, if you
think a man in whom there is even a little merit ought to consider danger of li
fe or death, and not rather regard this only, when he does things, whether the t
hings he does are right or wrong and the acts of a good or a bad man. For accord
ing to your argument all the demigods would be bad who died at Troy, including t
he son of Thetis, who so despised danger, in comparison with enduring any disgra
ce, that when his mother (and she was a goddess) said to him, as he was eager to
slay Hector, something like this, I believe,
My son, if you avenge the death of your friend Patroclus and kill Hector, you yo
urself shall die; for straightway, after Hector, is death appointed unto you. (H
om. Il. 18.96)
he, when he heard this, made light of death and danger, and feared much more to
live as a coward and not to avenge his friends, and said,
Straightway may I die, after doing vengeance upon the wrongdoer, that I may not
stay here, jeered at beside the curved ships, a burden of the earth.
Hanson and Heath estimate that Plato's rejection of the Homeric tradition was no
t favorably received by the grassroots Greek civilization.[71] The old myths wer
e kept alive in local cults; they continued to influence poetry and to form the
main subject of painting and sculpture.[72]
More sportingly, the 5th century BC tragedian Euripides often played with the ol
d traditions, mocking them, and through the voice of his characters injecting no
tes of doubt. Yet the subjects of his plays were taken, without exception, from
myth. Many of these plays were written in answer to a predecessor's version of t
he same or similar myth. Euripides mainly impugns the myths about the gods and b
egins his critique with an objection similar to the one previously expressed by
Xenocrates: the gods, as traditionally represented, are far too crassly anthropo
morphic.[73]
Hellenistic and Roman rationalism
Cicero saw himself as the defender of the established order, despite his persona
l skepticism with regard to myth and his inclination towards more philosophical
conceptions of divinity.
During the Hellenistic period, mythology took on the prestige of elite knowledge
that marks its possessors as belonging to a certain class. At the same time, th
e skeptical turn of the Classical age became even more pronounced.[76] Greek myt
hographer Euhemerus established the tradition of seeking an actual historical ba
sis for mythical beings and events.[77] Although his original work (Sacred Scrip
tures) is lost, much is known about it from what is recorded by Diodorus and Lac
tantius.[78]
Rationalizing hermeneutics of myth became even more popular under the Roman Empi
re, thanks to the physicalist theories of Stoic and Epicurean philosophy. Stoics
presented explanations of the gods and heroes as physical phenomena, while the
Euhemerists rationalized them as historical figures. At the same time, the Stoic
s and the Neoplatonists promoted the moral significations of the mythological tr
adition, often based on Greek etymologies.[79] Through his Epicurean message, Lu
cretius had sought to expel superstitious fears from the minds of his fellow-cit
izens.[80] Livy, too, is skeptical about the mythological tradition and claims t
hat he does not intend to pass judgement on such legends (fabulae).[81] The chal
lenge for Romans with a strong and apologetic sense of religious tradition was t
o defend that tradition while conceding that it was often a breeding-ground for
superstition. The antiquarian Varro, who regarded religion as a human institutio
n with great importance for the preservation of good in society, devoted rigorou
s study to the origins of religious cults. In his Antiquitates Rerum Divinarum (
which has not survived, but Augustine's City of God indicates its general approa
ch) Varro argues that whereas the superstitious man fears the gods, the truly re
ligious person venerates them as parents.[80] According to Varro, there have bee
n three accounts of deities in the Roman society: the mythical account created b
y poets for theatre and entertainment, the civil account used by people for vene
ration as well as by the city, and the natural account created by the philosophe
rs.[82] The best state is, adds Varro, where the civil theology combines the poe
tic mythical account with the philosopher's.[82]
Roman Academic Cotta ridicules both literal and allegorical acceptance of myth,
declaring roundly that myths have no place in philosophy.[83] Cicero is also gen
erally disdainful of myth, but, like Varro, he is emphatic in his support for th
e state religion and its institutions. It is difficult to know how far down the
social scale this rationalism extended.[81] Cicero asserts that no one (not even
old women and boys) is so foolish as to believe in the terrors of Hades or the
existence of Scyllas, centaurs or other composite creatures,[84] but, on the oth
er hand, the orator elsewhere complains of the superstitious and credulous chara
cter of the people.[85] De Natura Deorum is the most comprehensive summary of Ci
cero's line of thought.[86]
Syncretizing trends
Apollo (early Imperial Roman copy of a fourth-century Greek original, Louvre Mus
eum).
See also: Roman mythology
In Ancient Roman times, a new Roman mythology was born through syncretization of
numerous Greek and other foreign gods. This occurred because the Romans had lit
tle mythology of their own and inheritance of the Greek mythological tradition c
aused the major Roman gods to adopt characteristics of their Greek equivalents.[
81] The gods Zeus and Jupiter are an example of this mythological overlap. In ad
dition to the combination of the two mythological traditions, the association of
the Romans with eastern religions led to further syncretizations.[87] For insta
nce, the cult of Sun was introduced in Rome after Aurelian's successful campaign
s in Syria. The Asiatic divinities Mithras (that is to say, the Sun) and Ba'al w
ere combined with Apollo and Helios into one Sol Invictus, with conglomerated ri
tes and compound attributes.[88] Apollo might be increasingly identified in reli
gion with Helios or even Dionysus, but texts retelling his myths seldom reflecte
d such developments. The traditional literary mythology was increasingly dissoci
ated from actual religious practice. The worship of Sol as special protector of
the emperors and of the empire remained the chief imperial religion until it was
replaced by Christianity.
The surviving 2nd-century collection of Orphic Hymns (second century AD) and the
Saturnalia of Macrobius Ambrosius Theodosius (fifth century) are influenced by
the theories of rationalism and the syncretizing trends as well. The Orphic Hymn
s are a set of pre-classical poetic compositions, attributed to Orpheus, himself
the subject of a renowned myth. In reality, these poems were probably composed
by several different poets, and contain a rich set of clues about prehistoric Eu
ropean mythology.[89] The stated purpose of the Saturnalia is to transmit the He
llenic culture Macrobius has derived from his reading, even though much of his t
reatment of gods is colored by Egyptian and North African mythology and theology
(which also affect the interpretation of Virgil). In Saturnalia reappear mythog
raphical comments influenced by the Euhemerists, the Stoics and the Neoplatonist
s.[79]
Modern interpretations
For more details on this topic, see Modern understanding of Greek mythology.
The genesis of modern understanding of Greek mythology is regarded by some schol
ars as a double reaction at the end of the eighteenth century against "the tradi
tional attitude of Christian animosity", in which the Christian reinterpretation
of myth as a "lie" or fable had been retained.[90] In Germany, by about 1795, t
here was a growing interest in Homer and Greek mythology. In Gttingen, Johann Mat
thias Gesner began to revive Greek studies, while his successor, Christian Gottl
ob Heyne, worked with Johann Joachim Winckelmann, and laid the foundations for m
ythological research both in Germany and elsewhere.[91]
Comparative and psychoanalytic approaches
Max Mller is regarded as one of the founders of comparative mythology. In his Com
parative Mythology (1867) Mller analysed the "disturbing" similarity between the
mythologies of "savage races" with those of the early Europeans.
See also: Comparative mythology
The development of comparative philology in the 19th century, together with ethn
ological discoveries in the 20th century, established the science of myth. Since
the Romantics, all study of myth has been comparative. Wilhelm Mannhardt, James
Frazer, and Stith Thompson employed the comparative approach to collect and cla
ssify the themes of folklore and mythology.[92] In 1871 Edward Burnett Tylor pub
lished his Primitive Culture, in which he applied the comparative method and tri
ed to explain the origin and evolution of religion.[93] Tylor's procedure of dra
wing together material culture, ritual and myth of widely separated cultures inf
luenced both Carl Jung and Joseph Campbell. Max Mller applied the new science of
comparative mythology to the study of myth, in which he detected the distorted r
emains of Aryan nature worship. Bronislaw Malinowski emphasized the ways myth fu
lfills common social functions. Claude Lvi-Strauss and other structuralists have
compared the formal relations and patterns in myths throughout the world.[92]
Sigmund Freud introduced a transhistorical and biological conception of man and
a view of myth as an expression of repressed ideas. Dream interpretation is the
basis of Freudian myth interpretation and Freud's concept of dreamwork recognize
s the importance of contextual relationships for the interpretation of any indiv
idual element in a dream. This suggestion would find an important point of rappr
ochment between the structuralist and psychoanalytic approaches to myth in Freud
's thought.[94] Carl Jung extended the transhistorical, psychological approach w
ith his theory of the "collective unconscious" and the archetypes (inherited "ar
chaic" patterns), often encoded in myth, that arise out of it.[2] According to J
ung, "myth-forming structural elements must be present in the unconscious psyche
".[95] Comparing Jung's methodology with Joseph Campbell's theory, Robert A. Seg
al concludes that "to interpret a myth Campbell simply identifies the archetypes
in it. An interpretation of the Odyssey, for example, would show how Odysseus's
life conforms to a heroic pattern. Jung, by contrast, considers the identificat
ion of archetypes merely the first step in the interpretation of a myth".[96] Ka
rl Kernyi, one of the founders of modern studies in Greek mythology, gave up his
early views of myth, in order to apply Jung's theories of archetypes to Greek my
th.[97]
Origin theories
See also: Similarities between Roman, Greek and Etruscan mythologies
For Karl Kernyi mythology is "a body of material contained in tales about gods an
d god-like beings, heroic battles and journeys to the Underworld mythologem is the
best Greek word for them tales already well-known but not amenable to further re-
shaping".[98]
Max Mller attempted to understand an Indo-European religious form by tracing it b
ack to its Indo-European (or, in Mller's time, "Aryan") "original" manifestation.
In 1891, he claimed that "the most important discovery which has been made duri
ng the nineteenth century with respect to the ancient history of mankind ... was
this sample equation: Sanskrit Dyaus-pitar = Greek Zeus = Latin Jupiter = Old N
orse Tyr".[99] The question of Greek mythology's place in Indo-European studies
has generated much scholarship since Mller's time. For example, philologist Georg
es Dumzil draws a comparison between the Greek Uranus and the Sanskrit Varuna, al
though there is no hint that he believes them to be originally connected.[100] I
n other cases, close parallels in character and function suggest a common herita
ge, yet lack of linguistic evidence makes it difficult to prove, as in the case
of the Greek Moirai and the Norns of Norse mythology.[101]
Archaeology and mythography, on the other hand, have revealed that the Greeks we
re also inspired by some of the civilizations of Asia Minor and the Near East. A
donis seems to be the Greek counterpart more clearly in cult than in myth of a N
ear Eastern "dying god". Cybele is rooted in Anatolian culture while much of Aph
rodite's iconography may spring from Semitic goddesses. There are also possible
parallels between the earliest divine generations (Chaos and its children) and T
iamat in the Enuma Elish.[102] According to Meyer Reinhold, "near Eastern theogo
nic concepts, involving divine succession through violence and generational conf
licts for power, found their way ... into Greek mythology".[103] In addition to
Indo-European and Near Eastern origins, some scholars have speculated on the deb
ts of Greek mythology to the pre-Hellenic societies: Crete, Mycenae, Pylos, Theb
es and Orchomenus.[104] Historians of religion were fascinated by a number of ap
parently ancient configurations of myth connected with Crete (the god as bull, Z
eus and Europa, Pasipha who yields to the bull and gives birth to the Minotaur et
c.) Martin P. Nilsson concluded that all great classical Greek myths were tied t
o Mycenaen centres and were anchored in prehistoric times.[105] Nevertheless, ac
cording to Burkert, the iconography of the Cretan Palace Period has provided alm
ost no confirmation for these theories.[106]
Motifs in Western art and literature
For more details on this topic, see Greek mythology in western art and literatur
e.
See also: List of films based on Greco-Roman mythology
Botticelli's The Birth of Venus (c. 1485 1486, oil on canvas, Uffizi, Florence) a
revived Venus Pudica for a new view of pagan Antiquity is often said to epitomize
for modern viewers the spirit of the Renaissance.[2]
The widespread adoption of Christianity did not curb the popularity of the myths
. With the rediscovery of classical antiquity in the Renaissance, the poetry of
Ovid became a major influence on the imagination of poets, dramatists, musicians
and artists.[107] From the early years of Renaissance, artists such as Leonardo
da Vinci, Michelangelo, and Raphael, portrayed the Pagan subjects of Greek myth
ology alongside more conventional Christian themes.[107] Through the medium of L
atin and the works of Ovid, Greek myth influenced medieval and Renaissance poets
such as Petrarch, Boccaccio and Dante in Italy.[2]

The Lament for Icarus by Herbert James Draper, 1898.

In Northern Europe, Greek mythology never took the same hold of the visual arts,
but its effect was very obvious on literature. The English imagination was fire
d by Greek mythology starting with Chaucer and John Milton and continuing throug
h Shakespeare to Robert Bridges in the 20th century. Racine in France and Goethe
in Germany revived Greek drama, reworking the ancient myths.[107] Although duri
ng the Enlightenment of the 18th century reaction against Greek myth spread thro
ughout Europe, the myths continued to provide an important source of raw materia
l for dramatists, including those who wrote the libretti for many of Handel's an
d Mozart's operas.[108] By the end of the 18th century, Romanticism initiated a
surge of enthusiasm for all things Greek, including Greek mythology. In Britain,
new translations of Greek tragedies and Homer inspired contemporary poets (such
as Alfred Lord Tennyson, Keats, Byron and Shelley) and painters (such as Lord L
eighton and Lawrence Alma-Tadema).[109] Christoph Gluck, Richard Strauss, Jacque
s Offenbach and many others set Greek mythological themes to music.[2] American
authors of the 19th century, such as Thomas Bulfinch and Nathaniel Hawthorne, he
ld that the study of the classical myths was essential to the understanding of E
nglish and American literature.[110] In more recent times, classical themes have
been reinterpreted by dramatists Jean Anouilh, Jean Cocteau, and Jean Giraudoux
in France, Eugene O'Neill in America, and T. S. Eliot in Britain and by novelis
ts such as James Joyce and Andr Gide.[2]
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ean Tragedy, 1
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^ Jump up to: a b J. Chance, Medieval Mythography, 69
^ Jump up to: a b P.G. Walsh, The Nature of Gods (Introduction), xxvi
^ Jump up to: a b c M.R. Gale, Myth and Poetry in Lucretius, 88
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Jump up ^ Cicero, De Divinatione, 2.81
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^ Jump up to: a b "myth". Encyclopdia Britannica. 2002.
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* Robert A. Segal, Theorizing about Myth, 16
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Jump up ^ A. Winterbourne, When the Norns Have Spoken, 87
Jump up ^ L. Edmunds, Approaches to Greek Myth, 184
* Robert A. Segal, A Greek Eternal Child, 64
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* L. Burn, Greek Myths, 75
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Further reading
Greek mythology portal
Hellenismos portal
Mythology portal
icon Classical Civilisation portal
Gantz, Timothy (1993). Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Source
s. Johns Hopkins University Press. ISBN 0-8018-4410-X.
Graves, Robert (1993) [1955]. The Greek Myths (Cmb/Rep ed.). Penguin (Non-Classi
cs). ISBN 0-14-017199-1.
Hamilton, Edith (1998) [1942]. Mythology (New ed.). Back Bay Books. ISBN 0-316-3
4151-7.
Kerenyi, Karl (1980) [1951]. The Gods of the Greeks (Reissue ed.). Thames & Huds
on. ISBN 0-500-27048-1.
Kerenyi, Karl (1978) [1959]. The Heroes of the Greeks (Reissue ed.). Thames & Hu
dson. ISBN 0-500-27049-X.
Luchte, James (2011). Early Greek Thought: Before the Dawn. Bloomsbury. ISBN 056
7353311.
Morford M.P.O., Lenardon L.J. (2006). Classical Mythology. Oxford University Pre
ss. ISBN 0-19-530805-0.
Pinsent, John (1972). Greek Mythology. Bantam. ISBN 978-0448008486.
Pinsent, John (1991). Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece. Library of the World'
s Myths and Legends. Peter Bedrick Books. ISBN 978-0872262508.
Powell, Barry (2008). Classical Myth (6th ed.). Prentice-Hall. ISBN 978-0-13-606
171-7.
Powell, Barry (2001). A Short Introduction to Classical Myth. Prentice-Hall. ISB
N 978-0-13-025839-7.
Ruck Carl, Staples Blaise Daniel (1994). The World of Classical Myth. Carolina A
cademic Press. ISBN 0-89089-575-9.
Smith, William (1870), Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology.
Veyne, Paul (1988). Did the Greeks Believe in Their Myths? An Essay on Constitut
ive Imagination. (translated by Paula Wissing). University of Chicago. ISBN 0-22
6-85434-5.
Woodward, Roger D. (editor) (2007). The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology.
Cambridge ; New York: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-84520-3.
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