A long time ago people lacked knowledge on why certain things would occur. Without scientific answers, like we have today, the Ancient Greeks created their own answers about the world and what their place was in it. Over 2000 years ago the Greeks created the names and ideas of a myth and mythology. What they created were tales that are now known as myths. “A myth is a story based on tradition” (“Myths and Heroes” PBS.). Merriam Webster’s dictionary defines myth as, “a usually traditional l story of ostensibly historical events that serves to unfold part of the world view of a people or explain a practice, belief, or natural phenomenon.” (Def.1a). These myths described the values and feelings that bounded members of society. The stories explained, …show more content…
A creation myth explains the beginning of many events such as the origin of the world and the creation of human beings. “The creation of the world is explained through two stories where a son usurps the place of his father-Cronus from Ouranos and Zeus from Cronus”(Greek Mythology” Ancient History Encyclopedia). An explanatory myth explained a natural process or an event such as death or illness. For example, “…earthquakes are created when Poseidon crashes his trident to the ground or the passage of the sun is Helios in his chariot riding across the sky”(“Greek Mythology” Ancient History Encyclopedia). All myths explained how worldly beings should relate with gods and how they should behave or be punished if an individual on earth disobeyed the gods. The Greeks believed that they would be rewarded from the gods with gifts such as good weather, physical and mental health, material wealth, and a plentiful harvest. Myths were not always optimistic, most served as warnings (“Myths & Heroes” PBS). The Greeks believed that their disobedience to the gods would lead to a plague or crop failure …show more content…
Aside from their powers they were very similar to human beings, having many normal human qualities. The human qualities they presented were things such as birth and death and many emotions such as anger, love, etc. These human characteristics of the divine beings reflected the values of society. These characters in the myths are called anthropomorphic which comes from two Greek words meaning “in the shape of man”(Burkert 24). Gods and goddesses that resembled animals were called theomorphic. The word theomorphic comes from two Greek words meaning “in the shape of an animal”(Burkert 24). The last group of mythical characters has no name but is described as having both human and animal qualities. For example, having a human body and an animal