Mythology was something that every Grecian incorporated into their everyday life. Myths were told to everyone it was said to be a type of social control. A myth could be described as a common day fable to inspire, teach lessons, and give faith to every Greek that needed something to believe in. Greek mythology became a type of religion to the polytheistic Greeks. They had a god for every aspect of life, love, weather, music, and communication. Greek mythology was “devoted to the deeds of divinities and heroes in the already constituted world” (Buxton 44). Divinities could be referred to as the Gods and heroes, who were often somewhat mortal. The gods were said to live on Mt. Olympus, which can be referred to as a type of heaven. Mortals lived among heroes, who were often of godly decent, on earth, and the dead resided in the underworld with the God Hades. With three different worlds under the all powerful Zeus it was very important for him to have a quick and efficient form of communication between the worlds, this lead to the birth of the messenger god, the son of Zeus, Hermes. It is argumentatively true that Hermes, the winged messenger influenced methods of medieval communication through messengers, faster methods of travel and efficient winged messengers.
The messenger of Zeus had a very exciting life. He was said to be one of the most popular gods and became a household name for the Greeks. He was known for being, quick witted, swift, and a talented gymnast. In fact his statue is in every gymnasium throughout Greece and is also in the entrance of the stadium in Olympia. Hermes was the bringer of fertility to flocks, he was a highly intelligent god known for his cunningness and is also referred to as the lord of thieves but...
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...eding of suitable birds, the homing pigeon is developed.” (Mostert 57) . Hermes can clearly be given credit for the invention of the pigeon post due to inspiration of his winged sandals that made his the most efficient messenger in Greek mythology. It is said that Hermes was depicted, “... beardless youth wearing a winged cap and sandals, symbols of his speed” (Cavendish 670).
Works Cited
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Homer. The Odyssey. Trans. Robert Fagles. New York: Viking, 1996
Buxton, Richard The Complete World of Greek Mythology. Hubsta Ltd, 2004. Print ii
Cavendish, Scott, and Cavendish Marshall. Gods, goddesses, and mythology. 5. Tarrytown , NY: Marshall Cavendish Corp, 2005. 670-74. Print.
Mostert, Marco. New approaches to medieval communication. Brepols Pub, 1999. Print.
Harris, Stephen L., and Gloria Platzner. Classical Mythology: Images and Insights. 2nd ed. Mountain View: Mayfield, 1995
Guerber, H. A. Myths of Greece and Rome. New York: American Book Company. 1921. Print.
"Achilles." Gods, Heroes and Myth: Mythologies of Many lands. 10 June 2003. Internet. 23 June 2003.
Mythology was very important to the men and women of ancient Greece. They worshipped the gods and goddesses, wrote poems about them, and based a great deal of art work off of them. The people of Greece looked to the gods and goddesses for help in all aspects of their lives; including health, agriculture, and war. Reading about Greek mythology can inform people about the society of Greece because the Greek gods were created by the people of Greece. Three main goddesses who were worshipped by the Greeks were Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite.
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. 5th ed. Lincolnwood, IL: NTC Pub. Group, 1994. Print.
8. Hamby, Zachary. Greek mythology for teens: Classic myths in today's world. Waco, TX: Prufrock P, 2011.
Hermes (Latin name Mercury) is the messenger of the gods. He is the fastest of all the gods and goddesses. He is the son of Zeus and Maia. He is a guide who knew the way to the underworld. So he would show the dead souls the way to the underworld. Hermes is also known as the patron of traders, merchants, thieves and everyone who lived by their wits.
Morford, Mark P.O., and Robert J. Lenardon. Classical Mythology. '7th ed'. New York: Oxford University Press, 2003.
He is very well known for being deceiving, and a trickster. Hermes is also known for his many love affairs with numerous mortals, goddesses, and nymphs. In the Odyssey he serves as a messenger and is sent to Kalypso to tell her that she must let Odysseus off her island. The next person, Helios, is actually not a god but a rather a titan. He is the son of Hyperion and Thea and represents the sun, and his sisters Serena and Eos represent the night and the dawn. An easy way to remember him is that “Helios” is a root word from Greek for sun. Helios did not play a big part in Greek mythology and was eventually replaced by Apollo, but in the Odyssey he gets revenge on Odysseus for eating his cattle. Lastly is Aeolus, and this god is different because there are actually three gods with this name. The most famous which is the one that will be talked about in the Odyssey is the keeper of the winds, and he is also known by his other name is Hippotes. He gives Odysseus favorable winds, but when his companion opens the bad with the bad winds things turn a turn for the worse. In a nutshell, this is an explanation of all the gods in the Odyssey and the role that they
Many people would blatantly state that the importance of the gods in Greek society derives from the fact that Gods in any society are usually used to explain phenomenon that people cannot logically comprehend, but in ancient Greece gods were actually entities that took part in the workings of society itself. Even simple aspects of day-to-day life such as sex and disputes between mortals were supposedly influenced by godly workings. Unlike modern religions such as Catholicism, Buddhism, and Hinduism, where an omnipotent force supposedly controls the workings of the world, a hierarchy of Gods characterized religion in ancient Greece. Working as one big family, which they actually were, each one of the Greek gods governed a certain aspect of the world in a way that usually reflected their own humanlike personalities. These unique personalities also contained many human flaws such as envy and greed, and were where the Greek God’s importance lay. Greek religion was more concentrated on the way an individual dealt with situations that popped up in the world around him than on understanding the world itself. In other words the Greeks were more interested in the workings of the mind than in the workings of the environment around them.
Hemingway, Colette, and Seán Hemingway. "Greek Gods and Religious Practices | Thematic Essay | Heilbrunn Timeline of Art History | The Metropolitan Museum of Art." The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York: Metmuseum.org. Web. 19 June 2011.
Gods and Mortals in Classical Mythology. Springfield, MA: G. & C. Merriam, 1973. Print. The. Lies, Betty Bonham. The Wise Goddess Athena.
When we look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story.
Rosenburg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. Third Edition. Chicago: NTC/Contemporary Publishing Group, Inc., 1999. Text.
Rosenberg, Donna. World Mythology: An Anthology of the Great Myths and Epics. Illinois: Passport Books, 1988.