Prometheus And Io In Greek Mythology

Greeks have been telling mythology stories for centuries. There are plenty of different uses for the many stories told long ago by the Ancient Greeks. However, the major purpose of these stories was to help the Greeks come up with explanations for why things are the way they are. Some examples of Greek mythology doing this is when they used their stories to interpret why a plant is a certain color, where some animals come from, what the stars in the sky represent, etc..

One example of the Greeks wanting to justify where some animals came from through their stories is the story Prometheus and Io. In this story, Zeus is having an affair with a woman named Io and he is trying hard not to get caught by his wife, Hera. “As she caught sight of him he was standing beside a most lovely white heifer--Io

of course,” (Mythology 98). This is the part of the story when Hera is just about to spot Zeus with his affair and he transforms her into a cow. This story was used to help explain where cows first came from. Another example of animal origin stories is the story of Arachne. In this story, a young woman named Arachne challenged Athena to a threading contest after boasting about how great she was. Athena got upset after she realized Arachne was as good as she boasted she was, so she broke the tapestry and convinced Arachne to hang herself from the feeling of overwhelming guilt she gave her. “Athena took pity on Arachne… She brought her back to life, but not as a human… Athena transformed the woman into a spider,” (Power 14). Similar to Prometheus and Io, this story was used to describe where spiders came from. There are plenty of other mythology stories describing the origins of animals.
Greeks also used myths to analyze where certain plants came from. A good example of this would be Cecrops and the Contest of Athens. In this story, Cecrops was searching for a ‘patron deity’ for the city state of Athens, so he decides to have a contest; whichever god can offer the best gift will be chosen to rule as the patron deity of this city state. Poseidon and Athena are both particularly interested in this contest. Athena won the contest after offering them an olive tree, “...an olive tree, the first in the world, sprouted on the spot…” (Power 15). This was used to describe where olive trees first came from. After Athena won, Poseidon was upset to have lost the challenge so he, “...cursed the city to of Athens to never have enough water from then on; after that, a major problem of water shortage started in Athens, which continues until this very day,” (Power 15). This part of the story can help give an explanation of why there is such a terrible drought in Athens. This shows that some of the mythology stories shared more than one origin stories for several different things at once.
Greeks also based quite a few of their stories on stars in the sky; what they represent, where they came from, why they’re there, etc..

One Greek myth story based on the stars is The Pleiades. This story is about Atlas’ 7 daughters; Electra, Maia, Taygete, Alcyone, Merope, Celaeno, and Sterope. Orion was always chasing after them and they were always running away. Zeus put them in the stars, in an attempt to save them from Orion, “But it was said that even there orion continued his pursuit , always unsuccessful, yet persistent,” (Mythology 439). This story refers to the origin of a particular constellation. It also explains why the stars move across the sky in a specific direction. Another story that helps explain something in the stars is Callisto. In this tail, Zeus sees a wolf lady and he falls in love with her. Hera gets upset and turns her into a bear so her son will kill her, “But Zeus snatched the bear away and placed her among the stars, where she is called Great Bear,” (Mythology 429). This was also used to explain where the, “Great Bear,” constellation came from. These and many other beautiful constellations with really interesting stories can still be seen

today.
These examples show that the majority of mythology tales were used for finding ways to explain the world around them through stories. Whether it be the constellation in the stars, the reason why there is a drought in certain parts of the world, where a specific plant or animal came from etc.. There are so many creative, inventive explanations the Greeks designed to help solve the puzzling questions in the world through storytelling.