Greek Mythology (Meaning and Explanation)

We explain what Greek mythology and its main gods and heroes are. In addition, what are its general characteristics and importance.

What is Greek mythology?

The set of stories is known as Greek mythology, Myths and legends belonging to the religion of ancient Greece. Greek mythology continued to be part of Western culture through literary, philosophical, scientific and artistic references.

Originally, Mythological stories were transmitted orallyfrom generation to generation. For centuries, different versions were formed that, over time, became a coherent corpus about the history and genealogy of the pantheon of Greek gods and heroes. During the classical era and the Hellenistic period of the history of Greece, these stories were collected in written texts and constituted the basis of what is currently known as Greek literature. His study is a matter of interest to various disciplines, from letters and philosophy, to history, anthropology and psychoanalysis.

It should be noted that Greek mythology collected numerous traditional and religious elements of ancient Greece, but also It was understood as fiction by many of the philosophers of antiquitylike Plato (V-IV AC centuries). Anyway, it could be considered valuable source of teachings and allegorical stories, as it is today for us.

Origin of Greek mythology

The different stories, myths and legends that constitute the corpus of the Greek mythology of the classical era were created and transmitted oral for centuries. The specialists consider that the origin of these oral stories can be located in the remote times of mycenaean civilization (1600-1200 BC) and that, during the dark age (1200-800 BC), they were constituted as a coherent set of intertwined narratives, with elements from Indo-European, Mediterranean and Asian villages.

During this stage, the entire community transmitted oral stories from generation to generation. The oldest told the youngest the stories of the gods and the Greek heroes. But also, together with this family and collective circulation, there were poets that were especially dedicated to narrating traditional stories. The poets did not create the stories, but they repeated and made up the story about mythical events known throughout the community.

With the introduction of alphabetical writing in the seventh century BC. C., mythological narratives began to be written. However, At the end of the 5th century a. C. The Greek mentality abandoned the culture of orality. During this process, a type of poetry was forged that allowed the appearance of free and original versions about mythological narratives, linked to the author’s art and supported by the certainty that traditional stories were already known throughout the community.

The corpus of Greek mythology

Greek mythology gods zeus — The stories of the *God’s age* They explain the origin of the world and divine powers.

Greek mythology, like many other similar traditions, can be structured in three stories cycles:

The age of the gods. Myths about the origin of the world, the birth of the gods and their distribution of domains. Theogonies and cosmogonies belong to this period.
The age of coexistence between gods and men. Myths and stories about cooperation, love and antagonism among gods, half -sized and mortal men.
The age of the heroes. Myths and stories in which the gods play a more limited role, and give prominence to mortals and especially their champions, the mythical heroes. The stories of the Trojan War Cycle are of this period.

Main gods of Greek mythology

Poseidon - Greek mythology — Poeseidón ruled the waters and could give good or bad trip to the sailors.

First generation of gods

The original gods are those that correspond to the first divine generation and They relate to the creation of the world and its different elements. They do not have their own figure or humanized as the gods of the second generation will be. Instead, they have a clear reference to space and make up the framework of all existence.

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The main ones Primal gods They are: Gea (Earth), Tartar (Abyss), Eros (Love), Érebo (Darkness), Ether (Light), Uranus (Heaven), Ponto (Mar) and Crono (Time).

Second generation of gods

The second generation of gods was constituted by the pantheon of Mount Olympus. These gods are defined by their relationships within the structure of a patriarchal family. The gods are immortal, but they have not always existed. Each of them has an established origin within a genealogical scheme, which often explains the problems and events that it is going through in its history.

The main Olympic gods are:

Zeus. The father God, owner of lightning and heaven, directed the rest of the Olympic gods from his throne. Zeus was the son of the primitive gods Cronos and area. His brothers were Démeter, Hera, Hestia, Hades and Poseidon. Hera, in addition to being her sister, was her wife. Together with Hades and Poseidon defeated his father Cronos and seized the throne. Among them were divided the regency of the different worlds and Zeus remained as a sovereign God of the surface of the Earth and the Mount Olympus.
Hera. Zeus sister and wife, fulfilled the role of mother goddess, legitimate wife and Lady of the Home. He was the mother of the Ares and Hefesto and immediate antagonist of Zeus’s illegitimate children, among which were many heroes, such as Hercules or Heracles.
Poseidon. He was the regent God of the marine world and the underground regions, and represented it with a trident in his hand. His brothers were Zeus and Hades, and son of Cronos. From his underwater throne he ruled the waters of the world and could give good or bad trip to the sailors.
Hades. It was the god of the kingdom of shadows and the dead, brother of Zeus and Poseidon, and son of Cronos. He always appeared retired in his domains, and turned Persephone into his wife (formerly called Core, daughter of the goddess Demeter).
Ares. He was the god of war and violence, son of Zeus and Hera. It was associated with male virility and heroism, the courage in battle and armies.
Hephaest. He was the Lord of Fire and the art of metals, son of Zeus and Hera.
Aphrodite. Goddess of beauty and passion, she was the daughter of Cronos (but not from Gea), sister of Zeus and wife of Hefesto, whom she cheated with Ares and with numerous mortals. His birth is attributed to the spill of the semen of Cronos, father of the Titans, about the waters of the sea, when Zeus castrated him and defeated forever.
Apollo. It was the solar god, protector of paternal rights, music inventor (he was represented with a lyre) and prophecy. He was a twin brother of Artemisa, son of Zeus and Leto.
Sagebrush. It was the hunting, virginal and lunar goddess, with affinity for wild animals and the virgin terrain. It is represented with a laugh full of arrows often a deer and a cypress.

Main heroes of Greek mythology

Greek mythology heroes Achilles Troy — Achilles was one of the heroes of the Trojan War.

Greek mythology It is characterized by the abundance of heroic figures. The heroes were demigods: they surpassed men in power, strength and boldness, but they differentiated themselves from the gods because they were mortal. They were an example of virtues and participated in incredible feats. They had a relationship with the divine, either by ancestry or for having been favored by some God or some goddess. The heroes belonged to a memorable past, not as remote as the time of the gods. Many noble families of the different Greek polis said they descend from some mythical hero, and several cities claimed to have been founded by one of them.

Main myths of Greek mythology

Cronos - Greek mythology — Cronos devoured his children just born from the belly of Rea.

The origin of the world

According to Greek mythology, the world was created by three divine powers: chaos (“the vacuum”), gea (“the earth”) and eros (“renewal”). Uranus, comparable to heaven, was a son and husband of Gea. Gea and Uranus were the parents of the first gods: the Titans (commanded by Cronos), three Cyclops and three Hecatonquiros.

The Trojan War

Troy War - Greek mythology — The Trojan War involved many of the Greek classic heroes.

One of the most important cycles of Greek mythology is the one that counts the site and looting of the city’s anatolia city. This city was besieged by a coalition of Greek kingsunder the excuse of recovering Helena, the most beautiful woman in the world.

This confrontation involved many of the Greek classic heroes Already the different gods, who took sides for one side or the other. These events are narrated in the Iliad and many previous or subsequent episodes in the tragedies of Esquilo, Sophocles and Euripides.

In what books Greek mythology is narrated?

Greek mythology continues to spread in literature and in cinema. However, the oldest texts from which our knowledge of the subject proceeds are:

Mythological Library of pseudo-opolodoro, where you try to give a unified vision of the different mythological stories.
Iliad and Odysseyepic songs attributed to Homer.
Theogony and The works and days of Hesiod, where he tells the beginning of everything and speaks of agriculture, respectively.
The work of Greek lyric poets such as Píndaro, Baquílides, Simonides and Bucolic as theocrit and bion.
The tragic work of the Greek playwrights: Esquilo, Sophocles and Euripides, as well as the comedies of Aristophanes.
The work of Greek historians Herodotus, Diodoro Sicle and the Pausanias and Strabo geographers.

Roman mythology

Greek mythology Play a fundamental role in the conformation of the western imaginary. It is represented in one of the richest and most complex literary traditions in the world. The archetypes attributed by the Greeks to their gods survive in many different ways in our culture, converted and mixed with other cultural sources.

The gods and heroes face conflicts related to universal issues such as pride, betrayal or justice. That’s why Even today the works that narrate their stories are still taken to the scene. Even some of these stories were used by psychoanalysis to explain our way of behaving.

Subsequent versions

During the Renaissance, Greek mythology It was a source of inspiration for painters and sculptorsin its differentiation of the motives, values and forms of medieval art (deeply linked to Christian themes).

Subsequently, many modern works of art dialogue and reinterpreted the Greek myths, especially tragedies as Oedipus Rey either Antigone.

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