Greek Mythology

[Ansar]

I cant find information on the background of the Greek Mythology, such as when it started, where it started. I know that the Mythology deals with gods and goddesses, but I cant find info on it, like the background info.

 

[Israelite9191]

Try the wikipedia articles, they are quite extensive. After that I would suggest going to the local large library or university library you have access to if you have more questions.

 

[Rambuchan]

I reckon you will be very hard pushed to find information on when any mythology started, and where, especially Greek. Mythologies are not like histories in this regard. No one really sits down and writes them as such, or at least history cannot show this to us, mainly owing to their ancient, ancient nature (and by 'ancient' I don't just mean relating to time).

They creep out of a people's collective imagination in a seemingly natural form, because humans need analogies in order to understand the workings of their minds and hearts, and the unknown forces of the universe around them. That's what the gods and goddesses represent. They bring into focus for the human mind such things as 'hate', 'deceipt', 'carnal instinct', 'love' and 'revenge', plus things like 'the sun's passage through the sky', 'the passing of time' and 'the progression of the seasons', 'the destructive forces of nature', 'fertility' and so on; all of which are pretty grand and unwieldy ideas, phenomena and entities, especially for the ancients not 'blessed' with scientific reason that allows these to be demystified. Gods and goddesses provided (and still provide) a graspable personification of these and much else besides.

It is typically the shamanic, priestly and spiritual 'authorities' who refine and combine mythologies that have already emerged for whatever purposes, but I've never come across anyone attempting to detail the origins of mythologies. The closest you may come would be in the work of Joseph Campbell, who was and still is (from beyond the grave) the world's leading comparative mythologist. Perhaps if you were to mention specific myths that you had in mind, it would be possible to shed more light on them.

 

[Berrie]

I reckon you will be very hard pushed to find information on when any mythology started, and where, especially Greek. Mythologies are not like histories in this regard. No one really sits down and writes them as such, or at least history cannot show this to us

Maybe I misunderstand you, but don't we know about Greek Mythology because someone decided to write it down?

 

[Rambuchan]

We know the mythologies because some fine fellows wrote them down. But we do not know about their origins, which is what the OP asks.

edit: For example and clarity, Homer (did he exist or not?) may have written down the Iliad and presented us with the gods that inhabit his epic. But he did not invent those gods. And that's what I interpret the OP to be seeking, the invention and origins of the gods.

 

[Ansar]

Its ok. I found the information and the presentation went great.

I got an "A" (96.0) .

 

[Rambuchan]

Now I'm curious. What information did you find?

 

[Verbose]

Now I'm curious. What information did you find?

Me too! Please tell?

 

[dutchfire]

On a slightly related topic:

I've got to do a presentation about Pandora. I want to say that the view on Pandora changed because first when women were important, Pandora was seen as the provider of all gifts, and later on when men took charge, Pandora changed to be the origin of all disasters. Is this correct, and approximately when did men took charge in the Greek culture?

 

[Thorgalaeg]

Men always were at charge in the Greek culture as in any Indo-European people. It seems that Pandora and other mythological female figures come from Pre-indo European cultures (for instance the Minoans in Crete) where women were seen from a different point of view (women were not at charge either but were more important). The little stone idols of fat ladies that can be found anywhere in Europe were made by those cultures. After the "macho" Indo-Europeans tribes invaded Europe (the Achaean in Greece IIRC) many of the Pre-Indo European female myths were reversed or demonised.

 

[Ansar]

I have my sources.

 

[Antilogic]

Hmm...Thorgalaeg, I think there is something else at work there. There were religious positions for women in many "pagan" religions, especially in Greece and Rome (the one coming to mind for me is the Vestal Virgins of Rome). One thing that is interesting is that yes, it is a separate caste from male priets, but it was a place of elevated importance for women. In many polytheistic religions of the Mediterranean and Europe there are several female deities, at least implying that women were respected.

I think the real reversal of women's roles in mythology occurred with the rise of the Judeo-Christian system, where the sole god and figure of major religious importance was a male, and, if you are Christian, Jesus Christ (another male). That, and Genesis 3:16 places women on a lower rung of the ladder than men. There are some Christian cults that worship Mary, virgin or wife of Jesus, but those are rather smaller in number than the mainline Catholic or Protestant factions that have dominated the European tradition for the last several centuries. (My source for this tidbit is a History Channel special Decoding the Past.)

 

[EquinoxOmega]

There are several different versions of many stories of the Greek mythology, because it has changed over the time. Furthermore there are modification caused by propaganda and also some later invented lyrical stories.

 

[sydhe]

There are also differences because different cities had different traditions.