Greek Mythology in Modern Society - Research Paper Example

?Running Head: GREEK MYTHOLOGY Influence of Greek mythology in modern society Before exploring the main topic of study, that is, the influence of Greek mythology in modern society, it is important to define what Greek Mythology is. According to newworldencyclopedia.org (2006), the term Greek mythology refers to a collection of tales about ancient Greeks .This collection concerns, the pantheon of gods and their heroes which outline the Greeks cultic and ritual practices and view about the world. This corpus of materials includes a huge collection of narratives, some of which explains the origin of the world and others that detail the lives and adventures of various gods and goddess, heroes, heroines, and mythological creatures. These accounts were initially disseminated in an oral poetic tradition primarily referred to as written Greek literature in modern world. Tames (2009, p 40) notes that Greek mythology is rich in stories of heroes and heroines who were victorious, gods and goddess that quarreled frequently and also creatures that were usual and mysterious. The Greek mythology provided entertainment to the Greek people while at the same time trying to offer answers to question about how the world and human beings came into existence .This tales were very powerful and provided a great inspiration to ancient Greek arts and materials for their play. In additional, these tales provided important and valuable records of history and provide encouragement to the Greek to take pride in their cultural past that was very vibrant. Tames states that the Greek myths were traditionally passed from one generation to the other orally. Also many at times, poets were paid in order to make a recitation of poems which they had memorized. Later on, these tales were put down onto written .documents. Tames (2009, p 40) The influence of Greek mythology on modern society According to enotes.com, (2011), Greek mythology has continued to exert an extensive and profound influence on various fields on modern society for hundreds of years. The impacts of Greek mythology in today’s modern world can be noted in various areas including; language, sport, literature, psychology, Astronomy, modern Art, Films and Drama. The influence of Greek mythology in the aforementioned areas will be dealt with below in a detailed and comprehensive manner and where possible appropriate examples provided. enotes.com, (2011) Language Even though few people speak Greek language internationally, Greek mythology has shaped English and other languages over the world. For example, the phrase “Herculean task” means a task that requires great input and effort. The drug which is known as morphine derives its name from the Greek god of sleep; Morheus.The concept “venereal disease” has specific reference to god Venus. The term “aphrodisiac”, which refers to any substance or circumstances that arouses sexual desire originates from the goddess of love In modern days, a woman who may not be beautiful can be called a “happy”, that is, a winged monster with a woman’s torso and birds feet. On the other hand, a man who is handsome is referred to as “adoris”, that is, the mortal man who was so handsome that Aphrodite goddess fell in love with him. Computer viruses known as “Trojan “have their comparison to the Greek –built Trojan horses, that were used by the Greek to gain access to Troy and end the Trojan war.Myth-and-mythology.com,states that the impacts of Greek mythology on language is not confined to individual words in modern world but extends to many other expression, proverbs and clinches . For example, the expressions “caught between a rock and a hard place” and “between the devil and the blue sea” both came from the tales about sailors being caught between the monsters Scylla and Charybdis of the Greek mythology.(enotes.com,2011) Some of the other commonly used expression that demonstrate the impact of Greek mythology in modern society include; on Achilles heel meaning a single fatal vulnerability, having the Midas touch meaning everything turns gold, lying in the arms of morpheus meaning to sleep, opening Pandora’s box meaning to unlock world of trouble, rich as Croesus meaning Croesus is known for his wealth and lastly the face that launched a thousand ships meaning a woman worth fighting for.(myths-and mythology.com, 2011) Modern sport and Olympics In general, the common games that take place in modern society have their roots and foundation among the Greek Olympic and sporting activities. According to ancientgreek.com (2008), the Greek invented athletics and regularly held them as an honour to their gods. The Cape games were conducted at peninsula of Corinth after every two years and the Pythian Games in Delphi after four years. The most famous games took place at Olympia, a plain that was in the south west of Greek, after every four years. The ancient Olympic Games in Greek started in 700 B.C mainly in the honor of Zeus. In these Olympic games, outsiders and women were bared from participating but the Greek men had no any restriction .The games at Olympia in 472B.C involved various activity and events that took place in five days. The first day during the opening of the festival was dedicated to sacrifice for the gods and goddesses. On the second day, the foot race, which was the main event of the games, took place in the stadium in an area that was enclosed by banks of earth that were sloping There were four different types of races that took place at Olympia. These races included: stadium, where the runners raced for one stade round the stadium (192meters). The other race was a two stade race that was 394meters and a long distance run which ranged from seven to twenty four stades. (1344- 4608 meters) The last type of Olympia race consisted of runners in full armor that was a two to four stade races (384- 768 meters) which were used strengthen men who wanted to join the Greek military. The games boxing, wrestling, and the pancratium took place in day four. The intention in wrestling game was to haul the opponent to the ground three times, on either his hips, back or shoulder .However biting and hitting below the belt was not permitted in ancient Greek games so is the present day wrestling games. The game of boxing among the Greek games was brutal in nature .Initially the pugilists fastened soft leather over their fingers as a way of making their blows stronger. Later, hard leather at times reinforced with metal was used. In the boxing game pancratium, which was the toughest of the sports, the competitors fought till one of participants acknowledged defeat. Horse racing among the Greek was the last sporting activity happening in day five and it required that the participant own a horse and the game was restricted to the rich men only. Unlike the others games, it attracted attention of few Greek audience. Horse-racing involved going round a track six times. The tracks were separated to prevent disrupting other participant. ancientgreek.com (2008) Modern Art Due to symbolic nature and allegorical nature of Greek mythology, majority of modern artist and even those during the period of Renaissance, have based their works on characters and events from the Greek myths, .some of the Greek works of arts had been influenced by the beauty of Greek mythology. In the 15th century, the famous Italian sculptor Sandro Botticelli finished his master piece, the birth of Venus. Another Italian artist, by the name Gianlorenzo Bernini, developed a marble sculpture as well as a Daphne in the 17th century. The Spanish painter Francisco de Goya immortalized one of the terrifying scene inside the Theogony where Cronus was seen eating greedily his young children on Canvass. Also during this time, there was a famous painting of Icarus falling from the sky painted by Flemish artist Pieter Bruegel.In the contemporary world, Greek mythology as well as architecture has influenced the adoption and use of Greek styles that included; the Ionian, Doric, and Corinthian style . Even today, some of these forms of Greek art and styles continue to be present. (spirittourism.com, 2010) Films and Drama T he wide spread which the Greek myths have gained has inspired countless operas and dramas over the world some of which are highly placed and famous. In the 17th century, the Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi organized the dramatization of myths in the form of opera, together with Orfeo also known as Orpheus and II ritorno d’ Ulisse in Patria in the opera the return of Ulysses to His Homeland. Such activities followed in the 20th century by works such as Eleka by German composer Richard Strauss as well as Oedipus Rex by Igor Stravinsky, a Russian composer. With the advent of the motion film in the 21st century, the impact of Greek mythology is great. Lots of films about the diverse myths have emerged. This includes movies about IIIiad, Jason, Argonauts, Hercules are more prevalent that have served to make Greek mythology immortal. (Spirittourism.com, 2010) Science (Astronomy) According to spirit tourism.com, the website notes that the influence of Greek mythology on astronomy is so divers and effective that the skies and heavenly bodies have been given mythological names. The planets and other celestial bodies such as the stars that make up the solar system have some of their names after Roman gods and goddess as well as from Greek myths. The various natural phenomena and seasons in the world have derived their names from Greek gods and heroes. (Spirittourism.com, 2010) Psychology The Greeks have contributed to the field of psychology primarily due to their interest in understanding human mind and ways of thinking mainly through myths. (spirittourism.com, 2010) The modern and renowned psychologist Sigmund Freud borrowed from the Greek in creating his theories on human psycho sexual development, thus giving prominence to the Greek terminologies “Electra complex” and “Oedipus complex.” (enotes.com, 2011) The Swiss psychiatrist, Carl Jung also depended upon the Greek mythology to justify his belief about the recurring of innate suggestion that is present in all men that are termed as archetypes. Jung had taken the view that archetypes portrayed the presence of Psychic structures that are frequent to all men and women. The Psychic structures came out of the mythological ideas that Jung believed in from the Greeks mythology. (spirittourism.com, 2010) Literature Greek mythology also influenced literature as a discipline. In Greek, many literary theorists and philosophers had great interested in drama, narratives and poems. These famous Greek theorists and philosophers came up with theories and offered conclusion and as well analyzed some the existing myths. Greek literary theorist Palaephatus made an attempt to analyze the symbolic meanings of myths. Plato also tried to analyze and even oppose Greek myths on the ground of morality .The designs, allusions and even symbols utilized by the ancient Greeks in their myths clearly paved way for modern literary theorists and scholars to develop their own theories and philosophies as well. Thus the several literary approaches that are present in modern world have become possible because of the emergence and existence of Greek mythology .James Joyce for example; one of the best western writers used the plots of the myths and wrote an elaborative novel based on them. Joyce wrote the novel Ulysses along with a modern theme that had a plot similar to that of the Greek mythology. (spirittourist.com, 2010) Thus in conclusion, it can be clearly inferred from the areas discussed above that Greek mythology has been very strong and influential in the past and has continued to exert that influence to the present modern society. Reference: ancientgreece.com. (2008).Olympics. Retrieved 12th May 2011 http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Olympics/ enotes.com. (2011).How has Greek mythology affected or been integrated into modern society? Retrieved 12th May 2011 http://www.enotes.com/mythology/group/discuss/how-has-greek-mythology- affected-been-integra-93139 myths-and-mythology.com. (2011) .Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture. Retrieved 12th May 2011 http://www.myths-and-mythology.com/articles/mythology-impact/impact-greek- mythology-.php newworldencyclopedia.org. (2006). Greek Mythology. Retrieved 12th May 2011 http://www.newworldencyclopedia.org/entry/Greek_mythology spirittourism.com. (2010).The Legacy of Greek Mythology . Retrieved 12th May 2011 http://spirittourism.com/culture/greek/legacy-greek-mythology/ Tames, R. (2009) Ancient Greece: Passport to the Past. Edition illustrated, reprint. The Rosen Publishing Group, p 40 Read More