Classical Greek Mythology - Essay Example

Myth and Place Thesis The word myth comes from the Greek word mythos, which means “story” or “speech.” Myth is often the term used to describe a story that explains events or objects that occur in nature. These may include the creation of plants or animals, the location of deserts or oceans, and even the origin and cycle of the seasons. Myths may also be stories about the origins of customs or traditions. The landscape of Greece has always played a great role in the development of its people and its myths. Thousands of years ago, the Greeks sailed all over the Mediterranean. Because of their travels, the Greeks encountered people of many different backgrounds. Every time the sailors met people of different origins, they listened to the foreigners’ stories and added them to their collection. The extensive travel of early Greek culture helps to explain why there are many different versions of each myth, and why the myths of many different cultures often seem very similar. In summary, each place played a significant role in the development of each myth. The Greek mythology originated from the ancient Balkan Peninsula: Thrace, Boeotia, Attica, Argos, Mycenae, and many of the islands, including, Crete, Asia Minor and several other places in Babylon and Sumer. Hades and the Underworld Death and the afterlife in Homer and what occurs after death are collective concerns for humanity. The presentation of mortality and the afterlife will be considered in Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey. Hades was the most common name for the underworld, a personified god and brother of Zeus, and also a place where the spirit of the departed persons go. Hades was mostly referred to as the underworld than as a personified god in Greek literature. Hades was seen as a genuine character in some legends, most notably in the tale of the seizure of Persesphone on the account disclosed in the Homeric Hymn to Demeter. Hades was the lord of the Underworld. Hades was an Olympian, and was the son of the Titans Cronos and Rhea. Hades was also the brother to Zeus and Poseidon. The Underworld was Hades’ share of the universe. In Greek mythology, Hades was described as a mature, bearded man dressed in dark robes, with a violent nature, impulsive and easily incited. The first Greek account of the Underworld occurred in the epic poem The Odyssey, in Book 11 of Homer. The episode described the event that saw Odysseus go to the gate of Hades to find the shadow of the old prophet Teiresias, in order to trace his way back to Ithaka after the Trojan War. Teiresias had to drink warm blood of a black ram, so he can forecast the future to Odysseus. All around are the sad, screaming spirits of his murdered comrades and deceased relatives, too flimsy for him to touch or clinch. From the Homeric account of the Underworld, Hades was a place of obscurity, desperation, and desolation. The Myth of the Underworld At the entrance of Hades, are the causes of death: toil, sorrow, starvation, scarcity, trepidation, angst, old age, sickness and conflict, among others. At the gate was a gigantic elm tree whose branches are loaded with bare dreams that distress and delude humans. There, too, are the identical twin brothers Thanatos, Death, and Hypnos, Sleep, who flew to earth to arrest human souls. At the gates of Hades dwell monsters like Harpies and Gorgons. The description illustrates just how tormenting and dark the Underworld was. Hades was designed to be an image of fear and terror, only to be spoken in whispers. The main river of Hell passes through Hades, frequently recognized as River Styx or the River of Hate. The spirit of the dead had to cross the river to enter Hades. River Styx was described as soggy, smarmy, grubby and repulsive. The filthy banks of the river was packed with depressed shades yelling, pleading, and pushing one another, struggling to get access to cross. It was a deafening scene of bewilderment and torment. At the riverbank was Charon, the bleak boatman, who ships the souls of the deceased across the river, for a sheer payment. Charon was a horrifying stature with unclean clothes and a knotted white beard: he was elderly, callous, gluttonous, spiteful, and discourteous as he impels the rusty boat with his shaft. The depressing shades plead and shout for a ride across, but only souls with sufficient fare to cross over and those who received a honourable entombment were allowed to cruise across. The rest are aggressively pushed back by Charon. Across the River of Hate, there was a smarmy bank, beyond which lays an enormous cave protected by Cerberus, the hound of Hell. Cerberus was described as a vicious, grotesque sentry dog with three heads that spike with snakes. Sequentially, the souls had to go prevent an attack by throwing some food to Cerberus. This involved throwing some honey-cakes to divert the attention of the starving dog. The rivers that flowed through the underworld were figurative of the feeling life in Hades. The rivers were vastly hidden beneath the surface of the perceptible physical world and bear lifeless souls. These rivers represent the Underworld water channels that divide the visible world from the Underworld and indicate the influence of the reticent feeling life. Inside the cave was a gate that led to a neutral zone, where crying and melancholic souls could be heard. The area was called the Fields of Mourning that also acted as a waiting area where the spirits of the souls of the prematurely dead stopped to be permitted into Hell. These spirits included children, suicides, massacre victims, and those damned to die by a false charge all ended up here. The souls had to wait a little longer till their allotted time of admission to the Underworld was set. Inside Hades was a deep pit called Tartaros that was used as a place of punishment and was famed for maximum-security imprisonment of the Underworld. Tartaros was surrounded by an enormous gate of concrete iron and huge defence walls, and bounded by Pyriphlegethon, the River of Fire, which was crammed with fire and magma rocks. The souls that were locked up in Tartaros were murderers, dictator, stashers, conspirators, bribe-accepters, and those who committed felony against the gods. All of the convicted souls went through eternal retribution. Tartaros was secured by the Furies, the spirits of vengeance that ensured the prisoners carried out their punishment accurately. The pit was also guarded by Hekate, the goddess of black magic, who used her whips and blazing torches to implement command and rule over the convicts. On the other path there were the Elysian Fields, also referred to as Elysium, or the Isles of the Blessed, which was the paradise of the Underworld. The place had pleasing green meadows and plenty of sunshine and air. The dwellers included heroes, poets, inventors, teachers, loyalists to the gods, liberators, among others. The souls were free and lived fully to their satisfaction. They drank from the River of Forgetfulness to purify their souls of the sad memoirs and to forget the distress of life on earth. Then the purified souls waited to be reborn once more to the Upper World. The knowledge of the terrain of Hades facilitates the appreciation of the realm drawn during the periods of despair, cynicism and ongoing doubt stirring during significant life evolution in the mythical landscape. The topography of Hades has been expatriated beyond perception, since ancient times. In agricultural societies, the gods of the Earth and the gods of the Underworld were close partners; the fecundity gods pooled the cyclic nature of life with the chthonic gods of demise. By the 8th century BC, the dominion of Hades was accurately a land of desolation, as Homer's epics demonstrate. The Homeric formation of death was not a supportive one, but it underscores the significance of life and characterizes oneself while still on earth. Achilles told Odysseus that he’d rather be a meagre manual worker on earth than rule the underworld. He’s bravery was seen in the Trojan War where his punishment was his demise, making certain his eternal reputation. The last place of Hades was Erebus, where the souls of the dead passed through to get to their ultimate resting-place. The site contained the spiritual beings that resembled shade and dreams of misplaced souls that were intangible. Erebus represented a reflection of a psychosomatic situation where what had died was either in changeover or not yet deliberately unrestricted. Individuals who were still in refutation about what had died wandered pointlessly through this land of shades, draining the living force from those in their environs. In the process of Hades transition, the souls felt in midpoint, bewildered, moving without purpose through Erebus, and unable to accept their new form of existence. Plunge to the Underworld The Greek mythology presented several reasons to move down into the underworld, some of which included liberating a dead individual, securing personal immortality, seeking information, reuniting with a treasured one, or succeeding own eternity. The same motives are still shared in the present day where most believe that death was a conduit for reuniting with a loved one. A common belief was applied in the early Greek conception of the Underworld; Homer explains that it was not only the spirits of the dead that fell to Hades after death but rather the souls of all men, good or evil. Contrary, the gods are reserved the heavens and only a few mortals are granted access to heaven. First they have to be divinized and made immortal. The best example was the case of a great hero called Heracles, the semi-divine son of Zeus, who upon his death was made an immortal god. Hades was famously connected with the sinister, appalling and forbidden taboo that was not candidly discussed in the ancient Greek cultures. Hades symbolised the shade aspects of spiritual life, once available or deceitful: failure, wrath, distrust, heartache, and bereavement were the major appearance of psyche. A Hades-denying society dismissed death, obscurity, and pessimistic belief. When excessively acknowledged with character, the subdued feelings became known as desolation, ambiguity, a sense of disarticulation, or a feeling of being misplaced or indiscernible. It was to the ancient landscape of expatriated sentiment that people descended to during passage of Hades. The Descriptions of Hades The most common name for Hades was Pluto, derived from Plutus, connotation of riches. The story embodied the treasures underneath the earth, reminiscent of the prosperous spiritual world. The story also appealed to the prehistoric connection between the Underworld and the agricultural gods, expressing transformative fresh potential underneath conscious experience. Pluto was also symbolic of the enormous wealth hidden in the heart of the earth or, allegorically, in the Underworld of the consciousness. The riches also described the plentiful amount of shades and spirits that inhabited Hades. Dreams emerged in the immobility of slumber when the liberal world became unseen, and the realization yielded to oblivion. Hades' world of shades and darkness was an inventive place that represented the transformational feature of Pluto. Another epithet for Hades was Ais, which meant the unseen. Hades was given a hat of invincibility which when worn, made him invisible. The helmet was a gift given to him by Cyclops during the Great War between Zeus and Cronus. The mask enabled him steal his father’s weapons without being detected. The helmet was useful in clouding Hade’s thoughts and intentions, rendering his father’s strategies useless. The usual defence mechanisms of other beings, mostly humans, are powerless in Hades' realm. It also reminded people that during a transit of Pluto, the soul was invisible and powerless. After exhausting and transmitting the energy in the world, the humans were incapable of making an impact upon it, and hence wandered through existence unseen. Another description of Hades was Eubuleus that meant proper guidance or compassionate Counsellor. The epithet referred to Hades' shrewd counsel: images and judgment that arose from deep inside, despite being branded as unreasonable. Eubuleus also represented an oracle that witnessed Hades’ seizure of Persephone. When Hades appeared in life, he had one intention that demanded a sacrifice of what he deemed no longer part of the people’s lives. Hades was also referred to as Zeus of Underworld. It was believed that Hades was the reflection of the dark side of Zeus, the god of Olympus. Hades was also famously remembered as the god who greeted his guests into his kingdom. Hades had been recognised as the force that welcomed the people past ghosts and shades to the underworld. During a transformation to Pluto, people were most likely going to run into unburied ghosts from the past. The epithet was the face of Hades that was willing to receive the souls only after pledging to abide by his rules. It was evident that the Underworld had its civilization, and Hades demanded each soul to be bare and subjected to the integrity of their innermost longing. If not, the souls risked becoming a shade of their previous personality, misplaced and incarcerated in the darkest regions of the Underworld. Pluto's course through each symbol astonishes each generation with a diverse understanding of the Underworld. For instance, the Pluto-in-Virgo generation understood that the terror of the Underworld was the fear of disarray. At the Pluto square, the persons may tackle this by sliding in the chaos to refurbish their lives. Honouring Hades meant that one was preparing for the descent and was also willing to be laid bare and defenceless before the Lord of the Underworld. When people let go and stop resisting change, they can discover bravery and inner power to submit to the unavoidable process. Hades realm reveals the transformational place that was not observable before. The immense transformative power dissipated the dread of the Pluto transfer as was called and engaged with it. The Myth of Troy and Laomedon The citadel of Troy was first walled off by Laomedon, the descendant of Zeus. Laomedon persuaded Poseidon and Apollo, who had been banished from Mount Olympus for disobeying Zeus, to build the great wall of Troy. After many months of hard toil and endurance, the walls were completed. The trouble came when Laomedon refused to pay Apollo and Poseidon as agreed, and instead pushed them away from Troy. In revenge, Apollo sent a plague over Troy, and Poseidon unleashed a sea monster against Troy. Later on, Laomedon consulted the oracle on how best to rid his fortification of the misfortunes, whereby he was advised to sacrifice his only daughter, Hesione, to the sea monster. Almost immediately, Laomedon had his daughter chained, ready for the sacrifice. Luckily, the immortal Heracles, the son of Zeus, was in locality and vowed to save Laomedon’s daughter. The pledge was after the promise of a team of incomparable horses, given to Tros, Laomedon’s grandfather. Heracles wrestled and killed the sea monster and unchained Hesione, but once more Laomedon broke his pledge and declined to furnish Heracles with the horses. Heracles, with the support of Peleus and Telamon, sacked Troy and destroyed Laomedon and his sons, except the youngest, Podarces, in exchange for a stunning shroud embroidered by Hesione. Heracles then handed Hesione to Telamon who took her to Salamis in Greece. That was how Podarces became known as Priam, which meant obtained or liberated. Work Cited Morford and Lenardon, J. Classical Mythology, 8th ed. Oxford: Oxford University Press. 2007. Print. Read More