General Study on Greek Mythology

Essay by RoarkeForeva March 2004

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The Greek stories of the relationships between the gods, goddesses, and human beings are like a fascinating soap opera. What with secret affairs between Zeus and numerous mortals, the bitter jealousy of Juno and her attempts to thwart Zeus's pursuits, the mischievous games of Aphrodite and Cupid, the heroic journeys of numerous mortals to destroy multiple headed evil monsters, and stories of silly, impudent mortals who dare to challenge the gods, the Greek Myths are captivating and cleverly written for specific purposes.

The Greek myths consist of creation stories, stories that teach moral lessons, as well as stories about occurrences between gods, goddesses, and mortals. The Greek creation myth portrays the gods with human forms without all the imperfections of mortal bodies. They are given human emotions and feelings such as jealousy, anger, pride, and love. Each god/goddess usually has a certain talent or power that excels above all others.

There are gods incorporated with nature, gods of emotions, of places, and of certain skills. They are all of different natures and when insulted or challenged, they will always find some way to retaliate.

One of the main categories associated with Greek myths are the creation stories. These tales explain how certain things came about or why something is there. These stories would answer many of the questions people would have about how they or other things came to be. The Greek myths begin with the creation story that explains how everything on earth was created. Other stories explain the creation of individual things. For example the story of Apollo and Daphne explains the creation of the Laurel tree. When Daphne is futilely trying to escape Apollo and begs her father for help: "Help me, Peneus! Open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me...