Transcript Greek Mythology - Mr. Furman's Web Pages

Greek
Mythology
Mrs. Garbo
Greek Myths
• The stories present
interpretations of some
natural phenomena.
• Primitive men created
their own imaginative
explanations for things
they could not
understand.
Gods Influencing Nature
• An echo
• The changing of the seasons
• The rising & setting of the
sun
• They thought that many
other natural effects from
natural causes were really
the results of the persistent,
intense will of the gods.
Questions of How and Why
• They invented their own explanations of
creation and of the origins of life and death.
• Primitive man was challenged by the unknown
• No established laws of science
• Created magnificent answers in the form of
stories.
Significance of Mythology
• It has been kept alive long after the culture in
which it evolved has disappeared.
• Mythology was a religion to the Greeks as well
as being their literature and philosophy.
The Ancient Greeks
• To understand the myths is to understand the
people who created them and to understand
their way of life, which was so different from
our own.
Myths as Stories
• Myths are exciting stories full of beauty,
strangeness, power, freshness, and adventure.
•Myths were thought to be
true by their original tellers—
no matter how wild or
strange they seem to
contemporary readers.
History of Greeks
• Greeks came from tribes from the southcentral part of Asia who came to the land now
known as Greece about 2000 B.C.
• At first they settled in the valleys, in the hills,
or along the seacoast.
• They were proud of their settlements.
• Each group created their own myths, but later
the myths became a fusion of all the diverse
cultures.
The Greek Gods
• Greeks accepted the ideas that there were
many gods and they were very near.
• Gods had magnificent powers and talents.
• They were eager to associate with mortals.
• The gods had some typical human
characteristics like greed and jealousy.
How Greeks felt about life
• To the Greeks, life was
something to enjoy, to
take delight in, and to
inspire one with awe.
• They were aware of
the presence of
mystery in everything.
• They responded to
compelling beauty in
nature and people.
References to Greek mythology
are all around us!
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•
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•
•
Nike – goddess of victory
Eros/Cupid – god of love
Apollo - god of archery and prophecy
Ajax – hero of Trojan war
Olympus – home of the gods & goddesses
Sources
• Mythlopedia, by Steven Otfinoski
• The Greek Gods, by Evslin, Evslin, & Hoopes