A Few Greek Gods Essay -- essays research papers

The AncientGreeks believed in a series of myths which explained nature, set up a moralcode for the pile, and were just folk lore of the people. In this paper,the beginnings of myths, the Greek gods themselves, and several myths concerningmorals, nature, and old lore of the Ancients will be discussed. Because themyths and details some the gods were passed along by word of mouth, some mythsor gods might be interchanged or different. The Greek myths startedas folk lore until it began to explain nature and storytellers merged amoral code into the myths. Many myths started out as fairy tales. As newand more efficient farming methods became available to the Greek people theywere faced with more time in which to do other things. A people who have wastedevelop a culture all their own. Because Greece was split into differentcity- states, more of the myths are different. The culture of storytellingbegan to involve explanations of nature such as the debut of the horse,spider, and such ch anges as winter and fire along with the creation of manhimself. Slowly, as with any longstanding government, the morals and lawsof society leaked into Greek myths in the form of, "The slain shall be avengedby Nemesis (a ability which causes people to get revenge)," or just, "Kindnessand humbleness are rewarded by the gods." Some myths were even created tosupport other myths. The myths started with storytelling and developed intoacomplex body of morals and explanations.The Greek myths were almostfruitless without the intervention of the gods. The gods bookled natureand fought their own battles on the earth, which sometimes caused problems.The first god was the most powerful one until he had children. The firstgod is called Oranos or in some myths Uranus. He was the first ruler amongthe gods. Uranus was the heavens and Gaea was the earth and thus they weremarried. The couple gave birth to many different and odd children but Uranuswas cruel to them. Then, Chronos was born as the youngest titan. Chronosdethroned his father and soon after married his sister, Rhea. He didnt wanthis children to dethrone him so he ate them. However, Zeus overthrew Chronosand established the first real empire of the gods. Zeus settled disputes betweenthe other gods and made sure the humans werent treated in... ...horselike animals.The gods control the seasons as we know them today in this Greek myth. Hadeswas on the surface of the earth on business when Eros shot him with an arrow.Hades push down in love with Persephone and stole her away into the Underworld.Demeter, Persephones mother, searched for her daughter and when she couldnot find her, froze the earth. Zeus didnt want the earth to wither and dieso he direct Hermes to fix the situation. Since Persephone ate segment of a pomegranate,she would stay with Hades part of the year and live on the world the rest ofthe year. All the time she would be gone, Demeter would weep and snow wouldfall. Fall is caused by he r anticipation of her daughter leaving. This mythdemonstrates the power of the gods, the power of love, and how fall and winterhappen.The Greek gods and myths were a vital part to the ancient Greeks.The myths do explain nature and set up an clubhousely manner in which people shouldact. The myths, however, use gods to explain nature in order to substitutefor pure logic. All the myths have meanings or explanations in which all theancient questions are answered. The Greek myths were vital to Grecian society.