What are Greek Myths? Stories from 3000 years ago, originally told orally, and eventually written down by people like Homer Homer wrote two famous myths, called The Iliad and The Odyssey, that each took 24 hours to tell!! Had two purposes: to explain natural, religious, political, and historical origins and to teach people how to behave in society

Why Are the Greek Myths Still so Appealing Today? They provide an interesting insight into questions that all humans ask, like: - who am I and what is my purpose? - how can I understand my world? - how did I, and the world, get here? They are fantastic stories!!! If they were dull, no one would bother to memorize them and retell them!!

Traits of Ancient Greek Myths They often start with a specific and exciting event, and then examine how man reacts to the problems of living They are polytheistic (reflect a belief in many gods) They are anthropomorphic (had gods that were more powerful than humans but did possess human form, personalities, and even weaknesses) Specific event – entrance of a wild animal, cataclysmic event, human challenge, not much scenic or historical background, instead just plunge right into a human situation; individs in stories always portrayed in human terms, even when they are divinities (gods)

Themes in Greek Myths Treating others with arrogance and disrespect brings disaster upon the self Man must conquer fear and accept challenges to have satisfaction The kind of person a being is is more important than what they accomplish Man has many vices like being prone to violence, coveting, going to war etc.

As Christians, why bother learning about Greek Mythology? It speaks to an innate human desire to know where we come from/our origins It teaches us respect for other cultures and eras We learn ancient history from myths Some of our vocabulary come from these stories i.e. chronology, titan, chaos

Why bother? Continued … The stories of the Greeks are foundational to much of today’s literature, art, music The stories expose elements of human nature that are timeless The stories are great fun!! They are great tales and make good campfire stories!

Conclusion “Myths reveal eternal truths about the nature of man and his quests in life. They reflect attitudes and feelings that are common to all men, in any time. Artists and writers constantly allude to them and recreate them as they explore relationships between man and man, man and society, and man and God” (Rosenburg 4).