The artistic characteristics of Greek mythology

For historians, ancient Greek myths and legends are indispensable reference books for studying and understanding ancient Greece; for writers and artists, they are one of the references and sources for creation; For us ordinary people, it is one of the signs of knowledge and literacy. They have strong aesthetic and cognitive value. What you get from reading them is not only aesthetic pleasure, but also a better understanding of ancient Greece. Greek mythology has always been dazzling and enduring in the history of human thought, culture and art. The self-esteem, justice, strength and order of human childhood are shown here in a magnificent picture that continues to this day... The beauty and touchingness of ancient Greek mythology are world-famous. Ancient Greece is one of the ancient civilizations in the world. The activity scope of the ancient Greeks mainly included the present-day southern Balkan Peninsula, the western coastal areas of Asia Minor and the islands in the eastern Mediterranean. In addition, they have interacted with the residents of the Black Sea coastal areas very early, immigrated to areas such as the southern coast of the Italian Peninsula and Sicily, and have traveled as far as the Western Mediterranean and North Africa. During their survival and development, the ancient Greeks created a brilliant and colorful culture and passed down rich heritage, including myths and legends. The emergence of ancient myths has a long history. They are the product of ancient humans who used their imagination to conquer natural forces when they were at a low level of productivity development. Therefore, ancient mythology must include two aspects: stories of gods and stories of relationships and conflicts between humans and gods, that is, heroic legends. The stories of gods more obviously reflect the rich imagination of ancient humans in visualizing powerful natural phenomena, while heroic legends mainly focus on the worship and idealization of legendary figures and related events that may have some historical significance, reflecting the imagination of ancient humans. Survival activities and the tenacious struggle against nature. Ancient Greek mythology also includes these two aspects. The formation period of ancient Greek mythology is very early, and it is the crystallization of the collective creation of generations in ancient times. Myths were first passed down orally and later found in written texts. Its earliest written document is the Homeric epic. In addition to the main story, the epic also mentions many other mythological stories, which were obviously widely circulated and generally known at that time. Shortly after Homer, there was the long poem "Theogony" by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, which briefly recorded many mythological stories and tried to genealogize those stories. The themes of ancient Greek tragedies are basically based on myths, and are dramatic manifestations of the writers' realistic understanding of those mythical stories. Alexandrian scholars in the Hellenistic period after the third century BC made great contributions to the collection and preservation of ancient Greek myths in the collection and annotation of classical works. Some poets, guided by the principles of scholarship, excavated There are many little-known mythological allusions. Ancient Roman mythology was influenced by animism, lacked figurative thinking about gods, and was poor in mythical stories. Heroic legends are also mainly expressed as historical stories, and the characters in the stories are more realistic than superhuman. After the ancient Romans came into contact with ancient Greek mythology, they were quickly attracted by the moving Greek mythology. As a result, they widely absorbed the images and stories of ancient Greek gods, and a unique fusion of ancient Greek and Roman myths and legends emerged. The ancient Greek nation went through several changes in its development process. Their mythological concepts are also constantly changing in this change. The basic characteristic of this change is the shift from nature worship to humanity worship. The basic feature of Greek mythology of this period that people are familiar with is that man creates gods in his own image and gives gods human form and humanity. Even people’s social relationships. The basic difference between gods and humans is that gods are powerful, immortal, and live a leisurely and happy life; humans are weak, mortal, and have a hard life. They have to often seek help from gods, but they also often curse gods and do evil. The ancient Greeks worshiped gods, but at the same time they praised people, their bravery and enterprising spirit. The ancient Greeks criticized personality weaknesses such as pride, cruelty, vanity, greed, violence, and stubbornness, and believed that it was often these personality weaknesses that caused tragedies in life. The ancient Greeks worshiped gods, but they did not give the gods excessive loftiness, nor did they regard the gods as standards of moral measurement, but rather regarded them as reflections of life. It is precisely with this humanistic spirit, touching stories and profound ideological connotations that ancient Greek myths have always attracted a wide range of readers, emitting the power of frogmen, making people read hundreds of times, and becoming a rich source of material for future generations' literary and artistic creations. .