The characteristics of gods in ancient Greek mythology

Ancient Greek mythology

The beauty and moving of ancient Greek mythology are world-famous.

Ancient Greece is one of the ancient civilizations in the world. The activities of the ancient Greeks mainly included the southern Balkans, the western coastal areas of Asia Minor and the islands in the eastern Mediterranean. In addition, they have been in contact with the residents of the Black Sea coastal areas for a long time, and migrated to the southern coastal areas of the Italian Peninsula and Sicily, with footprints as far away as the Western Mediterranean and North Africa. The ancient Greeks created splendid and colorful cultures, and left a rich legacy in the process of their survival and development, among which myths and legends are one.

Ancient mythology has a long history, which is the product of ancient humans conquering natural forces with the help of imagination during the period of low productivity development. Thus, the ancient myth must include the story of God and the story of the relationship and conflict between man and God, that is, the legend of heroes. The story of God more clearly reflects the rich imagination of ancient human beings in visualizing powerful natural phenomena, while the legend of heroes mainly worships and idealizes legendary figures and related events that may have some historical significance, reflecting the survival activities of ancient human beings and their tenacious struggle with nature. Ancient Greek mythology also includes these two aspects.

Ancient Greek myths and stories were formed very early. They are the crystallization of collective creation from ancient generations. Myth was first passed down by word of mouth, and then by words. Its earliest written document handed down from generation to generation is Homer's epic. In addition to the main story, the epic also mentioned many other fairy tales, which were obviously widely circulated and known at that time. Shortly after Homer, there was the ancient Greek poet hesiod's long poem "Divine Spectrum", which briefly described many fairy tales and tried to pedigree those stories. The theme of ancient Greek tragedy is basically based on myth, which is a dramatic embodiment of the writer's realistic understanding of those fairy tales. In the Hellenistic period after the third century BC, Alexander scholars made great contributions to the collection and preservation of ancient Greek myths in the collection and annotation of classic works, while some poets excavated many little-known mythological allusions under the guidance of the principle of knowledge.

Influenced by animism, ancient Roman mythology lacked vivid thinking about gods and fairy tales. Heroic legends are also mainly reflected in historical stories, and the characters in the stories are more realistic than Superman. After being exposed to the ancient Greek mythology, the ancient Romans were quickly attracted by the Greek mythology of the passive people, thus widely absorbing the images and stories of the ancient Greek gods, and a unique fusion of ancient Greek and Roman myths and legends appeared.

The ancient Greek nation has undergone several changes in its development process, and their myths and concepts have also changed constantly in this change. The basic feature of this change is the change from nature worship to human nature worship. People are familiar with the basic characteristics of Greek mythology in this period: man created God in the image of J himself, and endowed God with human form, humanity and even human social relations. The basic difference between God and man is that God is powerful, immortal and carefree. Human beings are weak, will die and have a hard life. They often have to turn to the gods, but they often curse them for doing evil. The ancient Greeks worshipped God, but at the same time they also praised people, the courage and enterprising spirit of _ _. The ancient Greeks criticized the weaknesses of life, such as pride, cruelty, vanity, greed, violence and stubbornness, and thought that it was these weaknesses that often caused the tragedy of life. The ancient Greeks worshipped gods, but they did not give them excessive sublimity, nor did they regard them as the standard of moral measurement, but regarded them as the reflection of life. It is with this humanistic spirit, touching stories and profound ideological connotation that ancient Greek mythology has always attracted readers, exuded the power of frogman, and made people never tire of reading it, becoming rich materials for later literary and artistic creation.

The ancient Greeks worshipped many gods. Every city-state has its own gods and temples dedicated to its idols. Stories about gods usually have their own versions. The same god has a set of characteristics in a city-state or region, but may have completely different characteristics elsewhere. So there are several versions of a myth.

Greek gods can be divided into several categories. The earliest type is the Titan headed by Cronus. The most powerful group is the Olympic team. Greek gods and mortals are the same, but highly idealized, noble and fit. Emotionally, they are no different from human beings, with the same jealousy, the same love and the same sadness. They also like to maintain their authority and punish those who dare to make mistakes. Their society, like human society, has different members. Their family and social relations are similar to those of ordinary people. Zeus and Hera are husband and wife, Apollo and Artemis are brother and sister, and the gods on Olympus are like a noisy family, with Zeus as their parents to mediate disputes. The gods can also temporarily intervene in the mortal world. They may fall in love with mortals, such as Aphrodite fell in love with adonis and Zeus fell in love with alcmene and Shen Jianing. They may also kill the mortals who irritate them. The main difference between God and mortals lies in their immortality, extraordinary ability and changeability, and their joys and sorrows are far stronger than human beings.

There are several secondary gods in Greek mythology. Fairy is the goddess of nature, living among mountains and trees; The three goddesses of fate are in charge of human destiny; Muse is the ninth daughter of Zeus, the goddess of literature, music and dance; The goddess of time series is in charge of the change of seasons; Nemesis terrorizes those who murder relatives and friends and pursues them.

Not all Greek gods have human forms. Their appearance may also be grotesque and terrifying, which is quite different from the creatures in nature. If there are hundreds of snakes on Medusa's head, her horrible eyes will turn people into stones. The Greeley sisters were born with white hair. The three of them share a tooth and an eye.

In the genealogy of the new gods, all the gods live on Mount Olympus, and it is generally believed that there are twelve main gods:

1. Zeus: the father of the gods and the supreme ruler of all things on earth.

Hera: the wife of Zeus. Is the representative of women, in charge of marriage and childbirth. character trait

Jealousy

3. Athena: At first, she was regarded as Sivir, and later she gradually became the goddess of wisdom and the guardian of Athens.

Goddess of protection.

4. Apollo: In poetry and art, it is the god of light, youth and music, and also the sun.

Jesus Christ.

5. Artemis: the goddess of the moon, the god of hunting, the god of women, is the purification of women.

Body.

6. Dionysus (also known as Bagus): the god of sprinkling and drinking.

7. Aphrodite (also known as Venus): the goddess of love. Her loyal follower, little love god E.

Ross (also known as Cupid) holds a bow and arrow, and the shot person falls in love.

8. Poseidon: Poseidon

9. Hades: Hades.

10. hephaestus: Vulcan.

1 1. Ares: God of War.

..................................................................................................................................................................................: They have human character and emotion and superhuman special skills.

In ancient Greece, in addition to the stories of gods, there were many demigod "heroes" born from the copulation between gods and people. Legends about heroes are the most famous, such as the story of Achilles, the story of Hercules' twelve exploits and the story of Jason leading a hero to capture golden fleece.

Achilles: the richness and integrity of Greek national character

Homer's epics Iliad and Odyssey, which appeared around 800 BC, are milestones in the history of western literature. Achilles, the hero of the Iliad, is a prominent example.

It is said that Achilles is the son of King Lupes on the earth. He married thetis, the goddess of the sea. The Oracle told him that he had two fates: to live a long life in obscurity; Or die honorably on the battlefield. Thetis loved his son so much that he disguised him as a girl, but the clever Odysseus recognized him. Achilles happily embarked on the battlefield against Trojans and made great contributions. His horse predicted that his end was coming, and he knew that he would be buried under Troy, but he still stood up and fought.

Desperate and even reckless cruelty in battle is only one aspect of Achilles, and his cruelty is out of love for his friends. If selfless fighting and gentleness and kindness constitute two opposite sides of Achilles' character, the core that dominates these two sides is his understanding and pursuit of personal honor. Not afraid of death because he regards bravery as the highest honor. Selfless fighting spirit, warm and kind feelings and consciousness of defending personal dignity constitute his character, among which the understanding and pursuit of honor is the core of this triangular relationship. Therefore, the creator of Homer's epic has reason to proudly announce that in the history of western literature, we have created the first "man"!

Greek mythology, the mother of western literary works

1. Dionysus and Cupid

If we look at the differences between the Greek and the Eastern Gods, the most striking ones are Dionysus and Cupid.

The saints in China talked about "food habits", but belittled the ancient goddess who specialized in "sexual intercourse between men and women" as a "goddess" (prostitute) waiting for King Hou Chuxiang to sleep. So the lust of Chinese tribes lost its artistic symbol. On the other hand, in ancient Greece, it is said that the goddess of love was originally a "goddess" who engaged in prostitution in temples, and later upgraded to a goddess; Dionysus (the equivalent of Shennong in China), who grows plants, is a reveler. The important position of Dionysus in Greek mythology shows their worship of food and sex.

Greek mythology believes that human misfortune is caused by two reasons: first, natural disasters; The second is man-made disasters. The so-called natural disaster refers to that after Prometheus stole the fire from human beings, Zeus sent Pandora to punish human beings and opened the box to release all kinds of disasters. The so-called man-made disasters are all human desires. Pandora's disaster to the world is also because human beings are confused by her beauty and accept her, so lust is the "root of all evil"; However, on the other hand, people live to satisfy all kinds of emotions and desires, so this is also the "source of Wan Le". Happiness and disaster go hand in hand, thus forming the tragic consciousness and comic spirit in Greek mythology. In the story of Fighting for the Golden Apples, Helen, a Greek beauty, was kidnapped by Paris, which led to the Trojan War, which lasted for ten years and caused numerous casualties.

Passion destroys heroes, destroys reason, and persists in pursuing even if it knows destruction, just like a moth to a fire. This is the tragic character and fate of the Greeks.

2. Man and Destiny

The Greeks solemnly wrote the motto "Know yourself" on the gate of Apollo Temple, the sun god, and at the same time began to think and explore the "strangest things" in the world in their own myths. The ancient Greek gods did not have the lofty dignity of China, but were full of human personality. Due to low productivity, ancient human beings were restricted by nature everywhere. When human beings are at ease, they don't feel it. Once they enter the state of being themselves, they will find themselves caught in the ubiquitous trap. This mysterious force that they can't explain dominates themselves and is called the "Goddess of Destiny".

In the myth of exploring man and fate, the story of Oedipus is the most shocking one. His resistance to fate is the first effort of human beings to get rid of the alien forces that dominate themselves and move towards the free kingdom. His tragic ending reveals to people how difficult it is for mankind to move from necessity to freedom.

3. Women and love

Zeus, the father of the gods, had seven wives and countless lovers. The heroes described in Homer's epic all have many female slaves sharing the same bed. It seems how much the west respects women and puts women first everywhere. In fact, this is similar to attaching importance to a work of art. The story of the famous Medea deserves our study. In this tragedy, Medea said as soon as she appeared:

Of all rational and spiritual creatures, we women are the most unfortunate. First of all, we have to spend a lot of money to buy a husband, but he will be our master. ..... and the most important consequence depends on whether we get a good husband or a bad man. Because divorce is a disgrace to our women.

This passage is an indictment of the slave status of women after the overthrow of matriarchal system, and it is also the first declaration of feminist movement in history.

Medea, who met the bad guys, said, "Love is really a great evil in the world"! Starting from Medea, "heartbreaker, an infatuated woman" and "love but never give up" have become the motif of western literature and even world literature.

Returning to myth is a necessary supplement to modern society.

At present, a trend of "returning to myth" is emerging in western cultural circles, and mythical thinking permeates literature again, and primitivism prevails in painting circles.

Kafka's Metamorphosis tells that a shop assistant becomes a beetle, which causes a series of amazing strange things. Man has become an ant, and he can never become a man again. Only the retrogression of mankind has not been sublimated, so it is sad. Its amazing absurd framework and amazing details reproduce the theme of human alienation. This has great vitality today.