Wednesday, August 10, 2005

Greek Myths.

The Greek Gods are interesting. No, really. Besides the fact that they got up to all kinds of adventures, they were also regarded in a fundamentally different way to modern Gods:

1) The Greek Gods were almost all fallible (with the possible exception of Athene [although, of course, she was a woman.]). They were all subject to emotions such as jealousy and rage, nowadays regarded as base. In this way they represented a divinity with which the common man could identify. This characteristic shows them to be more morally neutral than todays modern Gods who are generally seen as morally perfect. Interesting that the Greek God seen as most virtuous is Athene, (who was the only goddess never to have sex [be raped]). This suggests that the Greeks saw 'Wisdom' as morally desirable.

2) They were an interconnected family, born of higher, older and elementary forces. In this regard they are not the end of the line. In fact, Zeus himself had to fight against the Titans, including his father (Chronos) and then his contemporary Gods, just to stay in control. This demonstrates the neutrality of the Greek Gods in two ways:

a) They are originally descended from a line of Darkness, Chaos, Night, Day, Heaven and Hell. (Unless you believe it started with Eurynome, the triple headed goddess). Either way, the Greek Gods came out of a neutral nothingness. I find this a more scientifically accessible belief than more modern faiths myself.

b) The fact that various divine forces fight amongst themselves for leadership shows that none of them is necessarily 'right'. The battles represent the balancing acts between the various inclinations of man. The result is free will: the ultimate expression of neutrality.

3) People obeyed the Greek Gods not because they were intrinsically morally correct, but because they could kick the living shit out of you, literally. If Zeus got pissed off with you, for bragging about shagging Aphrodite (see below) then he'd smack you one with a lightening bolt! For the ancient Greeks, power was divine, not 'goodness'.

I'm pretty sure I could come up with more ways in which the Greek Gods are neutral, but you and I both would get bored, so instead I provide one further observation and then I shall mention one myth which is particularly hilarious:

Observation: The Greeks were not the only ones to believe in neutral divinity. Many did, notably the Druids, who always believed that the power attainable from nature was neutral and could be bent to man's will so long as he followed the rules.

Story about Aphrodite:
Zeus really wanted to shag Aphrodite (he wanted to shag everyone in fact, but especially Aphrodite, despite the fact that she was his adopted daughter [she was actually the product of Mother Earth and Uranus]). Anyway, he never managed to get into her pants so he decided to humiliate her by making her fall for a mortal! This was Anchises. Anyway, Aphrodite went and shagged Anchises whilst in disguise under a red cloak (hot eh?). The deed done, Aphrodite revealed herself to Anchises who was horrified (!) because he thought he'd be killed for such heresy. She assured him it'd be okay. Anyway, here's the good part:
A few days later Anchises was down the pub getting lashed with his mates. One of them asked: "Would you not rather sleep with the daughter of so-and-so than with Aphrodite herself?"
"No." Replied Anchises. "Having slept with both, I find the question inept."
What a class answer eh?
Zeus didn't think so. He chucked a thunderbolt at the dude and crippled him for life.
[As an interesting side note, Aphrodite then gave birth to Aeneas (survivor of Troy.)]

8 Comments:

Blogger EKENYERENGOZI Michael Chima said...

Not a bad recollection of Greek fables.
But, do you know that many of the gods in Greek mythology were also in the Norse and Yoruba mythology?
But, the gods are dead.
They were all Man made fears and passions.

3:31 pm  
Blogger N James said...

I think the gods in Greek and Norse mythology may have fulfilled similar roles, but were not in any real sense the same.
However, the point could be made that gods are archetypes, in which case being functionally identical would imply similarity.
Your call.

3:39 pm  
Blogger Big D said...

Mythology in general is interesting.

1:02 pm  
Anonymous Anonymous said...

A thought...
Is neutrality itself a neutral concept? Is the constant search for a truly neutral object not in itself a normative statement as to the benefit of such a thing existing?
Possibly yes, but then we wouldn't have this interesting blog - so who gives a monkeys

3:17 pm  
Blogger N James said...

Aeneas, a survivor of Troy, and the founder of Rome?

5:55 pm  
Blogger Matt McGrath said...

Thanks for the response everyone, I'm glad that I've been able to write a semi-academic post without it being completely ignored!

Mr anonymous, are you hiding your identity in an attempt at neutrality? You may be right in what you say: it may be a process akin to the buddist meditation in search of zen; an attempt to clear thoughts in order to be filled with joy!

I've always preferred to think of Romulus and Remus founding Rome with their wolfish instincts.

1:34 am  
Blogger weenie said...

LOL - what a great take on Greek mythology! Although it was obvious that Zeus wanted to get into everyone's pants, it was never put in such a humourous way. Well done! :)
Now, if you would just rewrite The Illiad....

4:56 am  
Blogger atomicvelvetsigh said...

i enjoyed reading your post and the comments. i too am facinated with Greek myth as i have done a number of posts and poetry about them. im much interested tho in digging up stories bout Aphrodite, and the humor you put into one part of her many stories is good 8)

timely that you dropped by my blog tho for today i was about to post another poem of her.

3:46 pm  

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