Greek Mythology and its Influences on Modern Society By Jenna Marie A. Macalawa, Lyceum of the Philippines University – Cavite Campus 2014 Myths are not dissimilar to fairy tales, legends, and sagas, but its period is distinctly different from usual existential time. It is considered as an expression of childhood experiences, and it also explains the origin and meaning of the world. According to Long (1994), “The term mythology may describe a certain body of myths, for example, Greek, African, or Scandinavian, or it may refer to the study of myths” (p.694). These collections of narratives are superior when it comes to influencing different areas of knowledge. There are numerous types of mythology, but Ancient Greece is the one that has given an immense influence on modern society. Greek mythology’s effect on science was enormous; it involved the naming of planets, periodic table of elements and even constellations. The solar system’s planets and moons were named after Greek mythological characters. However, it was also given Roman version of it. “Sun, the center of our solar system was named after …show more content…
Examples that modern society applies in communicating are the sayings “an Achilles heel (a single fatal vulnerability)” (Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture, n.d.), “having the Midas touch (everything turns to gold)” (Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture, n.d.) and “the face that launched a thousand ships (a woman worth going to war for).” (Impact of Greek Mythology on Western Culture, n.d.). The way we interact with other people might seem normal, but the words that may come out from our mouth may be the words that have been influenced by the ancient Greece. The impact of it in our subject English is very visible. People might not know where these came from but as we study it furthermore, we can differentiate its true