Mythology Assessment
Tales of Greek mythology often bear lessons to be learned within their stories. Much wisdom is shared from taking the fantastical mythologies and analyzing the true meanings behind them. A modern audience can find great moral guides through these myths. A notable myth, and a favorite of mine, is the tale of Athena and her confrontation with Arachne. The gods do not settle well at the thought of another being, especially a mortal, doing well at their own skills. This act of overconfidence and lack of respect is known as hubris. Greek mythology is well-known to display the tragic endings for those who act with hubris. One goddess strikes upon a mortal with vivid anger and authority for acting as if she was better than a god.
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Nymphs would leave their sanctuaries solely to see Arachne’s work or watch her while she was working. However, Athena was the one who had taught Arachne how to weave and spin in the first place, to which Arachne would deny.
Arachne grew with confidence and unfortunate hubris as she decided to challenge a god. She said, “Let her compete with me; if she wins I deny her nothing.” (Morford 182). Consequently, Athena disguised herself into an old, unkempt woman who warned her to pray for forgiveness towards Athena for the harsh words that Arachne had said, and to keep her talents to better the mortals. Arachne responds harshly towards the old woman with a declaration of a contest immediately to which the true Athena appears. As the weaving begins, Arachne is depicting
Antigone, a complex character indeed-- many have described her as fiercely brave, tragic heroine, or even, a model of strength for women. Although the events of Antigone do lend easily to these characterizations of Antigone, it is also apparently clear that she possessed self-interested motives behind the burial of her brother, Polynices. She sought glory and honor for her actions, rather than having mere satisfaction from the actions themselves. Throughout the play, Antigone displays a sense of hubris regarding her brave and heroic sacrifice for her brother—the hubris is exacerbated with the repetitive diction, especially the words ‘glory’ and ‘honor’ and Antigone’s constant desperation for the world to know about what she has done.
Athena is a major character throughout the book of The Odyssey and is known as the goddess of wisdom and battle. Throughout the course of the book, it is evident that Athena has a weak spot for the main character, Odysseus. Odysseus is trying to return home after the Trojan War, as the other Greek hero’s have already done, however he faces multiple challenges a long the way. Fortunately, for Odysseus, Athena was there to guide him through a few of these troubling situations.
Using her powers to her advantage, Athena continues to practice her favorite pastime and disguises Odysseus as an old beggar to “seem appalling to all those suitors” (Od. 13.459). She schemes for Odysseus to take back his house while cloaked as a bum. By using his disguise, he will be able to “tell the innocent from the guilty,” determining which servants are loyal and which are disloyal (Od. 17.398). Since he is her favorite mortal, she focuses solely on Odysseus and helps him with the overtaking of his wife’s suitors. The bright-eyed goddess develops this plan because she loves the game of lying, trickery, and illusion, and she desires to play it alongside the man who deceives as much as she.
The Greek mythology has got to have the most fascinating and at the same time, the most detailed myths in the world. It was actually created thousands of years ago that has been passed down for generations. These myths often features stories about the gods and goddesses as well as heroic battles between monstrous creatures and mortals that teaches intelligence and bravery to its readers. These ancient tales are either painted or carved on pots and statues. That is why in this article we will bring you some of the greatest heroes in Greek myth.
In The Odyssey, by Homer, Athena influences the lives of Odysseus and his family. In Greek mythology, gods challenge and control mortals. Gods also provide support to mortals and thus, mortals depend and act on behalf of the gods and their decisions. Athena, daughter of Zeus, is the goddess of wisdom, and both Telemachus and Odysseus benefit from her power. Athena possesses the ability to disguise herself and others, and this skill allows her to give advice and guidance.
In The Odyssey, temptation is a theme repeatedly explored by Homer. The issue of temptation is constantly providing the protagonist, Odysseus, with conflicts. From the very beginning of the epic tale, with Paris’s lust for Helen, temptation causes mayhem in the lives of the characters. It repeatedly prevents Odysseus from achieving his main goal of returning home to Ithaca.
Here, Odysseus tells Athena that she is all he has left and through her immortal powers, she is the only god still on his side who can help him in his time of need. Therefore, through Athena’s encouraging words, she is able to make Odysseus feel uplifted and more useful, especially as Odysseus is, at this point, very hopeless and miserably
The Odyssey, gods like Athena and Poseidon interfere with humans to satisfy their own desires, showing that they are just as imperfect and flawed as the mortals that they rule over. Athena favors Odysseus since he reminds her of herself. He portrays the same cunning, guile, and intelligence as she does; Athena had confided to him that “two of a kind, we are, contrivers, both,” comparing how similar they are. “Of all men now alive,” she says, “you are the best in plots and story telling.
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.
Athena uses her role as the puppeteer to allow the entire epic to slowly unfold. Without Athena there would be no epic about Odysseus returning home from the brutal Trojan War for the reader to enjoy and the term “odyssey” would not be used to describe a long journey. Athena is the key to the entire story; consequently The Odyssey is her story. The Odyssey is Athena’s story because she plays the role of the puppeteer that causes the events to take place.
The conversation between Athena and Odysseus in the middle of book 13 reveals how each of them feels and thinks about the other at this stage in the epic. When Athena is first coming to meet Odysseus, after he has landed on Ithaca, she decides not to appear as herself to Odysseus, but first as a “young man… a shepherd boy”, and she then changes back to herself (13.252). She does this to get an honest opinion from him, as if she had appeared as a god, he might not have been honest with her. She also wants to hear his story, and see if he is actually thinking about her. After he does not “recognize” her because of her “endless” shapes, she is angry with him and accuses him of “never getting tired of twists and tricks” (13.340,56,32).
Greek mythology can be viewed as a mirror to the ancient Greek civilization. Ancient Greek myths and legends often reflected how the Greeks saw themselves. Myths were used by Greeks to make justifications of every existing aspect of earth as well as their own society. In myths, Greek gods & heroes often represented key aspects of the human civilization. From Greek mythology, we can learn about the favorable characteristics of humans, such as their behavior and valuable skills that were approved of by the ancient Greek society.
This was shown when Athena helped Odysseus with a wise plan to win the war with the suitors by changing Odysseus’s appearance. When Odysseus returned to Ithaca, Athena disguised him by turning him into an old beggar. Through this Odysseus gathered information on what is going on in the palace. Athena does not want to do the work for him, as he can learn and grow also through the process. When it was appropriate, she change him back but also enhanced him to be more built, taller and
Name of Mythological individual asking the question: Athene (Athena) Mythological character says: Hi Oracle, today I have come to seek advice from you because of a mortal I have met named Arachne. She is very arrogant, and doesn’t know how to respect the gods. I was wondering if you could think of anything to tone her arrogance down a bit. Oracle’s first response: I have heard a little bit about Arachne, and the fact that she is a really great weaver. I see that you, being a weaver also would be upset about how arrogant she is.
When Athena, a goddess, realizes that her weaving competition with Arachne, a mortal, would end in a draw, the text states, “...she tore Arachne’s tapestry from top to bottom and began to beat the girl,” (85). Because Athena has supernatural powers, she should be viewed as a superior being. However, in this story, although Arachne is a mortal, she is able to weave at a comparable level of skill to Athena, a goddess. This causes Athena to feel envious of Arachne’s abilities, and in an effort to weaken Arachne, Athena destroys Arachne’s work and beats her. Athena’s behavior is similar to humans’ behavior when attempting to invalidate and undermine that people they are jealous and envious of.