...Hermes the Greek Messenger God Hermes was the youngest son of Zeus, the king of all gods. He was born on Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. ("Olympian Gods", 2005-2011). Hermes was born very playful and right away Zeus loved him very much. Zeus knew he was going to have a lot of fun raising Hermes. When Hermes was only a few days old he got out of the blanket that his mother had him wrapped in and escaped from his crib. He ran off on his own very quickly. Hermes was born with the ability to run fast. He also was very smart for such a young baby. (Russell, 1992). While out on his adventure, Hermes came across a bunch of cows grazing in a field. The cows turned out to be owned by his brother Apollo. Hermes thought it would be funny to play a joke on Apollo. He decided to steal his cows. Since Hermes was so smart he decided to pad the cow’s feet and walk them backwards. He did this so Apollo would be confused and wouldn’t know which way the cows had gone. (Russell, 1992). The effort it took to pad and move all of the cows made Hermes very hungry. Hermes decided to put his clever ideas to good use again so he invented fire. He cooked and ate one of Apollo’s cows. Eating the cow definitely satisfied Hermes hunger. He decided to bring the rest of the cows’ home with him in case he got hungry again. ("Hermes", 2000-2011). While traveling home the cows were mooing in a musical way that made them sound like they were singing. Hermes saw a tortoise shell on the ground and he had another witty...
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...Polytheism Ancient Greek theology was based on polytheism, the beliefs in many Gods and Goddesses. Breaking the word down, “poly” comes from the Greek word for “many,” and “theism” from the Greek word for “God.” These divine entities tend to distinguish particular functions, and often took on human characteristics. The gods acted like humans, and had human voices. They would interact with humans, sometimes even spawning children with them. Even though the Gods were immortal, nor some of them are not all powerful. Fate is what they had to obey, which overrode all. The number of the deities would expand as the culture’s belief system developed. The Greek Gods/Goddesses directly took on human activities. The divine entities would also take on human form and personality. Man learned to accept or fear the powers of nature, such as the deities. Humans tended to see the divine entities as storms, seasons, the sun, and the moon as personal beings. However the earliest humans believed the main deities were An, Enlil, Enki, and Ninhursaga. In ancient Greece there were twelve deities that sat on top of Mount Olympus: Hermes, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Ares, Athena, Demeter, Aphrodite, Hestia, Hera, and Zeus, king of the gods. Under them sat Zeus' brother Hades, king of the underworld. Since its miraculous beginning in mainland Greece around 1800-1500 BCE, when Poseidon was the chief God and not Zeus, the deities were worshiped wherever Greeks lived or had a concept...
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...MYTHOLOGY IN MODERN SOCIETY [pic] [pic] [pic] |Mythology is everywhere! Daily you run across instances of words, city names, companies, | |literary allusions - and even planets and constellations - that take their name or borrow | |their theme from myths. Because of your many requests, I've provided a couple of thousand | |excellent examples to help you get started in your research. Remember, you're surrounded | |by mythology in today's society, whether you realize it or not! | Mythological Influence on Modern... |[pic]Companies & Groups |[pic]Planets & Constellations | |[pic] Words & Expressions |[pic]Literary & Pop Culture | [pic]American Cities Named From Mythology [pic] COMPANIES & GROUPS |Mythology is everywhere! There are hundreds of companies, groups and corporations that take their name, logo or theme from ancient mythology. | |I've provided a variety of examples to help you in starting your research. Some are well-known international companies, others are of a more | |local nature. | |Aegis - Zeus and Athena's protective shield; modern group of insurance companies (The Aegis Group). | |Ajax - Greek warrior in the Trojan War, who "cleaned up" in...
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...“The mythology of the ancient Greeks included a dazzling array of deities, demigods, monsters, and heroes” (“Greek Mythology”). Greek mythology is a collection of myths, especially belonging to the ancient Greek people, Gods, and Goddesses. These myths are commonly recognized as great tales. Some popular stories in Greek mythology include the Trojan War, Pandora’s Box, Oracle of Apollo, and so many more. Apollo is the God of music, poetry, plague, oracles, sun, and healing. Apollo, also known as Phoebus or Apollon, is the son of Zues and Leto. Zues is the God of the sky and thunder and Leto is the representation of motherhood, so she had many children. Apollo and his twin sister, Artemis, Goddess of the hunt, were born on the island of Delos. Zues was a man of many women, therefore, when Leto became pregnant, a jealous Hera cursed Leto, causing her to not be able to find a stable place to have children. After Apollo and Artemis’ birth, the island of Delos was one of the most sacred places in Greek mythology. Apollo is described as a young, beardless man, having ideal physique and curly, long, golden hair. “[Apollo] served...
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...Hermes is the Greek god of commerce. Hermes was born very playful and right away Zeus loved him very much. Zeus knew he was going to have a lot of fun raising Hermes. When Hermes was only a few days old he got out of the blanket that his mother had him wrapped in and escaped from his crib. He ran off on his own very quickly. Hermes was born with the ability to run fast. He also was very smart for such a young baby. To the Greeks, mythology was a literal part of their histories. The Greeks in particular used myths to explain natural phenomena and many other occurrances. One of these gods revered by the Greeks was Hermes, the winged messenger of the gods. There are many myths associated with this god. The importance and significance affects the Greeks in many ways. Like other Greek gods, Hermes has relatives, myths, and symbols. Hermes is a god of many. He is the god of roads, mail, and travel. Hermes, known to the Romans as Mercury, was originally a fertility god, and then became the god of roads and travel. He was also known as Hermes Psychopompos, because he escorted souls to Hades. Eventually, many other fields fell under his wide jurisdiction. He became responsible for increase in the animal world, as well as being the god of commerce, manual skill, oratory and eloquence, thieves and the wind. He was even the patron of athletes, especially wrestlers, basically all activities that required skill and dexterity. He had many children by various godesses and mortals, including...
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... the free encyclopedia Twelve Olympians From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia In the ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, the Twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus.[1] Hades and Persephone were sometimes included as part of the twelve Olympians (primarily due to the influence of the Eleusinian Mysteries), although in general Hades was excluded, because he resided permanently in the underworld and never visited Olympus. Contents 1 Concept 2 Membership 3 List 3.1 The major Olympians 3.2 Other Olympians 3.3 Minor residents of Mount Olympus 4 Genealogy 5 See also 6 Notes 7 References Concept The Twelve Olympians, also known as the Dodekatheon (Greek: Δωδεκάθεον from δώδεκα,[3][4] dōdeka, "twelve" and θεοί, theoi, "gods"), were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, said to reside atop Mount Olympus. The Olympians gained their supremacy in a war of gods in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over the Titans. Fragment of a Hellenistic relief (1st century BC – 1st century AD) The concept of the "Twelve Gods" is older than depicting the Twelve Olympians carrying their attributes in any extant Greek or Roman sources.[5] The procession; from left to right, Hestia (scepter), Hermes (winged cap gods meet in council in the Homeric epics, but and staff), Aphrodite (veiled)...
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...area were repeated, ancient civilizations created stories to decipher the most unknown events of the Earth. Mythology by definition, is a set of stories and beliefs associated with the history of an event. Many myths depict a higher power creating events that occur on earth as well as giving a story with morals. The characteristics of gods are one way people explain certain events. The myths also depicted gods having fights, alliances and interactions with each other as well as humans to create things such as the ''Echo''. The Punishments of gods were also another way the stories in myths clarified why specific experiences occur. One of the main functions of mythology Explainable natural...
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...What are gods? Are they even real? Where do they come from? Were the gods born or were they created from some “godly” thing? Honestly Greek Mythology is just a bunch of stories passed on from generation to generation throughout Ancient Greece. I am going to be telling you who these gods are, how they came about and what their role is in these stories. Cronos, known as the father of the gods, who was overthrown of his kingdom known as Mount Olympus by his son Zeus, is barely talked about in these stories. The main focus is on Zeus the other 11 Olympians. 12 Olympians in total. They are Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Apollo, Demeter, Athena, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodie, Hephaestus, Hermes and Hestia. They became these 12 Olympians in a story called Zeus...
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...Music 360 Research Paper: Ancient Greek Instruments and Performance Practice The ancient Greeks have always been knows from their innovations. They revolutionized agriculture, architecture, education, and music (to name just a few of the advances they made). The philosophers and educators made music one of the main focuses in education, and with this focus came progress. The musical instruments that were made were both unique and new to the world. From new stringed instruments to winds to instruments that use water the music of ancient Greece was truly something new to the world. Unfortunately, not much about the performance practices is known due to the effects of war, time, and most of the music was passed down through word of mouth....
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...The complex belief system of greek mythology and it importance in the The Odyssey, and it cultural values are demonstrated throughout the text Ancient Greece: Everyday Life in the Birthplace of Western Civilization. Foremost, the importance of greek mythology is evident when “The strong god glittering left her as he spoke, and now her ladyship” (Homer 753). Displayed through the quote the greek gods were important to the sections, demonstrated through the god Hermes saving Odysseus by forcing Calypso to release him from her island. The cultural aspect of mythology was also presented when “[mythology] denoted an exemplary tale that revealed what was perceived to be a fundamental truth”(Garland 307). “Fundamental truth” conveys the importance of mythology to the Greek people, illustrating that it was something that everyone accepted....
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...Mythology Name Institution Mythology Ancient Greeks were a highly religious people. They believed in many gods who had superhuman powers and strength and appeared in human form. Prometheus was an ancient Greek god, son of Lapetis and Themis. He was brother to Atlas, Menoetius and Epimetheus. He became considered as the god of wily intelligence, craftsmanship and forethought. His main work was to create mankind out of clay (earth and water). It is from this work that Prometheus developed his fond liking for mankind (Jone, 2009). He strived to make mankind have more power than the liking of Zeus who was the supreme ruler of the gods. Ancient Greek viewed Prometheus as the god who championed mankind’s interest. Prometheus is famous for a couple of incidences discussed below. THE STORY OF FIRE According to classic Greek mythology; at some point in the reign of Zeus, mankind and gods were disputing and to settle the dispute, Zeus and Prometheus devised a ceremonial party in the form of animal sacrifice. Once slaughtered, Prometheus divided the animal parts into two. In one part, he wrapped up ox-bones in fat of the slaughtered animal while the other part he wrapped up the main ox-meat using its stomach lining. To rival Zeus judgment ability, he presented both parts of the sacrifice to Zeus while wrapped and proceeded to ask Zeus to choose from the two. Zeus proceeded to choose the part covered in fat not knowing it only contained bones in it...
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...century is the Hermes and Infant Dionysus. When I first saw this sculpture at the Louvre in Paris, France, I immediately disregarded it because the tour guide stated that it was a replica of the original located in Olympia, Greece. I thought that it was not worth observing or critiquing, but what I failed to realize is that even the original pieces are composite statues. When ancient statues are recovered, archaeologists and art historians must use their knowledge and expertise to restore the piece to its original beauty. Many times not all the parts of the art piece are located or able to be fully restored, so the artists must add on the missing parts. A typical occurrence...
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...What is a Myth? Before defining the term "mythology" one needs to define the meaning of the word "myth". The word itself comes from the Greek "mythos" which originally meant "speech" or "discourse" but which later came to mean "fable" or "legend". So the word "myth" is defined as a story of forgotten or vague origin, basically religious or supernatural in nature, which seeks to explain or rationalize one or more aspects of the world or a society. Furthermore, all myths are, at some stage, actually believed to be true by the peoples of the societies that used or originated the myth. The definition is thus clearly distinguished from the use of the word myth in everyday speech which basically refers to any unreal or imaginary story. A myth is also distinctly different from an allegory or parable which is a story deliberately made up to illustrate some moral point but which has never been assumed to be true by anyone. Some myths describe some actual historical event, but have been embellished and refashioned by various story tellers over time so that it is impossible to tell what really happened. In this last aspect myths have a legendary and historical nature. Definitions of Mythology The word mythology has two related meanings. Firstly it refers to a collection of myths that together form a mythological system. Thus one can speak of "Egyptian Mythology", "Indian Mythology", "Maori Mythology" or "Greek Mythology". In this sense one is describing a system of myths which were...
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...Pan and Satan: Two Faces of Similarities When I heard the name of the great god Pan and the falling angel Satan, I always thought that they are the same sinful deity with different name. Seeing their illustration and images, it made me confused and I wondered, are they really the same deity? or Is one just the representation of the other? That is the question that always pops up in my head. Pan and Satan are not the same. In fact, their stories are very different from one another, but they are always being mistakenly recognized as the same deity who rules the underworld. Such a mention of the ancient Greek god, does not suggest that Pan is evil incarnated of Satan. However, there are many similarities between Pan and Satan, starting with the question of their divinity. Both have similarity in their characteristic as the deity, association with wild places and sexual desire, and horn-like appearance. There’s always a question in my head. Why people today mistakenly recognized Pan as Satan? Perhaps, the answer to this question is the similarity of their characteristics. Pan is a harmonic deity, and he doesn’t harm others, but Pan is amused seeing those fearful herds of goat and sheep into a sudden burst fear because of his unseen presence in the wild. Pan is most likely: ......well known: dark, terror-awakening, phallic, but not always malignant. He could, of course, sometimes be malignant, especially at noon, if he were awakened from his sleep. At night he led the...
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...Did you know that Apollo, god of the sun, was also god of medicine? Apollo represented various things in Greek mythology along with his family. He was known by many different names in the Greek world, depending on the story, of him, being told. One of Apollo’s greater famous stories was the battle at Delphi. The life of Apollo included various interesting things, including, his adventures, battles, family, and powers. Apollo represented numerous things in the Greek world, was known by several names, and shared a few great stories with his relatives. Apollo was god of music, prophecy, colonization, medicine, archery, poetry, dance, intellectual inquiry, and was the carer of herds and flocks ("Apollo." Encyclopedia). Apollo was...
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