Parmenides and Ancient Greek Mythology
In early 6th century BC, certain ancient Greeks called the Pre-socratics began to challenge mythological tradition, one of Greece’s first methods for explaining natural phenomena and the cosmos. One of these revolutionary thinkers, Parmenides, diverged from the typical mythological frameworks in three specific ways. Parmenides moved from the standard divine source of appeal for truth, in the form of muses, to a personal source of appeal for truth. Furthermore, Parmenides dictates that reasoning, which in ancient myths is often contradicting and non-provable, should be both logical and provable.
Parmenides developed his own theoretical framework that explained reality and the cosmos through a poem, Parmenides of Elea, describing two views of reality: “The Way of Truth” and the “Way of Opinion”. In the first view, reality consists of one whole where change is impossible and all that exists has always been existent and will always be existent (T8 v. 1-34). In the latter view, he explains that the concrete reality of life is deceitful and a matter of opinion, and ultimately does not exist. In his philosophy, Parmenides both sustains certain aspects of the mythological framework and diverges to Pre-Socratic thinking.
Structurally, the “Road of Truth” reflects the famous mythology The Odyssey because both are an epic and a metaphysical journey. Furthermore, the Goddess, Eros, replaces the general muse found in myths. Eros, like myth goddesses, orchestrates natural events. For instance, Eros makes opposites in the natural world, such as night and day, converge and eventually overcome one another in an endless cycle (T8 v. 1-34).
In contrast, Parmenides switches the typical source of appeal for truth from divine beings to the self. In essence, myth looks at primarily nature to determine universal destiny. In this, myth refers to