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Greek myths

Greek mythology

Greek myths were born more than three thousand years ago, yet we meet them every day: in the words we use, in books, films and art.

A myth, from the Greek mythos, "story", is a tale handed down through generations that explains the origin of the world, the birth of the gods, the deeds of heroes, why the seasons change or how natural phenomena happen. For the ancient Greeks myths were not children's fables: they were their way of making sense of reality, of teaching right from wrong and of remembering the past of their cities.

What myths were for

  • Explaining nature: the abduction of Persephone explains the seasons; the Sun's chariot driven by Helios explains day and night.
  • Explaining origins: how the world was born, where humans come from, who founded a city.
  • Teaching values: arrogance, which the Greeks called hybris, is always punished, hospitality is sacred, courage and cunning are rewarded.
  • Uniting a community: every city had its protecting gods and founding heroes, honoured with festivals and sacrifices.

The sources: who told us the myths

Myths began as oral tales, sung by bards (aoidoi) in palaces and squares. Only later were they written down. The main sources are:

The main sources of Greek myths
  1. 8th century BCHomer composes, according to tradition, the Iliad and the Odyssey.
  2. 7th century BCHesiod writes the Theogony, on the origin of the gods, and Works and Days.
  3. 6th-5th century BCLyric poets such as Pindar and Sappho celebrate gods and heroes.
  4. 5th century BCThe Athenian tragedians, Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, bring the myths to the theatre.
  5. 3rd century BCApollonius of Rhodes tells the voyage of the Argonauts.
  6. 1st century BC-1st century ADThe Romans Virgil and Ovid retell Greek myths in the Aeneid and the Metamorphoses.
  7. 1st-2nd century ADThe Library attributed to Apollodorus collects the myths as a handbook.

Because the stories were handed down for centuries by different authors, almost every myth exists in several versions, sometimes contradicting each other: this is not a mistake, it is a feature of mythology.

Greek and Roman gods

The Romans adopted the Greek gods and gave them Latin names: Zeus became Jupiter, Aphrodite Venus, Ares Mars. That is why books and museums often use both names. See the twelve Olympians and the glossary of characters.

How this section is organised

  1. Origins: the creation of the world, the Titans, Prometheus and Pandora.
  2. The gods: the twelve Olympians, a page for each, and the minor deities.
  3. The heroes: Heracles, Perseus, Theseus, Jason, Bellerophon.
  4. The great cycles: the Trojan War, Achilles, the return of Odysseus, the cycle of Oedipus and Thebes.
  5. Loves, monsters and transformations: Orpheus and Eurydice, monsters, metamorphoses, the underworld.
  6. Tools: places of myth to visit, myths in the stars, words that come from myths, the glossary and the guide for schools.

See also religion in ancient Greece, on how the Greeks worshipped their gods in temples and sanctuaries.