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Greek Gods question

post #1 of 21
1/13/03 at 5:55pm
Thread Starter 
This was sparked by the claymation thread. Can anyone tell me at what point in history Greek religion became Greek mythology. At some point everyone just decided it wasn't true anymore, I'm just wondering why.
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post #2 of 21
1/13/03 at 5:59pm
I think Greek became Roman belief system and then both were swept aside by the rise of Christianity. Though in the time of the Romans I don't know how much it was actual belief and not just traditions.
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post #3 of 21
1/13/03 at 6:03pm
Thread Starter 
That is what I thought, seems strange that the whole thing was just left behind though. I wonder how long people held on to Zeus and his crew before giving in.
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post #4 of 21
1/13/03 at 6:45pm
I would imagine it was the fall of the Roman Empire. It's been 12 years since I took Mythology in high school, but I think that was pretty much it. I think they had some pretty harsh penalties for not getting with the Christian program, too.

Also, when Christianity was "adopted" in Rome many accepted it publicly but continued to follow the beliefs of old. For example, my Swahili professor in college said that when Christian and Muslim conquerors took over large portions of Kenya, Tanzania and Uganda the native people only gave public lip service to religious conversion.

I'm not even getting into the role of Roman Politics and Mythology on what is now called Catholicism.
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post #5 of 21
1/13/03 at 6:58pm
I belive Emperor Constantine was the first to declare christianity the official religion. Some people still practiced, but once christianity got Emperical support, more people followed. The mythology died down with the rise of christianity & islam.

When Rome split, the Byzantine half became a power in the region & they were very christian. After that, armies led by christian leaders dominated europe, with the huge exception of the mediteranean being taken by muslims.

At least, I think so.
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post #6 of 21
1/13/03 at 9:59pm
By the time of Jesus, the Greeks and Romans had moved away from the normal pantheon of Gods. Check out the works of Lucretius for some reference. Chances are your average ancient citizen believed in a vague "the gods," not really meaning Zeus or Apollo etc., or belonged to a specific religious cult like the vestal virgins or the Bacchanalians. Also, if you check out the architectural timeline, you'll see fewer and fewer Temples built for Zeus etc. even before the time of Christ.
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post #7 of 21
1/14/03 at 2:06am
So where does this leave the one true God...Odin?
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post #8 of 21
1/15/03 at 12:02pm
He's stuck in Scandanavia, singing duets with Helga the opera queen.
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post #9 of 21
1/15/03 at 5:40pm
Thread Starter 
Fuckin Scandanavia, always the last place you look.
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post #10 of 21
1/16/03 at 2:42pm
Quote:
ClearKronos Communications:
So where does this leave the one true God...Odin?
Kronos is the goods. No, not gods... goods. A Norse myth joke is all it takes to crack up ol' GL.
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post #11 of 21
1/16/03 at 3:15pm
Quote:
ClearKronos Communications:
So where does this leave the one true God...Odin?
Loki's buggering his empty eyehole as we speak.
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post #12 of 21
1/16/03 at 4:20pm
Ragnorak awaits.
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post #13 of 21
1/16/03 at 4:36pm
Quote:
Burke:
Quote:
ClearKronos Communications:
So where does this leave the one true God...Odin?
Loki's buggering his empty eyehole as we speak.
Eww...Skull-fucking...THE NORSE WAY!
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post #14 of 21
1/20/03 at 9:10am
I think y'all would dig American Gods.
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post #15 of 21
1/23/03 at 1:49am
It'll be funny in the future when people take classes on Catholic Mythology.
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post #16 of 21
1/28/03 at 11:13am
The thing that always strikes me when reading the Greek myths, is how damn strange they are. They usually seem to be about some mortal challenging or offending one god or another, which (almost) always leads to strange and unusual punishment for the mortal.

In modern narrative structure we've gotten used to that the small guy who rightfully challenges the authorities should win. That's why the Greek myths appear really strange, because they always seem to boil down to the following moral message:
"The gods are an unforgiving, small-minded lot, so don't mess with them. (Unless you enjoy being turned into a swan or a flower, or simply feel like spending the next fifty years lost at sea.)"
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post #17 of 21
1/28/03 at 12:44pm
Depends on the type of myth. The hero myths end up happy in the long run, despite being beset by the wrath of the gods (like in the Odyssey, for instance).

And the myths that end in the Gods being angry and dooming people to life as a tree or a brutal death or whatever are not that far removed from some of the tragedies of Shakesepeare (which I'd consider modern, in the grand scheme). The protagonist (Lear, Macbeth, Othello, etc.) commits hubris or some other moral error and meets a tragic end.
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post #18 of 21
1/28/03 at 7:50pm
Quote:
Tac Dibar:
The thing that always strikes me when reading the Greek myths, is how damn strange they are. They usually seem to be about some mortal challenging or offending one god or another, which (almost) always leads to strange and unusual punishment for the mortal.

In modern narrative structure we've gotten used to that the small guy who rightfully challenges the authorities should win. That's why the Greek myths appear really strange, because they always seem to boil down to the following moral message:
"The gods are an unforgiving, small-minded lot, so don't mess with them. (Unless you enjoy being turned into a swan or a flower, or simply feel like spending the next fifty years lost at sea.)"
They come out of a culture that values strength.
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post #19 of 21
1/29/03 at 8:59am
Quote:
The Kronos Newshour:
They come out of a culture that values strength.
True. They sure don't value fairness, though. But I guess that social hierarcy was very important in Greece at that time, so many of the stories emphasise that.

One example of this is the story of Arachne, who challenged Minerva, goddess of wisdom and daughter of Zeus, to a weaving contest.
Basically, the story goes like this:

(Arachne): "I'm the best at weaving ever. Even better than Minerva."
(Minerva): "No your not. Lets have a weaving contest."

(They have a contest)

(Minerva): "You're pretty good, but you are disrespectful, which really pisses me off at no end. Go hang yourself!"

(Arachne commits suicide)

(Minerva): "Whoops... Sorry. Here, I'll turn you into a spider."

She does. The end.

In this story the hubris is pretty clear, but in others I've read, the crime of the protagonist(s) isn't clear at all, which makes it all a bit bizarre, in my opinion. (Can't think of any good examples right now, though. I'll return as soon as I find one.)
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post #20 of 21
1/31/03 at 12:50pm
Quote:
Tac Dibar:

In modern narrative structure we've gotten used to that the small guy who rightfully challenges the authorities should win. That's why the Greek myths appear really strange, because they always seem to boil down to the following moral message:
"The gods are an unforgiving, small-minded lot, so don't mess with them. (Unless you enjoy being turned into a swan or a flower, or simply feel like spending the next fifty years lost at sea.)"
There are a lot of stories like this in the Old Testament too, where guys either talk God out of a plan (you'd think being right all the time, he couldn't be persuaded) or God takes vengeance by smiting someone dead for practicing coitus interruptus, or turns someone into a pillar of salt for looking back, stuff like that.

But of course that's fact, not myth. wink

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post #21 of 21
2/15/03 at 12:16am
"This book is a failure, and it had to be a failure, because it was written by a pillar of salt."

The greatest line from any foreword in history.
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