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Greek Mythology

Essay by   •  August 5, 2012  •  Essay  •  602 Words (3 Pages)  •  1,749 Views

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Mythology is a set of fictional story's that is used in many cultures. The Greeks and Romans used mythology also. The Greeks and the Roman's mythology was very similar to each other. But they were some differences between the two. What I was researching for was the impact and the characteristics of Greek and Roman mythology, and also the similarities and differences of both mythologies. In the research that I found I discovered that the impact that mythology had on the Greeks and the Romans, and mythology has impacted both greatly.

According to B. C. Dietrich (1981) he states that Greek Mythology continues to be a powerfully attractive subject for classical scholars. Robert Graves (1954) says " The myth Hyacinthus seems at first sight no more than a sentimental fable told to account for the Greeks hyacinth, or blue larkspur, hyacinthos grapita, which has marks on the base of it's petals resembling the early Greek letters AL-AL, or 'Alas'" Robert Graves also says in his article that Narcissus also knows as Hyacinthus worship was introduced in Mycenaean Greece, and he also named the summer month of Hyacinthius in Crete, Rhodes, Cos, Thera, and Laconia. This shows that this mythology character impacted Greek society religiously and got a name of month from him, and also was used as a Greek letter. Jan Bremer (1988) says that Greek mythology has provided significant material for study by anthropologist, and also opens up possibilities for studying the myths in literary and visual sources. Also in Jan's article she states that Greek mythology has influenced Greco-Roman tradition. Lastly in Jan's interpretation she states the collective importance of myths leads to the social type of interpretation. So Greek mythology has impacted the Greeks society socially, religiously, through literature, and names of months, and also contributed to the Greek alphabet.

Walter Burkert (1980) says that Greek mythology was built off of the contrast of opposites between killing and attempting to restore the upset balance of nature, this provided the structural frame from many Greek myths. He is stating what he believes puts together or what makes Greek mythology. Burkert also resist "the temptation to become in the search for origins or explanatory theory's of manifestation of man's social, physiological, or structural thought". What Burkert is simply stating what he finds as the result of finding the explanatory theories about Greek mythology. Kirk Meuli's seems to differ in a way to what Berkert thinks of the structure of Greek mythology. Kirk believes that Greek myths are a more general class of a traditional tale. In burkerts article he also comments on the structure of greek mythology stating "Each tale, which acquired it's form in transmission, and, therefore, was not bound to any particular factual event, was composed by a series of actions. The structure and pattern

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