Analysis: Why The Greeks Told Myths

Why The Greeks Told Myths
Imagine living in the world without science. When natural disasters strike, such as floods or droughts which can destroy villages, no one could understand why this happened, much less how to prepare for it. Life seemed unpredictable and scary. This problem was answered by the creation of Greek myths. These myths acted as an early science to explain things that otherwise wouldn't make sense. Even though these myths acted as entertainment to help cope with the unpredictable world, they had another important purpose. The Greek myths explained why things are the way they are or where they came from. From the creation of man, to why there are seasons, to even the creation of Earth, Greek myths have the answer to everything.
For the first example, the creation of man was explained in the story of Prometheus and Epimetheus. According to Hamilton, “Prometheus, then, took over the task of creation and thought out a way to make mankind superior.” (Hamilton 85). The events that follow in this myth show how men were created. In the story, before Epimetheus made men, he gave all of the best gifts to other animals and then had none left to give for man. He then asks his brother Prometheus to help him. Prometheus now takes over creation. He makes it so that man can stand upright which makes them superior to other animals. Prometheus then goes to the sun, lights a torch, and brings down fire to give it to man. In the story, fire was said to be “a protection to men far better than anything else, whether fur or feathers or strength or swiftness.” (Hamilton 85). Before Prometheus and Epimetheus, there was no mankind. If Epimetheus would have had made man, who knows what we would have looked like or what we would have been able to do. Thanks to Epimetheus’s mistake of not having any good gifts for mankind, Prometheus was able to take over to make us stand upright and have fire.

Secondly, the reason for seasons is explained by the story of Demeter, Hades, and Persephone. “Nothing grew; no seed sprang up… never would she (Demeter) let the earth bear fruit until she had seen her daughter”(Hamilton 59). Ever since Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, Demeter had not let anything grow because she was very upset that she couldn’t see her daughter. In the story, Hades is in love with Persephone and eventually kidnaps her. She is then taken down to the underworld and Hades makes her his wife. Out of sadness and despair, Demeter doesn’t allow anything to grow. The gods are aware of this problem and send Hermes down to the underworld to retrieve Persephone. Hades knows that he cannot go against what Zeus says and tells Persephone to eat some pomegranate seeds. Persephone doesn’t know that when she eats food from the underworld, she is bound to it. So in conclusion, Persephone can go back to see her mom which makes Demeter happy and she allows plants to grow, but since Persephone ate the seeds, she must go back down to the underworld. When she must go, Demeter gets mad again and doesn’t allow things to grow. This myth explains why there are seasons because it shows that there are months in which plants don’t grow as well during some months compared to all of the others. Without this myth, the Greeks wouldn’t know why they couldn’t grow crops during certain months.

As a final example, there is a story that explains where earth came from.
Hamilton said, “What took place next was the creation of Earth, but this, too, no one ever tried to explain. It just happened. With the coming of love and light it seemed natural that the earth also should appear.” (Hamilton 77). Even though the story had no specific explanation of how Earth itself was created, the events that happened before hand ended in Earth appearing. In the beginning of the story, way before earth was created, according to Hamilton, “there was only the formless confusion of chaos brooded over by unbroken darkness.” (Hamilton 76). Finally, two children were inexplicably born into the shapeless nothingness. Their names were Night and Erebus. There was nothing else in the whole universe. Then with darkness and death, love was born and order and beauty began to kick out the blind confusion. Love created light with its companion radiant day. Finally Earth appeared because it just made sense for it to appear with the coming of love and light. Before Earth was created, there was just darkness and confusion which was then turned into Earth by a series of events. Even though this is a simple story, it explained how Earth was created and the ancient Greeks could know where their home planet came
from.

In conclusion, the myths weren’t only used for entertainment, but also for explaining why things are the way they are and where they came from. Without these myths, people would be confused as to why these unexplainable things happened. The stories that were mentioned are very important because no one knew where they all came from, why the seasons change, or why Earth was here in the first place. Our culture has been greatly influenced by the myths. Without them, we wouldn’t have Romeo and Juliet. Thanks to the myths, the ancient Greeks could understand the origins of things with entertaining but informative stories.