In ancient Greece, mythology was a part of the Greek religion. Mythology was a tool used to explain various aspects of ancient life, such as, the environment in which humankind lived, the creation of the world, and the natural phenomena they witnessed. Myths in relation to Greek religion refers to the ancient Greek gods, explaining their origin and their lives. The accounts of Greek mythology were originally disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition, today, however, the myths are known primarily from Greek literature, such as the poems of Homer and Hesiod. These poems help determine the origin of the ancient Greek gods and goddesses along with the creation of the world and the re-telling of historical events.
Though there are many versions of the Greek creation myths, the most complete is a poem called the Theogony (Birth of the Gods) by the poet Hesiod. Hesiod lived around the late eighth or early seventh century B.C. and composed this poem circa 700 B.C. in the Epic dialect of Homeric Greek. The Theogony describes the origins and the establishment of polytheism and the vast variety of local Greek traditions concerning the gods. Hesiod's creation story describes the beginning of the universe as being covered in darkness. This darkness was the first Greek god, Chaos, a shapeless, mixed-up, dark entity. It was from Chaos that five divinities came into being; Gaia (the mother Earth), Tartarus (the underworld), Erebus (the darkness that covers the underworld), Night (darkness that covers the Earth), and Eros (Love). These divinities are classified as the first generation of gods and they organised the muddle that was Chaos, also creating further forces in the process. A few of these forces include, Doom, Death, Murder, Slaughter, Battle, Misery, Crime, Light, etc. The second generation of gods are known as the Titans; the children of Uranus (the sky) and Gaia. After a violent conflict between Uranus and Gaia, the goddess Aphrodite was born. The most well-known gods are those of the third and final generation, the Olympians, born from the Titans Cronos and Rhea. This then leads to the creation of the world and humankind, known as Cosmogony, by the Titan Prometheus, cousin to the Olympic gods.
The oldest sources of Greek mythology are the poems written by Homer, the most highly revered of ancient Greek epic poets. These poems are known as the Iliad and the Odyssey. Both these poems are centered around the re-telling of historical events side to ancients Greek Mythology. The Iliad is sometimes referred to as the Song of Ilium, and is set during the ten-year siege of the city of Troy, known as the Trojan War. Recent statistical modeling based on language evolution suggests the poem was written between 760-710 B.C. This narrative tells the story of the battles and events of the war and frequently refers to many of the Greek legends about the siege. The Iliad also explains the origin of the war. According to mythology, the king of the gods, Zeus, believed that the Earth was overpopulated and used the Trojan War as a means to depopulate the Earth. The Odyssey is believed to be a sequel to the Iliad. This poem focuses on the Greek hero Odysseus and his epic ten-year voyage home after the fall of Troy. This narrative tells the story of his adventures, including the famous encounter with the Cyclops Polyphemus and the destruction of his ship by the sun-god Helios after Odysseus' men ate the cattle sacred to this god. These poems indicate the great power the ancient Greeks' believed their gods possessed.
Theology refers to the study of concepts of God and its influences and of the nature of religious truths. Ancient Greek theology was based on polytheism, the belief in multiple gods and goddesses. Ancient Greek religion dictated the dominion of several deities over certain aspects of nature. For example, Zeus controlled the sky, Helios controlled the sun, etc. Although the gods were seen as having colossal power, fate was a force they could not reckon with. For example, in Homer's the Odyssey, it was Odysseus' fate to return home after the Trojan War, and although the gods were able to lengthen his journey, they could not stop him. Regardless of their superiority, stories depicted the gods as acting in such a way that could be mistaken as human. For example, they would regularly involve themselves in conflict amongst their brothers and sisters, sometimes going to extremes, such as the case of Zeus banishing his brother, Hades, to the underworld. The ancient Greeks also believed that after death, their spirits would go to the underworld. These aspects of the lives of the people of ancient Greece show how dependent they were on these myths. They relied on these stories to explain the presence of man on Earth, the phenomena they witnessed and the environment in which humankind lived.
To conclude, the people of ancient Greece polytheistic. Today, Greek literature explains the importance of Greek mythology as a religious aspect to the lives of this ancient civilisation. The poems of the epic Greek poets, Homer and Hesiod, demonstrate the ancient Greek's belief that their gods had enormous powers, and that they were able to control nature in all its forms. Hesiod's, Theogony, also show how the gods evolved as the ancient Greeks sought to find meaning and possibly faith in an often challenging world.