What_Values_Can_Be_Seen_from_Greek_Mythology

What Can be Seen from Greek Myths Greek Myths, which seem to be a strong flavoured dish today, often shock us while we are reading. This is because these stories have very different values from modern ones, which make us feel that they are savage and less civilized. However, it is important for us to learn ancient Greek people’s thinking through Greek Myths. I choose some aspects to talk about. Revolt, Struggle and Glory Greek Myths are stories written with revolt and conquest. Every story is an exciting adventure. Heroes, who are offspring of god and human, are respected so much by ancient Greeks. They have great strength and wisdom to undertake great tasks, and they are the ones who always dare to challenge gods. Theseus, the King of Athens, was worshiped by people as a great warrior. Heracles, the greatest hero in Greek Myths, who did the famous 12 labours, though half man, was eventually accepted and honored by gods and became immortal. It is a victory of human beings, and ancient Greek people celebrate men’s greatness. By reading the adventure stories of these heroes, it is easy to know that GLORY is so important to ancient Greek people. They adore people with great strength and wisdom, who defend their land, people and dignity. This kind of thought reflects the fact that facing with the tough world, ancient Greeks have such a strong desire to conquer. It’s the spirit of courage and challenge makes those heroes alive. When offered two ways of life by goddess, Heracles chose the perilous, tough but glorious one. Greek people love pleasant and easy life, but they never hide their desire of challenging Nature and fighting with death. Though so many tragedies are created by them, ancient Greek people are optimistic and brave. Knowing well the unchangeableness of fate and the weakness of men, they never hesitate to revolt, struggle and fight. Honor is too precious to exchange with life. Today, after more than 2000 years, we can say human beings have become the master of the world. Medical technology is improving; death seems to be not so horrible as it was. It’s very dangerous when human beings do not fear any more. Because of this, we have done a lot of silly things like destroying each other during the past century, and have paid huge price. Quite different from our ancestors, people today are facing new problems. Though conquered by us, this world is in danger of destroyed by men ourselves. Instead of fighting and struggling, people today are trying their best to protect the earth, our home, and also try to find a more friendly and harmonious way to get along with each other. Revenge Revenge is an important theme in literature in all ages. We can find it in Shakespeare, Dumas, and also in Greek Myths. Again it associated closely with glory. Every god or hero, when their personal honors are offended, they have to fight. Menelaus, Helen’s husband, was furious when he discovered his wife eloped with his guest, Paris, who had been treated hospitably by Menelaus. In fact, Menelaus felt more humiliated than jealous. He had to defend his dignity. The Trojan war was not only a war to win back Menelaus’s wife. It finally became a war of honor. Love stories in Greek Myths are always accompanied with revenge. Women revenge their husbands’ infidelity sometimes very callously. Medea, murdered her rival in love in a terrible way, and then killed her own children to revenge her husband. Her behavior looks so horrible today, however, she became crazy only because of love. She was brave when she loved, and she was also brave when facing with her husband’s betrayal. Though Medea is not a hero, the unity of love and hate, which shines with humanity, makes her life sublime and heroic. Revenge is a standard of behavior in early human society. Before law was born, people acted under the direction of their moral standards. As a result, revenge became the most unavoidable, arduous and glorious task. Anyone who did not avenge would be disdained by other people and was never a hero. This kind of responsibility has finally become a part of moral standard of people, which affects people’s behavior even today. Sometimes laws are not so systematic and perfect to solve people’s problems, and people will resort to this savage way despite of the danger of being punished by law. We know that laws can never be perfect; as a result, revenge can never disappear in our life. Individualism Individualism is also a very important spirit in Greek Myths. For example, in the Trojan war, the great hero Achilles refused to fight because Agamemnon stole his beloved slave girl, which made Greek fleet damaged badly. Achilles was a great warrior, and he was never afraid of death. He regarded courage as the greatest glory and disdained dastards as worthless things. He did love his nation, however, when his own honor and dignity were offended, he would defend them firstly. Obviously, what Achilles want was not just a slave girl, but to be admitted that he was the greatest hero, by Agamemnon, and all the other people. Sometimes individualism does harm to a group or a nation. However, this spirit has become one of the most important values in western countries. During the French Revolution, the thinking of protecting personal rights can be traced back to the Greek spirit, which based on the respect to an individual. And today, individualism might be regarded as a symbolic characteristic of people in the United States. English 0702 Keira 40784009