Do you think there is much to be learned from Greek Mythology?

Greek Mythology seems to be more about the dangers of pride, avarice, greed, self-love, etc. By assigning human weaknesses to the gods, the Greeks provided lessons for people to discuss and from which to learn.

For a modern day Western thinker, the mythology became the foundation of much of our literature.

I think there is a lot to be learned in terms of how and why we tell stories. The same tropes we find in Greek mythological drama still make us feel things in present-day writing and film.

I don’t expect any “truth” from belief systems. Looking for truth in different systems of belief is like accepting that any such truth is a product of human nature. I already think that is the case; I don’t need further evidence.

This is kind of an aside, but Christians would scoff at the stories of Zeus and co. They’d dismiss them as bizarre and impossible. Yet they can’t seem to see the resemblance to their very own beliefs in the supernatural that they accept as facts. That resemblance is probably due to the fact that much of what the Greeks believed was mixed in with the Biblical stories.

As far as teaching about human condition…I think Uncle Remus does a tremendous job of that. So did the story of Watership Down. All hail Fiver!

I recall being fascinated with Greek and Roman philosophy as a kid, the stories filled with mythic creatures, larger than life characters, epic fights and the like and yet, there were morals embedded in them that I am sure I absorbed unknowingly, although I am not going to even try to guess what I was supposed to learn from Leda and the Swan, Hmmm. I wonder if I could sell a porno short story called Leda and the Swallow…......... I had books available when young and was re-introduced to them in Jr High school.
I tried to get my kids interested in them but neither were avid readers and only my daughter would sit still long enough for me to read some to her. Even then she preferred the book Morgan Morning and the companion editions. I only remember that one because of the number of times I had to read it. Maybe I started too late.

All myths and legends fascinated me. I love the Native American stories, like the kid who put on eagles wings, but flew too close to the sun and the wax that held them on melted.
Seems like many of those stories involved a lot of physical pain, too.

The great lesson of course is that religions arise as a means of explaining things which otherwise remain unexplained. Of course, the astonishing fact rarely discussed is that in the face of mankind’s advances in understanding the mysteries surrounding us, the explanations from those of faith on the puzzles which remain, are every by as ridiculous as those centered on Olympus.

^^^^ That’s right.

Of course there is. Greek mythology is very rich and interesting on many levels. Why would so many smart people make their life’s work studying aspects of it, if it weren’t worth doing so?

@stanleybmanly It seems to me that religions are generally not primarily attempts to explain mysterious things, as you suggest as if they were just primitive belief systems now outdated and replaced by science.

Religions arise not so much from the human need for cosmological understanding, as they do from the need for understanding ourselves and our spirituality.

Ancient Greek religion and myth are not just stories about “ridiculous” supernatural beings. They’re poetic & literary works of great sophistication, which contain wise and deep insight into human nature, philosophy, and so on. To dismiss them because they’re not literally true is a fundamental error of not understanding what spiritual traditions actually are. Of course, that’s a very common misunderstanding, even by all too many preachers.

I think it’s interesting, but complicated. Great stories that may be prototypes of many or our own themes. There’s a joke in American Lit. A first-year student asks:

Q: Was Eugene O’Neill American or Irish?
A: Greek.

I liked Greek mythology when I studied it in school. I think what we can learn is one person’s religion is another persons myth or cult or whatever negative or dismissive term that might be used. I figure if there is someone up there controlling things, why shouldn’t he or she have friends too? Plus, it’s too much to think one God can keep track of everything. It’s why I like the saints in Catholicism. It’s like there is a CEO, and then there are VP’s who specialize in certain aspects of the business. First you go to the VP who addresses those concerns so the CEO can handle other things. Greek Mythology each God had their specialty.