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An Introduction to Greek Myth
I was recently asked by a follower to provide a brief outline and intro to Greek mythology. What follows is that introduction.
Well hey there— sorry it’s taken a few days to get back to you… we have an enormously crowded inbox here at By the Gods, and we usually don’t have time to send out individual requests, but I can’t resist indulging a burgeoning interest in Greek Mythology, the gateway-mythos.
So, what is it you’d like to know? As for an “introduction,” I suppose the easiest way to go about it is to provide you with a mindset or attitude to keep in mind when reading any of the litany of Greek stories we have access to. Most of the tales that would weave themselves into the fabric of “Greater Greek Myth” as it’s known today would have been recited and recorded anywhere between maybe as far back as 1000 BCE, right up the days of the Roman Empire controlling the Mediterranean.
You’ll notice that the gods, while being divine and powerful, are very human in their actions and attitudes. They make mistakes, they have “low” or “petty” emotions like jealousy, greed, and anger. As with most polytheistic pantheons, they represent the ideals, fears, and views of their patron culture. Every story is meant to explain something about the fabric of our universe (like why the sun moves across the sky, how the stars got there, or why animals behave the way they do), but they also capture a uniquely human perspective through their representation.
Zeus, the King of the Olympians, god of the Sky and Lightning, spends more time being afraid of someone taking the throne from him than he does anything else. Besides that, he constantly cheats on his wife, rapes mortal women (because he’s way too mighty for them to resist), and sires bastards all over the place. Sounds a lot like a great many kings throughout history, yes? By portraying their gods with so many vices and bad habits, it explains (and some would argue goes so far as to excuse) the behaviour of mankind.
Well, there you have it. That’s my intro to the tenor of Greek myth. As for an introduction of the actual content, it all starts with a man called Hesiod. He wrote something called the Theogony, which explains the origin of the universe, the first gods, and where we all came from.
Chaos was the original primordial deity, on a level FAR BEYOND that of Zeus and the Olympians, who didn’t even exist yet. From Chaos, a swirling storm of nothingness, came Gaia, the goddess of earth. She represents the very living fabric of the world, and was, herself, the planet earth.
Now, Gaia birthed (by herself) a litter of powerful gods. Ouranos, Nyx, Oceanus, and the Erinyes to name a few. Every night, Ouranos, who was the sky itself, would come down and mate with Gaia, against her will. Every time it would get her pregnant, and every time Ouranos would cram the baby back inside her. Gross, right?
Eventually, Gaia spoke to her newest son, Cronus, and hatched a plan with him. That night, when Ouranos came down and put his member inside Gaia, Cronus was waiting inside her, and sliced his genitals off. Ouranos screamed and retreated, and his genitals fell into the sea. The genitals mixed with the water and the seafoam, and from this was born Aphrodite.
Now, Cronus and his brothers and sisters, (who were called The Titans) were free, and escaped Gaia’s insides. Cronus became king of the world and the Titans, and wed Rhea, his sister. He also locked up the most dangerous and powerful of his brothers and sisters in the pits of Tartarus, so they would not disobey him. It was foretold in prophecy that one of Cronus’ sons would overthrow him, and, fearing this, Cronus devoured all of his children as Rhea birthed them. Eventually, fearing for the life of her youngest son, Zeus, Rhea tricked Cronus and fed him a rock instead of her baby, sending Zeus away.
Zeus eventually freed Cronus’ siblings from Tartarus, and with them waged a war against Cronus. Zeus won the fight, freed his brothers and sisters that Cronus had swallowed, and proclaimed himself king of the Gods, taking his seat atop Mt. Olympus.
Whew! That’s all I’ve got time for now, but hopefully it lays a good foundation for you!
Gautama Buddha
Gautama Buddha was the founding master of Buddhism and is regarded as the most perfect of holy men, rather than as a deity. He was born (by most accounts) in the 6th century BCE into the Kshatriya (warrior) caste at Kapilavastu, just inside the border of what is now Nepal. Gautama was the Buddha’s family name; his given name was Siddhartha. Gautama is venerated by all Buddhists, although for the “Pure Land” sect of Japanese and Chinese Buddhism, the Buddha Amitabha (or Amida) has supreme importance.
According to tradition, Gautama was chillin’ up in one of the Buddhist heavens when he realized it was time for him to descend to earth. The spirit of the Buddha appeared to Queen Maya, and entered her womb, causing an immaculate conception of sorts. The prophets predicted that the boy, when he was born, would be either a universal emperor or a buddha (spoiler: not the emperor one).
Gautama had a privileged upbringing, married a princess, and had son. In his late twenties, however, he set out to explore the land outside the palace, and discovered the suffering and sadness that ran rampant through the world. He became an ascetic, but after six years hadn’t had any enlightenment-breakthroughs. In Bodh Gaya, he sat down beneath the branches of a sacred tree, whereupon the earth shook six times as he meditated. The buddha was tested by the demon Mara (a buddhist equivalent of Satan), being subjected to fear and enticed by pleasure, but he remained unmoved. He then became aware of the “Four Noble Truths” which became the chief tenets of his teachings, and created the Eightfold Path.
The earth shook, breezes blew, flowers rained from heaven, the gods rejoiced, and all living things were happy. Quite the discovery! Gautama preached for 40 years more, performed miracles, and converted all who heard him. He even ascended to heaven and converted his mother, Queen Maya. Then he brought the gods back down to earth on a ladder, for the biggest party of all time. At the age of 80, he entered nirvana, the ultimate state of spiritual bliss.
Kvasir and the Origins of Poetry
In Norse mythology, Kvasir was a fairly obscure god whose presence in the Prose Edda is simply to facilitate an aetiological story rather than be the patron deity of any region or element. When the two houses of gods, the Aesir and the Vanir, decided to finally end their feuding, they met under a banner of truce. At the end of the negotiations, they all spat into a vat to signify their new bond. The collective spittle was then fashioned into a man by the gods, and his name was Kvasir.
Kvasir was so wise that no one could ask him a question he could not answer. He traveled the world spreading his knowledge and answering questions of man and god alike, but the dwarves Fjalar and Galar lured him into their home and killed him. They poured all of Kvasir’s blood into two pots and a kettle, and mixed it with honey, creating the Mead of Poetry. Whoever drank the mead would become a poet and scholar, and understand the secrets of poetry and art.
Odin eventually stole the Mead from a giant by drinking it all and turning into an eagle to escape. He flew to Asgard and regurgitated the mead into vats for the Aesir. The giant (who also turned into a bird) was close behind him in chase, and so Odin sprayed some of the mead out his backside (wow, Odin…) and it was called the “bad poet’s portion,” and was the origin of crappy poetry.
Romulus and Remus
The twin sons of Mars, the God of War, torn from their mortal mother at birth by a king nervous of their power and lineage, Romulus and Remus were thrown into the river Tiber. The river couldn’t get the job done, however, and their cradle washed up on a mud bank a few miles away. Mars sent his sacred animal, the wolf, to look after his sons, and they were nourished by the wolf’s milk and protected by her until being found by a shepherd.
Time passed, and long story short, they founded the city of Rome. At one point, the twins got into a bit of a tiff, and Romulus killed Remus with a spade. Romulus, though, went on to rule Rome with a strong hand, and the city flourished.
The Romulus and Remus myth for Rome’s founding was about as popular as that of Aeneas. The she-wolf became the symbol of Roman nationhood around 500 BCE.
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