general When you think of Greek Mythology

[heavens-champion 1,893]

When you think of Greek Mythology, what comes to mind?

[Yakamaru 3,074]

"Zeus", basically. Zeus had sex with it, basically. Sex with a goat? Created the satyrs. Fucked a snake, created the snake people. Fucked a horse, created the centaurs. Fucked a squirrel, created Pikachu.

Greek Mythology is a lot about Zeus and his shenanigans. Because he went about doing stupid shit.

 

Greek Mythology = Blame Zeus.

Norse Mythology = Blame Loki.

[Envy 5,998]

I think of the beautiful columns and clouds. Lol.

I also think of the aulos, and how the mythology of it - which in Athenian mythology painted it in a bad light compared to the lyre - influenced Western Europe of the middle ages and Renaissance to value bowed strings over wind instruments since they were looking back to the ancient Greeks and Romans which they held so highly. (That strikes me as a little odd that a Catholic [and later in the Renaissance partially protestant] culture held the culture of pre-Christian mythology so highly. Now that I think about it that's really odd. lol BUT there must have been some reason and I just haven't learned up on it enough yet.)

So, essentially I blame Athens and their mythology for the longstanding undervalue of my most beloved instruments. =P

[Yakamaru 3,074]

42 minutes ago, Envy said:

I think of the beautiful columns and clouds. Lol.

Ah, Olympus?

Imagine them playing golf up there, with their large balls. "FOOUUURRR!" and Zeus fires a lightning bolt whenever he swings.

Poor farmers, golfballs the size of themselves landing in their backyards. And one of them hit Jessebelle, too!

[Kings&Hooves14 616]

What can I steal for my fantasy novels?

[Dreambiscuit 8,024]

I think there's a lot of rich storytelling and I'd like to know more. I've used (ripped off) some of it for my own stories and there's a lot more to be seen and done with it (you know what I mean @GrimGrimoire) 

Visually it evokes images of polished white columned buildings, people in white robes and togas, and pastoral settings. I know that's simplifying it but it's just an immediate image.  

[GrimGrimoire 4,970]

I think of all the movies and shows that get it wrong and make a mess of the stories and legends sadly, and it sometimes bugs the hell out of me.

Otherwise I think of the amazing history, the incredible architecture and the legends that have come from them, and evolved into so many different versions we know today.

I also think of togas.

Lots and lots of togas.

 

[Goat-kun 2,498]

Titanomachy, Twelve Labors of Hercules, Argonauts, Seven against Thebes, Trojan War, Odyssey. Greek tales have taught me how to fight like a true hero: break your opponent's skull with a random object or gut them with a spear, then throw your shield onto your back, strip the corpse of all the belongings, and start running back to your camp. It helps if you have a buddy with a chariot. Also women are more valuable if they know how to weave. You can get a lot of loot for those. Good times all around.

[Zyrael 1,471]

hyacinth and apollo, zeus turning into gold and impregnating people, zeus turning into birds and kidnapping people, zeus being zeus. 

[shadowwarp940 1,302]

a certain demigod from a certain book series named Percy Jackson   

[ZethaPonderer 2,196]

I think of Greek mythology pretty similar to Egyptian, Arabic, Hindu, and NorthEast Asian mythologies. That the concept of polytheism makes zero sense in comparison to either monotheism or atheism.

[Bricks_Ahoy 860]

Well, time for me (a Greek) to leave my opinion. I don't like our mythology, I find it weird, wrong, it doesn't have enough souvlaki to be considered Greek anyways. Zeus, Ira and Apollon are the mane gods and all the other ones are background characters. 

[Jedishy 3,542]

Honestly, I think of the character Fat Ba$&@%d from Austin Powers. The reason being is much of the gods we know were all kicked off because the Titan Chronos wanted a baby Zeus to get in his belly. 

[TigerGeekGuy 4,659]

On 8/9/2017 at 4:15 PM, Yakamaru said:

"Zeus", basically. Zeus had sex with it, basically. Sex with a goat? Created the satyrs. Fucked a snake, created the snake people. Fucked a horse, created the centaurs. Fucked a squirrel, created Pikachu.

Greek Mythology is a lot about Zeus and his shenanigans. Because he went about doing stupid shit.

 

Greek Mythology = Blame Zeus.

Norse Mythology = Blame Loki.

I hate to admit it, but this is also the first thing that comes to mind. I would like to see Greek mythology as more than that, to see it as rich and creative storytelling and a interesting look into a different culture, but it just churns my stomach to think that the majority of the myths are the results of Zeus and his... uh... "adventures." It disturbed me as a child and it still disturbs me to this day.

Edited September 6, 2017 by TigerGeekGuy

[Tiny Hoofs 200]

That Disney movie!  .

[Yakamaru 3,074]

3 hours ago, TigerGeekGuy said:

I hate to admit it, but this is also the first thing that comes to mind. I would like to see Greek mythology as more than that, to see it as rich and creative storytelling and a interesting look into a different culture, but it just churns my stomach to think that the majority of the myths are the results of Zeus and his... uh... "adventures." It disturbed me as a child and it still disturbs me to this day.

Hahahaha. Greek Mythology is fun and interesting because the so-called gods had human personalities and traits, just like with Norse Mythology. They weren't all powerful, all knowing, all wise dickwads. Apart from their god status, their personalities often clashed. The gods were created from a human perspective.

[Widdershins 9,955]

   Well, first thing that always comes to mind is how somehow, the mortals were constantly comparing themselves to the gods despite every single case of that ending in a fate worse then death. Hera is pretty much a straight-up villain for what she did to Medusa. Sure, its a jerk move of her to say she's prettier then you, but ruining her life and depriving her of ever being anything other then a flesh-eating monster or having a normal life and also cursing her sisters with the same just for good measure?

  If I can give my opinion, (and this is the internet after all, that is the point of it I believe.) all greek mythology stories seem like by storytelling. The Illiad (think there were another two sequels the greeks added on later too) is just constant bashing on the same poor guy just so we can see more of his crewmates die, all the Gods seem to do is wreck life for the mortals instead of actually creating or leading. Granted, while you can say something for attempting to "mortalize" the gods to be more relate-able, kind of feel they went way too far the other direction. Very few goddesses don't sound like somebody's retelling of their crazy ex-wife and almost no story comes out with a functional relationship or anyone happy about it.

  Though It did absolute wonders in giving me a mythological beastiary to look up to! The Monster world owes such a huge debt to Grecian Mythology!

 

   That being said, Norse, Celtic, Asian folklore all seem so much better. Kind of feels like Greek Myths are just beaten to death now to the point where I can no longer care about it anymore.

  Take Norse mythology. Sure, they were total jerks to each other and toyed with mortals, but there was comeuppence there too. More sort of the foibles I can see any of us falling to. Less of that greek feeling of "WHAT? YOU DARE QUESTION YOUR GOD?!!? DIEDIEDIEDIEDIE!!!" and more of a "Well, maybe if you hadn't had over-reacted to what the other god said and been nice & given me the benefit of the doubt, I wouldn't have burned your entire castle to the ground. But hey, left your son alive. He was nice."

  I hear tell of one story where Thor got totally trolled by some boatman on a river he wanted to cross who seemed pretty much below-god-tier and only vaguely paranormal, but as infuriating as he was Thor couldn't just whack him down with his mighty hammer because he was too far away. So the boatman just told him to stuff it & go walk a little around the river instead. Kinda more earthy, you know? 

 They threw parties, like, all the time, and yet they still paid for it. Like, whole stories were about the gods getting sent out to find a keg big enough to fit all their quaffing. And gods would get uppity, toss a fit at the party and have to be bounced out the door like any mortal would of. Granted, those would end in more epic battles then a fisticuffs out in the parking lot where everyone's pride takes a blow, but regardless... stories are due some embellishment.

  And from what little I know of asian mythology there is almost no backstabbing or constant betrayal. There's actual drama & tragedy & adventure there. Sure, they do magic all the time, but there's always a consequence like giving up on rescuing your wife from the Underworld because there's still no cure for being a decaying corpse. Or they'd toss out any beastie as bizzare as anything Greek's would hand you, but they'd have a very mortal answer to it... maybe a party member makes a cowardly blow that still wins the day, or just beat it with your handy stick or get the giant dragon drunk... 

 

   Each myth is clearly a product of their culture & times. While Greek's was all "OBEY!" it was also pretty chill in accepting new stories & Gods and equating them together.

    Norse's kind of felt like the shenanigans any college boys would get up to because it was a rough climate, you fought or you outwitted, either way you needed a direct approach.

  And Asian folklore was about adventure & emotional connection. How supernatural events effected others or how you'd have to struggle through the long journey.

 

  I ain't sayin' Greek Mythology is the worst... but its got a ways to go in my book...

[Hachiroku 127]

The flight of Icarus. Flew too close to the sun so his wings melted off, and then he died. sigh 

[gali-la 4]

A satyr. I don't know why my mind lept to them, but it did. 

[Nerdy Luigi 2,064]

I think of this edgelord:

 

 

 

 

 

[Nsxile 25,669]

I think of The Odyssey... 

[TBD 17,228]

 Literature history is the first thing comes to mind.

[GiFTGewEhrSCHutzen-4 8,827]

Greek Mythology? Well, just the known ones, like Hercules, Medusa/Gorgon, the Pegasus, the three headed dog called Cerberus, Greek gods like Zeus, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, etc.

[Stardust* 3,302]

The Disney move Hercules basically sums it up for me lol. But no, I think a lot about that, as well as the Greek Poem Odyssey. Those were the two biggest influences in my life for anything related to Greek Mythology. 

[Dashy 4 Ever 4,832]

I think of it as battles and conflicts between Mortals and Immortals like Zeus, Hades, Apollo, and other gods. Not to mention all those ridiculously creepy creatures.