The Origins of Greek Mythology

Paper Summary:

This paper discusses the origins of Greek mythology. It first discusses how what is known of Mesopotamian history came from Greek and Roman historians' writings. The paper then discusses the influence on Greek mythology of history, migrations of peoples and the influences of the religions. It also discusses the influence of wars and more friendly mutual associations on Greek mythology.

From the Paper:

"The classical Greeks, as scholars came to know them through their writings, professed faith in their pantheon of gods and goddesses, whose characteristics are strikingly similar to the chief gods and goddesses of ancient Sumer, Akkad and Babylonia. Zeus is the son of Cronus, whose origin may have been in Bel, who created order out of chaos and peopled it with humans. Ishtar or Lama may have become Athena or Demeter or both, being the symbol of earth, yet a fighter with owls at her side. Enki the god of the seas in both cultures, became Poseidon to the Greeks. Given more time and space, one could expound more fully on other similarities among the Greek gods, Apollo, Zeus, Hephaestus, Ares, Poseidon, Hermes, Hestia, Hera, Aphrodite, Artemis, Demeter, and Athena, and the ancient gods of the Mesopotamian lands."

Sample of Sources Used:

• Aeschylus (ed. Smith, Herbert Weir). Prometheus Bound. Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press. 1926.
• Drury, Nevil. Dictionary of Mysticism and the Occult. San Francisco, Harper & Row, 1985.
• Funk & Wagnalls New Encyclopedia, 1979.
• Homer (ed. Butler, Samuel). The Illiad. With an English Translation by A.T. Murray. Cambridge, MA., Harvard University Press; London, William Heinemann, Ltd. 1924.
• Stanley, Phillip V. "KN Uc 160 and Mycenaean Wines" American Journal of Archaeology, Vol. 86(4) Oct 1982, pp. 577-578.

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