Abstract
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."

Tags:gods, war, culture

Abstract
In this article, the writer first explains that Greek mythology is a collection of stories by ancient Greeks about their gods and heroes. The writer notes that these stories include myths of the origin of the world, an attempt to understand and interpret the universe and the origin of the world in human terms. Many of these stories have been passed down from ancient times and in more than one version. The writer discusses that ancient beliefs eventually mixed with legends from Greek kingdoms and city-states and myths from other tribes. Together, they evolved into this body of stories that were accepted by most Greeks. These myths were transmitted from generation to generation for hundreds of years in the form of spoken tales. It was not until the Classic Period that these stories were put down in written form. The writer looks at the Greek system of gods and goddesses and concludes that traditional literary mythology reflected an increasing dissociation from actual religious practice.

From the Paper
"The leader was Zeus, the god of the sky, the weather, thunder, lightning, and the father of all mortals and immortals. His wife and sister was Hera. Poseidon, his brother, was god of the seas and shaker of the earth or earthquakes. Athena was the goddess of war, of crafts and of wisdom, the wisest of the gods and goddesses. Apollo was the god of light and order, of both plague and healing who foretold the will of Zeus, his father. His twin sister, Artemis, was goddess of childbirth and all wild animals. Aphrodite, a daughter of Uranus, was the goddess of erotic love. Hermes was the guide of souls in the underworld and the god of sleep and dreams. Demeter, the symbol of Gaia, was goddess of the earth and vegetation. His mother Persephone was a sister of Zeus. Dionysus was th god of madness, frenzy, of wine and the theater. Hephaestus was the god of fire and of the crafts. And Ares was the god of war and the only son of Zeus and Hera. Hades was not among the 12, but he was the ruler of the underworld."

Tags:Zeus, Olympians, Roman, Hera

Abstract
This paper briefly examines how Greek mythology revolved around gods, heroes, creatures and family trees that showed the relationship between men and nature through the creatures, and great family trees that showed lines of successful lineages that characterized an element of inheritance. The paper also discusses how Greek mythology has set the standard for world mythology.

From the Paper
"Myths acted as a way of explaining some concepts such as creation, birth or even death in the Greek society because there were no religious discourse that could have acted as an answer or point of reference for key questions over the mentioned concepts. The myths further gave important teachings about the importance of holding certain virtues and the consequences of holding some vices. In some of the works obtained from Greek literature, key vices like pride, dishonesty as well as jealousy have been greatly explored showing the consequences of holding such vices. These myths were a means by which members of society were to learn the correct way of living in harmony. One such example is how the gods transformed Arachne into a spider just because she kept on boasting about her great skills in weaving (Payment,). "

Tags:Plato, Aristotle

Abstract
This paper examines how Greek mythology often considered the debate between predestination and free will. It gives the example of how a mythical character's immoral actions would lead to a cleverly derived punishment by the gods, suggesting that free will elicited consequences. Various myths are noted as examples of this. In particular, the paper notes the the three fates, the Moirai, women who hold the destiny of all mankind in their hands and their role in the Oedipus trilogy. The role of fate and predestination is further analyzed in the paper. The paper concludes by stating that if any lesson can be drawn from the treatment of this theme in Greek mythology, it is that the safest option is doing good, which can at least score some points with the fates.

From the Paper
"Called the Moirai, a name that means parts, the three fates assigned each person his or her "share in the scheme of things" (Atsma, 2008, para. 1). Lead by Zeus, whom Atsma (2008) describes as the "god of fate," the three goddesses used a string to show the life of a man or woman. According to Saunders and A (2006), all the good and evil a person did in his or her life was woven into the string to determine his or her fate (para. 3). The goddesses of fate were ugly, old, and knew the future, as well as frequently pictured with signs of "dominion" (Atsma, 2008, para. 4). Each holding specific jobs--spinning, measuring, and cutting that thread--the goddesses determined the consequences of mens' actions. However, Astma (2008) points out that the fates did not necessarily direct a person's life. Instead, they determined the consequences of the actions that people freely undertook. Furthermore, while Zeus could always save someone from receiving his or her fate, the fates were also open to persuasion by humans and other goddesses. In the end, however, it was the fates decision to determine the consequences of a man's actions and other major events in his life, such as when he would die. Thus, the idea of the Morai combined predestination and free will to suggest that a person could choose the actions he or she would take, but was predestined to face the consequences of those choices."

Tags:Oedipus Trilogy, Moirai, Fates, Sophocles

Abstract
This paper introduces, discuss and analyzes the topic of Greek mythology. Specifically, it contains an analysis of the role of women in Greek life as depicted in literature. It discusses how women underwent a tremendous change between the time of Homer and that of Aristophanes four hundred years later, as five different plays clearly illustrate. Early Greek women were one-dimensional and needy, while four hundred years later they were feminists complaining about their sex lives.

From the Paper
"Women in Greek life are portrayed in a wide variety of ways, and they did indeed change between Homer's type and Aristophanes' time. Homer often portrays women as scheming to keep men from performing their duty, such as how Calypso holds Ulysses on her island in "The Odyssey," attempting to keep her with him rather than allow him to return to his home and family. "This daughter of Atlas has got hold of poor unhappy Ulysses, and keeps trying by every kind of blandishment to make him forget his home, so that he is tired of life, and thinks of nothing but how he may once more see the smoke of his own chimneys" (Odyssey, Book I). In the Iliad, Homer continues to portray women as one-dimensional beings without feelings when he has Chryseis, the daughter of Chryses given as a war prize to Agamemnon as his share of the looting and subsequently ransomed by her father."

Tags:homer, Ulysses, Medea, Lysistrata

Abstract
The paper looks at "The Song of Roland" and discusses how the violence expressed in this work is striking in terms of what it says about the religious sensibilities of the age - and in terms of what it says about the social obligations of the warrior class alive during the eighth and ninth centuries in what is today France. Further, the paper contrasts this with the way in which violence is treated in Greek mythology, most notably in the "Iliad". Here, it is argued that thoughts of chivalry and idealistic notions about spreading the word of God were of lesser import than practical considerations such as protecting crops and gaining tribute. More than that, and this ties into the entire notion of chivalry, the most prominent heroes of ancient Greek warfare were often cowardly, selfish, dishonest and eager for spoils - but not necessarily for the sacrifices of war. In the final analysis, the paper concludes that violence has always been a part of the fabric of western civilization, but the manner in which it is approached by the ancient Greeks and by their Frankish descendants is surprisingly different.

Tags:roland, franks, greeks

Abstract
This paper discusses the use of Greek mythology to explore and analyze many principles and activities conducted by individuals. The author of the paper draws upon his own life and chooses Oedipus as a relevant figure in the heroic myth to explore a few of his experiences. The paper is written in a reflective style and presents some general insights into the author's personal life.

From the Paper
"Using Greek myth to explore analyze is not abstract nor is it necessarily erudite. In fact, many principles and activities conducted by individuals can be attached to Greek mythology; it's the ignorance of this connection that makes it unique when experiences are explicitly connected with Greek myth.
"My own experiences have been somewhat purposefully with only a few surprises in life, however to be reflective; I have recently found that having explored my personal activities and likened them to Greek mythology, I seem a little enlightened and demystified about some of the processes and activities of life. Nevertheless, this has come at a cost, since our society dictates that there is a certain decorum we should follow, and funnily enough, our thinking process is subject to this travesty. This has stifled creativity and a hunger for individualism; take for example the movies at the cinema, they all seem to tell the very same story, sometimes they don't even change the actors to tell the story."

Tags:heroic, Sphinx, King, Laius

Abstract
The paper explores how mythology of the ancient Greeks expressed their views of themselves and of the world around them on a number of levels. The paper explains that mythology served as a quasi-historical background to each separate city-state and reinforced their sense of pride and of identity. The paper adds that it also expressed the national character and imparted heroic qualities to their perseverance, courage and enterprise. The paper describes how mythology offered opportunities for them to further their love of beauty and their desire for philosophical inquiry.

From the Paper
"In exploring the myths of the Greek civilization, one can apprehend the interconnectedness of the Greek character and culture with their stories of the fabulous past. On one level, myths attempt to preserve the history of a people, and tend to reflect historical events, albeit in a rather stylized and fictionalized format. On another level, myths express the views and self-image of a people, by personifying elements of the national character at a heroic level. On yet another level, myths offer a divine explanation for natural, but puzzling, occurrences, as a particular nation chooses to understand them. The early Greeks were composed of small, family-centered tribes living in hamlets. Pirates from land and especially from sea were a constant danger."

Tags:greek, culture, mythology

Abstract
The Greeks were innovators in philosophy, mathematics and medicine, not to mention writing and the theater. The paper questions why, with such seemingly advanced knowledge - even at a time when there already was at least one monotheistic religion (Judaism) prevalent - did the Greeks continue to worship and believe in various gods, prophecies, witches and sorcerers and the inevitable interrelationship among them all with humans? The paper provides an overview of the main gods in Greek mythology.

From the Paper
"Mount Olympus, which would be home to the gods, was then constructed with twelve golden thrones for Zeus, his brothers and sisters, his children and Aphrodite, goddess of love. A quick overview of these various gods and goddesses reveals that Hera, often referred to as the queen of the gods, had a very dark side to her, immensely jealous of Zeus' power, and especially his dalliance with mortal women. He punished her from time to time, but they managed to co-exist."

Tags:Zeus, Europa, Poseidon, Helen, Mount, Olympus

Abstract
The paper begins by looking at the characters who are similar to the Greek characters, but have differences as well. According to the writer, the plot differs from the Greek myth, but captures many of the same archetypal premises set forth by the story of Hippolytus and Phaedra.

From the Paper
"O'Neill's play is set in rural New England during the 1850's. The main characters are Ephraim Cabot, his son Eben Cabot, and his two brothers Simeon and Peter. The Cabots work a farm and Simeon and Peter grow wary of laboring through the stone-plodded fields of New England. Eben, the youngest of the three has vowed to himself that he will one day take back the land that once belonged to his mother, who is dead. Eben believes that his father intently overworked his mother, creating her death so he could have say so over who will be heir to the farm. When Ephraim goes out of town for a spell, Eben offers Simeon and Peter three hundred dollars a piece to leave town. The elder brothers decide to take the money and run to California to work in the gold mines. Half of Eben's equation is solved, but Ephraim returns home married for the third time to a lady named Abbie."

Tags:plot, character, theme, archetype