Shayne Foskett Unit 1 Essay Egyptian and Greek mythology Body Transformation and this Day society of Deformity

This essay will be looking into mythology and that of myth where myths such as a the centaur are combined and manipulated as half horse, half man and will also be looking into peoples deformities of real life situations and how people react to real life deformities compared to that of Greek mythology or roman mythologys for example much like the roman times of Spartans. Greek mythology is based around the mythology of ancient Greece, were based of 12 main Greek gods that lived on whats known as mount Olympus, who were led by the ruler known as Zeus. Greek mythology is a collection of stories based around the ancient Greek gods who the Greeks believed that they were the rulers of the world and the reason for things to happen within the world such as bad things or the change of weather. The stories also include other things from Greek mythology such as in-explainable monsters like Minotaurs, centaurs, giants, medusa, the kraken and many more thus including a human much related to superman but known as Hercules who was known for his great strength and heroism. Even in everyday, todays world a huge or heroic task for someone to take on would be known as heroism or herculean, this is related to the tribute of Hercules and his heroic tasks and labours he achieved from Greek mythology. Hercules is most known as one of the most famous heroes of Greek mythology even though he is related to everyday humans of this day and age. The quick story of that of Hercules is that he is the son of Zeus and when he was a baby Hera who is Zeus wife sent two snakes to kill Hercules as a baby which then the later found out that both snakes where strangled by Hercules as he was rattling them around like a child play toy and this is when Hercules strength and heroism 1 st shown light. This also goes to relating onto Metamorphosis because there were plenty of Metamorphosiss in Greek mythology for example even though the Gods were known as gods they still had human emotions blessed with powers and cursed with human emotions like love and anger

Fig. 1 Gods of Olympus

The gods were known as the most powerful forces for the ancient Greeks and thus mighty warriors with immense power. This very much relates to the Spartans of their time who are really well known as immense warriors known for their extreme bravery, courage, heroism and commitment, thus relating to Hercules. Spartans used to have a strong military type statement were being powerful from birth was immensely important if you seemed weak or deformed from birth the Spartans would instantly cast you aside and discarded and thrown into whats known as a chasm or quarry. The Spartans were very quick to judge a book by its cover down to simply what someone looks like due to a deformity. Other examples of deformity would be such things as Egyptian mythologies and Greek mythologies for example with Greek mythologies you would get things like Centaurs, Giants, Cyclopes and even one of the most famous Greek mythologies Medusa and Egyptian mythologies would include things like Anubis, Sphinxs and Horus who is known as a god with the whole features of a human but with a birds head. Throughout the years of Mythologies and even deformities have always been look at as bad or have been casted aside due to the way peoples appearance is, for example The Egyptian mythology of Anubis is that he is a man but with the head of a Jackal but the jackals head is black rather the its correct colour also as well because of this Anubis is represented as being the god of the dead and seems to be casted aside as the one that no one wants to worship due to him being the god of the underworld and all things bad. Its the same with the deformities of that with the Cyclops, Giants and Medusa these have also been casted aside due to their deformity or beliefs people had about them. Medusa being the one that stands out so well and even to this age is well known is known as a half women, half snake type creature with snakes for hair and made her so ugly that whoever looked at her would turn to stone but the story behind her is that she didnt always used to be ugly and deformed but much more really beautiful. She lived far in the north were the sun didnt really visit and one day she wanted to ask Athena if she could visit the south so see the sun and Athena didnt allow her so Medusa got angry at her and said it was because she was more beautiful than Athena and in anger Athena turned Medusa into this hideous creature were she now lives in a cave been casted away from society, were if anyone goes to visit her they will be killed instantly if they look her in the eyes.

Fig. 2 Medusa The minotaur was also an example of deformity were he had been casted aside or put away due to his deformity but again this was due to a punishment mistreating Poseidon, so as a punishment turned Minos Into a part bull part human type creature known as the minotaur who was casted away in a giant labyrinth type maze where he was offered a regular sacrifice of youths or maids to satisfy his cannibalistic hunger. The giants of the Greek mythologies were in a slightly different deformity because that actually had every single feature of a normal human being except they were just extremely tall but also really known for their immense power. Which then the gods then imprisoned those giants in a place known as Tartarus.

Fig. 3 Minotaur Its weird that Giants are classed as a mythology when in fact there is the world tallest man in this day and age with the medical condition known as pituitary gigantism basically what this means is that this condition has immense effects on his body causing him to grow insane heights. Currently he stands at 8ft 1in (2.47m) and is still growing despite his age of only 27 years of age. Deformity or being different from someone else due to a specific condition one might have has extreme effects and reactions towards other people and a lot of people find these types of things hard to get to grips with and rather getting to understand about the conditions of the problem a person may have they would rather sit

back and again judge a book by its cover which is wrong because for all we know they could be the nicest person in the world. I can't go shopping like normal people, I have to have things made specially and sometimes they aren't always as fashionable (K. Sultan) the strange thing about deformities, or conditions that have an impact on the body is that theres always a reason by behind it like some sort of medical condition or something thats happened to them. There never born like that it simples occur somehow due to a lot of the time some un-known reason. Sultan Kosen grew up as a normal boy with no problems and then once he reached 10, he then got a tumour which caused him to develop the medical condition known as the pituitary gigantism. Another great example of deformity will be a really famous man known as the elephant man who was a real living person with a deformity, There was a film made of him which shows the true nature of peoples understanding of the not knowing of deformity and judging a book by its cover. Because in fact the elephant man was extremely intelligent but just didnt have the looks as an intelligent man but much more someone who was looked at by society as a freak or a monster as explained in the film The Elephant man. At one point throughout the film (John Merrick) (a.k.a The Elephant man) is chased by a horde of people due to his deformities which then leads him to be cornered by these people and he then famously shouts I am not an elephant! I am not an animal! I am a human being! I am a man! This is a great eye opener for the audience and probably the most famous and strongest quote throughout the whole film. Overall deformity is a big this in this day and age and really should be looked at as more of a thing of acknowledgement and understanding rather than looking at these people as freaks or monsters and casting them aside when in-fact they are just human beings and they too have feelings and may well be a lot more intelligent then you so this brings a great message and understanding towards deformities as to where it shouldnt happen.

Fig. 4 The real Elephant man

Fig. 5 John Merrick (Elephant man film)

Illustration Fig. 1 Gods of Olympus http://www.marlonquanspeaks.com/wpcontent/uploads/2011/08/Marlon-Quan-Greek-Gods.jpg Fig. 2 Medusa http://listverse.files.wordpress.com/2007/10/medusa.jpg Fig. 3 Minotaur http://images.ebaumsworld.com/thumbs/avatars/Minotaur/Minotaur1302667921.jpg

Fig. 4 The real elephant man http://www.doctorsecrets.com/images/Joseph_Carey_Merrick.png Fig. 5 John Merrick (Elephant man film) http://i2.listal.com/image/521832/600full-the-elephantman-screenshot.jpg

Bibliography Name not stated (blessed with powers and cursed with human emotions like love and anger) http://www.travel-guide-greece.com/greek-gods/
Sultan Kosen (17th Sept 2009) http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/8259728.stm John merrick (1980) http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0080678/quotes