WORK BY 

: NJI FLEVIN NDIKUM

MYTHOLOGY :
IMPACT OF EARLY AGE MYHTOLOGY
ON PAST TO PRESENT DAY SOCIETIES
AND THE GENERAL IDEOLOGY BEHIND
ITS BELIEF.

INSTRUCTOR : M. MNKONG UNITY

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 INTRODUCTION
To begin with, This research is base on early age society belief and how this
has passed on through generaion and its impact on the society and its people’s
religion and belief. Instance will be taken mainly from the Greek mythology. In
order to understand the reason behind this research, we must ask the question
of : Is the aspect of myhtology actually a past or early religion with existence of
superior beings or just a bare old story and how has this had an impact on both
past ans present day societies ?
There are several works that I found indispensable
when writing this thesis. The first, and I feel the most
helpful to anyone studying any aspect of the Ancient Greek
cults, is the five volume set « The Cults of the Greek States »
by L.R. Farnell. While not a series designed for practical
pleasure reading, these books contain a vast wealth of
knowledge that has been vital to my research. Another
highly knowledgeable source is Martin P. Nilsson. His
books, same as like Farnell’s, are filled with information vital to
Ancient Greek and pre-Greek studies.

EARLY AGE MYTHOLOGY

Myths are a part of every culture in the world and are used to explain natural
phenomena, where a people came from and how their civilization developed,
and why things happen as they do. At their most basic level, myths comfort by
giving a sense of order and meaning to what can sometimes seem a chaotic
world. Ancient sources of this study was generated by great historians such as
Herodotus, Thucydides and Hesoid, who were all major ancient Greek historians
and much knowledge on this study is derived from their work.

Mythology (from the Greek mythos for story-of-the-people, and logos for
word or speech, so the spoken story of a people) is the study and interpretation
of often sacred tales or fables of a culture known as myths or the collection of
such stories which deal with various aspects of the human condition: good and
evil; the meaning of suffering; human origins; the origin of place-names,
animals, cultural values, and traditions; the meaning of life and death; the
afterlife; and celestial stories of the gods or a god. Myths express the beliefs and
values about these subjects held by a certain culture.

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 Myths tell the stories of ancestors and the origin of humans and the world, the
gods, supernatural beings (satyrs, nymphs, mermaids) and heroes with super-
human, usually god-given, powers (as in the case of the Greek myth of Heracles
or Perseus). Myths also describe origins or nuances of long-held customs or
explain natural events such as the sunrise and sunset, the cycle of the moon and
the seasons, or thunder and lightning storms.

Greek mythology, which is one of the most historic form of myths ever told is
seen to be based on certain historic events and notable figures throughout the
early Roman and Greek empire period, considering the two empiers had similar
religion in their myths. It portrays significant detials of the existence of superior
group of being, who were described in the myths as gods. The greek people at
the time lived in such a way that showed the significance of their way of life and
its relation to the presence of gods.

At the center of Greek mythology is the pantheon of deities who were said to
live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. From their perch, they
ruled every aspect of human life. Olympian gods and goddesses looked like men
and women (though they could change themselves into animals and other
things) and were–as many myths recounted–vulnerable to human foibles and
passions. There is also the human heroes ; people who were gifted with
godlike ability and from which most of these people were children of the gods
but half human.

The twelve main Olympians are :

 Zeus (Jupiter, in Roman mythology) : the king of all the gods (and father
to many) and god of weather, law and fate
 Hera (Juno) : the queen of the gods and goddess of women and marriage
 Aphrodite (Venus) : goddess of beauty and love
 Apollo (Apollo) : god of prophesy, music and poetry and knowledge
 Ares (Mars) : god of war
 Artemis (Diana) : goddess of hunting, animals and childbirth
 Athena (Minerva) : goddess of wisdom and defense
 Demeter (Ceres) : goddess of agriculture and grain
 Dionysus (Bacchus) : god of wine, pleasure and festivity
 Hephaestus (Vulcan) : god of fire, metalworking and sculpture
 Hermes (Mercury) : god of travel, hospitality and trade and Zeus’s
personal messenger
 Poseidon (Neptune) : god of the sea

Other gods and goddesses sometimes included in the roster of Olympians are :

 Hades (Pluto) : god of the underworld

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  Hestia (Vesta) : goddess of home and family
 Eros (Cupid) : god of sex and minion to Aphrodite

Practices carried out were in accordance to the pleasing of the gods and thus
the people lived by rules to be followed as well as forbidden doings. Most
common practice kown as sacrifice was done for reasons like :

 Recieving blessings from the gods in the form of good hqrvsting, good
weather conditions and no killing of humans
 To reduce the anger of the gods when an abomination is committed.
 As a regular practice to show respect, faith and love for the gods.
 In order to have victory in battles against enemies

REASONS FOR THIS BELIEF AND

PRACTICE
The aspect of gods being just a story and called a myth implicates the reality
of a once early society which portrays similarity to the story told throughout the
space of time. In this case, the question of superior beings come to the
hypothesis of these beings actually being godlike or just significant early age
characters who had a huge influence during a certain period of time on the
society and why this built the belief and made the myth so complex. Here, we
will look at why the people in this early age societies believed so much in thier
gods.

From the perspective of the religion for instance that of the Greek people,
certain observations or signs that were depicted and interpreted by people during
these times gave them reason to believe in this existence.This led to a growth in
a religion for the people as they conitnued to prosper and increased their faith in
gods. There were also political reasons as for example, the roman empire as well
as Greece had many years of victory in battle and war against their enemies.
This victorious truimph encouraged them to look up to gods for protection in all
their battles and grant them victory at all times. As this religion grew, various
individuals, called chiefpriests, or highpriests who were said to be able to hear
the gods and forsee their intentions for the people started to rise and helped the
comunity build a stronger bond with their gods and be able to know what the
gods liked or disliked. This therefore created a religious society whose ways of
living and surviving as a society depended on the gods. The people also believed
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that the gods showed their anger upon the people through the observation of
natural disasters such as storms, hurricanes, and even death of people and
animals. This made the people have fear of the gods and why the religion among
the people was so strong as studied. Even as time passed, previous generations
painted images and various arts and portrayals which clearly depicts how the
people had respect for their religion and to teach their children and the
proceeding generations about the existence of gods and stories of happenings
throughout history. You can see various images below

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 THE END OF THE ERA OF GODS AND
REASONS.
In relation to ancient Greek religion, the majority of modern day historians
agreed that religion practiced by people of the ancient age had been extinguished
by the time of the 9th century (CE), having had an origin from around 776 BC to
323 BC. This was a period for the greek people known as the classical Greece
era (Era of the gods). Various reasons show to the fall of this era of religion.
People might think there was some great war or plague which ended the era of
the gods but its less exciting than that and rather simple explanations.

First of all, the length of time has a hand in the buliding of this certain faith.
The era of the gods was long ago before the time of christ which gave the
proceeding generations a perpelexed ideology of the factual happenings of the
great happenings in the early age. This duration in one way or another changes
the narrative generation over generation till it is known only as a myth since no
solid understndable proof exists to show exactly who these superior beings were
and why they

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 Also, with the coming of Christianity, the aspect of many gods has become
rather a doubt by many as people start to focus towards the asserion and
exictence of a singe supreme being which is in contrary to the Greek religion
and other mythological religion of earlt ages. As the people who believed in this
new religion grew in numbers, the old religion just faded into becomong history
and even a myth making the end of this era inevitable. Practices under the
religions before christianity had become less applied and people stopped
worshipping the old gods since they no longer had fear of punishment or
judgment from the society.

In addition, even way before the coming of christianity, there were already
critics who critisized the existence of these gods. Various historians at this time
wrote books and shared their opinion or point of view towards the existence of
gods at the time. Eventhough they didnt gain attention and awareness a lot from
people in society, they later on gained recognition for their work which led to
rise in criticism of the practice of these religions. For instance, in the Greek
society, historians such as

Ancient Greek society fell over 2000 years ago but despite this, its mythology
still continues to influence our western society. References to Greek mythology
can be found all through time and in our western culture. The influence of Greek
mythology can be found in our science, arts and literature and our language.

When Ancient Greece fell to the Roman Empire, Rome adapted its
mythologies which still influence us today as they have through history. That is
not to say that Greek mythology wasn’t influenced itself – Greek mythology has
links with the bible and the early Mycenaean’s. It has also been recognised as
one of the earliest forms of paganism.

Asides from the planets, many of the moons orbiting the planets, especially
Jupiter (Zeus) have been named according to Greek mythology. Pluto’s moon
Charon was named after the boat keeper of the underworld, continuing the link
between ancient Greek mythology and western society.

The influence of Greek mythology does not stop here, it continues into the
stars and galaxies – many of which are named after characters in Greek
mythology and this is how Greek mythology has continually influenced western
society over time.

However, Greek mythologies role in western society is not limited to our

science, as it has also played a huge part in developing the English language and
there are two ways in which Greek mythology has affected the English language
and that is in words that reference Greek mythology and through phrases that

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represent the actions of characters in Greek mythology. This civilization and its
practices has had the following impact on the western civilization :

1. Democracy

According to Merriam-Webster, a democracy is a government by the people "in

which the supreme power is vested in the people and exercised by them directly
or indirectly through a system of representation usually involving periodically
held free elections."

The ancient Greeks created the world’s first democracy. Athens started out with
a monarchy and then advanced to an oligarchy until it finally reached a
democracy. The democratic government consisted of 6,000 assembly members,
all of whom were adult male citizens. The assembly voted on issues throughout
Athens. In order for a law to pass, the number of votes needed to be a majority.
But in order to banish or exile someone, all 6,000 votes were needed.

Today, at least in the United States, we use a democratic system. But instead of
a direct democracy, we have a representative democracy in which the citizens
democratically vote on who should make the decisions in the country. This is
different than ancient Greece's direct democracy wherein citizens voted on the
decision rather than choosing people to make the decision.

2. The Alphabet

Derived from the earlier Phoenician alphabet, the greek alphabet was the first
alphabet in the western sense of the word, featuring distinct letters for vowels
and consonants. It was developed after the Dark Ages and consisted of 24
letters, ordered from alpha to omega.

Believe it or not, the word "alphabet" originates from the first 2 letters of the
Greek alphabet : alpha and beta. Today many letters of our modern alphabet
originate from the Greek alphabet, including letters such as A, B, E, and O. The
Greek originally had a single form of each letter, but created upper case and
lower case versions of the letters later.

3. The Library

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The first library in the world, the library of Alexandria, was actually built in
Egypt. During during this time Egypt was under Greek control after submitting
to Alexander’s rule. The Macedonians started spreading the Greek way of life to
all of the conquered lands, including Egypt. After Alexander’s death, there was
a power struggle and the Kingdom of Egypt came under the rule of Alexander’s
general, Ptolemy.

4. The Olympics

The Olympic Games started in ancient Greece, specifically in the city of

Olympia. The participants were the city-states of Ancient Greece and its
colonies. The Olympic Games were held every four years in honor of Zeus, the
king god. The prizes for winning were fame and glory. Statues of the winners
were erected and sometimes the winners' faces were even put on coins. Today
we still celebrate the Olympic Games and continue some of the old traditions,
such as the olive leaf crowns, the lighting of the flame, and the opening and
closing celebrations.

Greece also held other games such as the Ptythian Games, which were held in
honor of Apollo, the sun god, and the Isthmian Games, which were held in
honor of Poseidon, the sea god. The stadiums originally built can be seen below

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6. Architecture

In accordance, the temples consructed for the gods at the time still exist till this
day and have a major influence on building architecture with similar use of
pillars. One of the most common examples of Greek architecture in the modern
world is the column or pillar. The most famous example of Greek architecture is
the Parthenon, a grand building with pillars located in Athens. Today, pillars are
used in many public buildings such as churches and libraries. There are also
pillars in many buildings in Washington D.C., including the White House.

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 7. Mythology

Many of us still read Greek myths today. Others read Greek myths without
knowing it, the godly characters being replaced by humans. Some of the most
famous myths include the tales of Peruses, Theseus, and, of course, Heracles.
The Greeks often used these myths to explain things that science couldn't prove,
but today, we mostly enjoy the Greek myths for entertainment purposes.

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Greek mythology has pervaded nearly every form of popular culture imaginable.
Many Greek myths have been adapted into modern novels, movies, TV shows,
video games and even brands. Some well-known instances of Greek mythology
in pop culture are :

 Disney’s Hercules
 The bestselling novel Percy Jackson and the Olympians
 The God of War video game franchise
 The TV show Battlestar Galactica
 Mary Shelley's Gothic novel Frankenstein ; or, The Modern Prometheus
 The brand Nike (Nike was the Greek goddess of victory)
 The use of the term "Achilles' heel" to describe a weak spot

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