17 Facts About Greek mythology

Major branch of classical mythology, Greek mythology is the body of myths originally told by the ancient Greeks, and a genre of Ancient Greek folklore.

Greek mythology has had an extensive influence on the culture, arts, and literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and language.

Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes.

Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c to onward.

Finally, several Byzantine Greek mythology writers provide important details of myth, much derived from earlier now lost Greek mythology works.

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Greek mythology has changed over time to accommodate the evolution of their culture, of which mythology, both overtly and in its unspoken assumptions, is an index of the changes.

In Greek mythology's surviving literary forms, as found mostly at the end of the progressive changes, it is inherently political, as Gilbert Cuthbertson has argued.

Greek mythology did this and became the ruler of the Titans with his sister-wife, Rhea, as his consort, and the other Titans became his court.

Greek mythology's was already pregnant with Athena, however, and she burst forth from his head—fully-grown and dressed for war.

Gods of Greek mythology are described as having essentially corporeal but ideal bodies.

Some scholars believe that behind Heracles' complicated Greek mythology there was probably a real man, perhaps a chieftain-vassal of the kingdom of Argos.

The traditional literary Greek mythology was increasingly dissociated from actual religious practice.

Genesis of modern understanding of Greek mythology is regarded by some scholars as a double reaction at the end of the eighteenth century against "the traditional attitude of Christian animosity", in which the Christian reinterpretation of myth as a "lie" or fable had been retained.

However, Greek mythology is generally seen as having heavy influence of Pre-Greek and Near Eastern cultures, and as such contains few important elements for the reconstruction of the Proto-Indo-European religion.

Consequently, Greek mythology received minimal scholarly attention in the context of Indo-European comparative mythology until the mid 2000s.

In Northern Europe, Greek mythology never took the same hold of the visual arts, but its effect was very obvious on literature.

The English imagination was fired by Greek mythology starting with Chaucer and John Milton and continuing through Shakespeare to Robert Bridges in the 20th century.