Page 19 - Resources

Greek mythology is embodied explicitly in a large collection of narratives and

implicitly in representational arts, such as vase-paintings and votive gifts. Greek
myth explains the origins of the world and detail the lives and adventures of a wide
variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and other mythological creatures.
These accounts were initially disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; the Greek
myths are known today primarily from Greek literature. The oldest known literary

sources, the epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on events surrounding the Trojan
War. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works
and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine
rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of

sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of
epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians of the
5th century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age and in writers
of the time of the Roman Empire, for example, Plutarch and Pausanias.
Monumental evidence at Mycenaean and Minoan sites helped to explain many of the

questions about Homer's epics and provided archaeological proofs of many of the
about gods and heroes. Greek mythology was also depicted in artifacts; Geometric
designs on pottery of the 8th century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle, as

well as the adventures of Heracles. In the succeeding Archaic, Classical and
Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear to
supplement the existing literary evidence.
Greek mythology has had extensive influence on the culture, the arts and the
literature of Western civilization and remains part of Western heritage and

language. It has been a part of the educational fabric from childhood, while poets
and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek
mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in classical
mythological themes.

Greek Oracles
The word oracle in Greek can mean several related things. It means a god who predicts the
future, like Apollo. It also means the priest who hears the message, and the message
itself, and the place where the priest hears the message. Most often it means the
priest or the message.

The Greeks believed (like all other ancient people) that you could communicate with
the gods at certain places, at certain times, through certain people, and that the gods
would give you advice and maybe tell you what was going to happen in the future.

This is certainly no stupider than calling the Psychic Hotline, which thousands of
people do every

day. Actually, it probably makes more sense than that. First of all, the Greek oracles
hear the same questions over and over, and they listen all day to people telling more
or less the same kinds of stories over and over. After you have some experience, you

(Greek Grandeur, Hebrew Heart) 17