Greek mythology

Greek mythology comprises the collected narratives of Greek gods, goddesses, heroes, and heroines, originally created and spread within an oral-poetic tradition. Our surviving sources of mythology are literary reworkings of this oral tradition, supplemented by interpretations of iconic imagery, sometimes modern ones, sometimes ancient ones, as myth was a means for later Greeks themselves to throw light on cult practices and traditions that were no longer explicable. The historian must sometimes deduce from hints in imagery, such as in vase paintings, and offhand references the recognition of mythic themes tacitly expressed in cult practice.

Nature and sources of Greek mythology

While all cultures throughout the world have their own myths, the term mythology is a Greek coinage and had a specialized meaning within Greek culture.

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The Greek term muthologia is a compound of two smaller words:

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• muthos — which in Homeric Greek means roughly "a ritualized speech act", as of a chieftain at an assembly, or of a poet or priest.
• logos — which in classical Greek stands for "a convincing story, an ordered argument".

In the original sense, therefore, a mythology is an attempt to bring sense to the stylized narratives that the Greeks recited at festivals, whispered at shrines, and bandied about at aristocratic banquets. Since few breeds of men are more prone to squabbling than poets, priests and aristocrats, contradictions in the material are rife. Moreover, they are part of the fun.

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Several types of primary source are available for the study of Greek mythology.

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• The poetry of the Archaic and Classical eras — composed primarily for performance at cultic festivals or aristocratic banquets, and thus part of muthos in the Homeric sense. This includes:
• *the Homeric Odyssey, Iliad and Hymns
• *the Hesiodic Theogony.
• *the dramatic works of Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides and Aristophanes
• *the choral hymns of Pindar and Bacchylides.
• The work of historians, like Herodotus and Diodorus Siculus, and geographers, like Pausanias and Strabo, who made travels around the Greek world and noted down the stories they heard at various cities.
• The work of mythographers, who wrote prose treatises based on learned research attempting to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets. The Bibliotheke by Apollodorus of Athens is the largest extant example of this genre.
• The poetry of the Hellenistic and Roman ages, which although composed as a literary rather than cultic exercise, nevertheless contains many important details that would otherwise be lost. This category includes the works of:
• *The Hellenistic poets Apollonius of Rhodes and Callimachus.
• *The Roman poets Hyginus, Ovid, Statius, Valerius Flaccus and Virgil.
• *The Late Antique Greek poets Nonnus and Quintus Smyrnaeus.
• The ancient novels of Apuleius, Petronius, Lollianus and Heliodorus.