Descriptive Text: Greek Myth

Myths are generally fictional narratives that describe, often in symbolic language, the origin of the basic elements of a culture. Mythic narrative relates to stories on how the world was created, the origins of man and/or animals, and how the customs or forms of human activities originated. 

Most myths are often set in an "other" time, the time before the conventional world came into being. Because myths refer to an extraordinary time and place and to gods and other supernatural beings and their lives, they have often been compared to a type of religion. The nature of myths can help to understand many aspects of a past culture.

Greek mythology came from the Ancient Greeks and is probably one of the most well-known types of mythology. Some people refer to it as a type of “religion”, although the Ancient Greeks didn’t think of it like that. To the Ancient Greeks, the stories about gods and goddesses were the explanations of why things happened and how humans were created. Mythology also helped to explain where people went once they died. 

There are essentially 12 major Greek gods and goddesses, each one controlled their own part of the world. Almost all of those 12 gods resided on Mount Olympus - a magical place situated on a mountain in the sky. Mount Olympus was also where these gods and goddesses had their important meetings concerning the fate of man. Each Greek god had his or her own stories and symbols that represented who that god was. There were also Titans who existed before the Greek gods and goddesses. 

According to Greek myths, everything came from Chaos. From Chaos came everything. Before the existence of Greek gods and goddesses, there were the Titans. They ruled the world and from them came the famous gods and goddesses. The stories say that the gods and goddesses overthrew the Titans by using the only thing that could destroy them - the Kracken. The Kracken was a terrifying sea creature. Once the gods overthrew the Titans, they took over the world. The difference between the Greek gods or Olympians and the Titans is that the Olympians are known as the “good guys”.

According to ancient Greek custom, thousands of stories are passed down from generation to generation. Greeks would tell the stories orally and create wonderful art that depicts each and every god and goddess.