What was the nature of Greek Mythology, and what do Greek myths tell us about ancient Greek society?
The ancient Greeks had a very large, well-developed pantheon of gods and goddesses as well as a myriad of stories about the activities of these gods and goddesses. They also had many stories about heroic mortals who performed nearly impossible feats of strength, intellect, and cunning, usually thanks to their descent from or favor with particular gods. Taken together, these stories of gods and heroes comprised the entirety of what we call Greek mythology. This mythology provides a useful insight into the nature of Greek society and how they thought about the world around them. One of the most striking features of these mythic stories is how the gods are portrayed as very similar to the mortals who worship them. The gods bicker and quarrel amongst themselves, they fall in love and have affairs, they fall out of love and become moody and unpredictable, they become jealous of each other and try to one-up their rivals, and they use lesser creatures (ie, mortals) as pawns in their games amo
