What makes up the culture of mankind? You should not think only about a separate country with its own customs, because culture is something that was passed down from generation to generation, supplemented and polished by time. Mythology is part of the world heritage. Each nation, to one degree or another, made an effort to write at least a line of its own history into one of these narratives. Therefore, in abundance in them we meet the names of mythological heroes, kings, gods and various creatures. The more a person developed, the further the plots of the stories went, the heroes became more courageous, and the evil forces became more furious.
Myth: fairy tale, philosophy and religion
Culturologists are still arguing: some believe that a myth is the personification of religion, others believe that this is nothing more than a fairy tale, because life simply cannot be what is described in the works of ancient Greek unknown authors.
However, it turns out that science fiction, and religion, and even philosophy - everything is present in it, so we can say that it is a collective creationpeople, not the thoughts of a particular person. The authors only wrote down such a chronicle in order to convey centuries-old experience to their followers.
Mythology is not a fairy tale, because it is a conscious, plausible fiction, a person invented heroes, worked out each image specially. And, even despite the presence of fantastic moments, such a work is read as quite independent, serious. But this is not quite a religion, because the myth appeared long before the appearance of the gods as an unattainable and incomprehensible phenomenon - in the works we see humanized and not at all ideal deities. There is also a difference from philosophy, because the latter seeks to explain the world, and the ancient Greeks took everything for granted: if a mythological hero ascended to Heaven, then it is necessary, and no questions asked.
Consequently, the narrative data is a product of the formation of human consciousness as a whole, consisting of several factors.
The idea of heroism in ancient Greece
In ancient people, the idea of heroism was, to put it mildly, a little strange, because heroes were by no means considered those who saved a child from the clutches of an angry siren or pulled a kitten out of a blazing hut.
The mythological heroes of Greece are the sons of gods and mortals, and only because of this kinship should they be brave, honest and noble. In another way, they are called demigods who have the opportunity to climb Olympus.
An ancient Greek mythological hero appears inthe second period in the development of ancient culture is the so-called mythology of patriarchy. Just then, a new worldview of man began to take shape, values and faith changed. People believed that the gods exist only to protect people from evil beings, but the omniscient and omnipotent deities were not always brave defenders of the human race. Therefore, heroes were “appointed” to the role of saviors, their task was to help the gods. The heavenly powers were immortal and they had nothing to fear, while the heroes could die, and only glory could give them eternal life in the memory of the people. In other words, the sons of people and gods performed feats for their own selfish purposes. So to speak, both to myself and to people.
The legend of Daedalus and Icarus - the heroes of myths who wanted to rise to the very sun
Where does a person get the desire to fly? It turns out that the desire to flutter like a bird arose among ancient people, and it was embodied in stories where the main characters were mythological heroes who were the first to rise into the sky. The pioneers in the field of flight are Daedalus and his son Icarus.
Once upon a time there lived in Athens a talented artist named Daedalus. He gave mankind beautiful buildings and skillful stone statues, before him man-made beauty was not known to mankind. A nephew also worked in his workshop, who was also able to invent and bring to life a lot. One day, a man and a young man went to look at the city from the top of the Acropolis, but unfortunately the guy broke and, falling down, crashed.
People staged lynching, branded the artist, and he decided to leave the city, because he did notcould endure reproaches from people. On his ship, the master sailed to Crete and with a request to be allowed to stay went to King Minos. He was only glad to have such a guest, but, despite all kindness, Daedalus felt like a slave on the island, because the king did not let the man go home.
Often the inventor would sit by the sea and think of ways to leave this cursed place. And after thinking, he decided that he could fly away from here in the sky like a bird. The artist collected many feathers and created two pairs of wings: for himself and for his son Icarus. Early in the morning, the young man and his father left Crete, Daedalus ordered his son to follow him and not fly up close to the sun, because at noon the daylight rose high and burned too hot. However, Icarus did not heed his father's advice and decided to fly higher than the very heavens. The wax with which the feathers were held together melted under the hot rays of the sun, and the wings failed. No matter how the guy tried to grab the air, nothing happened, he fell into the sea and drowned. His father saw only white feathers from his son's wings, like snow falling on the smooth surface of a calm sea.
Dedalus and Icarus are mythological heroes who were the first to rise into the sky, but such an adventure turned into a tragedy not only for the young man, but also for the inventor himself, because after the tragic death of his son, Daedalus cursed his creations.
Hercules
Hercules is perhaps the most revered mythological hero of all. Sometimes he is praised even more than the gods themselves, because he has more feats on his account than an ordinary Greekdeities.
His mother was the mortal woman Alcmene, and his father was Zeus himself, so from childhood their son had truly incredible strength. Thanks to this, he was able to perform the famous 12 feats.
Achilles
This is another mythological hero that Homer described in his Iliad. In it, he assigned a huge and important role to this brave warrior. The myths about Achilles show the reader how strong his love for his homeland, friends and family was. But still, his positive features and feelings sometimes coexist with negative ones. For example, unimaginable cruelty, as in the case of Hector.
Odysseus
This character of Homer's "Odyssey" cannot be ignored, because when reading the work, the image of a brave warrior, ready to do anything to return to his homeland, rises before his eyes. He has been described as an intellectual hero, a sage and a great speaker.
The mythological hero is not just a character of fictional stories, it is an ideal that ancient people aspired to. It is strange that ordinary people or demigods were better for the ancient Greeks than the gods themselves.
