Mythology and World Views of Greek Society

Abstract

To have a clear view about the ancient Greek society is considered an arduous task. This is because such society existed long time ago, during the period of 600-400 BC; moreover, the pieces of evidence left are insufficient and hardly found at the present time. Due to the above-mentioned restrictions, the researcher has to rely on the evidence which still remains. Greek mythology is significant one, being able to partially reflect the world views, thinking methods and creeds of those living in the ancient Greek society. What to be significantly discussed is the image of Greek gods. Previously, the gods were created to be different from humans. For example, certain gods appearing in the Egyptian civilization usually had the head of a hawk or cat, whereas those in the Mesopotamian civilization were created to have the body of a lion, the head of a bull, and the wings of an eagle. Conversely, the gods of Greek were created to be like humans.Through the Greek mythology, we could better the understanding in the world views, thinking methods, and creeds of those living that period. This article is principally based on the analysis of Greek mythology under the theory called “Functionalism” with the objective to describe different roles relating to the Greek social context including: 1) Greek mythology in describing the existence of the world and humans; 2) Greek mythology in learning to understand human’s emotions and sex status; 3) Greek mythology in describing human’s perspectives.