Identify what you’ve found, give a synopsis on the myth or individual (god or human) that was the inspiration, and why that that myth or individual was the inspiration.

Greek mythology has continued to influence the world today whether it be words derived from the Greek for medical purposes, parts of the body, phrases, brand names, movies, books, music, poetry, etc.For this assignment, you are to find three (3) things influenced by Greek mythology. Identify what you’ve found, give a synopsis on the myth or individual (god or human) that was the inspiration, and why that that myth or individual was the inspiration. (For instance, if a god was the influence of a brand name, what do you think the company is trying to convey with its use of Greek mythology. In certain instances like in the case of movies, this question might not be easily answerable however.)Please note: This assignment concerns mythology and/or the gods specifically, NOT Greek culture as a whole. I. Hesiod’s Theogony http://www.ancient-literature.com/greece_hesiod_theogony.htmlIIa. Hesiod’s Works and Days https://www.greek-gods.org/mythology/five-ages-of-man.php and http://web.ics.purdue.edu/~felluga/prometheussf.htmlIIb. Hesiod’s Theogony http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus%3Atext%3A1999.01.0130%3Acard%3D585III. Homer’s Hymn to Demeter -https://owlcation.com/humanities/Demeter-and-Persephonemore informationGreek Religion:Greek religion was polytheistic like the majority of cultures we’ll look at this semester. This article (Links to an external site.) gives a brief overview of Greek religious belief. Although Greek mythology is the collection of stories of the gods, upon which much of the belief is based, mythology is separate from religion. The Greeks honored their gods through offerings, prayers, festivals, and they built temples and sanctuaries dedicated to the gods.Homer and Hesiod are two poets that are major sources for Greek myths. Homer is most well known for the Trojan War epics, which we’ll talk about next week, but he also wrote a number of hymns dedicated to the gods, which tell some of their important stories as well as other information. Hesiod is responsible for two major texts: Theogony and Works and Days. The Theogony is a text that details the major stories of the creation of the gods, humankind, and the world as well as the stories of the gods. The Works and Days is mostly a behavioral guide book that also has some important myths. Creation:The following is a nine-minute animated video on the creation of the gods and succession from Hesiod’s Theogony, which corresponds to the first link (I) This story is known as a succession myth whereby one individual or group of individuals displaces the previous generation. Once Uranus is castrated he is no longer able to rule. We saw a similar thing happen with Osiris in the Egyptian creation myth. Once a god is displaced by the younger generation, they still retain aspects of their domain. Gaia is still an earth goddess, for instance, she just is no longer THE earth goddess because that function has been taken over by Rhea when Chronos takes over Uranus’ chief sky god role.The battle in the heavens between Chronos and his generation of gods (Titans) and Zeus and his brothers and sisters (Olympians) is known as the Titanomachy and it’s reminiscent of the battle in the heavens that we saw in the Enuma Elish in which the younger generation rises up and takes over.The Olympian gods are the final generation, and the twelve Olympian gods and their roles and myths can be found here (Links to an external site.). Creation of man and woman:For the creation of man and woman read the three links from Hesiod labeled IIa and IIb above. What you will see from the first link in IIa, when man was first created it was only man. Hesiod details the creation of woman in the next two links in IIa and IIb above. The following is an 8-minute animation of the story of the creation of Pandora:A couple things about this rendition of the myth. We often hear about Pandora’s Box, but it was a jar in the myth not a box; this was a mistranslation. Also, at the end of this video, the narrator says that hope told Pandora she was sent to help mankind, but that is not indicated in the original story.It is not entirely clear whether or not hope is a good or a bad thing. As all the evils of the world fly out the jar, but only hope remains dangling on the lip. If the jar contained all the evils of the world, why is hope in there if it’s a good thing? Although, if it were evil, why didn’t it fly out?The question of what hope is and what it means is a complicated one, and the Greeks were very ambivalent about hope. It’s a pretty common thing to think of hope as a good thing. We often consider hope as a driving force that can help you achieve things or give you something to look forward to. Hope can help us to achieve our dreams.But what about negative hope? This is sometimes referred to as false hope. We like to believe we can achieve anything we want, but is this really true? Most of us do have limitations of some sorts. We could dream of being a pilot, for example, but have vision impairments that cannot be corrected to the specifications needed by pilots. What amount of hope can fix that? If you spend your time hoping for something that can’t happen, you could end up wrapped up in despair for what you can’t have which could then make you overlook what opportunities you do have available to you.Hope also was tied into issues of fate. In Greek religion, nobody could escape their fate. and the fates assigned to everyone their destinies. Hope was seen by some as being somewhat sacrilegious in that you are hoping for something other than what you are fated for happening. This was seen as hubristic, or excessively prideful, by some. To think that you could hope that fate would change just because you wished it to be so made it seem like you thought you would be able to change what the gods had decreed.This is just a couple interpretations of the issue of hope; there are many more. But this gives you a decent overview into how complicated the issue of hope is and what it’s doing in the lip of the jar.Mythology:There are a wealth of Greek myths that detail the lives of the gods, their interaction and affairs with mortals, and the lives of the heroes. These myths are not uniform across Greece nor are they told in a linear form. The stories varied by locale and sometimes the timeline between myths conflict. The myths were also retold by playwrights who altered portions of the tales for dramatic purposes. These myths not only told the stories of the gods and heroes, but they helped explain all processes of life to the ancient Greeks.The following 56-minute video gives a good overview of some of the most well-known Greek gods and myths.The Myth of Demeter, Persephone and HadesMake sure to read the synopsis located in III above. Sometimes this myth is referred to as the Rape of Persephone; the term rape come from the Latin word rapire, which means to seize or kidnap, so this is referring to the kidnapping of Persephone. (This is often the meaning of the word when it appears in titles of myths.)This is a really important myth as it explain the reason for the seasons as well as an alternate experience in the underworld. All worldly events were explained by stories with the gods. So the god of the sky, Zeus, would be responsible for making it rain. Poseidon, the god of the sea, would be responsible for earthquakes or storms at sea. Until the advent of philosophy, which we’ll see in a few weeks, they didn’t question the gods’ responsibility for natural phenomena.The Seasons:Since Persephone ate of the food of the underworld, she has to spend a portion of each year in the underworld with Hades. (Some accounts say three months and others say six months.) The months of the year that Persephone is in the upper world with her mother, Demeter the goddess of agriculture, Demeter is happy and continues her duties in making crops grow. However, the months of the year that Persephone is in the lower world, Demeter is depressed and does not allow crops to grow. This myth gives us a reason for the seasons of the year.The Afterlife:This myth also provides us with some background for the Eleusinian Mysteries, which is associated with the afterlife. Like Mesopotamia, the Greeks didn’t think much of the afterlife; there wasn’t a conceptualized belief for what happened, and there certainly wasn’t a belief about rewards and punishments. Our earliest evidence for what Greeks thought about the afterlife comes from Homer’s Odyssey, which we’ll talk about next week. In Book XI, on his way home, the hero Odysseus, goes to the underworld and talks to various individuals. One person he talks to is Achilles, and Achilles discussion with Odysseus gives us a good idea of what the Greeks thought about the afterlife:Odysseus says to Achilles: “…no man has been more blessed than you, Achilles, nor will be in time to come, since we Argives considered you a god while you lived, and now you rule, a power, among the un-living. Do not grieve, then, Achilles, at your death.”Achilles response to Odysseus: “Glorious Odysseus: don’t try to reconcile me to my dying. I’d rather serve as another man’s labourer, as a poor peasant without land, and be alive on Earth, than be lord of all the lifeless dead.”So what we have here is a belief in the afterlife that is absolutely miserable for everyone involved, even the ruler of the dead. The cult of Demeter, known as the Eleusinian Mysteries, offered people a way to a better afterlife. We don’t know a whole lot about this cult because initiates were sworn to secrecy, but we do know that in order to become initiated into the cult you had to come to Eleusis and sacrifice a pig. This cult was widespread in antiquity, even the Romans belonged to this cult. (This isn’t the only mystery cult to have afterlife associations, but this is one of the most important.)Those who have become initiated into the rights of Demeter could expect that she would take care of them in the afterlife. So through her they would have a better afterlife. This still isn’t some sort of heaven or a place of rewards, but it would be better than the gloom of those who didn’t participate.In Homer’s Hymn to Demeter he says: “Happy is he among men upon earth who has seen these mysteries; but he who is uninitiate and who has no part in them, never has lot of like good things once he is dead, down in the darkness and gloom”So here we have two practical things that are explained by way of this myth: the seasons and a hope for a better afterlife.Other Interpretations:Once Christianity becomes the dominant religion, belief in these myths end as these gods are no longer worshipped and the stories are replaced by biblical ones. But in the Renaissance, people in the west become reacquainted with these myths, and they start becoming really popular. They start completing works of art focused on myths – both paintings and sculptures. The myths didn’t become popular again because people turned their backs on Christianity and started believing in these gods again. They became popular because of what they taught people about life. They started reading these myths and interpreting them as allegories.One of the ways we can interpret the myth of Demeter then is not about the seasons or the afterlife, but it tells the story of a mother and her daughter. Demeter represents the mother whose daughter has gotten married and moved away and the depression she goes through in missing her daughter. Often times marriages involved contracts or alliances between states or countries, and the women would be married off to move to another state. Travel was not easy before the modern period, and it might be years, if ever, that a mother sees her daughter again once she is married. Demeter just misses her daughter and becomes deeply depressed.(There are some interpretations which have Demeter as an over possessive mother who doesn’t want her daughter to get married and move away as well.)Myths in general can be interpreted in a variety of ways and serve to help humankind understand all of life’s processes.