Greek Mythology and Religion Essay Example for Free

Greek Mythology and Religion Essay Mythology is the study and interpretation of myth and the body of myths of a particular culture. Myth is a complex cultural phenomenon that can be approached from a number of viewpoints. In general, myth is a narrative that describes and portrays in symbolic language the origin of the basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Mythic narrative relates, for example, how the world began, how humans and animals were created, and how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activities originated. Almost all cultures possess or at one time possessed and lived in terms of myths. Myths differ from fairy tales in that they refer to a time that is different from ordinary. The time sequence of myth is extraordinary- 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 processes, they have usually been seen as aspects of religion. Because of the inclusive nature of myth, however, it can illustrate many aspects of individual and cultural life. Meaning and interpretationFrom the beginnings of Western culture, myth has presented a problem of meaning and interpretation, and a history of controversy has gathered about both the value and the status of mythology. Myth, History, and ReasonIn the Greek heritage of the West, myth or mythos has always been in tension with reason or logos, which signified the sensible and analytic mode of arriving at a true account of reality. The Greek philosophers Xenophanes, Plato, and Aristotle, for example, exalted reason and made sarcastic criticisms of myth as a proper way of knowing reality. The distinctions between reason and myth and between myth and history, although essential, were never quite absolute. Aristotle concluded that in some of the early Greek creation myths, logos and mythos overlapped. Plato used myths as metaphors and also as literary devices in developing an argument. Western Mythical TraditionsThe debate over whether myth, reason, or history best expresses the meaning of the reality of the gods, humans, and nature has continued in Western culture as a legacy from its earliest traditions. Among these traditions were the myths of the Greeks. Adopted and assimilated by the Romans, they furnished literary, philosophical, and artistic inspiration to such later periods as the Renaissance and the romantic era. The pagan tribes of Europe furnished another body of tradition. After these tribes became part of Christendom, elements of their mythologies persisted as the folkloric substratum of various European cultures. Greek religion and mythology are supernatural beliefs and ritual observances of the ancient Greeks, commonly related to a diffuse and contradictory body of stories and legends. The most notable features of this religion were many gods having different personalities having human form and feelings, the absence of any established religious rules or authoritative revelation such as, for example, the Bible, the strong use of rituals, and the government almost completely subordinating the populations religious beliefs. Apart from the mystery cults, most of the early religions in Greece are not solemn or serious in nature nor do they contain the concepts of fanaticism or mystical inspiration, which were Asian beliefs and did not appear until the Hellenistic period (about 323-146 B.C. ). At its first appearance in classical literature, Greek mythology had already received its definitive form. Some divinities were either introduced or developed more fully at a later date, but in Homers Iliad and Odyssey the major Olympian gods appear in substantially the forms they retained until paganism ceased to exist. Homer usually is considered responsible for the highly developed personifications of the gods and the comparative rationalism that characterized Greek religious thought. In general Greek gods were divided into those of heaven, earth, and sea; frequently, however, the gods governing the earth and sea constituted a single category. Principal DivinitiesThe celestial gods were thought to dwell in the sky or on Mount Olympus in Thessaly. The Earth, or chthonic (Gr. chtho n, earth), deities were thought to dwell on or under the earth, and were closely associated with the heroes and the dead. The lines separating these divine orders were indefinite, and the deities of one order were often found in another. The gods were held to be immortal; yet they were also believed to have had a beginning. They were represented as exercising control over the world and the forces of nature. Ananke, the personification of necessity, however, limited this control, to which even the gods bowed. At the head of the divine hierarchy was Zeus, the spiritual father of gods and men. His wife was Hera, queen of heaven and guardian of the sanctity of marriage. Associated with them as the chief divinities of heaven were Hephaestus, god of fire and the patron of metalworkers; Athena, the virgin goddess of wisdom and war, preeminent as a civic goddess; Apollo, deity of light, poetry, and music, and his sister Artemis, goddess of wildlife and, later, of the moon; Ares, god of war, and his consort, Aphrodite, goddess of love; Hermes, the divine messenger, later, god of science and invention; and Hestia, goddess of the hearth and home. Around these greater gods and goddesses were grouped a host of lesser deities, some of whom enjoyed particular distinction in certain localities. Among them were Helios, the sun; Selene, the moon (before Artemis came into existence); the attendants of the Olympians, such as the Graces; the Muses; Iris, goddess of the rainbow; Hebe, goddess of youth and cupbearer of the gods; and Ganymede, the male counterpart of Hebe. Poseidon, the worship of whom was often accompanied by worship of his wife, Amphitrite, ruled the sea. Attending the sea gods were the Nereids, Tritons, and other minor sea deities. The chief earth deities were Hades, ruler of the underworld, and his wife, Persephone, the daughter of Demeter. Demeter herself was usually considered an Olympian, but since she was associated with producing grain and the knowledge of agriculture; she was more closely connected with the earth. Another Olympian whose functions were likewise of an earthly character was Dionysus, god of the grape and of wine. He was accompanied by satyrs, the horsetailed sylvan demigods; Sileni, the plump, bald vintage deities; and maenads, nymphs who celebrated the orgiastic rites of Dionysus. Also among the more important divinities of the Greek pantheon were Gaea, the earth mother; Asclepius, the god of healing; and Pan, the great Arcadian god of flocks, pastures, and forests. Invocation of the GodsThe ancient Greeks had a strong sense of weakness before the grand and terrifying powers of nature, and they acknowledged their dependence on the divine beings whom they believed those powers to be controlled. In general, the relations between gods and mortals were cordial, divine wrath being reserved for those who transgressed the limits assigned to human activities and who, by being proud, ambitious, or even by being too prosperous, provoked divine displeasure and brought upon themselves Nemesis, the personification of revengeful justice. The saying of the historian Herodotus, The god suffers none but himself to be proud sums up the main philosophy that influences all of classical Greek literature. The sense of human limitation was a basic feature of Greek religion; the gods, the sole source of the good or evil that fell upon mortals, were approached only by making sacrifices and giving thanks for past blessings or pleading for future favors. In front of many a street door stood a stone for Apollo Agyieus (Apollo of the Thoroughfare); in the courtyard was placed the altar of Zeus Herkeios (Zeus as the patron of family ties); at the hearth Hestia was worshiped; and bedchamber, kitchen, and storeroom each had its appropriate god. From birth to death the ancient Greek invoked the gods on every memorable occasion. Because the very existence of the government was believed to depend on divine favor, celebrations for the gods were held regularly under the supervision of high officials. Public gratitude was expressed for being unexpectedly delivered from evil happenings or for being unusually prosperous. Organization and BeliefsDespite its central position in both private and public life, Greek religion was notably lacking in an organized professional priesthood. At the sites of the mysteries, as at Eleusis, and the oracles, as at Delphi, the priests exercised great authority, but usually they were merely official representatives of the community, chosen as other officers were, or sometimes permitted to buy their position. Even when the office was hereditary or confined to a certain family, it was not regarded as conferring upon its possessor any particular knowledge of the will of the gods or any special power to constrain them. The Greeks saw no need for an intermediary between themselves and their gods. Greek ideas about the soul and the afterlife were indefinite, but it was apparently the popular belief that the soul survived the body. It either hovered about the tomb or departed to a region where it led a sad existence needing the offerings brought by relatives. The disembodied soul was also presumed to have the power of inflicting injury on the living, and proper funeral rites were held to ensure the peace and goodwill of the deceased. Within the framework of Greek worship of many gods are traces of the belief that all natural objects are endowed with spirits. Fetishism, the belief in the magical efficacy of objects employed as talismans against evil, was another feature of early Greek religion. Examples of fetishes are the sacred stones, sometimes regarded as images of specific deities, such as the pyramidal Zeus at Phlius or the rough stones called the Graces at the ruined city of Orchomenus in Boeotia. OriginsAncient Greek religion has  been the subject of speculation and research from classic times to the present. Herodotus believed that the rites of many of the gods had been derived from the Egyptians. Prodicus of Ceos (5th cent. B. C. ), a Sophist philosopher, seems to have taught that the gods were simply personifications of natural phenomena, such as the sun, moon, winds, and water. Euhemerus (370? -298 B. C. ), a historian of myths believed, and many other shared this belief, that myths were the distortions of history and that gods were the idealized heroes of the past. Modern etymology and anthropology research produced the theory that Greek religion resulted from a combination of Indo-European beliefs and ideas and customs native to the Mediterranean countries since the original inhabitants of those lands were conquered by Indo-European invaders. The basic elements of classical Greek religion were, in the Hellenistic and Roman periods, somewhat modified and supplemented by the influences of philosophy, Middle Eastern cults, and changes in popular belief (as shown, for instance, in the rise of the cult of Fortune, or Tyche). The main outlines of the official religion, however, remained unchanged. BibliographyAncient Myths, by Norma Lorre Goodrich Meridian Books (July 1994)The Greek Gods, by Bernard Evslin (August 1995)Greek Myths, by Olivia E. Coolidge (December 1949) Greek and Egyptian Mythologies, by Yves Bonnefoy (November 1992) Gods and Heroes; Story of Greek Mythology, by Michael Foss (September 1995) Funk and Wagnalls, New EncyclopediaMultipedia CD-ROM for windows.

Copyright and the Internet Essay -- Copyright, Internet,

Copyright came about in the fifteenth century in Britain, sometime after the invention of the printing press by Johannes Gutenberg. â€Å"The printing press represented a supreme threat to the clergy’s monopoly on idea dissemination; moveable type was the fifteenth century version of Napster† (Copyright Website). Copyright laws were instated to protect authors of various intellectual properties, (literary, dramatic, musical, artistic, architectural) and give credit to the proper author. Over the years copyright laws have changed dramatically, because of the development of the internet. Before the internet in order to be caught plagiarizing someone would have to read through all sorts of literary works, to know exactly where the information came from. These days a person can just type what they are looking for into search engine sites like â€Å"Google† and fine exactly what they were looking for. With information accessed with such ease it makes it almost effortl ess to plagiarize (the act of stealing others ideas, and passing them off as your own), other peoples work without the author having any idea. "The Internet has been characterized as the largest threat to copyright since its inception. The Internet is awash in information, a lot of it with varying degrees of copyright protection. Copyrighted works on the Net include news stories, software, novels, screenplays, graphics, pictures, Usenet messages and even email. In fact, the frightening reality is that almost everything on the Net is protected by copyright law. That can pose problems for the hapless surfer† (Copyright Website). The electronic environment does not change the ways we consider ownership, it does however change the ways in which we use and distribute intellectual propert... ...ze. However the internet is also good in the sense that it can be used for advertisement and giving previews to different types of intellectual property. Internet copyright laws will always be different than regular copyright laws, because they must always be changing in order to keep up with the always changing technology. If you are placing any type of intellectual property on the internet you should register your work so that it is under more strict usage laws and so that you have say in how your work is used. No one wants to put hours of hard work into a creative work only to have someone else take these ideas and pass them off as their own work, this is the main and most important reason for copyright. Without copyright laws you might say the world would be quite a bit more chaotic. Work Cited Copyright Website http://www.copyright.gov/help/faq/

Frankenstein Monologue †the Monster Essay

‘But your not what I thought it would be, I thought I was making an angel !’ were the first words I heard when I came to life. He doesn’t think I’m an angel, well if he doesn’t think I’m good enough to be his angel then so be it. Nobody will be able to judge me, pick on me when I run away, far away into the deepest depths of the forest where the wolves attack. As i ran up to the small house, when I heard her voice she sounded so sweet, she was so sweet. She was the first person who actually cared for me, who actually talked to me without trying to kill me. She believed I was good, then he came and hurt me. He thought I was nothing, that I had no feelings but little did he know I would destroy the whole town. He didn’t even let me talk, he just took one look at me and thought I was bad, that I would hurt people but as soon as he shot me I changed. I no longer was the creature that tried to love and be loved by all, no I was the creature that people would fear most! I would care for no one, as they didn’t care about me. They turned me bad, they turned me evil! I would get revenge, I would get revenge for the very first words I heard. I didn’t think about anything at that moment, I only thought about what I was about to do. When I saw him playing he seemed so peaceful but they are all the same, they all think the same. It was the very first time I laughed. It felt good to finally get revenge on frankenstein, to destroy his world like he destroyed mine. The day finally came, the day that Frankenstein fears most. The day when I killed his brother was the day he promised he would make me a partner. That day 2 years ago was the first time I acted like a human being and I did it out of all of the rage and anger that had been building up inside of me. I would finally feel complete once she comes alive, once I can finally hold her in my arms.

How Jaguar Regains Its Reputation - Case Study - 2953 Words

ASSIGNMENT OVERVIEW Case Study: How Jaguar Regains its Reputation Jaguar Cars, Ltd., is one of the most famous luxury automobile manufacturers in the world. With its sleek lines, leather interiors, and smooth engines, Jaguar is the car of choice for wealthy brokers who work on Wall Street in New York and the nouveau riche in Japan who shop on Tokyos Ginza. The driving force behind Jaguar, William Lyons, was born on September 4, 1901, in Blackpool, a town in the county of Lancashire, England. Uninterested in academics as a teenager, he was on the verge of entering the shipbuilding industry when his father encouraged him to work at Crossley Motors, Ltd., and attend engineering classes during the evening. Crossley was a distinguished†¦show more content†¦The partnership was dissolved, Walmsley resigned, and a new company, SS Cars, Ltd., was formed. The company was incorporated in 1933, and soon afterwards offered the sale of its stock to the public on the London Exchange. Lyons become the chairman and managing director of SS Cars. He assumed total control of all its operations. Although the sidecar business remained lucrative, Lyons kept careful watch over this portion of the firm, and thought it best to organize its operations as an entirely separate entity, called the Swallow Coachbuilding Company, in 1935. With the administrative duties out of the way, and a reorganization of the company complete, Lyons turned his attention to advertising. He wanted a brand new name for his cars that would capture the imagination of the motoring enthusiast. The Nelson advertising agency, hired by Lyons to create a new image for his automobiles, selected the name Jaguar. The first SS Jaguar 100 was introduced in 1935 and, as the company dropped the SS1 and SS2 product lines, sales for its new unit increased dramatically. The firms first all-steel car was brought out in 1937. It featured a broader body, overhead valves, and a choice of 3.5, 2.7, or 1.8 litre engines. 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