Ironically, Apollo who preferred Troy to Greece in the Trojan War could have saved his city. Apollo's anger resulted in his beloved city of Troy's destruction. When Cassandra warned that the Trojan horse would bring about the destruction of Troy, no one believed her, even her own father and mother.
What is truly tragic about Cassandra, however, is not simply that the Trojan War results in her eventual demise -- she is taken by Agamemnon at the war's end and killed by his angry and avenging wife Clymmenstra -- but of all the character of the Trojan saga, she alone does not chose her fate. Paris chooses to abscond with Helen, and thus brings about the war. Achilles on the Greek side chooses a short life filled with glory, rather than a long and uneventful life, and thus chooses to fight in the war. But Cassandra did not even chose her gift of prophesy -- the only choice she made was not to engage in sexual relations with Apollo, and her entire life was condemned to frustration because of this entirely understandable decision.
It is said that after Cassandra refused Apollo, "King Priam did not know what to do with her, so he tried to keep Cassandra locked up and out of the way of the warriors of Troy," because she prophesized Troy's doom. (Fitton, 1998) for the entire war, poor Cassandra remained locked away, filled with knowledge of the tragedies that would occur, such as her brother's death, and without even the comfort of being believed by her loved ones around her. Her "own people and family in Troy mistook her as a raving lunatic." (Fitton, 1998) Then, when Troy finally fell to the Greek invaders, Cassandra was attacked...
Greek Mythology and Feminine Divinity Hesiod's Theogony tells of many goddesses who were wily, powerful and ruled many significant aspects of life. However, the Homeric Hymns to Demeter and Apollo show how limited and domesticated goddesses had become. Though the goddesses retained powers over human beings and their own fertility, they were nevertheless considerably weakened when dealing with other gods. Greek Mythology Limits and Domesticates a Previous Notion of Power in the
Greek and Roman Greek Mythology: Identification of Heroic Greek Myths in Modern Movies There are many effective and functional parallels in modern movies to ancient myths. They make us feel and think about many things. Modern movies that have been successful at the box office are inspired by Greek myths. We see common themes, characters and motifs of myth in the modern movies. The goal here is to identify the mythic elements
There were many other gods and goddesses and other supernatural beings in both mythologies (Meeks 2002). There were godlings, demigods, river nymphs and tree dryads and other mythical creatures, such as satyrs, comprising the entire belief systems. These systems were polytheistic as well as animistic. The system held that every tree, river and every part of nature had a spirit or energy behind it. Hercules was a famous demigod (Meeks).
One such myth revolves around Atlas's attempt to trick Heracles into taking over his burden. Heracles however in turn tricked Atlas into returning to his position under his burden. Eventually, according to Dixon-Kennedy (59), Atlas grew so weary of his burden that he requested Perseus to use Medusa's head to turn him into stone. Mount Atlas in North Africa is then said to be the basis for this myth. It
Using this as a foundation, the Ancient Greeks built a society in which women had few rights and were basically the property of men. But women were only one aspect of Greek culture, a culture that seemed to be based on pessimistic beginnings. Hesiod's "The Five Ages of Man" describe a period in which the world slowly devolved from a paradise into the chaos and horror of the ancient world.
Greek Mythology In ancient Greek, the word "myth" literally means "word" or "story." It refers to authorless tales perpetuated by ancient Greek communities. The characters in Greek myths are typically gods and heroic humans. Each story contains moral lessons for humans on earth that they learn from the immortal gods and various kinds of tragic human heroes. Most often, these lessons either concern morality or an explanation of how a feature
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