Tuesday, February 4, 2014

Are Myths Invaluable?

Based upon your Cosmogony account readings and background Greek Mythology information, what do you view as the reasoning behind or value of myths?  Please argue, critique, explain, and justify your response to this prompt.  If you can infuse quotations within your response, please do so.  This blog response should be completed during class on February 6, 2014.

23 comments:

Anonymous said...


The reasoning behind myths in my opinion is that they were a way for Greeks to explain life and natural forces (ex. fire). Myths explained a natural and social phenomenon back when they didn't have much to go on. The Greeks valued their explanations because they provided them with some "security". After all they had no strong idea of how man was born and who created the heavens and the earth. Myths are a gateway to the past. They show us now what people believed and how it shaped their everyday lives. We can better see the Greek civilization now for how it functioned.

Anonymous said...

Why are Greek myth's valuebal Well I think that this is the wrong question. I think that Greek myth's are not valubal to our modern day socity. I think that for the time the helped people understand the unknow and give them something to hate for natural disasters. But modern day mtyhs have lost their meaning due to bad translation and cencorship. Not only that but with science myth have become outdated.

Anonymous said...

I think one of the most crucial elements that give myths there value, is the fact that for their time period and culture, these myths served as a basic level of understanding of how the world around them worked. Why the wind blew in a conflicting direction as you sailed.Why the thief somehow ended up getting away? The rain, the snow. They didn't have any concepts of modern science that we have today. And as they served as a timeless tale, they now serve as a window in to heart of the ancient Greeks.They are time-capsules in words.

Anonymous said...
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Anonymous said...

I think that myths are valuable for culture and entertainment. The stories may be far fetched or not moral but hey have good teachings to learn from. Also they have a good entertainment value in that the stories are timeless and have a huge scope. Who doesn't love stories of heroes and monsters being defeated? The only way that these stories are invaluable is in the context of religion.No one wants to worship gods that set bad examples and are just as corrupt as humans. People need examples to look up too. Plus there is so many it would be impossible to make every single god happy.

Anonymous said...

Sometimes I cannot make much sense of the reasoning behind the myths or how they were made, but they are valuable without a doubt. For thousands of years these myths have existed. Without them it makes me wonder where our culture would be? Everyday there are elements of Greek Mythology around us, in our music, advertisements, literature, etc. Also, a large amount or their culture was adopted into ours. This comes in a vast variety from the way they built structures to the philosophies taught. I believe it is safe to say that the myths are extremely valuable.

Anonymous said...

The reason for myths, in my opinion is that the Greeks questioned natural forces or monuments like rivers, mountains, lake, volcanos, etc. or some kind of weather and then came up with a story for it based off a god and his/her powers. Then eventually started making stories for everything that astounded them.

Anonymous said...

The reason that I believe mythology is valuable is because the lessons that it teaches us. Even though we know that a lot of the events in mythology couldn't actually happen many of the lessons that they teach us are valuable to live your life by. For example the story Dionysus tells us to never give up. The way that he is constantly cut down and then grows back stronger means that we should be able to do the same thing.

Anonymous said...

I believe myths were created in order to explain things the Greeks could not such as nature and life in general. Back in ancient Greece, these myths were not invaluable since it gave Greeks a since of knowledge and understanding. However, in today's world, they are somewhat invaluable. We have the modern technology to explain why certain things happen, why we have natural disasters, how the human body works, etc. Just because we can explain all this doesn't mean that we have forgotten about myths. They still provide entertainment for us and inspiration for movies and books. Myths are still told, just not for the same reasons as the Greeks.

Anonymous said...

It is human nature to be curiosity and to understand the world. Every child spends their early years exploring the world around them with their eyes, hands and mouth. They built their understanding based off observations. But simple observations cannot explain everything. As Malinowski stated "All people recognize that a frontier exists between what man can and cannot explain logically. Man creates myths when he reaches this frontier". Early man lacked the tools and resources to explain everything but because that human nature to know all the answers, man created their own. That is the bases of myth, how our ancestors understood the world we live in. It gives us insight to our growth and reminds us of the wonder and creativity of a child.

Anonymous said...

I think that the value of Greek Myths are hidden in the myths themselves. Each story, each myth have a life lesson or valuable information about how you should act and how you should be. For example the myth of Demeter, she is an earth god whose daughter was to marry the God of the Underworld, Hades. But through the peer love for her daughter she was able to strike a deal with Zeus and have her daughter back for ⅔ of the year. Each myth has their own reason, and I think that, that’s the value of them.

Anonymous said...

I think that the Greeks came up with all of the different gods and stories to help explain what they couldn’t. For instance, without modern science they didn’t know how to explain lightning. But with Zeus and his temper they were able to explain this phenomenon. They also may have come up with other things as Legends and stories to pass on to their children. The value that the myths had was the oral traditions that they were able to keep up and it would have given them a sense of security from what they didnt know or couldnt explain.

Anonymous said...

The value of myths is to explain the unknown and give hope and inspiration to people. Even today we sometimes think about the unknown and try to explain things. It was not only about the unknown however, myths about heroes overcoming their obstacles gave hope to people that they could get past whatever they had to deal with in life. Myths made the people feel safe knowing that they had gods protecting them and guiding them, even if they were angry at times.

Anonymous said...

The reasoning behind the Myths of the world are not invaluable to the world or people. It shows us how the culture viewed there history and what they believed in and it shows the cultures around them what their society is like. Today we have referred to the myths to put in are movies and stories so myths are impotant to our society

Anonymous said...

Myths have long been invaluable, but for ever changing reasons. AT their beginning they served to explain the natural world, now they serve as a rare insight into the way ancient people thought and lived.

Anonymous said...

I believe that myths are very important because they give light to those who see darkness in their lives. They help explain for some why things occur. The myths helped explain to the Greeks about everyday features that are on the Earth or in the heavens. Myths give light to others by the use of imagination. Imagination has declined in our time and the use of it is important in our lives. If imagination did not exist than people would not be able to control themselves or their everyday lives. They may not sit still or may find that life is boring. Imagination gives the story that allows myths to be memorable and valuable in someone's everyday life.

Anonymous said...

The purpose of myths is to explain what cannot be explained with fact or reason. In response to the question, "How did we get here?" the Navajo answered that we were born of the original main Gods that rode up to modern Earth on a bean stalk. Whereas in Greek culture, they answered with Gods who gave birth to man during different ages. There are also reasons behind natural disasters, and human emotion depending on the specific mythological culture.

Anonymous said...

Myth as I see them are stories that explain why we are here, why the sun shines, why their are seasons. Although science has proved diffrent then the myths they are still interesting to study to see how they human brain, develops in thoughts about the unexplainable. Looking at the myths as liturature you can also learn other things from studying it

Anonymous said...

I believe the value that myths give us is insight to the human psyche. Even though most modern day society don’t believe these stories uphold truth, they still shed light about the downfalls and temptations of human emotions. But you have to wonder, what makes humankind want all the “answers” persay? Mythology helped people have take back control of the unknown, and mold it into something comprehensible. Overall, myths do indeed benefit society because they show us the idea of “idealism” isn’t truly achievable.

Anonymous said...

The reasoning and value behind myths was to define or explain the question that were scientifically unanswerable at the time. The myths were used as "logic" to explain what was happening in the world. These myth are still valuable in today's society, learning about different cultures is important to understanding more about the human condition.

Anonymous said...

I think that myths were a way for Greeks to understand life and to be able to explain the reason things are the way they are-the earth, nature, life, natural forces. I don't think they are invaluable because they mean something, or meant something at one point to a certain group of people. They may not be as valuable to us today, but at some point they were very valuable.

Anonymous said...

The explination behind Myths of of greeks are not invaluable to anybody in our society. It shows us how we view their history and culture. I think people view myths like unheard of stories.

Anonymous said...

I think that myths had more of a value in the past then they do in the present. Back then in ancient Greece because they gave a source of explanation of things that originally couldn't be explained. But myths still do have value. They do have some source of explanation to children and give them some source of comfort.