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Humanities These: Greek Myth
Suffering in Greek Mythology

Table of Contents:

Thesis Topic……………………………………………………………………page 3
Introduction…………………………………………………………………… page 4
Hypothesis and Importance…………………………………………………page 7
Definitions of Terms……………………………………………………………page 9
Historical Background and Cultural Information……………………………page 14
Explanation of Stories and Ideas………………………………………………page 18
Analysis: Compare and Contrast………………………………………………page 29
Conclusion…………………………………………………………………………page 31
Sources………………………………………………………………………………page 33

Thesis Topic

I decided to write my Senior Thesis on Human Suffering within certain aspects of Greek Mythology. I have always been fascinated by Greek Mythology and what it entails. Greek Mythology is also a huge reason why I chose to be a Humanities major at the University of Toledo. I find the stories fascinating and the concepts thrilling. My paper will focus on two sons of Zeus (Heracles and Perseus, the Titan Prometheus, Hera’s revenge on Zeus’ lovers, and the mortal Oedipus who was forced to deal with an awful fate. These all seem like very different stories, however, there are similar threads running throughout their words that allow connections to be made. I hope you enjoy reading my paper on Greek Mythology and my interpretation of the topic I have chosen. Thank you.

Introduction

When it comes to mythology, there are a lot of questions that can be asked. For example, how much of our life is truly controlled by our free will, and how much is molded by unavoidable predetermined fate? This is a common question when looking at mythology, particularly Greek Mythology. We know that within the spectrum of Greek Myth, suffering, immortal and human, was inevitable. This was true for both parties because of Fate and not being able to escape it – more on this will be discussed later. These two groups, immortal and mortal, contain children of the gods, titans, gods and goddesses themselves, and humans who found themselves in the unfortunate pathway of the gods (i.e. lovers, kings, heroes, etc.). Because we know that suffering was inevitable for everyone, gods and goddesses included, we must look at the suffering itself and determine whether the type of misery that was endured differed at all between the groups or remained relatively the same across the board. We see two directions being taken when looking at suffering – suffering inflicted upon humans by the immortals and suffering inflicted upon other immortals by immortals (god on god).
In terms of this idea of Fate, we have to specify that Fate is only related to the mortal souls of this discussion. In other words, every human must meet death one way or another. Gods (and other immortals such as the Titans) could not be killed. They could only be sent to Tartarus where they would stay in a deep sleep until something or someone awakened them. Gods did have to live with the consequences of their decisions and actions, but they did not have a set destiny as the mortals did. Another topic that must be discussed would be the reasons behind the suffering. For example, were these actions completed out of jealousy? Revenge? Malice? Power? Control? Fear? A mix of them or none of them? That piece is a key element in understanding the differences between the sufferings that are endured.
There are a few other questions that need to be addresses as well that will go in to the discussion of suffering. Such as, did the Greeks believe in the mythical stories and incorporate them in to their daily lives and routines. In order to understand the myths completely, we have to look at the society and culture from which it stems from. Without understanding the reasons why these people believed and how they were affected by these stories, we can never truly understand the myths themselves. For instance, did they truly believe in the gods, such as Zeus, Hera, Hades, etc., or did they merely believe in a higher power and just needed an explanation for why things were the way they were. Was there a general belief that if you didn’t believe in the gods then something would happen to you? This is kind of where the idea of karma comes from and that you will get what’s coming to you based on your actions.
Another question that I will attempt to answer was stated above – how much of life is truly controlled by our free will, and how much is molded by an unavoidable, predetermined fate? And can we escape and/or change that fate? This is important especially when looking at the life of Oedipus. He was born with this inescapable fate that ripped his mortal family apart. He didn’t even fully know or understand the prophecy before the outcome was fulfilled. This is a similar idea to the common understanding of Destiny. This can consist of anything under the sun; from getting a job that you love to finding your “soul mate”. Destiny is inevitable.
Finally, in Greek myth, we must look at the suffering itself. Again, as mentioned before, we must look at the question “Was the human suffering that Oedipus had to undergo worse, different, or the same as the suffering that was endured by the immortals?” Suffering can be a number of things and can be executed in a number of different ways. This, however, will be discussed later in my thesis.

Hypothesis and Importance

There are many directions that this discussion could potentially take. My first impression, and my preliminary stance on my topic, is that the types of sufferings differ immensely between the two groups as well do the reasons behind that suffering. I believe this to be true because the children of the gods are not necessarily immortal but most of the time they have immortal qualities, such as the extreme strength of Heracles, so their suffering was a little different than say the suffering that Oedipus was forced to bear. They were able to tolerate the pain in large quantities and in higher extremes that regular mortals.
In terms of Prometheus, he was a Titan. Being a Titan is not exactly “god status” but he was still immortal. I believe this plays a huge part in the differences of suffering but this will be discussed later, especially in Prometheus’ case. His specific form of torment would have been unbearable for humans and they would have died. But this is a perfect example of the types of sufferings that an immortal character would have to go through. Suffering, in the eyes of the gods, was a way to inflict their power. If they just started killing people off for no reason, there wouldn’t be any fear because they probably wouldn’t even realize they were dead, it would happen so fast. By inflicting slow torture, especially on the immortal souls that couldn’t die, the gods were technically instilling a sense of fear in their victims and then no one being, man or god, would question their power. Therefore, that is the reason why my initial impression is that the types of suffering differ enormously from each other - ranging from not being able to escape Fate to enduring unmentionable amounts of physical pain. I will now begin the explanation and analysis portion of my topic.

Definitions of Terms

Before we are able further discuss suffering in mythology, we must define a few things. We need to define the terms mythology, fate and suffering and then we need a brief description of each character that fits in with this area of study. To being, let’s define mythology. Mythology, loosely outlined, is a collection of myths that belong to various religions or cultures. More specifically, Greek mythology is a collection of narratives and stories about gods and heroes, which are the two types of people to whom the people of this culture devoted cults (Bonnefoy 25). There are cults that worship specific mythical characters. They even take it as far as acting like they are whoever they have formed the cult for. For example, the Cult of Aphrodite consisted of many shrines and temples and was usually associated with naked or partially clothed women. They would celebrate and worship one particular god or goddess and all the beliefs that went along with that.
Because of this idea, we see mythology touching upon the idea of religion – with its rituals and statues and specific beliefs. The difference with what is called Greek religion is that there is no dogma – this is not a book religion. This was a religion that did not have constraints or obligations, but rather ideas and representations of their gods. Myths are in essence stories about the supernatural in human life with the message of the most ancient myths being that nothing happens without the gods. The stories of Greek Heroes, such as Perseus and Hercules, not only describe suffering and conquest but also help us understand what it is to be human, including all the limitations of the human condition (Lefkowitz 3). Man was essentially created by a spirit but he has become conscious, intellectualized, and individualized, which means that man differs from all other forms of life that the gods are tasked with watching over. This in turn means that man has become a threat to the gods and their power. Next on the list to define is suffering. This can be defined as the state or experience of one that suffers. But since that doesn’t really help us at all in defining the term, we are going to look at types of suffering instead. There are many different types of suffering: physical, emotional, mental, internal, death, pain, etc. There are three main ideas that I will be looking at in terms of suffering. The first is pain, the second is torture, and the third is death. They are all present in Greek mythology and are actually very different indeed. Pain is kind of self-explanatory and was usually inflicted out of jealousy, revenge or fear. Torture goes along with pain but is exemplified when we look at the story of Prometheus. The pain that he has to go through was repetitive, prolonged, and excruciating. Then, in some cases, death turns out to be the ultimate punishment, as we will see in some stories. This is the most extreme case, at least for a mortal. Some may argue that death is the easy way out and you can see some immortals choosing to be executed rather than deal with the torture. Finally, in this section, we must discuss the idea of Fate that is heard over and over again in Greek mythology. Fate is defined as the development of events outside of any given person’s control, regarded as determined by a supernatural power. In our world today, we know of many believed “supernatural powers”. Most people believe there is a God that defines us. Some people believe in angels, prophets, and demons. Some people still don’t believe in any sort of “physical being” that controls our destiny, but rather a rule of the universe known as Karma – the total effect of a person’s actions and conduct during the successive phases (various lives) of that individual person’s existence, regarded as determining said person’s destiny. Well, whatever the belief, most people assume that there is more to this world that just humans and that there is some higher power or being that gets a say in our lives as well. This idea did not differ with Greek myth; rather, it was just another concept to add to the list, except their term for it was Fate. Another major difference is that this Fate was not controlled by the supernatural being. Everyone has a destiny or a path in life that they will walk down – they may know it, they may not, but they cannot control it or change it. And in most cases, the harder the individual tries to fight what they know to be in their future, the faster and more unexpectedly the prophecy comes true. In Greek Mythology, there are three Fates. They have a very tremendous power of getting to decide a man’s destiny. They assign each person to good or evil and decide how long they live. Fate is generally represented by three women, also known as Moirai (Rose 16), each of them embodying a specific aspect of Fate itself. First, Klotho, is the spinner who spins the thread of life. Lachesis is the measurer and she chooses the lot in life an individual will have and then measures off how long it is to be. Finally, there is Atropos, also known as she who cannot be turned, who cuts the thread of life with her shears.
**Just an FYI this happens in the Disney movie Hercules!** Along with Fate, we have prophecy. Prophecy is a process in which a message that has been sent to a prophet is then delivered via that prophet to others. These messages typically involve what is called divine inspiration, interpretation, or revelation of events from the future. In Greek myth, these prophecies can be warnings, threats, proclamations of someone’s destiny, and other things. The people that delivered these messages to others were called oracles. They were generally inspired by the gods and were considered to be a source of counsel or predictors of the future. The prophecies that the oracles administered, however, were often very vague and uncertain and left a ton of room for interpretation. Each individual had to dissect their own prophecy and what they took from it was their own.

Historical Background and Cultural Information

Mythology played a huge and important role in the Greek Culture. These myths did not just come out of nowhere. They were fashioned and created to serve a purpose. It is believed that the Greek myths were created to explain the natural phenomena and occurrences of our world – natural disasters, accidents, poor fortune, etc. You name it and there was a Greek god, minor or major, that represented that subject. The gods were seen as a reflection of the disorder that was a characteristic of nature and, as stated before, the universe as a whole and their actions were used as a way to explain happenings of our world. The stories that the Greeks wrote and told illustrated the complex emotional interaction of the characters of the story with the Greek gods. Originally, it was Homer, the writer, who introduced the general idea of the ancient Greek gods in his famous writings the Illiad and the Odyssey and the influence of these writings can still be seen influencing modern lives today. For example, even scientists have used their names for planets, constellations, comets, etc. and still in Greece today there are believers of the early religion centered around the Greek gods and goddesses (greekgods.org.uk). Each god has roles, tasks, responsibilities, and representations, as well as life stories that are included within Greek mythology. There are hundreds of gods and goddesses, some having major roles and some with only minor parts that we barely hear anything about. Out of all these deities, the Olympians are considered to be the most powerful. There are twelve of them according to the most widely known versions of Greek myth, and these will be explained below. These twelve are considered the most important gods in the Greek religion. The twelve major gods are as follows: Zeus, Poseidon, Apollo, Ares, Dionysus, Hermes, Hephaestus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Artemis, and Demeter. Now, for a brief description of each one; what they represent and what their role is in mythology. Zeus was the god of the sky, weather, law and order. He was the king of the gods and often called the “Father of Gods and Men”. The gods were forced to obey and listen to him, which caused some major tensions between them. Poseidon was the god of the sea. He created storms, earthquakes, and also the horse. Apollo was the god of music, poetry, prophecy, light, plague, and healing. He later became associated with the sun, although, Helios was the official god of the sun. Ares was the god of war, especially its destructive qualities, but was also called the savior of cities. He was hated by the gods and was frequently blamed for murder but never persecuted. Dionysus was the god of wine, inspiration and the harvest. Greeks would pray to him when they wanted their crops to be successful that growing season. Hermes is the messenger god but he is also the god of a number of other things – cunning, numbers and alphabet, astronomy, music, weights, measures, and many more. He is credited by the gods with inventing the idea of divine worship and sacrifice from the mortals. He is also known as the Herald of the Gods. Hephaestus was the god of fire and blacksmiths. He made Zeus’s lightning bolts and weapons used by the gods. He was an ugly god and Aphrodite was forced to marry him. Moving on to the goddesses, Hera was the goddess of marriage. She was treated at the queen of heaven and the female counterpart of Zeus which gave her a higher sense of power than she probably deserved. Other goddesses looked up to her but secretly resented her faithfulness because Greek mythology is full of love affairs and sexual actions. Athena is the goddess of wisdom and battle strategy which made her a fierce force to be reckoned with. Aphrodite was the goddess of love, sexuality, and beauty, was married to Hephaestus by force, and because of this she in turn had affairs with many gods and mortals including Ares, Dionysus, Hermes, and Poseidon. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, and the moon. She is also the twin sister to the god Apollo. Demeter is not usually as well-known as the other eleven Olympians but she was the goddess of fertility and agriculture. She presided over the Eleusinian mysteries and was associated with law and order, much like Zeus. Hades is sometimes considered one of the twelve as well, but his realm is the underworld and not Mount Olympus where the rest are housed, so it is hard to consider him an Olympian. Many of these descriptions and stories of gods come from the Theogony, which is a detailed account of how each god and goddess came in to being, and is the basis for all Greek mythology. It begins with chaos, which it what everything is formed out of. This writing states that the earth will be defiled by life (Diel 91), which happens when men are created. Each story is filled with symbols that force the reader to interpret the words in their own way.

Explanation of Stories and Ideas

Oedipus
We will begin our story-telling with the life of Oedipus. There are many people that are familiar with this tale, for it is very well-known, but it is also very dark and doesn’t really have a happy ending. The best I can say is that it teaches some important lessons. This is also the place where we see Fate and destiny come in to play the most, at least with the stories that I am examining.
Before we can talk about Oedipus himself, we need to get a little background information, such as where he comes from, who his parents were, his story, etc. Oedipus is a member of the House of Cadmus. It all started when Europa was abducted by Zeus. She was a human female with whom he wanted to have relations with. Europa’s father sent his sons, one of them being Cadmus, to recover her. Cadmus went to the oracle to see if he could retrieve any information about where his sister might be. The oracle advised Cadmus to leave the search and follow a cow; where that cow falls, he should build a city and call it Thebes. Cadmus did this and through a series of events was awarded Harmony, the goddess, as his wife. Thebes was a prosperous city where Cadmus and Harmony reached old age in peace (Rose).
However, their lives were not peaceful for long. Their old years were troubled by terrible events that they ultimately had no control over. At the end though, their bodies were changed in to snakes and those snakes guarded the tomb where their bodies were and protected them while their souls were taken to the fields on the Blessed Isles (Rose).
Now, Laius, who was the great grandson to Cadmus, married Jocasta. Laius was a drunk and was warned by an oracle to not get his wife pregnant because she will bear a son who will kill him. Lauis was very careful to not get Jocasta pregnant, but one night he got drunk and she did. When the child was born, Laius left him on a mountainside. The baby was found by a peasant who took the child to King Polybus. The king named the boy Oedipus (Rose).
As a young man, Oedipus also visited an oracle who told him that he would one day murder his father and marry his mother. Out of fear, Oedipus left his “father’s” kingdom, thinking that King Polybus and his wife were his true parents. He travelled to Thebes where a Sphinx was killing people who could not correctly answer its famously well-known riddle:
What creature walks on 4 legs in the morning, two legs at noon, and 3 legs in the morning.
Answer: Man (progress from infancy to old age)
Oedipus understood the riddle and answered it correctly. The Sphinx killed herself out of grief, thus freeing Thebes from the torture it was going through. Out of gratitude, the Queen of Thebes offered herself to Oedipus for marriage. While married, they had two sons and two daughters. Thebes was plunged in to a period of terrible plague. Once again, Oedipus went in search of an oracle to ask how they can end this terrible suffering. The oracle said that only when the one who killed Laius was punished would the curse be lifted (Rose). Through a series of people and events, Oedipus is reminded of a moment in time where he killed an arrogant man who had assaulted him near Delphi where three roads meet. He is thoroughly disgusted with himself and blinds himself in agony after Jocasta hangs herself. Just before he dies, Oedipus is told by yet another oracle that he would achieve the status of a demigod and be a blessing to the land wherever he is buried (Rose).
Prometheus
Prometheus, also known as the Foreseer, is an interesting character. He is said to have actually shaped man-kind out of clay, for we were not here when Zeus came to be (Rose 13). Because of this fact, there was a lot of tension between Zeus and Prometheus when Zeus finally came to power. Prometheus tended to act and appear as the champion of mankind against Zeus whenever he would get a little out of control. There is an interesting myth that goes along with this rivalry and features mankind taking the heat for the arguments between the two immortals.
It is common knowledge that the gods expected sacrifices from the humans. Prometheus tricked Zeus by covered bones with fat and delicious meat with hide. Zeus picked the bundle with the bones and became very angry. He then came up with two punishments for men to endure. First, he took away fire. However, Prometheus was able to help the humans by then stealing fire from the heavens and bring it to them again. Second, he fashioned an extremely attractive woman, with the help of the goddess Aphrodite, named Pandora, who opened a jar letting loose a large amount of diseases, evils, and chaos. Hope ends up getting trapped inside and all human beings are forever subject to the will of Zeus.
Out of anger, Zeus orders Hephaestus to punish Prometheus. Zeus’ new reign invokes fear among immortals and men, so Hephaestus does what he is told. The reasoning behind Prometheus’ capture and punishment is simple. He defied a new rule and saved the human race from complete extinction (Rose 21). Prometheus defended the weaker party, losing his freedom, and is now forced to endure the relentless persecution of Zeus. He had Prometheus chained to a rock and sent an eagle every day to eat his liver and then it would regrow before the next time.
Perseus and Heracles, The Heroes Perseus and Heracles, also known as Hercules, are probably the two most widely known Heroes of Greek Mythology. They were both sons of Zeus which gave them an extreme advantage over other Greek heroes. Their stories are intertwined because Heracles is a descendant of Perseus and it tends to get a little complicated. This will be the slightly abridged version, but it is still very lengthy. It all started with the king of Argos, King Acrisius who had no male heir but only a daughter, named Danae. An oracle predicted that Acrisius would become a grandfather and that boy would kill him. Acrisius has Danae locked in an underground chamber where no one could touch her. However, gods can take the form of anything, and seeing her beauty, Zeus appeared to her in a golden shower and nine months later, Perseus was born. When the king found out, he was outraged and sent both of them out to sea in a sealed chest. That chest landed on the beach and was found by DIctys who took the mother and infant home. Danae never lost her beauty and when Dictys’ brother Polydectes saw her, he wished to marry her, but saw Perseus as nothing but a hindrance. In order to get rid of him, Polydectes announced he would marry another woman and that everyone should bring a gift. Thinking that the man was going to marry his mother, Perseus had no gift and therefore was forced to offer to slay the gorgon Medusa and bring back her had. Polydectes believed that Perseus would die and then he would be free to marry Danae. Perseus sailed to Delphi to learn of the gorgon’s whereabouts and ended up obtaining some valuable information about equipment that he would need and who he really needed to talk to. He travelled to the land of the Moirai, and he tricked them in to telling him where he would find the gorgon and giving him the things that he needs to slay her. Athena and Hermes also aided Perseus in his quest. He then flew to the island of Hyperboreans, cut off Medusa’s head, and from the blood of the monster came Pegasus, a winged horse. Perseus then rode the horse to Gibraltar and Libya and Egypt. Of the coast of a distant land, he saw a beautiful girl, Andromeda, chained to a rock. She was awaiting execution by a sea monster known as the Kraken because her mother claimed she was more beautiful than the nymphs of the sea. The monster appeared and Perseus defeated it by flashing the head of Medusa in its direction – the eyes of Medusa turned anything that gazed in to them in to solid stone. Perseus took Andromeda as a wife and returned to the kingdom of Polydectes where he turned them all to stone. He left that land and went to participate in a contest where his discus hit an old man and killed him. That old man was King Acrisius and by that act, the prophecy was fulfilled. After some time, we come to Heracles, within the same family line. He is also a son of Zeus, only he inherited god-like strength and coordination, so much that he was able to perform super-human tasks. Zeus took so much pride in this son of his that he arranged for Heracles to one day become a god and join the ranks on Mount Olympus. Heracles performed many tasks given to him by the gods and was honored throughout Greece because of his athletic abilities. The birth of Heracles goes a little something like this. Zeus wanted to have an affair with one more mortal woman so that he could create the ultimate hero as his son. He chose the woman Alcmene because he thought that she would bear him the greatest hero of all time. He disguised himself as her husband and lay with her for a while telling stories of battle and adventure. Soon after, Alcmene’s real husband came home and the same thing happened. Nine months later the woman gave birth to twin boys, Heracles and Iphicles. Heracles was son to Zeus, and Iphicles was son to Amphitryon, Alcmene’s real husband. Zeus swore that the descendant of Perseus would one day rule Greece but Hera delayed Alcmene’s delivery and induced an early delivery in another one of Perseus’ descendants. Zeus was outraged because that meant Heracles could not rule Greece, but he made Hera agree that if Heracles performed twelve tasks that he would become a god. Once Heracles was born, Hera sent two serpents to destroy him in his crib. He strangled them both, emphasizing the idea of god-like abilities, and from that point on, his life was dotted with incidents of having to protect and take care of issues that seemed a bit extreme, especially to the average man. Many of these incidents occurred in the city of Thebes, which we know to be a distraught city from our stories of Oedipus. Heracles took a wife and Hera, to seek revenge on Zeus, took over Heracles’s mind and forced him to slaughter his new family. He was absolutely disgusted with himself and severely contemplated committing suicide. To sustain his guilt, he travelled to an oracle who informed him that he would need to place himself in slavery to King Eurystheus, the other heir of Perseus, and perform whatever task was asked of him. Thus Heracles performed the “Twelve Labors of Heracles”. Once he completed these tasks, he was received into Olympus as the son of Zeus. There he met Hebe, and submitted himself to enjoying the life of the gods for the rest of his days.
Zeus, his Love Affairs, and an Angry Hera It is frequently noted that life became a bit harder for man and humankind when Zeus came to power. Zeus is the highest ruler among the Greek gods. He has the capability to control the weather and also the power to protect people or punish those who have angered or disappointed him, mortal or immortal. When Zeus came to power, it meant that he was responsible for populating the earth and nobody could resist his advances, for the most part. Before Hera, Zeus has a couple wives. His first wife was Metis whom he swallowed just before giving birth but allowed the child to be born still by cutting a slit in his head and letting her emerge – thus the birth of Athena. Zeus’ second wife was Themis, and she gave birth to the seasons, laws, human justice, peace, and to the Fates (mentioned above). Zeus then has relations with his sister Demeter, who bore Persephone. Next was Titaness Mnemosyne who produced the Nine Muses. Then there was Leto who gave birth to Artemis and Apollo, but not after a great deal of persecution by Hera. That is when Zeus decided to marry Hera, and she became his most permanent wife. They were very unhappy and fought constantly because Zeus had a lust problem and Hera had a jealousy issue. Their marriage did however bring forth four children – Hebe, Ares, Ilithyia, and Hephaestus. The couple fought because of Zeus’ incessant need to have affairs, and Hera could not punish him for it because he was much stronger than she was. What she could do, though, was punish him indirectly by taking her anger and jealousy out on the females with whom Zeus had affairs with. Zeus’s affairs almost always ended in the creation of new gods and goddesses, and at the very least, demigods, which just means half god half human. When Zeus slept with Leto, Hera persecuted her by condemning her to deliver her children in the land of complete darkness. When the mortal Semele boasted about being impregnated by Zeus, Hera disguised herself as her nurse and tricked Semele in to asking Zeus to show her his true form. Well, mortals cannot gaze upon the true form of the gods and Semele was destroyed. However, Hera did not manage to succeed completely because Zeus snatched up the infant, Dionysus, sewed him up in his thigh and then he was born with immortality. As mentioned above, a fair amount of Zeus’s children became heroes, such as Perseus and Heracles and he was very proud of them but not even Zeus’s favorites could escape the wrath of a jealous Hera. She sent task after task and complication after complication upon his hero sons. One of the most famous of Zeus’s affairs is that of Io. He fell in love with her and seduced her under a blanket of clouds to keep Hera from learning. However, she was not a fool, and went down to Zeus who was standing next to a cow, whom she knew to be Io. Hera tormented the beast to no end. This just goes to show that there is no anger worse than that of a jealous woman or a jealous wife.

Analysis: Compare and Contrast

Each of the stories above gives some indication of suffering for each individual party. We will now look at each story’s version of suffering and analyze the tale in general. Starting with the story of Oedipus, we see a journey full of hardships and overcoming them. The quality of the leadership during the tale coincides with how prosperous the city was. For example, when Cadmus was first king, the city was booming. Then when he reached old age and needed someone else to take over, Thebes fell and became a distressed city. This story, unlike some of the others, had an intense strain of innocence and suffering that had not been merited by those who endured it. In this tale, Oedipus is exalted as a new type of hero. He is bold and resourceful along with intelligent, with a physically impressive trait of being able to withstand an extreme amount of suffering. He accepts the responsibility for the sins that he committed in blind innocence, which is not something you see a lot from characters in Greek myth. In doing this, he accepts the long torment, and finally emerges purified through all the suffering he is forced to withstand. In the Perseus-Heracles tale, we have two heroes who are widely known for their excessive killing of monsters who are terrorizing towns, villages, and cities. Even though these heroes share this similarity, they are still very different characters. Perseus is elegant and impulsive, a dangerous foe, and a hero blessed by the gods. Heracles is the opposite in that he is violent and reckless but has received the grace to enter the world of the gods. Heracles was forced to earn his heroic status among the gods through his strength and skill. He accomplishes all of these grand tasks even with Hera’s revenge breathing down his neck at all times.
These heroes were driven by a sense of honor which is the forceful hand of heroism. They went to some extreme lengths to reach the end goal and the Greeks were always very conscience of this two-sided version of their heroes. It is seen in many places throughout Greek Mythology and teaches many lessons. Finally, we come to the suffering endured by Zeus’s love affairs. These women, mortal or immortal, were tortured by Hera for something that they had absolutely no control over. As mentioned before, because of Zeus’s power, not many, if any at all, could resist his sexual advances, which left basically every female, and sometimes even male, vulnerable to him and his power. The fact that Hera was also, not only a goddess, but a member of the twelve Olympians didn’t help the case of the females very much because there wasn’t anything they could do to escape her wrath,
Conclusion
In conclusion, I believe there to be an immense difference between the types of suffering that was forced upon the various parties of Greek Mythology. I also think that the reasoning behind these acts of malice differed per each situation and god or goddess. For example, most of Hera’s ill-doings towards others were out of jealousy to gain revenge on the women with whom Zeus had affairs with. Sometimes that would mean punishing the child which has physically done no harm to Hera but would just usually want to teach Zeus and whoever he was with at the time, a lesson. In terms of Zeus, his rash actions were usually out of fear. Not fear like phobia fear but rather the irrational fear that everyone who entered in to his domain may be out to steal his power from him. Thus he punished anyone who tried to stand up to him courageously. I think it was important to discuss the topic of suffering within Greek Mythology because it gives us an idea of how the ancient Greeks viewed and practiced their religion. By looking at, dissecting, and interpreting their stories, we find an amazing understanding of what these people thought existed in the world around us. They came up with a way of explaining even the tiniest of phenomena and frankly I find it impressive. I have studied much Greek myth in my life and I found this topic to be rather fascinating. I think that the differences between how different “levels” of beings mimics many hierarchal pyramids that we find in today’s society as well. Only a race as unflinching and intellectually honest as the Greeks could have created these stories in order to explain our world.

Sources

Bonnefoy, Yves. (1992). Greek and Egyptian Mythologies. The University of Chicago Press.
Diel, Paul. (1980). Symbolism in Greek Mythology: Human Desire and its Transformations. Boulder & London.
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Lefkowitz, Mary. (2003). Greek Gods, Human Lives. Yale University Press.
Rose, H.J. (1972). Gods & Heroes of the Greeks: An Introduction to Greek Mythology. The World Publishing Company.

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