What makes up the culture of mankind? You should not think only about a separate country with its own customs, because culture is something that has been passed down from generation to generation, supplemented and polished by time. Mythology is part of the world heritage. Each nation, to one degree or another, made an effort to write at least a line of its own story into one of these narratives. Therefore, in abundance in them we find the names of mythological heroes, kings, gods and various creatures. The more a person has developed, the further the plots of stories come in, the heroes become more courageous, and the evil forces are more violent.
Myth: fairy tale, philosophy and religion
Culturologists are still arguing: some believe that myth is a personification of religion, others believe that this is nothing more than a fairy tale, because in life there simply cannot be what is described in the works of ancient Greek unknown authors.
However, it turns out that science fiction, religion, and even philosophy - everything is present in it, so we can say that this is a collective creation of the people, not the thoughts of a specific person. The authors only wrote down such a chronicle in order to convey centuries of experience to their followers.
Mythology is not a fairy tale, because it is a conscious, believable fiction, a man invented heroes, worked out each image on purpose. And, even despite the presence of fantastic moments, such a work is read as completely independent, serious. But this is not a religion at all, because the myth appeared long before the gods appeared as an unattainable and incomprehensible phenomenon - in the works we see humanized and completely not ideal deities. There is also a difference from philosophy, because the latter seeks to explain the world, and the ancient Greeks took everything for granted: if a mythological hero ascended to Heaven, then this is necessary and no questions asked.
Consequently, these narratives are a product of the formation of human consciousness as a whole, consisting of several factors.
The concept of heroism in ancient Greece
For ancient people, the idea of heroism was, to put it mildly, a little strange, because the heroes were not considered to be those who saved the child from the clutches of an angry siren or pulled a kitten from a blazing hut.
The mythological heroes of Greece are the sons of gods and mortals, and only because of such kinship should they be courageous, honest and noble. In another way they are called demigods, who have the opportunity to rise to Olympus.
The ancient Greek mythological hero appears in the second period of the development of ancient culture, this is the so-called mythology of patriarchy. Just then, a new worldview of a person began to take shape, values and faith changed. People believed that the gods exist only in order to protect people from evil creatures, but not always omniscient and omnipotent deities were brave defenders of the human race. Therefore, heroes were “assigned” to the role of saviors, their task was to help the gods. The heavenly forces were immortal and they had nothing to fear, while the heroes could die, and only glory could give them eternal life in the memory of the people. In other words, the sons of men and gods performed feats for their selfish ends. So to speak, both to themselves and to people.
The legend of Daedalus and Icarus - heroes of myths who wanted to rise to the sun itself
Where does a person have a craving for flight? It turns out that the desire to flutter like a bird arose among ancient people, and it was embodied in narratives where the main characters were mythological heroes who were the first to ascend to heaven. Pioneers in the field of flight are Daedalus and his son Icarus.
A talented artist named Daedalus once lived in Athens. He gave mankind beautiful buildings and elaborate stone sculptures, before him mankind did not know the man-made beauty. His nephew also worked in his workshop, who was also able to invent and bring to life. Once a man and a young man went to see the city from the top of the Acropolis, but the guy fell into trouble and fell down and crashed.
People staged a lynching, branded the artist, and he decided to leave the city, because he could not tolerate reproaches from the people. On his ship, the master sailed to Crete and, with a request to allow him to stay, went to King Minos. He was only glad to such a guest, but, contrary to all kindness, Daedalus felt like a slave on the island, because the king did not let the man go home.
Often the inventor sat on the seashore and thought about ways to leave this cursed place. And after reflection, he decided that he could fly away from here through the sky like a bird. The artist collected many feathers and created two pairs of wings: for himself and for his son Icarus. Early in the morning, the young man and father left Crete, Daedalus told his son to hold on to him and not fly close to the sun, because at noon the daylight rose high and burned too hot. However, Icarus did not heed the advice of his father and decided to fly above heaven itself. The wax with which the feathers were fastened melted under the hot rays of the sun, and the wings went out of order. No matter how the guy tried to grab hold of the air - nothing worked, he fell into the sea and drowned. His father saw only white feathers from the wings of his son, like snow falling on the surface of a calm sea.
Daedalus and Icarus are mythological heroes who were the first to ascend to heaven, but such an adventure turned into a tragedy not only for the young man, but also for the inventor himself, because after the tragic death of his son, Daedalus cursed his creations.
Hercules
Hercules is perhaps the most revered mythological hero of all. Sometimes he is extolled even more than the gods themselves, because on his account more deeds than ordinary Greek deities.
His mother was the mortal woman Alkmena, and Zeus himself was the father, so from childhood their son possessed truly incredible strength. Thanks to this, he was able to accomplish the famous 12 feats.
Achilles
This is another mythological hero that Homer described in his Illiad. In it, he assigned this brave warrior a huge and important role. Myths about Achilles show the reader how strong his love for his homeland, friends and family was. But nevertheless, his positive traits and feelings sometimes coexist with negative ones. For example, unimaginable cruelty, as is the case with Hector.
Odysseus
This character of the homeric “Odyssey” cannot be ignored, because when you read the work, you see the image of a brave warrior, ready to do anything to return to his homeland. He was described as an intellectual hero, a sage and a great speaker.
The mythological hero is not just a character of fictional stories, it is an ideal that ancient people aspired to. It is strange that ordinary people or demigods were better for the ancient Greeks than the gods themselves.