Greek Mythology: What it is, what it means and why it matters

This is a companion piece to my “Bluffer’s Guides” to the ancient world, but also to my retelling of the myth of Persephone, which should be published simultaneously with this piece (link to be posted soon, I promise). Because I don’t actually study mythology in itself, I can’t really go into the same detail here as in my little guides, but never fear, you’ll find the same style and the same sorts of things pointed out for you. What you won’t find here is a “who’s who” of gods, heroes or monsters (I might do one eventually but that will take a while). Instead, I’m going to talk about the significance of Greek myths, and I’m probably going to do it in a slightly rambling way, you’ll just have to forgive me that. Since this designed as a sister-article to the Persephone story, I’ll be focusing my attentions on that particular myth and the creatures and settings within it. Not familiar with it? Well if you fancy a bit of Grecian romance, pop over to authspot and read my version. If you’re feeling too lazy to endure my getting my bard on, quick summary: Hades god of the Underworld abducts and marries Persephone, a fertility goddess. Her mother, Demeter, is distraught when she can’t find her and scours the world looking for her, neglecting her duties and letting the world fall into famine. She finally founds out who took her daughter and goes to see Zeus, king of the gods, to try and sort it all out. Zeus doesn’t want to upset either of them, so he tells Demeter that if Persephone hasn’t eaten anything from Hades’ garden, she can go back up to the earth. But it turns out Persephone has eaten six pomegranate seeds (some versions of the story say that Hades tricked her, others just imply it was a mistake). Demeter goes back to Zeus and begs for a compromise, so Zeus rules that since Persephone ate six seeds she must spend six months in the Underworld and six months on earth, and when she’s on earth Demeter lets the crops grow and we call it “summer” and when she’s in the Underworld, Demeter mourns and it becomes “winter”. (Yes I said in a paragraph what I spent thousands of words on, I know, but that’s what description and dialogue are for!)

Image via Wikipedia

Greek myths in general: what the hell were they?

Greek myths are more than just an easy place to find inspiration for stories, or a handy glossary of weird names for sci-fi. The easiest place to start with this is to say what they weren’t: they weren’t “gospel truths” that everyone rigidly believed. We’re pretty sure that no one really believed that there were a bunch of neurotic gods hanging out on top of Mount Olympus, partly because “belief” itself doesn’t seem to have mattered to the ancients. It’s probably better to think of these stories more like Rudyard Kipling’s “Just So” stories, or Aesop’s Fables than the Bible, and what’s more the gods of the stories were only very loosely associated with the gods of the temples. The name of one god might stand for a whole range of different ideas, concepts and individual deities. Take the Athenian Acropolis, the sanctuary at the heart of the city, there were at least four different versions of Athena worshipped there. These could be seen as the same deity, a bit like the Christian Trinity, or as several different ones, but this didn’t really seem to bother the Greeks. Philosophers liked to play around with mythology and hang ideas off it, but to everyone else, it just didn’t matter.

Greek mythology is, of course, not the only set of myths from the ancient world that survives, but it’s one of the more accessible traditions. It has the sex, romance and glamour of ancient Egypt without the confusion, arcane ramblings and the big gaps (we don’t know all that much about Egyptian religion, to be honest), it has the bawdy humour of Norse legends without the sense of impending doom (Ragnarok isn’t a particularly jolly as apocalyptic visions go).

Some stories were treated as historical fact, namely the Trojan cycle, though it was perfectly normal to play around with them, a bit like the Arthurian and Robin Hood legends of England today. Now, obviously a story like the myth of Persephone and Hades is not one of these, it’s a story almost entirely dealing with the gods rather than any semi-historical heroes. So, why did I choose this myth to muck about with over all the more realistic ones?

The Persephone myth in an ancient context

On the face of it, this is just a simple origin story. It explains a reason for why there are seasons, and it does so in a very cute way. But there’s more to it than that. The myth was central to some rather mysterious and exciting religious practices: those of the Eleusinian Mysteries. We don’t know a lot about them, they’re called Mysteries for a reason, but we do know that they centred around the worship of Demeter and Persephone and a certain amount of re-enacting of the myth. Initiates would be shown or told certain secrets, of which we know practically nothing; these people did a damn good job of keeping the secrets, well, secret. The cult seems to have started in the early Bronze Age which makes it incredibly old, which fits with the theory that Persephone is one of the oldest deities of Greece, she seems to have travelled over from the east. There’s some controversy about all this, but it seems (by which I mean, Robert Graves says so and I haven’t heard a better argument) that Persephone, Demeter and Hecate (another gloomy underworld deity) were worshipped as a triple goddess, the precursor to the modern neopagan “Maiden, Mother and Crone” motif, which would explain why she’s known as “Kore” (“maiden”).

Image via Wikipedia

Underworld gods weren’t exactly popular in Greece. Unlike the Egyptian idea of an absolutely wonderful afterlife ruled by noble deities like Osiris, the Greek underworld was generally feared. Most people believed (if the word is appropriate, and it probably isn’t) that they would go to the miserable Asphodel Fields and float around with absolutely no memory of their past life, forever, while evil people would go to Tartarus and be punished and the very heroic would go to Elysium. Asphodel wasn’t seen as exactly a bad place, just rather depressing, and the gods that ruled it were viewed pretty similarly. Hades, Persephone, Hecate and all the other minor afterlife gods weren’t viewed as particularly villainous, more uncompromising. They kept the balance, they kept the dead where they belonged and although nobody wanted to die and end up in their domain, they were necessary. They’re referred to by euphemisms, “the maiden”, “the rich one”, “Zeus of the Underground” and so on; they seem to have been pretty taboo. Hecate and Persephone received quite a lot of worship, but more for their other roles (Persephone as a fertility goddess, and Hecate as goddess of the crossroads, witchcraft and other miscellaneous things). The only extra-curricula job Hades was given was, since he was god of everything under the ground, god of gems and metals. Basically, he was god of bling.

Image via Wikipedia

Hades is a really odd god. He’s clearly very important, he’s one of the first generation of deities and some stories even list him as on of the Twelve Olympians (which is strange considering he’s never on Olympus, but never mind that), but he appears very rarely in art and literature and was only worshipped at a handful of sites, often just as a by-product of worship of Persephone. When he appears in art it’s almost invariably in a scene of the abduction of Persephone. There’s a few generic Underworld scenes where he’s lounging around with a cornucopia, another euphemistic attribute, but that’s it.  In literature, it’s about the same, a few mentions in hymns to Demeter or generic references to the Underworld itself (which was also known as “Hades”, just to confuse things for you). Ovid mentions him a bit more in his “Metamorphoses” but I have a feeling that’s just an excuse to have somebody else picking up nymphs for a change, since there are only a certain number of epithets you can give to Zeus (Zeus gets about a bit, as you may have gathered)! It’s funny really, the Underworld gods seem to be the most feared and hated of deities, but compared to the wars, deaths and personal vendettas started by the other gods, they’re all but harmless!

So why does this myth appeal to us, and more specifically to me, today?

Okay, so why should a “just so” style origin myth linked to a cult we know nothing about, featuring a pair of deities who appear infrequently and were largely disliked, be popular today? And popular it is, it turns up in most anthologies of myths, and seems to be particularly popular with my generation, it’s referenced far more often than better sourced myths like the Trojan cycle. So, why is this?

Well, I think part of its appeal comes from this very lack of sources. We know the general story, but there’s plenty of room for playing around. I’ve found myself writing versions of the story about three or four times, each different in focus and detail. Part of the fun of seeing a Greek tragedy back in the fifth century BC must have been seeing what the playwright did with the story and how the characters are portrayed, and I think that’s part of the fun we see today too. There’s something wonderfully archetypal about any really old stories. It makes them pretty much timeless, change things just a little and you can whack them in just about anywhere. From a writer’s point of view, this particular one has certain advantages too: it comes early enough in the chronology of things to not be overly complicated, Hades’ outsider viewpoint is a good position to look at the mythological world and the fact that he’s so damn strange makes him fun to write. There’s a nice contrast between our principal characters, too, but what really makes it exciting, for me at least, is the number of different directions you can take it: it can be a love story, it can be an allegory for death, it can even be a comedy of manners. And what’s more, in doing so we’re carrying on a tradition over two thousand years old. Pretty neat, huh?

Case in point… Further Reading and viewing

Okay, so time to put my money where my keyboard is and prove not only the popularity of Greek mythology today but also to show how much fun one can have mucking around with it. For the sake of space, I’m only going to include adaptations that involve the Underworld a fair bit, because if I didn’t I’d have a list as long as my leg, including everything from cheesy 70s Heracles flicks to art-house cinema, from Wonder Woman to Battlestar Galactica, and I have neither the time nor the inclination to do that!

The obvious starting point is of course books. Now if I was feeling crazy, I could go and list all the different anthologies that include this myth or ones relating to it, but chances are, if you’re interested in this sort of thing, you already have one. The best book to get if you want a thorough and exhaustive collection of all the known myths and all the sources is Robert Graves’ The Greek Myths. Some of what he says is a bit controversial, but it’s a damn good book to own for reference. I won’t go through the million and ten (or thereabouts) different novels, poems and stories that borrow from the Greek world, suffice to say up until the beginning of the 20th century when knowing your Homer (and no, not he of the Simpsons) was part of normal education, everybody was familiar with this stuff, so it turns up everywhere. Oh and obviously there’s a cryptic reference to the Underworld in James Joyce’s celebrated but nearly impossible to read “Ulysses”, chapter six is entitled “Hades”.

Now to film and TV, a thoroughly modern medium, surely no place for tired old myths, right? Wrong, and stop second guessing me dammit! One of the earliest, and most beautiful, Underworld-referencing movies was Jean Cocteau’s Orphee (1949) a new version of the story of Orpheus and Eurydice (in which the famous singer travels to the Underworld to rescue his lost love, it’s all very romantic and tragic) set in occupied France. It’s a very arty movie, but a good one. Similar Orphic artiness can be seen in Black Orpheus (1959) and the remake in 1999, again modern versions of the myth (I admit I haven’t seen the remake, apparently it’s a bit grittier). O Brother, Where Art Thou? (2000) takes a similar tack to James Joyce, but does it in a more enjoyable way, there’s a scene in a theatre that neatly parallels Odysseus’ descent into the Underworld. On the other end of the spectrum are things like Clash of the Titans (1981) which plays fast and loose with the mythological references, a bit of old Norse here, a bit of Perseus there, a dash of Bellephron over there… but it DOES have a bit that strongly resembles the Underworld, so I’m not cheating. We have a section where Perseus and co travel across the river Styx with the help of a skeletal ferryman (not named but presumably Charon) before ending up in some misty ruins (actually the temple of Hera at Paestum in Italy, but that’s just my architecture geekiness showing through) where they fight a two headed dog (presumably Cerberus lost one somehow) and finally Medusa (who according to myth lived at the edge of the world so we’ll allow that). If that’s not enough sword-and-sandal silliness, there’s also the extremely daft but strangely enjoyable Hercules: The Legendary Journeys (ought to be Heracles but never mind) and Xena: Warrior Princess tv shows and all the assorted tv movies to go with them. I have to say I didn’t watch many of them, but according to cast lists Hades, Persephone and even Sisyphus turn up at some point, and one of the Hercules movies was set in the Underworld (apparently borrowing ideas from his twelfth labour. Even sillier, to me anyway, was the Disney version of Hercules (1997) (no one ever seems to call him Heracles! Damn those Romans) in which all suggestions of Zeus’ extra-marital affairs, Hercules’ labours, Hera’s hatred of him, him killing his wife, journeys with the Argonauts and all the other things associated with the hero are replaced by standard Disney fare, but it’s worth mentioning here as Hades’ biggest on-screen appearance… as a villain. Doesn’t really seem very like the Hades of myth, and I don’t really think he’d be much impressed, but there’s some snazzy animation and the interpretation of the river Styx is pretty cool. Oh and Ceberus and Charon have little cameos, unnamed of course.

Before I move on to other media I have one last screen gem to point out, The Storyteller: Greek Myths was the second series of Jim Henson’s absolutely fantastic Storyteller. The first series had featured John Hurt as a storytelling narrating gorgeous retellings of European folk tales, and is well worth tracking down if you haven’t seen it (a lot of it is now on youtube) but the second series, now narrated by Michael Gambon, focused, surprise, surprise, on Greek mythology. Our Underworld link is again Orpheus, Charon turns up and gets a few lines, the Underworld looks a lot like Asphodel (all mists and darkness, very atmospheric) and we have a particularly cold-hearted Hades and Persephone (with a very snazzy crown of sticks) for our sweet-voiced hero to barter with. What I really like about this series (aside from the nice acting and the Jim Henson Creature Shop monsters) is the sense of an oral narrative in that fine Homeric tradition. Plus, there’s an episode based on the Daedelus and Icarus myth in which Derek Jacobi pulls a really heart-rending performance, well worth seeking out.

Now, I realise I’ve been rambling a bit, so I’ll cut past comics and websites and turn to the combination of the two: webcomics. Now this is a medium that’s very new and very creator-orientated so it’s a great illustration of my point earlier that slightly-geeky artists of my generation love the Hades and Persephone myth. My personal favourite is Dis: Life is Hell an ongoing piece by a very talented artist named JoJo Seames. It’s very funny, combining the trappings of the modern world with a detailed knowledge of myth and history. Her interpretations of the characters are great; Hades is a caffeine-addicted, ineffective bureaucrat while Persephone is a plump, cheerful hippie chick. Her version of Hermes is a scream too (and be sure to check out all her galleries, some very witty stuff there). A completely different, but still modernised version, comes with deviantartist a-gnosis’ Greek Mythology series. Not strictly a webcomic, but a series of minicomics on the web so yes I’m cheating again, but it’s fun work. Her comics are ancient in clothing and setting, but modern in attitude, here we have Hades and Persephone as a pair of misanthropic misfits.

And that’s it for my little ramble about Greek myths. Thanks for reading. Normal service of relatively-well-informed pieces on archaeology will return shortly, and in the meantime, I’ll leave you with one more little treat below. Io Aidoneos!

“Land of the Dead” by Voltaire, Greek mythological references galore!