Influnce of greek mythology on the modern world Research Paper

Influnce of greek mythology on the modern world - Research Paper Example This corpus of materials includes a huge collection of narratives, some of which explains the origin of the world and others that detail the lives and adventures of various gods and goddess, heroes, heroines, and mythological creatures. These accounts were initially disseminated in an oral poetic tradition primarily referred to as written Greek literature in modern world. Tames (2009, p 40) notes that Greek mythology is rich in stories of heroes and heroines who were victorious, gods and goddess that quarreled frequently and also creatures that were usual and mysterious. The Greek mythology provided entertainment to the Greek people while at the same time trying to offer answers to question about how the world and human beings came into existence .This tales were very powerful and provided a great inspiration to ancient Greek arts and materials for their play. In additional, these tales provided important and valuable records of history and provide encouragement to the Greek to take pride in their cultural past that was very vibrant. Tames states that the Greek myths were traditionally passed from one generation to the other orally. Also many at times, poets were paid in order to make a recitation of poems which they had memorized. Later on, these tales were put down onto written .documents. Tames (2009, p 40) The influence of Greek mythology on modern society According to enotes.com, (2011), Greek mythology has continued to exert an extensive and profound influence on various fields on modern society for hundreds of years. The impacts of Greek mythology in today’s modern world can be noted in various areas including; language, sport, literature, psychology, Astronomy, modern Art, Films and Drama. The influence of Greek mythology in the aforementioned areas will be dealt with below in a detailed and comprehensive manner and where possible appropriate examples provided. enotes.com, (2011) Language Even though few people speak Greek language internationall y, Greek mythology has shaped English and other languages over the world. For example, the phrase â€Å"Herculean task† means a task that requires great input and effort. The drug which is known as morphine derives its name from the Greek god of sleep; Morheus.The concept â€Å"venereal disease† has specific reference to god Venus. The term â€Å"aphrodisiac†, which refers to any substance or circumstances that arouses sexual desire originates from the goddess of love In modern days, a woman who may not be beautiful can be called a â€Å"happy†, that is, a winged monster with a woman’s torso and birds feet. On the other hand, a man who is handsome is referred to as â€Å"adoris†, that is, the mortal man who was so handsome that Aphrodite goddess fell in love with him. Computer viruses known as â€Å"Trojan â€Å"have their comparison to the Greek –built Trojan horses, that were used by the Greek to gain access to Troy and end the Tr ojan war.Myth-and-mythology.com,states that the impacts of Greek mythology on language is not confined to individual words in modern world but extends to many other expression, proverbs and clinches . For example, the expressions â€Å"caught between a rock and a hard place† and â€Å"between the devil and the blue sea† both came from the tales about sailors being caught between the monsters Scylla and Charybdis of the Greek mythology.(enotes.com,2011) Some of the other commonly used expression that demonstrate the impact of Greek mythology in modern society include; on Achilles heel meaning a single fatal