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- [man]Mighty Zeus, god of lightning and thunder, reveal thyself!
[clap of thunder] Hey! You're supposed to be a myth!
Alright, today I'm jumping into the swirly mists
of myths where the gods can be a little touchy. From the Greek
word, "mythos," myth means story or word.
Story-tellers use myths to explain the wonders of Mother Nature,
power struggles over who was in control of things, and the virtues
of wisdom, purity, and love as they were told and retold from
generation to generation. Many are filled with tales of
supernatural gods and goddesses ruling nature in the heavens and
overseeing the clash of good and evil. [snaps]
Myths are a part of the genre of folklore
and like all folklore, there's never one correct version. Each
retelling is slightly different and therefore correct in its own way.
Myths have several key characteristics. There purpose
is to explain the natural world and how it came to be.
Myths seek to answer life's fundamental questions, "why are we here?"
"who are we?" "what is our purpose?"
The setting is usually different from our own, set apart from the human world.
In Greek mythology, the gods lived on Mount Olympus, a mountain
that was nearly impossible for humans to reach. The characters
often appear as gods, goddesses, or supernatural beings
that are related to each other or are connected by some event. The plot
involves conflict between the human world and the world of gods and
goddesses with mysterious events that bend or break natural laws.
Finally, you'll notice that myths use opposites;
light or dark, good or bad, beautiful or ugly, that we must try to
make sense of. Origin myths are one type of myth.
They explain to the reader or listener how the world and people came to
be. The stories have tried to answer wonderous questions like
how the sun and moon got into the sky and how people were made
from countless cultures from the Mayan Indians and Inuit, to the Chinese and
Peruvians. Nature myths or pourquoi stories are
simple stories that are common in African, American Indian, and
West Indian culture. Pourquoi is the French word
for "why" so pourquoi tales explain the why's of
nature. Why seasons change, why clouds are in the sky,
why animals are a certain color, and why some animals got their tails. [clap of thunder]
These stories were told to make the world seem a little less scary
even if the tales weren't exactly true. Hero myths
depict heroes and heroines on glorious adventures guided by
the gods and engaging in battles to save the universe from
fearsome monsters. [hiss] The best known hero myths come from the Greeks,
Romans, and Norwegians, but like all myths they're found
all over the world. Greek myths developed from the Greek's belief
that the gods and goddesses controlled the universe. Greek
gods could do anything the humans could, but on a mightier scale.
Zeus...[thunder claps, rain pours] was the most powerful. He controlled the
weather and rules over all the other gods and goddesses on Mount Olympus
and all the humans that lived around it. The Romans soon
adopted the Greek gods, but changed their names to make them their own.
Zeus was renamed Jupiter. Both Greek
and Roman myths feature individual heroes who meet strange
monsters like Medusa, the Centaurs, or a Cyclops
on adventures where they experience difficult tests,
hard fought victories, and disappointing losses.
Some are even mushy love stories. [arrow sound] The tales
taught listeners how to live their own lives. These stories influenced
everything about Greek and Roman culture from art and architecture to
music and daily life. Norse myths are similar to those of the
Greeks and Romans, but they're set in the cold, rugged climate of Northern Europe.
Life in Norse myths is a constant struggle against the
cruelty of nature and the powerful gods and monsters that rules the
harsh land. Here, you'll find a land full of trolls,
frost giants, viscious wolves, and magic hammers.
If you read carefully, you'll find that these myths are still influencing us
today. Look up into the night sky. Many of our constellations
are named for these gods and goddesses. Did you know that our
weekdays, Tuesday, Wednesday, and Thursday were named for the
Norse god's Týr, Odin, and Thor? And Friday
is named for the Norse goddess Freya. Myths are pretty
amazing. Check them out! Because folklore is so closely tied
to different cultures, countries, and value systems, it's shelved in the
nonfiction section of the library. You'll find origin and pourquoi tales
in the 398's. Greek, Roman, and Norse myths are found in the
290's, but if you can't find what you're looking for, be sure to ask your
librarian. Now, I better jump out of here before Zeus comes back or that
crazy looking cyclops shows up! [thunder claps] Ah!
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