antiquity

Antiquity

Athena
appears courtesy of Encarta

Myths

Philosophy is the new way of thinking that was developed in Greece around 600 B.C. Until then, people got the answers to questions such as who man was and where the world comes from in various religions. The Myths were explanations that were handed down orally from generation to generation. A myth is a story about the gods that was created to explain life as it is. In the story the forces of good are always in conflict with the forces of evil. A good example of this is the Greek myth of Persephone. Those who are unfamiliar with this myth can find it here. People wondered why there was a part of the year that nothing would grow, so they explained it by claiming that during autumn and winter, Persephone is with Hades in the underworld and Demeter is grieving the loss of her child. When Persephone returns, Demeter is overjoyed and spring and summer occur.

Myths are not just explanations. People carried out religious ceremonies related to the myths. Perhaps during a bad winter there would be reenactments of this story with a virgin being selected from the town and a muscular man �kidnapping� her from her mother in an open field, thus ensuring spring will arrive. This worked well and satisfied the masses until 700 B.C.

The End of Mythology

At about 700 B.C., much of the Greek mythology was written down by Homer and Hesiod, generating a new scenario. With hard copies of the myths, they could be discussed. The earliest Greek philosophers condemned Homer�s mythology because the gods were too much like mortals, and were as bigheaded and deceitful as humans. For the first time, it was said that myths were nothing but human perceptions. Xenophanes (circa 570 B.C.) said that man created gods in their own image. The Ethiopians believed their gods were dark skinned and had flat noses, the Thracians believed their gods were blue-eyed and fair-haired.

During this period in Greece, there were many city-states founded in Southern Italy and Middle-Eastern Asia. In these city environments people began to question life in a completely different way. Any citizen could question for himself how society should be organized. They could also ask philosophical questions without having to resort to previous myths. It was not by accident that philosophy originated here. A huge amount of slave labor meant that citizens could devote more time to politics and culture. This created a movement from a mythological world picture to one based on reasoning and personal experience. The purpose of the early Greek philosophers was to find natural, earthly explanations, rather than unnatural, paranormal explanations.

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