I've always been a fan of Greek mythology. My dad was an amazing story teller, and would spend almost every night telling my siblings and me tales about Gods and men. My favorite movie growing up was Clash of the Titans, the epic story of Perseus and Medusa. While other 8 year-olds were worried about boogeymen in their closets, I was convinced that Medusa was going to sneak into my room and night and shoot me with one of her arrows.
But as much as I liked mythology I never knew enough; I'd never studied it on my own. I have to say I'm very excited to start down that path. To start I simply googled "Greeky mythology documentaries" and found a HUGE doc. from History Channel, like 7 hours long. Today I watched the first section, about Zeus, and in true HC fashion there were reenactments galore. The guy played Zeus looked like Terrance Stamp.
Kneel before General Zeus
What I learned: I was already familiar with the story of Zeus's birth and rise to power. So we begin with Chronos, a Titan and ruler of the whole universe. He is warned that his children will one day rise up and usurp him from his power. Chronos, responding rationally, ate his children whole to prevent them from challenging him. All of his kids were eaten except Zeus, who was switched for a rock at the last moment by his mother, who naturally wasn't keen on her kids getting gobbled up. Zeus grew up and returned to challenge Chronos. A devastating war between Gods old and new (Zeus's siblings were released from their dad's stomach. They were fine). In the end, Zeus and the Olympians won out, and he became the supreme god.
What I liked: In addition to the basic history, the doc also documents how the mythology came to fruition and what events inspired it within Greek culture. Historians believe that the Greek Gods were created by a society searching for answers of the unexplained in life; death, war, natural disasters and the like. They created complex stories to explain historical and everyday events. The epic battle between the Titans and the Olympians might have been inspired by a gigantic volcano that erupted thousands of years before that totally altered the physical landscape. Zeus is later responsible for a giant-scale flood that wiped the world clean of evil when he caught humans partaking in cannibalism. His flood may coincide with other religions' "Great Flood" tales, which all might be based on the same natural occurrences.
I'm very interested in the idea that mythology came as a way to support an already existing history, especially when it's to someone's advantage. A lot of Greek and Roman leaders are believed to be the sons of Zeus or other powerful gods. Were they leaders because they were half-gods, or are they remembered as half-gods because they led? How easy would it have been back then, with literacy rates so low and minimal written history, to change history to suit those in power? Imagine if in 1,000 years people thought US Presidents were picked because they were descendants of Gods? What a trip man.
What I didn't like: Nah, I don't think I disliked any of it.
I'm pumped to watch the rest of these. Hope they are just as good as the first segment.
They can be found on youtube:
Let's hope I can make it through the Medusa episode:
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