We’ve all heard the stories about the powerful, untouchable Greek gods and goddesses and the roles they played in Ancient Greek times. We’ve heard stories of wars that broke out and spread across the lands. Unknown to modern day, these stories were going to mold and shape our future studies. Both these aspects, gods and wars, in Ancient Greece and the Modern Era, are necessary to observe and evaluate in order to understand how storytelling has evolved.
Zeus, the “chief” god of thunder and the sky, as well as overseeing all gods. Hera, the queen of all gods. Ares, the god of war. Athena, the goddess of wisdom and wartime strategy. Every god has a role in this world. They were the center of the ancient Greek religion. Greeks believed the gods were a group of males and females who were powerful and watched over their lives and homes (“Greco-Roman Religion”). Many people viewed them as though they would bestow blessings on them, as long as the people kept making the gods happy. The Greeks would put in place celebrations for the gods that they praised and feared to ensure harmony with them. They felt that they needed to worship and offer any gifts to the gods regularly. This was to have blessings keep occuring to them. Some of the gods brought fear to the people of Greece, instead of peace and blessings. Worshiping Gods brought a great sense of freedom to everyone. Believing in the Gods was the way of making it through life and having blessings bestowed over each believer, every day.
Wars occur for different reasons, like conflict, disagreements, and many other issues. In Ancient Greece, many of the wars started due to the focus on different priorities. This is just like the war between Athenian and Spartan society, which then ended up creating many more smaller wars throughout the area (“Life in Ancient Greece”). The major war that occured was The Peloponnesian War. “The Peloponnesian War was fought by the Ancient Greek city-state of Athens against an alliance of states led by Sparta, known as the Peloponnesian League” (“Thuydide Writes the History of the Peloponnesian War”). This war led to transfers of whole populations and massacres of others. The Greeks were struggling to recover from the human devestation and other moral turmoil caused by events from the war (“Thuydide Writes the History of the Peloponnesian War”). All wars end up causing emotional and physical effects to people’s lives, even during the smaller wars.
In the Modern Era, there are different types of religions, which is how people view God. Christianity is people viewing one God who created the whole world and everything in it. Islam is the belief of one God who created the universe and reigns supreme over it (“How Different Religions See God”). Views from Modern Era on Gods are when there is only one God who regins and is powerful for anything. Warfare in the Modern Era is associated with the start of the widespread usage of gunpowder and development of weapons for explosives. People viewed this era as the “gunpowder warfare”, since that is what wars were based on.
Storytelling in Ancient Greece was people going through the towns and telling any myths, fables and legends they had. The myths were always about the gods and goddesses, in which they believed. All wars were told to the people through a legend, just like when talking about the Trojan War in The Odyssey. “Tell me, why do you weep and grieve so sorely when you hear the fate of the Argives, hear the fall of Troy? That is the gods’ work, spinning threads of death through the lives of mortal men, and all to make a song for those to come…” (Homer 651). Modern Era storytelling is similar, but the myths aren’t about the Gods, in which we believe in. We still have stories and books about the greek gods and ancient wars, but our stories are usually told to inform and give details that are needed for studies or daily knowledge. Stories are told to us about the wars from history and what went on before the Modern Era. Usually the stories are about the warriors in the war who sacrificed their lives for the country. Every story told in Modern Era and Ancient Greece times were meant to give information for beliefs and studies during the time.
Overall, storytelling about gods, goddesses, and wars, in Ancient Greece and the Modern Era, has helped shape and mold the world we know today, unknowingly to anyone. Our stories have evolved from the different times to inform the people with the information needed for their beliefs on the gods and the wars taking place around them. Gods have changed from multiple in the Ancient Times, to only one in the Modern Times. Being told the stories in different ways, Modern or Ancient, gives sight into how they have evolved over time.