Mythology: The Explanations For Life
By: Alex Wang
Myths are more than just some stories that are made to be funny and entertaining. Myths were created to explain life. Each culture and civilization believed in different gods, different explanations, and different places. People from different places would try to spread their own culture, which usually led to conflicts and disagreements.
Parades, sacrifices, you name it! Mythology made people do some crazy things. People would sometimes kill their own family members to make the gods happy. Myths made up people’s lives, who they were, and their personalities. Many attacks on other kingdoms were provoked by the omens of their gods. But, the point is, just having a different religion was enough for someone to kill you.
A good thing about mythology was that mythology also helped kingdoms survive. Kingdoms would use their aspect of mythology as a weapon, often having shamans, and people who would try and tell the future. Countries would attack other countries on behalf of their beliefs, leading to mostly victory. Supplies could be rationed and used in harder years (example: Joseph’s Egypt Plan.)
So who wrote these myths? Well, the thing is, many people would record myths, but nobody knows for sure if many of them are real. Think about it. You could have one guy saying that this myth is true, but how do you know that guy is being truthful? A well known recorder of myths is Homer. He is attributed as the creator of the two stories “The Iliad” and “The Odyssey,” but nobody knows if he actually created them or if he heard them from someone else.
How have myths survived? Myths survived through the writings of scholars, through the artifacts of empires, and through social media. Some of the more powerful civilizations, such as Greece, Rome, Norse, and Egypt, had the most influential myths, though Christianity started to become more popular later.
Myths are stories written to explain natural disasters, nature and many other things. Even though myths may be fake, many of them have inspired inventions that are still being used today. For example, Daedalus, a great deal in mythology, invented the axe and saw. Though our cultures may be different in many ways, we should still appreciate myths, for they have helped us make many discoveries and inventions.
