Why does Greek mythology mog other mythologies so hard in terms of influence and popularity? What makes the gods and heroes of greek stories so much more interesting than others, at least in the public eye?
the studious efforts by non-greek academics to downplay the homosexual pederasty element>ganymede was just zeus' cupbearer
>>18527842They were just copying it from Egyptian and Babylonian mythology.
>>18527842It was picked up and spread by the Romans
Hesiod just copied MesopotamiansAnd when it comes to theogonies there are dozens of them, Orphic tradition was already in Plato's time 'a hubbub of books'.But yes Greece has the best heroes/demigods.And speaking of Plato, treating him as revelation was quite normative in Hellenistic and Roman period; his 'myths' were more authoritative than most. But this is never pointed out when "experts" talk about 'greek mythology'.Just read Plutarch, who was basically the High Priest/Pope of Greek paganism (Eleusinian Mysteries), a Plato venerator.
>>18527842The armor the heroes wear is a lot cooler than the other mythologies
>>18527842high levels of LGBT representation
>>18527852>>18527843>bro the greeks were all gay and shit, it's not like their concept of affection and love was more complex than fucking
>>18527862What is your point exactly?
>>18527846Egyptian gods aren't as as much assholes to their mortals as Greek gods are so I doubt it. Idk about Babylonian tho.
>>18527842There's no way to write a better classical battle story than the Iliad. Same thing for classical adventure stories and the Odyssey. LOTR/Hobbit have surpassed Odyssey in pure popularity as an adventure story, but I predict that the core theme of disparate native folk banding together to fight an encroaching juggernaut will only feel natural in certain time periods (Bolshevism Nazism industrialization globalization, etc) and will ultimately cause it to fade. Such a theme would have been popular for the Greeks of Leonidas who faced the Persians, but not for the Argives
>>18527910>There's no way to write a better classical battle story than the Iliad. Same thing for classical adventure stories and the Odyssey.Definitely disagree with this, there are advantages to coming to a genre later. The Aeneid's first half is a better adventure story than the Odyssey and second half is a better war story than the Iliad. I also think Statius' epic of the seven against thebes is a better war story than the Iliad and ends in a much more interesting way than any other classical epic, with the gods who have instigated the entire war for their own amusement become so disgusted by the bloodshed that they turn away from the mortals and close the gates of heaven. Only then do things actually start to improve.
>>18527846>>18527876The only parts of Greek mythology that really have a Babylonian influence are the stories involving Aphrodite, and that's just because she's literally Ishtar with a name change. Ishtar's cult had spread into the Levant and Anatolia under the name of Astarte, and when the Greeks expanded into those areas, they brought her into their pantheon, doing their best to downplay her earlier domain over war in favor of just making her the designated thot goddess.
>>18527918It's also interesting how you can see this in things like Hesiod's Theogony. Because she was a later addition with no prior relation the Greek divine family tree, she's awkwardly placed all by herself off to the side with no connections to any other divinity.
>>18527842By the time other mythologies became known to us (written down and translated), Homer already had several hundred years worth of philology centred around his works, as well as hundreds of references and copycats. It was already impossible that anyone would forget about the Greek gods. They never even stood a chance.
>>18527914I was speaking concisely. I don't think the Iliad is the best war story ever in the sense of a gripping satisfying memorable story. I was bored most of the time reading it. A civilization can only really have one war epic. Your average spitballing-shooting listless student will only have the patience to read one ancient war epic. The lone historian who flees the burning city will only have time to grab one tablet. If you have two similar war epics, they'll just get confused and blobbed together. The Iliad just speaks too deeply to the soul of European civilization to ever be replaced, even if the Siege of Vienna or Battle of Hastings is a better read. Nestor, Agamemmnon, Odysseus, Ajax, and Achilles; the priestly kings and wandering warriors, the noblemen defeat Hector and his city of sedentary, patriotic, family men. His city of the Third Estate, the milling bloodthirsty decadent urban refuse, who have swarmed in far-flung to be herders and cultivators. It's the story of the historical first Europeans and no other story can speak to us in the same way. It doesn't matter if neo-pagans or Nietzscheans have made this sort of notion cringe. The story is in our blood.
Definitely the sexy boys for me. But truth be told, making myths and religion popular is a double edged sword.Things have a meaning and purpose and people can be very irresponsible.
>>18527842This only makes sense because of victorian romanticism AND because you're asking in English. Historically, Greek myth did not matter outside of the greco-roman sphere and in the the rest of the world Chinese and buddhist folklore is far more popular, you just didn't ask in Chinese.
>>18527842I think it is because they spent centuries refining their myths in to literature.
Athens in its infancy took the extraordinary step of dividing Attica into neat geometrical districts that crossed over all the natural tribal boundaries, British Empire style. This left everyone confused and deracinated. Meanwhile Sparta was so strict in its observance of blood boundaries that they expelled the Paritheniae even after they served so nobly in the Messenian wars. Like if the Union had kicked out all the 48er Germans after winning the Civil WarI know I'm presenting things unfairly, and if we can Aristotle as representative of Athenians then they were clearly conscious of noble and ignoble blood and racial degeneration. But it was still such a brutal blackpill reading the Athenians, the artists par excellence, were globohomo and the Spartans, who left us nothing, were trad, so to speak
>>18528087Athens and Sparta were both flawed in their extremes. Sparta was too autistically authoritarian and Athens was a degenerate oligarchic (((democracy))). The real answer came along when a certain civilization across the water was able to find a balance in these two very different ways of governance….
>>18528091The roman republic was far more oligarchic than athens
>>18527842Greek mythology is deep, Homeric, philosophical and dramatic. Everything in it interweaves with everything else too.
>>18528091The Celts did it better.They invented soap.
Greek mythology has survived. Most Egyptian, Mesopotamian, Persian, and Arabian mythology has been lost sadly because of willful destruction by Muhumadens
>>18527918What about Adonis? Isnt he related to Adon and Adonai?
>>18528087>Athenians>globohomo>Spartans>tradWait til you read how thr Athenians treated women vs the Spartans. Our modern right left divide, where right means masculinity, capitalism, heterosexuality, and religion while left means feminism, socialism, homosexuality, and atheism; doesnt fit in the Classical World, let alone even in our times. Here in the West today, urbanites are associated with leftism while good ole countryfolk are trad, but in the East its the peasantry that made up the rank and file of communist armies and rebels while city slickers were more impressed and bedazzled by Western consumerism and opulence
>>18527842Because Western civilization viewed Ancient Greeks culture as its predecessor.
>>18527842>Why did the mythology of the two empires that controlled most of the western world become more popular and well known than the mythologies of hicks out in the sticks who didn't?
>>18528091
>>18527842Homer.
>>18527842The Romans.
>>18527944You forgot the void of chaos.
>>18527944>? - Aphroditelol, no Hesiod is quite clear where she came from
>>18527842>>18527918>>18527842I've always kind of wondered why more people dont see Inanna/Ishtar similarly to how the Hindus see Vishnu.Sure Artemis, Aphrodite, and Athena are their own gods with distinct stories and personalities but scratch a little and you find Inanna/Ishtar. Don't even get me started on them mixing Cybele, Rhea and Artemis into that mix also. My bigger question to OP is why pop culture loves eastern polytheism and Buddhist art but pop/youth and especially stoner culture completely ignores it.Its wild, you'll see the Illiad the the Odyssey in any book collection but then you walk into a headshop and its only Hindu art and Buddhist art prominently displayed and reconfigured for psychedelic designs. Hellenic polytheism is a "dead religion" to so many and written off as subject for academics and old people.
>>18530705Yes but it's not from the divine family tree all the others come from with. She just springs out randomly from some testicle blood. The rest of the pantheon has a very complex web of parentage, marriages, and offspring linking them all together in a myriad of ways. Aphrodite has none of that.
>>18527842Because the west is ruling the world right now, and the west had a prety long we wuz moment with antiquity.
>>18531281>testicle BLOODAnon… re-read the story Important to remember also that the ancient conception is that children are “stored” in the balls. The mother adds “something” but it’s not clear.
>>18527842Better poets.
Because European countries and "Western cultures" LARP as being successors to the Romans, and do an even deeper LARP of trying to claim that the Romans were the successors to the Greeks so they can claim thousands of years of cultural continuityAnd European empires became globally dominant so everybody gets fed Greek mythology>>18527945Eurocentric explanation. Chinese, Indian, Mesoamerican etc mythologies were already known and studied by their own respective civilizations.
>>18527842even roman mythology is mogged by the greeks to an extenta lot of plebs think of roman mythology as nothing more than greek mythos with latinized names
