Greek Mythology - Book Report/Review Example

April 7, Greek Mythology Introduction Mythology represents sacred stories that teach life’s lessons to the people. The paper delves with two Greek myths. The paper focuses on the Helen_of Troy myth and the Pandora’s_Box myth. Myth popularity is grounded on helping explain and resolve everyday human issues. Greek_Myths Helen_of Troy The Iliad as well as Odyssey myth continues to fascinate people of all time periods. The myth includes the story of the face of Queen Helen had launched several ships. The story shows the defending Troy’s soldiers build high walls to protect against unexpected invaders. The story shows the creativity of the soldiers’ attack strategy. The attack strategy included using any possible means needed to penetrate the high protective walls of Troy. The attackers perfectly devised a plan to enter the protective walls. The Greeks built and hid inside the Trojan horses. Further, the story shows people often committed avoidable mistakes. When Troy’s soldiers saw the Trojan horse, they erroneously brought the horse inside the walls, thinking the horses were gifts or trophies. The story shows one of the Greek attack strategies was to send the invincible Achilles as the leader of the attacking Spartan forces. The well trained Achilles fearlessly used his well advanced fighting skills to lead the winning assault against the defenders of the walled Troy community. Greek King Menelaus retaliated for the treacherous act of Paris by sending Achilles and the other Greek soldiers to regain Menelaus’ wife, Helen, from her new lover, Troy Prince Paris. The Troy story unexpectedly ends with the Greek soldiers overpowering and killing the soldiers of Troy. To understand why several ships were sent to retrieve Sparta’s Queen Helen, the Greek Iliad myth states that when Helen was of marrying age, several suitors from different countries came to win Helen’s hand in marriage. To ensure many suitors will join the contest, the suitors agreed to protect the winner of the contest. Prince Menelaus won the contest and was rewarded with the contest price, Helen’s hand in marriage. Both Helen and Menelaus rightfully ruled Sparta as the nation’s king and queen. When Paris saw Helen, he was only fighting against his human carnal desire to have the most beautify women of his time by Paris’ side. Furthermore, the myth correctly continues with Achilles successfully avenging the taking of Paris from Achilles’ King Menelaus. Barbaric or even civilized human society normally dictates that justice must prevail at all times. Consequently, Achilles challenges Paris to an honorable one on one fight. As expected, the invincible Achilles easily kills Paris in the honorable fight. Society also dictates that people prioritize a decent burial their loved ones. Troy’s King requests Achilles to deliver dignity to Troy’s prince Paris by allowing the Troy King’s request to give Paris an honorable burial. Achilles rightfully consented to the Troy king’s petition to give Paris a noble birth. The moral lesson of the story is that people must be accountable for their every action or non-action. Society correctly responds to each action of certain individuals, communities or groups. Paris’ eloping with Greek Queen Helen resulted to the avoidable destruction of Troy. Had Paris not brought Helen from Menelaus’ comfortable arms to Troy, the king could not find any reason to send a thousand ships to attack the very effectively reinforced Troy community. Further, the ten year Greek Helen of Troy Iliad story ended with a goodwill gift, the Trojan horse. The people of troy interpreted the horse as a sign of goodwill and defeat from the departed soldiers. However, the horse contained hidden soldiers. The soldiers opened the gates in the middle of the night to let their fellow soldiers enter and destroy the city as the Troy residents celebrated the departure of the attacking soldiers. Today people use the term Trojan horse to mean treachery, an object that brings destruction to the gift receiver (Storm 81). Today, often regret something that they previous did or did not do. This is the essence of the Iliad’s Greek Trojan horse plot. Some individuals may impulsively undertake a task that reaped unfavorable effects. Consequently, the same individuals rely on hope that the right steps will remedy the effects of the impulsively erroneous acts (Korkidakis 82). Additionally, the Helen_of Troy myth helps sharpen my own attitude regarding the above issues. First, I must have goodwill with all people. Goodwill means avoiding acts that may harm or anger the other person. My attitude of goodwill is grounded on benevolence for other people. A benevolent person does his best to help people during their time of need. The people see the Trojan horse as a goodwill gesture from the attacking soldiers who had disappeared. The Troy soldiers believed the soldiers left Troy and gave the Trojan horse as a goodwill gift. Further, the story sharpens my attitude towards transacting with other people. I will do my best to achieve my desired goals and objectives in life. Just like, the Greek’s use of the Trojan horse to solve their predicament, how to enter the strong walls of Troy’s city, I will use the best option available to immediately resolve all future problems, issues, hindrances, or misfortunes. Pandora’s_Box The Greek myth, Pandora’s Box, is a very popular Greek tale (Cooper 1). The story states that two brother gods loved the companionship of one another. Zeus’ chaining Promethius resulted to the loneliness of Promethius’ brother, Epimetheus. To remove the loneliness, Zeus ordered the creation of a woman for Epimetheus. The woman’s name is Pandora. On the wedding of both Epimetheus and Pandora, Zeus rightfully gave the newlyweds a box. Zeus correctly ordered that both spouses should never open the box. Out of curiosity, Pandora could not resist the temptation. Pandora opened the box. The contents of the box had escaped into our world. The contents of the box sadly contained the avoidable diseases, jealousness, ailments, and hate. Finding that she violated Zeus’ order (do not open the box), Pandora tried to immediately close the box lead. However, it was too late. When Epimetheus reached the side of his crying wife, Pandora opened the box to show Epimetheus that the box contents had escaped. However, the second box opening freed hope. The story poignantly shows that people normally rely on hope to help overcome the health and other issues hindering the full potential of the average person. The Pandora’s_box poem poignantly ends espousing hope allows the Greek people to successfully cope with the effects of the measles, greed, pain, old age, jealousy and other related issues (History for Kids 1). Further, the Pandora’s_box story tries to resolve the Greece people’s societal issues. One of the significant issues is sickness. Greek society tried to explain the reasons for the Greek people’s suffering from avoidable ailments. The same story tried to show the cause of the people’s jealousy over seemingly trivial issues. Likewise, the same story explains the reason for the hate prevailing over the Greek community. The Pandora’s_box lesson is that one should not open any box that one did not initially close. Curiosity led to the opening of the box. Curiosity triggered negative effects on the community, the release of the avoidable ailments. The story brings out a very important lesson to the Greek people. The Greek people are adept at doing their best to overcome life’s many trials. When a relative is sick, everyone must contribute to the patient’s health improvement. Moreover, the same story helps decision makers face the issue of wars or impending battles. Whenever, an invading force unexpectedly invades the country or community, the defenders must do their best to protect their community. Community protection includes the protection of one’s spouse and children. Protection includes helping people within the community defend against the uninvited invaders by fighting as a community (Cooper 1). In addition, Pandora’s reaction typifies the normal human person. When the average person sees a box, he or she curiously wants to see the contents of the box. Every reader of book will sympathize with the Pandora. The average person may think that a box may contain precious jewels. Others may think that the box may contain candies or other food items. As the days wore on, the average person’s curiosity as to the contents of the closed box increases. Finally, the average person may succumb to the temptation to peek into the closed box. The story vividly shows that people, especially the Greek people, can unintentionally make mistakes and often disobey prescribed standards (Stephens 80). However, the same people can reach out for hope to remedy the effects of disobedience and mistakes. One’s mistakes or disobedience can lead to difficulties and other ill effects. However, people can hope that they can muster enough strength to overcome the avoidable consequences. The story shows that justice is real in Greek society. Justice includes the people’s ability to rise above every dilemma. For example, the family must never think of ever giving up of life when a financial crisis brings the average family to the brink of bankruptcy. Instead, the family must pick the best alternative among several offered solutions. The solution includes seeking help from those who have the capacity to help the people in their time of most need. For example, Dora recalled she heard the Greek story of Pandora’s_box. Consequently, Dora hoped that she would someday find in Hope_Haven, Florida her own Pandora’s_box so she could let hope escape and help alleviate many of her own life’s difficulties and dilemmas (Mariani 12). The above story sharpens my attitude towards the above issues. My attitude is to accept that many external factors in life. The external factors include the possibility that my family members may suffer from ailments. One of the factor s that will unnecessarily restrict my full performance is jealousy. Jealousy at home, in the work place, or in school trigger angry reactions. Consequently, jealousy may generate unfavorable consequences on myself, family, or close associates. The story gives me the strength to hope that the future will favorably lead to the destruction of all factors that prevent me from giving my best in every task. The story shows that people like me can successfully hope that everything will turn out fine in the near foreseeable future. Conclusion Mythology includes life’s lessons. The Helen_of Troy myth places importance on the effects of every person’s or group’s actions or non-actions. The Pandora’s_box myth shows the reasons for the world’s current issues or dilemmas. Evidently, the Greek myths correctly discuss and offer remedies or solutions to overcome the world’s current issues, dilemmas, problems, or obstacles. Works Cited: Clark, Matthew. Exploring Greek Myth. New York: J. Wiley & Sons Press, 2012.Print. Cooper, Judy. Pandoras Box. Bloomingdale: Authorhouse Press, 2011. Print. History for Kids. Pandora’s Box. Retrieved April 16, 2015 from < http://www.history-for-kids.com/pandoras-box-poem.html > Hughes, Bettany. Helen of Troy. New York: Knopf Press, 2009. Print. Korkidakis, Jon. The Trojan Horse of Leadership. Jacksonville: Axia Press, 2014. Print. Mariani, Camille. Pandora’s Hope. Bloomingdal: IUniverse Press, 2007. Print. Stephens, John. Retelling Stories. New York: Routledge Press, 2013. Print. Storm, Jo. Frak You!. Toronto: ECW Press, 2007. Print. Read More