View source for Classical mythology

{{Short description|Study of myths of the Greeks and Romans}}
[[File:Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre - Le Rapt d'Europe.jpg|thumb|301x301px|''Le Rapt d'Europe'' ("The Abduction of [[Europa (mythology)|Europa]]," 1750) by [[Jean-Baptiste Marie Pierre]] ''([[Dallas Museum of Art]])'']]
'''Classical mythology''', also known as '''Greco-Roman mythology''' or '''Greek and Roman mythology''', is the collective body and study of [[myth]]s from the [[ancient Greeks]] and [[ancient Romans]]. Mythology, along with [[Ancient Greek philosophy|philosophy]] and [[History of political thinking|political thought]], is one of the major survivals of [[classical antiquity]] throughout later, including modern, [[Western culture]].<ref>Entry on "mythology" in ''The Classical Tradition'', edited by [[Anthony Grafton]], [[Glenn W. Most]], and Salvatore Settis (Harvard University Press, 2010), p. 614 ''et passim''.</ref> The Greek word ''mythos'' refers to the spoken word or speech, but it also denotes a tale, story or narrative.<ref>{{Cite web |title=Basic Aspects of the Greek Myths - Greek Mythology Link |url=http://www.maicar.com/GML/BasicAspects.html |access-date=2016-12-07 |website=www.maicar.com}}</ref>

As late as the [[Roman conquest of Greece]] during the last two centuries [[Before the Common Era]] and for centuries afterwards, the Romans, who already had gods of their own, adopted many mythic narratives directly from the Greeks while preserving their own Roman (Latin) names for the gods. As a result, the actions of many Roman and Greek deities became equivalent in storytelling and literature in modern Western culture. For example, the Roman sky god [[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]] or Jove became equated with his Greek counterpart [[Zeus]]; the Roman fertility goddess [[Venus (mythology)|Venus]] with the Greek goddess [[Aphrodite]]; and the Roman sea god [[Neptune (mythology)|Neptune]] with the Greek god [[Poseidon]].

[[Latin]] remained the dominant language in [[Europe]] during the [[Middle Ages]] and [[Renaissance]], largely due to the widespread influence of the [[Roman Empire]]. During this period, mythological names almost always appeared in their Latin form. However, in the 19th century, there was a shift towards the use of either the Greek or Roman names.<ref>Francis Haskell and Nicholas Penny, ''Taste and the Antique: The Lure of Classical Sculpture 1500-1900'' (Yale University Press, 1981, 1998), p. xv.</ref> For example, "[[Zeus]]" and "[[Jupiter (mythology)|Jupiter]]" both became widely used in that century as the name of the supreme god of the classical [[Pantheon (gods)|pantheon]].

==Classical myth==
{{Further information|Greek mythology|Roman mythology}}

The stories and characters found in Greco-Roman mythology are not considered real in terms of the same way that historical or scientific facts are real. They are not factual accounts of events that occurred. Instead, Greco-Roman mythology is a collection of ancient stories, legends, and beliefs that were created by the people of ancient Greece and Rome to explain aspects of the world around them, express cultural values, and provide a framework for understanding their existence. These myths often involve gods, heroes, goddesses, afterwar appearances, and other supernatural beings, and they were an integral part of the religious and cultural practices of the time. While these myths are not considered historically accurate, they hold cultural and literary significance.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hezser |first1=Catherine |title=Ancient "Science Fiction": Journeys into Space and Visions of the World in Jewish, Christian, and Greco-Roman Literature of Antiquity |date=1 Jan 2013 |publisher=Brill |isbn=9789004236394 |pages=343–348 |url=https://brill.com/display/book/edcoll/9789004236394/B9789004236394-s016.xml}}</ref>

[[Greek mythology|Greek myths]] were narratives related to [[Religion in ancient Greece|ancient Greek religion]], often concerned with the actions of [[List of Greek deities|gods]] and other supernatural beings and of [[Greek hero cult|heroes]] who transcend human bounds.  Major sources for Greek myths include the [[Homeric epics]], that is, the ''[[Iliad]]'' and the ''[[Odyssey]]'', and the [[Greek tragedy|tragedies]] of [[Aeschylus]], [[Sophocles]], and [[Euripides]]. Known versions are mostly preserved in sophisticated literary works shaped by the artistry of individuals and by the conventions of [[literary genre|genre]], or in [[Pottery of ancient Greece|vase painting]] and other forms of visual art. In these forms, mythological narratives often serve purposes that are not primarily religious, such as entertainment and even comedy (''[[The Frogs]]''), or the exploration of social issues (''[[Antigone (Sophocles)|Antigone]]'').

[[Roman mythology|Roman myths]] are traditional stories pertaining to [[ancient Rome]]'s [[founding of Rome|legendary origins]], [[Religion in ancient Rome|religious institutions]], and [[mos maiorum|moral models]], with a focus on human actors and only occasional intervention from deities but a pervasive sense of divinely ordered destiny. Roman myths have a dynamic relation to [[Roman historiography]], as in the early books of [[Livy]]'s ''[[Ab urbe condita (book)|Ab urbe condita]]''.<ref>[[Alexandre Grandazzi]], ''The Foundation of Rome: Myth and History'' ([[Cornell University Press]], 1997), pp. 45–46.</ref> The most famous Roman myth may be the birth of [[Romulus and Remus]] and the founding of the city, in which [[fratricide]] can be taken as expressing the long history of political division in the [[Roman Republic]].<ref>[[T.P. Wiseman]], ''Remus: A Roman Myth'' (Cambridge University Press, 1995) ''passim''.</ref>

As late as the [[Hellenistic period]] of Greek influence and primarily through the [[Roman conquest of Greece]],<ref>Rengel, Marian; Daly, Kathleen N. (2009). ''[https://books.google.com/books?id=c7cNB-JaZA8C&q=%22Hellenization%20refers%22 Greek and Roman Mythology, A to Z]''. United States: Facts On File, Incorporated. p. 66.</ref> the Romans identified [[List of Roman deities|their own gods]] with those of the Greeks, keeping their own Roman names but adopting the Greek stories told about them (see ''[[interpretatio graeca]]'') and importing other myths for which they had no counterpart. For instance, while the [[Greek god]] [[Ares]] and the [[Ancient peoples of Italy|Italic]] god [[Mars (mythology)|Mars]] are both [[war god|war deities]], the role of each in his society and its religious practices differed often strikingly; but in literature and [[Roman art]], the Romans reinterpreted stories about Ares under the name of Mars. The literary collection of Greco-Roman myths with the greatest influence on later Western culture was the ''[[Metamorphoses]]'' of the [[Augustan literature (ancient Rome)|Augustan poet]] [[Ovid]].

Syncretized versions form the classical tradition of [[mythography]], and by the time of the influential [[Renaissance]] mythographer [[Natalis Comes]] (16th century), few if any distinctions were made between Greek and Roman myths. The myths as they appear in popular culture of the 20th and 21st centuries often have only a [[wikt:tangential|tangential]] relation to the stories as told in ancient Greek and Latin literature.

The people living in the Renaissance era, who primarily studied the Christian teachings, Classical mythology found a way to be told from the freshly found ancient sources that authors and directors used for plays and stories for the retelling of these myths.<ref>Nivre, Elisabeth Wåghäll (2015). ''Allusions and Reflections : Greek and Roman Mythology in Renaissance Europe.'' Newcastle upon Tyne: Cambridge Scholars Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4438-7891-3. OCLC 913333344.</ref>
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Professor John Th. Honti stated that "many myths of Graeco-Roman antiquity" show "a nucleus" that appear in "some later common European folk-tale".<ref>Honti, John Th. "Celtic Studies and European Folk-Tale Research". In: ''Béaloideas'' 6, no. 1 (1936): 36. Accessed March 16, 2021. doi:10.2307/20521905.</ref>

[[Myth]]ology was not the only borrowing that the Romans made from Greek culture. Rome took over and adapted many categories of Greek culture: [[philosophy]], [[rhetoric]], [[history]], epic, [[tragedy]] and their forms of [[art]]. In these areas, and more, Rome took over and developed the Greek originals for their own needs. Some [[scholar]]s argue that the reason for this “borrowing” is largely, among many other things, the [[chronology]] of the two cultures. Professor [[Elizabeth Vandiver]] says Greece was the first culture in the Mediterranean, then Rome second.<ref>{{Cite web |title=The Great Courses – Classical Mythology Lecture 22 |url=https://www.thegreatcourses.com/professors/elizabeth-vandiver/ |access-date=2023-01-28 |website=www.thegreatcourses.com}}</ref>
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==See also==

===Related topics===
* [[Chariot clock]]
* [[Classical tradition]]
* [[Classics]]
* [[Greco-Roman world]]
* [[Greek mythology in western art and literature]]
* [[LGBT themes in classical mythology]]
* [[List of films based on classical mythology]]
* [[List of films based on Greek drama]]
* [[Matter of Rome]]
* [[Mythology of Italy]]
* [[Natale Conti]], influential Renaissance mythographer
* [[Proto-Indo-European religion]]
* [[Vatican Mythographers]]

===Classical mythology categories===
* [[:Category:Classical mythology in popular culture|Classical mythology in popular culture]]
* [[:Category:Ancient Greece in art and culture|Ancient Greece in art and culture]]
* [[:Category:Works based on classical mythology|Works based on classical mythology]]
* {{c|Classical mythology in DC Comics}}
* {{c|Classical mythology in Marvel Comics}}

===On individual myths or figures===
* [[Ares in popular culture]]
* [[Prometheus in popular culture]]

==References==
{{Reflist|35em}}

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[[Category:Classical mythology| ]]