Greek classical mythology

Author: Schwab Cao Naiyun
Publisher:
Publishing Date: 2002-03-01
Features: The Greek Classical Mythology reflects the social life of ancient Greece from the 11th century BC to the 9th century BC, known as the "Homeric Age," praising the wisdom and creativity of the ancient Greek people. With rich imagination and vivid plots, it takes readers into the ancient civilization of the Aegean Sea region surrounded by islands and intersected by land and sea.
The beautiful Greek Peninsula is located on the east of the Aegean Sea, connects to the Ionian Sea to the west, and flows into the Propontis Sea (Sea of Marmara) to the north through the Dardanelles Strait. The Greek Peninsula is surrounded by the sea on three sides, and the more than 480 islands scattered in the adjacent Aegean Sea are like scattered jade and agates on the sea surface. The mountains and waters of the Aegean Sea have nurtured the brilliant Greek culture, where The Greek Classical Mythology was born.
This book is divided into five volumes: Changes of Heaven and Earth and Various Legends, The Trojan Legend, The Descendants of Tantalus, Odysseus, and Aeneas. It reflects the religious consciousness, secular pursuits, and social life of the ancient Greeks in the form of romantic stories, recreating the war scenes of ancient Greece with swords and shields and thunderous shouts. The birth and development of Greek mythology have gone through a long period of time. It is a rich cultural heritage formed by the fusion of multiple ethnic thoughts, multiple philosophies, and multiple languages. Marx pointed out in the preface to Critique of Political Economy: "Any myth is an imaginative conquest of natural forces, a mastery over natural forces, and an objectification of natural forces through imagination." Of course, even after thousands of years, Greek mythology was still a subject of folk oral performance. Homer's epics added detailed records of the primitive religion popular in Greece several thousand years BC, making Greek mythology henceforth renowned as the "Greek Bible." It must be pointed out that Greek mythology is fundamentally different from the religious Bible. It is a great literary creation with a strong romanticism and the characteristics of the realistic era. Gustav Schwab (1792—1850), a German poet, built upon the foundation of his predecessors to reorganize, dig, and finally create The Greek Classical Mythology.
The Greek Classical Mythology presents to human society a Pandora's Box. It depicts how "a dark smoke rose from the box, like dark clouds swiftly covering the sky, filled with diseases, madness, disasters, sins, jealousy, adultery, theft, and greed, etc. These evils filled the world in lightning speed. At the bottom of the box was the only good gift, which was hope. Pandora, following the advice of the father of gods, quickly closed the lid before hope came to the opening, thus forever locking hope inside Pandora's box."
Originally, the world had no hope. The literature of the Homeric Age, after being refined by generations, is the collective creation of the ancient Greek people, a crystallization of genius. It should be emphasized that the core of Greek mythology is human-centric. The myths praise human beauty, condemn the evil of gods, celebrate labor, celebrate life, and firmly believe in the power of people. Man is the hope of society.