Perhaps the first thing people would think of if asked what they knew about the ancient Greeks and Romans would be their polytheistic religion. The complex and elaborate myths of the gods served many functions, making Greece and Rome very different from other ancient civilizations. The Greco-Roman mythology prevalent in archaic and classical Greece and the Roman Republic served three main purposes: to explain the world, cultivate people's values, and provide a reason to celebrate. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on "Why Violent Video Games Shouldn't Be Banned"? Get an Original Essay Mythology comes from the word “mythos,” which means a tale or story meant to be told aloud. Thus the mythology spread. The first ideas of mythology came from the Minoan civilization (3000 – 1000 BC) and the Mycenaean civilization (2000 – 1100 BC). These ideas were recorded and mixed with the writings of the Greek poets Homer and Hesiod to form the basis of Greek mythology. By 900 BC, most Greeks identified a pantheon of twelve major deities called the Olympians, who dwelt on Mount Olympus in northern Greece. The worship of these gods was linked to the political life of the Greeks, and they were required to participate in public worship. Each family also had its own particular ways of private worship, being attracted to different deities. The Romans later admired Greek culture, then identified their own deities with similar roles but different names and traits that fit the Roman conception. The Roman poets Virgil and Ovid contributed the most to the fusion of Greek and Roman myths. All Greek and Roman gods resembled mortals but surpassed them in beauty, grandeur, and strength. They dominated the universe and were worshiped daily by their people. The Roman gods lost their position when the official Roman religion was converted to Christianity by Constantine I's Edict of Milan in 313 AD. During the centuries in which mythology was still the main religion, its contributions to society were innumerable. The main purpose for which poets wrote mythology was to explain all the natural phenomena of the world, giving people a sense of security and making up for the lack of science before the age of exploration. For the Greeks and Romans every event, natural or supernatural, was a direct consequence of what the gods wanted. Different gods were responsible for different activities, and each city-state had a patron god who represented its population. The people trembled from the wrath of Zeus when there was thunder and lightning; the rough sea was a sign of an unhappy Poseidon; the rosy-fingered goddess of dawn stepped aside to allow Apollo to begin each day. The story of Demeter, goddess of agriculture and production, explains seasonal changes. Demeter was so distraught when her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by the god of the underworld, Hades, that the land became desolate and unproductive. Zeus sent Hermes with a petition to the underworld and reached a compromise whereby Persephone would spend six months with Demeter and the other six with Hades each year. Therefore, the land would be fertile in spring and summer, when Demeter would be happily reunited with her daughter, and would become barren during the rest of the year, when Persephone would leave her mother. Furthermore, myths answered questions such as where humans came from. and where they went after their deaths. In the beginning the earth was a confused mass of shapeless elements called Chaos, which separated into heaven and earth governed by Uranus and Gaea. They married and had their children Oceanus, Aether, and Aër, each representing the ocean, atmosphere, and air.Erebus and Nyx, or darkness and night, were the children of Chaos, counterbalancing the existing deities. These gods of the first dynasty gave birth to the Olympians and other minor deities. Men arose from the earth like plants and flowers on the earth and the gods taught the essential techniques for survival. Zeus unleashed a great flood from the firmament to drown all of humanity as it became evil and degenerated over time. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha were the only surviving mortals. They hid on a ship for nine days and when the flood ended, the oracle told them to throw stones on their shoulders. These stones transformed into humans, who repopulated the earth. These humans had souls that would enter the underworld after their deaths. This belief that everything was the result of divine action gave people a general direction in life. The Greeks received oracles from the priests or messengers of God before making any important decisions to avoid any danger or threat. The Romans practiced divination, or the ways in which they could interpret the signs of the gods to understand their will. They observed the movements of birds and held religious services at the places where lightning struck. So when the Greeks and Romans were confused or lost in life, they knew that the gods were watching them and that their fate would be protected. The second function of mythology was to teach the Greeks and Romans to behave well and be virtuous. As a religion, mythology shaped people's lives so that they had a routine and schedule in their lives. They successfully carried out daily activities under the supervision of the gods and worshiped the gods with daily prayers and ritual sacrifices to show reverence. There were prayers for everything: seafarers prayed to Poseidon before their voyage; women prayed to Artemis or Hera for marriage and childbirth; the farmers prayed to Demeter for the harvest. Men believed they had to have a pure heart and innocence when praying in order to be heard by the gods. They sacrificed parts of their meals to the gods: food or drinks, animal blood served in glasses, fruit and sweets, all accompanied by salt and libations. Worship was both a civic responsibility and an important part of every person's private life. He kept people pious and humble. As role models of the Greeks and Romans, the gods demonstrated a basic moral code. Their stories cultivated people's cultural values. In Greece, Athena was the only goddess to hold the same authority as Zeus. The goddess of wisdom and armed resistance was born directly from the head of Zeus. Athena set the example of absolute virtue and purity as the patroness of learning, science, and art. Her Roman identity, Minerva, also held a lot of authority, ruling the schools and teaching students to respect their teachers. Furthermore, the myth of King Midas and Apollo showed that greed is bad and mercy is good. King Midas loved gold so much that he cursed Apollo for shedding golden sunlight on everyone. Apollo punished him by making everything he touched turn to gold. At first Midas was happy, but he could neither eat nor drink because all his food had turned to gold. He begged Apollo to revoke the wish and promised that he would never be greedy again. Apollo forgave him but left him a pair of donkey ears as a warning. When Midas' servant exposed his donkey ears to the whole country, he remembered how Apollo forgave him and did not have his servant's head cut off. Apollo then made his donkey ears disappear because he had learned to be merciful. Stories like this were told to Greek and Roman children, teaching them how to be virtuous. In.