Mythos And Heroes

This essay is on two books (or audiobooks if you listen to them as I did) that are all about Greek mythology. They are by Stephen Fry. The books are Mythos, and Heroes. The first book is all about the Greek gods and dawn of Mankind. But the second book is all about some of the greatest heroes in Greek mythology. Perseus, Jason, Odysseus, all of the good ones.

Instead of listening to these two books in the order that they’re supposed to be in (mythos, heroes), I listened to them in reverse order so let’s start of with Heroes. Heroes was very entertaining. Not only did it show all of the insights of all of the heroes and many other stories but It was also (same for mythos) very funny. I could listen to that exact same thing but read by some unhappy history teacher who had a really boring voice and changed the jokes to information and I would hate it.

In the end of mythos, Stephen Fry talks about how there are primary sources (The Odyssey, The Iliad, Metamorphosis, etc.) but then many authors (including Stephen) make secondary sources where they read the primary sources and write down the myths. But each person who tells the story always has something different about it. No one said that you had to tell it in a specific way. You could make a picture book out of Greek myths! For Stephen, his way is to add in a few jokes and laughs, but others are different. Stephen said that the changing of the myths is what makes them thrive.

Also in Mythos in Appendix b he talks about how when Pandora opens the Pithos and unleashes every thing in it(which was all of these horrible spirits) she closed it just in time so there was only one spirit, Elpis(the spirit of Hope). Many people had different opinions of what that meant. Some thought that it was part of Zeus’s curse how all of the evils of the world were unleashed and we were denied even hope. Stephen said in Dante’s gates of hell said, “Abandon all hope, ye who enter here” and how terrible it is to believe that hope might abandon us. Others thought that hope also meant expectation of the worst. They thought that hope meant , “Fear, anxiety and similar feelings”. So therefore Elpis is the worst spirit of them all. And since hope is locked away, we are able to not always think about the pain, death and absolute failure. Yet another said that Zeus had put it in the jar so it could escape so it could torment all of mankind so they think that there will be something good to come.

I don’t agree with any of these things since I know people who are what people’s definition of hope apply to them(which wouldn’t make sense since hope would have to escape). I think that hope trapped in the jar is a good thing because if it was out roaming, lost in the world, Hope would literally and figuratively be lost. But it’s somewhere in Pandora’s pithos, so hope isn’t lost and that’s what lead so many good people to make a change. George Washington hoped for a better country with equal rights and freedom. Martin Luther King Jr wanted a land with no racial discrimination. I could go on and on but that would take all day. That’s because even though there are a lot of bad things in the world, there are even more good people.

I hope you’ll become inspired after reading this, I hope someday you’ll do as much good as some of the best people did.

Thank you for your time to read this,

MVW

Meyer Van Wye