Ancient Myths And Power

Ancient myths are stories that we hear as stories but for the inhabitants of the ancient world, they were fact. The people in those times depended on the stories much like religions today depend on their own stories that they each regard as fact. The ancient myths started as songs and spoken stories until they were written down either in stone or script. We have been able to dig them up and study them to learn about the culture and politics of ancient civilizations. The authors of the myths were often close to or patrons of those in positions of power. This led the myths to support those of power and to promote the ideal that those without power were helpless against those with more power than them. Rulers were also said in ancient texts to be the descendants of gods and only descendants of gods were allowed to be rulers.

When you are at the top, there is no one able to oppose you. This caused the people that they interacted with to be punished harshly compared to the gods themselves or by the gods themselves even. Arachne was a peasant that claimed the things she weaved to be superior to those of Minerva, the goddess of weaving among other things. Minerva challenged arachne to a contest. Arachne finished at the same time as Minerva and both of their works were of the same quality. This angered Minerva. She destroyed the work of arachna and brutally beat her. (Hamilton 426). Minerva got away with this savage act of brutality even though arachne ended up killing herself. In the Epic of Gilgamesh, Gilgamesh rules over the village of Uruk with an iron fist. “There is no rival who can raise his weapon against him.” (Kovacs