Being A Greek Hero

“Being a hero doesn’t mean you’re invincible. It just means that you’re brave enough to stand up and do what’s needed.”- Rick Riordan, The Mark of Athena. Growing up I was always fascinated by Greek mythology since the very first time I saw the Disney movie Hercules. Apart from movies I also read books based off of Greek mythology like the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series by Rick Riordan and that only made my love for Greek mythology stronger that I started researching about them from a very young age. It came to the point that I started believing that Greek gods were real being that they were once a religion before Christianity took over and turned the Greek gods into a myth.

Greek mythology consists on the belief of many gods, beings

If our history books show that these Greek heroes existed then why can’t we accept that also the gods were real? The most popular story ever told about a Greek hero was the story of Heracles or Hercules as the Romans pronounced it.” It was told that he was the son of Zeus and his mother Alcmene a mortal woman Zeus fell in love with. Heracles was gifted with amazing strength since childbirth but being a child of Zeus and a mortal woman Hera was furious that it was told that she sent snakes to kill him as a child, however little Heracles strangled the snakes before they can strike. Her fury didn’t end there, Heracles grew up to be a great warrior even married and had children of his own. That is when Hera sent a fit of madness to Heracles and caused him to murder his own wife and children something he could never undo. Seeing what he had done he asked Apollo to cure him from his sins but in order for that to happen he would have to do trails no other human could do which came to be known as the twelve labors of Heracles. After he completed his labors Heracles married a second time and as a welcome home present Deianira (his second wife) made him cloak. She wove the cloak herself and she smeared a balm that was supposed to make Heracles love her forever but instead she was tricked and it was

So not only were the Greeks the only race that believed in the Gods but also the Romans believed and worshipped them, which is two major empires that lasted several centuries. Eventually Christianity came to be and although Romans were known to crucify any who opposed their religion, the number of Christians became too great that it took over and what was once a religion became a simple myth. From paintings to sculptures around the world you will see that the Gods are still very much alive, although we may not pray to them or worship them like we did before we cannot ignore the fact that people once believed in them.

Which brings me to my original question, why is Greek mythology considered a myth? Is it the fault of Christianity or is it because over the years those once believers lost their faith in them? I choose to believe that there is such a thing as the Greek Gods and though at heart I myself am a Christian sometimes I can’t help to pray to some of these Gods (for example, I pray to Athena as I write this