Greek myths of gods, heroes and monsters are told and retold around the world because even though the earliest known versions of these myths date back more than 2,700 years ago in the works of the Greek poets Homer, Plato and Hesiod, there are lessons to be learned and taught in the myths, such as the story of Oedipus, where the lesson is that you can’t run from your fate, or the story of Orpheus and Eurydice that shows that you can’t change the past.These stories and many others are the base for Greek mythology, or the body of myths and teachings that belong to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of their world, and the origins and significance of their religion.

Most people don’t realize that the Greeks and their myths are relevant to modern life.Parts of these myths have been used to name constellations, companies, even parts of science! Some examples of Greek myths today are the constellation Orion named after the great hunter in the stories or the company Nike named after the Greek goddess of victory, and the element Titanium named after the race of beings that came before the gods called the Titans, who were locked deep in the Underworld in a place called Tartarus.