Greek mythology, Sources of myths: Literary and archaeological

By A.W.H. Adkins &

Britannica Editors

Source: Britanica

Photo Source: Unsplash,

Sources of myths: Literary and archaeological

The Homeric poems: The Iliad and the Odyssey

The 5th-century-bce Greek historian Herodotus remarked that Homer and Hesiod gave to the Olympian gods—the 12 gods who lived on Mount Olympus and presided over every facet of human life—their familiar characteristics. In the first book of the Iliad, the god Apollo, unnamed but described as the son of Zeus and Leto, was instantly identifiable to the Greek reader, as were the Greek kings Agamemnon and Menelaus when described as the sons of Atreus.

In both cases, the audience is expected to have knowledge of the myths that preceded their literary rendering. Little is known to suggest that the Greeks treated Homer, or any other source of Greek myths, as mere entertainment.

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