Reading Myths: literal, figurative, etc??

There are just SO many regional differences in the Greek myths that it's hard to pin down. It would be nice to think that the gods took physical form and did all that stuff and I can't really refute that they DIDN'T or don't do that, but for me the myths are usually metaphorical. They were written down by a bunch of old human dudes so of course there's embellishments and add ons and all sorts over the centuries.

As far as versions go, say for example 'mainstream' Greek myth and stuff like Orphism, I think that everything is permitted. Time and realities are mind bending and who's to say that anything is false?

That's less of a morality tale and more of a family tree sort of explanation.

Hera births Hebe, Eileithyia and Ares. But then you have another version which describes Hera finding a certain flower to become pregnant with Ares. Then there's varying stories on Hephaestus' birth too, so which is correct?

To be honest I don't there is an incorrect answer.

I think of myths as allegorical and metaphorical. Aside from the broad variation of the stories throughout ancient Greece, taking them literally would drain them of their depth and meaning, in my opinion. I think the myths, and the gods themselves, are highly fluid and complex symbolic systems.

The stories have regional variations, and different areas of Greece even while worshiping the same deity would emphasize different aspects. Homer's Iliad & Odyssey, from what I understand took ideas and parts of different stories and assembled them together. So it's more like mythic fanfiction. While Greek mythology was the first I got into, as a pagan/polytheist I have a lot of discomfort with Zeus in particular.

To be fair, I shouldn't single out just Zeus. Just in general, as others were discussing above, the rape myths. Perhaps I do have some un-learning to do of bad scholarship and interpretations of myths. And I probably shouldn't have brought it up, it was rather disrespectful of me. Will do more processing on this outside of the forum.

I understand, I can get grumpy too sometimes I think I will try re-reading the myths and various interpretations, does anyone have suggestions? I have Karl Kerenyi's Gods of the Greeks, Greek Gods, Human Lives by Mary Lefkowitz.

Most commonly the myths are not taken literally. While likely the less educated segments of ancient Greek populations may have thought them to be, the educated tended to view them as allegorical. Either way, the myths are a way of explaining things. Imagine encountering something very real and tangible but completely unfamiliar, like fossils and skeletons of foreign species. Modern man has the knowledge and scientific advancements to understand what they are, but try to imagine reconciling them per ancient people's perspectives. They would have given rise to mythical creatures and the myths surrounding them.

For example, the Greek historian Solinus wrote, "Before there were any humans on Pallene, the story goes that a battle was fought between the gods and the giants. Traces of the giants' demise continue to be seen to this day, whenever torrents swell with rain and excessive water breaks their banks and floods the fields. They say that even now in gullies and ravines the people discover bones of immeasurable enormity, like men's carcasses but far bigger."

One such instance was the ancient Greeks' discovery of a pre-historic thigh bone dubbed the Nichoria bone. It's thought they unearthed it in the Megalopolis basin, known in antiquity as the 'Battleground of the Giants'. However it's not a giant's thigh bone, it came from a woolly rhino:

link:  Prehistoric Fossil May Have Inspired Greek Myths

Similarly, it's possible the discovery of elephant skulls contributed to myths of the Cyclops:




Generally modern Hellenic polytheists see myths as allegorical. Even so, there are many approaches to the study of myths. Here are a few online introductory sources, folks can also find several books on the various methods of interpretation.

Ways of Interpreting Myth
A basic intro to the various ways to approach myth interpretation.
faculty.gvsu.edu/websterm/ways.htm

Intro to Structuralist interpretation
en.wikiversity.org/wiki/Classical_Mythology/Structuralism

Interpretations of Greek Mythology
A collection of essays by various scholars.
theol.eldoc.ub.rug.nl/root/1987/102/