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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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One thing we always need to keep in mind when we deal with the representations of gods in Greek art is how the people viewed their own deities. For one, the mythologies were very real to them. We talked about some specific myths, such as the birth of Athena, but while they probably sound ridiculous to the modern listener, we have to take into account the symbolic powers of these stories and gods. On the other hand, though, we have to remember that mythology—and religion as a whole, I’d say—works to explain the mysteries of the natural world. So while the stories are fantastical, they are also supposed to be inherently grounded in reality so as to offer insight into the world the Greeks knew.

Because of this, I think it makes a degree of sense that the Panathenaic frieze on the Parthenon incorporates both human and divine elements, despite what might appear to be a juxtaposition of the two. As Neils points out, human representations can be found in the temple, and regular mortals are shown among the gods. Here myth and history, mortal and divine, are shown as coexisting; indeed, this is an important truth within the Greek religion and philosophy. Myth and history are not just dependent on each other to the ancient Greeks—they are very much the same thing and cannot be separated into distinct categories.

Likewise, while mortals are certainly nowhere near the hierarchal level of the Olympians, they do have very much to do with each other; the gods were known, after all, to make excursions down to earth, and occasionally some heroic men were able to join their ranks as divine creatures. Unlike with history and myth, though, it could be argued that the gods and men acted separately even as they remained dependent on each other. The gods needed the mortals to perform festival processions and rituals in order to have any sort of power; similarly, mortals needed the gods to exist and live peacefully and prosperously. Mortals can be seen interacting with the deities while they themselves are represented with physically strong bodies, drawing even more connections to the gods. As mortal men themselves designed these representations, they serve the purpose of highlighting man’s own importance in the world.