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Joukowsky Institute for Archaeology

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Posted at Nov 10/2008 11:59AM:
Nolan: Myth and history were one and the same for the ancient Greeks. There was no divide between them as we now see it. This relates to the anthropomorphic depiction of the gods throughout Greek art. Because of this idea of mythology in the Greek mind, the human was divinized and the divine was humanized.

Greek mythology was seen, by Greeks at the time, as history. There was no separation between where mythology ended and history began. This can be seen in the four programs prominently featured at Pergamon. They depicted four wars: the war of the gods and the giants, the war against the Amazons, the war against the Persians, and the war against the Gauls. The first two are clearly myth whereas the second two are historical events. These four wars flow together in the Greek mind. They are each separate scenes in the history of Greece. The goal of the rulers of Pergamon who commissioned these scenes was to place Pergamon (which was campaigning against the Gauls) into this flow of history/mythology.

For the gods to be as much a part of history as mortals, they need to perform specific actions in history. For these actions to be depicted and comprehended, it is simple to humanize the actors. It is easier place gods in human history (and conversely place humans in the history of the gods) by depicting the gods as physically human. It is also easy when blending the two histories to deify the human. Specific characters in Greek history are given divine qualities which elevate them to heros worthy of remembrance. This is one way that Greeks justify their inclusion in history among the gods.