Love And Wisdowm In Greek Mythology

Love and wisdom in Ancient Greece

Greek society was full of values, but among these there were two values which stand out among all the others: wisdom and love. It seems that most of the Greekmythology stories include one if not both of these values. Men seem to guide their decisions by any of these two universal values. They were so important that they had divine representations. Twogoddesses that sometimes appear to work together for a common good, and sometimes two opposing forces, so strong that couldn’t coexist and tried to overcome one to the other.
Since the beginning ofmankind wisdom has been worshiped and respected. Greeks had their own representation of wisdom in Athena. Her birth itself is a wonderful analogy of wisdom. She was born from Zeus’ head, fully armed and inall her glory as all great ideas have been created. It is clear now why the city where most of the greatest philosophers in the ancient world was named after her. The story of the patronage of Athensreflects Athena’s character. While Poseidon claimed the land by strength (plunging his trident into the ground creating a salt-waterspring) Athena presented man with a gift: the first olive tree.Providing people with food, oil, wood and shade, she helped the people of the land to develop and became one the greatest cities in ancient world. She played a big role during the Iliad and the Odysseyproviding advice and guidance to kings and warriors. Some of the greatest warriors seem to have this gift of wisdom too. Theseus was wise to lead a country or to handle it to better men. He advice andprotects Hercules. Odysseus was the voice of reason during the Trojan War, and he created the plan that caused Troy’s fall.
In the other hand we have Aphrodite representing the connection between twoimportant universal values: love and beauty. It seems that for Greeks love may lead to beauty. Love was a force so strong that even the gods surrender to its power. This is shown in Zeus’ decision...