Greek Mythology and Memory
Studying Greek Mythology is always an
interesting endeavor, since the stories and legends tend to alter every few
hundred years. Why, you ask? Well, just look at how Greek culture passed along
its own true histories: memory and oration. Most of us have played the game “Telephone”,
where you pass along a whispered phrase around a circle and when it gets to the
person who started the phrase, that person then states the new and usually
completely different phrase. This game usually involves less than 20 people,
take this same concept and plug it into Greek history. Thousands of people were
told stories and each one of them remembered different bits and changed other
facts slightly; but hundreds of years in the future, all of these varied
accounts of the same story are floating around and who can say what the
original version was exactly. With just one story, an account would be so
varied years later, but this society has their entire history of wars, famous
people, orations and belief system to remember(not read and remember, just
listening to the stories). No wonder there are so many versions of different
myths. To add to the confusion, the Romans were oddly interested in adapting
the Greek system of ‘religion’ to their own.
The result was quite complicated: each Roman god/goddess had a Greek
counterpart with similar stories, but stories from both the Greeks and Romans.
The Romans had developed their own religious traditions, themes, and ideas, but
decided that they needed more stories and legends to add to the mix. Now an
extra layer of confusion blankets the whole issue with new/same names, two
different languages which adds translating errors, and different images/icons
of each of these gods. No wonder there are so many versions of the classic
myths.
Another interesting lens to view the
idea of mythology and memory through is that of the film adaptations that have
been done in the past decade or so. Troy, the 2004 movie starring Peter O’Toole,
Eric Bana, Brad Pitt, Diane Kreuger, and Orlando Bloom, contains many
historical inaccuracies, in terms of how it differs from both the Iliad and Odyssey and Aeneid. However,
one could argue that no one really knows the truth about the Trojan War. Recent
archeological digs have discovered remains of what they believe used to be “Troy”
and there was evidence that a great battle was fought on the shores in front of
the city in ~1250 BC. The other army is believed to be that of the Mycenaeans
(the army headed by Menelaus). There are many other movies which base their
storyline in Homer’s and Vergil’s works. One of my favorite adaptations that is
not “obviously” descended from these myths is the film Winter’s Bone, starring Jennifer Lawrence. Winter’s Bone
explores many themes similar to the ones found in Greek mythology, from
Odysseus’ Odyssey to the voyage for
the Golden Fleece as well as the issues found in the Orestia Trilogy. Ree, the main character, is left to take care of
her invalid mother and siblings while her father has disappeared, having put up
their home for his jail bond. She must
seek for her meth-cooking father in order to figure out what has happened in
order to save her family from homelessness.
The inclusion of an underworld visit, secrets and unknown actions,
journeys, xenia and hospitality expectations, the patriarchal society, and
strong blood ties make this film akin to a modern myth.
However,
with the authorship of these epic works in question in the air, none of these
adaptations or original works can truly be held up to light of true history.
Since no one can prove that Homer actually wrote these works, it seems that the
whole issue of memory and historical accuracy may be irrelevant. Perhaps the
entire true history of the Greeks died with their society thousands of years
ago. Might this same “blackout” of history happen with us, since everything is
now on the internet? What would happen if future generations used a completely
different system of communication? I suppose this only encourages us to
communicate through stories, even if they are not completely accurate, so that
future generations might have some interesting stories to pass along hundreds
of years in the future.
Memory.
Can we bring it back as a form of communication and rhetoric?
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