Week 1 Post 2

 Post 2

In an introduction to Greek and Roman mythology, Plato is someone who is bound to come up. Plato was a controversial figure. Many did not agree with his theories and writings. He is well known for theorizing that myth was ingrained into our lives and our minds. He believed ‘Myths have the power to reconstruct culture’. He taught with the belief that humans could learn from myth and reshape the way they live and behave. At the core, myths all emit some type of lesson that can be learned, and this was an inspiration to him and many others. The beliefs of a man called Johann Gottfried Herder are also notable to this topic. He believed that the Myths of Greece and Rome were a sort of art. He acknowledged them akin to poetry, as well as religion. It is a human trait to believe in things and this is what he studied.

The world of Mythology is dominated by men. What we learn has been written by men like Homer. We read it as men like Plato and Herder analyze it and tell us what it means. It is also male dominated from within. Men are the heroes, the kings, the gods. Sure, there are female goddesses and queens and sidekicks. But they never get the title track. When a woman is the focus of a mythological story, its either because she slept with a god or she is a villain. The women are scarcely the hero. This goes hand in hand with the belief that our lives are inspired by mythology.  Our world is male dominated. I’m sure a woman at some point in time had the same ideas as Plato or Herder but they simply said it louder. The sexism and prejudice we see in mythology is like a billion year old mirror held up to our society today. Women are still the villain or just the background character.