Greek mythology in popular culture

Elements of Greek mythology appear many times in culture, including pop culture. The Greek myths spread beyond the Hellenistic world when adopted into the culture of ancient Rome, and Western cultural movements have frequently incorporated them ever since, particularly since the Renaissance. Mythological elements feature in Renaissance art and in English poems, as well as in film and in other literature, and in songs and commercials. Along with the Bible and the classics-saturated works of Shakespeare, the myths of Greece and Rome have been the major "touchstone" in Western culture for the past 500 years. Elements appropriated or incorporated include the gods of varying stature, humans, demigods, titans, giants, monsters, nymphs, and famed locations. Their use can range from a brief allusion to the use of an actual Greek character as a character in a work. Many types of creatures—such as centaurs and nymphs—are used as a generic type rather than individuated characters out of myth. Roman conquerors of the Hellenic East allowed the incorporation of existing Greek mythological figures such as Zeus into their coinage in places like Phrygia, in order to "augment the fame" of the locality, while "creating a stronger civil identity" without "advertising" the imposition of Roman culture. In the 21st century CE, the initial Greek 2-Euro coin featured the myth of Zeus and Europa, and sought to connect the new Europe to the ancient culture of Greece. the European Central Bank had plans to incorporate Greek mythological figures into the designs used on its bank notes. In 1795 the American colonial revolutionary Thomas Greenleaf titled his New York newspaper The Argus after the mythological watchman; Greenleaf adopted the slogan "We Guard the Rights of Man". The figure of Pegasus appears frequently on stamps, particularly on those used for air mail. In 1906, Greece issued a series of stamps featuring stories from the life of Hercules. Australia commemorated the laying of an underwater cable linking the Australian mainland to the island of Tasmania with a stamp featuring an image of Amphitrite.

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Related concepts (25)

Niobe

In Greek mythology, Niobe (ˈnaɪ.ə.biː; Νιόβη ni.óbɛː) was a daughter of Tantalus and of either Dione (as most frequently cited) or of Eurythemista or Euryanassa. Niobe was the wife of Amphion and the sister of Pelops and Broteas. She was mentioned by Achilles in Homer's Iliad, which relates her proud hubris, for which she was punished by Leto, who sent Apollo and Artemis to slay all of her children, after which her children lay unburied for nine days while she abstained from food.

Greek mythology in popular culture

Cupid and Psyche

Cupid and Psyche is a story originally from Metamorphoses (also called The Golden Ass), written in the 2nd century AD by Lucius Apuleius Madaurensis (or Platonicus). The tale concerns the overcoming of obstacles to the love between Psyche (ˈsaɪkiː; Ψυχή, psyː.khɛ̌ː, "Soul" or "Breath of Life") and Cupid (Latin Cupido, "Desire") or Amor ("Love", Greek Eros, Ἔρως), and their ultimate union in a sacred marriage. Although the only extended narrative from antiquity is that of Apuleius from 2nd century AD, Eros and Psyche appear in Greek art as early as the 4th century BC.