Abstract: Western culture comes from two Greek civilizations, namely, ancient Greek and ancient Hebrew civilizations. As one of the sources of western culture, Greek mythology is its soil and arsenal, just as Marx said. Ancient Greek drama, architecture, painting and sculpture all draw nourishment from ancient Greek mythology. Therefore, it can be said that ancient Greek mythology is an important source of western culture. It is well known that ancient Greek mythology is the inexhaustible source of western culture. This paper focuses on trying to explore two important spiritual blood that western culture has drawn from ancient Greek mythology, namely humanism and rationality, which are exactly the two main spirits of the whole modern western culture.
Keywords: the spiritual source of modern western culture, ancient Greek mythology
1. Myth and ancient Greek mythology
Marx wrote in < Political economy > In the Introduction, it is said that myth is "a natural and social form that has been processed in an unconscious artistic way through human fantasy" and "conquering, dominating and visualizing natural forces with imagination and with the help of imagination". Therefore, myth is the exploration of the relationship between nature and self and between nature and self. Myth should be the true and rational expression of clan, tribe, nationality and even the original view of nature and world outlook of a certain group of people. Myth reflects people's thoughts and ideas, and "myth, as the earliest record of a nation's footprint, directly shows what is close to the bottom or essence of human nature because it is less influenced by traditional culture or suppressed by contemporary civilization." As a myth with a rich system, ancient Greek mythology certainly shows the most essential spirit of ancient Greek humanity.
All the stories of ancient Greek myths we know now come from Homer's Epic and Hersiode's Divine Spectrum and Work and Time. Homer's Epic includes Iliad and two books. "Iliad" tells the story of the ancient Greeks and Trojans fighting against the Iliad. "Aused" describes all kinds of experiences of the Greek army on the way back. After Homer, Hersiod wrote "Divine Spectrum" and "Work and Time", the origin of Greek gods and the beginning of history. From the 6th century BC to the 3rd century BC, the classic works of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides, the three great Greek tragedies, also greatly enriched the content of Greek mythology. Ancient Greek mythology mainly includes stories of gods and the legend of heroes. The former includes stories about the opening of heaven and earth, the birth of God, the pedigree of God, the origin of man and the activities of God. In ancient Greek mythology, there were twelve main gods in Greece. They lived on the mountain of Ospis in northern Greece. They are Zeus, the goddess in charge of thunder and lightning, Hera, the goddess of the sky, Poseidon, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, Aphrodite, the god of love and beauty, Ares, Hrsto, the god of fire and craftsman, Hermes, the messenger of the gods, Demeter, the god of the kitchen, and Hestia. In addition, there are eros, the goddess of knowledge and art, and Hercules. In addition to the gods, there are the legend of heroes in ancient Greek mythology, which mainly reflects the distant ancient social life and the struggle with nature after the development of human mind and material, and many of them reflect people's knowledge of production struggle. Unlike China's myth, which is scattered, fragmented, isolated and simple in plot, Greek mythology is self-contained, complete and full of twists and turns, which has great charm.
Second, the humanistic spirit in ancient Greek mythology and its influence
The gods in China mythology are mostly animal-shaped, half-human, half-animal-shaped or the combination of several animals, and few are purely human-shaped. There are also traces of anthropomorphism in ancient Greek mythology, and they are the ancestors of the gods. However, the main figures in ancient Greek mythology, the Twelve Gods of Greece, are all the same shape and the same sex as human beings, and the gods and heroes in ancient Greek mythology are very secular.
(1) One of the manifestations of humanistic spirit-God reflects man
We can distinguish that the Greek gods are humanoid from the content of the portrait description of God in the works of ancient Greek mythology and the sculptures and paintings of God in ancient Greece. The ancient Greeks worshipped God, but they did not endow God with too high sublimity, nor regarded God as the standard of moral measurement, but regarded God as a reflection of human beings. Greek gods are not much different from human beings except that they are immortal and powerful. Throughout the ancient Greek mythology, there are many gods who are endowed with super powers but are more humane. The ancient Greek gods lived on Mount Olympus. They organized a network of family and social life. They thought and acted like human beings, and fell in love, married, jealously jealous and raised children like human beings. The emotions of Greek gods are the joys and sorrows of ordinary people. All this shows that Greece is paying attention to itself by creating myths. "In the hearts of ancient Greeks, God is neither a naked legal relationship and a real country as in the hearts of Romans, nor a dignified, horrible and unattainable one as in the hearts of Christians, nor a shriveled and rigid moral idol as in China mythology, but presents an image of a kind, lovely and perfect person, presenting an ideal of beauty". Greek mythology is the story of human experience and society. This is the complete embodiment of a humanistic spirit.
Hera, the noble queen of heaven, is the same as a woman on earth. She is jealous and resentful of her husband Zeus, and has repeatedly targeted Zeus' lovers to take care of her husband's extramarital affairs. She turned Caliste into a bear, and she forced Zeus to turn Io into a cow. Although he is a god, Dionysus sings and drinks and wanders all day. He is not serious and noble. In order to refuse to accept Apollo, the sun god who pursued herself, Daphne had to become a osmanthus tree, indicating a kind of trouble that was liked by people she didn't like.
(2), the second manifestation of humanistic spirit-exposing and affirming people's various desires
Ancient Greek mythology not only shows the wisdom and courage of the gods, but also expresses their praise and pursuit of wisdom and courage, and fully exposes and affirms the gods' pursuit of lust, throne and property. Paper net www.lwfree.com
The ancient Greeks advocated wisdom and courage because of their knowledge and understanding of nature and human beings. Facing the harsh mountain jungle and the unpredictable sea, facing the powerful nature and the smallness of human beings, the ancient Greeks could only survive with wisdom and courage. Ancient Greek mythology embodies the pursuit of wisdom and courage by shaping different types of gods and heroes. Zeus became the Lord God by his own wisdom, courage and strength. Prometheus violated the gods and stole the fire of light for mankind, relying on wisdom and courage; Hercules accomplished 12 things for mankind and became a god by wisdom and courage; Theseus, the first hero, Jason's quest for the road to golden fleece, and Odyssey's trojan horse siege all show the wisdom and courage, and the gods' pursuit of them.
ancient Greek mythology did not shy away from the lust, status and power desire of the gods. As the head of the gods, Zeus, despite having the beautiful queen Hera, kept cheating with mortal women; Avelot Dieter, the goddess of love, was forced to marry hephaestus, the kitchen god. She was dissatisfied with the marriage, so she bravely pursued her love and fell in love with Ares, the god of war. It's rubbish to copy papers everywhere for a living, which shows the characteristics of personal will leading and indulging in the pursuit of personal love. Achilles left the battlefield, not only because Agamemnon took away her favorite female prisoner, but also because Agamemnon ignored his position and role as the supreme commander of Greece, which was his pursuit and value for power.
Ancient Greece praised Zeus for defeating Classeau with wisdom and strength and becoming the ruler of the universe. It also said mercilessly that he had fallen in love with every beautiful woman he met and cheated on them. Out of resentment against his wife Avelot Dite and Ares, the kitchen god Hephaes put Avelot Dite and Ares on the bed and invited the gods to see them, in order to humiliate them. But instead of despising them, Hermes expressed envy that even if he was entangled with three nets, he would be willing to stay with Avelot Dite. Ancient Greek myths reveal the gods' desires, the pursuit of wisdom and courage, and the pursuit of lust, status and power. Ancient Greek myths and legends reflect the real awakening of ancient Greeks' consciousness and their recognition and affirmation of themselves in the form of metaphors and symbols, which is the humanistic spirit of ancient Greeks respecting human nature.
(3), the influence of humanistic spirit on the modern west
As the Italian thinker Vico said, it was not God who created man, but man created God according to his own image. Ancient Greece is a humanist who worships finiteness and nature, not otherworldly. What is the true meaning of Greek mythology and western traditional ethical spirit? Different scholars have different understandings. It is no exaggeration to say that as many scholars study myths, there are many answers. This is because all disciplines only see their own faces in the magic mirror of myths. Although everyone's views are different, we can still get a glimpse of the true meaning of myths from many discussions. On the surface, the myth named after its theme is the story of the gods, which describes the behavior of the gods beyond human ability, but the essence of the myth is "human words". French sociologist Durkheim once said that "it is not nature, but society that is the prototype of myth, and all the basic themes of myth are the projection of human social life" [1](P245). Edward tylor, a British anthropologist, also has an incisive exposition on this. He said: "Myth records not the life of a superhero, but the life of an imaginative nation. It is the primitive man who brings all the outstanding stories in his life into the kingdom of God and repeats the tragedies and comedies that happened on the ground in the sky." [2](P123) Myth is an assumption made by primitive human beings according to their own psychological experience and life experience. The more the "human factor" is excluded, the poorer it becomes-because myth can only be a kind of "human words" in the final analysis. Since myth is a reflection of national life, it must be national. Although the myth originated and developed in "human childhood", there are no similar childhood experiences for different human groups (such as nationalities, tribes, clans, etc.). "There are barbaric children, precocious children and normal children." [3](P549) If China people are "precocious children", the Greeks are "normal children". Together, they constitute a splendid and diverse world civilization. Greek mythology is self-contained, close to real life, and basically maintains its original appearance when it came into being, from which we can examine the political, economic and cultural conditions of the ancient Greeks. It has a great influence on the cultural development of Europe as a whole. This paper attempts to elaborate on the humanistic spirit, the fate of the center of the whole Greek mythological order, the idea of promoting men and restraining women, and its pluralistic evaluation.
1. Humanism
Anne Bonner, a famous Swiss scholar of classical culture, wrote: "The starting point and object of all Greek mythological civilizations are people. It pays attention to people's interests and progress from the perspective of people's needs. In order to seek people's interests and progress, it explores the world as well as people at the same time, and explores the other through one side. In the concept of Greek civilization, people and the world are both reflections of one side to the other, that is, they are placed on opposite sides of each other. [4](P64) Protella also has a famous saying: "Man is the measure of everything and the measure of existence. It is also the scale of non-existences. " [5](P86) This is the manifestation of the strong self-awareness of the Greeks. Attach importance to the realization of individual human value and emphasize human subjective initiative. The ancient Greek mythology produced in this kind of god culture soil shows the characteristics of flaunting individuality, indulging original desires and affirming the value of human secular life and individual life, and has a deep-rooted humanistic consciousness. Hercules, for example, is the only hero who, as a demigod, can climb Mount Olympus after his death and get married with the goddess of youth, Herbie, ranking among the gods. Legend has it that the gods of Olympus had a fierce battle with the giants born in Caia and Uranus. An Oracle said: If no mortal takes part in the war, then the gods will not harm the giants who come to invade. Hercules appeared at this time, saving the embarrassing situation of the Olympians. This story is a small episode besides Heracles' 12 feats, but its content means that the invincible god finally needs a mortal to rescue him, and the ancient Greeks' desire for self-worth is ordinary. This story also shows that the position of God in the hearts of the Greeks has changed slightly. Zeus called all those who took part in the war Olympians, so as to commend the God of meritorious service, and Hercules also won this honor. The epochal nature of myth explains why one and a half people can be allowed to appear in a hierarchical system of gods, because the creators of myth need such changes, and it is time for human will to hold its head high.
(1) Strong individual consciousness. Greek mythology advocates personal honor, affirms personal value and dignity, and has a strong individual consciousness. Although Arrhenius knew his two fates: to live long in obscurity or to die gloriously on the battlefield, he chose the battlefield to fight the Trojans. Honor is more important to him than life, and when Agamemnon robbed his beloved slave, he refused to go to war, leaving his compatriots to be chased around by Trojans and dying by Trojans in batches. Even if Agamemnon came to apologize, he was indifferent. In fact, Aloeus' anger comes from his defense of personal dignity. No one can defile his dignity, even Agamemnon, commander-in-chief of the Greek Coalition forces. If Agamemnon wants to trample on this dignity by robbing his booty, then he has reason to be angry and endure to see his army killed by hector and annihilated. This is enough to show that the personal dignity of the Greeks is higher than the national interest, or that the personal dignity and individual value of the Greeks are higher than the national interest. It was not until later that his close friend was killed that he aroused his anger and decided to avenge his close friend. Here, Arrhenius cares about his own selfish interests, which embodies the spirit of Greek culture with individualism as its essential feature, and highlights the value concept of individual supremacy. Based on the concept of the separation between man and nature, the Greeks produced a strong individual consciousness after the separation of man and nature. As the subject, man was in the position of nature and society, advocating the conquest and transformation of nature and society, and the subject and object were separated.
(2) Love for real life. The Greeks pay attention to real life, advocate individual freedom, and publicize the spirit of independence. In their view, those people who are dedicated to the public and have no desires are respectable in spirit, but they are sacred and inhuman. They are incompatible with reality in life and will eventually become victims of life like Jesus. For example, in Homer's Odysseus, Odysseus returned from his expedition to Troy and passed through the underworld. He met the dead Aloeus and was in charge of ghosts in the underworld, so he praised him, but Aloeus replied, "I am dead, so why should you comfort me?" I would rather live in the world, which is better than commanding the souls of all the dead. " [6](P238) This reflects the strong secularity of the gods and heroes in Greek mythology. It can also be seen that people in the West are extremely passionate about the emotional real world. They think that life on the other side is an extension of life on this side, and they are optimistic.