Since I've been trying to start reading Philosophy more frequently, I'm starting Mythology by Edith Hamilton. So far she makes a good point as to why Greek mythology is so timeless compared to earlier myths. However, it still begs the question of how and why the Greeks chose a more anthropocentric version of mythology rather than copy the tales of monsters and half-human creatures that were common in Mesopotamia and Egypt.
I guess you could make the case that since the environment in the poleis of Mycenaean Greece were relatively stable and safe compared to Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Greeks didn't have existential anxieties that represented themselves as big bad monsters who came down from the heavens and destroyed your life. Maybe relying on a big angry river for your sustenance forced you to see the Gods as cruel and merciless? I know this applies to Mesopotamia but I don't know if it does to Egypt.
I do think, however, that this "environmentally determinist" view might have some basis in other cases. For example, the Iliad, having been written near the Dark Ages, is mostly based on individual heroes and the personal grudges that drive them to war. The same tete-a-tete conflicts between different chiefs was also really common during that same age, unlike the more centralized conflicts between poleis earlier on. And if you were to look at the Mesopotamians & the Epic of Gilgamesh, they modeled their underworld based on their own world, where everything turns to mud. It's hard to pin down just how much of each civ's respective mythology is based on the real world
Anyway, I haven't read much into it and I have an amateur's understanding of ancient history so if anyone else has a favorite pet theory I'd be interested in hearing it.
I guess you could make the case that since the environment in the poleis of Mycenaean Greece were relatively stable and safe compared to Mesopotamia and Egypt, the Greeks didn't have existential anxieties that represented themselves as big bad monsters who came down from the heavens and destroyed your life. Maybe relying on a big angry river for your sustenance forced you to see the Gods as cruel and merciless? I know this applies to Mesopotamia but I don't know if it does to Egypt.
I do think, however, that this "environmentally determinist" view might have some basis in other cases. For example, the Iliad, having been written near the Dark Ages, is mostly based on individual heroes and the personal grudges that drive them to war. The same tete-a-tete conflicts between different chiefs was also really common during that same age, unlike the more centralized conflicts between poleis earlier on. And if you were to look at the Mesopotamians & the Epic of Gilgamesh, they modeled their underworld based on their own world, where everything turns to mud. It's hard to pin down just how much of each civ's respective mythology is based on the real world
Anyway, I haven't read much into it and I have an amateur's understanding of ancient history so if anyone else has a favorite pet theory I'd be interested in hearing it.