4.01.07.01 Greek Myth (A.E.T.) [Mythologies Accounts (A.E.T.)]

ACCOUNTS OF
END TIMES

• » Greek Myth

Greek mythology is derived primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period (c. 900-800 BC) onward.^[1]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Greek_mythology#Sources

Is there an end of the world myth in Greek mythology?

by Gordon Alexander Fallon, Server, Bartender, English Grad Student, Veteran

Yes and no.

The original ones had to do with the great floods:

OGYGES:

The Ogygian flood is so called because it occurred in the time of Ogyges, a mythical king of Attica. The name “Ogyges” and “Ogygian” is synonymous with “primeval”, “primal” and “earliest dawn”. Others say he was the founder and king of Thebes. In many traditions the Ogygian flood is said to have covered the whole world and was so devastating that Attica remained without kings until the reign of Cecrops. Plato in his Laws, Book III,] argues that this flood had occurred ten thousand years before his time, as opposed to only “one or two thousand years that have elapsed” since the discovery of music, and other inventions.

DEUCALION:

The Deucalion legend as told by the Bibliotheca has some similarity to other deluge myths such as the Epic of Gilgamesh and the story of Noah’s Ark. The Titan Prometheus advised his son Deucalion to build a chest. All other men perished except for a few who escaped to high mountains. The mountains in Thessaly were parted, and all the world beyond the Isthmus and Peloponnese was overwhelmed. Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, after floating in the chest for nine days and nights, landed on Parnassus. An older version of the story told by Hellanicus has Deucalion’s “ark” landing on Mount Othrys in Thessaly. Another account has him landing on a peak, probably Phouka, in Argolis, later called Nemea. When the rains ceased, he sacrificed to Zeus. Then, at the bidding of Zeus, he threw stones behind him, and they became men, and the stones Pyrrha threw became women. The Bibliotheca gives this as an etymology for Greek Laos “people” as derived from laas “stone”. The Megarians told that Megarus, son of Zeus and a Sithnid nymph, escaped Deucalion’s flood by swimming to the top of Mount Gerania, guided by the cries of cranes.

DARDANUS:

This one has the same basic story line. According to Dionysius of Halicarnassus, Dardanus left Pheneus in Arcadia to colonize a land in the North-East Aegean Sea. When Dardanus’ deluge occurred, the land was flooded and the mountain where he and his family survived formed the island of Samothrace. He left Samothrace on an inflated skin to the opposite shores of Asia Minor and settled on Mount Ida. Due to the fear of another flood, they refrained from building a city and lived in the open for fifty years. His grandson Tros eventually moved from the highlands down to a large plain, on a hill that had many rivers flowing down from Ida above. There he built a city, which was named Troy after him.[9] Today, we call the area “the Dardanelles” (formerly known as Hellespont), a narrow strait in northwestern Turkey that connects the Aegean Sea to the Sea of Marmara. The name is derived from Dardania, an ancient land on the Asian shore of the strait which in turn takes its name from Dardanus, the mythical son of Zeus and Electra.

Therefore, by Greek mythology, the world has been destroyed and repopulated at least three times.

But, is there an end of days by Greek mythology? No.

The reason is that Greek mythology was absorbed into Roman mythology, so the religion was retooled.

Athena and Ares were greatly changed. Athena’s realm of influence was reduced while Ares’s was increased.

The Roman religion over the centuries was supplanted by the Christian religion. So, there was never an end of times imagined, instead the religion was again supplanted. There are several parallels between the Christian religion and Greek/Roman religion. ^[3]Sources: https://www.quora.com/Is-there-an-end-of-the-world-myth-in-Greek-mythology