Greek, Celtic, & Norse Mythological Fiction

Brief History & Overview

Greek mythology attempts to explain the origins of the world and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines and mythological creatures. In ancient Greek religion and mythology, the Twelve Olympians are the major deities of the Greek pantheon, commonly considered to be Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus. These twelve gods and goddesses plus Hades and Persephone, King and Queen of the Underworld, were the leading players or characters of Greek myths.

The myths were initially disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; today the Greek myths are known primarily from Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homer's epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War and its aftermath. Two poems by Homer's near contemporary Hesiod, the Theogony and the Works and Days, contain accounts of the genesis of the world, the succession of divine rulers, the succession of human ages, the origin of human woes, and the origin of sacrificial practices. Myths are also preserved in the Homeric Hymns, in fragments of epic poems of the Epic Cycle, in lyric poems, in the works of the tragedians and comedians of the fifth century BC, in writings of scholars and poets of the Hellenistic Age, and in texts from the time of the Roman Empire by writers such as Plutarch and Pausanias.

The most popular and enduring aspect of Greek mythology is probably the Greek heroes who seem to have had the biggest impact on what we in the west think of as a hero. The quest story in which a hero is called, perhaps by a higher power, perhaps by chance, or due to their ancestry, to fight their way through many tasks and trials on the route to victory, sometimes picking up or losing companions along the way. Eventually, they succeed and are rewarded with fame, sex, or riches, hopefully, all three. Does this sound familiar?

The quest story is as old as civilization and has many examples in Greek mythology: Jason of the Argonauts and the Golden Fleece, Odysseus, the wily, resourceful hero, Hercules and his Twelve Labors, and Perseus, the guy who killed Medusa, then fought a sea monster and saved a princess on the way home. Perseus is the inspiration behind the modern twist on Greek mythology found in the Percy Jackson series.