I had to read Oedipus for class this week and I couldnt beleive he slept with his own mother Jocasta, its so disturbing lol was this just a myth or actually real ?
2007-04-12 15:31:03 · 11 answers · asked by Dia 3 in Society & Culture ➔ Mythology & Folklore
Have you ever read any of the Old Testament? It's got incest, violence, God commanding murder of other peoples including women and children, killing gays and anyone who had an affair. It's got women having to live in huts in the back yard when they're on their period. It's vindictive, small minded and to me amazing that this deity is described as infinitely good. I can live without that sort of goodness.
I guess I'm not so sure the Greeks had any corner on weird stories. At least theirs were generally written into compelling dramas. The Old Testament is a litany of bizarre behavior that no one today would consider moral. Given all the violence and sex it makes for amazingly poor reading.
2007-04-12 15:46:33 · answer #1 · answered by Michael 4 · 1⤊ 0⤋
It's a myth. A story. But myths are either fun stories, history that was made larger, or a way to explain something that couldn't be explained otherwise. The Greeks felt that incest was a bad thing. Even accidental incest. And no matter how much you can try to beat the Gods or the Oracles it didn't happen, or rarely.
2007-04-12 21:32:26 · answer #2 · answered by Alex 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
They are not strange stories. Have you never read any of the Roman Myths, Indian Religious stories, the Old Testament, V.C. Andrews' Flowers in the Attic series, penny dreadfuls from the Victorian era?
This is an adoption horror story and a morality tale. Reread it and see how it explains the human ego.
2007-04-12 15:38:50 · answer #3 · answered by speranzacampbell 5 · 0⤊ 0⤋
The Greeks created most of the plot lines we still use in the present era. If you want some bawdy fun read Lysistrata by Aristophanes. About six plays and a 4 movies have stolen that plot and made a lot of money....one was even a Western.
2007-04-12 17:27:43 · answer #4 · answered by Terry 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
.......it was a myth that Sophocles turned into a play. It was a story that most greeks were familiar with. The whole point of the story was to set an example of some key beliefs that Greeks held.
1) You can not escape fate (going against will of gods)
2) Hubris (excessive arrogant pride) will not go unpunished.
2007-04-12 15:54:44 · answer #5 · answered by Dani G 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Back in those times mans imagination was stretched to a point of insanity, he created in his own mind bizarre traditions and beliefs beyond comprehension, that we see today as a culture simply gone mad, it was not just the Greeks though,all of mankind dealt with bizarre traditions and beliefs, there are many people today that still do, and so in my view man has really got a long way to go before he becomes fully civilized.
2007-04-12 15:47:13 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
....but at least he was so devestated he tore out his own eyes afterward. This is one of the myths. An oracle fortold he would kill his father and marry his mother, so his parents sent him away. Years later, he ended up doing both.
These usually started out as oral stories, then Homer and other writers started putting the myths to paper, making them more like history.
2007-04-12 15:37:18 · answer #7 · answered by Chipilona 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We write things that are just as strange as that. The movies Saw, Old Boy, Closer. Hell, Macbeth was screwy, and that's a classic. There's freaky fiction all over the place. Besides, if you think that's bad, find out who the Minotaur was born...*shudder*
2007-04-12 19:53:53 · answer #8 · answered by Rax 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
I don't think they were any stranger than any other stories from different areas or time periods. You must be sheltered. Sophocles' Oedipus trilogy was fiction.
2007-04-12 15:36:55 · answer #9 · answered by Existentialist 3 · 0⤊ 0⤋
It's strange for you who don't have the Greek culture.
2007-04-12 15:39:19 · answer #10 · answered by Siervocal 4 · 0⤊ 0⤋