Classical Mythology/Headscratchers


 * Why is the opinion towards the greek gods so schizophrenic? On one moment, everyone calls them amoral bastards (even though up to 60% of them were decent if not benevolent, like Hestia, Helios, Eos, Hades, et cetera), while on another moment everyone praises Ares (the most horrible of the Olympians, by the way) and trying to "defend" the honour of the gods by being homophobic and ignoring their bisexuality. Make your fucking minds up!
 * I'm a little puzzled here -- about whom are you speaking? What people harbour these opinions? People today? The Greek gods have been subject to Depending On the Writer (or Depending on the City State, or Depending on the Century) for millennia, so this is nothing new.


 * Now, in the Gigantomachy, Gaea urged the Gigantes to fight the Oylmpians in order to restore the Titans from Tartarus, yes? Well, wasn't in Cronos who imprisoned the Gigantes shortly after they were "born" via Ouranous' castration? Why would they fight for people who trapped them there, and fight against those who (seemingly) freed them?
 * Because Mama Gaia told them to, and Even Bad Men Love Their Mamas ?
 * Because the giants were born after the overthrow of the Titans. Uranus trapped the Cyclops and the Hecatoncheires.
 * In the myth of Daedalus and Icarus, wouldn't it get colder as they flew up? The sun's several million miles away, they'd have to be in outer space or something...
 * Science Marches On. The Greeks didn't know how far away the sun really was; whilst we know it would get colder, no-one at the time had been up that far, so it's only natural for them to think it would get warmer the closer they got to the sun.
 * Speaking of that particular myth, has anyone else noticed that the real flaw wasn't Icarus' hubris in flying too close to the sun, but rather in Daedalus' poor judgement in using wax, which he knew melted at high temperatures, to make the wings?
 * What material would you suggest? Besides, Daedalus flew away successfully, and so too would Icarus have aside if he had minded his elevation better.
 * You forgot that Daedalus was locked inside his own labyrith, he was lucky enough to get his hands on wax and enough feathers to build two pairs of wings.
 * The line of succession bugs me. From what I understand(and I could be wrong on this, and if so, do correct me), Greeks were fairly big on the idea of the oldest male child inheriting from the father. Zeus gets around this by having the drawing of lots between himself, Poseidon, and Hades, and it can be argued that being spat out fully grown by Cronos was a "second birth", making Zeus the eldest. However, tracing the line back, Zeus' grandfather, Uranus, doesn't apparently have any right to rule as he's one of the younger of the protogenoi; he's Gaia's offspring, and Gaia is younger than Phanes, Nyx, Erebus, and Tartarus. Presumably either Phanes, Erebus, or Tartarus should have been in charge. But Uranus just kind of takes the helm.
 * Greek inheritance, like Roman, was partible, with male children splitting the estate.
 * Thank you. That doesn't quite explain how Uranus established a royal line despite there being other viable claimants, but it does help with the Zeus issue.
 * This has bugged me for years - in its own era, what was Classical Mythology called, since it wasn't "mythology" for them? For example, one who follows Jesus is called a Christian, one who follows the teachings of Muhammed is called Islamic, so what would you have called the followers of Classical Mythology? Pantheonists? Zeusians?
 * they called themselves hellenes in that matter. it even meant in byzantine greek pagan. basicly following the gods and being greek was quite interwined in the antique