Creative writing inspiration: Greek mythology (part 2)
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@ dreaming by dusk
People always ask me what I’m going to do with my Classical Studies degree. Well, here’s one thing I always use it for.
I have become a storyteller. I find people around me and I narrate my favourite stories about the ancient Greek world. It’s not that grand, but it still feels like I am carrying on this age-old tradition. Of passing stories down by word-of-mouth.
I enjoyed writing about Greek mythology as inspiration for writing fiction. It gave me something fun to do with my knowledge and my degree. It’s also inspired me to write a second part.
There is a vast world of ancient myths and stories. And I am not nearly done talking about it.
One thing I enjoy about Greek mythology is that there is always something transferable. A character, an idea, an event that can serve as a starting point for a story today. The ancient Greek world is rich with unique stories and distinctive themes and ideas.
Fairy-tale retellings are old news. Too many times we’ve seen adaptations of Snow White, Beauty and the Beast and Cinderella. Where are the modern retellings of Hades and Persephone, or Dionysus and Ariadne, or Orpheus and Eurydice?
Today I’m going to share 5 more of my favourite stories and legends from Greek mythology that I learned as a Classical Studies student. I hope you enjoy them. I hope even more that you’ll find some use for them for your creativity. Here it is again, Greek mythology as creative writing inspiration. I had a lot of fun researching these stories using my old textbooks.
So, get settled in because it’s story time!
#1 Apollo and Hyacinthus
My favourite version of this myth is told in Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. I know he’s technically a Roman poet, but the myth itself has a Greek origin.
The god of the sun and music, Apollo, was in love with a mortal man named Hyacinthus. One day, the two lovers were having a friendly competition at discus-throwing. Apollo, eager to impress Hyacinthus, tossed the discus far into the clouds. Then Hyacinthus, eager to catch it and have his turn, ran to catch the discus before it landed.
Tragedy struck out of nowhere, and the discus bounced back and hit Hyacinthus in the face. Bleeding out on the grass, Apollo mourned and tried to heal his lover. Yet there was nothing that could be done to revive him. Apollo lamented his grief and his guilt and refused to leave him dead. The god created a flower out of Hyacinthus’s blood. To be a treasured memory of his lover.
That flower became known as the Hyacinth.
I like this myth because it shows that the unexpected can happen at any moment. A fatal mistake can lead to one’s downfall, a common trope in Classical tragedy. It’s also one of my favourite creation myths of the classical world.
#2 Polyxena and Iphigenia
These are not major myths, but characters whom are present in the Trojan War and its adaptations. Euripides’ ‘Trojan Women’ relates the story of Polyxena, the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecabe of Troy.
At first, Hecabe, once a Queen of Troy, was led to believe that her daughter, Polyxena was chosen to serve at Achilles’s Tomb. The Greeks’ herald had lied to her. Later, Hecabe discovered that her daughter Polyxena had been killed in a ritual sacrifice at the Tomb of Achilles in the aftermath of the Trojan War. It worsened to the grief she already felt at the loss of her family and home. Polyxena’s sister Cassandra raved and laughed. She did not mourn because she knew that the Greeks, her captor Agamemnon especially, would be punished for their actions in the war by the gods.
Similar is the story of Iphigenia, the daughter of King Agamemnon and Queen Clytemnestra. This myth is well-known and presented in many places. Such as the play ‘Agamemnon’ by Aeschylus. At the start of the Trojan War, Iphigenia was sacrificed on an altar by her father to appease the goddess Artemis. This sacrifice allowed the Greeks’ fleet to sail across the sea to Troy. This sacrifice also sparked a mother’s wrath. Once Agamemnon returned to his kingdom, he was struck down by his wife, Queen Clytemnestra whom then takes his seat of power from him.
Although these myths are not told in unison, I like that they have a narrative parallel when viewed together like this. These characters highlight the mistreatment of young girls and mothers, and the inevitable vengeance against the Greeks. I once used these characters as inspiration for a poem but it is a long, lost story now.
#3 The imprisonment of Hera by Hephaestus
I remember learning about this myth in high school. A popular adaptation of this myth is seen on a skyphos vase. The vase depicts the return of Hephaestus to Mount Olympus after he imprisons Queen of the gods, Hera on a golden throne.
When Hera gave birth to Hephaestus she rejected him because he wasn’t beautiful. She tossed him off Mount Olympus. Upon returning to the Olympians, Hephaestus sought revenge against his mother. He crafted a golden throne and gave it to her as a luxurious gift. Once Hera sat down on it, she could not stand again. She was trapped. All the Olympians tried to persuade Hephaestus to undo the enchantment but he refused.
Of them, Dionysus was the last to convince him to undo the spell. As the god of wine and revelry, Dionysus tricked Hephaestus by intoxicating him. Like this, Dionysus led Hephaestus back to Mount Olympus on a donkey in a procession of revelers. There are also versions of the myth that state Hephaestus’s reward for undoing the enchantment was marriage to Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty.
I like this myth a lot because it has a unique plot and shows the family dynamics of the gods. It shows that the Greek gods were like humans, only grander and more powerful. One of my favourite things to do in creative writing is to use Greek mythology as a major inspiration for any deities/religions.
#4 Arachne and Athena
This is another transformation myth found in Ovid’s ‘Metamorphoses’. Again, retold by a Roman poet and it has a Greek origin. Where the story of Apollo and Hyacinthus is told from a place of love, the story of Arachne and Athena is told from a place of the goddess’s wrath and a mortal woman’s hubris.
Arachne was a young mortal skilled at weaving. She had earned a notable reputation and the attention of many mortals and nymphs. When told that she must honor Athena for her great craft, she refused. Arachne outright baited the goddess to compete against in a challenge of weaving.
Athena did go to her. At first in the guise of an old woman with a warning. A warning, again, that she must not give in to hubris and think herself better at the goddess’s talents. When she refused again, Athena revealed herself to Arachne. When all the mortals and nymphs worshiped Athena, she did not.
The challenge began, and both Athena and Arachne started weaving to see whose work was better. They wove ancient stories and characters into the wool they worked. They rivaled each other. When Arachne rose to her hubris again, and Athena could not see any flaws in the girl’s work, she struck her with a shuttle and destroyed Arachne’s weaving.
Arachne was slighted and chose to take her own life. Athena felt pity for her, as well as anger. She poured a potion from Hecate over Arachne and transformed the mortal woman into a spider.
I like this myth because it shows the relationship between gods and mortals. It also is a pretty cool creation myth. The myth shows Arachne as a tragic figure whose fatal flaw was her arrogance. Now she is doomed to do the one thing she is best at for all her life.
#5 The sons of Oedipus
A version of this myth is told in Euripides’ play ‘Phoenician Women’ and is related to the myth of Oedipus and what happened after he became king.
Oedipus discovered that his wife and mother were the same person and injured his eyes as punishment for his actions; both marrying his own mother and having children by her. When his two sons Polyneices and Eteocles were grown men, they locked their father away. Then, Oedipus cursed his sons, swearing that one of them would kill the other.
To prevent the curse from coming true, Polyneices and Eteocles made a vow to each other. With their father gone, and both unable to rule in one house without killing each other, they made a promise to share the throne. While Polyneices went into voluntary exile, Eteocles would rule the kingdom. After a year, they would switch and Polyneices would be king and Eteocles would go into exile.
However, Eteocles refused to abdicate the throne after his year was over. He banished Polyneices into involuntary exile. Polyneices fled to Argos, where he married the king’s daughter. Later, he returned to his homeland with a force of soldiers to force Eteocles to abdicate and to give him a share of their father’s land.
Eteocles and Polyneices fought each other in single combat on the battlefield. Polyneices struck his brother in the thigh with a spear. At the same time, Eteocles struck him in his chest. They turned to their swords next. In the fighting, Eteocles was able to strike Polyneices navel right through to his back. Sensing victory, Eteocles dropped his sword and shield, and had begun to strip his brother’s armor from his body. Polyneices, dying slowly, held fast to his sword and struck Eteocles with it when he did not expect any danger to himself.
The two brothers killed each other and died together.
I like this myth because it’s about family dynamics, exile, and curses. It is also absent of the Olympians which is sometimes rare in Greek mythology. This myth is also one I love especially because it is a source of inspiration for one of my own stories that I’m currently writing.
There you have it! These are 5 more of my favourite myths of Greek mythology. They’re full of great stories, events and characters that will serve your own creative writing needs in many ways. I hope you found this post helpful and inspirational.
Happy writing!
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