"Greek Sculpture of Athena de Velletri circa Later Half of the 5th Century." Online image. PowerMediaPlus.com. 4 November 2006. <http://www.powermediaplus.com>

This project is designed for upper elementary school (5th-8th grade) students.

©2006 Karen Kliegman

What is a Myth?
A myth is a story with a purpose. It tries to explain the way the world is. Myths also try to explain the relationship between gods and humans. Even though the events in a myth are usually impossible, they try to send a message that has an important social or religious meaning.

People have always tried to figure out common questions like who made the universe or questions like what causes a storm. Religion, gods, and myths were created when people tried to make sense out of these questions. For early people myths were like science because they explain how things work. They also explained other questions that are now answered through modern science.

Myths exist in almost every ancient culture. You can find myths not only from Ancient Greece and Rome, but from Africa, Native American, Egypt, Japan, China. and many more cultures.

The Greeks used mythology to explain what they did not understand. For example, some myths explained why animals behaved in certain ways, while others tell why natural events like seasons, or weather occurred. In some myths, the gods play tricks on mortals to teach them lessons, usually about morals that were valuable to the culture.

Source: Greek Workbook. 4 November 2006. <http://missmax.com/greek_04/1_greekworkbook_04.html>