The Meaning of the Monsters

Myth and Symbolic Meaning

For thousands of years, the legendary stories of Greek Mythology have been handed down from the earliest oral representation within Greece to the cartoon and television versions of our modern society.  People living in archaic Greek culture survived and prospered during a period of change and uncertainty, caused by the non-Greek people and natural forces that surrounded their growing society.  Storytellers of early Greece told stories that attempted to give a moral context to events in their world.  Human names and forms were eventually given to the representative characters, and stories and myths were refined as Greek society solidified and their civilized lands expanded into unknown territories.  Greek gods, in immortal human form and full of glorious honor, became the protectors of mortal man. 

Over time, people expanded the meaning or messages of each myth allegorically to stress important need to maintain an even balance between good and chaos.  Using symbolism through myths to express positive cultural lessons, people developed a strong belief that gods wanted humans to maintain a committed balance between themselves and the negative aspects of the Greek’s natural and cultural world.  Since the Greek gods, who were led by the great Zeus, were the protectors, mortals needed to know why Gods did not help each time a crisis occurred.  Greek mythological monsters were the symbolic justification that helped to explain conflicts and troublesome times.  Greek citizens, through the use of mythological Gods and Monsters, helped to maintain a strong natural balance in a chaotic and uncertain world.

The Greeks believed that there needed to be a proper order of things within their world.  Greek culture needed to abide by the many messages of the gods; if they did not, their existence would be at risk.  Myths provided a means through which a person could maintain a good existence in life, and avoid chaos or indifference.  Herakles kept the balance by conquering monsters during his numerous adventures. 

Masters of Literature

Masters of literature for years modified original oral myths to interpret the myth relative to their own views and current social needs.  Variations in the myths have occurred over centuries of rewritings of the original Greek tales.  There are only a very few complete accounts of the myths of Herakles, with the majority of information coming from fragments of stories by numerous authors over many generations, or from pieces of art or pottery. But all authors who modified each Herakles myth have maintained one fact that was not altered: Herakles fought and killed monsters.