Did you ever wonder how a spider spins a silk web? Today, we have a scientific answer to this question. However, in the early days of Rome, people lacked the knowledge to provide scientific answers to this and many other questions. They explained natural events in terms of stories about gods, goddesses, and heroes called myths.
Most myths concern gods or goddesses that had powers far greater than any human. But in spite of their supernatural powers, many gods, goddesses, and heroes of mythology had human characteristics. They exhibited such emotions as love and jealousy, and they experience birth and death. A number of mythological figures even look like human beings. In many cases, the human qualities of these gods and goddesses reflect a society's ideals. Good gods and goddesses had the qualities a society admires, and evil ones had the
Later, Minerva came to symbolize general skill. The Romans, who believed that war involved the higher mental powers, worshiped Minerva as the goddess of the intellectual aspect of war. Still, later, the Romans worshiped her as the goddess of wisdom. The owl has traditionally been considered wise because it was the bird of Minerva. Today, even the owl is considered a wise animal.
By studying myths, we can learn how different societies have answered basic questions about the world and the individual's place in it. We study myths to learn how people developed a particular social system with its many customs and ways of life.
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