3/29/2023 0 Comments Angry giant blacksmith![]() ![]() Each myth reveals to us a different attitude taken towards the volcano: respect (that it is the source of enchanting and beneficial artefacts) and fear (that it is the source of a fire-breathing monster). Etna, but they reveal to us several interesting things. The battle of Zeus and TyphonThese are two very different explanations for the volcanic activity of Mt. In this story, Typhon’s rage, his struggle to break free and his fiery breath are the cause of the lava flows, the black cloud above Etna and the trembling and quaking of the earth. Typhon was finally thwarted when the entire island of Sicily was hurled on top of him by Zeus, and was buried for all eternity. Long ago, the Greek gods were under threat from a large and particularly terrifying cousin of theirs, Typhon (from whom we get the word “typhoon”, for he controlled the storm winds). Mt Etna eruption by gnuckxThe ancient Greeks also had another myth, which described Mt. Etna be, then, other than the gargantuan forge of some fiery blacksmith? Etna, they observed these same conditions on a much larger scale the noise of their hammering magnified one-thousand fold. Etna were no doubt reminded of the hot orange interiors of their own furnaces, and the incredible temperatures required to smelt metal. Etna he Cyclopes worked under his direction, and the mountain resounded with the noise of their hammering, and quaked and smoked from the ceaseless fiery activity.Īncient Greeks who looked up at the summit of Mt. Jenny March writes in The Penguin Book of Classical Myths:Īs god of fire, Hephaestus was thought to have not only a workshop on Olympus, but forges elsewhere in the world, wherever the earth gave forth emissions of smoke and fire, and especially beneath the volcanic Mt. Hephaestus was responsible for forging armour and weapons for Athena the goddess of war, as well as numerous beautiful and enchanted bracelets which were granted as gifts to both gods and humans. Etna is residence to the god of fire and metalwork, Hephaestus. ![]() Mt Etna By BenAveling One such myth states that Mt. If we study these myths, we can come to know how ancient Greece responded to its environment, and gain insight into what it was to live in the shadow of an active volcano. ![]() In particular, we will look at two myths, both pertaining to the activity of Mt. It will be interesting then, to observe how Greek mythology approaches the fiery activity of volcanoes- one of the most volatile, destructive and important to understand features of the world around us. Many of these stories are still with us today, and among the most enduring and timeless of all of them are the stories of Greek mythology. Long before formal scientific methods or even written documentation, stories were used as an attempt to explain how and why certain phenomena in the world around us came to be. Myths are one of humanity’s oldest methods of understanding and responding to the environment. ![]()
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