The well-known creativity of the Ancient Greeks could be represented by the myths in Edith Hamilton's Mythology. Examples of their expansive creativity could be seen with the Greeks putting the Gods in situations that are more realistic and humans could be found in. In addition, their creativity could be observed throughout the interpersonal relationships among the gods.
Some of the situations that the gods were placed in showed how creative the Greeks could be and how their gods could be like them and be it situations they humans may be in. Foremost, when Cronus, ruler of the universe, discovered one of his children would dethrone him, he did something to stop it from ever happening. He ate all of his children to prevent them from ever becoming powerful enough to overpower him. As a mother, Rhea loved all of her children, and couldn't bear to have no child to love and nurture. Since she was also a god, and ruled the universe along with Cronus, she went against her husband's word and hid Zeus and gave him a substitute. She sent him off to Crete, where he was grown in secret. Although Rhea was a god, this myth puts her in the position of a human mother, by saving her child by going against an authority figure's order. Another example of the human-like situations was after Prometheus gave the humans fire for protection when being created.
Since fire was something that was in Olympus and the Gods had, Zeus felt that the humans did not deserve to have it, but he could not take it back now that the humans had it. Like a human, he was mad and wanted revenge. He swore payback on humankind and then their friend. All of the gods would constantly give Pandora all of these beautiful things. Zeus gave her to the men, and became an evil to man and a character to do evil things. Since Zeus did not yet get the satisfaction of revenge, he made all of the gods put something evil into a box, and prohibited her from ever opening it. As being a woman, curiosity took the better of her, and she opened it. All the bad things that exist in the world today came out of the box, and only one good thing; hope. Yet again, a god (Zeus) was placed in a human-like situation, which made him angry and swear revenge on someone or something (mankind). There were some other situations and mistakes that the gods had that made them more like the Greeks in some ways.
Secondly, the Greeks made the Gods even more like themselves by involving the gods in interpersonal relationships, also showing how creative they are by doing so. One example of this is in the story of Prometheus and Io. In this myth, Zeus fell in love with a beautiful young white woman named Io. When they were together, Zeus hid them from Hera by covering the Earth in dark clouds. Hera, as a jealous wife, knew Zeus had something to do with it, since he was not in the heavens, so she went down to Earth and found Zeus and Io together. She asked him who she was, and he lied and told her he just found her as she sprung out of Earth just then. Zeus lied to protect Io from being tortured by Hera, but Hera did not believe a word of it, and made Zeus give her to Hera as a present. He knew that if he did not, she would know of their relationship, so he did. Hera turned Io into a cow and made her wander, at the same time keeping Zeus from rescuing her by making Argus, a beast with one-hundred eyes, watch over her all the time. Zeus made Hermes put him to sleep, and then kill him. In return, Hera put a bug on Io that would never let her stop wandering, even for food or drink.
Eventually, she reached the Nile River, where Zeus returned her to her human form, and where she bore Zeus' son, Hercules. The first strip of land that she wandered was named Ionian in honor of her. Another example of the interpersonal relationships among the gods was between Zeus and Europa. Zeus found her as she awakened at dawn one morning, and was picking flowers in a meadow with a group of girls the same age as her. As he watched the scene from the heavens, Cupid, the son of Aphrodite, struck Zeus in the heart with one of his arrows. He was cautious in approaching Europa, for fear of Hera, so he transformed into a beautiful bull like no other, and approached Europa in the fields. He laid down at her feet and she got on his back. Before the other girls could get on, he sped off over the ocean. Zeus talked to her and told her he would take care of her and take her to Crete, where she would bear two sons, Minos and Rhadamanthus. All of this happened, and Hera never found a thing of their relationship.
Observing the interpersonal relationships among gods, and the gods being in more humanlike situations in Edith Hamilton's Mythology, the myths demonstrates just how creative the Ancient Greeks were. Creativity is not only represented in writings, so the empire of the Greeks must have been on of the most beautiful and unique.
