mythology. But there were countless myths about Thor and Odin, Freyr and
Frey a, Hoder and Balder and many other gods. Mythologica notions of this
kind flourished all over the world until philosophers began to tamper with
them.
A mythological world picture also existed in Greece when the first
philosophy was evolving. The stories of the Greek gods had been handed
down from generation to generation for centuries. In Greece the gods were
called Zeus and Apollo, Hera and Athene, Dionysos and Ascle-pios, Heracles
and Hephaestos, to mention only a few of them.
Around 700 B.C., much of the Greek mythology was written down by
Homer and Hesiod. This created a whole new situation. Now that the myths
existed in written form, it was possible to discuss them.
The earliest Greek philosophers criticized Homer’s mythology because
the gods resembled mortals too much and were just as egoistic and
treacherous. For the first time it was said that the myths were nothing but
human notions.
One exponent of this view was the philosopher Xe-nophanes, who lived
from about 570 B.C. Men have created the gods in their own image, he said.
They believe the gods were born and have bodies and clothes and language
just as we have. Ethiopians believe that the gods are black and flat-nosed,
Thracians imagine them to be blue-eyed and fair-haired. If oxen, horses, and
lions could draw, they would depict gods that looked like oxen, horses, and
lions!
During that period the Greeks founded many city-states, both in Greece
itself and in the Greek colonies in Southern Italy and Asia Minor, where all
manual work was done by slaves, leaving the citizens free to devote all their
time to politics and culture.
In these city environments people began to think in a completely new
way. Purely on his own behalf, any citizen could question the way society
ought to be organized. Individuals could thus also ask philosophical questions
without recourse to ancient myths.
We call this the development from a mythological mode of thought to
one based on experience and reason. The aim of the early Greek
philosophers was to find natural, rather than supernatural, explanations for
natural processes.
Sophie left the den and wandered about in the large garden. She tried to forget
what she had learned at school, especially in science classes.
If she had grown up in this garden without knowing anything at all about nature,
how would she feel about the spring?
Would she try to invent some kind of explanation for why it suddenly started to
rain one day? Would she work out some fantasy to explain where the snow went and
why the sun rose in the morning?
Yes, she definitely would. She began to make up a story:
Winter held the land in its icy grip because the evil Muriat had imprisoned the
beautiful Princess Sikita in a cold prison. But one morning the brave Prince Bravato
came and rescued her. Sikita was so happy that she began to dance over the meadows,
singing a song she had composed inside the dank prison. The earth and the trees were
so moved that all the snow turned into tears. But then the sun came out and dried all
the tears away. The birds imitated Sikita’s song, and when the beautiful princess let