Greek mythology comprises the traditional stories of the ancient Greeks about gods, heroes, and the structure of the cosmos, transmitted in oral performance and preserved in literature and art from the archaic period onward. It functioned within Greek religion and civic life and has had enduring influence in later cultures. Encyclopaedia Britannica; The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion.

Sources and transmission

The earliest extensive literary witnesses are the epics attributed to Homer—the Iliad and Odyssey—which reflect an oral-poetic tradition while providing mythic frameworks for the Trojan War and its aftermath. Perseus Digital Library Catalog – Homer, Iliad; Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Hesiod’s Theogony and Works and Days outline divine genealogies and moralized mythic narratives such as the Ages of Man and Pandora, giving a structured cosmogony foundational for later Greek thought. Perseus Catalog – Hesiod, Theogony; Greek mythology summary | Britannica.
Classical Athenian tragedy reworked myth for the stage—especially by Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—embedding myth in civic festivals and public debate. The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology; Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Hellenistic and later mythographers systematized disparate tales; the Bibliotheca ascribed to Apollodorus offers a prose compendium that became a standard reference in antiquity and beyond. Perseus Catalog – Apollodorus, Bibliotheca; The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography.
Roman authors such as Ovid adapted and reframed Greek material; the Metamorphoses is a key literary conduit for later European receptions. Perseus Catalog – Ovid, Metamorphoses (Brookes More trans.); Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology.
Specialist modern repositories compile primary texts and testimonia, notably the Theoi Project, which links myths to ancient sources and images. Theoi Greek Mythology.

Cosmogony and the pantheon

Hesiod’s Theogony narrates the emergence of the cosmos from primordial entities (Chaos, Gaia, Eros), the succession of divine generations (Titans), and the rise of Zeus and the Olympians after a ten‑year Titanomachy. Perseus Catalog – Hesiod, Theogony; Encyclopaedia Britannica.
The Olympian gods—commonly listed as Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Hermes, and either Hestia or Dionysus—were conceived as residing on Mount Olympus, each with distinct spheres of action shaping human and natural phenomena. Mount Olympus | Britannica; Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Myths also articulated aetiologies: for example, Demeter’s loss and recovery of Persephone explained seasonal change and cult practices, and narratives linked specific rites and sanctuaries to divine acts. Encyclopaedia Britannica; The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion.

Heroes and legendary cycles

Heroic myth cycles center on exemplary figures whose deeds were embedded in local cults and Panhellenic narratives. The Trojan War cycle, culminating in the Iliad, presents the conflict at Troy and the actions of Achilles, while the Odyssey recounts Odysseus’s nostos. Perseus Digital Library Catalog – Homer, Iliad; Encyclopaedia Britannica.
Other cycles include Heracles’ labors, Theseus of Athens, Jason and the Argonauts, and the Theban myths of Oedipus and his lineage; many of these are synthesized in the Bibliotheca. Perseus Catalog – Apollodorus, Bibliotheca; Theoi Greek Mythology.

Myth, cult, and society

Greek myth was interwoven with ritual practice, civic identity, and festival life; myths could authorize sacrifices, processions, and the status of local heroa (hero shrines). The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion; The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology.
Traditional accounts connected major Panhellenic festivals to heroic or divine foundations. At Olympia, Pausanias reports variants attributing the establishment of the contests to Heracles or to Zeus’s victory over Cronus, describing ritual features such as the wild‑olive crown. Pausanias, Description of Greece 5.7.7–10 (Theoi Texts Library); Hellenic Ministry resource summarizing Pausanias with Perseus references.
Religious practice and myth were mutually informative: cult epithets, local genealogies, and festival calendars both shaped and were shaped by evolving narrative traditions across regions and periods. The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion.

Modes of interpretation in antiquity

Greek thinkers reflected on myth’s truth‑status and social effects. In the Republic, Plato advocates regulating poets’ myths in the education of guardians while himself employing philosophical myth in dialogues, indicating a complex stance toward muthos and logos. Plato, Republic II (public‑domain translation via Toronto Metropolitan University Pressbooks).
Rationalizing and allegorical readings developed in parallel. Euhemerus proposed that gods were deified mortals, a view influential in later antiquity and early Christian polemic. Oxford Academic – Allegorizing and Philosophizing (OUP Handbook chapter); Euhemerus (overview).
Stoic philosophers systematized allegorical exegesis, interpreting divine names and myths as veiled accounts of physical principles and ethics (e.g., Zeus as aether), as seen in Cornutus’ handbook. Oxford Academic – The Stoics’ Two Types of Allegory; Aitia: “Annaeus Cornutus and the Stoic Allegorical Tradition”.

Visual and performative contexts

Vase painting, sculpture, reliefs, and monumental programs constitute a parallel archive of myth, often emphasizing moments of recognition, combat, or divine epiphany for specific audiences and settings. The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology – “Myth and Greek Art” (chapter listing).
Dramatic festivals of Dionysus staged mythic narratives as communal performances, reshaping well‑known plots for contemporary political and ethical concerns. The Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology.

Reception and legacy

Hellenistic scholars catalogued and commented on earlier mythic material, and Roman literature integrated Greek deities and heroes through interpretatio and creative transformation, with Ovid’s Metamorphoses a central conduit for later European literature and art. Cambridge Companion to Greek Mythology; Perseus Catalog – Ovid, Metamorphoses.
Modern curated resources such as the Theoi Project continue to link mythic narratives to primary texts and images, supporting research and pedagogy. Theoi Greek Mythology.

Further reading (selected)

Walter Burkert’s survey underscores the embeddedness of myth in ritual and social practice, while collected handbooks synthesize current scholarship across subfields. [Greek Religion (book://Walter Burkert|Greek Religion|Harvard University Press|1985)]; The Oxford Handbook of Ancient Greek Religion; The Oxford Handbook of Greek and Roman Mythography.

Hesiod and Homer supply early poetic frameworks; later compilers such as Apollodorus aid navigation of variant traditions; visual and festival contexts situate myth in everyday and civic life; and philosophical engagements—from Plato to Stoic allegoresis—demonstrate ancient strategies for integrating myth with ethics, physics, and pedagogy. Perseus Catalog – Hesiod, Theogony; Perseus Digital Library Catalog – Homer, Iliad; Perseus Catalog – Apollodorus, Bibliotheca; Plato, Republic II.