英文演讲之“东西方神话”Devdutt Pattanaik East vs. West -- the myths that mystify

Devdutt Pattanaik: East vs. West -- the myths that mystify

https://www.sodocs.net/doc/3818083583.html,/talks/devdutt_pattanaik.html

About this talk

Devdutt Pattanaik takes an eye-opening look at the myths of India and of the West -- and shows how these two fundamentally different sets of beliefs about God, death and heaven help us consistently misunderstand one another.

About Devdutt Pattanaik

Devdutt Pattanaik looks at business and modern life through the lens of mythology.

Transcript

To understand the business of mythology and what a Chief Belief Officer is supposed to do, you have to hear a story of Ganesha, the elephant-headed god who is the scribe of storytellers, and his brother, the athletic warlord of the gods, Kartikeya. The two brothers one day decided to go on a race, three times around the world. Kartikeya leapt on his peacock and flew around the continents and the mountains and the oceans. He went around once, he went around twice, he went around thrice. But his brother, Ganesha, simply walked around his parents once, twice, thrice, and said, "I won." "How come?" said Kartikeya. And Ganesha said, "You went around 'the world.' I went around 'my world.'" What matters more?

If you understand the difference between 'the world' and 'my world' you understand the difference between logos and mythos. 'The world' is objective, logical, universal, factual, scientific. 'My world' is subjective. It's emotional. It's personal. It's perceptions, thoughts, feelings, dreams. It is the belief system that we carry. It's the myth that we live in.

'The world' tells us how the world functions, how the sun rises, how we are born. 'My world' tells us why the sun rises, why we were born. Every culture is trying to understand itself, "Why do we exist?" And every culture comes up with its own understanding of life, its own customized version of mythology.

Culture is a reaction to nature, and this understanding of our ancestors is transmitted generation from generation in the form of stories, symbols and rituals, which are always indifferent to rationality. And so, when you study it, you realize that different people of the world have a different understanding of the world. Different people see things differently: different viewpoints.

There is my world and there is your world, and my world is always better than your

world, because my world, you see, is rational and yours is superstition, yours is faith, yours is illogical. This is the root of the clash of civilizations. It took place, once, in 326 B.C. on the banks of a river called the Indus, now in Pakistan. This river lends itself to India's name. India. Indus.

Alexander, a young Macedonian, met there what he called a "gymnosophist," which means "the naked, wise man." We don't know who he was. Perhaps he was a Jain monk, like Bahubali, over here, the Gomateshwara Bahubali whose image is not far from Mysore. Or perhaps he was just a yogi, who was sitting on a rock, staring at the sky, and the sun, and the moon.

Alexander asked, "What are you doing?" and the gymnosophist answered, "I'm experiencing nothingness." Then the gymnosophist asked, "What are you doing?" and Alexander said, "I am conquering the world." And they both laughed. Each one thought that the other was a fool. The gymnosophist said, "Why is he conquering the world? It's pointless." And Alexander thought, "Why is he sitting around, doing nothing? What a waste of a life."

To understand this difference in viewpoints we have to understand the subjective truth of Alexander: his myth, and the mythology that constructed it. Alexander's mother, his parents, his teacher Aristotle told him the story of Homer's "Iliad." They told him of a great hero called Achilles, who, when he participated in battle, victory was assured, but when he withdrew from the battle, defeat was inevitable. "Achilles was a man who could shape history, a man of destiny, and this is what you should be, Alexander." That's what he heard.

"What should you not be? You should not be Sisyphus, who rolls a rock up a mountain all day only to find the boulder rolled down at night. Don't live a life which is monotonous, mediocre, meaningless. Be spectacular! -- like the Greek heroes, like Jason, who went across the sea with the Argonauts and fetched the golden fleece. Be spectacular like Theseus, who entered the labyrinth and killed the bull-headed Minotaur. When you play in a race, win! -- because when you win, the exhilaration of victory is the closest you will come to the ambrosia of the gods."

Because, you see, the Greeks believed you live only once and when you die, you have to cross the River Styx, and if you have lived an extraordinary life, you will be welcomed to Elysium, or what the French call "Champs-élysées" -- (Laughter) -- the heaven of the heroes.

But these are not the stories that the gymnosophist heard. He heard a very different story. He heard of a man called Bharat, after whom India is called Bhārata. Bharat also conquered the world. And then he went to the top-most peak of the greatest mountain of the center of the world called Meru. And he wanted to hoist his flag to say, "I was here first." But when he reached the mountain peak, he found the peak

covered with countless flags of world-conquerors before him, each one claiming "'I was here first' ... that's what I thought until I came here." And suddenly, in this canvas of infinity, Bharat felt insignificant. This was the mythology of the gymnosophist.

You see, he had heroes, like Ram -- Raghupati Ram and Krishna, Govinda Hari. But they were not two characters on two different adventures. They were two lifetimes of the same hero. When the Ramayana ends the Mahabharata begins. When Ram dies, Krishna is born. When Krishna dies, eventually he will be back as Ram.

You see, the Indians also had a river that separates the land of the living from the land of the dead. But you don't cross it once. You go to and fro endlessly. It was called the Vaitarani. You go again, and again, and again. Because, you see, nothing lasts forever in India, not even death. And so, you have these grand rituals where great images of mother goddesses are built and worshiped for 10 days ... And what do you do at the end of 10 days? You dunk it in the river. Because it has to end. And next year, she will come back. What goes around always comes around, and this rule applies not just to man, but also the gods. You see, the gods have to come back again, and again, and again as Ram, as Krishna. Not only do they live infinite lives, but the same life is lived infinite times till you get to the point of it all. "Groundhog Day." (Laughter) Two different mythologies. Which is right? Two different mythologies, two different ways of looking at the world. One linear, one cyclical. One believes this is the one and only life. The other believes this is one of many lives. And so, the denominator of Alexander's life was one. So, the value of his life was the sum total of his achievements. The denominator of the gymnosophist's life was infinity. So, no matter what he did, it was always zero. And I believe it is this mythological paradigm that inspired Indian mathematicians to discover the number zero. Who knows?

And that brings us to the mythology of business. If Alexander's belief influenced his behavior, if the gymnosophist's belief influences his behavior, then it was bound to influence the business they were in. You see, what is business but the result of how the market behaves and how the organization behaves? And if you look at cultures around the world, all you have to do is understand the mythology and you will see how they behave, and how they do business.

Take a look. If you live only once, in one-life cultures around the world, you will see an obsession with binary logic, absolute truth, standardization, absoluteness, linear patterns in design. But if you look at cultures which have cyclical and based on infinite lives, you will see a comfort with fuzzy logic, with opinion, with contextual thinking, with everything is relative, sort of -- (Laughter) mostly. (Laughter)

You look at art. Look at the ballerina. How linear she is in her performance. And then look at the Indian classical dancer, the Kuchipudi dancer, the Bharatanatyam dancer, curvaceous. (Laughter)

And then look at business. Standard business model: vision, mission, values, processes. Sounds very much like the journey through the wilderness to the promised land, with the commandments held by the leader. And if you comply, you will go to heaven.

But in India there is no "the" promised land. There are many promised lands, depending on your station in society, depending on your stage of life. You see, businesses are not run as institutions, by the idiosyncrasies of individuals. It's always about taste. It's always about my taste.

You see, Indian music, for example does not have the concept of harmony. There is no orchestra conductor. There is one performer standing there, and everybody follows. And you can never replicate that performance twice. It is not about documentation and contract. It's about conversation and faith. It's not about compliance. It's about setting, getting the job done, by bending or breaking the rules -- just look at your Indian people around here, you'll see them smile; they know what it is. (Laughter) And then look at people who have done business in India, you'll see the exasperation on their faces. (Laughter) (Applause)

You see, this is what India is today. The ground reality is based on a cyclical world view. So, it's rapidly changing, highly diverse, chaotic, ambiguous, unpredictable. And people are okay with it. And then globalization is taking place. The demands of modern institutional thinking is coming in. Which is rooted in one-life culture. And a clash is going to take place, like on the banks of the Indus. It is bound to happen.

I have personally experienced it. I'm trained as a medical doctor. I did not want to study surgery. Don't ask me why. I love mythology too much. I wanted to learn mythology. But there is nowhere you can study. So, I had to teach it to myself. And mythology does not pay, well, until now. (Laughter) So, I had to take up a job. And I worked in the pharma industry. And I worked in the healthcare industry. And I worked as a marketing guy, and a sales guy, and a knowledge guy, and a content guy, and a training guy. I even was a business consultant, doing strategies and tactics. And I would see the exasperation between my American and European colleagues, when they were dealing with India.

Example: Please tell us the process to invoice hospitals. Step A. Step B. Step C. Mostly. (Laughter) How do you parameterize "mostly"? How do you put it in a nice little software? You can't.

I would give my viewpoints to people. But nobody was interested in listening to it, you see, until I met Kishore Biyani of the Future group. You see, he has established the largest retail chain, called Big Bazaar. And there are more than 200 formats, across 50 cities and towns of India. And he was dealing with diverse and dynamic markets.

And he knew very intuitively, that best practices, developed in Japan and China and Europe and America will not work in India. He knew that institutional thinking doesn't work in India. Individual thinking does. He had an intuitive understanding of the mythic structure of India.

So, he had asked me to be the Chief Belief Officer, and said, "All I want you do to is align belief." Sounds so simple. But belief is not measurable. You can't measure it. You can't manage it. So, how do you construct belief? How do you enhance the sensitivity of people to Indian-ness. Even if you are Indian, it is not very explicit, it is not very obvious.

So, I tried to work on the standard model of culture, which is, develop stories, symbols and rituals. And I will share one of the rituals with you. You see it is based on the Hindu ritual of Darshan. Hindus don't have the concept of commandments. So, there is nothing right or wrong in what you do in life. So, you're not really sure how you stand in front of God. So, when you go to the temple, all you seek is an audience with God. You want to see God. And you want God to see you, and hence the Gods have very large eyes, large unblinking eyes, sometimes made of silver, so they look at you. Because you don't know whether you're right or wrong, and so all you seek is divine empathy. "Just know where I came from, why I did the Jugaad." (Laughter) "Why did I do the setting, why I don't care for the processes, just understand me, please."

And based on this we created a ritual for leaders. After a leader completes his training and is about to take over the store, we blindfold him, we surround him with the stakeholders, the customer, his family, his team, his boss. You read out his KRA, his KPI, you give him the keys, and then you remove the blindfold. And invariably, you see a tear, because the penny has dropped. He realizes, that to succeed, he does not have to be a "professional," he does not have to cut out his emotions, he has to include all these people in his world to succeed, to make them happy, to make the boss happy, to make everyone happy. The customer is happy, because the customer is God.

That sensitivity is what we need. Once this belief enters, behavior will happen, business will happen. And it has. So, then we come back to Alexander. and to the gymnosophist. And everybody asks me, "Which is the better way, this way or that way?" And it's a very dangerous question. Because it leads you to the path of fundamentalism and violence. So, I will not answer the question. What I will give you is an Indian answer, the Indian head-shake. (Laughter) (Applause)

Depending on the context, depending on the outcome, choose your paradigm. You see, because both the paradigms are human constructions. They are cultural creations, not natural phenomena. And so the next time you meet someone, a stranger, one request: Understand that you live in the subjective truth, and so does he. Understand it. And when you understand it you will discover something spectacular. You will discover

that within infinite myths, lies the eternal truth. Who sees it all? Varuna has but a thousand eyes. Indra, a hundred. You and I, only two. Thank you.

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于具有某种典型的特征或特殊的经历，他们的名字直接转化为普通名词。这种名词不仅保留了原来的拼写，其词义多为申神话人物的象征意义与引申意义。同时，词义的内涵与外延均有很大的扩大，在词形未变的情况下，其词义由单一转化为多样，抽象转化为具体，泛指转化为特指。 如:Adonis是爱神Aphrodite所钟爱的美貌少年猎人，现指美貌少年或美男子 Gorgon（蛇发女怪，凡人见到她就会变成石头）→gorgon（丑陋可怕的女人，令人作呕的人或景象） Python（被Apollo所杀死的巨蟒）→python（蟒蛇） 1.2神话对现代英语花卉名称的影响 现代英语词汇中大量的植物花卉名称跟希腊神话有着千丝万缕的关系。他们部分是神灵的化身，部分是神灵的宠物。如矢车菊centaur源自马人Chiron,月桂树laurel源于太阳神Apollo,芦苇reeds源于牧神Pan,鸢尾花iris源于霓虹女神Iris等。 2.希腊神话对英语词根与词缀的影响（与英语原有词根与词缀融为一体，不易辨别） 2.1 神话中人名对英语词根的影响 按照语言学的观点，词根指必须和一定的词缀组成单词的词，这种派生而来的单词以形容词居多，其次是名词和动词。从数量来看，源自女神的词语明显多于来自女神的词语。如Athene雅典娜女神聪明机智，学识渊博。有她的名字“Athene”后加上后缀“-um”即

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许多英语的成语来源于希腊神话，并且走入了人们的日常生活。如产生于特洛伊战争（the Trojan War）中的几个成语故事：apple of discord，意思是“不和的根源”。说的是不和女神艾瑞斯（Eris）在某个婚礼中投下一只金苹果，上面写着“送给最美的女神”。结果引起神后赫拉（Hera）、智慧女神雅典娜（Athene）和爱与美的女神阿芙洛狄特（Aphrodite）的争夺。最后她们去找特洛伊城（Troy）的王子帕里斯（Paris）裁决。三位女神向Paris许下了不同的诺言。Aphrodite 许诺说她将把世界上最美的女人送给Paris，于是Paris就把鑫苹果判给了Aphrodite.Hera和Athene非常生气，发誓要报复特洛伊人。后来，Paris出使希腊的斯巴达，在Aphrodite的帮助下，勾引走了斯巴达王后海伦（Helen）——当时世界上最美丽的女人。Paris拐走了Helen，激起了全体希腊人的公愤，于是希腊各国组成联军，远征特洛伊人。战争中，Aphrodite支持特洛伊人，Hera 和Athene支持希腊人。由一只苹果引发了战争，因此apple of discord意思就是“不和的根源，发生纠纷的事端”。这次战争中涌现了许多英雄，阿基里斯（Achilles）就是其中之一。幼年时，他母亲为了使他有不死之身，提着他的脚在冥河中将他全身浸过，使刀枪不能伤害他，唯独脚跟没有浸过冥河水，结果在同Paris作战时，被Paris用毒箭射中脚跟而死，因此Achilles' heel（阿基里斯之踵）就成了“致命的弱点”的同义语。特洛伊战争的最后一年，希腊人采用了“木马计”（the Trojan Horse），在Hera和Athene的帮助下，攻陷了特洛伊城。由于Helen导致了特洛伊城的沦陷，因此Helen of Troy就成了“红颜祸水，倾国尤物”的代名词。 再如：the sword of Damocles（达摩克利斯之剑），Damocles是叙拉古王朝的一位大臣，非常羡慕帝王的荣华富贵。一天，国王让他坐在王位上，在Damocles的头上用一根头发悬一把利剑，告诉他王权的危险就象那把剑一样，随时可能降临。因此the sword of Damocles就成了“富贵中隐藏的危险”的同义语，也可以指形势危急，千钧一发；Damon and Pythias：Damon和Pythias 是好朋友。Pythias出事被判了死刑，为了使他能够回家控视亲人，Damon留在牢中作人质，如果Pythias不按时返回，就处死Damon.当期限满，临处刑之际，Pythias及时赶回。国王深受感动，将二人全部释放，因此，Damon and Pythias 意思就是“生死之交”。 经常说的“潘朵拉的盒子”（Pandora's box）来自这样一个故事：普罗米修斯（Prometheus）为人类盗来了天火，激怒了宙斯（Zeus）。Zeus决定惩罚人类，于是他命令火神造出一个美貌的女人Pandora，让她去勾引Prometheus 的弟弟埃比米修斯（Epimetheus）。结果Epimetheus上当，接近了Pandora，Pandora于是就将手中的盒子打开，放出了里面的罪恶、灾难、疾病、不幸，只留下了“希望”在盒子里。于是Pandora's box就成了“灾难的根源”的代名词。 Penelop's web是来自于史诗奥德赛（Odyssey）的一则成语：泊涅罗珀（Penelop）是奥底修斯（Odysseus）的妻子，以忠贞而著称。特洛伊战争打了十年，Odysseus在返家的途中又耽搁了十年。在这漫长的二十年中，许多王公贵族向Penelop求婚，她都托辞说必须等织完布后才能予以考虑，一到晚上，她又将白天织好的布再拆开。因此Penelop's web就成了一项永远也完不成的工作。

希腊神话人物分析英文版

Greek Mythology Today I'm very happy to have this opportunity to show you our presentation. Greek Mythology is a group of traditional tales told by the ancient Greeks. It talks about the deeds of gods, heroes and their relations with human beings. Greek Mythology is not just a literary works; it is also a production of culture of that time and an exhibition of the social surroundings and problems of the current western countries. If we want to know western culture, we need to read this book. It is a summary about gods and heroes story of the ancient Greek nation. It mixed up the real life with the fantasies. After reading the book Greek Mythology, I'm sure everybody is interested in the goddess in this fantastic masterpiece, so I will share with you some of our ideas. Juno was the principal wife of Jupiter, and, as queen of heaven, participated in the honors paid to Jupiter. Juno appears to be the sublime embodiment of strict, matronly and virtue, and is on that account the protectress of purity and married women. Faultless herself in her fidelity as a wife, she is essentially the type of the sanctity of the marriage tie. So strongly was she imbued with this hatred of any immorality, that, finding herself so often called upon to punish the failings of both gods and men in this respect, she became jealous, harsh, and vindictive. She seemed to be hard-hearted to those gods who were sent many blessings by Jupiter. Latona was just a typical example. Juno changed herself into fierce and dreadful forms to frighten Latona and her children - Apollo and Diana to run from the beautiful garden which Jupiter had found for her. Then she followed and tormented Latona in many ways such as sent wild animals to howl horribly behind her when Latona grew tired and to rest. Juno also changed Callisto into a great furry bear when she found that Jupiter was so pleased with Callisto?s charm and goodness. Her exalted position as the wife of the supreme deity, combined with her extreme beauty, caused her to become exceedingly vain, and she consequently resented with great severity any infringement on her rights as queen of heaven, or any apparent slight on her personal appearance. Juno…s character was just like a jealous and manipulative woman in our daily life. Venus was appointed goddess of Love and Marriage．She represented sex, affection and the attraction that binds people together. With the help of her little son，Eros，the god of love，she made many a tale of happiness and sadness in the life of gods and men．Though Venus was regarded as the symbol of extreme beauty, she still showed a human-like emotion. Venus was much vexed by Psyche who was a princess famous of her beauty. Although her little son Eros - - the god of love fell in love with Psyche. Venus tried every method to break them up. Obviously, Venus was jealous of Psyche?s beauty. In another story, Venus made Pygmalion…s (a sculptor) dream come true, only because she was delighted with the loveliness of Pygmalion?s statue which looked much like herself. Venus spent all her life in the pursuit of love, but her enthusiasm for love is temporary. What?s more, she isn?t single-minded in love. Venus created a personality image with strong vanity and beautiful appearance. She stressed the women's instinct to pay more attention to the appearance. And these points made Venus more act like human beings.

英语词希腊源

apple of discord（不和的根源） 不和女神艾瑞斯（Eris）在某个婚礼中投下一只金苹果，上面写着“送给最美的女神”。结果引起神后赫拉（Hera）、智慧女神雅典娜（Athene）和爱与美的女神阿芙洛狄特（Aphrodite）的争夺。最后她们去找特洛伊城（Troy）的王子帕里斯（Paris）裁决。三位女神向Paris许下了不同的诺言。Aphrodite许诺说她将把世界上最美的女人送给Paris，于是Paris就把鑫苹果判给了Aphrodite.Hera和Athene非常生气，发誓要报复特洛伊人。后来，Paris出使希腊的斯巴达，在Aphrodite的帮助下，勾引走了斯巴达王后海伦（Helen）——当时世界上最美丽的女人。Paris拐走了Helen，激起了全体希腊人的公愤，于是希腊各国组成联军，远征特洛伊人。战争中，Aphrodite支持特洛伊人，Hera 和Athene支持希腊人。由一只苹果引发了战争，因此apple of discord意思就是“不和的根源，发生纠纷的事端”。Electra Complex（恋父情结） 爱烈屈拉因母亲与其情人谋杀了她的父亲，故决心替父报仇，最终她与其兄弟杀死了自己的母亲。 Achilles' heel（致命的弱点） 阿基里斯（Achilles）幼年时，他母亲为了使他有不死之身，提着他的脚在冥河中将他全身浸过，使刀枪不能伤害他，唯独脚跟没有浸过冥河水，结果在同Paris作战时，被Paris

用毒箭射中脚跟而死，因此Achilles' heel（阿基里斯之踵）就成了“致命的弱点”的同义语。 Helen of Troy（红颜祸水） 特洛伊战争的最后一年，希腊人采用了“木马计”（the Trojan Horse），在Hera和Athene的帮助下，攻陷了特洛伊城。由于Helen导致了特洛伊城的沦陷，因此Helen of Troy 就成了“红颜祸水，倾国尤物”的代名词。 the sword of Damocles（达摩克利斯之剑） Damocles是叙拉古王朝的一位大臣，非常羡慕帝王的荣华富贵。一天，国王让他坐在王位上，在Damocles的头上用一根头发悬一把利剑，告诉他王权的危险就象那把剑一样，随时可能降临。因此the sword of Damocles就成了“富贵中隐藏的危险”的同义语，也可以指形势危急，千钧一发；

美杜莎的悲剧(外国文学)

美杜莎的悲剧 中文学院文秘1401 谢欣静20140701366 初次接触到蛇发妖女美杜莎是在看帕尔休斯的故事之时，这位勇敢的少年在仙女跟雅典娜的帮助之下成功地杀死了这个可以用目光杀死所有人的可怕的怪物。那时候，我对美杜莎有着深深的恐惧，因为她不仅面容丑陋，蛇发獠牙，而且所有与她目光接触到的人就会变成石头死去。 但是每一个人，每一只妖以及每一个神的诞生都是有理由的，帕尔休斯的诞生是因为他的母亲与化成黄金雨的宙斯发生关系生下了他，他出生之后遭到迫害，被骗去做杀死美杜莎这样一件凶险万分的事情，由于他是宙斯的儿子，宙斯与凡人所生育的孩子必然会成为英雄，再加上雅典娜的帮助，他成功了。之后，帕尔休斯的人生便开始走向了新的高峰，统治这一方领地，死后还得以成为星座。反观被帕尔休斯杀死的美杜莎，她本事一名美丽的女祭司，代表着圣洁，因为海神波塞冬垂涎她的美貌，在寺庙中将她强奸，她曾向雅典娜求救，但是雅典娜知道她不能对海神波塞冬作出处罚，而且作为祭司，与神沟通必须纯洁的祭司美杜莎却没有保住自己的贞洁，还苟活于世，这引得雅典娜非常不满，因此迁怒于她以及她的两个姐姐，所以将三姊妹都变为妖怪。她们全身长满金色的鳞片，背上长着鹰的翅膀，美杜莎的背上则长着天鹅的翅膀，头上没有头发，只有盘挠扭动的蛇，但仍然难于掩盖她的美丽，只要有人看过她（们）的眼睛，都会被她的美丽和魔力吸引而失去灵魂变成一尊石像。因此，她逃到了一个孤岛上与世隔绝，但是仍然摆脱不了被害的命运。 在美杜莎被波塞冬墙强暴这件事情上，受到伤害的明明是凡间女子美杜莎，对于一个仅次于宙斯的海神，能够指望她做出什么反抗呢？然而同为女性，并且是美杜莎主人的雅典娜非但没有同情她的悲惨遭遇，反而将罪责落到了她的头上，将怒气发泄到她的身上，让波塞冬逃过了应有的责罚。从这里可以看出希腊神话当中已经相对浓重得而男子主义色彩以及折射了当时的父系社会以及女性地位的相对低下。 我们可以看到希腊神话当中很女神的形象十分鲜明，却又是在男性神，天后赫拉生性善妒，对于宙斯的情人以及私生子加以残酷的迫害，她虽掌管着妇女婚姻与家庭，自己的丈夫却荒淫无度，在凡间四处强占貌美的女子并使他们怀孕，在人间私生子无数。作为掌管婚姻

源于希腊神话的英文单词

西方文化有两个源头:一为希腊(Hellenic) 文化,一为希伯莱(Hebrew) 文化,而希腊文化中的希腊神话(Greek mythology) 对英语影响非常广泛。表现在词汇方面就是英语吸收了部分词汇并将之沿用,而这些词又或是可分解词或是可溯源词。这些词源包含的信息不仅可帮助读者准确理解每个词的词义,增添记忆单词的乐趣,还能特别记录、描述英语与古希腊文化的差异和交流,具有很高的历史性和趣味性。由于罗马神话深受希腊神话的影响,故事情节与希腊神话大同小异,只不过人名不同,所以希腊神话时常和罗马神话联系在一起。希腊罗马神话就像神话故事中的灵泉,滋养着英语的词汇,产生了许许多多美妙动人的词汇故事,增强了英语的生命力。 一源于希腊罗马神话中众神名字的英语词汇 现代英语中,不少词汇来源于希腊罗马神话中众神的名字,至今仍起着重要的作用。典型的词源试举如: 1、Flora :古希腊罗马神话中的花神。她嫁给了西风之神Zephyr ,丈夫送给她一座满是奇花异草的园子。春天时,Flora和丈夫Zephyr 手挽手在园子里漫步,他们一路走过的地方百花齐放。Flora 在现代英语里指代“植物”。衍生词:flower ,flour , flourish , floral , florist。 2、The Muses(缪斯) : 希腊神话中掌管艺术的诸神。共九位,分别是历史、抒情诗、喜剧(牧歌、田园诗) 、悲剧、歌舞、爱情诗、颂歌、天文、史诗。Muses 的艺术衍生出单词music ,Muses 收藏艺术品的地方就是museum。艺术带来的快乐便是muse ,amusement。 3、Pan(潘) :牧神和森林之神,受打扰时会大声吼叫。衍生词:panic(惊慌,恐慌)。 4、Titan(泰坦) :曾统治世界的巨人族的一员。Titan 在现代英语里指代高大强壮的人,重要人物。衍生词titanic 意指巨大的,极大的。“泰坦尼克号”即以此命名。 5、Zephyrus(泽费罗斯) :西风之神。衍生词:zephyr (西风,和风,微风)。 6、Atlas : 阿特拉斯，希腊神话中Titans (泰坦) 巨神之一,因背叛Zeus(宙斯) 被罚在世界的西边尽头以双肩扛天。16 世纪地理学家麦卡脱把Atlas 擎天图作为一本地图册的卷首插图。后人争相效仿, atlas 从此有了地图、地图集、身负重担的人的含义。其他衍生词:Atlantic。 7、Ceres :庄稼保护神。古罗马遭受大旱,教士们求助女巫占卜,占卜的结果是要立一位新的女神Ceres ,向她供奉,这样她就会给大地带来雨水。此后,Ceres 就变成了庄稼的保护神。cereal 从拉丁语变化而来,意即“of Ceres”属于谷物女神的。衍生词:cereals(谷类,早餐麦片)。 8、Cronos :宙斯的父亲。害怕子女反抗自己,曾吞食自己的后代。就像无情的时间,吞噬一切。因此字根“chron”意指“time”。衍生词:chronic(耗费时间的,慢性的) ;chronology(年代学,年表)。 9、Eros(厄洛斯) :爱神。是一位生有双翼的美少年,相当于罗马神话中的Cupid(丘比特) 。不管是Eros 还是Cupid ,成天无所事事,在天上飞来飞去练习射箭,搞得大家人心惶惶。 所以他们衍生出的单词都含贬义:erotic 色情的;cupidity 贪心,贪婪。

英文版经典古希腊神话

《英文版经典古希腊神话》 1 The Olympian Gods Between Macedon（马其顿王国）and Thessaly of eastern Greece there stood a high mountain．Its cloudy top rushed into the very heavens．On the top of the mountain，the home of the gods was bathed in brightness．At Olympus Zeus ruled as the father of gods and men．Zeus was not a crude ruler by any standards．All the gods listened to his final words，it was true．But Zeus made them all sit on a committee of twelve members，including six gods and six goddesses．The first in the Olympian crowd sat Zeus himself．He was the overlord of gods and men and the operator of the thunderbolt ．Next to him was Hera，his proud and green-eyed queen．Poseidon was ruler of the sea，And Hades，king of the lower world，had no seat in the committee．Apollo was the god of the sun，music and poetry，while his twinsister Artemis was the goddess of the moon and the chase．Athena was the goddess of wisdom and patroness of house holdarts．Hestia，the goddess of the family，represented home life and family happiness．The frightening Ares was the god of war，and the charming Aphrodite the goddess of love and beauty．The god of fire，Hephaestus，was the forger(铁匠) of the thunderbolts of Zeus．The wing footed messenger Hermes was the god of invention and commerce；and the goddess of grains and harvests，Demeter，looked after agriculture and stood for mother of civilization． All the chief gods mentioned above took human forms of incomparable beauty and grace．Often moved by human feelings and desires，they frequently gave way to anger and jealousy．They became involved in ceaseless battles with the world of man．Among themselves at Olympus they plotted and struggled for power．In the human world they experienced competitions and difficulties．They enjoyed earthly friendships and loves．A crowd of everlasting gods looked and acted in a perfectly human fashion that is what all gods at Olympus actually were． 1.Macedon: [史]马其顿王国(古代巴尔干半岛中部一奴隶制国家) 2.Thassaly: A region of east-central Greece between the Pindus Mountains and the Aegean Sea. Settled before 1000 b.c., it reached the height of its power in the sixth century b.c. but soon declined because of internal conflicts.塞萨利希腊中东部一地区，位于屏达思山和爱琴海之间。建于公元前1000年之前，于公元前6世纪势力达到鼎盛但很快就因内乱而衰败 3.overlord: A lord having power or supremacy over other lords. 4.forger: 铁匠 2 Pandora After the stealing of fire，Zeus became increasingly unkind to men．One day he ordered his son Hephaestus to build an image of a beautiful maiden out of clay．He then asked the gods and goddesses to award her with different kinds of gifts．Among others，Athena clothed her in an attractive coat and Hermes gave her the power of telling lies．A charming young lady，she was the first woman that ever lived．Zeus called her Pandora．Because she had received from each of the gods and goddesses a gift．The gift was harmful to men． Zeus decided to send her down to men as a present．So Hermes the messenger brought her to Epimetheus，brother of Prometheus．The greatness of her beauty touched the hearts of all who looked upon her，and Epimetheus happily received her into his house．He had quite forgotten Prometheus' warning：never to accept anything from Zeus．The couple lived a happy life for some

希腊神话全部神的名字(全)

希腊神话全部神的名字 1.宙斯：他是奥林波斯山的众神之主，希腊最高的天神。在古代早期，宙斯是雷电之神，他主宰一切天象，与忒拜的安菲特律翁和阿耳戈斯的阿伽门农有相同的地位。后来由于奥林波斯教的产生，宙斯的名字取代了其它相同的神并成为主宰天地人间万物之神。相传宙斯为克洛诺斯和瑞亚所生。当时因克洛诺斯怕子女篡夺王位，只要瑞亚生下一子女，他便将之吞食。后瑞亚逃到克里特，生下宙斯。小时候宙斯是在祭司枯瑞忒斯们的保护下成长的，他喝母山羊阿玛尔忒亚的奶长大，因而克里特人特别崇拜宙斯，并尊他为死而复生的植物神。传说宙斯长大后，推翻了父亲的统治，做了众神之主，他与波塞冬、哈得斯分治宇宙，而宙斯指挥着宇宙的一切，他能呼唤疾风暴雨，能使四季更迭有序，他能降临人类幸福或灾难、善良与罪恶，也能支配人类命运，洞察未来。在著名的奥林匹亚，有宙斯的神庙，人们为崇拜他还定期举行奥林匹亚竞技会。宙斯的圣物是鹰，有时是牛，这反映了古希腊人图腾崇拜的痕迹。宙斯的标志是神盾、王杖，还有神锤。他的身边时常伴随胜利女神尼刻。宙斯在与赫拉结婚之前有过几次艳遇。第一次他娶聪明的墨提斯为妻，当墨提斯将要生产时，宙斯得到神的指示，说生下的这个孩子会力大无比，胜过父亲，于是宙斯将妻子吞食，但小孩在宙斯头中长大，她就是智勇双全的雅典娜。第二个妻子忒弥斯生下时序三女神（荷赖），他们是秩序女神欧诺弥亚、正义女神狄刻、和平女神厄瑞涅。她还生了命运三女神。宙斯还与海洋女神欧律诺墨生下可爱的美惠三女神；与丰产神得墨特尔生下白臂女神珀耳塞福涅，她后被宙斯许给冥王哈得斯。宙斯还和美发的谟涅摩辛涅生下九个发束金带的神女缪斯；与勒托生下神谢手阿波罗和阿忒弥斯兄妹，他们是宙斯最喜爱的子女。宙斯与赫拉生了赫柏、战神阿瑞斯和爱勒提亚。赫拉是女神之王，她权力很大，众神在她面前俯首贴耳，宙斯有时也拿她无奈。她俩时常不和，有一次赫拉生气，没与宙斯结合便生下儿子赫淮斯托斯。宙斯后又与阿特拉斯之女迈亚交欢，生下光荣的赫耳墨斯，与卡德摩斯之女塞墨勒恋爱，生下出色的金发男童狄俄倪索斯，还与阿尔克墨涅生下大力神赫刺克勒斯。后来希腊的贵族都力求把自己说成是宙斯的后代，许多地方的人也把宙斯看作自己的原始始祖，特别是希腊的英雄，望族的祖先都认为与宙斯有关，如波吕丢刻斯是宙斯与勒达所生，珀耳修斯是宙斯与达那厄所生，尤其是克里特的女始祖欧罗巴的故事与宙斯关系密切。相传欧罗巴是一腓尼基王的女儿，一次她梦见亚细亚与它对面的大陆变成了两个妇人，争着要占有她。亚细亚虽养育了欧罗巴，但争夺失败后不得不将欧罗巴让给另一妇人。欧罗巴醒后，觉得这个梦很奇怪，她便请求神为其消灾灭患。随后欧罗巴在草地上玩时，被宙斯看，宙斯变作一头金色的牦牛将她劫走，他们来到海边，跳入大海，牛背上的欧罗巴吓得浑身发抖，却无能为力。一会儿，波塞冬及海洋女神从海下升出，在他们周围护卫，他们离海岸越来越远，这是时克里特岛出现，宙斯带欧罗巴上了岸，他们结合，定居克里特，并生下三个子女，即弥诺斯、拉达曼托斯和萨耳珀冬。 关于宙斯的故事还有很多，可以说在十二主神的重要故事中都会找到他的身影，这里无法一一叙述。到古罗马时代对他的崇拜与朱庇特合流，并逐步与叙利亚的巴尔神、埃及的阿蒙神等混同。

英文单词与希腊神话

hero 英雄 出自希腊神话，意思是半人半神的，神和人所生的。 hercules task Hercules 希腊神话中的大力神海格利斯阿波罗为了惩罚hercules，命令他为欧利瑟斯国王服务12年。其间，hercules完成了12件伟大而艰难的任务，最终修成正果被宙斯封了一个星座名叫武夫座。hercules task在英语里来比喻非常艰难的任务。以make herculean efforts 来形容巨大的努力。 hercules' choice 现在英语指代永垂不朽。原因是他在VIRTUE美德之神和PLEASURE欢愉之神之间，选择了美德，美德之神保证他能永生，最后通过hercules的努力，他永生了，成了天上的武夫星座。 Achilles' heel 中文为阿基利斯脚踵。英语用来表示一个人的死穴或者事件的薄弱环节。这个希腊神话学过英文的基本上都知道了，不做叙述。 Gordian knot 中文翻译为“戈尔迪之结” 意思为棘手问题，难解问题。故事大概是一个叫戈尔迪得农夫赶着牛经过一个名叫弗利吉亚的国家，被当地人选为了国王，原因是有一先知预言戈尔迪就是他们未来的国王。戈尔迪为了感谢天神宙斯，以牛车祭示宙斯，他叫人用树皮做成了一根坚固无比的绳子，并亲自打了一个结，这就是戈尔迪之结。戈尔迪留下遗言，谁能解开此结，他将能统治整个小亚细亚。后来有一个人用剑斩断了结，他就是后来征服了整个小亚细亚的亚历山大大帝。 Troy 特洛伊太著名了，不用说了。电脑里的木马病毒，也是用这个单词。 Oedipus complex 恋母情结（弑父娶母的） 故事太悲惨了，希腊神话三大悲剧的代表，心理学上弗洛伊德用来表示子女对父亲带有敌意，并对自己的母亲有爱慕感情的一种心理病态。 Electra Complex，恋父情结，是指女儿亲父反母的复合情结。它是弗洛伊德主张的一种观点。这一名称来自希腊神话中厄勒克特拉的故事，相传爱烈屈拉因母亲与其情人谋杀了她的父亲，故决心替父报仇，最终她与其兄弟杀死了自己的母亲。 narcissism 那西赛斯情结，自恋症 Narcissus是一名俊美的希腊青年，他拒绝了女神Echo的求爱,所以他注定会爱上他自己在湖中的倒影，作为惩罚。因为没法令他的爱变得完满，他日益消瘦，最后变成了一朵以他命名的花——那西赛斯，也就是水仙花。 cassandra complex 凯珊卓情结 希腊神话中的女预言家，特洛伊国王普里阿摩斯的女儿。身为神殿女巫，她获阿波罗赋予预知命运的能力，但阿波罗要求与她发生肉体关系作回报，她拒绝了，阿波罗一怒下向她施以诅咒：凡她说出口的预言将百发百中，然而谁也不信以为真。城破后被希腊将领小埃阿斯俘虏。在希腊舰队归航途中船沉丧命。凯珊卓情结在心理学上指那些对尚未发生的灾难即将来