Myths and legends of ancient Rome and Greece are not just the pieces of folklore, they are the parts of the cultural destination of these countries.
The main themes in these myths coincide as well as the characters and their behaviors. Most of the myths were shared orally for the future generations, however, Homer and Ovid made a great contribution into the cultural treasury, they wrote the books where they gathered the myths of the ancient world. Dwelling upon Roman and Greek myths, the relations between Gods and people deserve special attention.
Remembering the main idea of the myths which is to portray the creation of the specific natural phenomena via the God’s actions, the relationships between people and Gods cannot be rejected in the book. Reading the fifth book of Ovid’s Metamorphoses and particularly the myth devoted to Ceres, Pluto and Proserpine, the cooperation between gods and human beings is going to be considered.
Reading Ovid’s Metamorphoses, it is possible to see four major stages in the development of the mentioned above ties. At the first stage of the interaction between gods and people, gods understand that they are to act like people in order to understand their needs, e.g. the situation when gods fell in love. After this stage, gods understand their superiority and it helps them get what they want, e.g. the myth about Ceres, Pluto and Proserpine.
Some people become subjected to gods, therefore, they are given the right to govern other people that leads to the superiority of some human beings under people, e.g. the myth about the pathos of love. The final stage of human – god relationships is when people become gods, e.g. Trojan War. Focusing attention on one specific myth, it should be stated that the myth about Ceres, Pluto and Proserpine is a great example of the gods’ superiority under people (Ovid 1135).
Pluto was in love with Proserpine and he did all possible not to leave her “O virgin,.. Your guardian is a god– and I am not a common deity: for I am he who holds within his hands the heavens’ scepter: I am he who hurls the roaming thunderbolts. So do not flee!” (Ovid 1142).
However, Proserpine’s desire to remain free and independent makes Pluto capture her and get to the Underground where he makes her stay there forever. Being captured in the Underground, Proserpine’s mother is unable to find her daughter, therefore, she decides to punish people as she is unable to punish those who really deserve such attitude, “she exclaims against all countries, and calls them ungrateful, and not worthy of the gifts of corn” (Ovid and Riley 105).
As a result, feeling the power of gods, people were afraid of them and tried to satisfy them. On the contrary, feeling their power, many gods understood their superiority and use it when it was convenient for them. However, gods also understood the importance of people and when it was about the benefit of people, gods usually supported them. The crops were saved from death and the fruitfulness returned to the Earth. People were fed and happy.
This is just one example of the gods’ superiority over people. There are a lot of examples when people suffered from god’s terrors, however, there are also the situations when people were happy from Gods’ superiority as they remained under the powerful protection.
Works Cited
Ovid and Henry T. Riley. The Metamorphoses of Ovid, New York: Digireads.com Publishing, 2009. Print.
Ovid. “Metamorphoses.” The Norton Anthology of World Literature. 2nd ed. Vol. A. Ed. Lawall, Sarah. New York: Norton, 2002. 1138-1182. Print.