Greek Mythology Story Ideas

 Hallo! I am out! So I have started working on this Note ahead of time to make sure that I have something to get to you.

Greek Mythology Story Ideas!

Greek mythology!  It has long been a source of inspiration for fiction, which makes sense because it’s full of tons of good tropes! That being said, I think there are some aspects of mythology that don’t get as much emphasis as they really should, because they get forgotten in the shuffle. 

The Trial of Ares

So in the New Testament (not Greek mythology, but stick with me), Saint Paul talks theology with people in a spot in Athens called the Aeropagus. But this spot has a long history in Athens; before it was a spot for philosophers to debate, it was a location reserved for the trials of murderers. Why? Because that’s where Ares was tried for murder by the gods, according to Greek legend.

The story goes that Poseidon’s son raped one of Ares’s daughters. Ares, despite generally being a bit of a douchebag in mythology, doesn’t take this well and murders the guy. When Poseidon finds out, he’s upset, and raises a ruckus big enough that the gods get together and have a trial about it.

Why isn’t this story more often adapted? I’m not saying we need a depiction of the rape–I’d rather there not be, truth be told. But the trial itself. One of the gods is on trial, the one who Zeus himself says he doesn’t like in the Iliad… and it’s for something that’s completely understandable. For once, Ares is the sympathetic one of the gods, and that’s not a situation that comes up a lot. I’d like to see that come up more often.

The War with the Giants

When people want to depict a big war in Greek mythology, they often default to the war between the gods and the Titans. Which is fair, because that’s more famous, and if you need a villain group for the mythos, they make a convenient set. But you know who else fights the gods? The giants. Born out of Gaia because she’s upset about the treatment of some of her children still, they not only provide quite a challenge, but it’s prophesized/required that the gods need help to beat them–which is where Heracles comes in.

The only real adaptation of this event I can think of is Heroes of Olympus by Rick Riordan, which is putting it in the modern day with new heroes. This is a shame, because there are some pretty amazing things happening here! Gods are dropping mountains on their enemies! Athena straight-up skins a guy! With all the different movies that are stories about Heracles, you’d think that someone out there would be happy to see him battle giants, right? But no, it’s not one of the most famous of his stories, so people tend to forget about it.

Marathon

Alright, the Battle of Marathon isn’t mythology, it’s history, but there’s a lot of legend attached to the Battle of Marathon, too. In the battle between the Greeks and Persians, there are legends that the heroes out of mythology, such as Theseus and Heracles, appeared in the battle, either to rally the Greek soldiers, or to actively help them fight the Persians, as a way to show that the gods were on their side.

And yeah, that sounds a bit silly, but I don’t think that’s a bad thing to show in a movie. A ton of movies do this thing with mythological stories, where the gods are hallucinations, or vague interpretations of events involving real people. Why not do something like that with Marathon, where you depict the battle, and one of the characters sees the gods and heroes involved? And play with what that means for the characters, or for the Greek people and their view of the Persians?

Hyberborea

In Greek mythology, there’s a land far to the north where Apollo likes hanging out, and it’s an advanced society where everything is awesome. And it’s very rarely depicted in Greek mythological adaptations at all. Probably because it’s a place that clearly doesn’t really exist in real life. Again, Rick Riordan’s the only one who really comes close to adapting it, and in his work, Hyperboreans are just a race of ice giants from the north. I suppose Mike Mignola and Robert E. Howard do something with it, but for them it’s just a generic word for a world that existed before, an earlier age of history.

Why not tell a story about this place? We know that there were ancient Greek explorers, some of whom went looking for this place. And I think you could do something other than depict the northern Hyperborea as a kind of paradise–it’s Apollo’s favorite vacation spot, sure, but he wasn’t always a nice guy. 

Orion

Considering how Orion has a constellation, and his name is pretty darn popular, you would think that his story would have been adapted more than it is. But it doesn’t come up that often in fiction? At least, not in the fiction I read? If anything, it comes up as a background detail, rather than something adapted directly.

Which is a shame, because this guy was apparently such an epic hunter, that he threatened to kill every animal in the world, and that was a big enough threat that Gaia decided to kill him. Or maybe Apollo killed him/had him killed, there are different versions of the story. Either way, you have all the ingredients for a fun fantasy drama about the gods and this one guy who got involved with them, and was important enough that he got painted into the stars.

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