How Greeks Loved

Love is the strongest and most intense feeling humans have ever experienced. It is for love that much of what happens in myths and life comes to be. Through this theme the whole human civilization develops, considering the presence of different types of love. You may love whole heartedly as Romeo would love Juliet, or you may love brothers and family, but you may also love things, ideals, goals, and much more. You may love as Glaucus who had eyes for no other that Scylla, even though she didn’t feel the same way. You may also feel this how Narcissus did, who loved himself to the point where it became his obsession. You may even love material things with a sentimental value to you, such as Pygmalion and his ivory wife. These are all representations and different views of how this theme was present in Greek mythology. Greeks believed that love could do anything, even corrupt your intentions. When Glaucus asked Circe for help, a love story turn into a curse for the nymph. “The goddess was indignant, but she could not punish him, neither did she wish to do so, for she liked him too well; so she turned all her wrath against her rival, poor Scylla.” As Circe did, many people take revenge and hurt other as a cause of a frustrated love. People love in such an intense way that sometime this feeling is able to take control of their actions and decisions. Therefore, we must learn to love in a positive way, not the way people in the myths do, who all end up devastated by this force. And we must learn to accept reality; we must understand things must happen, even if we don’t want them that way. Even if you love intensely, you must always remember you may lose that which you hold so dear. Don’t be afraid to let your feelings show, but do it in a good way and never become greedy, because maybe tomorrow you may not have that which you always gave for granted, that person that has always been there by your side.