History YMMV / ClassicalMythology

%%** Artemis wasn’t in love with Orion. While they were very close and there was a myth where Apollo tricked Artemis into killing him out of fear of this, there was no evidence to suggest that she ever considered him more than a platonic friend. This was something made up by later translators, writers, etc. to spice up the story.

** For much of history, this was surprisingly ''not'' the case; for centuries, the Roman Catholic Church served as the primary scholarly institution in the western world, and because of this, Latin texts were studied far more than Greek ones. For example, ''Literature/TheAeneid'' was once considered the definitive account of the Trojan War by scholars, whereas nowadays ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' have become HouseholdNames, while Vergil's epic is rarely talked about outside academia. In many works of classic literature, the gods will often be alluded to by their Roman names, as authors and literary scholars were far more familiar with those variations of the myths. This began to change by the middle of the twentieth century, with UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace making space theory more common knowledge outside the field of astronomy, and the planets of the Solar System soon [[{{Pun}} eclipsed]] their mythological namesakes. As a result, most people nowadays when they hear "Jupiter" are bound to think of [[UsefulNotes/{{Jupiter}} the gas planet]] as opposed to a Roman god.

** The religious folklore of the Ancient Greeks was passed down verbally and rarely written down. Most of the surviving myths from that time come from the works of poets and playwrights who cared less about accurately archiving their religious beliefs and more about remembering what stories played best with the crowds. What's more is that they would often alter narratives and characterizations if they thought it would make for a more interesting tale (for example, Ovid apparently invented Medusa's human backstory out of wholecloth), meaning that a lot of aspects of Greek mythology that modern audiences are familiar with are likely wildly different from what the Greeks actually believed in.

** Theseus, as well. He is one of the most popular greek heroes, possibly the second most popular after Heracles - at least, [[MexicansLoveSpeedyGonzales in his hometown]] - and his adventures are discussed and adapted on various forms even to this day. However, he has a huge hatredom, entirely created due to his TooDumbToLive moments (that one time where him and his friend tried to kidnap Persephone), his awful tendecy to kidnap women (with the most famous example being Helen of Troy when she ''was'' twelve), as well as him abandoning Ariadne to Naxos. Some will mention the other side of the myth where the reason he abandoned Ariadne to this island was not because he had forgotten her, but because Dionysus told him that he had seen Ariadne, he had fallen in love with her and that he wanted to marry her and Theseus was forced to obey - and considering what happened to some other mortals who disobeyed the gods, that was actually a pretty smart move to do.

** The big three were Hubris (See above), [[FlatEarthAtheist impiety]], and violation of [[SacredHospitality xenias]]. Hubris and xenias were often a part of impiety; people indulging in hubris often didn't limit themselves and [[BlasphemousBoast ridicule the gods]], [[BullyingADragon which tended to get negative attention]]. And xenias was the domain '''of Zeus himself''', making repeated, willful violations of hospitality as good as direct affronts to the authority of the Lord of Olympus. Honoring xenias honored Zeus, trampling the tenants of hospitality was an insult to him.

** For much of history, this was surprisingly ''not'' the case; for centuries, the Roman Catholic Church served as the primary scholarly institution in the western world, and because of this, Latin texts were studied far more than Greek ones. For example, ''Literature/TheAeneid'' was once considered the definitive account of the Trojan War by scholars, whereas nowadays ''Literature/TheIliad'' and ''Literature/TheOdyssey'' have become household names, while Vergil's epic is rarely talked about outside academia. In many works of classic literature, the gods will often be alluded to by their Roman names, as authors and literary scholars were far more familiar with those variations of the myths. This began to change by the middle of the twentieth century, with UsefulNotes/TheSpaceRace making space theory more common knowledge outside the field of astronomy, and the planets of the Solar System soon [[{{Pun}} eclipsed]] their mythological namesakes. As a result, most people nowadays when they hear "Jupiter" are bound to think of [[UsefulNotes/{{Jupiter}} the gas planet]] as opposed to a Roman god.

** The religious folklore of the Ancient Greeks were passed down verbally and rarely written down. Most of the surviving myths from that time come from the works of poets and playwrights who cared less about accurately archiving their religious beliefs and more about remembering what stories played best with the crowds. What's more is that they would often alter narratives and characterizations if they thought it would make for a more interesting tale, meaning that a lot of aspects of Greek mythology that modern audiences are familiar with are likely wildly different from what the Greeks actually believed in.

** On the ladies' side, we have this...interesting mention of Athena and Artemis during the story of Persephone's kidnapping:

* MemeticMutation: Whether due to Albert Camus' musings on the character or due to his story resonating with modern culture, Sisyphus' story and his punishment has often become a popular meme. Whehter that be comparing any monotonous task to rolling a boulder up a hill, to imagining Sisyphus as happy, there's a lot of ways to interpret his story.

** Hera, Zeus's nominal wife, who vented her frustration about his constant cheating by inflicting horrible RevengeByProxy on Zeus's children, lovers, and rape victims.

* MemeticMolester: ''Zeus''. There's a reason he's the page image for DoubleStandardRapeDivineOnMortal. Notably, though, most depictions of him leave out such things as Ganymede...even if [[VideoGame/GodOfWar those works]] which depict him without his [[DepravedBisexual bisexuality]] will [[GirlOnGirlIsHot happily show female-on-female action.]]. Although that may have something to do with Ganymede being frequently agreed to be underage.

** Demeter is mostly remembered for starving the Earth until Persephone was given back to her (which even than was done out of grief at her daughter going missing), but is otherwise a loving mother and reasonable goddess (if not prvoked), and plays other, if smaller, integral roles in the canon mythology which don't involve Persephone (advising Psyche for one). Modern interpretations however rarely give her a personality outside of being an overprotective, overbearing, and sometimes even abusive mother to Persephone, and her starvation of the earth is portrayed more as sheer pettiness of her daughter gaining some agency in her marriage than despair at losing her.