Curiosity in Greek Mythology

Curiosity in Greek Mythology

In Greek Mythology, curiosity is an issue in many of the myths. It can cause trouble and may issues for the characters that fall into its trap. Curiosity can be seen in the myths about Psyche and Eros, Pandora, and Daedalus. The characters from these myths learn that curiosity is a very big temptation to resist. Their inability to overcome it, leads them to the destruction of themselves.

In the myth Psyche and Eros, Psyche hasn't seen Eros, so one night she gets curious, so she sneaks into his room and looks at him with an oil lamp, but as she leans to see his face and she spills oil on him and he wakes up and leaves her. She let curiosity get the better of her and she lost her husband. She then has to do all of these things for Eros’ mother, Aphrodite. On her last task she got curios again and she opened the box that persephone gave her and she fell into a sleep almost like death. If she didn't do the things she wasn't supposed to do, and trusted the people around her, none of the problems would have happened. A lesson we could learn is that we should trust how things will play out and to not do things we aren't allowed to.

In the myth of Daedalus, Daedalus gets banished from his hometown, after he tried to murder his nephew. He gets sent to crete and he is befriended by the queen, Pasiphae. After she falls for a white bull after getting shot with an arrow from eros. She ends up having a baby with the bull. When her husband finds out she is imprisoned with her son in an inescapable maze that Daedalus makes. He gets imprisoned too with his son, they figure out how to escape by making wings. When they start flying Daedalus warns his son not to get to curious and fly too high. But his son does not listen and he ends up getting killed because he went to high. In this myth he let curiosity get the better of him and it resulted by him getting himself killed. A lesson we could learn from this is that we should listen to what we are told and to obey what we are told.

The last myth is Pandora. She is sent to the earth to keep Epimetheus company. After she settles in, she notices a box. But when she asks epimetheus about it, he tells her that it is not to be opened. But one day she let the curiosity get the better of her and she opens the box. Evil things start pouring out of the box. She quickly closed the box but it was too late. The cottage was