Final Thoughts

When it came to finalising the blog and putting all the pieces I have worked on together I was in some ways disappointed that the project was over. Although I had been looking forward to designing the blog and spending time on the finishing touches, that process was surprisingly quick. I chose a fairly simple design as I wanted the focus to be on the content not the looks, I did however manage a small goodbye nod to Artemis by choosing a clearing in a forest as my background image and a green theme.

Looking back on the postings I have done it is obvious that an overall topic has been how Greek mythology is received and studied today, with perhaps an extra personal focus on how I study. The blog has been a great resource for self-reflecting on how I approach topics and I have learned a lot about my process and traps I should avoid falling into.  At the same time I feel that I have discovered a trend in modern scholarship. I feel like there are new methods of studying emerging which leads to new theories, it is an exciting time for academia!

In my blog post about polytheism I reflected on the fact that scholars have a tendency to want to put everything in separate boxes and tie it with a nice bow on top. I did not get to reflect on this in my last post but I think the issues faced with Olympian vs. chthonian deities is a clear sign of this! I think partly why this has been such a hot topic for so long is because scholars have not been able to set aside their categorising needs. As I said previously new methods are emerging that is leading to some exiting material, hopefully this will affect the Olympian/chthonian debate as well. Because of the extensive use of the internet that has been necessary for this blog I have come over some silly things that reflect how it is for outsiders to look at the sometimes confusing and sometimes even incestuous relationship that exits between the deities. This photo, taken from the Disney movie Hercules, with added text for comical effect, shows well how confusing Greek Mythology can seem to ‘outsiders’.

So to end this blog on a lighter note: In the end this project has been great for self-reflection, and I feel I have learnt much about how I can improve my studies of Greek Mythology. It has also taught me much about Artemis as a deity, whom I was impressed with before this project, but now also hold in high esteem.

Images:

1.      http://www.istockphoto.com/stock-photo-6072320-forest-path.php?refnum=Nikada

2.      http://kudanthaiyur.blogspot.co.uk/2010_10_01_archive.html

3.      http://accusativeofexclamation.tumblr.com/post/29723405772/achangingaltar-billyraysiren-greek-mythology