Greek and Roman Gods

Sandra,

Plutarch does mention some mythology,  And a few of the Lives are about legendary/mythological men.  BUT by far the most material is really a study in leadership–with good examples, and bad examples, and then contrasting the two.  Most of the Lives are about REAL men, real leaders.  The material here is definitely worthwhile, and we’ve been reading them for some years.

If you have problems with the mythology, there are a few simple things to do.  One–simply skip those few lives at the beginning that are about the more legendary men.  Focus on the real, historical men.  Second—simply preread each Life and remove any references which bother you.  (I actually recommend doing this anyway.)  You can remove in this way any salacious or false-religion material that you do not want to deal with.  (The ones that are covered by guides at Ambleside are partly gone through for you already).  Actually, when we run into the references to sacrificing to the gods of the time–excellent opportunity to point out the difference between true religion and systems of false religion.  And that they were doing the best that they had with the light they had at the time (most of the Lives are pre-Christ.)  And when a person makes a dumb decision, say, by having a priest read entrails or listening to the Delphic oracle–then just discuss how modern decisionmakers can make decisions in dumb ways, too (Like global-warmism.)  These are leadership studies.  We have both good and bad leaders today, just as Plutarch found.  In fact you might have your kids recognize a “type” in a Life that corresponds to someone today.  (My kids find this all the time.)  Prepping ahead allows you to both remove any material you feel is inappropriate and also allows you to provide historical context and look up some words that may be difficult (most of the good translations are a bit difficult.) 

Also, we add in Biblical verses and perspective as we go.  I often have verses that apply come to my mind when I prep a reading, and so we read those, and the kids often suggest other verses or ideas. 

The ancient world has a lot of “un-Christian” material in it, the Lives included.  However, in my home this is not a reason to reject the entire study of all the ancients, but to look at the ancients through the lens of Christ and learn what we can.  If you are not comfortable with lots of mythology, you can still benefit from Plutarch.  It’ll just take a bit of prep—but then Plutarch takes a bit of prep anyway.  Also, I see no need to start Plutarch readings before the ages of 10-12, so we aren’t bathing your littles in it either.  This is for older, serious students who want to know about leadership.  We’ve found them very provocative and valuable and have had boisterous political discussions after readings.  🙂

Michelle

I didn’t have time to read the others posts, so I’m sorry if I repeat. With our children, we chose to expose them to the gods from a biblical perspective from the beginning. When reading of Ancient Egypt, we read everything about their gods, idols, beliefs on the afterlife, etc. This year, we have studied Ancient Greece, and have continued to read about the gods, superstitions, etc. We don’t feel this is leading our children astray, but rather, pointing them toward the truth of the one, true God. Even in reading the Bible, you can’t get very far without reading of people, even God’s people, who chose to worship other gods. And then you read of God’s love and patience with His people, until He has to prounouce judgment on them. If anything, I think this teaches our children that God is serious about wanting to be the only One we worship and that there are serious consequences otherwise. 

The myths are good stories and many teach lessons, but we are always quick to point out that they are just stories, that we can learn from them without worshipping Zeus or Athena, and that our world now is still full of people who worship false gods and need our prayers. It is my humble opinion that we can’t keep our children in a Christian bubble their entire lives and that early exposure and direction toward Truth and the ability to discern the lies from that Truth is going to benefit them more in the long run.

Blessings,

Lindsey