Greek mythology is the body of stories belonging to the ancient Greeks, concerning their gods and heroes, the nature of the world and their own cult and ritual practices. Modern scholars referred to the myths and studied them in an attempt to shed light on the religious and political institutions of ancient Greece and, in general, on the ancient Greek civilization.
Greek mythology consists in part of a large collection of narratives that explain the origins of the world and detail the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and other mythological creatures. These accounts were initially fashioned and disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; the Greek myths are known today primarily from Greek literature.
Greek mythology has had extensive influence on the culture, the arts and the literature of Western civilization and remains part of western heritage and language. It has been a part of the educational fabric from childhood, while poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in classical mythological themes.