Don Mariano Marcos Memorial State University

South La Union Campus

COLLEGE OF EDUCATION
Agoo, La Union

Proponents: Course/Year/Setion: BSE II-1

Eclarinal, Jean Rose R. Date: 11/10/17
Villanueva, Raymond S. Subject: Mythology and Folklore

Have you ever experienced being reminiscent because of a particular thing?

Whenever you see a specific thing or place, does it remind you of a particular person or

event? When something great or something bad happens in our life, we tend to

remember these events by subconsciously implanting objects or sceneries and making

them representations for the people whom they had a great affiliation orthe events that

had already happened. In relation to this, we have gathered three concrete objects in

the Greek and Roman mythologies which represent various events relating to the fates

of the protagonists.

First in our list is the golden apple of Eris, also known as the apple of discord that

symbolizes havoc or chaos which is shown in the Judgement of Paris found in The

Greek and Roman Mythology by Edith Hamilton. Basically, it all started with the hatred

of a goddess who is always disregarded by the other gods, her name was Eris, the

goddess of discord. She was known to be a troublemaker so she was left out in every

important event attended by the divinities. Because of this, she devised a plan and

waited for the perfect opportunity. Eventually, there was a wedding between King

Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis. All the gods and goddesses were invited, and again,

Eris was excluded. She threw the golden apple in the middle of the banquet and written
on the apple were the words “For the Fairest”; and she succeeded. All the goddesses

fought for the apple proving their absolute beauty until three of them were left. Hera, the

goddess of marriage, Zeus’ wife, Athena, the goddess of wisdom, and Aphrodite, the

goddess of beauty and sexual desire. All three went to Zeus for his answer but he

wisely refused and ordered the three to go to Mount Ida for the infamous Judgement of

Paris. To summarize the story, Eris succeeded in causing havoc between the

goddesses and the golden apple of discord represents the reason or origin for the

Judgement of Paris.

Next would be the Trojan horse. It is widely known as the symbol for the Trojan

War itself. Due to Odysseus’ cleverness, he had his most skillful worker build the Trojan

horse out of the Greek army ships that can hold a number of men inside it. The Trojans

thought of it as an offering to them from the Greeks to let them escape and safely sail

back to Greece. The Trojans let the horse inside the city and they held a feast to

celebrate their victory until night came and everyone was resting. One by one the

Greeks stepped out of the horse and killed the Trojans, every Trojan was startled and

are not in the condition to fight against the Greeks. In the end, the Greeks won and

some of the Trojans escaped Troy which fell into ruins. In conclusion, the cleverness of

Odysseus resulted to the Trojan horse and it led to the destruction of Troy.

Last would be the golden bough or leaves which symbolizes guidance. Before

Aeneas’ descent to the underworld, he was told by the Sibyl of Cumae to bring to her a

golden bough for it will serve as a guide to the underworld. The golden bough was
located in the middle of a forest where Aeneas was guided by the two doves of Venus

towards its location. In the end, it served as their guide to paths of the underworld and

the golden bough became the symbol for Aeneas’ descent to the lower world.

In the end, there are countless objects that can serve as representations for each

story in Greek and Roman mythologies. The contents of this list is based on our own

opinion and of how these specific things or objects retained in our minds as we

remember these particular events or people in the story.