Greek Mythology and Harry Potter

Little known fact: we come across tit bits of Greek mythology everyday; in the books we’ve read as a child or the cartoons or movies we’ve seen when we were young. In today’s novels and books, references to Greek mythology are, quite frankly, everywhere. The ideals of an epic hero and stories of epic journeys are repetitive in modern-day pop culture and entertainment. These modern stories have heroes growing through trials. According to Steve Persall, a researcher in the field of allusions, “many hero stories have great parallels to Odysseus, since it was essentially one of the very first “hero” stories of all times.”

Many kids are introduced to Greek mythology at quite an early age. For instance, in The Little Mermaid, the idea of mermaids have been derived from the idea of sirens, which are female winged creatures in Greek mythology whose singing lured unwary sailors on to rocks. Ariel’s father was Neptune, the Roman name for Poseidon. Even the idea of Ursula has been adopted from the Greek monster Scylla.

Many books have plots revolving around the world of Greek gods and goddesses (Percy Jackson and the Olympians by Rick Riordan, the Starcrossed series by Josephine Angelini, etc) while many others have allusions in them. Harry Potter, surprisingly, is full of Greek mythological allusions, which, I guess,is no surprise since Rowling did study Greek and Roman mythology at Exter University.

• The name Hermione can be considered as an example. The only daughter of Melenaus and Helen, Hermione in Greek mythology was a smart and hardworking girl, whose parents left her behind and sailed away. The character of Hermione in Harry Potter was not very far from her namesake. Interestingly, both Hermione’s were pursued by two man, Orestes and Neoptolemus, and Ron Weasley and Viktor Krum.
•  Minerva McGonagall was named after the Roman counterpart of Athena, Minerva, who was the goddess of wisdom and war. Both of them were quick to help others with reason, fierce in battle and strict. Also, Athena’s symbol was an owl, which was McGonagall’s pet.
• Even our beloved Rubeus Hagrid’s back-story has been adapted from Hagrid Rubes, a kind giant, who was framed for the murder of Zeus and banished from Mt. Olympus to take care of animals.
• The character of all-seeing man and caretaker of Hogwarts, Argus Filch, has been adapted from the Greek Argus Panoptes, a great watchman with a hundred eyes and Hera’s servant who was instructed to watch and guard Io from Zeus.
• The character of Albus Dumbledore and the Greek Merlin is similar in their physical and personality description. Despite being a heroic archetype, both of them were wise, powerful, a caregiver and an advisor.
• Another example is the predicament of Harry. Harry, like Odysseus, was looking for a place he could call home. Special abilities being brought out by trying times is a characteristic we see in mythic heroes, a characteristic common for both Odysseus and Harry.
• Even the merpeople that Harry had to fight in one of his journeys at the bottom of the school pond were fashioned after the sirens of Greek mythology. These creatures distracted Harry from his quest, just like they did to Odysseus in his journey.
• Sybill Trelawney is the divination teacher at Hogwarts. Her great-great-grandmother was the celebrated seer and witch, Cassandra Trelawney. Although none of Cassandra's prophecies were ever told in the novels, because Dumbledore once kept the divination "program" for the mere fact of the Trelawney name, one can assume they were legendary. Dumbledore once noted that Sybill's skills were far less apparent than those of her great-great-grandmother, but nevertheless, Sybill did have a few great prophecies that served accurate. According to myth, Apollo, the god of music, fell in love with the Trojan Princess Cassandra, her beauty causing him to grant her the gift of prophesy. When she did not return his love, Apollo became angered and instead of taking the gift back, cursed her so that no one would ever believe her or her descendants’ predictions. This could be one reason why many believed Sybill to be a fraud. 
• Fluffy, the three-headed dog that could be put to sleep by playing music was an allusion to Cerberus in Greek mythology that guards the Underworld and can be put to sleep in much the same way.
• The superlative centaur among his brethren, Chiron is known to be one of the many wise centaurs of Greek Mythology. The centaurs were known to be wild drunkards, but Chiron was an exception to this stereotype. He possessed a great number of skills, which also included teaching and prophecy.  During the fifth Harry Potter novel, Firenze, a centaur from the colony in the Forbidden Forest takes the spot of the divination professor at Hogwarts. Firenze was not like the rest of the centaurs and was very concerned with teaching and divination. Because of this, and his acceptance of Dumbledore’s teaching offer, he was ostracized by his “herd”.

From the very first chapter, it is evident that the work holds strong Greek mythological backgrounds. For anyone who has ever seen, read or heard the Harry Potter books or movies, classical connections can be made quite easily. Rowling was able to use Greek mythology as a way to attract all types of people and age groups. These seven books prove mythology still lives and influences modern culture even after thousands of years. So whether it be by page or by screen, Harry Potter will always be there to welcome one into the fascinating world of Greek mythology through a modern lens.