We are always curious to learn about ancient cultures. We dig up anything that could give us a glimpse into their lives, including their culture, religion, economy, science, and knowledge. Through the study of their art and cultures, we draw conclusions about their psychology and what they believed. The most famous examples of this are the Greeks and the Romans.  

We have an extensive understanding of Greek mythology and theology. Many of their writings survived and taught us a lot about what it was like to be a Greek citizen at that time. We know about Zeus, Aphrodite, Hera, Apollo, and others. 

However, there is something not many reflect on; how we, contemporary people, perceive Greek mythology. The vast majority see their mythology as mere made-up stories about fictional figures, which is true to an extent. We think, however, that it is strange that people once believed in these myths, believed in their stores, built temples to honour and worship them, drew paintings to immortalize them, and wrote poems and epic stories about them. We think that the Greeks maybe wasted too much time on these fictional characters to the point where it became silly. That's why we seem to judge the average Greek person to be naive or we judge the entire civilisation by saying, "Well, they didn't have the luxury of science and knowledge that we have today, that's why they didn't know any better than to believe in these stories". 

Here is where we should stop and consider our modern age; the age of science, inventions and "rationality". We see people spending their money, time and energy on Marvel superheroes, anime characters, and other fictional figures. They buy the merchandise, play the games that feature these figures, watch the movies repeatedly, read the books time after time, and write fan fiction. Why is that? Why do we do this? And how dare we label ancient cultures as backwards and, at best, ignorant when they do exactly the same things? 

It is our human nature. When a society is godless, it will create for itself false gods. Maybe the Greeks were just like us; they knew that Zeus was fictional but they became devoted "fans" and started writing fan fiction, so much so that a few generations later, they lost track of what was real and what was not. Maybe after a hundred years, humans will not be as sure that Hulk didn't exist. 

In one thousand years, if they dug up an abandoned city from our time and found all the anime collectables in some teenager's room, they might feel a sense of superiority over us and think we were naive and that we lacked knowledge. Or maybe they will think we worshipped these figures. To be honest, the level of obsession that some people have reached certainly does resemble worship. 

We shouldn't think that ancient societies were inferior. They were humans just like us. We may have advanced tools, but we are not that different on the inside. We tend to forget that advanced tools do not mean our inner selves are "better". The difference between me and a person who lived a thousand years ago is that I send a text message via the internet and they did that by writing it by hand and sending it with a man on a horse or even a pigeon. This does not mean I am smarter than were.