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MYTHOLOGY
English 10
What is Greek Mythology?
• The people of ancient
Greece shared stories
called myths about the
gods, goddesses, and
heroes in which they
believed.
• Each god or goddess
was worshipped as a
deity and ruled over
certain areas of the
Greeks’ lives
• These exciting stories
explained natural
phenomena that could
not be explained by
science in the ancient
world.
• The Ancient Greek culture has been kept alive
Study
byWhy
the oralShould
and, later,We
written
storiesGreek
handed
down through thousands
of years.
Mythology?
• Modern plays, novels, television programs,
movies and even advertisements refer to Greek
gods, goddesses, heroes and their stories.
The Unique Greeks
• The Greeks were distinctly
different from all previous
civilizations because they were
the first to create gods in their
own image.
• Unlike religious gods today,
the Greek gods looked and
acted human.
• They married, loved, and
quarreled; they had love affairs
(and children) with both gods
and mortals; they also loved
games, challenges and trickery
• But the gods were immortal
and would never die because
ichor, not blood, ran through
their veins.
The Beginning…
• At first, there was only
darkness….or Chaos.
• Then…Gaea, the Earth,
grew out of Chaos.
The Beginning…
• Gaea gave birth to Uranus, the sky.
• When rain fell on Gaea, plants, animals and
rivers were created.
• Gaea became Mother Earth, mother of all living
things and mother of the first gods.
The Titans
• Gaea and Uranus gave birth to 12 Titans, all
powerful giants – 6 boys and 6 girls.
• Cronus, Rhea (parents or grandparents of 12
Olympians), Oceanus (river that surrounded
the world), Tethys, Hyperion, Mnemosyne,
Themis, Iapetus, Coeus, Crius, Phoeba, Thea
The Beginning…
• Gaea also gave birth to more
children – three huge one-eyed
giants called Cyclopes
• And three Hecatoncheires –
each of these monsters had 50
heads and 100 arms.
• Uranus hated these ugly
children and threw them away
into the Underworld.
• This greatly angered Gaea and
she convinced Cronus, one of
the Titans to overthrow Uranus
(by castrating him).
• Cronus succeeded in
overthrowing Uranus
and became the new
Lord of the Universe
and married Rhea (his
sister).
• But Cronus worried that
one of his sons would
overthrow him just as
he had overthrown his
own father…so he
swallowed each child
as it was born.
The Birth of Zeus
• Cronus’ actions
obviously angered
Rhea.
• So she hid the
youngest child, Zeus,
and tricked Cronus
with a rock wrapped in
a blanket.
When Zeus grew up…
• He overthrew Cronus and
freed his brothers and
sisters, Hestia, Demeter,
Hera, Hades and
Poseidon by slipping his
father a drink which made
him disgorge his siblings
(who were unharmed
because they were gods).
• Then TOGETHER they
fought the Titans.
The war between the old gods
and the new gods lasted 10
years…
• But finally Cronus and the Titans
were defeated and locked in a pit of
Tartarus (underworld/prison).
• When Mother Earth was finally
peaceful, the rule of the Universe was
divided between the three brothers:
Zeus became the King of
Gods and God of Heaven
and Earth
Poseidon became the
God of the Sea
Hades became God of the
Underworld
The Great Olympians
• The Cyclops built a palace on
Mt. Olympus (tallest mountain
in Greece) for Zeus with 12
thrones; one for each of
Zeus’ brothers, sisters, his
children and Aphrodite, the
Goddess of Love.
• The 12 great Olympians ruled
from the top of Mt. Olympus
forever after.
• There, they ate ambrosia, a
magical food, and drank
nectar, a magical drink.
Zeus – Leader of the Olympian Gods
• Roman name: Jupiter
• He ruled the Olympians.
• He was the god of the
sky, lightning, and
thunder; embodied
military power
• He carried a lightning bolt
as his symbol
• He married Hera, his
sister, which was a family
habit
• He fathered many
children with various
goddesses and mortals.
Hera – Wife of Zeus
• Roman name: Juno
• She was the protector of
marriage and the home.
• She was associated with
the peacock because of her
great beauty.
• She and Zeus (her
brother/husband) were
always quarreling.
• She was called the queen
of intriguers, a vindictive
and jealous wife, who
frequently outwitted her
husband, Zeus.
• Often persecuted Heracles
(Hercules) because he was
an illegitimate child of Zeus
Poseidon – God of the Sea
• Roman name: Neptune
• Built an underwater palace with
a great pearl and coral throne.
• Often pictured with trident
• Although he chose Thetis, a
beautiful water nymph, as his
queen, he, like Zeus, was a
great wanderer, fathering
hundreds of children.
• He was a difficult god, changeful
and quarrelsome, but created
many curious forms for his sea
creatures.
• He invented the horse for his
sister Demeter, whom he loved.
Hades – God of the Underworld
and Wealth
• Roman name: Pluto
• Jealous brother to Zeus and
Poseidon
• Made Persephone his wife
after stealing her from her
mother, Demeter, who was
his sister.
• Because he was a violent
god, who was also
possessive of every new
soul, he rarely left his
domain.
• Depicted with Cerberus
(three-headed dog)
• Used his helmet of
invisibility to defeat Titans
Demeter – Goddess of Corn and
the Harvest
• Roman name: Ceres
• Goddess of agriculture
• Mother of Persephone, whose
father was Zeus
• Her daughter was kidnapped
by Hades and taken to the
Underworld where she was
forced to live six months of
every year, causing the
change of seasons.
• Mostly seen as benevolent,
but could also be cruel – gave
Erysichton an insatiable
hunger after he cut down trees
in her grove
Hestia – Goddess of the Hearth
• Roman name: Vesta
• Sister of Zeus
• Represented personal
and communal security
and happiness
• Thought of as the kindest
and mildest of the
goddesses
• Of little mythological
importance, only
appearing in a few
stories.
Athena – Goddess of wisdom,
justice, war, civilization, and peace
• Roman name: Minerva
• Born full-grown out of the head
of Zeus (who swallowed her
pregant mother, Metis.
Hephaestus took an ax and
struck open Zeus to release her
– full-grown)
• Taught man to use tools and his
wife to spin and weave
• Best-loved goddess on Olympus
• Hated Ares, god of war, often
besting him in battle
• Greek city of Athens is named
after her
• Said to have created the spider,
flute, ship, plow and chariot
Apollo – The sun god, god of music,
poetry, wisdom, light and truth
• Roman name: Apollo
• Son of Zeus and Leto
• Twin brother of Artemis
and the most handsome
of the gods
• God of healing arts and of
medicine, as well.
• Drove his chariot across
the sky to pull the sun
each day.
• His son, Phaethon, drives
Apollo’s sun chariot with
disastrous results.
Artemis – Goddess of the woods,
moon, and the hunt
• Roman name: Diana
• Twin sister of Apollo;
mother was Leto and
father was Zeus
• Respectful huntress who
always carried her bow
and arrows
• Ruled over the untamed
places of the earth
• Could bring diseases to
entire cities, and could
also cure them
Dionysus – God of revelry
(festivity) and the Vine
• Roman name: Bacchus
• Said to be the only god on
Olympus with a mortal parent
(Semele) – When Semele saw
Zeus in his natural form, she
was burnt by lightning, but Zeus
stitched Dionysus into his thigh
• Creation of wine brings
drunkenness and ecstasy to his
revelers – he is said to bring
both joy and rage (like wine’s
nature)
• Much of the ancient world’s
greatest poetry was created in
his honor
Ares – Cruel god of war
• Roman name: Mars
• Ruthless and murderous god,
who displayed the worst of
humanity’s traits.
• He, along with grief, strife, fear
(Phobos), and terror (Deimos),
roams the earth. Phobos and
Deimos are two of Mars’ moons.
• Ironically, he was a coward who
fled from battle.
• Lover of Aphrodite – Hephaestus,
Aphrodite’s husband, catches
them together and invites other
Olympians to look and sneer.
Hephaestus – God of fire,
volcanoes, and the forge
• Roman name: Vulcan
• Sometimes depicted of the son
of Hera alone, so she could get
revenge when Zeus bore Athena
• Ugliest of the gods, who was
rejected by his mother Hera,
when she hurled him off of Mt.
Olympus
• He made the armor and tools of
the gods on a broken mountain
near Mt. Olympus
• He made beautiful jewelry for
the goddesses
Aphrodite – Goddess of love and
beauty
• Roman name: Venus
• Goddess of desire born from sea
foam (Uranus’ mutilated genitals)
• Another myth credits her mother
as Dione and her father as Zeus
• After all the gods on Mt. Olympus
courted her, she married
Hephaestus, the ugliest of them
all, but she didn’t like him
• Because she was judged the
most beautiful of the goddesses
on Mt. Olympus by Paris, the
other goddesses envied her.
• Her longest affair was with Ares –
together, they had Eros (Cupid)
Hermes – God of mischief and
messenger of the gods
• Roman name: Mercury
• Presides over all forms of
exchange and
communication
• He was the precocious
son of Zeus and Maia, a
Titaness.
• Conducted the souls of
the dead to Hades and
watched over travelers
• Carried a snake-entwined
rod (caduceus) and wore
winged sandals and a hat
Other terms to know:
• Hours: Apollo’s servants
• Medusa: Slept with Poseidon in a
forbidden place, so Athena turned
the beautiful woman into a
serpent-haired monster. Those
who looked, turned to stone.
• Nymphs: nature goddesses of
woods and seas
• The Fates: 3 sisters/
goddesses who controlled
destiny
Other terms to know
• Furies: Three deities who punished
mortals who killed blood relatives.
Old women with claws for hands
and snakes for hair
• Harpies: Birds with women’s faces
with filthy tempers and habits
• Pegasus: Perseus’ winged horse
• Centaur: half man, half horse
• Minotaur: half man, half bull –
imprisoned in a labryrinth
• Satyr: half man, half goat
Other places to know:
• Styx: river around
Hades where the dead
enter by ferry
• Tartarus: Cosmic
prison for those who
insulted gods or
challenged them
• Elysian Fields: where
the good go after death
MYTHOLOGICAL ALLUSIONS
Arachne > Arachnophobia
Atlas > Atlas vertebrae
Echo > Echolalia or echpraxia
Hermaphroditus > Hermaphrodite
Hygeia > Hygiene
Hypnos > Hypnosis
Morpheus > Morphine
Lethe > Lethargic
Mentor (in the Odyssey) > Someone’s mentor
Pan (half man, half goat) > Panic
Typhon > Typhoon
Zephyrus > Zephyr