Download Greek Mythology - Wilmot Union High School

ZEUS
 Lord of the heavens and king of all gods, Zeus is the most
famous ancient god. He was worshiped everywhere in
Greece and people loved him and feared him in the same
time.
He is the youngest son of Cronus and Rhea; because he is
the supreme ruler he is represented as a personification of
law, justice and morals, which made him the spiritual
leader for gods and men. His weapon is a thunderbolt
which he used against everyone who displeased him. Zeus
controlled thunder, lightning and rain, which made him
also a weather god.
Zeus is married to Hera and is famous for his many
infidelities to her, being the first and most infidel husband
in history. Zeus is father to Helen of Troy.
 After having overthrown his father, Cronus, Zeus divided
the universe, their father’s kingdom, in parts he shared
between himself and his brothers. Poseidon gained the sea,
Hades the underworld and Zeus the heavens. He founded
his proper kingdom, on the top of the Mount Olympus,
were he lived with his sisters, brothers and children.
The Olympian Gods were living on the Mount Olympus.
The most famous and important Olympian Gods
inhabiting Olympus are twelve, but other minor deities and
gods were also welcome to live there
ATHENA
 The Greek goddess Athena is usually
portrayed as one of the most
benevolent goddesses . . .strong, fair,
and merciful.
 Athena is known as one of the three
virgin goddesses, referred to as virgin
because they were able to remain
independent, unswayed by the spells
of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, and
the consequent pull of marriage and
motherhood. Romance and marriage
did not feature in Athena's mythology.
In Greek mythology Athena was, in
essence, the prototype of the
contemporary "career woman".
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The birth of the Greek goddess Athena was
more than unusual, it was truly amazing!
It was the headache to end all headaches!
Zeus, the mighty king of the Olympian deities,
regretted having swallowed his first wife,
Metis. When Zeus had learned that she was
pregnant, he feared that she was carrying the
son that had been prophesied to supplant him
on the throne.
Though swallowing Metis had seemed a good
idea at the time, it was now causing him great
suffering which eventually proved to be totally
unnecessary.

Ready to risk anything to get rid of the pain
that tormented him, he allowed one of the
other gods to split open his head, and . . .
Voila! Out came, not the son he feared, but a
beautiful full-grown daughter, dressed in
golden battle armor, who instantly became the
"apple of her father's eye".
ARES
 Ares
He is the god of war, a very handsome and tall figure, but
very cruel and bloodstained; nevertheless
Whenever he ran into a battle bringing Pain,
Panic, Oblivion and Famine and when hurt he would run
to his father, Zeus, to be healed. Hera and Zeus were both
quite disgusted of their cowardly son.
A myth says that he was caught by his kind brother,
Hephaestus, in an act of adultery with his wife, the
beautiful Aphrodite, and as a revenge made Ares look
ridicule in public.
Apollo and Artemis
 Apollo is the god of music, who delighted everyone with his
performance at the golden lyre, the god of healing, and the god of light
and truth. He was also known as the Archer, as he was a master in
archer and excellent athlete, and for being the god of prophecy: the
divination centre of Delphi is dedicated to Apollo.
 He is the son of Zeus and Leto and his twin sister is Artemis, goddess of
hunting and wilderness. Mythology said that when Hera found out
about her husband’s infidelity with Leto, she forced Zeus’s lover to
roam the earth to find somewhere to give birth; Hera had forbidden
Leto to rest anywhere on the earth, the islands and the sea; the only
place for Leto to go was Delos, which was then a floating island and not
one of Hera’s prohibitions. Leto gave birth to Apollo and Artemis there.
Since then, Delos became one of the most important sanctuaries
dedicated to Apollo.
PERSEPHONE
 Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She is the
daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Persephone was such a
beautiful young woman that everyone loved her, even Hades wanted her for
himself. One day, when she was collecting flowers on the plain of Enna, the
earth suddenly opened and Hades rose up from the gap and abducted her.
None but Zeus, and the all-seeing sun, Helios, had noticed it.
 Broken-hearted, Demeter wandered the earth, looking for her daughter until
Helios revealed what had happened. Demeter was so angry that she withdrew
herself in loneliness, and the earth ceased to be fertile. Knowing this could not
continue much longer, Zeus sent Hermes down to Hades to make him release
Persephone. Hades grudgingly agreed, but before she went back he gave
Persephone a pomegranate (or the seeds of a pomegranate, according to some
sources). When she later ate of it, it bound her to underworld forever and she
had to stay there one-third of the year. The other months she stayed with her
mother. When Persephone was in Hades, Demeter refused to let anything grow
and winter began.
CRONOS
 Cronos was the ruling Titan who came to power by
castrating his Father Uranus. His wife was Rhea. Their
offspring were the first of the Olympians. To insure his
safety Cronos ate each of the children as they were
born. This worked until Rhea, unhappy at the loss of
her children, tricked Cronos into swallowing a rock,
instead of Zeus. When he grew up Zeus would revolt
against Cronos and the other Titans, defeat them, and
banish them to Tartarus in the underworld.
 (Cronos is Zeus’s Father!!)
ATLAS
 Atlas was the son of Iapetus. Unlike his brothers
Prometheus and Epimetheus, Atlas fought with the
other Titans supporting Cronus against Zeus. Due to
Cronus's advance age Atlas lead the Titan's in battle.
As a result he was singled out by Zeus for a special
punishment and made to hold up the world on his
back.
HERMES
 Known for his swiftness and athleticism, Hermes was
given credit for inventing foot-racing and boxing.
 Hermes, the messenger of the Olympian gods, is the
son of Zeus and the nymph Maia.
 According to legend, Hermes was born in a cave on
Mount Cyllene in Arcadia. Zeus had impregnated Maia
at the dead of night while all other gods slept. When
dawn broke amazingly he was born.
Poseidon and Hades
 Poseidon is a god of many names. He is
most famous as the god of the sea. The
division of the universe involved him
and his brothers, Zeus and Hades.
Poseidon became ruler of the sea, Zeus
ruled the sky, and Hades got the
underworld. The other divinities
attributed to Poseidon involve the god of
earthquakes and the god of horses. The
symbols associated with Poseidon
include: dolphins, tridents, and threepronged fish spears.
 Hades is the lord of the dead and ruler of
the nether world, which is referred to as
the domain of Hades or, by transference,
as Hades alone.
 Hades possesses the riches of the earth,
and is thus referred to as 'the Rich One'.
Possibly also because -- as Sophocles
writes -- 'the gloomy Hades enriches
himself with our sighs and our tears'.
 Of all the gods, Hades is the one who is
liked the least and even the gods
themselves have an aversion of him.
People avoided speaking his name lest
they attracted his unwanted attention.
With their faces averted they sacrificed
black sheep, whose blood they let drip
into pits, and when they prayed to him,
they would bang their hands on the
ground.
THE
HARPIES
Smelly
bird-like
creatures
with
women’s
faces
In Greek
mythology a
Gorgon is a
monstrous
feminine
creature whose
appearance
would turn
anyone who laid
eyes upon it to
stone. Medusa
was a Gorgon.
The Cyclopes were
giant beings with a
single, round eye
in the middle of
their foreheads.
According to
Hesiod, they were
strong, stubborn,
and "abrupt of
emotion."
The Cyclopes’, the
Titans and the
Giants were
considered the
first three races of
human beings
according to Greek
Myth.
Greek mythology,
Cerberus or
Kerberos was the
hound of Hades, a
monstrous threeheaded dog[2] with
a snake for a tail
and snakes down
his back like a
mane, whose
analogs in other
cultures are
hellhounds.