Download Notes from Hamilton`s Mythology WHO WROTE DOWN THE

Notes from Hamilton’s Mythology
WHO WROTE DOWN THE STORIES WE HAVE TODAY
1. Most come from Latin poet Ovid, Metamorphosis,
who wrote during the reign of Augustus—good
storyteller but he treated them as nonsense
a. Other Roman poets – Virgil, Horace, Catullus
2. Greek writers: Homer – Illiad and the Odyssey
(1000 B.C.)
3. Hesiod – poor farmer
a. 8th or 9th century
b. famous poem Theogony about mythology:
creation of the universe and generations of the
gods
4. Homeric hymns poems written to honor various
gods
a. 33 poems
b. written in 4th or 5th cent. Athens
5. Pindar’s Odes, greatest Greek lyric poet
6. Playwrites
a. Aeschylus
b. Sophocles
c. Euripedes
d. Aristophanes
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THE GODS AND CREATION (from the Theogony)
I. THE GODS
a. Greeks believed universe created the gods
i. Heaven and earth are the first parents
(personification)
ii. Titans were their children
iii. Gods were their grandchildren
II. THE TITANS
a. CRONIS/SATURN
i. Ruled until dethroned by Zeus
b. OCEAN
i. River that encircled the earth
ii. Married to Tethys
c. HYPERION
i. Father of the sun, moon and dawn
d. MNEMOSYNE
i. Means memory
e. THEMIS – justice
f. IAPETUS
i. Father of Atlas (carried the world on his
shoulders) and Prometheus (savior of
mankind)
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III. 12 GREAT OLYMPIANS
a. Olympus was their home
i. Sometimes associated with Mt. Olympus
in Thessaly, Greece
ii. Illiad – first top most peak, but later its
common to the sea, the dead and the
heavens
iii. Entrance to it protected by the seasons
iv. Gods lived there and feasted on nectar
and listened to Apollo’s lyre—abode of
perfect blessedness
b. Made up a divine family
i. ZEUS/JUPITER (drew lots with his
brothers for their share of the universe)
1. Supreme ruler, but not omnipotent
or omniscient (can be tricked)
2. Demanded sacrifices from men and
right action
3. Breastplate – aegis, bird –eagle, treeoak
ii. HERA/JUNO
1. Zeus’ wife and sister
2. Jealous
3. Cow and peacock sacred to her, loved
the city Argos
iii. POSEIDON/NEPTUNE
1. Ruler of the sea, Zeus’ brother
2. Gave first horse to man
3. Carried a trident, connected to bulls
and horses
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iv. HADES/ PLUTO
1. Other brother of Zeus
2. God of the underworld and ruler of
the dead
3. Also god of precious metals hidden in
earth
4. Had a cap or helmet that made him
invisible, rarely left the underworld
5. Dark, but not evil, and just
6. Wife Persephone whom he carried
from earth and made queen of the
lower world
v. PALLAS ATHENA/MINERVA
1. Daughter of Zeus alone
2. Born full-grown in full armour, she
sprang from Zeus’ head
3. Initially fierce in the Illiad, but only
towards enemies
4. Zeus’ favorite child
5. Embodies wisdom, purity, reason
6. Olive was her tree, owl her bird,
Athens her special city
vi. PHOEBUS APOLLO (same name in
Roman)
1. Son of Zeus and Leto
2. “Most Greek of the gods” – beautiful,
musician, plays the lyre, lord of the
silver bow, God of light and truth
3. laurel is his tree, sacred creatures are
the cow and the dolphin
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vii. ARTEMIS (DIANA)
1. Apollo’s twin sister
2. One of three maiden goddess of
Olympus
3. Lady of wild things, huntsmen in
chief
4. Later identified with Hecate as
goddess of three forms – Selene in
the sky, Artemis on earth, Hecate in
the lower world
5. Most vividly stands for uncertainty
between good and evil
6. Sacred to her are the cypress and the
deer
viii. APHRODITE (VENUS)
1. Another of the maiden goddesses
2. Goddess of Love and Beauty
3. In the Illiad daughter of Zeus and
Done, but later described as
springing from the foam of the sea
4. Wife of Hephaestus/Vulcan – lame
and ugly god
5. Myrtle was her tree, the dove usually
her bird
ix. HERMES/MERCURY
1. Father Zeus, mother Maia (daughter
of Atlas)
2. Wore winged sandals, low crowned
hat, magic wand
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3. Zeus’ messenger – most cunning,
Master Thief
x. ARES/MARS
1. God of war
xi.
HEPHAESTUS (VULCAN and MULCIBER)
4. God of fire, son of Zeus and Hera or
just Hera
5. Only god who was ugly
6. Kindly, peace loving
xii. HESTIA/VESTA
7. Zeus sister
8. Third virgin goddess
9. Goddess of the hearth
IV. SOME LESSER GODS
a. EROS (CUPID)
i. God of love, often represented as
blindfolded
b. HEBE – goddess of youth
c. IRIS – goddess of the rainbow
d. GRACES – daughters of Zeus and Eurynome
(child of Titan/Ocean)
i. AGLAIA (splendor)
ii. EUPHROSYNE (mirth)
iii. THALIA (good cheer)
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iv. Usually companions to the 9 Muses –
queens of song at banquets
e. GODS OF THE WATERS
i. POSEIDON
1. Son Titron was trumpeter of the sea
ii. OCEAN, a Titan
iii. PONTUS – deep sea, son of mother Earth
and father NEREUS, a sea-god himself
called the Old Man of the Sea
f. THE UNDERWORLD—shadowy place
i. Ruled by Hades
ii. Guarded by CEREBUS
1. 3 headed, dragon tailed dog
iii. When you arrive you go through 3 judges,
Rhadmanthus, Minos, and Aecus, who
pass sentence
1. Bad go the everlasting torment
2. Good go to Elysian Fields
iv. rivers separate underworld from the world
a. Phlegethon – river of fire
b. Styx – river of unbreakable oath
by which only gods swear
c. Lethe – river of forgetfulness
iv. Pluto’s palace also down there
somewhere
v. Also in the underworld – Furies who
punish evildoers and Sleep and Death
g. LESSER GODS OF EARTH -- most famous
i. Goddess of Corn (Demeter)
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1. Daughter of Cronus and Rhea
2. Festival of the Harvest
3. Daughter Persephone -- seasons
ii. God of the Vine (Bacchus)
1. Born in Thebes
2. Only god with mortal parents
3. God of wine – double nature
CREATION MYTHS
“First there was Chaos, the vast immeasurable
abyss, Outrageous s a sea, dark, wasteful, wild.”
Milton
I.
Began with chaos
a. Unbroken darkness
b. Night was the child of Chaos, as was Erebus,
where Death dwells
II. Then by some marvel, mysteriously,
a. . . . Black-winged Night
Into the bosom of Erebus
Laid a wind-born egg, and as the seasons
rolled
Forth sprang Love, the longed for, shining,
with wings of Gold. Aristophenes
III. Creation of the earth then just happened
a. Earth was solid ground and a personality
b. Heaven too acted like a person
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c. Mother Earth (Gaea) and Father Heaven
(Ouranos) -- acted like monsters, huge
strength and force
i. 3 had the name Cyclopes (wheel eyed)
ii. Last came the Titans
iii. Three had 100 hands and 50 heads
d. Heaven was a poor father
i. Hated the last three and imprisoned
them in a secret place in earth
ii. Left Cyclopes and Titans at large
iii. Earth upset at Heaven asked her
children for help, and only the Titan
Cronus responded, who laid in wait and
wounded him badly. The Giants the 4th
race of monsters sprang from his blood,
as did the Erinyes (the Furies) who
punshed sinners
e. From then on Cronus/Saturn ruled with his
sister queen Rhea (Ops in Latin)
i. Finally 1 son Zeus rebelled
ii. Cronus had learned that one of his sons
was destined to dethrone him so he
swallowed them at birth. But Rhea hid
her 6th child Zeus by having him
secretly taken to Crete when she gave
Cronus a stone wrapped in a blanket to
swallow. Later, Zeus with his
grandmother’s Earth’s help, forced his
father to disgorge his siblings. There
was a war between Cronus and Zeus
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and the siblings and the Titans lost
because Zeus released the 100 handed
monsters and because Prometheus
sided with Zeus. Zeus punished his
enemies – Atlas had to carry the world
on his back. Later, the Giants rebelled,
but Zeus had the help of Hercules, his
son.
STORIES OF CREATION OF MAN
1. Prometheus, name means forethought, was
wise, but his brother Epimethus, name means
afterthought, was scatterbrained. He gave all good
things in the universe to the animals, and then,
when he realized there was nothing left for men,
asked his brother to fix it. Prometheus fashioned
them in a better shape, upright, and then he went
up to the heavens and came back with a torch to
bring them fire.
2. Another story is that the gods created men.
First, like the golden race, they lived like gods
without sorrow or pain. The gods then
experimented with other metals, silver race that
had little intelligence and kept hurting each other.
Then came brass race, strong and violent, so they
destroyed each other. Then came a race who had
glorious wars and had adventures. Last, was the
iron race, that live in evil times and whose natures
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are part evil, and each generation is worse than the
next, until they are so bad Zeus will destroy them,
unless the common people overtake their
oppressive rulers.
Under both stories there were only men, no
women, for a long time. In the Prometheus story,
Prometheus had men eat all the best food and
animal meat when they did sacrifices, and the gods
only got the worse cuts. Zeus got angry with that,
and made men a lovely thing to look at, a shy
maiden, and the gods gave her beautiful gifts, like a
crown of gold, and silvery rainments, and she was
called Pandora, the “gift of all.” From her comes
the race of women, with the evil women bring to
men. She also had the bad trait of curiosity – so
Pandora’s box story where she opened the
forbidden box with many gifts, that flew away, and
only Hope remained.
Zeus knew fate also decreed that a son would
dethrone him, and only Prometheus knew which
son that would be. He sent his messenger Hermes
to find out the name, but Prometheus wouldn’t tell.
So Zeus had his body bound and an eagle picked at
him daily, and still he wouldn’t tell. Eventually
Hercules slew the eagle and Prometheus was
released.
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3. Third creation story begins with the Deluge.
Men were evil so Zeus decided to destroy the earth.
He and his brother the God for the Sea sent the
flood for 9 days and nights to destroy mankind.
Only 1 mountain cap Parnassus was not covered,
and the only survivors were Deucalion,
Prometheus’ son, and Pyrrha, his niece and the
daughter of Epimethus and Pandora. They were
pious worshipers of the gods. They heard a voice
that said “Veil you heads and cast behind you the
bones of your mother.” Deucalion interpreted that
to mean that they should throw behind them the
stones of mother Earth, and they did, and they
emerged as in human race as the Stone People, a
hard enduring race.
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