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Mythology
Handbook
The 12 Olympian Gods and Goddesses
GREEK
ROMAN
GOD OF...
SYMBOL
1. Zeus
Jupiter/Jove King of the Gods
Thunderbolt, eagle and oak tree
2. Hera
Juno
Queen of the Gods
Peacock, cow, wedding ring
3. Poseidon
Neptune
The Sea
Sea, trident, horse, dolphin
4. Hades
Pluto
The Underworld
Pomegranate, cap of invisibility
5. Hestia
Vesta
Hearth/Home
Fireplace
6 Athena
Minerva
Wisdom/War
Owl, olive, tree, plow, loom
7. Artemis
Diana
Moon/Hunt
Moon, deer, silver bow and arrows
8. Apollo
Apollo
Light/Music/Prophecy
Lyre, sun, mice, Laurel tree
9. Aphrodite
Venus
Love/Beauty
Dove, swan, roses
10. Hephaestus Vulcan
Fire/Forge
Hammer, quail
11. Ares
Mars
War
Dog, wild boar, vulture
12. Hermes
Mercury
Messenger/Divine Herald
Caduceus, crane
What is a myth?
To the ancient Greeks, myths were both education and entertainment.
Some myths explained moral events, and others taught mortals about
the ways of the gods. Although the ancient Greeks believed that the
gods and goddesses looked and acted a lot like them, they also
believed the immortals had special powers, which the myths served to
illustrate. Most myths reminded mortals how the gods preferred to be
treated—with honor and respect!
Today we still know about these myths because they were eventually
written down by wrights and poets. But for centuries the myths were
simply oral tales, passed by word of mouth from storyteller to listener.
About the Greek Myths
The Greeks, who lived thousands of years ago, had wonderful stories to
tell about gods, monsters and brave heroes. They believed the gods
and goddesses lived all around them, in the fields and woods, in the
sea, under the ground and in great palaces among the towering peaks
of Mount Olympus.
Sometimes the Greeks could see the gods and goddesses; sometimes
they were invisible. They could be kind and helpful to the people they
like, but they could also be mean and spiteful, playing nasty tricks and
appearing when least expected.
In the magical world of the Greek myths, ordinary mortals are caught
up in extraordinary events, foolish and wicked people are punished,
but the brave and daring are richly rewarded. Read on and enjoy
these fascinating ancient stories which have stood the test of time!
The Beginning of the World
The story the ancient Greeks told about the beginning of the world explains how
the universe was divided into four parts: Earth, the underworld, the sea, and the
sky, where Mount Olympus is located. Although Mount Olympus is a real
mountain in Greece, the many came to mean an imaginary place where many of
the Greek gods were believe to live.
Chaos, Titans, and the New Gods at Battle
The world began in a state of nothingness called Chaos. Slowly Mother Earth
(Gaia) emerged from Chaos and produced a generation of giants called Titans.
Cronos, the king of these Titans, married Rhea, and they had five children. But
Cronos was so jealous and power hungry that he swallowed them all. When
Rhea had her last child, Zeus, she tricked Cronos into swallowing a stone instead,
so that the child would live.
As Zeus grew up, he plotted revenge against his father for swallowing his
brothers and sisters. He knew that, because they were immortal, his brothers and
sisters had not died when they were swallowed. They were still inside Cronos,
waiting to be rescused. One day, Zeus slipped a bitter potion into Cronos’ drink.
When Cronos choked, Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon came
tumbling out of him.
A fierce battle between the Titans and Cronos’ children followed. Zeus hurled
huge boulders down the side of Mount Olympus. Pan, the young goat god,
shouted that the world was ending. The Titans feared the mountain’s collapse
and fled. The younger gods, called the New Gods, won control of Earth. Zeus
banished the Titans, except for Atlas, who was sentenced to hold up Earth
forever.
The three brothers, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, divided the world. Zeus took
control of the sky and Mount Olympus, Hades became the god of the
underworld, and Poseidon controlled the sea. Zeus’ three sisters, Hestia, Demeter,
and Hera, joined him on Mount Olympus
The Gift of Fire
Long, long ago and far away the Greek gods and goddesses lived in
palaces among the towering peaks of the great Mount Olympus. Zeus, the ruler
of the gods, was wise and very powerful, but he could sometimes be spiteful and
do foolish things. When he was angry, he fired thunderbolts from his fingers and
all the other gods were a little scared of him. He married the goddess Hera and
they had many children.
At first, the gods and goddesses ruled over an almost empty world; there were
lots of animals roaming around but no people. The animals had been created
the god Epimetheus, who was very good at making things. One day, Zeus asked
Prometheus, who was Epimetheus’s brother, to make human beings to live in the
world.
Prometheus picked up some mud. He shaped lumps of it into men and women,
making them look just like the gods, and breathed on them to make them come
alive. The people were happy on Earth but the one thing that Zeus wouldn’t let
them have was fire. Prometheus loved the people and felt sorry that they had to
shiver through the dark nights, and eat raw food.
He went to Mount Olympus and when no one was watching, stole a lump of
burning charcoal from Zeus’s palace. He took it to the people and showed them
how to make fire with it. Now they could eat cooked food, and have warmth
and light in the night. They were always very grateful to Prometheus and never
forgot his special gift.
When Zeus noticed the smell of cooking and saw the fires glowing at night, he
knew what Prometheus had done. He flew into a terrible rage. “Prometheus,
how dare you go against my orders?” he shouted in a voice like thunder. “I’ll
punish you for this.”
Zeus chained Prometheus to the side of a huge mountain. Every day an eagle
flew down and tore out his liver, and every night it grew again. Prometheus was
in terrible pain, be couldn’t die because he was a god. He had to stay there for
hundreds of years until, at last, Zeus forgave him and he was rescued.
Pandora’s Box
Pandora’s name means “all gifted” because each of the gods and
goddesses gave her a gift when she was created. She is the first mortal woman
Greek mythology.
Zeus was very angry with the people who were so pleased with the gift of fire
from Prometheus. He decided to punish them. He asked the other gods to help
him make a special woman. When they had finished, she was very beautiful; she
was bright and clever, and could play lovely music. Zeus called her Pandora.
Then Zeus sent for Epimetheus. “Here is a wife for you, Epimetheus,” he said. “She
is a reward for making all the animals on the Earth.” Zeus gave Pandora and
Epimetheus a box which was bound and locked. “Take this box and keep it safe.
I must warn you,” said Zeus, “that you must never open it.”
Epimetheus thanked Zeus and gazed a Pandora. She was so beautiful that he
forgot that his brother, Prometheus, had warned him never to accept gifts from
the other gods. He took Pandora away and soon they were married. He put the
box in dark corner of his house.
Pandora was very happy with her new husband. The world was a wonder place
to live. No one was ever ill or grew old. No one was ever unkind or unpleasant.
But Pandora was curious about the locked box and the more she thought about
it, the more she wanted to know what was in it. Could it be jewels or some other
precious things?
“Let’s just have a little peek inside,” she said to Epimetheus, smiling sweetly at
him. “No, Zeus warned us never to open it,” answered Epimetheus, frowning. He
wanted to do everyting he could to please his wife but he was scared of Zeus.
Day after day Pandora begged Epimethus to open the box and everyday he
refused.
One morning, when Epimetheus had gone out, Pandora crept into the room and
stared at the box for a while. Then she made up her mind that she would open
it. She broke off the lock with a tool. Then, hardly daring to breathe, she slowly
lifted the lid. Before she could look inside, there was a terrible screaming , wailing
noise. She jumped back, terrified. Out of the box streamed all sorts of horrible
things. There were hate and jealousy, cruelty, and anger, hunger and poverty,
pain and sickness, old age and death.
Pandora quickly put the lid back on the box. Only one thing was left—hope.
People would now suffer all kinds of terrible things, but because they had hope,
they would never despair.
Persephone and the Seasons
This ancient Greek myth explains the changing seasons and the
growth of the plants. Demeter, the goddess of grain, was known to the Romans as
Ceres, and we get the word “cereal” from her name.
Happy Demeter, goddess of harvest, made the world’s plants and trees bloom
and grow all year. He daughter Persephone, helped her in this work. All was well
when they were together, and Demeter allowed the mortals to enjoy the fruits
and vegetables that she grew on Earth.
Zeus’ brother Hades, god of the Underworld, loved Persephone from afar. He
asked Zeus, who was not only the king of the gods bus also Persephone’s father,
permission to marry her. Zeus didn’t say yes, because he know Demeter would
never part with her daughter. But he also didn’t say no, as he was loyal to his
brother. Finally, Hades decided to act for himself.
One day, when Persephone was alone in the meadow, Hades kidnapped her
and took her to the underworld. In that dark place, where almost nothing grew,
Persephone was miserable. She refused to drink or eat anything except for a few
pomegranate seeds.
Demeter was equally miserable without her daughter, and she neglected the
world’s plants as she searched for Persephone. Harvests failed, trees and plants
withered. The mortals were in danger of starving.
When Demeter finally discovered Persephone in the underworld, she begged
Zeus for help. “Command Hades to release our daughter !” she cried. “Look at
her! Persephone is withering away like the plants of the earth.” Zeus agreed. “As
long as Persephone hasn’t eaten any food of the dead she shall be free.”
“I ate almost noting,” cried Persephone from inside the underworld’s gates, “Just
six pomegranate seeds.”
Then you shall spend six months of each year as Queen of the underworld,” said
Zeus. “The other six months you may live with your mother.”
Though Demeter and Persephone cried and pleaded, Zeus was firm. For six
months every year, Persephone stated with Hades in the underworld. While
Demeter mourned for her daughter, Earth’s plants and trees drooped, withered,
and died. When Persephone returned and Demeter rejoiced, the growing things
revived and bloomed again.
Medusa’s Head
On his way home after slaying Medusa, Perseus rescued the princess
Andromeda, who had been chained to a rock as a sacrifice to the sea god,
Poseidon. Perseus and Andromeda married and became the ancestors of another
Greek hero, Hercules.
Perseus was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman, Danae. King Polydectes, the
ruler of the land where they lived, wanted Perseus out of the way so that he
could force his attentions on Danae. He sent Perseus on a mission to kill the
Gorgon, a scaly monster named Medusa who had snakes instead of hair growing
out of her head. Medusa was so frighteningly hideous that anyone who looked at
her turned to stone.
The gods quickly came to Perseus’s aid. Athene gave him a mirrored shield so
that he could look at Medusa’s reflection instead of at her. And Hermes gave
Perseus his sickle. “It is the only blade that can cut through the Gorgon’s scales,”
said Hermes.
To find Medusa’s lair, Perseus first had to visit the Hesperides, the daughters of
the night, who gave Perseus three more gifts to help him on his quest: winged
sandals to help him fly; a helmet that would make him invisible; and a sack to
hold Medusa’s severed head. Then they told him where to find Medusa.
As Perseus flew over the island where she lived, he saw strange rocky forms—the
people who had looked at Medusa and turned to stone. But he had Athene’s
mirrored shield, so he was not afraid. He held up the shield and struck out with
Hermes’ sickle, which sliced through Medusa’s scaly neck as if it were a melon. He
quickly stuffed the head into the sack and started for home.
Perseus returned to find that King Polydectes had treated his mother cruelly
while he was away. Pulling Medusa’s head from the sack, Perseus held it up
before the king, and Polydectes at once turned to stone. Perseus then presented
the head to Athene, who fixed it to her shield—a terrifying trophy for all time.
The Twelve Tasks of Hercules
Hercules, also known as Heracles, is one of the most famous heroes of
Greek mythology. His amazing strength was obvious from earliest babyhood,
when he strangled two deadly snakes that Hera put in his cradle.
Zeus often fell in love with mortal women, and one of them, Princess Alcmene,
bore him a son named Hercules. Zeus’s jealous wife Hera vowed to destroy the
boy, but Hercules was so strong that he survived all attempts. At last Hera asked
King Eurystheus to help her.
Eurystheus gave Hercules twelve seemingly impossible tasks to perform—surely
one of them would be his undoing. The first task was to kill the terrifying
Nemean lion. Hercules strangled it, and returned wearing its skin as a cloak.
Next Hercules had to kill the nine-headed Hydra. Each time one of the monster’s
heads was cut off, two new ones grew in its place. So Hercules set a flaming torch
to the Hydra’s neck each time he cut off a head. The monster was destroyed.
For his next two tasks, Hercules captured the golden-antlered stag sacred to the
goddess Atremis, and the ferocious boar that lived in the mountains of
Erymanthus.
For his fifth task, Hercules had to clean King Augeus’s filthy stables. Hercules
managed to change the course of a river so that it flowed through the stables,
and they were cleaned in a day.
For his sixth task, Hercules shot down the flock of iron-clawed birds belonging to
the god Ares. Then he captured a mad bull, the father of the Minotaur, and he
tamed the mares of Diomedes, who fed on human flesh. His ninth task was to
get the golden belt of Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons. After this, Hercules
succeeded in bring back the oxen belonging to the monster Geryon.
Hercules’ eleventh task was to find the garden of the nymphs called the
Hersperides, and steal the golden apples that grew there. He did this with the
help of the Hesperides’ father, Atlas.
Finally, Hercules had to fetch Cerberus, the three-headed dog who guarded the
Underworld. Hades gave him permission to take the dog to Eurystheus—who
was too frightened to look at the creature! At last Eurystheus and Hera
admitted defeat. Zeus was so proud of his son that he made Hercules a god on
Mount Olympus.
Theseus and the Minotaur
Ancient vases, coins and wall paintings from Crete show many mazelike patterns, which may represent the underworld. There are also scenes of
ceremonies or celebrations in which young men and women are leaping
acrobatically over bulls.
When King Minos of Crete offended Poseidon, the sea god took terrible revenge.
He made the king’s wife, Pasiphae, fall in love with a bull. Later, Pasiphae gave
birth to the Minotaur, a terrifying creature that was half man and half bull, King
Minos asked Daedalus to make a complicated labyrinth from which the
Minotaur would not be able to escape. But he still had to sacrifice seven young
men and seven young women each year to feed the monster and keep it
content.
After nine years, Theseus, the son of Poseidon and heir to King Aegeus, decided
to offer himself to the monster. He was determined to kill the creature and rid
Athens of its power.
Theseus was very cunning and brave, but even he might not have succeeded if it
had not been for Ariadne, King Minos’s daughter. Aphrodite had caused her to
fall in love with Theseus, as so she gave him a special gift. It was a spool of
thread, which Daedalus, the builder of the maze, had given her.
Theseus attached the thread to the entrance of the maze and unwound it as he
went deeper and deeper into the Minotaur’s realm. At last he was face to face
with the monster.
In a mighty battle, Theseus killed the Minotaur. Then he followed the thread
through the darkness and back into the light were Ariadne was waiting for him.
Together they set sail for Athens, and Theseus’s home.
The Trojan Horse
There are many stories and poems about the Trojan War, possibly based
on a real war that occurred in the twelfth century BC. According to legend, the
Trojan prince Aeneas survived the war, and his descendants founded the city of
Rome.
When Paris took Helen to Troy with him, King Menelaus was determined to win
his wife back, so he declared war on the Trojans. He was joined by his brother,
King Agamenmon of Mycenae, along with other Greek kings and generals.
Armies were gathered, and ships were launched against Troy.
The Trojans had built a strong fortress to protect them against enemy attack,
but they were not able to defeat the invading Greeks, who had the goddesses
Hera and Athene on their side. Battles raged for years, and many men were
slaughtered. Finally, after ten years of fighting, many of the Greeks had had
enough and were ready to go home. Others, however, were still hungry for
victory. One of their leaders, Odysseus of Ithaca, devised a plan that could not
fail.
One morning the Trojans looked out from their battlements and saw that all the
Greeks had disappeared. Tents, ships, soldiers—all were gone. There was only an
enormous wooden horse outside the fortress gate.
“The Greeks have finally given up and gone home!” said the Trojan generals.
“They have left this magnificent horse as a peace offering!” Only one old man,
Laocoon, was wary. “We cannot trust the Greeks,” he warned the generals, “even
when they bring us gifts.”
No one listened to him. Shouting and cheering, the soldiers opened the gates and
pulled the giant horse into the city. Suddenly a door in the horse’s belly burst
open, and hundreds of Greek soldiers tumbled out, brandishing their spears.
The Trojans were trapped inside their own fortress by Greek cunning, and the
city was soon destroyed. Hera and Athene had triumphed after all.
Odysseus and the Cyclops
This story is part of a long epic poem called The Odyssey, dating from
the 8th century BC. Its author is said to be the Greek poet Homer. The Odyssey
tells of the fantastic adventures Odysseus and his men had on their journey back to
Ithaca after the Trojan War.
When Odysseus and his men sailed home from Troy, a storm blew them off
course. They found themselves on an island, where they sheltered in a cave.
Suddenly the ground shook, and in strode a terrifying one-eyed giant. He was
Polyphemus the Cyclops, son of Poseidon the sea god, one of a race of giants
who lived on the island. He was bringing home his sheep, and he was furious to
see the stranges.
When the men begged for mercy Polyphemus picked up two of them, and
smashed their heads on a rock, and ate them. He rolled a rock in front of the
entrance of the cave to keep the rest prisoner.
Odysseus’s men were sure they were doomed, but Odysseus wasn’t so easily
defeated. He gave the giant several goatskins of strong wine.
“You’re not such a bad fellow,” slurred Polyphemus. “What’s your name?”
“My name is Nobody,” replied Odysseus shrewdly.
As soon as the giant was asleep, Odysseus seared a sharpened log in the fire, and
drove its point into the Cyclops’s eye. When the other giants heard Polyphemus
howling in pain, they came running to ask what was wrong.
“Nobody is attacking me!” cried Polyphemus from inside the cave. “Nobody has
blinded me!”
The other giants, thinking Polyphemus had gone mad, left him alone.
Next day, Odysseus and his men escaped by clinging to the bellies of the
Polyphemus’s sheep when they were herded out of the cave. By the time the
giant found out, it was too late.
The Story of Arachne
Athena, goddess of wisdom, was a proud and talented, young goddess.
In times of peace, Athena taught Grecians about the arts. She herself was a
skillful weaver and potter and always took pride in her pupils' work, as long as
they respected her.
One of Athena's pupils was a maiden whose name was Arachne. Arachne was a
poor, simple girl who lived in the country. Her father was a quiet man of humble
birth. He dyed sheep's wool to earn money for a living. Arachne wove beautiful
fabrics of delicate designs, and people began to comment to her that surely she
had been taught by the goddess Athena. Arachne denied this and stated that
she was certainly better than Athena and that she had learned little or nothing
from Athena's teachings. She even went as far as to say that she was a better
weaver than Athena !
Arachne was known to have said,"I have achieved this marvelous skill due to my
own talent, hard work, and efforts."
Soon Athena heard of the boastings of Arachne and decided to speak to her.
Athena disguised herself as an old woman and went before Arachne stating, "It is
foolish to pretend that you are like one of the gods. You're simply a mortal who
talents are paled in comparison to those of the goddess Athena."
Arachne charged back to the old lady, "If Athena doesn't like my words, then let
her show her skills in a weaving contest."
Suddenly, the disguise of the old woman was removed and there stood the
radiant goddess Athena standing in front of Arachne. Athena accepted the
contest challenge.
As the contest began, it was clear that the beauty of both Athena's and
Arachne's tapestries were lovely. However, the goddess worked more quickly
and skillfully. Arachne's attitude about her work showed that she felt her
weaving was more lovely, but Athena felt it was an insult to the gods. This
angered Arachne especially since Athena requested an apology. Arachne
refused, and Athena slapped Arachne in the face. Almost instantly Arachne felt
her head begin to shrink and her nimble fingers grow into long, thin legs.
"Vain girl, since you love to weave so very much, why don't you go and spin
forever." Athena had turned Arachne into a spider.
So it is said that all spiders have been punished for Arachne's boasting, since they
are required to live within their own webs. Since then spiders have been called
arachnids.
About Roman Myths
Honoring their gods was big part of ancient Roman daily life. There were many
thousands of Roman gods, and the gods lived everywhere - in trees, under a bush, by
the side of the road, in a burrow, in a flower, in a stream, under the bed, and perhaps
in the stove in your house. There was even a deity who lived inside the latch that
opened the door to their home.
In ancient Rome, everything had a spirit in charge of it. Each home had a personal
household god that kept things running smoothly at home. Some ancient Romans kept
a whole room of their house for a grand display to honor their household god. Others
had a small display somewhere in the kitchen. Whenever the ancient Romans
prepared a meal, they ate it in honor of the household god.
The Romans changed many of the Greek god names to Roman names. Zeus
became Jupiter. Hera was renamed Juno. But the Romans left their personalities
intact, along with their position, and all of the myths and legends.
Romulus and Remus
The Romans believed that after he died, Romulus was taken the heaven in a
whirlwind by his father, the god Mars. There he became a became a god himself,
known as Quirinus. One of the seven hills on which Rome was built, the Quirinal,
takes its name from him.
Numitor, the king of the ancient city of Alba Longa, in what is now Italy, had a
daughter named Rhea Silvia. He also had a jealous brother named Amulius,
who imprisoned him and took over his kingdom. Amulius forced Rhea Silvia to
become a vestal virgin, a young woman who was forbidden to marry or have
children.
But Mars, the god of war, came to visit Rhea Silvia one night, and nine months
later she gave birth to twin boys, whom she called Romulus and Reus. Amulius,
frightened that the boys would overthrow him when they grew up, threw them
into the River Tiber along with their mother.
Rhea Silvia drowned, but the boys drifted to shore and were found by a shewolf, who carried them off and cared for them tenderly, suckling them as she
would her own cubs. The boys grew strong and in her care. One day a shepherd
named Faustulus, who had worked for their grandfather King Numitor, found
the boys running wild in the forest. He knew at once who they were, and he took
them home and raised them as his own sons.
When Romulus and Remus were young men, Faustulus told them who they were
and what happened to them. Together, they killed their treacherous uncle and
released their grandfather so he could reclaim his throne.
Then the boys decided to build a city on the River Tiber, at the place where they
had come ashore as babies. But they argued about which of them should rule
over it, and in the argument Romulus killed his brother. He became king of the
new city, and named it after himself—Rome.
Cupid and Psyche
Eros, the youngest of the Greek gods, was known as Cupid to the
Romans, who often represented him as the cubby, winged cherub we see on
valentines today.
Once upon a time there was a king with three daughters. They were all
beautiful, but by far the most beautiful was the youngest, Psyche. She was so
beautiful that people began to neglect the worship of Venus, the goddess of love
and beauty. Venus was very jealous, and asked her son Cupid to make Psyche
fall in love with a horrible monster. When he saw how beautiful she was, Cupid
dropped the arrow meant for her and pricked himself, and fell in love with her.
Despite her great beauty no-one wanted to marry Psyche. Her parents consulted
an oracle, and were told that she was destined to marry a monster, and they
were to take her to the top of a mountain and leave her there. The west wind
took her and wafted her away to a palace, where she was waited on by invisible
servants. When night came her new husband visited her, and told her that he
would always visit her by night and she must never try to see him.
Although her invisible husband was kind and gentle with her, and the invisible
servants attended to her every desire, Psyche grew homesick. She persuaded her
husband to allow her sisters to visit her. When they saw how she lived they
became very jealous and talked Psyche into peeking at her husband, saying that
he was a monster who was fattening her up to be eaten and that her only
chance of safety was to kill him. Psyche took a lamp and a knife, but when she
saw her beautiful husband, Cupid, she was so surprised she dripped some hot
wax onto his shoulder, waking him. He took in the situation at a glance and
immediately left Psyche and the magnificent palace she had been living in
disappeared in a puff of smoke.
Psyche roamed about looking for her husband, and eventually in desperation
approached his mother, Venus. Still angry, the goddess set various tasks for
Psyche, all of which she passed, with a bit of help from ants and river gods. At
last Cupid found out what was going on, and he persuaded Jupiter to order
Venus to stop her persecution of Psyche. Then they were married and lived
happily ever after - and it really was ever after since Psyche was made a
goddess.