Download Greek god creation story_family tree 2012

It’s Story Time…
Let’s call this one
The Creation Story
(according to the Greeks)
I say “myth”, you
say “ology”…
MYTH!
Learning Objectives:
• Students will learn the basics of the Greek Creation story.
• Students will practice note-taking skills, using the visual map
as an aid.
• Students will share insight or questions as they develop.
• Students will further their knowledge on mythology, as this
story will be referenced for the duration of the mythology
unit.
Um…hello?
That like, sounds kind
of complicated, like.
Can’t you just give me
the basic gist first?
“The short version of the creation of the world, according to
the Greeks, would go like this:
Scary old gods came first; they got stomped down by their
kids, who were better looking, younger gods, who then
created humans; humans and gods jockeyed for advantage;
humans won a few rounds, but got more and more
miserable” (Blackwell 29).
Simply intriguing…
I MUST learn
more. I want the
whole story, and
I’d like it now if at
all possible.
Please?
Snap Judgment
What can’t you wait
to learn about
associated with
mythology? In other
words, you’re losing
sleep over wanting
this knowledge.
DISCUSS!
At first there was only one thing that existed:
Chaos
(shapeless void of confusion: had the
elements of the world—earth, sky, and
sea—all jumbled together, none of
which had their own identity)
Here come the
5 elements:
Chaos
(Love)—entity
(Underworld)—entity
Nyx (Night)—entity
Erebus (Darkness)—entity
(Mother Earth)—being
Mommy,
where did
Uranus come
from?
Well…that’s an
interesting
situation,
although not the
MOST
interesting, as
you’ll come to
see…
Gaia brings another being into the
world…and marries him:
People drew a connection between
women’s ability to have kids with
Earth’s ability to “give birth” to plants,
so Earth was always seen as feminine –
early Greeks worshipped female deities
Gaia, the first Great Goddess (Mother Earth),
has Uranus as her son (Ruler of the Sky)
Gaia & Uranus start a family,
and yes, it’s quite dysfunctional
Thank you
Gaia and
Uranus for
making us
look normal!
The “Little” Ones
The ultrasound is
in: they are the
proud parents of
triplets!!!
But…they all have
100 hands and 50
heads
The Hundred-Handed
Giants
I have the
worst
headache!
3 more were born
soon after…
they were giants
with 1 eye in the
middle of their
foreheads
“The Cyclopes”
Uranus is threatened by his kids because they are
big and scary, and he fears that they will take him
over, causing him to lose his power, so…
he sends them to Tartarus, where he intends for
them to be imprisoned for eternity.
That eventually comes back to haunt him, but I’ll fill you in on that
later.
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
The Titans are Born
Oceanus—God of the sea
Hyperion (Helios)—God of the sun
Selene—Goddess of the moon
Themis—Goddess of prophecy
Prometheus— “forethought”
Epimetheus— “afterthought”
Atlas—strongest Titan (gets in BIG trouble
with Zeus later)
• Rhea (Cybele)—Great Goddess
• Cronus (Saturn)—youngest, brightest, and
most clever of Titans; god of the sky and ruler
of Titans after Uranus (WAIT UNTIL YOU
HEAR THAT STORY)
Snap Judgment
Spielberg is making a
movie about the
Titans: which
actors/actresses is
he hiring to play
who? Come up with
at least two he
should hire.
DISCUSS!
But WAIT, they couldn’t just live their lives without conflict…
Uranus’ hate and fear for his children didn’t
stop with the first monsters born;
the Titans were strong too and he hated the
idea of them taking his power,
so after each birth…
he shoved the kids back into Gaia.
Who does he think he is?
Needless to say, Gaia didn’t
appreciate this very much!
WHO
DOES
THAT?
P.S.—the kids are still alive and growing inside her
Gaia: “Enough is enough!”
• Gaia develops a plan and confronts her kids for help; of course, they
are scared of their father and don’t want to challenge him, but
Cronus decides he’s sick of living in such a confined space, so he
steps it up and goes along with his mom’s plan.
• It’s not likely his dad would EVER forgive him for this one.
Gaia gives Cronus the necessity to their plan
• She tells him to hide it until the time is right.
• Uranus lays beside her at night and “tries for another
child” that he can later shove into Gaia’s womb.
• Then, taking Uranus by COMPLETE surprise, Cronus
does as planned.
WARNING: What you are about to see is graphic if
you have a vivid imagination, so feel free to
cover your eyes, especially if you’re a male…
He uses the sickle his mom created to emasculate
his father— not exactly father-son bonding!
Snap Judgment
Gaia: a strong, nononsense woman
who teaches men
not to mess with
her, or a complete
creep?
DISCUSS!
Next…
siblings
•The
He rest
threw of
his Cronus’
dad’s manhood
intowere
the sea
and foam
from where
landed.
freed
andarose
he became
theitreplacement
•ruler
From the
blood,
and TheGod
Furiesof
werethe
born—The
for
hisGiants
father:
Sky
Furies sole job was to get back at sinners, especially those
that kill their parents
•However,
From thealthough
foam, Aphrodite
came
to he
lifewould
he promised
Gaia
(goddess
love, sexual desire,
andand
release
theof
Hundred-Handed
Giants
beauty)—her name means “foam born”
Cyclopes from Tartarus, he backed out on his
-there are other stories about her birth, and although she is born at a different time than her
promise
because he feared them too.
sibs, she is considered to be an Olympian goddess
How does this connect to Matriarchal societies?
• Mythology is a reflection of what happens in society
• In Matriarchal societies, the Great Goddess
dismembered the Sacred King after he was
killed—his blood was used to fertilize the soil
(of Mother Earth) and make it grow
• Cronus emasculating his father is similar because Uranus’ blood from “the
accident” allowed life to spring—the monsters and Furies
The Next Generation:
The Olympians
Cronus marries his sister Rhea and they go on to have 5 kids.
HOWEVER, he’s a total hypocrite, because much like his
father, he feared losing power, so he swallowed all of his kids
whole right after they were born, or so he thought.
1. Hestia (Vesta)—virgin goddess of hearth and home; kindest and most loved of
gods because a guardian of the home
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
There are some parallels to Matriarchal ceremonies
Demeter (Ceres)—goddess of grain; Great Goddess like Rhea
here: Cronus “eating” his kids as babies might stem
Hades (Pluto)—ruler of the underworld; lord of the dead
from how female priestesses ate the flesh of sacred
Poseidonfor
(Neptune)—god
the sea; creates
earthquakes
kings
fertility of
purposes;
again,
this just shows that
Hera (Juno)—goddess
of marriage and
queen of Olympus
mythology
is a reflection
of childbirth;
what occurred
in societies.
Not born
yet, but
a sneak
(Jupiter)—god
the skyto
(after
Notice
how
Gaiapeak:
hasZeus
gradually
lost of
power
herCronus),
ruler of gods; youngest, most intelligent and powerful of gods; maintains order
husband and then her son…sound familiar?
in the world of mortals; protects strangers and guests
Rhea and Gaia have more in common
than their genes:
Cronus ignores Rhea’s
wishes to allow her
to have her children
in her life, so she
finally goes to her
mom for help.
Mom, I need help
immediately. My husband
is a CREEP and is
swallowing my babies!
I have a plan, but we’re going to need the next kid’s
help. I think it’s going to be a male who will be a
better leader than his father and grandfather both.
(The fact that he’s male and will dominate over the
other gods/goddesses might represent the shift from
matriarchal to patriarchal societies).
The Plan…
• Immediately after giving
birth to the 6th child, Zeus,
Rhea hands Cronus “the
baby”, which he
immediately swallows.
• Had he paid more attention, he
would have noticed that Rhea
really handed him a rock and
sent baby Zeus off with Gaia for
protection until it was safe for
him to return.
• Eventually, Zeus came
back as a grown god and
with the help of his
mother and good old
Grandma Gaia, they
offered Cronus a drink
that made him vomit up
his 5 siblings.
• Thus began THE
WAR
Cronus went to the Titans for help on his side,
but many were not interested in helping him
fight the Olympians—eventually though, Atlas
was named the leader of the Titan army.
Mount Olympus Olympians
Mount Othrys Titans
They fought for 10
years, with the battle
going back and forth, and
seemingly, there was no
end to the fighting, until
Grammy Gaia comes to
the rescue, once again
for Zeus
Zeusy Boy, here’s
what you do. I miss
my kids—the
Hundred-Handed
Giants and the
Cyclopes—and I’m
sure they’re sick of
Tartarus. If you
and the Olympians
release them, I bet
they’d be willing to
help your side in the
war, considering
Cronus betrayed
them. What do you
say?
I’m in; I’ll
take my
sibs with
me and
we’ll bring
them back
Zeus’ uncle monsters joined in the fight
and gave the Olympians weapons they
made while in the Underworld to show
their thanks:
-Zeus got thunder/lightning
-Poseidon got the trident to cause
earthquakes
-Hades got the invisibility helmet
Finally the Olympians won and those that fought in the
Titan army were sent to Tartarus, except for Atlas (the
leader), who got a special punishment; Zeus made sure
he would spend eternity using his strength to hold up the
sky. THAT WOULD GET OLD, DON’T YOU THINK?
Zeus married his sister Hera and
continued the Olympian family:
• Ares (Mars)—god of war (Olympian); had an
affair with Aphrodite, Hephaestus’ wife, and
Eros (Cupid) was born: arrows that find love
– The Romans mocked love and appreciated war,
hence adored Mars (Ares in Greek)
– The Greeks cherished love and hated war, thus
didn’t like Ares because he represented the
destructive part of war
• Hephaestus —god of fire and forge
(Olympian); the one and only ugly god; the
peace maker amongst gods
• Ilitheia —goddess of childbirth (not really
considered an Olympian even though part of
this generation)
Snap Judgment
Which god or
goddess are you
most intrigued by
at this point?
Why?
DISCUSS!
Zeus is unfaithful to Hera and has several
more kids with other women:
With Leto, he has twins:
– Apollo —god of sun, music, medicine,
poetry, archery—the ideal Greek,
BEAUTIFUL, god; associated with the
sun
– Artemis —virgin goddess of the hunt;
associated with the moon—watched over
women as they make transitions; born
right before Apollo and helped deliver
him
The Virgin Goddess Review
Hera—at times, she can viewed as a joke: she rarely
anything too useful since she’s so busy trying to
•does
Hestia—highly
respected
in
every
single
home;
people
sabotage the lives of her husband’s mistresses and
depended
on her to keep
themgirl)
safe
children
(AKA-She’s
THAT
• Artemis—fierce and vengeful woman
that’s not tied
down
by anyone
Aphrodite—gets
involved
in several
love triangles,
allowing men to string her along at times (AKA-She’s
•THAT
Athena—the
most respected of all Olympians
OTHER girl)
for her wisdom
Etc.
What does this imply about the virgin goddess, or
goddesses without men in their lives?
More kids…
• With Metis (he swallowed her)/on his own, he had Athena,
virgin goddess of wisdom and war—Zeus had a headache
and called Hephaestus over (blacksmith) to help; he cut
Zeus’ head open and she popped out fully grown and in
armor; his favorite child
• With Maia he has Hermes —the messenger of gods;
trickster
• With Semele, a human, he has Dionysos —god of wine and
revelry/enjoyment; only god with 1 human parent: Zeus
promised Semele he’d do anything for her, and she asked
to see him in his full glory, which saddened him because no
human could see him this way and live, so he showed her
anyway, as promised, and she died immediately. He
grabbed the unborn baby and hid him in his thigh until
ready to be born and gave to nymphs to raise
Zeus has more kids…
• Persephone—she’s the daughter of Demeter and her
“husband” is Hades. Let’s just say she would have left him at
the altar if that was option, but I’ll explain more about that
later.
• Congrats…they’re triplets— The Fates! Talk about having power. They decided
the lifespan of people’s lives via spinning thread. One spun the thread, one
measured the thread, and one cut the thread. This determined the fate of one’s
life.
• The Muses —they were children of Mnemosyne, and
brought about an appreciation for the arts. Each of
the nine Muses was responsible for one branch of the
arts.
• The Graces —daughters of Eurynome; they bring grace and
beauty wherever they go. They were literally the life of the
party.
Wow…that was quite the story
There is plenty more to hear, but we’ll call it quits for now.
Take this time to work with a partner, and add any needed
material to your Greek family tree. We have a lot more
mythology to look forward to. I CAN’T WAIT!