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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!