Download What is Myth?

Greek Mythology
Lecture #1
A brief preview of what we will learn this
semester!
What is Myth?
• Derived from the Greek word mythos meaning
“word,” “speech,” “tale,” or “story.”
• May be written or spoken, but could also be
conveyed through painting, sculpture, music, dance,
or theatre
• Stories that have been handed down through
many generations
• Myth is a term for stories primarily concerned with
the gods and humankind’s relations with them.
• Myth is intertwined with religion.
The Olympian Gods
Zeus
(Jupiter)
• Epithets- aegis-bearing, high
thundering, cloud gathering,
– Epithets- A term used to
characterize a person or thing
• King of the gods, god of the sky,
weather, and justice
• Attributes- Lightning bolt, aegis,
oak, eagle
• Son of Cronos and Rhea
Poseidon
(Neptune)
• Division of Cosmos: Sea
• Epithets- earth shaker, Savior of
sailors, Bull of the sea
• God of water, earthquakes,
and horses
• Associated with the Trident
• Son of Cronos and Rhea
• Married to Amphitrite Rough,
stern, and ferociously violent
Hades
(Pluto)
• Division of Cosmos: Underworld
• Epithets- Unseen one, Zeus,
Chthonius , Polyxenos, Necron
Soter
• Dis/Pluto, Ploutos- “wealth”
• God of death and the dead
• Took Persephone as wife
• Passive rather than evil
•
•
•
•
•
Hera
Demeter
(Juno)
Queen of the gods, wife
of Zeus
Goddess of women,
marriage, and childbirth
Epithets- ox-eyed, whitearmed
Peacock
Daughter of Cronos and
Rhea
(Ceres)
• De + meter = mother earth
• Deo, Ceres= Cereal
• Goddess of Agriculture,
harvest, fertility of the
earth
• Attributes: torch, sheaf of
wheat, poppy, cornucopia
• Daughter of Cronos and
Rhea
• Mother of Persephone
Athena
(Minerva)
• Epithets- Nike, Ergane, Hippias, grayeyed, bright-eyed
• Goddess of war
• Powers and skills- Wisdom, severe moral
earnestness, weaving
• Virginity= untamed power
• Daughter of Zeus and Metis
• Goddess of love, beauty, sex, and
procreation
• Power over all living creatures,
including the gods
• Associated with swans, sparrows,
doves, and dolphins
•Judgment of Paris
•Mother of Eros (Cupid)
Aphrodite
(Venus)
Apollo
• God of prophesy, the arts,
archery, young people, healing,
and plague
• Epithets- far-darter, Phoebus
• Attributes- wreath and branch
of laurel, bow and quiver, raven,
and lyre
Artemis
(Diana)
• Bringer of sudden death
• Goddess of the hunt,
wilderness, and wild animals
• Virgin, goddess of young
people (esp. women) and
childbirth
Twins of Leto and Zeus
Hermes
(Mercury)
Dionysus
(Bacchus)
• Epithets- Logios, psychopompos
• God of travelers, boundaries, luck,
shepherds and cowherds
• Known as and Inventor and trickster
• Associated with winged sandals, caduceus
• Led souls traveling to the underworld
• Messenger of the gods
• Son of Zeus and Maia
• Epithets- Giver of many joys
• God of vegetation, the vine, wine, revelry,
and ecstatic release
• Innate wildness of humanity
• Associated with Thyrsus, leopard, drinking cup
and fruit vine
• Son of Zeus and Semele
• Known as the “foreigner”. Was not an
original Olympian, replaced Hestia
Ares
(Mars)
Hephaestus
(Vulcan)
• God of war and battle
• Brutal, strong, “divine
swashbuckler”
• Hotheaded
• Affair with Aphrodite
• Son of Zeus and Hera
•Epithet- The lame one
•Divine artisan, god of fire
•Created items of importance
•Thrown of Mt Olympus
• Husband of Aphrodite
•Son of Zeus and Hera