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April 4-6: Notes on
Mythology, Epics, Heroes,
and Allusions
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Mythology
Test Prep DUE TOMORROW!!!!!!
Remediation
Greek Mythology
What are Myths?
 Traditional stories of gods, kings,
and heroes
 Show the relations between gods
and people
Mythology was a form
of early science to
Greeks because it
helped explain the
unexplainable.
Myths seek to explain all those unexplainable or
unknowable aspects of life.
Where do we go after we die?
How was the world created?
Why can we see our reflection in water?
Why are there four separate seasons?
Why do we fall in love?
How is lightning created?
Why do our voices sometime echo?
How was fire created, and why do we have it?
Background of Greek
mythology
 Fully developed by about
700 B.C.
 Homer and Hesiod are
generally
considered the earliest
Greek poets whose work
has survived
Many myths were passed down
through oral literature.
Ancient Greek beliefs and
characteristics
 Death is inevitable and final, so the goal was to become a legend
through great deeds.
 The Greeks were tough, restless, ambitious, hard-living, and
imaginative.
 Honor was extremely important, and the Greeks were very
vengeful if wronged.
 The gods mirrored human feelings and physical form.
 Their flaws were pride, cruelty, stubbornness, impulsiveness, lust
for power, and a desire to be like the gods.
The Creation Myth
 First there was Chaos
(vast and unorganized
space from which all
other things originated).
 Chaos gave birth to
Gaea, the earth, and
Night, which gave birth
to day.
 Gaea and Uranus (the
sky) gave birth to
Cronus and the other
Titans, the Cyclopes,
one-eyed giants, and
the Hecatonchieres
with 50 heads and 100
arms apiece.
The First Parents
 Mother Earth = Gaea (Gaia)
 Father Heaven = Ouranos (Uranus)
 They had three kinds of children:
 Three monsters with 100 hands and 50 heads
 Three cyclopes
 The titans
 These were the first characters that had the appearance of
life, although it was unlike any life known to man.
The Titans (The Elder Gods)
 There were many of them.
 Enormous size, incredible strength
 Cronos (Saturn): Ruler of the titans
 Rhea: Wife of Cronos
 Ocean: River that encircled the world
 Iapetus: Father of Prometheus,
Epimetheus, and Atlas (also titans)
The foundation of Greek
mythology
 In general, Greek gods
were divided into three
categories:
 Heaven
 Earth
 Sea
 The Titans ruled before
the Gods of Olympus.
 The Titans were the
children of Uranus
(Heaven) and Gaea
(Earth) and the parents
of the Gods of Olympus.
 The Titans were
overthrown by Olympians.
Gaea
 Roman Name is Gaia
 Goddess of the Earth.
 “Mother Nature”
 Cronus mutilated his father and overthrew him.
 Cronus and Rhea married and produced the Olympians:
Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.
 Cronus swallowed them to keep from being overthrown. When Zeus
was born, Rhea gave her husband a rock to swallow. Zeus overthrew his
father Cronus and forced him to disgorge the other Olympians.
How did humans get fire?
Prometheus was the wisest Titan of all.
Prometheus is credited with bringing
enlightenment to humans. Prometheus stole
fire from the gods and gave it to humankind,
bringing the power of warmth and light to the
dark and miserable earth.
Prometheus acted against the express
wishes of the Olympian Gods, who wanted
to keep the power of fire - enlightenment for their exclusive use. For this Zeus
punished Prometheus by having him chained
to a rock with an eagle tearing at his liver.
Atlas
 In Greek mythology, Atlas was a
Titan who fought against Zeus.
After the Titans lost a war against
Zeus, Atlas was condemned by
Zeus to stand forever holding up
the heavens.
The olympians
 A group of 12 gods who
ruled after the overthrow
of the Titans
 All the Olympians related
in some way
 Named after their dwelling
place, Mount Olympus
 The Olympian Gods:
Zeus, Poseidon, Hades,
Hestia, Hera, Ares,
Athena, Apollo,
Aphrodite, Hermes,
Artemis, and Hephaestus
Zeus
 Roman name: Jupiter
 Realm: King of gods, god of
thunder and lightning
 Symbols: eagle, oak tree,
lightning bolt
 Married to Hera; had many
affairs and many children,
some of whom were gods
and goddesses because as
the Greeks conquered
territories, they took on the
new goddesses and
“married” them to Zeus
 The spiritual father of gods
and men
Hera
 Roman name: Juno
 Realm: goddess of marriage
 Symbols: peacock, cow
 Married to Zeus
 Jealous of Zeus’s affairs
 Because of this, asked a 100eyed giant to watch him. When
Hermes put the giant to sleep,
she turned him into a peacock,
an animal with eyes on its tail
feathers.
Hestia
 Roman name: Vesta
 Realm: goddess of hearth and home;
protector of the sacred fire
 Symbol: torch, a distaff (hand-held loom)
 Zeus’s sister
 Six priestesses called Vestal virgins
attended her temple and protected the fire;
shrines were built to her by the fireplace in
homes
 Today the word vestal means “pure” or
“virginal”
Poseidon
 Roman name: Neptune
 Realm: god of the sea and
earthquakes
 Symbol: trident
 Zeus’s brother
 Controlled earthquakes,
hurricanes, rough seas, tidal waves
 Gave the horse to mankind
Hades
 Roman name: Pluto
 Realm: god of the
Underworld
 Symbol: Cerberus
Rarely visited Earth
 Not friendly, but not
evil either
 Kidnapped
Persephone to be his
wife
Underworld features
 Charon, who rowed people across the river Styx
 Cerberus, the 3-headed dog who guarded the underworld
Ares
 Roman name: Mars
 Realm: god of war
 Symbols: dogs of war; vulture,
weapons
 Son of Zeus and Hera
 Very unpopular
 No positive myths written about
Ares
 Roman name: Diana
 Realm: goddess of the
moon, the hunt, and
(sometimes) witchcraft
 Symbols: crescent moon,
bow and arrow, short
hunting robes
 Apollo’s twin sister
 Avoided men
 She turned Acteon, a
hunter, into a stag (deer) and
set his own dogs on him
because he watched her
bathe.
Artemis
Aphrodite
 Roman name: Venus
 Realm: goddess of love,
beauty, sexuality
 Symbols: shell, mirror,
dove, swan
 Born of the foam
 Married to Hephaestus
 Son was Eros (Cupid)
Hephaestus
 Roman name: Vulcan
 Realm: god of the forge; made Zeus’s
lightning bolts and the armor for war
 Symbols; the forge
 Son of Zeus and Hera
 Zeus threw him out of heaven for siding
with his mother (Hera)
 Husband of Aphrodite, who was
constantly unfaithful to him
Demeter




Roman name: Ceres
Realm: goddess of agriculture
Symbols: sheaves of wheat
Zeus’s sister, mother of
Persephone
Athena
 Roman name: Minerva
 Also called Pallas Athena
 Realm: goddess of defensive warfare,
wisdom, handicrafts
 Symbols: armor, owl, olive tree
 Emerged from Zeus’s head fully grown
 City of Athens named for her after
she gave them the olive tree
 Also created the spider
Apollo
 Roman name: Apollo
 Realm: god of light (the sun),
music, shepherds
 Symbols: bow and arrow, the
sun chariot, the lyre (small
harp)
 Some myths say he drove
the sun chariot, others give
this job to Helios
 His son Phaeton tried to drive it
and burned part of the earth
 Always shown in pictures as
being young, beardless, and
handsome
Hermes
 Roman name: Mercury
 Realm: messenger of gods; god of
commerce, thieves, science
(sometimes medicine)
 Symbols: winged helmet or sandals,
caduceus (medical staff with 2
snakes)
 Created the lyre, which he gave to
Apollo when Apollo caught him
stealing his cows
Persephone
Roman Name: Proserpina
Goddess of the Underworld
/ wife of Hades
Daughter of Zeus and
Demeter
 Persephone was kidnapped by Hades.
Demeter created eternal winter on earth until
Zeus agreed to bring her back. She had eaten
6 pomegranate seeds and so had to remain in
the underworld for 6 months of the year.
Controlled the seasons:
 6 months in Hades (fall and
winter)
 6 months on earth (spring and
summer)
Eros
Roman Name:
Cupid
Symbol: bow and
arrow
Young God of
Love
Son of Aphrodite
and Hephaestus
Iris
Goddess of the
Rainbow
Symbol: Rainbow
Messenger for
Zeus and Hera
Daughter of the
titan Thaumus and
the nymph Electra
Dionysus
Roman name: Bacchus
Realm: god of wine, revelry,
drama,
Symbol: grapes
Brought pleasure and insanity
(from wine)
Followed by the Maenads,
crazed women who tore people
apart, the satyrs, centaurs, and
nymphs
First plays were presented
during the festivals of Dionysus
Popular “party animal”
Not typically considered an
“Olympian” god
Other characters in
Mythology
the muses
 Nine goddesses in
charge of different
sciences and arts
including music,
poetry, history,
astronomy, dance,
etc.
 Daughters of Zeus
with a nymph
(Electra)
 They were meant to
inspire
The Fates
 daughters of Zeus
 Three blind sisters
who determined
people’s lifespan
 One spun the thread of
life (Clotho)
 One measured the
thread and determined a
person’s lot in life
(Atropos)
 One cut the thread with
scissors of death
(Lachesis)
The Graces
 Three Goddesses of
Grace and Beauty
 “They give life its bloom.”
 Aglaia (Splendor)
 Euphrosyne (Mirth)
 Thalia (Good Cheer)
The Erinnyes (The Furies)
Roman Name: Furiae or Dirae
(The Furies)
Three Goddesses of
Vengeance
 Tisiphone
 Alecto
 Megaera
They punish evildoers.
The Satyrs
 Gods of the woods and mountains
 “Shepherd gods”
 Goat men (like Pan)
 Companions of Dionysus
 They like to drink, dance, and
chase nymphs.
The Gorgons
Three snake-haired monsters
Medusa is most well-known
Their look turns men to stone.
Originally she was a beautiful
Maiden, but she had relations with
Poisidon in Athena’s temple so
Athena punished her by turning her
into a Gorgon.
The Centaurs
Half man, half
horse
Savage creatures
(except Chiron)
Followers of
Dionysus
The Minotaur
 Head of bull
 Body of man
 Due to the Minotaur's
monstrous form, King Minos
ordered the craftsman,
Daedalus, and his son, Icarus,
to build a huge maze known as
the Labyrinth to house the
beast. The Minotaur remained
in the Labyrinth
receiving annual offerings of
youths and maidens to eat. He
was eventually killed by the
Athenian hero,Theseus.
Mythology in nature and
science
Many of our planets (and many moons) are named after Roman gods
Mercury- messenger god
Mars- god of war
Venus- goddess of love
Jupiter- king of the gods
Saturn- god of agriculture
Neptune- god of the seas
Uranus- ancient Greek deity of the heavens
Pluto- god of the underworld
Days of the Week:
• Monday, Moon day (Lunedi in Italian.) Monday is named
for the goddess of the moon.
• Tuesday is named for the god of war, Mars. (Mardi,
Martedi, Tuesday.)
• Wednesday is named for the god, Mercury. The word for
Wednesday in Italian is Mercoledi.)
• Thursday is really Thor’s Day. The god of thunder.
• Friday is named for the Goddess of Love. Aphrodite’s
Roman name is Venus. Venerdi is the Italian name for
Friday. Incidentally, that’s why we call them “Venereal”
Disease…
• Saturday is named for Saturn. Saturn was the father of
Zeus.
Mythological Allusions
How Can Something So Old Still Be Used
Today????
What Is an Allusion?
An allusion is any indirect reference to a well-known person,
place, event, literary work, or work of art. This reference is
one others recognize, such as a reference to the Bible,
mythological character, historical event, hero or famous
individual.
Example: He’s a real Michael Jordan; I know he’ll get a
scholarship.
Using the lingo… today
Nike:
The Greek
goddess of victory
Cyclops:
Named after a mythological
being with only one eye.
Pegusus was the winged
horse that was born from
Medusa's head when she was
killed. In Lagrange, we have
Pegasus Parkway.
Adonis
An extremely
beautiful boy who
was loved by
Aphrodite, the
goddess of love and
beauty.
•Allusion: an
“Adonis” is any
handsome young
man.
Amazons
 A nation of warrior
women descended from
Ares, the God of War.
The Amazons burned or
cut off their right
breasts so that they
could use a bow and
arrow more efficiently.
Figuratively: An
“Amazon” is any large,
strong, aggressive
woman.
Cupid
The Roman name of Eros, the god of love. In the
story of Cupid and Psyche, he is described as a
magnificently handsome young man.
Today Cupid is often
symbolic of Valentine’s Day
and is depicted as a chubby,
winged infant who shoots
arrows at people to make
them fall in love.
Midas
A king who was granted one wish by the god Dionysus.
Greedy for riches, Midas wished that everything he
touched would turn to gold. He soon regretted his
request. When he tried to eat, his food became inedible
metal. When he embraced his daughter, she turned into
a golden statue. On the instruction of Dionysus, he
washed in a river and lost his touch of gold.
“A Midas Touch”
Midas Then
Today, a person
who easily acquires
riches is someone
said to have the
“Midas” touch.
Midas Now
Nemesis
One of the
goddesses of
Vengeance
Today, a “nemesis”
is an avenger. One’s
nemesis is that which
brings on one’s
destruction or
downfall.
The Labyrinth
A vast maze on the
island of Crete where
the King of Crete
kept the Minotaur,
half bull-half man.
Very few people
escaped from it.
Only Theseus used a
ball of string to find
his way out of the
maze once he’d killed
the deadly Minotaur.
“Boy, this is complicated!”
A labyrinth can be literally
a maze.
Or… it can be figuratively
any highly intricate
construction or problem.
Pandora
The first woman,
created by Hephaestus,
given treacherously to
Epimetheus along with
a box in which
Prometheus had
confined all the evils of
the world; as expected,
Pandora curiously
opened the forbidden
box and thus released
into the world all
troubles of mankind.
By the time Pandora
manages to close the
lid, luckily only HOPE
remains.
“What Have You Done???”
Today, a Pandora’s
box is a prolific
source of troubles
or problems.
If one’s opens a
Pandora’s box, he
has created all kinds
of problems for
himself.
Modern Pandora
Phoenix
A mythical bird of
great beauty, the
only one of its
kind, fabled to live
500 or 600 years,
to burn itself on a
funeral pile, and to
rise from its ashes
in the freshness of
youth and live
through another
cycle of years
“Rising Out of the Ashes”
Today, a person or
thing that has
become renewed or
restored after
suffering calamity can
be called a phoenix.
Will New Orleans Rise from the Ashes?
America is a phoenix rising from the ashes of the
9/11 terrorists’ attack!
SIRENS
The sirens live on an island
surrounded by sharp rock. They
lure sailors to the destruction with
their irresistible song.
They have heads of women
but bodies of birds. Sirens are
evil, bent on destroying all sailors
and eating their corpses.
“Listening to the Song of the Siren”
In modern day, if you
listen to the “song of the
Siren,” you are listening to
someone you should not
trust. They seem “nice,”
but history shows they
cannot be trusted.
Scylla and Charybdis
Two monsters Odysseus faces
in his voyage home, Scylla is
a six-headed monster lurking
in rocks along the shore that
snatches men from a passing
boat, one for each head.
Charybdis is a monster who
waits at the bottom of the
whirlpool that destroys ships
passing by sucking them in
and eating them.
“Caught Between a Rock and a
Hard Place”
 Today, in an allusion to the monsters Scylla and Charybdis, a
person says he is “caught between a rock and a hard place.”
This means he has two equal but difficult options from which
he must choose.
 Example: Wow, I have been accepted to both U.F. and
F.S.U.; in choosing, I am really between a rock and a hard
place!
The Trojan War and “Greeks
Bearing Gifts”
The Greeks sneak into
Troy in a “gift” meant to
end the 10 year Trojan
War, a wooden horse
hiding sneaky Greeks.
Today, a “Greek bearing
gifts” is one who is
acting like they can be
trusted when they
cannot.
What is the Allusion?
1.
John Travolta suffered a serious downturn in his acting
career in the 1980s, but like a _____________, he has
risen back to the top of fame.
2.
I feel like I’ve been shot by _____________; I am crazy
about him!
3. Lifting a car off a crushed victim is a _____________act,
but I’ve read in the paper of such things happening.
4. Her laziness is her ________________; if she
really wants to be successful, she’ll have to get
busy!
5. The women of the WWF are ______________;
they are big, beautiful, and strong!
6. The ________________ of the human mind is
still not completely understood by scientists.
7. Stealing and getting caught is a ____________
because the police come, one’s parents are
called, and jail time is possible.
8.
I do not know why that girl is always talking behind my back; she
is my __________.
9.
Bill Gates has the ______________ because no matter what he
does, he makes millions.
10. Being the gorgeous ______________ that I am, I am sure she’ll
definitely jump up and down to go to prom with me!”
11.
12.
13.
Elie wanted a _____________ or guide in his study of the
cabbala, and his search took him to Moshe the Beadle.
Few realize that the _____________, the most famous ocean
liner of all times that struck an iceberg, was named after the
Titans, mythology’s first gods and goddesses.
Psychology and Psychiatry both get their roots from the Greek
word ___________, alluding to her and the workings of the
human mind.
14. I find pizza to be ________________ or very
tempting; I want to eat it every day but know
that isn’t possible.
15. My family took a summer ___________,
traveling through the South, the Southwest,
and up the coast of California.
16. Nature is my ___________ as an artist,
and all my photos capture its beauty.
17. In order to discover where the Middle
East is, we consulted the ___________.
18. Many Greeks believed that when a
__________ erupted, Vulcan’s fire was under it.
19. Angelina Jolie is a beautiful _________,
and many men have been ____________
by her charms.
20. Her passion or ____________ for
drama was evident when she went to New
York to pursue a stage career.
21. The tennis shoe ____________ is named after the Goddess of
Victory.
The Epic
and Epic
Heroes
Previewing the Unit
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What qualities make someone a hero?
Can you think of any modern-day heroes?
Epic Archetypes
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Epic Archetype: An epic hero is a hero who
serves as a representative of qualities a culture
appreciates most.
Epic Archetype Examples:
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The Initiation
The Quest
The Task
The Journey
The Hero
The Young Hero
Heaven vs. Hell
The Special Helper
Epic Literature
Epics are long narratives told in elevated language,
often relating the adventures of larger-than-life heroes.
In some way, epic heroes
embody the values of their
civilizations.
For example, a hero may
demonstrate values of strength,
bravery, or intelligence.
Elements of Epics
Epics are found in many cultures and share the
following characteristics:
• a physically impressive hero of national or
historical importance
• a vast setting
• a quest or journey in search of something of
value
• the involvement of supernatural forces
• a basis in a specific culture or society
• characters struggling against fate
Epic Characters
The epic hero, who represents the values of a society, is at
the center of every epic.
Epic heroes are exceptional people who undertake
difficult quests or journeys.
Through the journey, heroes aim to achieve
something of value to themselves or their people.
Epic Characters
Epic heroes may experience many obstacles, or conflicts,
along the way.
These conflicts are sometimes
external, created by forces of
nature or, as in many epics and
myths, the gods.
Epic Characters
Epic heroes also experience internal conflict.
Faced with an internal conflict, the heroes struggle to
overcome their own fears or doubts.
Character Foils
Most epic heroes have a foil.
A foil is a character that
stands in stark contrast to
another character.
For example, Superman’s foil
is Lex Luthor, a villain whose
evil contrasts with
Superman’s goodness.
An Epic and
Its Historical Period
We can look at an epic as an encyclopedia of the
manners, customs, and values that bind a civilization
together.
Like myths, epics
offer people a vision
of where they came
from, what their laws
and values are, and
their destiny.
Epic Hero Cycle: Epic heroes also all follow the
same storyline.
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They are special or supernatural from birth.
They are charged with a quest.
They go through trials and challenges designed to test
their strength and intelligence.
Epic heroes go to unnatural worlds that others may not
enter.
Epic heroes get help from companions.
Even when they hit a low point, epic heroes always
come back fighting. They have a resurrection and then
they are restored to their rightful place.
Other Epic Heroes You May
Know
So what… now what…
❖Paris, a prince of Troy, was chosen to select the most
beautiful Goddess and give her a prize. Aphrodite told
him that she would give him anything he wanted if he
chose her. So he did. He wanted Helen as his prize.
❖Aphrodite immediately went to work to keep her end of the
bargain. Unfortunately, the most beautiful mortal
woman in the world was Helen, who was married to the
Greek King Menelaus of Sparta.
❖Aphrodite brought Paris to King Menelaus’s kingdom, and
when Menelaus went away on a trip, Paris wooed Helen,
who actually fell in love with him but was afraid because
of her marriage to King Menelaus. Regardless, it took
little convincing to go to Troy with Paris.
Helen by Dante Gabriel Rossetti
❖ King Menelaus returned home to
find that Paris had “abducted” his
Helen. Menelaus went to his brother,
Agamemnon. It took several years for
the outraged Menelaus to assemble
an army, and, when he did, kings and
soldiers from all over Greece,
including Achilles and Odysseus,
sailed to Troy to bring back
Helen…and…according to myth,
thus began the TROJAN WAR!!!!
❖ This story opens in the 10th – and last – year of the Trojan
War. The war is at a stalemate (they can’t get behind that
Trojan wall), and in the Greek camp there is much
dissension amongst the Greeks themselves. The story of
of that dissention and the wrath of Achilles, is the topic
of The Iliad (which ends with a 12 day truce in which both
sides bury and mourn their dead. The focus of The Iliad
is WAR!!!
❖ In The Odyssey, Homer starts by telling about
the last days of the Trojan War in this second
epic. The story relates that
the man
responsible for the fall of Troy is Odysseus.
Odysseus conceived the plan to use the huge
wooden horse (the Trojan Horse) to get into the
gates of Troy. It worked!!!!! The Greeks defeated
the Trojans.
❖ Because Odysseus was instrumental in Troy’s destruction,
he angered the gods who were sympathetic to Troy, and they
vow that he will have a long and difficult journey home. This
journey, which takes 10 years, is the subject of Homer’s
❖The Odyssey.