Download File - Mrs. Minks Social Studies

Mrs. Minks
World History
GREEK CREATION MYTHOLOGY
HOW DID THE GREEKS VIEW CREATION?
Here is the short answer:
Scary old gods came first, they got stomped down
by their kids who were better looking, younger
gods. These gods created humans. Humans and
gods fought for supremacy and humans won a
few rounds but eventually got trounced and
became more and more miserable.
NOW, THE LONG ANSWER
In the beginning the universe was without form. It
was nothing; there was matter, but it was
unorganized, shapeless, mixed up and dark. This
was called CHAOS.
LIGHT AND NIGHT

Out of the void came day and night and once
there was light the Earth appeared.
Gaia, the
Earth,
gave birth
to Uranus,
the sky.
AFTER CHAOS, GODS CAME INTO BEING
Gaia, the Earth, held up Uranus, the sky. They fell
in love and had a bunch of children.
THE TITANS
The first children of Gaia and Uranus were
monsters including 3 Cyclops and 3
Hecatoncheires (giants w/50 head and 100
arms).
Then they had the 12 Titans.
Uranus was a crappy dad and he imprisoned his
monster kids.
UPRISING
Gaia was pissed at Uranus and encouraged her
kids to attack him but only the Titan Cronus
was brave enough.
 Cronus overthrew his father and became the
ruler.

CRONUS
Cronus was the strongest and best Titan of all.
After Gaia helped him, Cronus became king
and married his sister Rhea – another Titan.
 Cronus heard a prophecy that one day one of
his sons would dethrone him. So he did the
only logical thing – every time Rhea had a baby,
Cronus swallowed it.

TRICKERY

Rhea got sick of Cronus swallowing her babies,
so when she had her sixth child, she tricked
him by wrapping up a rock to look like a baby
and he swallowed the rock instead.
ZEUS
Zeus was the sixth child that Rhea had. After
tricking Cronus she hid Zeus.
 Zeus grew up to be beautiful and strong – too
strong for Cronus to do anything.

RESCUE
Rhea and Zeus prepared a special drink for
Cronus of nectar mixed with mustard and salt.
The drink made Cronus vomit up the stone, then
the other children he had swallowed.
THE OTHERS…
The other children were gods of course, and
therefore there were undigested and still alive.
They immediately chose Zeus to be their leader
because he rescued them.
They were:
Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.
WAR OF THE TITANS

Zeus and his followers went to war with Cronus
and some of the other Titans. But Zeus won
and exiled the Titans that fought against him.
Three Titans were with Zeus, not against him.
Prometheus, Epimetheus, & Oceanus.
THE GOLDEN AGE
The Titan Prometheus made men. For a while
men lived in harmony and everything was hunky
dory. This was called The Golden Age.
PROMETHEUS AND MAN
Prometheus loved man, more than Olympians.
 He gave man fire, and tricked Zeus.
 Zeus was angry so he created Pandora, the first
woman and gave her a jar.
 She was beautiful and presented to
Epimetheus as a gift.

PANDORA’S BOX

Pandora was given
with a box and was
told never, ever to
open it. But of
course she did. And
out of the box flew
all the evils of the
world. The last little
thing to fly out of
the box was hope.
YOUR TASK
You will each be randomly assigned a god or
goddess to research.
 You will create a presentation about your god or
goddess that you will share with the class.
 You may create a PowerPoint, Prezi, or poster
board.
 If you have some other creative way you want to
present, fly it by me and see if it’s ok.

YOUR PRESENTATION MUST INCLUDE:
The Greek god/goddess name
 His/her Roman name
 Title (what is he/she god of?)
 At least two symbols of the god/goddess
 At least three pictures
 One Greek mythology story that includes your
god/goddess
 Works cited

PRESENTATIONS ON WEDNESDAY & THURSDAY

Be prepared to present on Wednesday, though
some of you will have to go Thursday.