Download Mythology Lesson 1_Creation

Mythology
Creation:
How the world began
At first
there was only Chaos
Chaos gave birth to:
Erebus
(Darkness)
The night and
Erebus and Night gave birth to:
Eros,
or Love
Eros gave birth to:
The Day
And The Light
Day and Light
had two children:
Gaia or the
Earth
And
The
Heavens
Called
Uranus
The first children of
Gaia and Uranus
were monsters-*3 had 100 hands, 50 heads
*3 were Cyclops “wheeleyed”
*12 were Titans
The 12 Titans
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cronus
Oceanus
Iapetus
Hyperion
Crius
Coeus
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rhea
Thetis
Dione
Mnemosyne
Themis
Phoebe
Titans
• Deifications of various aspects of nature
• All lineage may be traced back to the Titans
• Usually
considered in
pairs, since there
are 6 male and 6
female
• Inevitable,
incestuous
matings produce
cosmic offspring
Oceanus and Tethys
• Oceanus and
Tethys (te’
this) produced
spirits of
rivers, waters,
and springs,
known as the
Oceanids
Coeus and Phoebe
• Coeus (se’ us) and
Phoebe gave birth to
Leto, who was the
mother of Apollo and
Artemis (through
Zeus)
• Coeus was Titan of
intelligence
Hyperion and Theia
• Hi-per’ i-on and the’a
• Hyperion is god of the
sun
• Parents of Helios (the
Sun), Selene (the
Moon), and Eos (the
Dawn).
• Theia means goddess
Iapetus (i-ap’ e-tus)
• Mortal Life
• Father of Prometheus,
Epimetheus, and Atlas
Mnemosyne
• “ne-mos’ i-ne”
• Personification of
Memory
• She is mother of the 9
Muses (through Zeus)
Themis
• Embodiment of divine
order, law, custom
• Oracular abilities
A Bad Father
Uranus- the Heavens hated his children
• He imprisoned the monsters as soon as they
were born
• Gaia was upset and asked for help
• Her son Cronus (the sky-god) wounded his
father “terribly”. From his blood other
monsters were born: the Furies, ? Venus ?
Cronus and Rhea
married.
• But Cronus feared a
child would overthrow
him as king,
• So he ate his first five
children!!!
One Child was Saved!
• Before Cronus could eat
the last baby
• Rhea hid the baby and
• Gave Cronus a Rock to eat
instead!
When the baby grew up
• He came back and with the help of his
grandmother forced his father to
disgorge his siblings
This was Zeus
• Called Jupiter
by Romans
• He became
King of the
gods
Source
There are many versions of creation in
Greek mythology. The source for this was
Edith Hamilton in her book Mythology.