Mythology Review

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Mythology Review
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Olympians and Titans

• Apollo
• God of Light, Archery, Art, and Music
• Favorite of the Greeks and Romans
• Son of Zeus and Leta
• Athena
• Goddess of Wisdom and Knowledge, sprung fully
  grown from Zeus head in full armor
• Her Roman name was Minerva

• Artemis
• Goddess of the Moon, Chastity, Hunting, and
  Archery
• Twin sister of Apollo and Daughter of Zeus
• Her Roman name was Diana, or Diane

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Olympians and Titans

• Zeus-
• King of the Gods, God of Thunder and Lightning,
• Overthrew his father, Cronus, and the other
  twelve Titans
• His Roman name was Jupiter, sometimes Jove

• Hera
• Queen of the Gods, Goddess of Motherhood and
  Marriage,
• Known for being vain, arrogant, and jealous,
  especially of the woman her husband had affairs
  with, and hostile to their offspring
• Her Roman name was Juno

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Olympians and Titans

• Uranus-
• sometimes known as Father Sky, he was the father
  of the Titans, the youngest of which, Cronus,
  castrated him with a sickle and overthrew him
• Sometimes known as Ouranos

• Gaia-
• sometimes known as Mother Earth, she was the
  mother and wife of Uranus and the mother of the
  Titans, the youngest of which assisted her in
  freeing her children, which her husband Uranus
  had had imprisoned in the bowels of the earth,
  buried alive in Tartarus

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Olympians and Titans

• Cronus-
• the youngest of the twelve Titans and all of
  Uranus offspring, castrated his father Uranus
  with an adamantine sickle.
• His Roman name was Saturn, but he is also known
  as Father Time

• Rhea-
• the mother of the Olympian gods, she is the wife
  and sister of Cronus and the mother of Zeus,
  Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, and Demeter

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Olympians and Titans

• Poseidon-
• the brother of Zeus and a son of Cronus. Poseidon
  carried a trident made for him by one of the
  Cyclopes (the same who fashioned Hades helmet and
  Zeus thunder bolts)
• After he and siblings defeated Cronus and the
  Titans, the cast lots for the heavens and earth,
  and Poseidon was given dominion over the seas
• His Roman name was Neptune

• Hades-
• also the brother of Zeus, he was given dominion
  of the Underworld, which was named after him.
  Eventually, he fell in love with Persephone, the
  daughter of his sister Demeter, and kidnapped her
  and forced her to marry him.

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Olympians and Titans

• Prometheus-
• sometimes known as the bringer of light, this
  Titan was the son of Iapetus, a brother of
  Cronus, and himself the brother of Epimetheus and
  Atlas. Zeus punished Prometheus for stealing fire
  and giving it to men by chaining him to a rock
  and having an eagle, or a vulture, tear out his
  liver, which grew back daily.
• He is the father of foresight

• Epimetheus-
• the brother of Prometheus and Atlas, this Titan
  gave all the animals their gifts, but had none
  for man, which is the reason Prometheus felt
  sorry for men to begin with. His known as the
  Father of Excuses and Afterthought, or hindsight.

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• Hermes-
• son of Zeus and grandson of Atlas, on his
  mothers side, this messenger of the gods was
  renowned for his wit and intelligence as well as
  his speed and athleticism. He had a winged pair
  of sandals and a winged cap, which lent him
  additional swiftness and speed
• His Roman name is Mercury

• Dionysus-
• the son of Zeus and Semele, this Olympian is the
  god of wine, revelry, orgies, and drama
• His Roman name was Baachus

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• Ares-
• this god of war and battle was the son of Zeus
  and Hera. He was liked least by the Greeks, but
  very admired by the Romans. Once, he fell in love
  with Aphrodite and they had an affair.
  Hephaestus, Aphrodites wife, caught them and
  made fools of them in front of all Olympus.
• His Roman name was Mars.

• Aphrodite-
• the Goddess of love, she was born when Cronus was
  castrated and part of him was flung into the sea.
  Aphrodite rose up from that divine sea foam. She
  was the most beautiful of the gods and plays a
  prominent part in the Trojan war as she gave
  Helen, another mans wife, to Paris in the first
  place.
• Her Roman name was Venus.

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• Hephaestus-
• this son of Zeus and Hera was crippled when his
  father threw him off of Mt. Olympus. He is the
  god of craftsmanship and his forge supposedly lay
  under Mt. Etna. He created an invisible net, in
  which he trapped his hussy of a wife and his
  ungrateful brother Ares while they were in a very
  private act.
• His Roman name was Vulcan.

• Eros-
• the son of Cupid in some myths, and the son of
  Erebus and Nyx in others, Eros is the god of love
  and desire, and also of order and harmony in the
  universe.
• His Roman name was Cupid.

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• Demeter-
• Demeter is a daughter of Cronus and Rhea and
  sister of Zeus by whom she became the mother of
  Persephone. When Persephone was abducted by
  Hades, lord of the underworld, Demeter wandered
  the earth in search of her lost child. During
  this time the earth brought forth no grain. The
  myth of Demeter and Persephone is an early
  attempt to explain the natural phenomenon known
  as Winter

• Iris-
• In Greek mythology, Iris is the personified
  goddess of the rainbow. She is regarded as the
  messenger of the gods to mankind, and
  particularly of the goddess Hera whose orders she
  brought to humans. Iris is the daughter of Titan
  Thaumas and the nymph Electra. She is portrayed
  as a young woman with wings and her attributes
  are a herald's staff and a water pitcher.

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• Themis-
• Themis is one of the daughters of Uranus and
  Gaia. She is the personification of divine right
  order of things as sanctioned by custom and law.
  She has oracular powers and it is said that she
  build the oracle at Delphi. By Zeus she is the
  mother of the Horae and the Moirae. Themis is
  depicted as a stern looking woman, blindfolded
  and holding a pair of scales and a cornucopia.
  Her Roman name is Justitia.

• Fates-
• The Fates, or Moirae, were the goddesses who
  controlled the destiny of everyone. They were
  Clotho, the spinner, who spun the thread of a
  person's life, Lachesis, the apportioner, who
  decided how much time was to be allowed each
  person, and Atropos, the inevitable, who cut the
  thread when you were supposed to die. Even though
  the other gods were almighty, all were subject to
  the whims of the Fates. The Fates were very
  important, but it is still unknown to who their
  parents were.

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Olympians and Titans

• Furies-
• The Furies, or Erinyes, who are the daughters of
  Gaia and Uranus. They resulted from a drop of
  Uranus' blood falling onto the earth. They were
  placed in the Underworld by Virgil and it is
  there that they reside, tormenting evildoers and
  sinners. However, Greek poets saw them as
  pursuing sinners on Earth. The Furies are cruel,
  but are also renowned for being very fair.

• Graiai-
• The three "old women" or "gray ones" from Greek
  mythology. They are the daughters of Phorcys and
  Ceto, sisters and guardians of the Gorgons. They
  were gray-haired from birth and have only one eye
  and one tooth, which they share among them. They
  are Enyo ("horror"), Deino ("dread") and
  Pemphredo ("alarm").

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Couples

• Pandora and Epimetheus
• Pandora was the first woman and responsible for
  bringing sin and evil and sickness and death into
  the world
• Pyrrha and Deucalion-
• these two were the parents of humanity of after
  the flood. They threw stones over their shoulders
• Perseus and Andromeda-
• This couple hooked up after Perseus slew a giant
  a sea-monster

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Other figures and heroes

• Narcissus and Echo-
• Narcissus was too much in love with himself and
  Echo was too much in love with Narcissus
• Sirens
• These crooning creatures were monsters who lured
  ships of sailors to rocky coasts with wonderful
  songs, and then devoured them when their ships
  crashed.
• Nessus-
• half-man and half-horse tricked Hercules wife
  into accidentally poisoning him with centaur blood

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Stories of Human Behavior

• Daedulus and Icarus-
• architect father and bird-brained son try to
  escape crazy bull kings tower and the father
  makes it, but Icarus, prideful and not mindful of
  his elders like a good Greek boy, flew too high.
  Melted wax doesnt hold feathers. Gravity is a
  bbit of drag. Thats how Daedulus became single,
  engineer, bachelor

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Stories of Human Behavior

• Minotaur-
• Poseidon makes Queen of Minos fall in love with
  the beautiful bull to punish Minos for going back
  on his promise. The bull is a symbol of power.
  The Queen falls in love with a symbol of
  powerhmmm. I wonder what ancient Greeks thought
  women really want?
• King Minos
• This ancient King wass ashamed of his half-bull,
  half man step-son and hides him in engineer
  Daedulus labyrinth, sacrificing maidens until
  Theseus and Ariadne put an end to the beasts
  life.

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Sounds of Stories of Sorrow

• Orpheus and Eurydice
• Eurydice loved this rock-star and he loved her,
  so much so that he went to Hades, putting Hades
  three headed guard dog Cerberus to sleep and
  charming the normally unmoved Hades himself in
  order to get her back. But like most men, he
  didnt trust the god of the dead to keep his
  word. He looked back and Eurydice was lost
  forever. Reminiscent of the story of Lot and his
  wife, who was turned to a pillar of salt. Makes
  you wonder if Orpheus invented the blues

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Heroes

• Achilles-
• this legendary warrior chose to die early and
  leave a good looking corpse rather than be a
  long-living family man. Son of Thetis, this
  demi-god was killed by a divinely inspired arrow
  from a certain prince of Troy.
• Hercules-
• this prototypical Superman was strong, fast,
  determined, smart, and prone to violent rages. He
  killed many people, innocent and guilty, and
  ultimately went to Olympus instead of Hades.

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Heroes

• Oedipus-
• this clever cripple was the son of a king, whom
  he accidentally killed, and the husband of a
  queen, who incidentally turned out to be his own
  mother. Although smart and brave, the tragic
  warrior came to no good end.
• Odysseus-
• this crafty and egotistic King had it all,
  including a faithful wife and a crew, but it took
  10 years of fighting Trojans and 10 years of
  wandering on the seas of the Mediterranean before
  he finally came home.

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Symbols

• Midas
• GOLD
• Pegasus
• Power and Freedom
• Eagle
• Power and speed (Zeus)
• Owl
• Knowledge and Wisdom
• Peacock
• Pride and Arrogance
• Snake
• Evil