Introduction to Greek Mythology

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Introduction toGreek Mythology
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What is Greek Mythology?

• The people of ancient Greece shared stories
  called myths about the gods, goddesses, and
  heroes in which they believed.
• Each god or goddess was worshipped as a deity and
  ruled over certain areas of the Greeks lives.
• These exciting stories explained natural
  phenomena that could not be explained by science
  in the ancient world.

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Why Should We StudyGreek Mythology?

• The Ancient Greek culture has been kept alive by
  the oral and later written stories handed down
  through thousands of years.
• Modern plays, novels, television programs, movies
  and even advertisements refer to Greek gods,
  goddesses, heroes and their stories.
• Adventurous and exciting stories delight and
  entertain us.

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In the beginning...

• was Chaos (shapeless nothingness)
• Chaos had two children
• Night (darkness)
• Erebus (death)
• All was black, empty, silent, endless.
• Mysteriously, Love was born of darkness and death.

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And then...

• When Love was born, order and beauty began to
  flourish.
• Love created Light and Day.
• Earth was created.
• She was the solid ground, but also a personality.
• The Earth bore Heaven to cover her and be a home
  for the gods.

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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.

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The Titans (The Elder Gods)

• There were many of them.
• Enormous size, incredible strength
• Cronos (Saturn) Ruler of the titans
• Rhea Wife of Cronos
• Oceanus River that encircled the world
• Iapetus Father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and
  Atlas (also titans)

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The Principal Gods

• Cronos and Rhea were parents of
• Zeus (Jupiter, Jove)
• Poseidon (Neptune)
• Hades (Pluto)
• Hera (Juno)
• Hestia (Vesta)
• Demeter (Ceres)

• Other Olympians include
• Athena (Minerva)
• Ares (Mars)
• Hebe (Juventas)
• Hephaestus (Vulcan)
• Apollo (Apollo)
• Artemis (Diana)
• Hermes (Mercury)
• Aphrodite (Venus)
• Dionysus (Bacchus)
• Persephone

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The Olympians
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Zeus

• He ruled the Olympians.
• He was the god of the sky, lightning and
  thunder carrying a thunderbolt as his symbol.
• He married Hera, his sister, which was a family
  habit.
• He fathered many children with various
  goddesses and mortals.

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Zeus
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Hera

• She was the protector of marriage and the home.
• She was associated with the peacock, because of
  her great beauty.
• She and Zeus were always quarreling.
• She was called the queen of intriguers, a
  vindictive and jealous wife, who frequently
  outwitted her husband, Zeus.

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Hera
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Poseidon

• He built an underwater palace with a great pearl
  and coral throne.
• Although he chose Thetis, a beautiful water
  nymph, as his queen, he, like his brother Zeus,
  was a great wanderer fathering hundreds of
  children.
• He was a difficult god, changeful and
  quarrelsome, but created many curious forms for
  his sea creatures.
• He invented the horse for his sister Demeter,
  whom he loved.

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Poseidon
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Hades

• He was the jealous brother to Zeus and Poseidon.
• He made Persephone his wife after stealing her
  from her mother, Demeter, who was his sister.
• Because he was a violent god, who was also very
  possessive of every new soul, he rarely left his
  underworld domain.

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Hades
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Hestia

• She was the sister of Zeus and the daughter of
  Cronos and Rhea.
• She represented personal and communal security
  and happiness.
• She was thought of as the kindest and mildest of
  the goddesses.
• She was of little mythological importance,
  appearing in few stories

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Hestia
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Demeter

• She was the goddess of growing things.
• She was the mother of Persephone, whose father
  was Zeus.
• Her daughter was kidnapped by Hades and taken to
  the Underworld for six months of the year causing
  the change of seasons.

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Demeter
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Athena

• She was born full grown out of the head of Zeus.
• She taught man to use tools and taught mans wife
  to spin and weave.
• She was the best-loved goddess on Olympus.
• She hated Ares, god of war, often besting him in
  battle.
• The Greek city of Athens is named after her.
• She was said to have created the spider.

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Athena
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Ares

• He was a ruthless and murderous god, who
  displayed the worst of humanitys traits.
• He, along with grief, strife, panic, and terror
  roams the earth.
• Ironically, he was a coward, who fled the field
  of battle.

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Ares
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Hephaestus

• He was the ugliest of the gods, who was rejected
  by his mother, Hera, when she hurled him off of
  Mount Olympus crippling him.
• He fashioned the armor and tools of the gods on a
  broken mountain near Mount Olympus.
• He made beautiful jewelry for the goddesses.

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Hephaestus
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Apollo

• He was the twin brother of Artemis and the most
  handsome of the gods.
• He was also the god of the healing arts and of
  medicine.
• He drove his chariot across the sky to pull the
  sun each day.
• His son, Phaethon, drives Apollos sun chariot
  with disastrous results.

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Apollo
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Artemis

• She was the twin sister of Apollo, whose mother
  was Leto and father was Zeus.
• She was a chaste huntress, who always carried a
  silver bow and arrows.
• She ruled over the untamed places of the earth.

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Artemis
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Hermes

• He was the precocious son of Zeus and Maia, a
  Titaness.
• As a baby, he made a lyre and pipe for his
  half-brother, Apollo.
• He carried Apollos golden staff and flew around
  the heavens and earth on winged sandals.

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Hermes
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Aphrodite

• She is the goddess of desire born from sea foam.
  Another myth credits her mother as Dione and her
  father as Zeus.
• After all the gods on Mount Olympus courted her,
  she married Hephaestus, the ugliest of the gods.
• Because she was judged the most beautiful of all
  the goddesses on Mount Olympus by Paris, the
  other goddesses envied her.

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Aphrodite
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Dionysus

• He is said to be the only god on Olympus with a
  mortal parent.
• His creation of wine brings ecstasy and
  drunkenness to his revelers.
• Much of the ancient worlds greatest poetry was
  created in his honor.

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Dionysus
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Persephone

• Roman Name Proserpina
• Daughter of Zeus and Demeter
• Goddess of Springtime
• Abducted by Hades, and became goddess of the
  Underworld
• The mint and pomegranate are sacred to her.

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Persephone
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Hebe

• Roman Name Juventas
• Goddess of Youth
• Cupbearer to the Gods
• Restored youth to the aged

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Eros

• Roman Name Cupid
• Young God of Love
• Son of Aphrodite and Hephaestus

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Iris

• Goddess of the Rainbow
• Messenger for Zeus and Hera
• Daughter of the titan Thaumus and the nymph
  Electra

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The Muses

• Goddesses who presided over the arts and sciences
• He is happy whom the muses love.

• Nine daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne
• Inspired artists of all kinds

Clio, Urania, Thalia, Melpomene, Erato, Calliope,
Euterpe, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia
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The Graces

• Three Goddesses of Grace and Beauty
• They give life its bloom.
• Aglaia (Splendor)
• Euphrosyne (Mirth)
• Thalia (Good Cheer)

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The Erinnyes (The Furies)

• Roman Name Furiae or Dirae (The Furies)
• Three Goddesses of Vengeance
• Tisiphone
• Alecto
• Megaera
• They punish evildoers.

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The Fates

• Roman Name Parcae, Moirae
• Three sisters
• Clotho (The Spinner)
• Lachesis (The disposer of lots)
• Atropos (The cutter)
• They weave, measure, and cut the thread of life
  for humans.

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The Satyrs

• Gods of the woods and mountains
• Shepherd gods
• Goat men
• Companions of Dionysus
• They like to drink, dance, and chase nymphs.

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The Gorgons

• Three snake-haired monsters
• Medusa is most well-known
• Their look turns men to stone.

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The Centaurs

• Half man, half horse
• Savage creatures (except Chiron)
• Followers of Dionysus

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Sources

• Graphics in this presentation were taken from the
  following web sites
• http//www.bulfinch.org/fables/search.html
• http//www.pantheon.org/
• http//www.messagenet.com/myths/
• http//mythman.com/
• http//web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/index.html
• http//www.paleothea.com/
• http//www.entrenet.com/7Egroedmed/greekm/myth.ht
  ml
• This presentation is for educational purposes
  only it has not been and should not be sold or
  used as a vehicle to make money.