ANCIENT MYTHOLOGY  ruler of the sea

 His wife was Amphitrite

Greek Mythology
- body of stories concerning the gods, heroes, and rituals of the HADES (Pluto)
ancient Greeks.  He was also known as Pluto. “Plutos” in Greek
means wealth.
Different Gods and Goddesses  Hades was the brother of Zeus and Poseidon
 Primordial Gods  The god of the Underworld and the King of the
 Titan Gods Dead
 Olympian Gods  His wife was Persephone

PRIMORDIAL GODS PALLAS ATHENA (Minerva)

 She was the goddess of wisdom and strategic
-the first generation of gods and goddesses warfare.
 The Goddess of the City, the protector of civilized
According to Hesiod, in the beginning there was Chaos. life, of handicrafts and agriculture…
 She was called the Maiden, Parthenos
 Chaos - was the personification of the absolute  She was the daughter of Zeus but no mother bore
nothingness. her
 Gaia- she is the goddess of the earth (Mother Earth).
 Uranus - He is the god of the heavens. He soon PHOEBUS APOLLO
became ruler of the world and father of the Titans.  The son of Zeus and Leo
 He has a twin sister
TITAN GODS  The most Greek of all the gods
 A beautiful figure in Greek poetry and the master
Their parents were Gaia (Mother Earth) and Uranus (god of
musician
heavens). They had two other species as siblings,: the
 He is the god of light and healing and prophecy
Hecatoncheires (meaning "hundred-handed ones") and the
Cyclops (meaning “circle-eyed”).  The Archer God

The Titans were the pre-Olympian gods.

ARTEMIS (Diana)
Cronus  Artemis, Apollo's twin sister, was the goddess of
hunting, wild animals and the wilderness.
 The Titan god of the harvest.  The protectress of dewy youth
 Cronus, although the youngest of the first twelve  She was a virgin goddess
Titans, became the ruler of the world after
overthrowing his father, Uranus. APHRODITE (Venus)
 He then married his older sister, Rhea  The Goddess of Love and Beauty
 She could inspire love in the hearts of men and
Rhea women.

the Titan goddess of fertility and generation.  The laughter- loving goddess

She determines the flow of things and her name  She is the daughter of Zeus and Dione, “risen from
literally means “the one that flows” in Greek. the foam”.
OLYMPIAN GODS  She married the god of fire and blacksmiths,
 The Gods of Olympus were the main Greek gods Hephaestus
who lived on the top of mount Olympus.
 The Olympian gods rose to power by defeating the ARES (Mars)
Titans in the War of the Titans (also called the  The God of War, Violence and Bloodshed
Titanomachy).  Son of Zeus and Hera
 He was never popular
12 OLYMPIAN GODS  He had a relationship with the god Aphrodite.

ZEUS (Jupiter) HEPHAESTUS (Vulcan)

 Olympian god of the sky and the thunder, the king of  The God of Fire, Blacksmith and Craftsmen
all other gods and men.  He was known as kind, loveable, and hardworking
 The supreme ruler god
 He was known as the ‘Lord of Justice’.  He lived in his own palace on Mount Olympus
 His wife was Aphrodite
HERA (Juno) HERMES (Mercury)
 sister of Zeus,  The God of trade, wealth, luck, language, thieves,
 daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and travel
 Zeus’ wife  Son of Zeus and Maia
 She protected the sacred institution of marriage.  The messenger of gods
 Greek mythology presents Hera as a modest,  Known as the trickster amongst the gods
measured and faithful woman, but at the same time
very jealous. HESTIA (Vesta)
 The Goddess of the hearth and home
POSEIDON (Neptune)  Oldest daughter of Cronus and Rhea
 Poseidon was one of the six children of Cronus and  She was usually pictured as a modest woman
Rhea and brother of Zeus. wearing a veil and holding a flowered branch
 the god of horses and earthquakes. This is why he  She is never married and had no kids.
was called “the earth-shaker”.
THE LESSER GODS
EROS (Cupin in Latin)
 The Goddess of love and passion,
 Son of Aphrodite
 He is depicted as a male carrying a bow and arrow,
in a relationship with Psyche
HEBE
 The Goddess of Youth
 Daughter of Zeus and Hera
 She appears as cupbearer to the gods and goddesses
of mount olympus
 Had a relationship with Hercules
IRIS
 The Goddess of Rainbow
 Daughter of Zeus and Hera
 She appears as cupbearer to the gods and goddesses
of mount olympus
 Handmaiden of Hera
THE MUSES
 The Muses were nine in numberbow
 Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne,
 Calliope,- muse of eloquence and heroic poetry.
 Euterpe- muse of the Music
 Erato-muse of Lyric or Erotic Poetry.
 Melpomene- muse of the Tragedy.
 Polymnia- muse of Sacred Poetry (hymns)
 Terpsichore-muse of the Dance.
 Thalia-muse of the Comedy.
 Urania-muse of the Astronomy and Astrology.
 Clio-muse of history
STORY OF DEMETER AND DIONYSUS
Demeter and Dionysus (Bacchus). These two are the best
friends of humanity: Demeter, goddess of the harvest and
nature, provides fruitful plenty and protects the threshing-
floor, while Dionysus, god of wine and revelry, rules the
grapevine and so the production of wine. Demeter is
celebrated in a festival every fifth September; her prime
temple is at Eleusis, and her worship is a central and
mysterious aspect of ancient life. Bacchus also comes to be
worshipped at Eleusis—a natural pairing of the two gods who
bring the pleasant gifts of the earth and, significantly, are both
overpowered by seasonal change. Just as the frost kills the
fields and the vines, these two gods—unlike the Olympians—
live in a world filled with regular suffering.
Hades, wanting a queen, kidnaps Demeter’s only child,
Persephone. Demeter wanders the earth in aimless despair,
eventually resting in Eleusis in human disguise. One day, the
kind family that has been harboring her accidentally discovers
her divine nature and offends her. They build the great temple
at Eleusis to appease her anger. Still, Demeter locks herself in
the temple out of sadness, and at that time nothing grows on
the earth. Finally, Zeus sends Hermes down to Hades to try to
set everything right. Hades agrees to let Persephone return to
her mother but slyly makes her eat a magic pomegranate seed
that necessitates her return. Eventually a compromise is
arranged: Persephone will stay with Hades for one-third of the
year, Demeter for the other two-thirds. When Persephone
returns to the underworld at the start of each winter, Demeter’s
renewed sorrow makes the Earth barren. Persephone returns
each spring, causing Demeter’s joy and thus the springtime’s
blossoming.
Dionysus is the only main god who has one human parent:
Zeus is his father, but his mother is a mortal named Semele.
Enraged at Zeus’s affair, Hera cunningly fixed Semele’s death
while she was pregnant. Zeus snatched the baby from his
mother’s burning body and implanted it in his own side until
birth, when Hermes carried the infant god off to be raised in
secrecy by the nymphs of Nysa, a magic valley. Dionysus is
generally a good god, spreading the secrets of wine production
everywhere he goes. He even loves the mortal Ariadne after
Theseus cruelly abandons her and dares defy Hades and rescue
his mother from death. Somehow succeeding, Dionysus leads
Semele up to live as an immortal in Olympus. He has another
side, however; as one might expect from the lord of wine, he
is a god of madness and insanity. The wild, bloody Maenads
are his followers. When Pentheus, king of Thebes, defies him,
Dionysus drives Pentheus’s mother and sisters so insane that
they rip Pentheus apart with their bare hands. Dionysus is the
final component of the Greek pantheon, and as time goes on,
his influence grows. He eventually becomes the god of holy
inspiration; in whose honor the most famous theater and
poetry festival is held. Taking place every spring, it
commemorates his rebirth—according to one story, he is torn
to pieces each year either by the Titans or by Hera’s orders,
depending on the version of the myth. Like Demeter’s, his
story is one of tragedy and death, though he always rises from
the dead.
CUPID AND PSYCHE (TASKS)
Venus, enraged that Psyche has once again defied her, forces
her to perform four seemingly impossible tasks. First, she
must sort an enormous mound of seeds in one evening, but
ants come to her aid and she succeeds. Second, she must fetch
the golden wool of a flock of vicious wild sheep, but a reed by
the riverbank tells her where to find wool that the sheep had
snagged on thorns. Third, she must fill a flask with water from
a treacherous waterfall of the river Styx, but an eagle swoop
down and fills it for her. Finally, Psyche must journey to the
underworld and convince Proserpine (Latin Persephone) to
place some of her beauty in a box, but a tower on the way
speaks to her and tells her how to easily complete the task.
On the way back from this final task, Psyche’s curiosity makes
her peek into the box to see what Proserpine’s beauty looks
like. The box appears empty, but a deep sleep overcomes her.
Finally healed, Cupid rushes to her, and he then convinces
Jupiter (Latin Zeus) to make her an immortal, which at last
persuades Venus to accept her.
PROMETHEUS AND EPIMETHEUS
Prometheus and Epimetheus were spared imprisonment in
Tartarus because they had not fought with their fellow Titans
during the war with the Olympians. They were given the task
of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out of mud, and
Athena breathed life into his clay figure.
Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the
creatures of the earth their various qualities, such as swiftness,
cunning, strength, fur, wings. Unfortunately, by the time he
got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out
and there were none left for man. So, Prometheus decided to
make man stand upright as the gods did and to give them fire.
Prometheus loved man more than the Olympians, who had
banished most of his family to Tartarus. So, when Zeus
decreed that man must present a portion of each animal they
scarified to the gods, Prometheus decided to trick Zeus. He
created two piles, one with the bones wrapped in juicy fat, the
other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He then bade
Zeus to pick. Zeus picked the bones. Since he had given his
word Zeus had to accept that as his share for future sacrifices.
In his anger over the trick, he took fire away from man.
However, Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it
back again to man. Zeus was enraged that man again had fire.
He decided to inflict a terrible punishment on both man and
Prometheus.
To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a mortal of
stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of
wealth. He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive heart
and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first
women. A final gift was a jar which Pandora was forbidden to
open. Thus, completed Zeus sent Pandora down to Epimetheus
who was staying amongst the men.
Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to accept gifts from
Zeus but, Pandora's beauty was too great and he allowed her to
stay. Eventually, Pandora's curiosity about the jar she was
forbidden to open became great. She opened the jar and out
flew all evils, sorrows, plagues, and misfortunes. However, the
bottom of the jar held one good thing - hope.
Zeus was angry at Prometheus for three things: being tricked
on sacrifices, stealing fire for man, and for refusing to tell
Zeus which of Zeus's children would dethrone him. Zeus had
his servants, Force and Violence, seize Prometheus, take him
to the Caucasus Mountains, and chain him to a rock with
unbreakable adamantine chains. Here he was tormented day
and night by a giant eagle tearing at his liver. Zeus gave
Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He could tell Zeus
who the mother of the child that would dethrone him was. Or
meet two conditions: First, that an immortal must volunteer to
die for Prometheus. Second, that a mortal must kill the eagle
and unchain him. Eventually, Chiron the Centaur agreed to die
for him and Heracles killed the eagle and unbound him.
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE
Orpheus joined the expedition of the Argonauts, saving them
from the music of the Sirens by playing his own, more
powerful music. On his return, he married Eurydice, who was
soon killed by a snakebite. Overcome with grief, Orpheus
ventured himself to the land of the dead to attempt to bring
Eurydice back to life. With his singing and playing he
charmed the ferryman Charon and the dog Cerberus, guardians
of the River Styx. His music and grief so moved Hades, king
of the underworld, that Orpheus was allowed to take Eurydice
with him back to the world of life and light. Hades set one
condition, however: upon leaving the land of death, both
Orpheus and Eurydice were forbidden to look back. The
couple climbed up toward the opening into the land of the
living, and Orpheus, seeing the Sun again, turned back to
share his delight with Eurydice. In that moment, she
disappeared.
Orpheus himself was later killed by the women of Thrace. The
motive and manner of his death vary in different accounts, but
the earliest known, that of Aeschylus, says that they
were Maenads urged by Dionysus to tear him to pieces in a
Bacchic orgy because he preferred the worship of the rival god
Apollo. His head, still singing, with his lyre, floated to Lesbos,
where an oracle of Orpheus was established. The head
prophesied until the oracle became more famous than that of
Apollo at Delphi, at which time Apollo himself bade the
Orphic oracle stop. The dismembered limbs of Orpheus were
gathered up and buried by the Muses. His lyre they had placed
in the heavens as a constellation.
PYGMALION AND GALATEA
Pygmalion was a talented Greek sculptor from Cyprus. After
becoming disgusted by some local prostitutes, he lost all
interest in women and avoided their company completely.
Pygmalion saw women as flawed creatures and vowed never
to waste any moment of his life with them. He dedicated
himself to his work and soon created Galatea, a beautiful
stature of a woman out of ivory. Ironically, the masterpiece of
his life was this statue of a woman. Perhaps he sought to
correct in marble the flaws he saw in women of flesh and
blood.
As he finished the statue’s features, they became exquisitely
lovely, and he found himself applying the strokes of hammer
and chisel with increasing affection. When his chisel finally
stopped ringing, there stood before him a woman of such
perfection that Pygmalion, who had professed his disdain of
all females, fell deeply in love. He would bring it gifts, caress
it, kiss it and talk to it every day. He brought it gifts he
thought women would enjoy, such as pretty seashells, beads,
songbirds, baubles and flowers.
Such a passion could not go unnoticed by the goddess of love,
Aphrodite. She took pity on the young man and, when
Pygmalion went to her temple to sacrifice a bull, Aphrodite
gave him a sign. As the offering burned on the temple, the
flames shot up one, two, three times. Pygmalion went home,
wondering what to make of the manifestation he had seen.
When he entered his studio, however, and saw the statue, all
other thoughts were banished from his mind. He ran to his
statue and embraced it. Pygmalion’s mind oscillated between
doubt and joy. Fearing he may be mistaken, again and again
with a lover’s ardor he touches the object of his hopes. It was
indeed alive! The veins when pressed yielded to the finger and
again resumed their roundness.
Soon Pygmalion and Galatea were wed, and Pygmalion never
forgot to thank Aphrodite for the gift she had given him.
Aphrodite blessed the nuptials she had formed, and this union
between Pygmalion and Galatea produced a son
named Paphos, from whom the city of Paphos in Cyprus (this
city was sacred to Aphrodite), received its name.
PROCNE AND PHILOMELA
Philomela and Procne were sisters, daughters of Pandion,
King of Athens. A Thracian man, Tereus, married Procne.
However, Tereus desired his sister-in-law, Philomela, and he
took her by force. Afterwards, he cut out her tongue so she
couldn’t tell anyone what he had done. However, Philomela,
although unable to speak, wove a tapestry which depicted
Tereus’ crime, thus alerting Procne to what her husband had
done to his own sister-in-law.
Procne set about taking revenge on her husband: she killed
their son, Itys, and baked the son into a pie, which she then fed
to her husband. (In some versions of the myth, she boiled Itys
into a stew rather than baking a pie.) When Tereus realised
what had happened, he pursued both sisters, but when he was
about to catch up with them, the gods took sympathy on them
and turned Procne into a nightingale and Philomela into a
swallow. Tereus, meanwhile, was transformed into a hoopoe.
BAUCIS AND PHILEMON
Philemon and Baucis, in Greek mythology, a pious Phrygian
couple who hospitably received Zeus and Hermes when their
richer neighbors turned away the two gods, who were
disguised as wayfarers. As a reward, they were saved from a
flood that drowned the rest of the country; their cottage was
turned into a temple, and at their own request they became
priest and priestess of it. Long after, they were granted their
wish to die at the same moment, being turned into trees.
 MYTH OF THESEUS

Theseus is the great Athenian hero. His father Aegeus is king

of Athens, but Theseus grows up in southern Greece with his
mother. When he is old enough, Theseus travels to the city to
meet his father and overcomes many obstacles along the way.
By the time he reaches Athens, he is known as a hero. Not
realizing that Theseus is his son, King Aegeus is about to
poison him, but just in time Theseus shows him a sword that
his father left for him. Aegeus declares Theseus heir to the
throne and sends him on an important journey.

Aegeus recounts the tragedy of Minos, the powerful ruler of

Crete, who lost his only son Androgeus while the boy was in
Athens. Aegeus had sent him on an expedition to kill a
dangerous bull, but it killed Androgeus, and in revenge, King
Minos vowed to destroy Athens unless every year seven
maidens and seven men were sent to Crete. These sacrificial
youth would be fed to the Minotaur, a monster, half-bull and
half-human, who lived inside a labyrinth. Theseus comes
forward to be offered as one of the victims. He promises his
father that he will kill the Minotaur, and upon his successful
return, his ship will carry a white sail.

When the fourteen men and women arrive in Crete, they are
paraded through the town. Minos's daughter Ariadne sees and
instantly falls in love with Theseus. She confers with Daedalus
the architect to devise a plan for her beloved to stay safe. Then
she meets with Theseus, who promises to marry her if he
escapes from the labyrinth. Theseus follows Ariadne's plan,
walking through the maze as he lets run a ball of string so he
can retrace his steps. Theseus finds the Minotaur sleeping and
kills it with his bare hands. Theseus, Ariadne, and the other
Athenian youth all escape to the ship going back to Athens.

On the way back, Ariadne dies. Some say Theseus deserted

her on an island. Others say he let her rest on an island
because she was seasick, then got caught in a storm, and by
the time he returned to the island she was dead. In any case,
for some reason Theseus forgets to raise the white sail. His
father, seeing the black sail, assumes his son has died and
jumps into the sea. The sea has been called the Aegean ever
since.

Theseus rules in a people-friendly fashion, and Athens

becomes the happiest city in the world. In later years,
however, sadness ensues after he marries Ariadne's sister
Phaedra. Theseus already had a child, Hippolytus. When
Theseus and Phaedra visit him, Phaedra falls madly in love
with Hippolytus, her stepson. He refuses her advances, but she
writes a letter falsely alleging that he violated her, and then
she kills herself. Theseus finds the letter and banishes his
innocent son. Artemis appears to Theseus and reveals the
truth, but it is too late because the boy has already been killed
at sea.