MYTHOLOGY NOTEBOOK

By: Elizabeth Loyal

JUPITER
Greek Name: Zeus Symbols: Thunderbolt Realm: Lord of the Sky

JUNO
Greek Name: Hera Symbol: Peacock Realm: Goddess of

Marriage/Married Women

CERES
Greek Name: Demeter Symbol: Cornucopia Realm: Goddess of Earth

NEPTUNE
Greek Name: Poseidon Symbol: Trident Realm: God of the Sea

PLUTO
Greek Name: Hades Symbol: Two-pronged spear and Helmet of Darkness Realm: God of the Underworld

VESTA
Greek Name: Hestia Symbols: Sacred Flame Realm: Goddess Of The Hearth

MARS
Greek Name: Ares Symbols: Armor Realm: God of War

VENUS
Greek Name: Aphrodite Symbols: Myrtle, dove, and sparrow Realm: Goddess of Love and Beauty

MINERVA
Greek Name: Athena Symbols: Olive tree, owl Realm: Goddess of the City

VULCAN
Greek Name: Hephaestus Symbols: Fire, blacksmiths hammer Realm: God of Fire, God of Blacksmiths

DIANA
Greek Name: Artemis

Symbols: Bow and arrow, deer

Realm: Goddess of the Moon

APOLLO
Greek Name: Apollo Symbols: Laurel tree, lyre Realm: God of Light, God of Truth, God of Music, God of Archery, God of Poetry

MERCURY
Greek Name: Hermes Symbols: Caduceus Realm: God of Commerce/Market, Master Thief

CUPID
Greek Name: Eros Symbols: Bow & quiver of arrow Realm: God of Lust

JANUS

Greek Name: N/A Symbols: Double-faced head, doors Realm: God of New Beginnings

PROPSERINA
Greek Name: Persephone Symbols: Flaming torch and

pomegranate seeds
Realm: Goddess of the Underworld, Goddess of Springtime

MINERVA AND ARACHNE

The goddess Minerva was, in the eyes of the gods and herself, the best weaver in the world. She believed nobody, god or mortal, could be better than her. But one day, Minerva heard that a young woman named Arachne was claiming to be the best, and that she was willing to challenge Minerva to prove it. This made Minerva pretty mad, so she traveled to Arachnes home under the disguise of an old woman and attempted to persuade her to apologize for the claims. Arachne refused, saying that Minerva could face her challenge if she was troubled. Minerva dropped her disguise and accepted Arachnes challenge. The two weavers went to work, and while Minerva wove a scene displaying all her triumphs over other gods, Arachne wove a scene depicting all the times the gods had failed. Angered again by Arachnes impudent behavior, Minerva touched the weavers forehead to make her feel the shame of her actions. Arachne, overwhelmed by the guilt, hung herself, but Minerva felt mercy and turned the dead Arachne into a living spider. This way, Arachne could weave until she died and would always be a reminder of humbleness in the face of the Gods.

CERES AND PROSPERINA

Prosperina, the daughter of Ceres of Jupiter, was picking flowers with her mother on Mount Olympus one day when Pluto drove his chariot through the clouds and kidnapped her. Although she screamed and fought, Ceres was too far away and didnt know anything had happened until Prosperina was gone and Olympus echoed her screams. Ceres searched for 9 days, trying to find her daughter, but to no avail. She was so distraught that she threatened to destroy the Earths fertility if she could not find Prosperina. Jupiter, worried about Ceres and the survival of humankind, sent Mercury down to Pluto to beg that Prosperina be let go. Pluto agreed without argument, but not before coaxing Propserina into eating 4 pomegranate seeds. She didnt know that eating food from the Underworld would mean she had to return to the Underworld, but it did. Rhea, Jupiters mother, proposed that Prosperina spend 4 of the 12 months of the year with Pluto and the rest on Olympus with Ceres. Reluctantly, Ceres agreed and restored fertility to the Earth. Propserinas migration is the reason we have seasons when she is home with Ceres, the Earth has springtime and is fertile, but when she returns to the Underworld Ceres lets the Earth die and we have winter.

DAEDALUS AND ICARUS

Daedalus was a brilliant inventor who created a massive, impossible maze (called the Labyrinth) on the island of
Crete for Kings Minos to house the Minotaur. Every nine years, seven men and woman were sacrificed to the Minotaur, but one year King Minos daughter Ariadne fell in love with one of the men to be sacrificed and asked Daedalus to help her save him. He gave the man, a hero named Theseus, some thread to tie to the door of the Labyrinth so that he could find his way out after he attempted to kill the Minotaur. Theseus succeeded and left Crete with Adriane. Once Minos discovered the death of the Minotaur and Daedalus

betrayal, he was furious. He punished Daedalus by trapping him and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth.
Since Daedalus was the one that built the maze, he knew that it was impossible for the two of them to escape by going through it. The sky was the only way out, so he created wings out of feathers and wax. Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly anywhere but the middle of the sky, for too close to the saltwater would make the wax damp and too close to the sun would melt the wings completely. Icarus and Daedalus made their escape, and the wings worked, but Icarus became too thrilled with flying and began to stray from the middle. He flew too close to the sun and, just as Daedalus said they would, his wings melted. Icarus dropped like a stone from the sky and fell into the ocean, screaming, Father! Father! on his way down. Daedalus tried to save him, but it was a lost cause. Icarus had drowned. Sonless, Daedalus cursed his inventions and flew on to Sicily, where he named the spot that Icarus drowned the Icarian Sea.

ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

Orpheus was a fantastic musician, the best of ancient times, who could charm anyone and anything with his voice and a lyre. Seriously, he could make rocks move when he played, he was so good. All the ladies loved him, but he had eyes only for a nymph named Eurydice. They were really in love, so they decided to get married. After the wedding, Eurydice was walking in a field with her bridesmaids when suddenly, she was stung by a viper. Orpheus was in shock, but instead of moping he decided to take action. He grabbed his lyre and headed to the Underworld to get Eurydice back. In the Underworld, he found Pluto and Prosperina and begged them to let Eurydice return.. He reminded Pluto through song that he fell in love once too. His sweet song and argument worked; Pluto agreed to let Eurydice go, but there was a catch. On the way back to the surface, Eurydice would follow Orpheus, but he couldnt turn and check that she was there. If he did, shed return to the Underworld forever. Orpheus set off with Eurydice in tow, and they began the long walk through a dark tunnel to the surface. They walked for a long time, but he never turned around. Finally, Orpheus saw the exit and stepped out into the light. Thrilled to have his wife back, he turned to look at her, but woe of woes, she wasnt out of the tunnel yet. Eurydice was sucked back into the Underworld, this time for good. Orpheus was seriously bummed. He wandered the Earth aimlessly for years, rejecting other women until he was ripped into pieces by the Maenads.

APOLLO AND DAPHNE

One day, Apollo came upon the god Cupid, who was playing with his bow and arrow, and began to make fun of his archery skills. Offended, Cupid hit Apollo with an arrow to make him love a wood nymph named Daphne and then hit Daphne with an arrow to make her never want to fall in love. Daphne went to her father, Peneus, and asked him if she could remain a virgin forever

like Diana. Peneus hesitated at first, but finally agreed to her request and told her that shed never
be forced to marry. Of course, Apollo didnt know that Daphne was no longer into marriage, so when he found her he started chasing her through the woods, trying to make her want him. It freaked Daphne out pretty badly, so when Apollo finally caught her she called out to Peneus for help. Peneus, being the loving father that he was, turned her into a laurel tree. Apollo was kind of upset, because he thought he really loved Daphne, so he declared that the laurel tree was sacred to him. Thats why Apollo wears a crown of laurel and decorates his lyre with laurel leaves.

JUPITER AND IO
Io was a beautiful, mortal maiden who Jupiter fell in love with. Juno, upon hearing of her husbands infidelity, decided to come down from Mount Olympus and make him pay. Jupiter was with Io and saw Juno approaching, so he transformed Io into a cow, thinking that hed be able to change her back once his wife left. Juno, however, was smarter, and asked her husband if she could keep the cow. She put Io under the 24-hour watch of Argus, a creature with 100 eyes. Jupiter felt pretty bad for getting Io in this pickle, so he asked Mercury to kill Argus and steal the cow back. Mercury sang Argus some sweet songs so that hed fall asleep, and then he cut his head off and ran away with Io. Juno was furious that her favorite guard had been slain, so to preserve his memory she put his 100 eyes in the tail of the peacock. She found Io again and cursed her with a gadfly that would torment her until she reached the Nile River, which marked the end of her domain. Io swam across the Mediterranean and into the Nile. The pesky gadfly left her, but now she was very alone and far away from Jupiter. Juno took pity and turned her back into the beautiful human she had been. She also made Jupiter promise to never speak to Io again; thus Io lived in Egypt and became and Egyptian queen.

PYRAMUS AND THISBE

Pyramus and Thisbe were teens in Babylon who were in love with one another, but, as fate would have it, their parents did not approve. They were forbidden to see each other or spend any time together. Luckily, their houses were right next to each other, so they would talk and kiss through a hole in the wall. The two finally got sick of being kept apart and decided to elope. On the night they were to run away, Thisbe was waiting for Pyramus where he told her to meet him: under a mulberry tree at the Tomb of Ninus. In the moonlight Thisbe saw a terrifying lioness, her mouth bloody from a recent meal. She fled to a nearby cave to escape the animal, but left her veil under the tree. Later, Pyramus arrived at the tree only to find lion prints in the ground and Thisbes bloody veil. Since his love was nowhere to be found, he assumed she was dead, and he stabbed himself in the heart. This showered the mulberry tree with blood, turning the white mulberries red. Moments later, Thisbe left the cave and came back to the tree, only to find her lover dead on the ground. Heartbroken, she stabbed herself, too. Mulberries have been red ever since, in honor of the two lovers and their tragic deaths.

BIBLIOGRAPHY
Mythology by Edith Hamilton http://www.theoi.com/GalleryS1.html http://www.theoi.com/Ouranios/Hestia.html http://www.mlahanas.de/Greeks/Mythology/Hephaestus.html http://www.pantheon.org/articles/j/janus.html http://www.infoplease.com/cig/mythology/hades-takes-wife-persephone.html http://thanasis.com/icarus.htm http://www.shmoop.com/daedalus-icarus/summary.html http://www.shmoop.com/orpheus-eurydice/summary.html http://paleothea.com/Myths/Orpheus.html

http://www.shmoop.com/apollo-daphne/summary.html
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/p/pyramus_and_thisbe.html