INTRODUCTION TO

GREEK MYTHOLOGY
The who’s who of the ancient world
Ancient Greece
Important Locations
 Athens- largest most prosperous city in
ancient Greece—democracy was born here

 Delphi- City where man was the closest to

the gods—also had oracles (fortune tellers)

 Mount Olympus-lightest and most

worshipped mountain in Greece.
 Furie

sThree ugly goddesses of Revenge
 Created from the blood of Uranus when he was
castrated by Coronus.
 They would punish the ‘sinner’ until remorse was
shown.
 Alecto- Anger
 Megaera-Grudge
 Tisiphone-Avenger
The Graces

 Three beautiful sisters, daughters to Zeus.

 Supposed to fill the world with beauty and
pleasant moments.
 Euphrosyne-delight
 Thalia-Blossom
 Aglacia-Beauty
 The Fates
 Spinners of the thread
of life, personification
and destiny
 Clotho- spinner of the
thread
 Lachesis-measures the
length of the string
 Atropos-cut the thread
when it was your time to
die
The Muses
 Greek goddesses who rule over
the arts and sciences
 Daughters of Zeus &
Mnemosyne Goddess of memory

 Calliope-Epic poetry
 Clio-History •Terpsichore-dance
 Erat-Love Poetry •Thalia-Comedy
 Eutrepe-music •Urania-astronomy
 Melopmene-tragedy
 Ployhymnia-hymns
The
Nymphs

 Young goddesses of Nature, Sea, Land, and

Woods.
 Worshipped for fertility
The
Sirens
 Special sea nymphs
 Sang in seductive
tones
 Body of a bird with a
human face
 Tried to capture sailors
in order to keep them
Greek Heroes
 Achilles
 Hero of the Trojan War
and the main character in
the Iliad.
 His mother wanted to
make him immortal so she
dipped him in the River
Styx
 Vulnerable spot was his
heel
Greek Heroes cont.
 Hercules
 Son of Zeus and Alcmene
(a mortal woman)
 Incredibly strong-killed two
serpents in his cradle
 Hera drove him to
madness causing him to
kill his and his brothers
children
 Sought the oracle in order
to gain forgiveness.
Hercules 12 labors:
Kill the lion of Nemea
Kill the nine-headed hydra
Capture the Ceryneian hind
Kill the wild boar of Erymanthus
Clean the Augean Stables of King Augeas
Kill the meat eating birds of Stymphalis
Capture the wild bull of Crete
Capture the man eating mares of Diomedes
Get the girdle of Hippolyts (Q. Amazons)
Take the golden apple
Bring the 3 headed dogs of Hades to the surface
Greek Heroes cont
 Odysseus
 Main hero of the Trojan War and
Homer’s Odyssey
 Tried to get out of going to war by
pretending to be crazy
 Was delayed going home by ten
years because he kept upsetting
different gods or goddesses.
 Married to Penelope who waited
for his return refusing to believe
he was dead and refused to marry
again.
Important Greeks
 Pandora
 First woman created by the
Gods
 Given positive and negative
attributes
 Given the gift of curiosity
causing her to open a box/jar
that she was forbidden to
 Opening the box/jar she
unleashes evil spirits, light,
pain, hunger and greed into
the world.