Greek Mythology

In the Beginning…In the beginning, all was nothingness. Some say the nothingness was noisy

chaos,and others suggest that all was silent. Although no one could say how or

when, thenothingness became light, and day was followed by night. Then came love.

With love,Mother Earth (Gaea) and Father Heaven (Uranus) came into being. Because

of theirlove, they had many children. They had two kinds of children: Titan children

andmonster children. The Titan children were enormous, strong, and beautiful.

Themonster children were ugly and frightening.

Uranus disliked his monster children and locked them underground in the darkest

part of the earth. However, Gaea was heartbroken and asked her youngest son,

Cronus, who was one of the Titans, to rescue them. He agreed. To thank him for his

help, Mother Earth gave her son Cronus and his sister Rhea, who was also a Titan, rule

of heaven and earth.Cronus and Rhea married each other and had six children. Each time Rhea

presented Cronus with a child, however, he swallowed it. Rhea was horrified. When

her sixth child was born, she wrapped a rock in a blanket instead of the baby and

presented it to Cronus. He swallowed the rock, believing it to be the baby. Rhea then

sent her sixth child, Zeus, to the island of Crete to be raised. Once Zeus had grown up,

he and Rhea fought against Cronus to make him vomit the five swallowed children,

now fully grown.Zeus divided the world among himself, his brothers (Hades and Poseidon),

and hissisters (Hestia, Demeter, and Hera). Thus began the final generation of rule

by theOlympians.

Greek gods - Family Tree

Religious Beliefs

• The ancient Greeks used Mythology as their basis of religion in about 1200 B.C.

They believed in polytheism

The Big Twelve• The main 12

gods/goddesses were knows as The Big Twelve, and they ruled at Mount Olympus:

• Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Aphrodite, Hermes, Hestia, Demeter.

Mount OlympusLocated in Mount

Olympus, GreeceIs said to have been

the temple of the gods and goddesses.

ZeusPersonality- Older

man with a white beard and long hair; dislikes liars or people who break promises

Title or Duty-Father Zeus. Ruler of Mount Olympus, sky, rain

Symbols: eagle, oak tree, and thunderbolt.

Hera

Personality- proud and quick-tempered goddess. Iris, the rainbow god was her loyal messenger.

Title or Duty-Queen of the gods. Over marriage; cares for married women

Symbol- The peacock Punished Echo.

Athena

Personality- Tall, masculine woman

Title or duty- Grey-Eyed Athena, and Heavenly Queen. Over war, battle, and victory, wisdom, and art.

Symbols - owl, olive tree, crow, and serpent.

Poseidon

Personality- Tall and powerful with a long beard.

Title or duty- Earth Holding, Earth Shaker, and Ruler of Horses. He is the god of the sea

Symbols- trident, horse, bull, dolphin, and pine tree.

Hades Personality- Cold and

unfeeling; has no pity for others, and does not like to let people out

Title or duty- Lord of the Underworld. Governs the dead

He is seen with his scepter, symbolizing his power as a king, and the horn of plenty, representing him as the giver of wealth.

Symbol- Scepter, horn of plenty.

Here he rules with Cerberus (3-headed dog).

Demeter Personality- Kind, gentle,

nurturing Title or duty- Sister of

Zeus. She is the goddess of fertility and agriculture. She is also the goddess of law and order, including marriage.

Symbol- Ear of wheat and the horn of plenty.

Artemis She wears a hunting tunic,

and has a long robe and crescent on her head.

Personality-  An eternally young woman, beautiful and vigorous.

Title or Duty- The Huntress and the Lady of Wild Things.

Over wild and domestic animals, hunters, childbirth, and has healing powers, and the moon.

Symbols-Bow and quiver, torch, and crescent. The cypress tree was sacred to her.

Apollo

Personality- Youthful and manly with golden hair and a masculine body.

Title or Duty- God of Light, Truth, and the Healer. Chariot of winged horses

Symbols- quiver, silver bow, laurel, crow, dolphin, flute, and golden lyre. Has a chariot.

Hermes

Title or duty- He was the swift messenger of the Gods.

Personality-  handsome young man with a winged hat, winged sandals, and a golden staff twined with serpents.

Symbol- Winged sandals, winged hat, magic wand, and the caduceus, adopted by the American Medical Association.

Hephaestus

Ranked one of the top Greek Gods.

Personality-  A dark haired man who has difficulty walking due to misformed feet. Some accounts make him small in stature.

Sculpted Pandora Title or Duty- He was the

God and ruler of fire. He was also a blacksmith, and make weapons for the gods and mortals.

Symbol- Volcano

Aphrodite Personality- She was

youthful, and beautiful. She can make anyone love her.

Title or Duty- Golden Aphrodite. Goddess of love and beauty, and the goddess of all fruitfulness

Symbols- She is most often seen with a rose, myrtle tree, apple, dove, and sparrow.

Ares

Personality- Gigantic and muscular, often dressed in a helmet and armed with a spear and shield.

Title or Duty- God of War

His symbols and powers include: blood, shield, spear, and his animals were the vulture and the dog.

Hestia• Personality- A

sweet, modestly dressed young woman. She often is shown wearing a veil.

• Title or duty- Goddess of hearth and home.

• Symbols- The hearth and tamed fire that burns there.

A sweet, modestly dressed young woman. She often is shown wearing a veil.

Calypso

Daughter of Atlas, and a nymph who tried to con Odysseus into spending seven years on her island home in exchange for immortality.

After Zeus ordered her to release him, she helped him make a raft to sail away.

Scylla Once a beautiful maiden.

Love potion in bathing pool.

She changed into a hideous sea monster with six barking dog heads, each with sharp teeth.

Lives opposite of Charybdis

Charybdis

Daughter of Poseidon and Gaia.

She stole cattle from Herakles, and Zeus cast her to stay there.

Sometimes she creates whirlpools. (stuck between a rock and a hard place)

The Sirens

Sisters

Deadly, seductive singing.

Odysseus heard their songs, but plugged his sailors ears with beeswax, and had himself tied to the ship mast so he couldn’t be tempted by their voices.

Echo

A wood nymph

Punished by Hera

She fell in love with Narcissus, who became enchanted with his own reflection and never knew the real Echo.

Herakles

Also known as Hercules (Roman).

Great hero

The only mortal to be granted immortality upon his death.

The Nymphs

These were the nature goddesses.

Rivers, caves, trees, or springs.

Atlas Was a Titan

The gods were known as Olympians

In a fight against the gods, he sided with the Titans instead, and when they lost Zeus punished him. He was forced to hold up the heavens as punishment, and is often seen holding the world on his shoulders.

Centaurs

They have the upper bodies of men, and the lower torsos of horses.

They are cruel and uncivilized and often devour raw flesh and right in battle.

The Graces

The Graces- Three daughters of Zeus:

Euphrosyne (joy) Thalia (bloom) Aglaia (brilliance)

They are commonly worshipped with Dionysus and Aphrodite.

Dionysus

He was the god of wine, poetry, theater.

His sacred items were the vine, ivy, tiger, and lion.

His symbols were the grapes, the cup, and crown of vine or ivy.

Eros

Also known as Cupid (Roman).

He is the god of Love.

He is often seen with his bow and quiver, and has golden wings which give him speed.

The Gorgons

They were half human and half beast, and were usually seen with claws, scales, and wings.

Turned people to stone

Medusa- snakes

Perseus vs. Medusa

The Harpies

Women with bodies, wings, and the claws of birds.

Carried off the souls of

the dead.

Iris She is the goddess of the rainbow.

She is depicted as a winged

figure who carried a herald’s staff.

Minotaur

He has the body of a man and the head of a bull.

Theseus killed him in the labyrinth with his own horn.

Nike

Goddess of victory

She was a young, winged goddess.

She often was seen with the wreath, palm branch, and wand of victory.

Pandora

Pandora’s Box

Let evil into the world.

Disobeyed Hermes.

Pegasus

Son of Poseidon and the gorgon, Medusa.

Blood of Medusa

Winged Horse

What is a Myth?o Long ago, people had a hard time

explaining what was happening around them.

o There were no scientists or teachers to explain why things happened - like why we have 4 seasons, for example.

o They made up their own stories to explain why and how things worked.

o For example, the sun rose each day because Apollo drove his chariot across the sky every morning.

Myths were originally passed down through oral tradition. The most famous examples of myths are The Iliad and The Odyssey.

Myths Myths were also a form of

entertainment in early Greece. They were performed as plays usually to an audience.

Myths give human characteristics to non-human objects.

Example: Pandora’s Box

Why Study Mythology?

We study mythology because it is the religion, the science, and the literature of people from the past.

Modern Day Uses Today, we use many Greek Mythology names to represent companies, brands, and everyday items.

Examples of modern uses: Nike brand tennis shoes

Months of the year

Amazon.com (the race of the Greek warrior women) The space mission Apollo 11 Ajax (Trojan War hero) Titanic (Titans- first gods and goddesses in mythology) Mentor – Son of Alcumus, friend to Odysseus

TICKET TO LEAVEOn your ticket to

leave, write 1 COMPLETE sentence of something you have learned today.

You may write about anything you have seen in the PowerPoint.