The GodsPage 20-34

Maddie Hill, Ashley Davis, Austin Puckett, Logan Mango, Megan Yeager, Gaby Gentile

Writers of Mythology Ovid – wrote most of the classical

books about mythology during the reign of Augustus. He told almost all the stories and at great length.

Homer – author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. They contain the oldest Greek writings that we have. He never wondered about anything.

Hesiod – a poor farmer who wrote the “Works and Days” poem which shows people how to live a good life in a harsh world. His second poem, Theogony, is all about mythology.

Writers of Mythology

Pindar – known as the greatest lyric poet of Greece, he wrote Odes in honor of the victors in the games at the great national festivals of Greece and added a myth to every poem. He is quite important for mythology as Hesiod.

Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides – together with Homer, they are the most important source of our knowledge of the myths.

Writers of Mythology• Aristophanes lived in the last part of the

15th century. He refers to myths as Heredotus and Euripidiesdid

• Plato His writings of ten modify/ completely abandoned the formal structure of dialogue.

• Virgil really didn’t believe in myths but found human nature in them and brought mythological personages to life.

The Latin poet Ovid, Hesiod, Pindar, and Homer’s Iliad, and The Odyssey are the best guides to mythology.

The Twelve Gods • Zeus is the god of all the gods

and has 2 brothers (Poseidon and Hades). He was lord of the sky, the rain god, and cloud gatherer.

• Hera Goddess/Protector of marriage; Wife/Sister of Zeus

• Poseidon is the God of the sea, Zeus’s brother, and his wife is Amphitrite

The Twelve Gods• Hades is the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He rarely left

the underworld, but whenever he did he was not welcome on Earth. Hades is King of the dead and his wife is Persephone.

• Athena is Zeus’s favorite daughter. When she was born she was full grown and covered in armor. She is the goddess of wisdom, war, and the City. She is known as “grey-eyed” or “flashing-eyed.” The city of Athens was named after her, and women aspire to be her because of her strength, knowledge, and courage.

• Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto. He is known as one of the most important gods. Apollo is young, beautiful, and master musician. He is known as the god of music, poetry, plague, oracles, sun, medicine, light and knowledge.

The Twelve Gods• Diana is Apollo’s twin sister, daughter of Zeus

and Leto, sister of Helios. Lady of wild things, huntsman-in-chief to the gods, and odd office for a women. Preserved the young, but in other stories, is portrayed as fierce and revengeful. She was also the moon in, Phoebus was the sun and in later poems, identified with hecate.

• Aphrodite is Daughter of Zeus and Dione, wife of Hephaestus Goddess of Love and Beauty. She is also known as the laughter-loving goddess Said to have sprung from the sea and moves in radient light On the other hand, she is a soft, weak, treacherous, and malicious creature that exerts deadly and destructive power over men The myrtle was her tree, the dove is her bird, and sometimes the sparrow and the swan as well.

The Twelve Gods• Ares- Better liked by the Greeks• Hephaestus god of fire and son

of Zeus and Hera. He was kind, peace-loving, and popular on Earth and the Heavens.

• Hestia is Zeus’s sister and a virgin goddess. She had no personality and took no part in myths. She is the goddess of Hearth and a symbol of home.