GreekMyology

Greek Mythology

Mythology – the beginning

In the beginning, the universe was dark, unorganized matter – Chaos. Then gods appeared. Gaia, the Earth, held up Uranus, the sky. Gaia and Uranus had a bunch of kids; first monsters (like Cyclops), then Titans. The most important Titans include Oceanus, the god of the sea, Prometheus, who created man, and Cronus, the strongest of all. Gaia helped Cronus overthrow Uranus.

Mythology – the beginning

Cronus, the king, married his Titan sister Rhea. (Apparently, this was not taboo as it is now, and when we see how the gods behaved, we see the value of that taboo.)

Cronus heard a prophecy that one of his sons would dethrone him, so Cronus, as a result of his hubris, swallowed each baby Rhea birthed. X

hubris ὕβρις

• Hubris is used in modern English to indicate great pride, self-confidence, or arrogance, often resulting in fatal retribution

• In ancient Greece, hubris referred to actions which shamed and humiliated the victim.

• Also used to describe actions of those who challenged the gods or their laws, especially in Greek tragedy, resulting in the protagonist’s downfall.

The beginning… continued.

Understandably, Rhea got tired of Cronus swallowing all their children, so when Zeus was born, she tricked Cronus into swallowing a rock instead, and he threw up the previous children – alive and well. Zeus was made king for savings his siblings. There were up to 14 Olympian gods; Zeus and his six siblings, and seven children of Zeus. The Greeks and Romans share mythology, so many gods will have two names.

Greek View of the World

The Greek view of the world was a little different from ours. The Greeks believed the world was flat, but circular, like a paper plate. At the center of the universe was Greece.

Their world was divided by the Mediterranean, which means “middle of the lands” in Latin.

The river Ocean flowed around the world in a clockwise motion.

In the north lived the Hyperboreans – an extremely happy people for whom life was sweet. When the old people became tired of living, they threw themselves into the sea. This was a land of constant vacation where people were said to live for 1,000 years.

In the south, lived the Ethiopians. In Greek drama, mention is often made of various gods being in Ethiopia, meaning really far away.

To the west were the Elysian Fields. This was the closest the Greeks got to the idea of heaven; only the best and brightest of the dead people got to go there. Later, the Elysian Fields were thought to be a part of Hades for the blessed dead.

Assignment

• Using a paper plate, draw the Greek view of the world using colored pencils. – You must include and label the Mediterranean Sea, Greece, and

Athens.– You must create a symbol to represent the groups who lived in the

north, south, and west and place that symbol on the correct part of your plate/map.

Assignment

• On the back of your plate please answer the following questions (these can be typed and glued to your plate):– What can I infer about the ancient Greek people by studying their

map?– How did I come up with my inference? Ideas include:• What did the ancient Greeks value?• In what did the ancient Greeks believe?• What was important to the ancient Greeks?• How is the ancient Greek view of the world similar to my view of the

world? How is the ancient Greek view of the world different from my view of the world?