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U MYTHOLOGY U
GODS AND GODDESSES IN
GREEK MYTHOLOGYMichelle M. Houle
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Copyright © 2001 by Michelle M. Houle All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced by any means without the written permission of the publisher. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Houle, Michelle M. Gods and Goddesses in Greek Mythology / Michelle M. Houle. p. cm. — (Mythology) Includes bibliographical references and index. Summary: Discusses various Greek myths, including creation stories and tales of principal gods and goddesses. ISBN 0-7660-1408-8 1. Mythology, Greek—Juvenile literature. [1. Mythology, Greek.] I. Title. II. My
thology (Berkeley Heights, N.J.) BL782 .H68 2000 398.2’0938’01—dc21 00-028782 Printedin the United States of America 10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1 To Our Readers: All Internet Addresses in this book were active and appropriate when we went to press. Anycomments or suggestions can be sent by e-mail to [email protected] or to the address on the back cover.
Cover and illustrations by William Sauts Bock
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CONTENTSChart of Major Gods and Goddesses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . Map . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 4 6 8
1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9
Creation . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 17 The War Betweenthe Titans and the Olympians . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Prometheus andEarth’s First Inhabitants . . . . . . . . . . . . . 39 Pandora . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 51 Demeter and Persephone . . . . . . . . . .. 60 Dionysus and His Followers . . . . . . . . . 75 Baucis and Philemon . . . .. . . . . . . . . . 89 Echo and Narcissus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 99 Helius and Phaethon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .109 Glossary . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .119 Chapter Notes . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . .121 Further Reading . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .124 InternetAddresses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .125 Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . .. . . . . . . . . . . . . .127
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PREFACEThe word myth comes from the Greek word mythos, 1 which means “story” or “speech.” Mythis often the word used to describe a story that explains events or objects thatoccur in nature, such as the creation of certain flowers or animals, the location of deserts or oceans, and even the origin and cycle of the seasons. Myths mayalso be stories about the origins of customs or traditions. While some real events or characters may be represented in myths, these stories should not be read a
s if they are history. Though there may be elements of fact intertwined in theirtelling, these stories happen in a time and place that does not really exist, regardless of how real the setting may seem.
The Greek LandscapeThe landscape of Greece has always played a great role in the development of itspeople and its myths. The country of Greece is located on the European continent to the east of Italy in the Mediterranean Sea. It is a country surrounded by many islands—some very small and some quite large, like the island of Crete. The Peloponnesus is a peninsula in the southern part of Greece. It is connected to themainland by a thin strip of land, an isthmus, that is watched over by the old hill city of Corinth. The Peloponnesus is home to the important cities of Sparta
and Olympia. Athens, on the other hand, is on the southern tip of the mainland in a region known as Attica. There are many hills and mountains rolling across the Greek countryside. Therefore, while it might be snowy and cold in one part ofthe country, it can also be hot and dry 6
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in another. On the whole, however, the weather in Greece is warm, with sunny skies and relatively mild winters. The soil is dry and rocky due to the intense sunand rolling hills, and farming has always been difficult. Grains, such as wheatand barley, and fruits, such as olives and grapes, have been common crops throughout history. However, because it was difficult to tease crops out of this roug
h soil, the people who live in this area have also always depended, at least inpart, on the sea. Thousands of years ago, the Greeks were already great seafarers, and they sailed all over the Mediterranean. Because of their travels, the Greeks came into contact with people of many different backgrounds. They met and traded goods with people in Asia Minor and Africa, Europe and the Middle East. Every time the sailors came into contact with people from different backgrounds, they listened to the foreigners’ stories and added them to their own collection. Theextensive travel of early Greek culture helps to explain why there are many different versions of each myth, and why the myths of many different cultures oftenseem very similar.
History
People lived in the area now known as Greece for thousands of years, but very little is known about the area’s earliest inhabitants. Archaeology, or the study ofancient civilizations, has taught scholars a little bit about the people who lived there between 6000 and 3000 B.C. Scholars believe that the early Greeks relied on farming 2 and lived in small village-like communities. The years 3000 to 1600 B.C. are often considered the beginning of Greek culture and Western civilization in general. Scholars do not know much about the daily lives 7
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and customs of the people who lived on the mainland of Greece during this period. Like their predecessors, they seem to have been farmers. A lot of information,however, exists about the civilization then thriving on the island of Crete, where the legendary King Minos was thought to have lived. Beginning in about 2200B.C., the people of Crete, called the Minoans, built fabulous palaces and ruled
the seas with a strong hand. In about 1650 B.C., Mycenae became an important center of Greek culture. Mycenae was a wealthy and powerful city, located in the Peloponnesus. The people who lived there spoke a language that is similar to modern Greek. Other cities also began to blossom on the mainland. Thebes, Sparta, andAthens are just a few of the cities that were founded in the same era as Mycenae. Though the palaces of the Minoans on Crete were destroyed in about 1450 B.C.,Minoan civilization had a great influence on its mainland neighbors in terms ofart, 3 religion, and culture. As their civilization spread, the people of Greece lived in towns that were independent of each other. The people who lived in what is known today as Greece were united by two factors: they spoke roughly the same language, and they thought of themselves as “Hellenes,” or fellow descendants ofHellen, the legendary founder of the Greek people. (Today the modern Greek word
for the country of Greece is Hellas.) There was no single ruler, and there wereoften wars between the different communities. It is important to remember thatthe people we call Greeks today were, at one time, not unified at all. In the eleventh century B.C., an unknown enemy destroyed the ancient city of Troy, located in the western part of Asia Minor. It was against this city that the Greeks supposedly fought as a single group in order to rescue 10
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Helen, the wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Soon after this event, many major cities on the Greek mainland were destroyed. Later, Greeks blamed this massive destruction on an invading group of Greek-speakers whom they called the Dorians. In about 800 B.C., the Greek alphabet was created, using the Phoenician alphabet as a model. This invention began a period of great political and commercial
development on the Greek mainland and the surrounding islands. At that time, thevarious communities began to think of themselves as living in separate political entities known as city-states. The Greek word for city-state is polis. In 508B.C., Athens became the world’s first democracy when free adult males were allowedto vote on matters concerning the city. The word democracy comes from the Greekword democratia, which means “ruled by the demos, or the people.” It is important to note, however, that only citizens could vote in this democracy, and not everyone living in Athens was considered a citizen. At that time, many Athenian families owned slaves, who were often captives of war. Slaves were not considered citizens, and, therefore, not allowed to vote, and women held a nonvoting status ascitizens. During the rise of Athenian democracy during the sixth and fifth centuries B.C., great strides were made in the fields of philosophy, history, medicin
e, and the arts. It was a period of great development, especially in Athens, where some of the world’s most influential thinkers could be found. This era is oftenreferred to as the “Golden Age of Greece” or the “Golden Age of Pericles,” referring tothe ruler at the time. In 338 B.C., Phillip II, a ruler from Macedonia, an areain the northern part of Greece, took control of most of the Greek mainland. Phillip and, after his death, his son, 11
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Alexander, led military campaigns to build up their empire. At the height of hispower, Alexander’s empire stretched as far east as India. By late in the third century B.C., however, the Roman empire was beginning to gain strength, and by themiddle of the second century B.C., Greece had come under Roman control completely. When Rome conquered Greece, the Romans adopted many of the customs, religiou
s beliefs, and myths of their new subjects.
LiteratureThe Greek myths we are familiar with today are the product of generations of storytelling. Many were adaptations of stories that the Greeks gleaned from other cultures. Before about 800 B.C., when the Greek alphabet was developed, myths were passed down from one generation to the next by word of mouth. It was also through oral storytelling that myths and legends traveled from one part of Greece tothe next, as well as to other parts of the world. However, after 800 B.C., stories began to be written down, including most of the tales that we now recognizeas the basic core of Greek mythology.
The Greek Alphabet and the English Equivalent:Α Β Γ ∆ Ε Ζ Η Θ Ι Κ ΛΜΝ Ξ ΟΠΡ Σ Τ Υ ΦΨΧΩ
¡
¢
D£
¤
£
¥
h¦
§
©
s
¥
/
h
s
¡
ecause the¢
reek alphabet is different from the one we use in£
nglish, scholarswill differ in choosing the
£
nglish equivalent for a¢
reek word.
or example, the name of the god of fire may be spelled
ephaistos or
ephaestus, depending onthe writer.
¦
n this book, we 12
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reface
have tried to spell words and names so that they sound similar to their¢
reek equivalents but are also easy to read.
ometime in the eighth century
¡
.
., the poet
omer is thought to have composed¥ he
¦ liad and
¥ he
dyssey (although many scholars debate his authorship).
¥
hese two epic poems contain famous stories aboutlegendary events in
¢
reek history.¥ he
¦ liad tells the story of the tenth year
of the ¥ rojan War, which may actually have taken place around 1250¡
.
. when thereal city of
¥ roy was destroyed.
¥ he
dyssey recounts the adventures of
dysseus, a legendary ruler from
¦
thaca, a real island, located off the west coast of the
¢
reek mainland.
o one knows much about
omer.
egend has it that he was a blind poet who may have lived in
sia©
inor or on
hios, one of the islands off the coast of
sia©
inor.¡
ecause oral storytelling was such an important traditionbefore the advent of writing,
omer’s stories may have been told for generationsbefore they were ever written down.
nother important figure at this time was apoet known as
esiod, who was born around 700¡
.
.
is two surviving poems are the
¥ heogony, which tells the story of the mythic creation of the world, and Work
s and Days, which tells other important stories.¥
hese two works tell us a lot about the prevailing myths surrounding the various gods and goddesses in
¢
reek le
gend and religion at this time. During the time when democracy was developing in
thens, literature and the arts were also prospering.¥
heater was one of thesearts.
¥
hree of
thens’ greatest playwrights were
eschylus,
ophocles, and£
uripides.
©
any of the myths we know today come from their plays.
or scholars today, another important source of
¢
reek myths is actually the work of
omans. When theyconquered the
¢
reeks, the
omans absorbed many aspects of¢
reek culture.¥
he poet
vid, who lived from 13
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
around 43¡
.
. to
.D. 17, was both a prolific writer and an influential figurein
ome.
ne of his most significant contributions to modern scholarship is hisfifteen-volume work called
¥ he
©
etamorphoses, which retells the stories of many¢
reek myths.
or centuries, this text has inspired other artists and poets.
eligion and
ulture¥ he ancient
¢
reeks were polytheistic, which means they believed in the existenceof many gods and goddesses.
group, or collection, of gods and goddesses is called a pantheon, and the leader of the
¢
reek pantheon was¤ eus, the king of the
gods and ruler of the sky.¥ he
¢
reeks believed that the gods had enormous powerover the world and that they controlled nature in all its forms.
¥ he gods were o
ften worshipped in temples erected in their honor.©
ost cities had a particulargod or goddess whom they considered a special protector.
thens, for example, looked to the goddess
thena and the god
oseidon as its particular protectors.¥ h
e cities also held festivals in honor of individual gods at various times of theyear.
t many of these festivals, poets would dramatically recite the stories of the gods’ adventures.
ne of the most famous festivals in the ancient¢
reek worl
d was the festival in
thens honoring Dionysus, the god of wine. During the festivities, plays would be performed and judged in a competition, and it was duringthis festival that modern theater was born.
¥
he worship of the gods often included a sacrifice.
sually, it was an animal, such as a goat, that was offered.¥ h
e¢
reeks also believed in oracles, or prophets.
t the temples of various gods,the priests, who could be either men or women, were often called upon to interpret 14
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reface
omens, such as the sighting of a certain kind of bird or the appearance of someother natural event.
ne of the most famous oracles was located at Delphi wherethere were many important temples.
eople would travel from all over the¢
reek world to visit the temples and honor the gods.
¥
he gods and goddesses were a major part of everyday life in ancient
¢
reece, and each god had a particular role.
ometimes the gods had several jobs. ¤ eus, for example, the ruler of the sky andthe leader of the gods, was also a protector of guests and travelers.
era,¤ eus’s
wife, was the goddess of marriage and childbirth.
thena was the protectress of
thens, but she was also the goddess of wisdom and war.
oseidon was another protector of
thens but, as the ruler of the sea, he was an important god for sailors and those who traveled by boat.
ephaestus was the god of fire, and he alsoserved in the role of blacksmith for the gods.
¥
he¢
reeks believed that the godslived on
©
ount
lympus, a real mountain in the central part of¢
reece called¥ h
essaly.
owever, according to¢
reek tradition, the gods could leave their mountain and go anywhere.
©
yths and legends often told of the gods taking on human forms and walking among the people. Within the pantheon, the gods often married each other, and some of them had more than one spouse or partner at a time.
ometim
es the gods married their siblings, parents, or children.¥
he god¤
eus, for example, had many partners other than his wife,
era, who was also his sister.¥
hroughout the various mythological stories,
¤
eus appears to have had more than one hundred fifteen 4 mistresses!
¥ he gods and goddesses were often paired in differe
nt ways because the myths were always developing and being retold.
s people began to believe different things about different gods, they associated the gods with 15
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
one another in new ways.¤ eus, as the most powerful god, often seemed to be a pa
rt of all the other gods’ lives.¥ hough the gods had affairs and children by many
different partners, real¢
reek marriage customs were very strict. Women were married at a young age, often to men who were much older; and the marriages, at least in
thens, were usually arranged by families based on economic needs and poli
tical tactics, rather than affection. ¦ t was not socially acceptable for women to have romantic relationships with men outside of marriage, regardless of what the gods and goddesses were thought to do.
¦
n addition to being part of the playsand poems recited at festivals, the stories of the gods and goddesses were alsofrequently told at home and in schools.
¥ he following myths, therefore, were an
important part of the everyday social and religious life of the ancient¢
reeks.
16
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1
£
¥ ¦
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
©
ost cultures have myths that help to explain the creation of the universe and the beginning of time.
¡
ecause the origin of the universe is unknown, each culture has tried its best to make sense of this mystery.
n important¢
reek creationstory comes to us through
esiod’s poem, the¥ heogony.
¥ he
¥ heogony seems to have
been the earliest surviving literary version of the creation of the earth and the birth of the gods in the
¢
reek pantheon.¦ n the
¥ heogony,
esiod appeals to th
e©
uses, the patronesses of the arts, for inspiration and wisdom as he begins torelate the succession of gods and the story of creation.
¦ nvoking the
©
uses’ helpwas a common way for poets to begin their work:
¥ ell how at the first gods and earth came to be, and rivers, and the boundless sea with its raging swell, and the gleaming stars, and the wide heaven above, andthe gods who were born of them, givers of good things, and how they divided their wealth, and how they shared their honors amongst them. . . .
¥
hese things declare to me from the beginning, you
©
uses who dwell in the house of
lympus, 1 and tell me which of them first came to be.
¦
n this creation myth, the development of the earth coincides with a rise in thepowers of the ruling gods.
¥ he first entity that ruled the universe was called
haos.¥
he word chaos literally means a wide-open space, but it can also describe a deep cavern or chasm.¥
he goddess¢
aia’s name literally means “earth” or “land.”¥
he name of
¢
aia’s child and husband,
ranus, means “sky” or “heaven.”¥
here is a close connection between these god-like figures and the physical elements suggested by theirnames.
¦ n this sense, then,
¢
aia is both a goddess and the earth itself, and, similarly,
ranus is both a god and the heavens.
18
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£
¥ ¦
¡
efore there was land or sea, people or gods, nothing existed, except
haos.
haos was a space of neither order nor disorder. During
haos’s reign, there was no organization of any kind in the universe.
¥ here was no sun or moon.
¥ here were no
mountains or rivers, nor any such features on earth.¦ n fact, there was no eart
h at all.¦
t was a period of vast emptiness.£
ven time did not exist.£
ventually,
haos divided itself into the earth, the sky, and the sea. When the division w
as complete, everything was peaceful and perfect.
fter
haos divided into the earth, sky, and sea, one goddess came into being without being born to any mother.
er name was¢
aia, which means earth, and she took control over the earth as it took shape.
©
ountains became separate from the plains, and rivers and oceans were formed.
ike an artist at a canvas,¢
aia was busy creating a beautiful masterpiece.
oon, however, the goddess began to long for children to help populate a
nd rule this magnificent new world.¢
aia’s desire for children was so great that eventually she became pregnant by herself.
¥ he child she bore was named
ranus, and he became the ruler of the sky.
¦ n every way,
ranus was the equal of his mother, and soon
¢
aia and
ranus had children together. 19
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
¢
aia’s first three children were monsters, called the
undred-handed
nes.¥ hey we
re giants, and each had fifty heads and a hundred hands.
lthough¢
aia loved herchildren and was proud of them,
ranus was afraid that someday one of these children would overthrow him.
¡
ecause of this fear,
ranus hated the children and forced them back into
¢
aia’s womb.
fter the hundred-handed monsters had been born
and were pushed back into their mother’s womb,¢
aia gave birth to three more monstrous children.
¥ hese were giants called the
yclopes.£
ach had but a single eye,which was positioned directly in the middle of his forehead.
lthough they werefrightening to look at, these young gods were exceedingly strong, and they wereexcellent craftsmen who made thunder and lightning for
20
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reation
their mother to use as tools and weapons.
nfortunately,
ranus was afraid of these children, too.
o, in order to get rid of them,
ranus tied the
yclopes upand threw them into a deep cavern called
¥ artarus.
¥ artarus was far, far away, a
nd
ranus felt safe in believing that he would never see these monster-childrenagain.
addened by the loss of the
undred-handed
nes and the
yclopes, and ang
ry at the cruel
ranus,¢
aia gave birth to a third group of children. ¥ hese werecalled the
¥ itans, and there were twelve of them—six goddesses and six gods.
¥ hey
were very different from their older siblings.¥
he¥
itans were beings with human characteristics, and they were not monsters at all.
¥ he goddesses’ names were
¥ e
thys,¥ heia,
©
nemosyne,
hea,¥ hemis, and
hoebe.
21
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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¥ he gods’ names were
ceanus,
yperion,¦ apetus,
ronus,
rius, and
oeus.
ranuswas still afraid that one day one of his children would overthrow him.
¡
ecause of this fear, he pushed the
¥ itans back into
¢
aia’s womb alongside their siblings,the
undred-handed
nes.¢
aia was enraged by
ranus’s refusal to allow her children to live freely.
he desperately wanted her children to live without restraints
and to enjoy the world.
inally, she came up with a plan that would allow her children to be born into the world and remain there.
¢
aia could speak to the children in her cavernous womb, and she had no trouble convincing them to help withher plan.
ronus, the youngest of the twelve¥ itans, was the most eager to help
his mother. o, the two set out to trick
ranus and free the¥ itans and the
undredhanded
nes from their mother’s prison-like womb.
ronus and¢
aia waited for the perfect opportunity to enact their plan.
inally, one night, when
ranus cameto
¢
aia’s bed,
ronus crept out of¢
aia’s womb and stabbed his cruel father with a sickle, a curved knife used to harvest crops.
s
ranus lay dying, his fears of being overthrown by one of his children having come true,
ranus leaned forward and cursed his son: “
ronus,” he pronounced, gasping for breath, “it will come to passthat one of your children will do to you what you have just done to me.”
¥ hen, wit
h a final shudder,
ranus died, a look of anger and betrayal in his eyes.
fter
ranus died,¢
aia and her children felt free for the first time.¥
he¥
itans andthe
undred-handed
nes were reborn from their mother’s womb, and the
yclopes were freed from
¥ artarus.
ll of¢
aia’s children decided to make
ronus their king.
ronus married his sister, the¥ itan named
hea, and ruled over the universe fora long, peaceful time.
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! £
¥ ¦
D
W
£
!
:
:What existed before the earth was formed?
haos is the name for the empty spacethat existed before the earth, the sky, and the sea were formed.
haos was a space of neither order nor disorder. Who was
¢
aia?¢
aia was the first goddess to exist after the division of
haos.
er name means “earth,” and she gave the earth allits attributes.
ow was
ranus related to¢
aia?
ranus was¢
aia’s son, who became
the ruler of the sky.
ranus was also the father of¢
aia’s other children.
e didnot have a father himself. Why did
ranus hate all of the children¢
aia bore him?
e was afraid that one day, one of his children would overthrow him. What wasunique about
¢
aia’s first children, and what happened to them?¢
aia’s first childrenwere monsters.
£
ach
undredhanded
ne had fifty heads and a hundred hands.
ranus pushed these three children back into their mother’s womb. Who were
¢
aia’s secondchildren, and what happened to them?
¥
hree
yclopes were born after their hundred-handed siblings.
£
ach
yclopes had a single eye set in the middle of his forehead.
¥ he
yclopes were strong, and they were excellent craftsmen.
ranus lockedthem in a deep cavern called
¥ artarus. 23
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ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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!
:
:
Who were¢
aia’s third set of children, and what happened to them?¢
aia’s youngest children were the
¥
itans who had characteristics similar to humans.
ranus pushedthese twelve children back into
¢
aia’s womb with the
undred-handed
nes. Who was
ronus, and how did he save the ¥ itans?
ronus was the youngest of all¢
aia’s children, one of the
¥ itans.
e killed his father,
ranus, with a sickle.¡
y committing the act,
ronus was able to set the gods free from their mother’s womb. What was
ranus’s final curse?
s he was dying,
ranus cursed
ronus, predicting that one day, one of
ronus’s children would rise up and overthrow him, just as
ronus had overthrown
ranus.
!
:
:
!
:
:
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£ £
¥
© © £
¥
¥ he myths of the gods and goddesses were as important in
¢
reek society as religion itself.
©
ost people were familiar with these stories, and many could even recite them in their entirety.
cholar
ucilla¡
urn notes:¢
reek myths permeated¢
reek life, private and public.¦ n the well-documented soc
iety of
thens in the fifth century¡
.
., for example, it is clear that a majorpart of education was learning and reciting epic poems on heroic subjects.
¢
uest
s at drinking parties might entertain each other by reciting stories from myths,or they might listen to a professional performer, who would sing of the deeds of heroes while accompanying himself on the lyre.
rivate homes contained potteryvessels decorated with scenes from the adventures of the gods and heroes; thesesame vessels accompanied their owners to the grave.
cenes of myth 2 could also
be woven into fine textiles.
lthough there are many stories about the first generation of gods, in many waysthey still remain a mystery to modern scholars.
¥ he author of
¥ he
ses of¢
reek
©
ythology,§
en Dowden, explains:¥
he¥
itans are a puzzle. We do not know where their name comes from and individually they are a rag-bag of persons, abstractions and even monsters.
nyone born
of
eaven and
£
arth, rather than from [
ronus] and
hea like the
lympian 3 gods, must apparently on that account be a “¥
itan.”
¥ he story of the first immortal generation may have been symbolic of some kind of agricultural or fertility activity among the early
¢
reeks.¦ n his book
¢
reek©
ythology, John
insent suggests:
or
ranus is cut with the sickle, an instrument which however well suited for the purpose may legitimately suggest that the story has been also influenced by stories of the 4 annual sacrifice of the corn or its representative.
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2¥
£
W
¡ £
¥ W
£ £
¥
£
¥ ¦ ¥
D¥
£
¨ ©
¦
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
ometimes real places are named in a myth.
©
ount
lympus, for example, is a realmountain in the central part of
¢
reece, not far from the
egean ea. When
©
ount
lympus is referred to in myths, however, it becomes more than a mere geographical site.
¦ t becomes the home of the
lympians, the generation of gods who succeeded the
¥
itans.¥
hese two generations of gods eventually became rivals, fighting a great war for power over the universe.
¥ he winners claimed
©
ount
lympus as
their home.
lthough there is an actual mountain, in these stories,©
ount
lympus is a mythical place that humans cannot visit.
¦ t is a place outside real time
and space.©
ount
lympus is not the same as
lympia, a town in the western partof the
eloponnesus.
ike©
ount
lympus,
lympia was named for the
lympian gods.
¥ here were important shrines in
lympia, an area which 1 was settled even as early as the third millennium
¡
.
.¥ he first
lympic¢
ames were probably held there sometime in the eighth century
¡
.
., although they seem to have been 2 a carryover from an earlier tradition.
¥ he purpose of the games was thought to be a ki
nd of reenactment of the rivalry between the
lympian gods and the¥ itans, and a
commemoration of the triumph of the
lympian gods over the¥ itans in their war.
During the
lympic¢
ames, quarrels were supposed to be set aside in order thatathletes be allowed to take part in peaceful competition.
lthough people did no
t believe that the gods took an interest in their individual lives, they often went to the temples to ask the gods for insight and help.
lympia was an important site in this respect.
ccording to©
ark
. .©
orford and
obert J.
enardon,professors of
¢
reek 27
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
mythology, the gods were thought to send humans messages in the form of naturalsigns or omens, which were then interpreted by priests at the shrines of the various gods:
¥
he traditional methods for eliciting a response from [¤
eus] were by the observation and interpretation of omens, for example, the rustling of leaves, the sound
of the wind in the branches of his sacred oaks, the call of doves, and the condition of burnt offerings.
t
lympia inquiries were usually 3 confined to the chances of the competitors at the games.
¥ he story about the war between the
¥ itans and the
lympians is a vital one in¢
reek mythology.¦ n this myth, we learn that even the evolution of the immortal g
ods was wrought with conflict.
othing came easy for the
lympian gods, but, although the odds were stacked against them, they never gave up.
s was also true in the daily lives of the
¢
reek people, perseverance was an important quality—so important that it was central to their stories and their religious beliefs.
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¥
£
W
¡ £
¥ W
£ £
¥
£
¥ ¦ ¥
D¥
£
¨ ©
¦
fter the death of
ranus, the world was at peace again.
ronus, the king of the
¥ itans, and
hea, his most noble sister and wife, had matters well in hand.
nfortunately, the curse of his father,
ranus, haunted
ronus day and night. Was it possible that one day he, too, would have a child who would overthrow him?
neday,
hea announced that she was going to have a baby, but her husband was nothappy.
ronus was so afraid that history would repeat itself that he did, in fac
t, manage to repeat history.
ike his father before him,
ronus reasoned that ifhe could keep his children from growing up, none could ever become strong enough to overpower him.
o, when
hea gave birth to her first child,
ronus quicklygrabbed it and swallowed it whole.
hea was both horrified and saddened at the loss of her firstborn child.
¦ n a similar manner,
ronus swallowed all of the next four children that she gave birth to, and
hea vowed to get them back, any wayshe could.
¡
y the time
hea discovered that she was pregnant for the sixth time, she had figured out a plan to trick her husband and save the newborn child from being swallowed whole.
o, when it was nearly time for her to 29
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
give birth,
hea pretended to have her baby. he took a large stone and wrapped
it in a baby’s blanket. When
ronus came to gobble down the newborn child,
hea gave him the wrapped-up stone.
!
uickly,
ronus swallowed the stone, just as he hadswallowed the other children.
¦
n fact,
ronus’s focus on swallowing the newborn god was so great that he did not even realize that he had been tricked.
ater, wh
en the time came for
hea actually to have her child, she fled to the island of
rete.¥ here, away from the glaring eyes of her husband,
hea secretly gave birth to a son, whom she named
¤
eus.
e was a beautiful and strong baby, and
hea knew that when he grew up, he would be a truly powerful god.
hea realized that she could not return home to her husband with the child.
ronus would only try todestroy the newborn god, as he had done with the others.
¥ herefore, for his prot
ection,
hea left¤
eus to grow up secretly on
rete where he was suckled by a goat and raised by minor native deities called nymphs. While
¤ eus was a child,
ronus never suspected that he had been tricked and that he actually had a stone resting solidly in his stomach. When he had grown into a young man,
¤ eus left
rete to join his mother.
hea arranged for¤
eus to become a servant to his father.
ronus did not know that his new servant was actually his son.
ne day,¤ eus bro
ught his father a cup of wine, which
ronus drank quickly.¥
his cup of wine contained a special potion, which made
ronus throw up.
ronus was so violently illthat he even threw up the stone wrapped in a blanket.
¥
hen he threw up all of the children he had swallowed before.
¥ he children emerged from their father’s stoma
ch as fully grown adults.¥ heir names were
oseidon,
ades,
era, Demeter, and
estia.¥
hese were¤
eus’s brothers and sisters, and they were all 30
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
glad to see each other in the light of day.
lthough they were happy to be free,the six siblings knew they must do something immediately, or their father wouldswallow them all over again.
!
uickly, they ran away while their father continued to moan and clutch his stomach.
¥
his young generation of gods fled to©
ount
lympus to escape their irate father, and because they claimed
©
ount
lympus as th
eir home, the young gods were called the
lympians.
fter they had fled to safety, the
lympians quickly formed a plan.
t once, they declared war on
ronus andmany of the other
¥
itans.¥
he young gods wanted to rule the world in their father’s place.
et their struggle had a dual purpose: while they were fighting for control over the earth, they were also fighting for their lives, since they knew that
ronus would swallow them again if he ever got the chance.
nd so a great war began.
t first, it seemed likely that the¥
itans would be victorious and remain in control of the earth.
¥ he young
lympian gods felt outnumbered and overpowered.
¥ he tide began to turn, however, when a few
¥ itans changed sides and fough
t with¤ eus and his siblings.
rometheus, the son of the¥ itans
¥ hemis and
¦ apet
us, was one who switched his allegiance.
rometheus’s name means “one who thinks ahead,” and with his ability to see the future he could foresee that the
¥ itans would
lose the battle against the
lympian gods.
rometheus and his brother
£
pimetheus refused to fight against the
lympians because of this foresight.¥
he
yclopesand the
undred-handed
nes also joined the
lympians in their fight against the
¥ itans.
¥ hey did not feel bound to the
¥ itans, and they believed that the
lympian gods would rule with steadier hands.
¤ eus asked the one-eyed
yclopes to make weapons for his army, and these skilled craftsmen made a special weapon 32
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¥ he War
¡
etween the¥ itans and the
lympians
for each of the gods.
or¤ eus, the leader, the
yclopes fashioned a special thunderbolt, which could be thrown long distances with great force.
or
oseidon, they created a magnificent trident, or three-pronged spear, which could defeat any enemy.
inally, knowing that resistance came in many forms, the
yclopes made
ades a magic helmet that could make him invisible, even to the immortal eyes of
ronus and the other ¥ itans.
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
¥ he war between the
¥ itans and the
lympians was terrible. With the help of the
undred-handed
nes, who fought bravely without ever tiring, the
lympians soonforced the
¥ itans to surrender.
fter the¥ itans had given up,
¤ eus challenged
ronus to a wrestling match.¥
he winner would control©
ount
lympus, to which the
¥ itans were still laying claim.
fter beating
ronus three times,¤ eus declared
the
lympian gods to be the winners.
fter the war, the
lympians sent most ofthe
¥ itans to
¥ artarus to be locked up for eternity.
¥ he victors built a bronze
gate over the mouth of the cavern, and the
undred-handed
nes were placed outside as guards.
tlas, another child of¦ apetus and
¥ hemis, who had led the
¥ itans
into battle, received a special punishment.
e was forced to hold the world onhis back for all eternity.
¥ his turned out to be a far more challenging task tha
n imprisonment in¥
artarus.
ronus, the former ruler of the universe, was not sent to
¥ artarus with his siblings.
¥ hough
ronus had swallowed his children whole,
¤ eus and the other
lympians did not want to destroy him in revenge.¦ nstead,
ronus was sent away to live on the¦ sland of the Dead, where he stayed forever.
lthough originally he had wanted to destroy the
lympian gods,
ronus, once defeated and exiled, sent dreams to his son
¤ eus to guide him from afar.
fter all
the punishments were handed out,¤
eus,
ades, and
oseidon made a bet to determine who would rule each part of the world.
ades became the lord of the dead andthe
nderworld, which was sometimes called
ades in his honor.
oseidon gainedcontrol of the seas and all the waters on earth.
¤ eus became the lord of the sky
; and since the sky covers everything on earth, he became the king, or father, of the gods. 34
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¥ he War
¡
etween the¥ itans and the
lympians
fter these important decisions were made, the other
lympian gods were also given jobs. Demeter became the goddess of agriculture and of all growing things.
estia became the goddess of the hearth, or fireplace, and the home.
era, too, protected the home and became the goddess of marriage and childbirth after she married her brother,
¤ eus.
nce the
lympians had defeated the¥ itans and taken on
their new roles, they, too, had children. ome of these gods were born under rather extraordinary circumstances.
thena, for example, was born out of the side of
¤
eus’s head.
he became the goddess of wisdom and the protector of
thens.
erabecame pregnant on her own and gave birth to
ephaestus.
ephaestus was the godof fire and became the blacksmith of the gods.
res was the child of
era and¤ e
us, and he became the god of war.
pollo, the god of light and music, and his twin sister,
rtemis, the maiden goddess of the hunt, were the children of
eto, who was the daughter of the
¥ itans
hoebe and
oeus.¥ he goddess of love and beau
ty,
phrodite, had an unusual birth: she was born out of the waves of the sea.
ermes was another son of¤ eus.
is mother was©
aia, one of the daughters of
tlas.
ermes grew very quickly, and he was swift-footed, even as a baby.
ater, hebecame the official messenger of the gods because he was so fast.
e was often d
epicted with wings on his hat and sandals, and because he was always moving about, he was a particular protector of travelers.¥
hese gods and others lived on©
ount
lympus after their victory over the¥
itans.
rom the height of this great mountain, the new rulers could look down on all of
¢
reece and keep watch over theworld, for the control of which they had fought so hard.
35
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! £
¥ ¦
D
W
£
!
:
:Why was
ronus afraid of his children?
ronus feared that one of his children would rise up and overthrow him, just as he had done to his own father.
ranus hadcursed
ronus, predicting that history would repeat itself.
ow did
ronus getrid of his children?
e swallowed them whole. Why and how did
hea trick her husband?
hea was angry and upset at
ronus’s practice of devouring their children, s
o she planned a trick for him. When it came time for
ronus to grab the sixth newborn child,
hea gave him a large stone wrapped in a baby’s blanket.¡
ecause he did not expect the trick,
ronus swallowed the stone, blanket and all. What kindof weapons did the
yclopes make for the
lympian gods? ome of the weapons that
the
yclopes made were a thunderbolt for¤ eus, a trident for
oseidon, and a magic helmet for
ades.
ow did the
lympian gods punish the¥ itans?
¥ he
lympiangods locked most of them away in the cavern called
¥
artarus.¥
he
undred-handed
nes stood guard over this prison.¥ he
lympians also set
tlas to work holdingthe world on his shoulders.
e received this punishment because he had led the¥
itans in battle. 36
!
:
:!
:
:
!
:
:
!
:
:
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¥ he War
¡
etween the¥ itans and the
lympians
!
:
:
What happened to
ronus?¥ he
lympians did not utterly destroy
ronus.¦ nstead,
they sent him to the¦
sland of the Dead where he lived for eternity.
ow did
ronus wind up helping his son
¤ eus?
rom his exile on the¦ sland of the Dead,
ron
us sent dreams of advice to his son.
ow did ¤ eus,
ades, and
oseidon divide upthe control of the universe?
¤ eus became the king, or father, of the gods and r
uled the sky.
ades became the ruler of the
nderworld, or the land of the dead.
oseidon gained control of the seas and all the waters on the earth.¥ hey deter
mined these roles through a bet.
!
:
:!
:
:
37
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£ £
¥
© © £
¥
©
any words in£
nglish can be traced to the¢
reek language.
owever, because many
¢
reek words sound alike to the foreign ear, sometimes they are easily confused.
cholar
ichmond
.
athorn explains:£
ven in pre-classical times the name of
ronus seems to have been confused withthe
¢
reek word chronos, “time.”
erhaps the god’s connection with the year-cycle contributed to the confusion.
¥ he result was a spate [stream] of poetical and philoso
phical speculation.
ronus swallowing his children was not merely, on the agricultural level, a picture of the fertile earth engulfing the seeds, but a statement 4 of the grim truth that
¥
ime devours everything it produces.
¥ he names of places were often taken from the names of the gods.
uthor John
insent writes:
tlas stood in the west in the sea that is beyond
cean, and 5 is called
tlantic after him. . . .
¥ he scholars
©
orford and
enardon suggest the blending, or assimilation, of different sets of beliefs and traditions in shaping the myths:When the inhabitants of
rete began to build their great civilization and empire
(ca. 3000), the religion they developed (insofar as we can ascertain) was
©
editerranean in character, looking back to earlier£
astern concepts of a mother-goddess.
¥
he northern invaders who entered the peninsula of¢
reece (ca. 2000), bringing with them an early form of
¢
reek and their own gods (chief of whom was¤ eus)
, built a significant©
ycenaean civilization on the mainland, but it was strongly influenced by the older, more sophisticated power of
rete.¥
he myth of the birth of
¤
eus reads very much like an attempt to link by geography and 6 genealogythe religion and deities of both cultures.
38
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3
© £
¥
£
D£
¥
’
¦
¥
¦
¡
¦ ¥
¥
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
©
any of the myths show the gods acting in response to something a human has saidor done.
owever, in their daily lives, and in the practice of ancient¢
reek religion, the people remained distinctly aloof from the gods.
¦ n fact, the people
did not believe the gods loved them—and, in return, they did not feel compelled tolove the gods back.
¥
he people simply accepted the gods as all powerful and 1 understood that their power was never to be questioned.
ome of the stories about
the creation of mankind show the gulf that lay between the mortals and their heavenly counterparts.
ne of these stories involves
rometheus and his brother£
pimetheus.
¥
hese brothers were sons of¥
itans who had crossed sides and fought against their relatives in the war between the
¥ itans and the
lympians.
rometheus’s name means “the one who thinks ahead,” and he behaved as his name suggests, oftenmaking wise and anticipatory decisions.
£
pimetheus’s name, on the other hand, means “the one who thinks afterwards,” and he, too, behaved according to his name.
rometheus was an important figure in the mythical development of the earth and the creation of human beings.
¥ he
¢
reeks believed it was
rometheus who had taught them how to survive in the newly created world.
owever, in trying to help the humans,
rometheus got into trouble with the gods.£
ventually, the gods punished
rometheus by tying him to a rock on the top of a mountain.
¥ he
aucasus©
ountains
that are mentioned in the story are real, geographical mountains, located to the east of the¡
lack
ea, far away from the¢
reek mainland.
40
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© £
¥
£
D£
¥
’
¦
¥
¦
¡
¦ ¥
¥
fter the world was created and the gods had fought their wars, the land that lay below
©
ount
lympus remained unpopulated, even though¢
aia, the first goddess,had long yearned to make creatures to inhabit the earth.
inally,¤ eus decided
it was time.¦ t was a good time to be created.
o monsters roamed the earth, andthe world was at peace.
¤
eus began to make creatures to populate this beautifulworld.
owever, just as he was beginning, he was called away to settle a matter
dividing his fellow
lympians.
e decided to appoint
rometheus and£
pimetheus,sons of
¥ itans who had fought with the
lympians, to continue the project of creating earth’s first inhabitants.
lthough the brothers were¥
itans by birth, theyhad sided with the
lympians in the war against
ronus and the other¥ itans bec
ause, blessed with the gift of being able to see the future,
rometheus had foreseen the
lympian victory.
rometheus was the more sensible of the two brothers,and he always planned ahead.
£
pimetheus, on the other hand, always meant well,but he never planned ahead.
£
pimetheus never thought about the consequences of his actions until after he had completed them. 41
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
¤ eus had chosen these brothers for the project of creating the first people andanimals on earth because
rometheus was an excellent potter and sculptor.
rometheus could make just about anything, and he had a good imagination.
£
pimetheus was invited to work on the project because he was always eager to help his brother.
¡
ecause¤ eus had only just started to make the various earth creatures, the b
rothers had a lot of work ahead of them.
fter using clay to sculpt the new creatures into their basic shapes,
rometheus went to
thena, the goddess of wisdom,for advice on how to complete the work.
£
pimetheus stayed behind to give the unfinished creations their final distinguishing features.
thena’s advice was simple.
he told
rometheus that since the creatures were already composed of earth and water, having been fashioned from clay, the only element lacking for life wasair.
o,
thena advised
rometheus to hold each of the newly shaped creatures upto the sky. When the wind blew into them, she promised, they would breathe andbe truly alive.
©
eanwhile,£
pimetheus continued to work.
e enjoyed showing offhis creative powers and granted a wide variety of interesting physical attributes to all the different creatures.
£
pimetheus gave some of them fur and hair, which would protect them from the elements.
e gave others teeth and claws so that
they could easily collect and eat food.¦
n addition, he gave some of the creatures strength and speed. When
rometheus returned from his talk with
thena, he found that once again, his brother had acted before thinking.
£
pimetheus had beenso excited about designing the new animals and so generous with his creative powers that he had completely forgotten to save any special gifts for the human beings.
¡
y the time the sculptor had gotten 42
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rometheus and£
arth’s
irst¦ nhabitants
around to the humans, he had run out of ideas.¥ hey were left weak and defensele
ss, and they would have remained so forever if
rometheus had not stepped in.
nce he realized that his brother had created a species unable to stand on its ownin the new world,
rometheus set forth to fix the mistake and make human beingsstrong and capable of surviving among earth’s other inhabitants.
irst,
rometheu
s decided to help the humans stand upright like the gods.
e turned their headsupward to the sky.
¥ his adjustment gave them the power to reason.
¥ hen he raced
to the heavens where he lit a torch, using the fire of the sun.
e used this fire to light up the new creatures’ powers of thought and speech.
¥ hese special power
s helped set the humans apart from the other animals.
t first, the gods approved of
rometheus’s work.¥ hey were glad to see that there was a species on earth th
at had the ability to think and speak.¡
ut
rometheus was still not satisfied.
e saw that£
pimetheus’s poor planning had left the new humans physically weak compared to the other inhabitants of the earth.
¥ hey were hungry, sad, and scared.
inally, to help the humans,
rometheus left©
ount
lympus and went to live on earth with the people, in order to teach them the skills they would need to survive in the new world.
irst,
rometheus showed the humans how to build houses so t
hey would not have to live in caves.¥
hen he taught them how to read, and how towrite numbers and letters.
e helped the people learn how to tame animals and how to sail on the seas.
e showed them how to heal themselves when they were sick.
fter he had shown the people how to foretell the future and recognize omensby looking at the way birds flew, some of the other gods became impressed by thenew people.
¥
hey decided to help, too. Demeter, the
lympian earth goddess, taught the 43
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
new race of creatures about edible plants. With this help, the humans had betteraccess to food, and they began to prosper and live happily for the first time.
lthough some of the gods were excited about the development of the humans, other gods were beginning to worry that the humans were becoming too powerful.
owever, despite the growing concerns of his fellow gods,
rometheus was so pleased w
ith his creations that he decided to help the humans even more.
ntil this time,humans were only allowed to slaughter other animals if they were performing a sacrifice to the gods.
¥
hey ate only the plants that Demeter instructed them to eat.
rometheus could see that the humans would probably need to eat the meat ofother animals to survive.
o
rometheus came up with a plan.
irst, he cut up anox, as if for a sacrifice.
¥ hen, he divided the sections into two piles.
¦ n one
pile,
rometheus wrapped up the bones of the ox and hid them under shiny morsels of fat.
¥ his pile looked like the more attractive offering in a sacrifice.
orthe other pile,
rometheus took the lean meat and other edible parts of the oxand wrapped them in hide, topping the pile with entrails to make the offering look disgusting.
nce this was done,
rometheus asked¤
eus to choose one of the two piles and keep it as the sacrificial offering; the humans would take whichever
pile¤
eus rejected.
ot knowing that the good meat was actually hidden beneaththe hide and entrails,¤
eus chose the pile shimmering with fat.
nce¤
eus had made his choice, he had to stick with it, even after he discovered that he had chosen a pile with no edible meat in it.
rom then on, people offered the fat and bones of animals to the gods, and they kept the savory parts of the animals for themselves.
¤
eus was outraged that
rometheus had tricked him, but he decided tosave his revenge for later. 44
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rometheus and£
arth’s
irst¦ nhabitants
¥ his was not the only trick
rometheus played on the
lympian gods for the sakeof the humans.
ince the new race of creatures had no fur, they were often cold,
and even though they were now allowed to eat meat, they had no way to cook it.
uman beings did not know about fire or how to control it because, until this point, fire belonged only to the gods.
rometheus decided to change things.
e wen
t up to heaven and secretly stole fire from the gods.
iding the fire inside thestalk of a fennel plant,
rometheus brought it back to the people on earth.¥ he
n he taught the people how to cook grains and meat, and how to keep fire burningso that it would always be available.
rometheus also showed the humans how they could use fire to forge metal, just as
ephaestus, the god of fire and the forge, was doing on
©
ount
lympus.
rometheus did all these things to help the humans because he wanted them to survive in the world now populated by other, more physically powerful creatures.
nfortunately,
rometheus’s efforts angered some ofthe other gods.
¥ he new people were getting too powerful and too smart.
¤ eus tho
ught they needed to be stopped before they believed their own powers were supreme and they no longer heeded the authority of the gods.
urthermore,¤
eus was furious with
rometheus for all his tricks.¥ o punish
rometheus for tricking the k
ing of the gods and for making humans so powerful,¤
eus had him captured and chained to a rock on the crest of one of the
aucasus©
ountains.£
very day, an enormous eagle came to the spot where
rometheus was tied.¥
he eagle was fierce andrelentless, and each day it swooped down and pecked away at
rometheus’s liver, devouring the greater part of it.
¡
ecause
rometheus was immortal, his liver grewback every night, and he never died. Despite this 45
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rometheus and£
arth’s
irst¦ nhabitants
intense torture, he endured the punishment for thirty years until
ercules cameand freed him.
nfortunately, punishing only
rometheus did not satisfy¤ eus’s des
ire for revenge.¥ he king of the gods had other plans that would affect the enti
re human race, and it was a punishment that would last forever.
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! £
¥ ¦
D
W
£
!
:
:!
:
:What are the meanings of the names
rometheus and£
pimetheus?
rometheus means “the one who thinks ahead.”
£
pimetheus means “the one who thinks afterwards.” What job were
rometheus and£
pimetheus given, and why were they chosen for this honor?
rometheus and
£
pimetheus were given the job of finishing the creation of earth’s first inhabitants.
¥ hey were chosen for the job because
rometheus was an excellent
potter and sculptor, and he had a good imagination.£
pimetheus was reliable andcould be counted on to help his brother. What element did
thena advise
rometheus to add to the creatures?
thena explained that since¤
eus had used clay whenhe began to make the creatures, they were already made of earth and water, twoessential elements.
he told
rometheus that the only element the creatures lacked was air; when the creatures were held up in the wind, they would breathe andbecome alive.
ow did£
pimetheus fail to think ahead in completing earth’s creatures?
£
pimetheus gave all the qualities of power and strength to other animals. o
me of them were given wings, claws, teeth, and fur for protection and to help them survive.
umans were left defenseless, with no special gifts. 48
!
:
:
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rometheus and£
arth’s
irst¦ nhabitants
!
:
:
ow did
rometheus help make humans capable of surviving in the new world?
irsthe helped humans stand upright so they could turn their heads up toward the sky.
e gave humans souls and the power to think and speak.
rometheus also taught
humans skills like building, reading and writing, and medicine.
rometheus tricked the other gods into allowing humans to eat meat.
inally, he gave humans fireand showed them how to use it. Why were the gods angry at
rometheus for givinghumans fire?
¥ he gods feared humans would become too wise and too powerful.
¥ he
y were afraid that the people might be able to compete with the gods.
ow did¤ e
us punish
rometheus?
e chained
rometheus to the top of one of the
aucasus©
ountains, where every day an eagle devoured most of his liver.
!
:
:
!
:
:
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£ £
¥
© © £
¥
¤ eus’s method of punishing
rometheus for helping the humans seems excessively cruel to our modern sensibilities.
owever,¡
arry¡
.
owell, a professor at the
niversity of Wisconsin, explains that it would have been a punishment familiar topeople in ancient
¢
reek society:¥
his method of punishment actually existed: Vicious criminals were taken to theboundaries of a territory, stripped naked, nailed to a post, and allowed to die
miserably, when 2 eaters of carrion [dead meat] consumed their flesh. . . .
lthough
esiod and many other poets had told this story earlier, the myth of
rometheus and his punishment was immortalized in the fifth century
¡
.
. by the
thenian dramatist,
eschylus, in his play
rometheus¡
ound.¥ hrough these early w
riters,
rometheus became known as mankind’s greatest helper.£
ven today, he is often referred to as the symbolic father of creativity.
©
ark
. .©
orford and
obert J.
enardon write:
undamental to both
esiod and
eschylus is the conception of¤ eus as the oppres
sor of humankind and
rometheus as its benefactor.¦ n
eschylus the clash of divine wills echoes triumphantly through the ages.
is portrait, more than any other, offers the towering image of
rometheus as the¥ itan, the bringer of fire, th
e vehement and weariless champion against oppression, the mighty 3 symbol for art, literature, and music of all time.
50
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
¦ n ancient
thenian society, women lived very difficult lives.¥ hey had no econo
mic or political independence, and even in the home, women were treated as inferior and often lived in a special part of the house known as the women’s quarters.¢
irls were not formally educated like their brothers.¥ hey lived in their father’s
house until they married as young teenagers, at which time they moved to theirhusband’s home.
¥ hey did not speak to men outside the intimate circle of family me
mbers. When
thens became a democracy at the start of the fifth century¡
.
., women could not vote. Despite the fact that
thenian women were not offered equalopportunities in their society, women often play important, and sometimes menacing, roles in
¢
reek mythology.¦ t is a contradiction then that, in both myth and
reality, women were expected to be virtuous and good; at the same time, however,it was commonly believed that they were devious and wicked beneath their noblefaçade.
¦
n mythology,
andora was the first human woman, and her story may represent the contradictory issues associated with
¢
reek women.
ephaestus, the god offire and the forge, created
andora at¤ eus’s command.
¤ eus intended her to be a f
orm of punishment for the newly created human males.¤ eus and some of the other
gods wanted to put the humans back in their place after their powers had been sogreatly enhanced by
rometheus.¥ o achieve the gods’ ends,
andora is endowed wit
h many gifts, among them great beauty and charm.¥
he gods also give her a gift that will ultimately set free all the evils in the world—an ornate box, or a jar, depending on the version of 52
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andora
the tale. Despite her own good intentions, the first female causes much grief and pain for mankind.
¥ he story of
andora and her intriguing but destructive boxcomes to us through
esiod’s¥ heogony.
andora is a figure who has been interpreted in many different ways.
©
uch of the contradiction surrounding this famous mythological character is thought to come from
esiod’s understanding, or misunderstan
ding, of her name.©
ythology scholar
ichmond
.
athorn explains, “ ¥ he name
andora does not mean ‘she who was endowed with all gifts’ [as in
esiod’s version of the story] but rather ‘she who is giver of all,’ and as such it was an epithet 1 [name] of the earth-goddess.”
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D
¤ eus was furious.
rometheus had tricked him, and the king of the gods wanted revenge.
e also wanted to remind the humans that they would never be as powerfulas the gods.
o far, there were only men in the human population. Women did not
yet exist, although certainly there were female gods, or goddesses.¦ ntroducing
women to the human race was part of¤
eus’s plan for revenge.
irst,¤
eus went to the forge of
ephaestus and asked him to design a human being that would be femal
e.
arefully, ¤ eus explained that she should be like the men on earth, yet somehow slightly different.
ephaestus was happy to do¤ eus a favor, and he went righ
t to work.¥
he god of fire and the forge was a very talented smith.£
verything he made was beautiful, and his new creation was no different. When he was finished with the creature he showed his work to
¤ eus, who was very pleased with the re
sults.¥ he new creature was named
andora. he was human, but she was clearly a
woman.
he was very beautiful and looked like a goddess.
he had long flowing hair, flawless skin, and bright shining eyes.
he was as graceful as a soft breeze
, and she had a smile precious to see.¤ eus hoped that her beauty would make the
male humans accept and trust her. 54
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andora
fter
ephaestus had put the finishing touches on the first human woman, the gods showered her with many gifts, including golden-threaded clothes, shining jewelry, and fragrant smelling flowers.
mong the gifts was a box that was covered with jewels, intricate carvings, and decorations.
¥
he box was very pretty, and
andora was certain that such a beautiful object must surely contain something of e
qual magnificence.
owever, the gods had given
andora the beautiful box on onecondition:
he could look at it as much as she liked, but she was never to open
it.
andora did not understand the reasoning behind this rule, but because the box was so pretty, she agreed to follow the warning of the gods.
oon
andora went to live on earth with the other humans. When she got there, she met
£
pimetheuswho was living among the humans with his brother
rometheus.£
pimetheus was overwhelmed by
andora’s dazzling beauty, and he fell in love with her instantly.
rometheus, aware of his brother’s infatuation with
andora, became suspicious that¤
eus and the other
lympians were planning a trick.
rometheus warned his brotherto be wary of any gift sent to earth by the
lympian gods.
s usual,£
pimetheusdid not listen to his brother.
e was very much in love with
andora, and despite his brother’s warning, he married the wonderful new creature and brought her to
his home.
£
pimetheus never thought to ask his new bride about the beautiful boxshe always carried with her.¥
he couple lived very happily after their marriage.
£
very day,
andora would lovingly admire her beautiful box, but she obeyed theorder of the gods and never opened it.
oon, however, looking at the box was no
t enough.
er curiosity became stronger and stronger, and finally one day she could no longer resist the urge to open the box, regardless of the consequences. 55
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andora
When
andora opened the box and discovered what was hidden inside its beautifulexterior, she knew at once that
¤ eus’s revenge had been accomplished.
¦ nside the m
agnificent box were all the evil spirits known to the gods.
ow that the lid wasopen, they all quickly flew out.
orrow, hunger, anger, disease, madness, and ahundred other horrible conditions filled
andora’s room and, like smoke, they esc
aped out into the world to plague mankind for the rest of time.
s the evils swarmed around her,
andora became frightened.
s quickly as she could, she slammedshut the lid of the box, but
andora realized that it was too late to regret not having obeyed the gods.
¥ heir revenge was final.
owever,
andora noticed thatone spirit still remained in her box.
¥ his was the spirit of hope.
oon, when t
hey felt the effects of the various plagues and evil spirits that had flown outfrom
andora’s box, the people on earth understood that their time of peace had ended.
¥ he people recognized the power of the gods’ revenge, and understood that for
ces existed that were stronger than their own modest powers.
rom that time on,the people vowed to do their best to keep from angering the gods any further andwere comforted by the fact that hope was safe in
andora’s box.¥
he knowledge that hope had not been destroyed gave the people faith that peace would return some
day.
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! £
¥ ¦
D
W
£
!
:
:!
:
:Why did
¤ eus want revenge against the humans?
e feared that with
rometheus’s help the people on earth had become too smart and powerful. Who was
andora and howwas she created?
andora was the world’s first woman.
ephaestus, the blacksmithgod and expert craftsman, made her at the request of
¤
eus.¤
eus wanted to use
andora to punish the humans who were, until that point, all men. What did the god
s give
andora? ¥ hey gave her many wonderful gifts, like beauty, grace, lavish clothes, and fragrant flowers.
¥ hey also gave her a beautiful box covered with je
wels and intricate carvings.¦
t was filled with every conceivable kind of evil.What warning did the gods give
andora?¥ he gods warned her never to open the bo
x they had given her. Why did
andora open the box?
er curiosity had grown toostrong. What happened when
andora opened the box?£
vils of every kind, like sorrow, hunger, anger, pain, disease, and madness flew out of the box and into theworld, where they plagued mankind for all time. What remained in the box?
ope remained in the box.
!
:
:
!
:
:
!
:
:
!
:
:!
:
:
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£ £
¥
© © £
¥
¦ n the story of
andora, human curiosity is a key ingredient.
andora’s box has come to represent the temptations of curious minds, but there is also much confusion regarding the contents of the box.
©
orford and
enardon write:Details in the story of
andora are disturbing in their tantalizing ambiguity [lack of clarity]. What is
ope doing in the jar [or box] along with countless evils?
¦ f it is a good, it is a curious inclusion.
¦ f it too is an evil, why is it
stopped at the rim? What then is its precise nature, whether a blessing or a curse?
¦ s
ope the one thing that enables human beings to survive the terrors of this life and inspires them with lofty ambition?
et is it also by its very character delusive and 2 blind, luring them on to prolong their misery?
¥ he story of
andora and her role in the gods’ revenge against mankind suggests that women were considered a mixed blessing in ancient
¢
reek society.¡
arry¡
.
owell recognizes this apparent misogyny, or hatred of women, as it is presented in
esiod’s version of the story:©
odern readers are struck by the virulence [extreme bitterness] of
esiod’s attackon women, although it is not different in message from the biblical story of
£
ve.
¥ he roots of misogyny are varied and not easily understood, especially in an
age when women’s rights are a prominent political issue. . . .
mong the
¢
reeks, however, misogyny seems to be based not so much on primitive magical terror, or economic resentment as in
esiod’s surly complaint, as on a male resentment of theinstitution of monogamy [marriage with one partner] itself.
¢
reek myth is obsessed with hostile relations between the sexes, especially between married couples.
¦
n reading such passages we need to remember that, with only minor exceptions,ancient literature was composed by males for males in an environment 3 ruled bymales (as was the
¡
ible).
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5D
£ © £
¥
£
D £
£
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
Demeter, the daughter of the¥ itans
ronus and
hea, was one of the first
lympian gods.
fter the war between the
lympians and the¥ itans, Demeter became an i
mportant goddess of agriculture.
er name meant “earth mother” or “grain mother.” With¤
eus, her brother, Demeter had a daughter named
ersephone who was also called§
ore, which means “maiden.”
¥
he people of ancient¢
reece prayed to Demeter for healthycrops and abundant harvests.
he was often associated with Dionysus, the god of
wine, who was also worshipped at harvest time.
eople thought that it was Demeter who allowed vegetation to grow in the spring, summer, and part of the fall, and to die in the winter. When the ground was fertile and the grains grew successfully, Demeter seemed like a kind goddess; but when winter came, or when there was a drought, people thought she must be angry or upset.
er followers prayed that she would always be happy and therefore kind to the earth.
¦ n one of the most
important myths about Demeter, her beloved daughter
ersephone is abducted, orkidnapped, by
ades, the lord of the
nderworld.
ades, another
lympian god, was an important figure in
¢
reek mythology:
e was the ruler of the dead and of unseen ghosts. During the war against the
¥ itans, the
yclopes had given
ades a helmet that made him invisible; even his name seems to come from the
¢
reek word meaning “the unseen.”
lthough
ades played an extremely significant role in¢
reek re
ligion, he was considered an unlucky god to invoke.¥
hus, not many religious ceremonies were dedicated to him, and he had few individual followers.
s the rulerof the world under the earth,
ades was 61
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
thought to give the earth richness in the form of crops; at the same time, he was respected and feared as the governor of the dead.
¡
ecause of his connection tothe earth,
ades is appropriately connected to Demeter and
ersephone, two goddesses who were thought to control the fertility of the land and the abundance ofthe harvest.
ntil the fourth century
.D., the greatest temples to Demeter cou
ld be found in£
leusis, a town located near the sea not far from
thens.£
very autumn, there were festivals to honor Demeter in
£
leusis, and they were some of the most famous celebrations in the ancient world.
nfortunately, no one knows exactly what went on at these festivals because they were kept secret.
¥ oday the f
estivals are known as the£
leusinian©
ysteries.¥ he people who took part in the
ceremonies, called “initiates,” were sworn to secrecy about the sacred rites that were performed.
©
any scholars believe that the main purpose of the£
leusinian©
ysteries was to thank the goddess for the 1 harvest and to pray to her for continued bounty.
¥ he infertility of winter and its resulting hardships were undoubtedly
a great mystery to the ancient¢
reeks.¥ he myth of Demeter and her daughter
ersephone is one way that the people of ancient
¢
reece came to explain this inhospitable season.
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D£ © £
¥
£
D £
£
£
Demeter and¤ eus had a daughter named
ersephone. With two powerful gods as parents, it is not surprising that the little girl grew up to be a beautiful maiden.
er mother loved the child more than anything else in the world and cringed atthe idea of ever being apart from her.
fter she had grown up and become a youngwoman,
ersephone’s beauty caught the eye of
ades, the ruler of the
nderworld.
ades fell in love at the very first sight of her.
e knew he wanted to marry no
one else.
vercome with love,
ades went to ¤ eus, his brother and
ersephone’s father.
e said, “¡
rother,¦ am in love with your daughter,
ersephone.
et me haveyour consent to marry her.
¦
will make her the queen of my kingdom in the
nderworld.”
¤ eus thought that
ades would be a good husband for
ersephone.
ades was afair and powerful god.
owever,¤ eus also knew that Demeter would never allow h
er daughter to marry
ades and go to live far away in the
nderworld.¦ f the mai
den were to marry
ades, the mother and daughter would be separated indefinitely.
¤ eus also knew that Demeter, the goddess of growth and fertility, would never
wish her daughter to live in the stark, 63
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
bleak world of the dead where nothing ever grew.
lthough he was king of the gods,
¤ eus was wary of Demeter’s powerful influence over all the things that blossome
d on earth.
e did not want to upset her.¤ eus pondered his dilemma for quite so
me time.
e wanted to please his brother and allow the marriage, but he did notwish to cause a conflict with Demeter.
inally,¤ eus found a clever way to grant
his brother’s request without actually saying so.
arefully wording his response,
¤ eus said, “
¡
rother,¦ cannot approve of a marriage between you and
ersephone.”¤ e
us was telling
ades that although he could not officially approve the marriage,he was not forbidding it
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Demeter and
ersephone
either.
ades understood¤ eus’s intention.
e realized that¤ eus was encouraging h
im to mary
ersephone without her parents’ blessing.
ades felt certain that if heacted in this prescribed manner,
¤ eus would not be angry with him.
e understood that
¤
eus was just trying to keep the peace by officially saying neither yes nor no to the marriage proposal.
atisfied,
ades returned to the
nderworld to p
lan the details of exactly how he would go about kidnapping
ersephone.
ne day,soon after
ades’s meeting with¤ eus,
ersephone went to pick wildflowers with her friends near the town of
£
leusis.
o one expected trouble in the peaceful meadow, and the girls were looking forward to
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
an amusing and relaxing day.
fter a little while,
ersephone wandered away fromher friends, picking flowers here and there and adding them to her basket.
¦ n a
small wooded glen near the meadow, out of sight and earshot of her friends,
ersephone spotted a beautiful narcissus that she thought would make a lovely addition to the bouquet she was making for her mother. Dreamily,
ersephone knelt to
pick the flower. he was surprised to find that its roots were so deep that shecould not wrench it out of the ground.
uddenly, as she tugged mightily on the f
lower, a huge hole opened up in the middle of the glen.¥
he god of the
nderworld raced out of the chasm, the roaring noise of his chariot filling the air.
!
uickly,
ades grasped the frightened maiden by the wrist and pulled her up beside him onto his chariot.
acing off to the
nderworld,
ersephone cried out in fearto her mother and her friends.
p on©
ount
lympus, Demeter heard her daughter’s terror-filled cries.
he hurried to the area where the girls had been playing.
ersephone’s friends had been frightened when their friend failed to return, but noone could tell where she had gone. Distraught, Demeter roamed the earth for ninedays and nine nights, searching in vain for her beloved daughter.
n the tenthday, Demeter met
ecate, a goddess who lived in a cave near the spot where
erse
phone and her friends had been playing.
ecate had indeed heard
ersephone’s criesfor help, but alas, she had not seen what had happened to the girl.¥
hough shecould offer no new information about
ersephone’s disappearance,
ecate offered tohelp Demeter look for her daughter.
¥ ogether, the two goddesses set out on thei
r search.¥ he next morning, the goddesses came upon
elius, the god of the sun.
elius could see everything from his 66
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Demeter and
ersephone
lofty perch in the sky, so Demeter begged him for information about her daughter’sdisappearance.
elius pitied Demeter and promised to tell her everything he knew.
e confessed that he had seen
ades kidnap
ersephone, and that the girl hadcried uncontrollably when she was made
ades’s bride.
elius was sorry for Demeter’sloss, but he hurried to point out that as ruler of the
nderworld,
ades exerte
d power over a third of the world.
e tried to console Demeter by saying, “ ¦ knowyou are sad to be separated from your daughter, but the powerful
ades is a goodmatch for the fair
ersephone.”
owever, Demeter would not be consoled.
he cried, “
©
y beautiful daughter? Why should she be taken so far away among the sunless dead?”
¥ hinking about her daughter’s situation all over again, Demeter became so upset
that she left
ecate and
elius and began to shun her fellow immortals. oon De
meter took to wandering the earth in the guise of a mortal woman.
he allowed the grain harvest to fail and the fields to become parched.
he was so transformed
by her grief that no one could recognize her. he looked like a gnarled, old wo
man, as sad and weak as the parched and unyielding fields that were beginning topatch the earth.
fter wandering for many months, Demeter came again to the town of
£
leusis where she stopped to rest by a well. While she was sitting in the s
hade of an olive tree, four beautiful princesses came to draw water.¥
hey were the daughters of
eleus, the king of£
leusis, and all four were kind and well-mannered. When they saw Demeter, they pitied her because she looked so sad and weary.
¥ hey had no idea that she was really a goddess.
¥ rying to help the old woman,
the girls asked if she would be interested 67
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
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in being a nurse to their baby brother, Demophoon. Demeter gladly accepted thisoffer. When Demeter entered the palace, her golden hair had turn to gray, her skin was wrinkled and loose, and all her inner radiance was hidden beneath a darkrobe.
evertheless, the princesses’ mother,!
ueen©
etanira, sensed that the new nurse was not an ordinary old woman.
¥ he queen noticed a special glow about the ne
wcomer, despite her dark robe and sad face.©
etanira offered Demeter her best chair and asked one of the servants to bring some sweet wine, but Demeter, too sadto accept comfort, refused the chair and the wine.
¦
nstead, she sat on a low stool and drank only water mixed with barley mead.
¥ hen Demeter asked to see the c
hild for whom she would be caring. When Demeter first took the baby Demophoon inher arms, he smiled and gurgled.
!
ueen©
etanira was glad to see that her newborn son was comfortable in the arms of his new nurse. Demeter was happy watching over the young prince.
he began to love the child so much that, eventually, she
decided to make him immortal.¡
y doing so, Demeter hoped to thank the royal family for their kindness and, at the same time, to relieve some of the sadness of losing her own child.
o each night, after the family was asleep, Demeter lathered the boy with ambrosia, an ointment of the gods. When he was well oiled, she pl
aced him in the heart of the hearth’s fire to burn away all traces of his mortality.¥
hough the baby was in the fire, Demeter watched him intently, and the flamesnever hurt him.
¥
he ambrosia treatment worked wonders, and the baby grew stronger and healthier every day.
¥ he royal family was amazed at the baby’s rapid develo
pment. Demophoon was growing much faster than a normal child. oon, however,
!
ueen
©
etanira became suspicious 68
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Demeter and
ersephone
of her son’s remarkable growth.
ne night she did not go to bed.¦ nstead, she hid,
hoping to see what the nurse was doing each night to her youngest child. When©
etanira peeked into Demeter’s room, she was shocked at what she saw.¥ here was the
nurse, turning her baby in the fire like a pig on a spit!©
etanira screamed atthe sight.
¦ nterrupted at her magic, the goddess angrily jerked the child from t
he fire and threw him to the ground where he began to cry— unhurt but frightened.
earing his wife’s scream,§
ing
eleus came running into the room, just in time tosee the old nurse transform herself into a towering, beautiful goddess.
s herform changed, a blaze of light burst forth and filled all the gloomy corners ofthe palace room.
¥ hough she was furious with
©
etanira for the interruption, Demeter’s anger quickly turned to sadness.
he decided not to punish the family for th
eir reaction.
he had, after all, loved the baby, and although he could never become immortal without continuing the ambrosia treatments, he could still be honored, since a goddess had been his nurse. Demeter told the king and queen to havethe people of
£
leusis build a temple in her honor. While it was being built, she told the townspeople how to grow corn and how to perform special ceremonies ather temple.
¦ n this way, the town continued to appease and pay tribute to the i
nconsolable goddess, whose grief once again became focused on her lost daughter.When the temple at£
leusis was completed, Demeter went to live there, far from©
ount
lympus and the other gods and goddesses.
adly, she sat silently in her temple for an entire year. While she sat, no crops grew, and the people became hungrier with every passing day.
oon it seemed like every living thing on earth w
as in danger of starving. 69
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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¤ eus feared that Demeter’s mourning was becoming destructive.
e begged her to endthe famine, but Demeter repeatedly refused the request.
he said she would neve
r grant her life-giving power to the earth so long as
ersephone remained so faraway in the
nderworld.
inally,¤
eus realized that
ades would have to give uphis bride so that the world could be healed. With a heavy heart,
¤ eus sent
erm
es, the official messenger of the gods, to the
nderworld to deliver a message to
ades. When
ermes reached the
nderworld, he found
ades and his bride sitting side by side on their thrones.
ersephone looked miserable.
he was weeping because she missed her mother and the world above. When she heard
ermes’s message from
¤ eus, she cried out in joy.
ades knew that he had no choice but to obey¤ eu
s and let
ersephone go home to her mother.
e begged his wife not to think of him harshly.
ades said, “©
y beloved wife, remember that here you are the queen, the most powerful woman of all.
s the queen of the
nderworld, you even have power over the living, because you have control over what happens to people when they die.
¡
ecause of this, you have the power to be merciful, which is the greatestgift of all. Do not think ill of me or this kingdom when you are far away fromhere.”
eluctantly,
ades prepared to let
ersephone go, but before she left, he g
ave her four pomegranate seeds to eat.
ades knew, although his wife did not, that if she ate anything from the world of the dead, she would have to return to his kingdom someday.
aving eaten the seeds,
ersephone rode happily out of the
nderworld with
ermes. When their chariot finally reached£
leusis,
ersephone joyfully embraced her mother.
¥ he mother and daughter laughed and cried, and talke
d as they had before.
inally, Demeter asked her 70
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Demeter and
ersephone
daughter if she had eaten anything during her stay in the
nderworld.
ersephonereplied, “
©
other, what a strange question.
ll¦ ate was four pomegranate seeds.
Why should that matter?” Demeter became so upset by this news that she took her daughter directly to
¤
eus to discuss what could be done.
n the way to©
ount
lympus, Demeter explained to
ersephone that because she had eaten food from the
nd
erworld—the seeds of the pomegranate—she would have to return there. ¥ hat rule was unbreakable.
¤ eus had witnessed the happiness of mother and daughter when they we
re reunited, and now he could see the unbearable sadness in their eyes at the thought of having to part again.
evertheless,¤ eus had to respect the rules of th
e universe.¥ herefore, to follow the rules, the king of the gods decreed that
ersephone must return to the
nderworld.
owever,¤ eus offered a compromise: inst
ead of returning permanently to live in the
nderworld,
ersephone need only live there for four months out of the year, one month for each pomegranate seed shehad eaten.
ppeased by¤ eus’s compromise, Demeter allowed the crops on earth to g
row again.
rom that time on, mother and daughter spent two thirds of the year together. During their time together, the earth bloomed and the crops flourished.
¡
ut when
ersephone returned each year to spend four months with
ades in the
nderworld, the earth became as cold as ice while Demeter mourned for her daughter’s lost company.¥
hen, every spring, when
ersephone returned to her mother, theworld would become green again in celebration of their joyous reunion.
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! £
¥ ¦
D
W
£
!
:
:What was Demeter’s role as a goddess?
he was the goddess of agriculture. Demeter
was responsible for providing healthy crops, fertility, and bountiful harvests.Who was
ades?
ades was the god who ruled the
nderworld, or the world of the dead. Why did
¤
eus refuse to give his consent for
ades to marry
ersephone?¤
eusdid not want to anger Demeter,
ersephone’s mother and the goddess of agriculture
, who could cause the earth to become barren. Why did
ades kidnap
ersephone?
e wanted to marry her.
e knew that Demeter would never allow her daughter to marry someone who lived in the
nderworld.
e also realized that although¤
eus would not grant his consent for
ades to marry
ersephone,¤ eus did not precisely f
orbid the marriage. Without her parents’ official consent,
ades knew he had no choice but to kidnap
ersephone. What did
ersephone eat while in the
nderworld?
he ate four pomegranate seeds. What is the significance of the four seeds?¥
hefour seeds came from the
nderworld.
nce she had eaten food from the
nderworld,
ersephone would be bound to return there. 72
!
:
:!
:
:
!
:
:!
:
:!
:
:
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Demeter and
ersephone
!
:
:
What compromise did¤ eus make for Demeter and
ersephone, and why did he make it?
¦
nstead of forcing
ersephone to return permanently to
ades and the
nderworld,
¤ eus allowed
ersephone to spend two thirds of the year on earth with her mot
her.
ersephone had to return to the
nderworld for four months out of every year, one month for each seed she had eaten.
¤ eus allowed this compromise because h
e wanted to keep Demeter happy.
e knew that if she remained sad, the earth would dry up and become barren.
ow does the myth of Demeter and
ersephone help toexplain the seasons?
£
ach year, when
ersephone went to the
nderworld, Demetergrew sad.
he did not let anything grow on earth, and winter set in.
¥ hen, when
ersephone left the
nderworld to return to her mother, the earth became fertileagain, and spring returned.
!
:
:
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£ £
¥
© © £
¥
¥ he story of Demeter and
ersephone is often considered to be the basis for manyother myths, including some stories in modern
hristianity.©
ichael¢
rant, a respected historian, writes:
¥ he tale of Demeter and
ersephone, perhaps more than any other classical myth,has embodied and directed man’s accumulated thoughts about being born and dying.
¦
t anticipates both£
aster (in which life and death co-exist) and 2
hristmas (th
e time of annual rebirth and hope).
¥
his myth and the celebrations of the£
leusinian©
ysteries, provide the£
nglishlanguage with some important words.
rofessor¡
arry¡
.
owell explains:¥ he word mystery, which has entered our language from this
£
leusinian cult to Demeter, comes from the
¢
reek [word] mystês (plural mystai) meaning “one who closes his eyes,” in order to enter the temple or during the sacred rites.
rom the
atin translation of the word, initiatus, comes our word initiate, literally, “one who has gone in,” that is, into the 3 temple of Demeter to participate in the secret ritual.
¥ he myth of Demeter and
ersephone is also significant to modern scholars becaus
e it helps to illustrate the fate of women during this period in
¢
reece.
owellwrites:
ersephone’s fate resembles that of¢
reek girls who, at age fourteen, were marriedto war-hardened men twice their age, whom they scarcely knew. . . . Demeter’s fate is also typical of many
¢
reek women.
s Demeter lost a child to
ades, the lord of death, so did many lose a child to war or disease.
¦
n the myth we see thatDemeter’s loss causes her first to grieve and to rage, before she finally acceptsthat, although things have changed, the world will go on.
©
any¢
reek women wouldeasily have identified with this 4 sequence of emotions.
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6D
¦
D
¦
¨
W£
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
lthough
thens may have been the most important, ancient¢
reece had many othercities that were significant to the development of culture and religion.
¥ hebes,
for example, was the major cultural and military center of¡
oeotia, an area tothe northwest of
thens on the¢
reek mainland.
ccording to legend, the hero
admus had come to the land of
¡
oeotia by following a cow there. (¥
he word¡
oeotiais related to the
¢
reek word for cow.)
e had sown the teeth of a dragon into th
e earth like seeds, and after battling the race of men who had sprung out of theground from these seeds,
admus took control of the area and built the city of¥
hebes.
admus and his wife
armony, the daughter of
res and
phrodite, had four daughters:
utonoe,¦ no,
gave, and emele.
¥ he character
admus is believed to have originated in
£
astern religion, and the story about the foundation of¥ he
bes may 1 reflect the influence of a foreign group on the area.¥ hebes was thoug
ht to be the birthplace of a very significant member of the¢
reek pantheon. Dionysus was the son of
¤ eus, the ruler of the
lympian gods, and emele, one of
admus’s daughters. Dionysus, the god of wine, was also called
¡
acchus.
e was an important god of agriculture, and he was often closely associated with other earthgods, such as Demeter.
¡
ecause he was affiliated with grapes and wine, the¢
reeks believed that Dionysus could control a person’s state of mind, in the same way t
hat alcohol does, and he is often connected to scenes of madness or various forms of wild behavior. During the fifth and sixth centuries¡
.
., theater as we know it was born during the
thenian festivals dedicated to Dionysus.¥
hese festivals placed a heavy emphasis on 76
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Dionysus and
is
ollowers
the recitation of poetry, and the theatrical forms of comedy and tragedy that weknow today developed out of the performance of this poetry.
¥ he most famous pla
ywrights of the time were
eschylus, ophocles, and
£
uripides, who often based their plays on the prominent myths and historical events of the day.
¥
his story about Dionysus, and the development of his importance, has been passed down to us
through the play ¥ he¡
acchae by£
uripides. ¦ n the story, ¤ eus makes a promise and seals it by pledging an oath on the name of the
iver tyx.
¥ his is the mytho
logical river that must be crossed in order to enter the
nderworld.
ny promisesworn upon it could never be broken, not even by a god.
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D¦
D
¦
¨
W£
emele’s father was
admus, king of¥ hebes.
he lived a happy and luxurious life i
n the palace, along with her sisters
utonoe,¦ no, and
gave.
s the girls grewolder, everyone remarked on their outstanding beauty.
ife seemed perfect for these lovely princesses, until the day
emele fell in love with a tall, handsome s
tranger.
aught up in her new romance,
emele ignored the fact that she did notknow much about her lover.
he kept him a secret from her family and friends, an
d although her sisters noticed a new radiance about emele, none suspected her frequent absences.
emele had no idea that her secret lover was actually
¤ eus, th
e king of the gods, who was visiting her in the form of a mortal man.¤
eus was very much in love with the beautiful, quiet, and somewhat solitary princess, buthe could not visit her in his true godlike state.
¦ f he were to reveal his true
self, emele would die, since no human could look on an immortal in his or her t
rue form without being consumed by the immortal’s power.¥
herefore, when a god wished to show himself to a mortal, he needed to cloak his glory.
owever, after e
mele and¤ eus had continued their love affair for some time,
¤ eus finally 78
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Dionysus and
is
ollowers
decided to reveal his true identity to emele.
lthough she was shocked, the princess believed her lover.
£
ven though¤ eus was in love with
emele, he was, in f
act, already married to
era, the queen of the gods. When she learned of her husband’s affair with
emele,
era became enraged with jealousy.¦
n fact,¤
eus oftenpursued other women, both mortal and immortal, and although she was used to her
husband’s affairs,
era still always reacted with the same intensity. he often took out her revenge on her husband’s various accomplices.
¥ his time,
era, disguised as a servant, paid a visit to
emele’s bedchamber. With mock sympathy,
era toldthe girl that she knew all about the secret romance.
omehow she convinced the
princess that it would be wise for her to behold her lover in his true form. em
ele had just discovered that she was pregnant, and although she trusted her lover, she now became persuaded to be certain about the identity of her unborn child’sfather.
o
emele sent the servant out of the room and awaited the arrival of h
er lover. When¤ eus entered the room through a door from the garden,
emele jump
ed up and threw her arms around his neck. “©
y love,” she said, “my servant knows all about us. We must be very careful or my father will discover our affair!
¡
ut thisis not my only news. Darling,
¦ am going to have a child.
wear to me that you
will grant me the favor¦
am about to ask you.”¤
eus was surprised at the princess’sardent tone of voice, but because he was so much in love with her, he agreed and said, “
¦
swear on the
iver
tyx in
ades that¦
will do whatever you ask of me.” emele took her lover’s hand and led him into the room.
itting down, she begged t
o see him in his true form.¤ eus was caught off-guard and did not know what to d
o about this new dilemma.
e knew that
emele would not 79
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ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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be able to look at him without dying, and he did not want to hurt her.¡
ut the god had also made an unbreakable promise, for any promise sworn on the
iver tyx
must be fulfilled, and now he could not refuse her request.¥ hough
¤ eus tried t
o explain the consequences to
emele, the princess insisted that, although she truly loved him, she still needed proof of his identity.
¥ herefore, reluctantly,
¤ eus kept his word.
s he began to transform, the room filled with light, and flames shot out from his immortal body.
emele screamed as the sight of her lover
burned into her eyes.¥
hen, consumed by the fire of¤
eus’s immortality, her own body was engulfed in flames. Just before she died,
¤ eus snatched
emele’s unborn bab
y from her womb.!
uickly, he sewed the baby into his thigh to keep it safe fromharm.
¥ hen
¤ eus wept for his love, and he left the
¥ heban palace in the same sec
ret manner by which he had come. When nine months had fully passed,
emele’s childwas born out of
¤ eus’s thigh.
¥ he king of the gods named his son Dionysus, and he
asked some nymphs to raise the baby and keep him a safe distance away from!
ueen
era who was still angry at¤ eus for his affair with
emele.
©
any years later,after Dionysus had grown up, he bade a tearful farewell to the nymphs who had mothered him and set off to travel the world, slowly making his way toward
¥ hebes
.
e was a handsome young man with long flowing hair that fell in waves about his shoulders.
e wore clothes made out of the skins of animals, and often he looked like he would be more comfortable in the wilds of the forest than in the cities and towns that he visited.
s the young god wandered, he showed the¢
reeks how to grow grapes and how to use the grapes to make wine.
e was often followed and worshipped by groups of wild-looking women called
¡
acchae or bacchantes.¥
hese women also 80
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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wore clothes made from the skins of animals, and they usually had flowers or leaves scattered in their hair.
ften the bacchantes would sing and dance like untamed animals in their rituals of worship, and they caused quite an uproar wherever they visited.
fter many years of travel, Dionysus finally arrived in his mother’s hometown, and he was shocked at the poor reception he received.
¥ he people of
¥ hebes did not believe that Dionysus was a god, nor did they believe he was emele’s lost son. Dionysus also learned that his mother’s memory had been dishonored by the people of
¥
hebes.¥
he¥
hebans considered
emele to have been a disrespectful daughter; they disapproved of her secret affair and felt she had received a just punishment in her death! Dionysus was furious at the
¥ heban people for both
their disbelief of his immortality and their cruel treatment of his mother’s memory.
t this time, the king of¥
hebes was Dionysus’s cousin
entheus, the son of
emele’s sister,
gave.
ike the other¥ hebans,
entheus did not believe that Dionysus was a god, nor would he recognize him as his cousin.
entheus thought that this stranger was merely a troublemaker whose wild and unruly followers were disturbing the peace of his orderly city.
ngrily,
entheus commanded his guards to arrest Dionysus and his disciples.
lthough Dionysus was, in fact, enraged by
ent
heus’s behavior, the god went to prison peacefully.
owever, extraordinary thingsbegan to happen at the palace prison.¥
he guards were amazed when they realizedthat it was impossible to lock up their peculiar prisoner.
o matter how many times they worked the locks attached to them, the chains on Dionysus’s wrists alwaysfell to the ground, and the doors of his jail cell refused to stay closed.
¥ hen
, suddenly, a huge earthquake rocked the city of¥
hebes, 82
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Dionysus and
is
ollowers
flattening both the palace and the prison to the ground.©
any¥ hebans came to re
alize that this devastation must have been the work of an angry god. Despite these strange events,
entheus refused to believe that Dionysus possessed any supernatural powers, even after the prisoner had walked out of the rubble of the prison without a scratch on his body.
©
any¥ heban women, however, became convinced o
f Dionysus’s powers, and after the earthquake, they joined Dionysus’s followers.
fter dressing in animal skins, the women went to the hills outside
¥ hebes where th
ey cavorted like animals, jumping and dancing in praise of Dionysus, whom they now recognized as a god.
oon, a messenger came to
entheus to tell him that hismother,
gave, and his aunts were among the¡
acchae dancing in the hills.¥ he me
ssenger also told
entheus that guards had tried to talk to
gave and the otherwomen, but when they had approached, the women chased the men away.
¥
he guard added that the women had torn the woods apart with their bare hands and ruined allthe villages in their path with their wild revelry.
entheus was furious at this news!
e paced in front of his crumbling palace, fuming. “©
y own mother!” he cried. “
cting like one of those crazy¡
acchae! Whatever will happen next?”
s
entheus grew visibly more and more upset, Dionysus approached, already planning his reven
ge.
entheus still did not believe that Dionysus was a god, but soon he fell into a trance and agreed with everything Dionysus said to him, no matter how strange.
irst, Dionysus convinced
entheus that he needed to climb the hill and see for himself how the women were behaving.
nly then would
entheus be able to figure out a way to make them stop their outrageous behavior. 83
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
till in a trance,
entheus begged Dionysus to help him find a disguise so thatthe women on the hill would not recognize him.
¥ hen Dionysus dressed
§
ing
entheus in a long, flowing wig and a wild, multicolored dress.
nder Dionysus’s spell,
entheus thought he looked quite dashing when, in fact, he looked very silly.
inally, Dionysus led the king to the hill where the
¡
acchae were celebrating.
nc
e they reached the top of the hill, Dionysus convinced the king to climb a treeto get a better look at the scene.
¥ hen, when
entheus had settled himself in the tree, Dionysus disappeared.
¥
he king was surprised that Dionysus would leave him so suddenly, but he was confident that the women could not see him hiding inthe tree.
nfortunately for
entheus, Dionysus had put the women in a trance aswell.
¥ hus, when they looked up at the tree, they did not see
entheus hiding there but a mountain lion readying for attack.
¥
errified at the sight of what shethought was a vicious, man-eating creature,
gave shouted, Ҥ
ill the lion!”
ike animals stalking their prey, the women attacked
entheus and pulled him from the tree.
¥ hough he begged for mercy, the women could not understand him since his wor
ds sounded like the growls of a wild lion, not like cries for help from their own king. Dionysus had endowed the women with superhuman strength, and now, with t
heir bare hands, the women tore
entheus to shreds.¥
hen, still in a trance, thewomen marched back to¥
hebes.¦
n tribute to their proud victory,
gave led themarch, parading the head of the victim above her like a trophy. When the women entered the city carrying
entheus’s head before them, the people of¥ hebes were so
horrified that they stood in silence as the shocking parade passed by. 84
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Dionysus and
is
ollowers
When the marchers reached the grounds of the palace ruins,
gave called out to her father,
admus, to show off their prize. When
admus saw what
gave held in her hands, his face paled, and he began to weep.
olding the head of her victim high above her,
gave said, “
ather, why do you weep?
ook how¦
have killed a mountain lion!
ook how strong and brave your daughter is! Why are you not proud?” Wee
ping for his dead grandson, and for his daughter who loved her son
entheus morethan anyone in the world,
admus said, “Dear
gave, look again at what prize youhave been blessed with, and then you will understand why
¦
am weeping.”
admus’s sadwords broke
gave’s trance, and when she looked again at the head in her hands, her proud laughter quickly turned to terror.
he saw that she had killed her own
son!
alling to the ground,
gave wept, finally coming to understand the powersof the god Dionysus, whom her family had so vilely offended by their disbelief.
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:Who were Dionysus’s parents? Dionysus was the child of
¤ eus, the king of the gods,
and emele, the daughter of
§
ing
admus of¥ hebes.
ow did Dionysus’s mother, em
ele, die?¡
ecause she was mortal, emele could not look at
¤ eus unless he was di
sguised. When she persuaded¤
eus to reveal himself in his true form,
emele wasunable to withstand the power of the god’s immortality, and she was burned to ashe
s.
ow did ¤ eus save the baby emele was carrying?
s emele’s body was engulfed in flames,
¤ eus took the unborn baby from her womb and sewed it into his thigh.
ater, the baby was reborn out of¤
eus’s thigh. Why did Dionysus become angry withthe people of
¥ hebes?
¥ he
¥ hebans did not respect the memory of his mother,
eme
le, nor did they respect his godlike powers and nature. Why did
entheus arrestDionysus?
entheus thought the young visitor was a troublemaker, not a god.
entheus thought Dionysus and his followers were disturbing the peace of the city. Why did
gave kill her son,
entheus?
nder a spell induced by Dionysus,
gave mistook
entheus for a mountain lion. When she came out of the trance,
gave was shocked and horrified by what she had done.
!
:
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¥
Dionysus was often thought to be a late addition to the¢
reek pantheon, or set of gods.
s was true in this story, he was sometimes only reluctantly accepted, and often he was viewed as an outsider.
e was known as the god of wine and of altered states.
¦ t is important to note that people believed that Dionysus had the
power not only to cause the intoxication of the body, as through the consumption of wine, but also the intoxication of the spirit, as through ecstatic or frenz
ied behavior.
ichmond
.
athorn writes:¦ n his myths Dionysus invades from without because it was his nature as a god toapparently invade the individual from without: of all deities he was the one who most characteristically “possessed” his devotee; he “filled the devotee with the god,” sometimes through the medium of wine, more often directly, since he was essentially the wild spirit of intoxicated joy that thrills throughout the whole realmof 2 nature.
Dionysus was also known in¢
reece by the name¡
acchus, and it is from this namethat we have derived the term bacchanalia, which is a riotous celebration or scene of revelry.
¥
he people who worshipped Dionysus were considered wild and out of control.
¦ n fact and in fiction, the supporters of Dionysus were associated wi
th nature and insanity.¦
n
©
ythology,
n¦
llustrated
¢
uide, editor
oy Willis explains:¥
he mythical male followers of [Dionysus] were the satyrs, creatures who were part man and part goat with horses’ tails.
is female followers, both in myth and reality, were called
¡
acchants (“women of¡
acchus”) or maenads 3 (“mad women”).
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
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¥ he worship of Dionysus is also connected to the birth and development of Western theater.
rofessor¡
arry¡
.
owell writes:Dionysus also played an important role in
¢
reek culture through his associationwith the theater.
©
any of the bestknown¢
reek myths are preserved as the plots of tragedies performed in his honor.
¡
eginning in the sixth century¡
.
., tragedi
es were performed at a spring festival of Dionysus in
thens known as the
enea.. . .
thers were performed at the more important
ity Dionysia [or festivals to Dionysus], probably reorganized sometime in the middle of the sixth century
¡
.
. . . . ome elements in
¢
reek drama seem to be traceable to the cult of Dionysus, in whose honor these festivals were held, but more than a hundred years of intensive scholarship have been unable to clarify the precise rela4 tionship between the cult and
¢
reek drama.
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7¡
¦
D
¦
¨ £ ©
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
¢
reece has always had a close and tumultuous relationship with its neighbors tothe east.
¦ n the ancient world, the civilizations in
sia©
inor had an importantrole in the development of
¢
reek religion and culture.¥ he groups of people in
sia©
inor, a great part of which is now¥ urkey, and the people of
¢
reece oftenhad much in common. Due to trade and travel, they had many opportunities to share myths and religious beliefs.
¥ he story of
¡
aucis and
hilemon probably crossed
the cultural divide. ¥ he myth was written down by the
oman poet,
vid.
hrygia, the land where
¡
aucis and
hilemon live, was located in
sia©
inor, but in this story,
¤
eus and
ermes, gods who are¢
reek in origin, visit the area as if itwere just another part of their
¢
reek landscape.¡
ecause travel was so central to the lives of the ancient
¢
reeks, there were many customs related to the treatment of guests and travelers.
or example, it was considered an honor to have a guest in one’s home.
ll guests were to be respected and treated kindly, even if they were strangers.
¤ eus was the particular protector of guests, and
ermes, thefleet-footed messenger of the gods, was considered to be a protector of travelers and the god of the highway.
¦ n the myths and folktales of many cultures, a dis
guised king or god sometimes visits common people.¥
hese stories remind people always to offer kindness to strangers, since the true identity of a stranger can
never be known.¥
he story of
¡
aucis and
hilemon demonstrates the importance ofthe custom of respecting visitors.
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¦
D
¦
¨ £ ©
¡
aucis and
hilemon lived in
hrygia, a part of
sia©
inor.¥ hey had been marrie
d for many years, and although they were very poor, they were happy and loved each other dearly.
¥ heir farm was small, and they could grow only enough to feed t
hemselves. ometimes conditions made it difficult to coax any crops out of the l
and, so they often relied on the eggs of the single goose that lived on the farm.
¥ he goose not only laid eggs, but it acted like a watchdog, protecting the cou
ple’s meager possessions.
ne day, ¤ eus and
ermes decided to visit
hrygia. ¤ eus,the protector of guests, wanted to see if the people in
hrygia were being kindto visitors.
¤
eus and
ermes wore ragged clothes so that no one would recognizethem.
¥ hey knew that as gods they would be treated royally, but they wanted to
see how they would be welcomed as ordinary travelers.¥ hus disguised, the gods w
ent from house to house in
hrygia.
t the door of each house the ragged strangers asked the owners if they could rest by the fireplace and have something to eat and drink.
¡
ut each door was slammed rudely in their faces.
fter this had happened many times,
¤ eus began to worry.
e turned to
ermes 91
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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and asked, “
ow can anyone travel in such an inhospitable country where everyone seems so rude and disrespectful?
re there no people in
hrygia who are kind to strangers?
¥ ravelers far from home should not have to go hungry.
¦ wonder how the
se rude people would feel if they were treated the same way they have been treating us?”
ermes had no ready answer for¤ eus, and the pair trudged along.
inally,
after knocking on hundreds of doors and being refused hospitality at each one,the disguised gods found themselves before a hut that was smaller and more rundown than any of the houses they had yet visited.
¥
he house was situated near thebottom of a tall hill, and although the farm around the house was small, the grounds were well-tended. When the strangers knocked on the door of the modest hut,a ragged couple appeared.
¦ mmediately and with open arms, they invited the stra
ngers into their home. Ducking under the low doorway, the disguised gods enteredinto the small but spotless single room.
¥ he couple’s names were
¡
aucis and
hilemon.
¡
aucis was a small woman with graying hair, a sweet face, and a friendly smile; and her husband,
hilemon, was hard-working and strong despite his years.¥
hey were kind and happily went to work preparing a meal and trying to make theirguests feel comfortable.
¡
aucis and
hilemon asked neither the visitors’ names no
r their origins; the couple understood that it was up to the visitors to offer this information only if they so chose. With sincere attention to their visitors’ comfort, the couple invited their guests to sit near the warm hearth, and
¡
aucisthrew a thin pillow over the single hard bench.
¥ hen
¡
aucis heated up the fire and began to boil water. While she cooked the evening meal,
¡
aucis spoke happilywith the guests. “We are so glad to have you with us,” she said. 92
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
“We do not have much, my
hilemon and¦ , but we are happy to share whatever we hav
e with our friends.”
s she said this, her husband smiled and nodded in agreement.
inally, the meager meal was ready.¡
aucis propped up their rickety table witha broken dish and served her guests.
hilemon made sure that the guests had whatever they might need.
¥ he couple were so busy enjoying their company that nothin
g seemed unusual.¢
radually, however,
hilemon and¡
aucis both noticed that although they had already used up their small supply of wine, the wine jug was as full as ever, even though it had been emptied several times.
learly, their guestscould not be the poor travelers they appeared to be.
uch a miracle must be the
magic of immortals.¦ mmediately, the couple fell to their knees, begging the go
ds’ forgiveness for the meager dinner they had served and the shabbiness of theirtiny home.
£
mbarrassed at his poverty,
hilemon got up quickly from his knees and ran outside, hoping to catch the couple’s goose in order to cook it as a more appropriate dinner offering for the gods.
¡
ut the goose sensed the old man’s purposeand ran away.
inally, the goose ran straight into the house and jumped into¤ e
us’s lap for protection.¤
eus laughed, and told the old man to stop his chasing.¥
he god assured the couple that he did not wish to eat their only goose. till sm
iling,¤
eus and
ermes said, “
ome with us,
¡
aucis and
hilemon.
ou have been wonderful hosts, and you shall be rewarded.
owever, the rest of the people in thiscountry shall be punished for their rudeness.”
ervously,¡
aucis and
hilemon followed as the gods hiked to the top of the hill behind their house. When they turned to look down at the valley, the couple was dismayed to see that all the houses in the village—except 94
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¡
aucis and
hilemon
their own—had disappeared under the waters of a huge flood.
ow, only the tips ofthe highest rooftops could be seen peeking out above the raging waters.
¥ he floo
d had swept in so quickly and so silently that the entire village had been surprised.
¡
aucis and
hilemon could not see a soul left in their town.
ll that wasleft was their own tiny home, the floodwaters lapping at its doorway.
n the hig
h hill, safe and dry above the flood,¡
aucis and
hilemon looked down again at their farm, unable to speak.
mazed, they watched as their house changed before their eyes into a magnificent temple made of gold and marble.
¥
hey had no idea why this was happening. When they looked questioningly to the gods for an answer,
¤ eus smiled kindly and said, “
ou shall have your reward now.¥ ell me your wish, a
nd you shall have it.”
or a moment,¡
aucis and
hilemon whispered together; theyneeded only a minute to decide what their wish would be.
irst, they asked the gods if they could be priests in the shiny gold temple that now stood in place oftheir house.
¥ hen they begged the gods to allow them to die both at the same mo
ment, so that neither would ever have to live without the other.¤ eus granted th
e couple their first wish right away.¡
efore returning with
ermes to©
ount
lympus,
¤ eus sent
¡
aucis and
hilemon off to serve in the great temple that now sto
od where their farm used to be.¥
he couple lived happily there for many years, growing very old but remaining ever faithful to the gods and to each other.
ne day, while standing outside the temple,
¡
aucis saw her husband’s body stiffen.
ight before her eyes,
hilemon’s feet grew into the ground, and leaves sprouted out of his hands.
¡
aucis was shocked, but suddenly she realized that her own body wasalso sprouting roots and leaves.
¥
he couple had only a moment to say a loving 95
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ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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goodbye before they both turned into trees, their trunks touching and their leaves mingling.
¦ n this way, the gods fulfilled their promise to
¡
aucis and
hilemon—they would never be apart, even in death.
fter this startling event, the peoplewho came to live again in
hrygia always told the couple’s story and hung wreathson the trees that grew twisted together outside the golden temple.
¦ n this way,
the people of
hrygia honored the spirit of¡
aucis and
hilemon, the kind and faithful couple who were rewarded by the gods for their kindness to others.
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:
ow was one supposed to treat a guest in ancient¢
reece?¦ t was customary to tre
at guests or strangers with respect and hospitality.£
ven if a visitor was a complete stranger, he or she was expected to be treated with kindness. Why did
¤ eus
and
ermes visit
hrygia in disguise?¥
he gods disguised themselves so they could see how the people treated ordinary guests and strangers. What happened to th
e people who refused to invite the strangers into their homes? ¥ hey disappearedunder the waters of a huge flood. Why did
¤ eus and
ermes punish the people of
hrygia?¥
he people of
hrygia had been rude and inhospitable.¥
his made the godsangry. Why did the gods reward
¡
aucis and
hilemon?¥ he couple was kind and fol
lowed the¢
reek custom of respecting strangers and travelers.
lthough they werepoor and had little to eat, they shared whatever they had. Why did
¡
aucis and
hilemon turn into trees?¡
y becoming trees,¡
aucis and
hilemon were able to remain together, even after their deaths.
¥ he touching trees are a symbol of their
everlasting life together.
!
:
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:
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:
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:
:
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:
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¥
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¥
¥ he story of
¡
aucis and
hilemon includes a devastating flood, a symbolic eventthat appears in the creation stories of many cultures as well as in other
¢
reekmyths.
ichmond
.
athorn explains the frequency of flood stories in mythology:
loods are a recurrent natural phenomenon, and flood-stories are a worldwide mythical phenomenon.
¥
o connect any particular flood-story with any particular flood is to confound myth, science, and history. . . .
¥ here are lesser flood-stories
in¢
reek mythology; the best-known in other mythologies are, of course,
oah’s inthe
¡
ible and 1
tnapishtim’s in¥ he
£
pic of¢
ilgamesh.
athorn goes on to explain why floods are such a useful symbol.
e writes:
loods suitably symbolize the end of one era and the beginning of another because they are baptisms in extenso: water destroys, kills, cleanses, purifies, revivifies, and is the 2 stuff of new life.
¥ he importance of hospitality in ancient
¢
reece was also an expectation well known to people of other cultures.
lassicist¡
arry¡
.
owell explains:
bove all,¤
eus protected the custom called xenia, which we can roughly translate as “a formal institution of friendship.”
enia enabled¢
reeks to travel safely to
distant lands where other
¢
reeks lived.
relationship was established when a wanderer [xenos means “guest,” or stranger] was received into someone’s household, entertained, and given a gift.
hould the host one day visit the wanderer’s home, he could expect to be received similarly.
bligations of reciprocal hospitality fellnot only on the individuals involved originally, but also on their entire families and on their 3 descendants.
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
©
any myths rely on the metamorphosis, or transformation, of a character in orderto explain the existence or appearance of certain animals, plants, strange landformations, or odd events that occur in the world.
©
etamorphoses are a common theme in
¢
reek myths.¦ n many, the climax of a story is reached when a main chara
cter changes from a person into an entirely different creature.¥
his type of change occurs through the intervention of a god.
¥ he story of
£
cho and
arcissus is
one such story. ometime around
.D. 8, the
oman poet
vid wrote one version of this story in his work called
¥ he
©
etamorphoses, a fifteen-volume epic poem that relates more than two hundred stories.
¦
ronically, the
oman work¥
he©
etamorphoses remains one of the most significant contributions to our knowledge of
¢
reek mythology today.
¥ he tale of
£
cho and
arcissus relates the story of the tragic love of a nymph for a young man.
ymphs were minor nature goddesses who wereusually represented as beautiful maidens living in the mountains, forests, trees, or water.
£
cho was a talkative mountain nymph who fell in love with
arcissus,the son of the river-god
ephisus.
either£
cho nor
arcissus was worshipped aspart of any religious ceremony in ancient
¢
reece, but their story became important to explain otherwise unfathomable natural occurrences.
100
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£
D
¦
£
cho was a beautiful mountain nymph who was a favorite friend of
rtemis, the goddess of the hunt and a special protector of maidens.
£
cho, friendly and fun-loving, adored talking to her many sisters and friends.
evertheless, no one ever complained that she talked too much, because
£
cho was so much fun to be with, andeveryone loved her.
ne of the other nymphs was having a love affair with¤
eus,the king of the gods.
ften, the couple would meet in a secret glade in the for
est, far from the jealous eyes of
era, ¤ eus’s wife.£
cho did not know about the affair, and she did not mind when her friends and sisters asked her to stand guard outside the secret glade.
he never even thought to ask them why the glade needed guarding.
ll that£
cho knew was that her sisters and friends warned her that her most important job was to keep
era away from the glade.¡
efore long,
eraheard rumors that her husband was having an affair, and she became determined to find out which nymph was tempting her husband away.
s she entered the forestand neared the glade,
era saw£
cho lounging near a shady group of trees.¦ t was
clear to£
cho that
era wanted to enter the glade, and, remembering 101
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
her sisters’ warning,£
cho struck up a friendly conversation with the goddess, trying to distract her. While
£
cho was busy chatting with
era,¤ eus and his lover
heard
era’s unmistakable voice and managed to escape before they could be discovered. When
era finally insisted on entering the glade and found that her husbandhad gotten away, she was furious!
nd even though£
cho had played no part at al
l in ¤ eus’s affair,
era decided to punish her. ¦ n a high, shrill voice, the queenof the gods pronounced, “
oung lady, your chattering has done you in, and you will be punished for it!
rom this moment forward, the only words you will ever beable to utter will be exactly those words, no more and no less, that other people have said to you first.”
£
cho was very upset. he had not meant to make
era angry.
he had only been helping her sisters and friends.
ow she was burdened withan unbearable punishment, especially for someone who loved to talk!
¦
t seemed like nothing could be worse than silence or being doomed to repeat someone else’s words.
adly,
£
cho left the glade, waving silently to her sisters and friends andwondering what she was going to do. Distracted by her thoughts,
£
cho suddenly found herself near a beautiful pond.
¥
here, sitting at the water’s edge, was the handsomest young man
£
cho had ever seen. Desperately,£
cho wished to make conversa
tion with this youth, whose name was
arcissus, but since she had no way to talkto him, the young nymph hid herself behind a tree and watched to see what he was doing.
arcissus was so good-looking that people were constantly falling in love with him at first sight.
e was tall and naturally strong, and his curly hairwas cut in such a way that it framed his elegant face.
aving never seen himself, however,
arcissus had no idea how handsome 102
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£
cho and
arcissus
he was, and he never understood why he received so much attention from those around him.
¦ n fact, that very day he had come into the forest trying to get away f
rom all the people who had been gawking at him.¥ hirsty from his long walk,
arcissus decided to stop at the pond for a drink.
s he knelt before the still water, he saw the most beautiful face staring back at him from beneath the wet surfa
ce.¡
ut when he reached down to touch the beautiful person in the water, the face got blurry and quickly disappeared.
arcissus was so saddened at the disappearance of the beautiful water person that he sat back on the bank and cried.
fewminutes later, he looked into the pond.
¥ here was the beautiful face, looking b
ack at him.¥ his time there were sad tears streaming down the handsome face.
arcissus felt sorry for the beautiful water person.
e reached into the water to try to comfort him, but once again, the water person disappeared.
uddenly,
arcissus heard a rustling in the leaves behind him.
e did not know that£
cho was hiding nearby, waiting for her chance to attract his attention.
tartled and sadde
ned by the disappearance of the beautiful person in the water,
arcissus calledout, “Who’s there?”
¦
n reply,£
cho answered, “Who’s there?”
ince she could only repeat thyouth’s words, as
era had commanded her, this was all the conversation she could
manage.
£
cho thought
arcissus was beautiful indeed, and she was beginning to fall in love with him.
shamed of her inability to speak, however, she remained hidden.
arcissus was surprised to hear his words flung back to him, and he was alittle annoyed. Why would anyone be so rude as to repeat the words of someone else?
£
xasperated,
arcissus turned his attention to the person he saw in the water.
£
ach time
arcissus tried to touch the water, the beautiful person disappeared.
arcissus did not realize 103
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oddesses in¢
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that there was no person living beneath the surface of the water and that he wasactually seeing his own reflection.
¥ here was only
arcissus sitting on the bank, looking into the pond.
s the sun set behind the trees, the youth could no longer see his reflection in the water.
alling out to the person he believed to live under the surface of the pond,
arcissus cried, “Wait!
ou are so beautiful!¦
love you!”
ll he heard in reply was the sound of£
cho’s voice repeating his wordsfrom her hiding place among the trees.
arcissus had fallen deeply in love withthe person he
104
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£
cho and
arcissus
thought he saw in the water, just as£
cho had fallen in love with him. Day afterday, the youth and the nymph sat near the pond,
arcissus staring at his reflection and
£
cho staring at him.
arcissus pined for his appearing and disappearinglove, and
£
cho sat nearby, fists clenched in frustration, wishing she could speak her own thoughts.
s time went by, the unhappy lovers forgot to sleep, eat, o
r drink, so distracted were they by their unfulfilled loves.
fter some time,
arcissus noticed that the person in the water had grown thin and tired.
e did not
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ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
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understand that it was he who was withering away.
rom her hiding place,£
cho could see
arcissus wasting away, but she could not see how equally gaunt she wasbecoming herself. Day after day,
arcissus became more and more distraught as hesat by the bank of the pond, staring mournfully at the water.
ne day, overcomewith frustration, he called out, “
©
y love, why do you ignore me? Do you not see t
hat ¦ am dying for you?”
iding in the woods,£
cho responded, “©
y love, why do you ignore me? Do you not see that
¦ am dying for you?”
onsumed by his own overwhelming sadness,
arcissus took no notice of the nymph’s repetitive answers.
e leaned down, clutching at the water, but he could no longer go on.
£
xhausted,
arcissusdied by the water’s edge, trying to embrace his mysterious lover.
t the moment ofhis death, the gods took pity on the youth and his misdirected love and turnedhim into the flower called the narcissus.
£
cho, watching her love transform intoa beautiful flower before her eyes, wept silently from her hiding place in theforest.
¥ hus weeping, she died too, leaving only her echoing voice behind.
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! £
¥ ¦
D
W
£
!
:
:!
:
:What type of goddess was
£
cho? he was a mountain nymph, a type of minor nature
goddess. Why did
era punish£
cho?
era had come to the forest to find her husband,
¤ eus, with his lover.
¡
ecause£
cho chatted so much and distracted her,
erawas unable to catch him.
he punished£
cho for interfering with her plans. Whatwas
£
cho’s punishment? he would no longer be able to speak her own mind.
he woul
d only be allowed to repeat what others had said first. What happened when
arcissus looked in the pond?
e saw his reflection in the water and thought there was a beautiful person living beneath the water.
arcissus fell so deeply in lovewith the person he saw in the water that he did not realize he was actually seeing a reflection of himself. Why did
£
cho and
arcissus die?£
cho and
arcissus both died of unrequited, or unfulfilled, love.
¥ hey became so obsessed by their l
ove that they stopped taking care of themselves and withered away. What are someaspects of nature explained by the connected myths of
£
cho and
arcissus?¥ he c
onnected stories of£
cho and
arcissus help explain the reflection of sound, known as echoing, and the nature of sight-reflection, such as images in water or mirrors.
¥
he introduction of the narcissus flower is also suggested here. 107
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£ £
¥
© © £
¥
t the end of this story, both characters change, or metamorphose, into different aspects of nature.
£
cho becomes the repetition of sound, and
arcissus becomesa flower.
¡
efore
vid, the myths of£
cho and
arcissus seem to have been considered separately.
ichmond
.
athorn explains:£
ither
vid . . . or some predecessor must have combined the stories of£
cho and
arcissus because of the associated 1 ideas of sound-reflection and sight-refle
ction.
¥
here is also a moral to this story.
arcissus’s death and transformation demonstrate the danger of excessive self-love.
¥ he
£
nglish language has borrowed
arcissus’s name to decribe the term now commonly used for such self-obsessive love: narcissism.
¥ he story of
arcissus illustrates the dangers of this type of behavior:
eople with narcissistic personality disorder have a grandiose sense of self-importance.
¥ hey seek excessive admiration from others and fantasize about unlimite
d success or power.¥ hey believe they are special, unique, or superior to others
.
owever, they often have very fragile 2 self-esteem.
£
cho’s story is one that inspired much superstition in ancient¢
reece.
lthough sh
e was not worshipped as a goddess,
£
cho was regarded as an important figure in
¢
reek mythology.
athorn describes her place in ancient¢
reek society:£
cho had a shrine in
thens, but seems not really to have had a place in¢
reek cult.
er myth owes more to superstition than to religion; in folklore echoes areoften thought to 3 be answers given by supernatural voices.
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9 £
¦
D £
¥
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¦
¥
D
¥ ¦
©
any¢
reek myths illustrate the trials and errors of human existence.
ften characters are punished for failing to recognize their limitations.
¥ he
¢
reek word hubris is often used to describe the human tendency to overstep one’s boundaries.
ometimes people in myths exhibit hubris by challenging the authority of a ruleror a god.
ubris is sometimes thought to be the result of excessive pride.
nfortunately, acts of hubris usually end in tragedy.
ubris and the way it may be en
couraged by peer pressure are touched on in the story of
elius and
haethon.
elius, the god of the sun (helios is the
¢
reek word for sun), was the son of the¥
itan gods,
yperion and¥
heia.
lthough he was an important figure because of his power over the sun,
elius was not worshipped in any significant way by the ancient
¢
reeks.
ften he was linked to, and sometimes confused with,
pollo, thegod of light.
elius had many mistresses with whom he had many children.
ne ofhis lovers was
lymene, an oceanid, or spirit of the sea, the daughter of the¥
itan gods
ceanus and¥ ethys.
elius and
lymene had a son,
haethon, whose namemeans “shining.”
¥ he story of
elius and
haethon is told by
vid in his©
etamorphoses.
¦ t is another story that helps explain certain wonders of nature.
¦ n this st
ory, we are offered explanations for the origins of the©
ilky Way galaxy and thedeserts of
frica.¥ he story also mentions real places—
£
thiopia in
frica and th
e
£
ridanus
iver, which is often 1 thought to be the modern
o
iver in¦
taly.
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£
¦
D £
¥
elius was the god of the sun.
e ruled no particular area on the earth’s surfacebecause he had not been present when
¤ eus was busy assigning jobs to the gods.
elius’s main job was to ride a chariot across the sky each day.¥ his chariot was v
ery important because, in fact, it was the sun itself.¥ he sun gave light and wa
rmth to the earth, and its travels across the heavens caused day and night.
elius was careful never to let anything jeopardize the daily rising and setting of
the sun.
lthough he was very busy,
elius had an affair with
lymene, a mortalwoman.
lymene lived in the geographical area that is now known as£
thiopia.¥ he
couple had a son named
haethon.
oon after the birth of
haethon, the love affair ended, and
lymene married a prince who raised the boy as his own son.¥ he p
rince and
lymene had other children after their marriage, and they all lived very happily for many years.
¥ he happiness of the royal family was shattered, howe
ver, when
lymene confided to
haethon that her husband, the prince, was not theboy’s real father.
lymene told
haethon that his father was
elius, the sun god.
haethon was amazed at what his mother told him. 111
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oddesses in¢
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haethon was so obsessed with this shocking news that he bragged about his important father to the other boys at school.
owever, the other boys did not believehim, and although they were his friends, the boys teased
haethon about his story.
¥
hey just could not believe that their friend was the son of a god, suspecting instead that this story was just another one of
haethon’s fantasies.
ne of hi
s friends challenged
haethon and said, “ ¦ f
elius is really your father, show ussome proof.
¥ hen we will believe you.” Determined to show his friends that he was
telling the truth,
haethon went home and asked his mother to help him prove that
elius was really his father.
lymene had no physical evidence available to prove that the god was her son’s father.
owever, she promised to show
haethon theway to
elius’s palace where he could ask the god himself for some proof. With hismother’s directions,
haethon easily found the god’s palace.
e could hardly believe his eyes when he saw it for the first time.
¦ t was the most magnificent buildi
ng the boy had ever seen.¦ n fact, it was probably one of the most beautiful pal
aces ever built.
ervously,
haethon approached the majestic dais where
elius was sitting.
¥
he boy could not help but gawk at the splendor of everything aroundhim.
uge pillars of bronze and gold held up the ceiling of the throne room, ma
king the chamber sparkle with light.
£
ven the god’s throne, carved out of solid emerald, was exquisite.¥
here were lesser gods, who acted as
elius’s servants, milling about the room, adding to the god’s majesty.
¥
hese various gods were called Day,
©
onth,
ear, the
enturies, the
ours, and the easons.
haethon looked so much like his beautiful mother with his striking physique and intense eyes that
elius 112
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elius and
haethon
recognized him as his son right away.¥ he god told
haethon that, indeed, he washis father, just as
lymene had said. When
haethon explained that he wished tohave proof to show his friends,
elius was surprised but understanding.
e told
haethon, “¡
y the
iver
tyx in
ades,¦
swear to give you whatever proof you askfor.”
haethon knew that the god was serious when he said this because no one, no
t even a god, could go back on a promise sworn by the
iver tyx. ¥ hen, with theassurance of this promise,
haethon turned to
elius and said, “
ather,¦ believe
that¦
am your son.¡
ut¦
would like to prove it to my friends who teased me and claimed that
¦ am only pretending that you are my father.
¦ know that you are
very careful about driving your chariot across the sky each day, but if¦ am you
r son, you will allow me to drive the chariot tomorrow so that everyone may seeme riding in your place.
¥
hen they will believe that¦
am your son.¥
hey will see that
¦ can be as strong and as brave as a god.
emember your promise, and letme drive your chariot.”
s soon as he heard his son’s request,
elius wished that hehad not made such a rash, unbreakable promise.
¥ he sun god never allowed anyone
else to drive his chariot for the simple reason that it was extremely difficultto manage.
¥ he horses were so unruly that they would obey no one but
elius.£
v
en¤
eus, the king of the gods, could not drive
elius’s chariot.
elius begged hisson to reconsider his request and to ask for some other kind of proof.
e triedto make
haethon understand the danger and futility of trying to drive the chariot.
£
ven if he were¤ eus himself,
elius stressed,
haethon could easily be killed by trying to ride across the sky. Despite these warnings,
haethon was determined to drive the sky chariot.
e reminded the god of his oath 113
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
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upon the
iver tyx.
¥ hus,
elius was forced to allow the boy his wish, and he told his servants, the
ours, to hitch up the horses to prepare for the boy’s departure.
haethon was bursting with excitement.
e could hardly keep from shoutingfor joy as he watched the
ours prepare the horses. While the servants held thehorses steady,
haethon climbed into the chariot, grinning at his father, who lo
oked on with dismay. “
ather,”
haethon said assuringly, “Do not worry. ¦ will show you all what a good driver
¦ am.
ou will be so proud!” With a final wave, the youngprince dismissed the servants and tugged on the flaming gold reins to urge themagnificent horses onward into the sky.
or one brief moment, the earth was bathed in a calm morning light.
elius began to breathe an audible sigh of relief—perhaps
haethon would be able to drive the horses after all.
nfortunately, this moment of calm was soon shattered.
lmost immediately after leaving his father’s palace with the chariot,
haethon lost control of the horses.
e just could not keep them on their path.
¥ he horses left the road they usually traveled and began t
o race in different directions.¥ he boy did not feel at all like the powerful so
n of
elius, the ruler of the day and night.¦
nstead, he was terrified, and he clutched the side of the chariot to keep from falling out.
©
ournfully,
elius wat
ched his son’s wild ride from his shimmering throne, but he could do nothing to stop the disobedient horses.
irst, the chariot took
haethon into the night sky where he caused such damage that a huge burnt trail was left behind wherever thechariot happened to touch down.
¥ his scar became the
©
ilky Way, and even now theetchings of
haethon’s chariot ride can be seen streaking across the sky.
fter leaving the night, the horses raced 114
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
back toward earth, dragging their frightened driver behind them.¥ he horses swoo
ped down over the area near the earth’s equator, where the land caught fire when the chariot touched it.
¥ hese burned areas became the deserts of
frica.
ews of
haethon’s disastrous ride soon made its way to©
ount
lympus.¢
aia, the first mother of the gods, begged the other gods to help save the earth from destruction.
s they watched, the gods began to realize that the entire world would soon be burned to a crisp if they did not step in soon and somehow manage to stop the racing chariot.
lthough he did not want to kill
elius’s son,¤
eus knew that this idea would be the only way to save the earth.
o
¤ eus hurled a bolt of lightning a
t
haethon.
is aim was good, and
haethon fell out of the chariot to his deathin the
£
ridanus
iver.¥ he wild horses and the splintered chariot also fell into
the river.
lthough they were sorry that the boy had died, most of the gods were relieved to see that the earth had been merely scorched and not completely destroyed.
t his forge,
ephaestus the blacksmith made
elius a new chariot so that the world would continue to enjoy day and night.
¥ he new chariot—covered in jewe
ls and intricate carvings—was even more beautiful than the first, in memory of thegod’s lost son.
elius’s daughters, the
eliades, were so upset about their brother’s
death, however, that they gathered along the
£
ridanus
iver to weep for him.¥
hey cried so many tears and for so many years that the gods took pity on them andturned them into poplar trees that grew along the banks of the river; their abundant tears were turned into amber, which dropped from the trees into the river.
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! £
¥ ¦
D
W
£
!
:
:Who were
haethon’s parents?
haethon’s father was
elius, the god of the sun.
is mother was
lymene, a mortal woman who lived in a land that is now£
thiopia.
ater
lymene married a prince who raised
haethon as his own son. Why did
haethonwant proof that
elius was his father?
haethon’s friends did not believe that hewas the son of a god.
¥ heir disbelief caused
haethon to prove to his friends, a
nd the world, that he was the child of a famous and important god. Why was
elius upset by
haethon’s request to drive the sun chariot?
elius knew how dangerousit would be for his son to drive the chariot.
elius realized that he alone could control the horses.
e knew that
haethon would surely be hurt if he attemptedsuch a dangerous ride. What astrological and geographical areas did
haethon’s disastrous chariot ride create? When the runaway chariot raced off into the sky, the
©
ilky Way was marked out for eternity. When it touched the earth, the desertsof
frica were created. What is hubris?
ubris is the¢
reek word to describe akind of pride that comes over people when they try to be better than the gods insome way.
haethon committed an act of hubris when he insisted that he could drive the sun chariot across the sky.
haethon refused to recognize his limitations.
s a result, his life ended tragically.
!
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¥
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¥
¡
arry¡
.
owell suggests that
vid’s version of the story has some very strong moral lessons.
owell writes:¦ t is a good example how, in the hands of the urbane
oman
vid, descriptions ofthe world’s early days become a prettified fantasy embodying the teasing morals, “Don’t be too curious about your origins, and don’t get too big for your 2 breeches!”
¥ he figure of
elius is often associated with the island of
hodes. ¦ n his encyclopedia of
¢
reek mythology,
ichard toneman writes:
¥
o make up for [being allotted no specific region on earth],¤
eus allotted [
elius] the newly arisen island of
hodes, of which he became the patron.¥ he
olossus of
hodes was a bronze statue of
elius.
is portion is an appropriate one as
hodes claims to receive more hours of sunshine per 3 year than any other placein the
©
editerranean.
¥ he
¢
reeks, like people of many other cultures, often looked up into the sky atnight and saw constellations, or pictures in the arrangements of stars.
¥ he
¢
reek poets
omer and
esiod both mention constellations in their 4 works.¦
n his book,
¢
reek©
ythology,
ichmond
.
athorn explains that the story of
haethon’s wil
d ride across the sky was sometimes used to remember the location of certain stars.
e says:£
ventually the whole drama was transported to the sky:£
ridanus became a constellation;
haethon became
uriga, “the
harioteer”; and his sisters became the 5
yades, “the
ainy
nes.”
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¢
ambrosia—
drink, ointment, or perfume used by the gods. Demeter used such an ointment to anoint Demophoon, the baby prince of
£
leusis. archaeology—¥ he study of anc
ient civilizations. bacchantes—
emale followers of the god Dionysus.¥ hese women o
ften behaved like wild animals and seemed to have superhuman strength. chaos—¥ he d
isordered order of the universe before the beginning of time.£
ventually,¢
aia,the first goddess of the new world, divided it into earth, sky, and sea.
¥ he
¢
re
ek work could also mean a wide open space or a deep cavern.
yclopes— ¥ he giant children of
¢
aia and
ranus who each had only one eye in the middle of the forehead.
¥
hey were skilled craftsmen and made weapons for the
lympians in their revoltagainst the
¥ itans. dais—
raised platform where a throne is often placed. echo—¥ he
reflection of sound in nature.¥ he word comes from the name of the nymph who wa
s restricted to repeating what other people said to her.£
leusinian©
ysteries— ecr
et religious ceremonies in honor of the goddess Demeter.¥
hey were held in£
leusis, the town where Demeter was thought to have stayed while mourning the marriage of her daughter to
ades, the god of the
nderworld. glade—
shady part of the forest. hubris—
£
xcessive pride.
eople commit acts of excessive pride when they ignore their limitations and go beyond their bounds.
uch actions often end in tragedy. metamorphosis—
change or transformation.¦ n
¢
reek myth, there are many insta
nces where a person is changed into something else.
or example,
arcissus undergoes such a change when he is turned into a flower.
119
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
narcissism— elf-love. nymph—
minor goddess or divinity of nature.¥ he nymphs were u
sually represented as beautiful maidens who dwelled in the mountains, forests, trees, or water. oceanid—
spirit of the sea.
lympia—
town in the western part of the
eloponnesus that has major temples to the
lympian gods, the ruins of whichone can still visit.
lympians—¥ he group of gods and goddesses, including
¤ eus, wh
o were descended from the ¥ itans. omen—
natural sign or occurance that can be interpreted to predict the future. oracle—
prophet who interprets signs and omens. pantheon—
group of gods and goddesses. polytheistic—¡
elieving in more than one god or goddess.
iver tyx—
n important river in the
nderworld.¦ f a vow was made on t
he name of this river, it could never be broken, not even by a god. sickle—
curved knife used to harvest crops.
ronos used one to kill his father,
ranus.¥ arta
rus—
deep cavern where many of the¥
itans were locked up after the war between the
¥ itans and the
lympians.¥ itans—
¥ he gods and goddesses who were children of
¢
aia and
ranus.¥ heir leader was
ronus, the father of the
lympian gods. trident—
three-pronged spear.
¥ he
yclopes made one for
oseidon, the god of the oceans,during the war between the
¥
itans and the
lympians.
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¥
£
¥
£
reface 1.
iddell & cott,
¢
reek-£
nglish
exicon (
xford,£
ngland:
larendon
ress, 1948).
ll further definitions of¢
reek words will rely on
iddell & cott.
2.©
ark
.©
orford and
obert J.
enardon,
lassical .©
ythology, 6th ed. (
ew
ork:
ongman, 1999), p. 16. 3.¡
arry¡
.
owell,
lassical©
yth, 2nd ed. (
pper
addle
iver,
. J.:
rentice
all, 1998), pp. 25-27. 4.
nne
.¡
aumgartner,
omprehensive Dictionary of the¢
ods (
ew
ork: Wing¡
ooks, 1995), p. 201.
ha
pter 1.
reation 1.
esiod, ¥ heogony, lines 110–115, <http://www.perseus. tufts.edu/cgibin/ptext?doc=
erseus%3
text%3
1999.01. 0130&query=card%3D%234&loc=63> (
ctober 30, 2000). 2.
ucilla¡
urn,¢
reek©
yths (
ustin:
niversity of¥
exas
ress,1990), p. 9. 3.
§
en Dowden,¥ he
ses of¢
reek©
ythology (
ew
ork:
outledge, 1992), p. 135. 4. John
insent,¢
reek©
ythology (
ew
ork:
aul
amlyn, 1969), p.22.
hapter 2.¥ he War
¡
etween the¥ itans and the
lympians 1. pyros
hotinos,
lympia:
omplete¢
uide, trans.¥
ina©
c¢
eorge and
olin©
acDonald (
thens,¢
reece:
lympic
ublications, 1989), p. 5. 2.¦ bid., p. 7. 3.
©
ark
.©
orford and
obert J.
enardon,
lassical .©
ythology, 6th ed. (
ew
ork:
ongman, 1999), p.75. 4.
ichmond
.
athorn,¢
reek©
ythology (¡
eirut,
ebanon:
merican
niversity of
¡
eirut
ress, 1977), p. 8. 5. John
insent,¢
reek©
ythology (
ew
ork:
aul
amlyn, 1969), p. 25. 6.©
orford and
enardon, p. 48.
hapter 3.
rometheus an
d
£
arth’s
irst¦
nhabitants 1.
¡
arry
¡
.
owell,
lassical
©
yth, 2nd ed. (
pper
addle
iver,
. J.:
rentice
all, 1998), p. 46.
121
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¢
ods and¢
oddesses in¢
reek©
ythology
2.¦ bid., p. 115. 3.
©
ark
.©
orford and
obert J.
enardon,
lassical .©
ythology, 6th ed. (
ew
ork:
ongman, 1999), p. 61.
hapter 4.
andora1.
ichmond
.
athorn,¢
reek©
ythology (¡
eirut,
ebanon:
merican
niversity of
¡
eirut
ress, 1977), p. 47. 2.©
ark
.©
orford and
obert J.
enardon,
lassical .
©
ythology, 6th ed. (
ew
ork:
ongman, 1999), p. 60. 3.¡
arry¡
.
owell,
lassical©
yth, 2nd ed. (
pper
addle
iver,
. J.:
rentice
all, 1998), p. 122.
hapter 5. Demeter and
ersephone1.
¡
arry¡
.
owell,
lassical©
yth, 2nd ed. (
pper addle
iver,
. J.:
rentice
all, 1998), pp. 237-241. 2.©
ichael¢
rant,©
yths of¢
reeks and
omans (
ew
ork:
©
eridian, 1995), p. 136. 3.
owell, p. 239. 4.¦ bid., p. 237.
hapter 6. Dionysus and his
ollowers1.
ichmond
.
athorn,¢
reek©
ythology (¡
eirut,
ebanon:
merican
niversity of
¡
eirut
ress, 1977), p. 282. 2.¦ bid., p. 135. 3.
©
ythology,
n¦ llustrated
¢
ui
de,
oy Willis, ed. (
ew
ork:
¡
arnes and
oble,¦
nc., 1998), p. 141. 4.
¡
arry
¡
.
owell,
lassical©
yth, 2nd ed. (
pper
addle
iver,
. J.:
rentice
all, 1998), p. 267.
hapter 7.¡
aucis and
hilemon1.
ichmond
.
athorn,¢
reek©
ythology (¡
eirut,
ebanon:
merican
niversity of
¡
eirut
ress, 1977), p. 18. 2.¦
bid. 3.¡
arry¡
.
owell,
lassical©
yth 2nd ed.(
pper addle
iver,
. J.:
rentice
all, 1998), pp. 140-141.
hapter 8.£
cho and
arcissus1.
ichmond
.
athorn,¢
reek©
ythology (¡
eirut,
ebanon:
merican
niversity of
¡
eirut
ress, 1977), p. 106. 2. “
ersonality Disorders,”©
icrosoft®£
ncarta®£
ncyclopedia 99. © 1993–1998
©
icrosoft
orporation. 3.
athorn, p. 106.
122
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hapter
otes
hapter 9.
elius and
haethon 1.¡
arry¡
.
owell,
lassical©
yth 2nd ed. (
pper
addle
iver,
. J.:
rentice
all, 1998), p. 81. 2.¦ bid. 3.
ichard toneman,
¢
reek©
ythology:
n£
ncyclopedia of©
yth and
egend. (
ondon: Diamond¡
ooks, 1995), p. 84. 4. “
onstellation (astronomy),”©
icrosoft®£
ncarta®£
ncyclopedia 99. © 1993–19
©
icrosoft
orporation. 5.
ichmond
.
athorn,¢
reek©
ythology (¡
eirut,
ebanon
:
merican
niversity of¡
eirut
ress, 1977), p. 51.
123
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¥
£
£
D¦
¢
¡
arber,
ntonia.
pollo & Daphne:©
asterpieces of¢
reek©
ythology.
ew
ork:
xford
niversity
ress, 1998. D’
ulaire,¦ ngri and
£
dgar
arin D’
ulaire. D’
ulaire’s¡
ookof
¢
reek©
yths.
ew
ork:¡
antam Doubleday Dell, 1992.
leischman,
aul. Dateline
¥ roy.
ambridge,©
ass.:
andlewick
ress, 1996.¢
raves,
obert.¢
reek¢
ods and
eroes.
ew
ork:¡
antam Doubleday Dell, 1995.
amilton, Virginia.¦
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eginning:
reation tories from
round the World.
ew
ork:
arcourt¡
race Jovanovi
ch, 1988.
ies,¡
etty¡
onham.£
arth’s Daughters: tories of Women in
lassical©
ythology.
¢
olden,
ol.:
ulcrum
ublishing, 1999.
oewen,
ancy.¤ eus.
©
ankato,©
inn.:
apstone
ress, 1999. ———.
thena.
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ork:
iver
ront¡
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ercules.
ork:
iver
ront¡
ooks, 1999.©
c
aughrean,¢
eraldine.¢
reek¢
ods and¢
oddesses.
ew
ork: imon &
chuster, 1998.
tephanides,
©
enalaos.¥ he
¢
ods of
lympus.
thens,¢
reece: igma, 1999. Vinge, Joan D.
¥ he
andom
ouse¡
ook of¢
reek©
yths.
ew
ork:
andom
ouse, 1999.
eoh
ong
am.¢
reece.©
ilwaukee, Wis.:¢
areth
tevens,
¦ nc., 1999.
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¥
£ £
¥
DD £
£
¥ he
ncient
ity of
thens <http://www.indiana.edu/~kglowack/athens/>
photo tour of archeological sites in
thens.
¥ he
£
ncyclopedia©
ythica <http://www.pantheon.org/mythica/>£
xplores articles about various¢
reek gods.
lso covers other types of mythology.
¢
reek©
ythology <http://www.greekmythology.com/index.html>
list of gods, myths, and places.¡
rief descriptions with links throughout.
¢
reek©
ythology:
ook¡
ack in¥ ime <http://library.thinkquest.org/18650/>
¥ hink
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rom the¦ liad to the
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ythology
ink <http://hsa.brown.edu/~maicar/>
ome pages also available in
panish.
or the advanced reader.
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ods and¢
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ythology <http://www.cultures.com/greek_resources/greek_ encyclopedia/greek_encyclopedia_home.html>
©
ythweb <http://www.mythweb.com/>
¦
llustrations, interesting facts and stories, and information for teachers.
¥ he
erseus
roject <http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/>¦ nformation about classical texts and their translations, archaeology, and more.
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egean ea, 27
eschylus, 13, 50
frica, 7, 110,116, 117
gave, 76, 78, 82–86
lexander, 12 alphabet, 11, 12 ambrosia, 68–69
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pollo, 35, 110
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rtemis, 35, 101
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thena, 14, 15, 35, 42, 48
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tlas, 34, 35, 36, 38
utonoe, 76, 78
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elen, 11
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elius, 66–67, 110–118 helmet of invisibility,33, 36, 61
ephaestus, 12, 15, 35, 45, 52, 54, 56, 58, 116
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ermes, 35, 70, 90–97
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rete, 6, 10,30, 38
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religion, 10, 13, 14–16, 25, 28, 38, 40, 61, 76, 90, 108
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hodes, 118
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2, 24, 25, 27–29, 32–36, 40, 41, 50, 61, 110 trident, 33, 36¥ rojan War, 13
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, 13
oath, 77, 113–114 oceanid, 110
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dyssey, ¥ he, 13
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vid, 13–14, 90, 100, 108, 110, 118
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ranus, 18-23, 29, 36
andora, 52–59 pantheon, 14, 15, 18, 76, 87
eloponnesus, 6, 10, 27
entheus, 82–86
ericles, 11
ersephone, 61–74
haethon, 110–118
hilemon, 90–98
hoebe, 21, 35
Wwine, 14, 30, 61, 68, 76, 80, 87, 94 Works and Days, 13 women and society, 11, 16, 52, 59
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128
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