# data[].attributes.body
Baucis and Philemon Myth

By Kate Williams

On a slow day for the Gods, Jupiter made a decision to travel to Earth in order to test mortals. Taking with him his son and messenger, Mercury, the two Gods landed in a small village on Earth. They disguised themselves as beggars in order to test the mortals kindness and generosity. Walking to one house, they knocked. The people in that house turned them away. So this process continued until the Gods reached a shabby and poor looking cottage. Outside was a single goose. When the Gods knocked, already disappointed in humanity, a poor and elderly couple answered. The couple was Bacchus and Philemon, and they were poor, but devoted to kindness and hospitality. Baucis sat the Gods down and offered them the little food they had and their small amount of wine. Philemon went to retrieve the goose in order to prepare a meal for what appeared to be two weary and haggard travelers. Before the couple slew the goose the Gods revealed their true nature and asked what the couple would wish for. The couple knelt and told the Gods that they wished for nothing but to be able to die together, as they were frightened of the idea of one dying and leaving the other alone. Jupiter and Mercury granted this wish, transforming their cottage into a temple while they were at it. To punish the richer, yet crueler, neighbors for their immoral actions, the Gods levied a flood down and drowned the country. Baucis and Philemon survived in their temple and lived for many years there as the Priest and Priestess before dying at the same moment whilst on a walk. To give them eternity, Jupiter transformed them into trees at the moment of death, allowing their branches to tangle.

# data[].attributes.body
Kendelle Erbacher and Adam Brophy

Echo was a young mountain nymph favored by Diana who always wanted to have the last word. One day, she and her fellow nymphs were visiting with Zeus when Juno came looking for him. Echo engaged in a long conversation with Juno in order to allow Zeus and the other nymphs to escape. Because of this, Juno cursed Echo so that she may never start a conversation and only repeat what is spoken to her.
One day, Echo saw Narcissus in the woods and fell immediately in love with him. She would follow him and longed to start a conversation yet could not. After many weeks, Narcissus started to talk to her, yet when she came to him he would not speak to her and completely rejected her due to her inability to respond with original thoughts. This rejection left her utterly heartbroken, so she went into a cave and starved until her skin withered away and her bones turned into rocks. Only her voice remained intact.
Eventually, another maiden fell in love with Narcissus and was subsequently rejected. She prayed that Narcissus would one day feel unrequited love himself. Her wish came true when Narcissus looked into a beautiful silver fountain outside of Echoś cave and saw his own reflection. He fell in love with this image due to the astounding beauty of his reflection. He could not pry himself from the fountain, and would verbally mourn the fact that he could never touch the object of all his love. Echo would repeat all of his sorrows out loud. Eventually, Narcissus died of starvation and only a beautiful purple flower was left in his place. From this story, we get the explanation behind the sound of echoes in caves, as well as the beautiful Narcissus flower. The concept of narcissism also originates from this story.

# data[].attributes.body
Bryn Zimmerman
Stefan Vukas

# data[].attributes.body
Kendelle Erbacher and Adam Brophy

# data[].attributes.body
Phil Merlino and Teddy Cooke

When Atlanta was born she was thrown away      by her father because she was a woman. She was taken in by the animals in the forest and grew up to be a great hunter and athlete. When her father heard of her accomplishments he took her back and tried to fulfill his fatherly duties by finding her a husband. However, Atlanta didn’t want a husband so they came to the agreement that if any men challenged her to a race and won they could marry her, but if they lost they would die. So many men raced Atlanta and lost until Hippomenes saw her and immediately fell in love. He knew he couldn't beat her in a race so he asked for help from the goddess of love, Aphrodite. She gave him three golden apples to distract Atlanta in the race but he would have to pay tribute to her later in life. So when the race began and Atlanta was winning he threw the apple in front of her and she slowed down to pick it up. When she slowed down he surged forward. He did this two more times and was able to win the race. They got married and were living happily, but he forgot to pay tribute to Aphrodite. So one day when they were visiting the temple of Cybele, they desecrated the temple and offended Cybele and he turned them into lions, but little did they know that Aphrodite intervened and made them both feel immense lust for each other knowing that he would be offended and would turn them into lions. The Greeks believed that lions would always distrust each other and never be happy.

# data[].attributes.body
Emma Weglarski and Jamie Fish

Apollo slayed Python (a huge serpent) and therefore thought he was the best. He began to make fun of Cupid for having useless powers and thought he should “leave war like weapons to mighty gods like Apollo and stick to his pastimes.” Cupid, in return wanted revenge. Cupid decided that the best way to get revenge was to shoot Apollo with a love arrow that was made of gold; and to shoot Daphne with a hate arrow made of lead. He decided to turn Daphne against Apollo because Apollo had previous feelings for Daphne. Daphne was a beautiful naiad nymph who vowed to remain forever unmarried. Apollo was always chasing Daphne who finally sought help from her father. Her father, Peneus, was a river god and knew he couldn’t do anything to Apollo because he was a god and therefore immortal. Peneus’s only choice was to help his daughter by making her into a laurel tree to avoid Apollo. After Apollo realized that Daphne was turned into a tree, he used his power of eternal youth and immortality on the laurel tree so that its leaves would forever be green. Apollo also made a laurel wreath by cutting off some of the branches from Daphne's tree to wear every day so he always had Daphne with him. Apollo was heart broken by the loss of Daphne and forever made the laurel the symbol of tribute to poets. Every 4 years the winner of the Pythian Games is crowned with a laurel wreath.

# data[].attributes.body
Pyramus and Thisbe

Hana Pastuhova  Grace Mohr

The story is about two lovers named Pyramus and Thisbe. They were from rival families and they weren't allowed to marry. They were able to communicate through a wall that was between their houses. They talked through a crack. One day they agreed to meet up under a mulberry tree. Thisbe had arrived first and saw a lion covered in blood. She quickly ran away, leaving her veil behind. Then Pyramus arrives and sees the lion covered in blood and her now bloody veil. Instantly, he assumes that the lion ate her. Thinking that she died, Pyramus committed suicide by stabbing himself with a sword. His blood then splashed onto the leaves of the mulberry tree. Thisbe returns and sees her love dead. Then she decides to take his sword and kill herself too. In honour of their love, the leaves of the mulberry turned from white to black.

# data[].attributes.body
By Elle Ridge and Braden Zwolinski

Summary:
Hero was a virgin priestess of Aphrodite and saw Leander of Abydos at a festival. When they saw each other they fell in love. They were from two different cities and Hellespont divides them. Every night Leander would swim towards the light that Hero lit up in the light tower so they could be together. One night a storm blows in and the currents of the narrow strait goes crazy. The winds blow out Hero’s light and Leander gets lost in the water with no light to guide him and drowns in the dark and stormy waters. The next morning Hero finds Leander's dead body washed up on the shore, and she takes her own life so she could be with her lover in death.

# data[].attributes.body
Bryn Zimmerman & Stefan Vukas

# data[].attributes.body
Andrew Dimitroff, TJ Russell, Matt Weir
Summary:
Pygmalion, a famous sculptor, hated women. However, he created his ultimate work which was the statue of a beautiful woman. Pygmalion then fell in love with the statue and gave it gifts of his love. Pygmalion sacrificed a bull to Aphrodite and asked her to turn the statue into a real girl. Aphrodite brought the statue to life for him in pity and named her Galatea. The pair was married and lived happily ever after!