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Weekly Assessment #1

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1. FOCUS: What kind of evidence would you need to support this thesis?
2. INQUIRE: What keywords would be helpful to find this evidence?
3. EVALUATE: If you were to choose one of the resources on the right, what questions would you ask yourself to evaluate its credibility?
4. RECORD: What bibliographic elements should you look for when you want to document a source?
5. CREATE: What would the three body paragraphs of this paper each be about? Please list them in proper order.
6. EDIT: What document would you refer to prior to turning in a paper?
7. SUPPORTING A THESIS: Using the resources on the right, find a piece of evidence to support each of the reasons given in the thesis.

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Thesis Statement: Use this thesis statement to do the items on the right. 

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Thesis Statement: Use this thesis statement to do the items on the right. 

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In Greek Mythology, the Gods and Goddesses behaved in ways that were considered unacceptable for humans, such as killing their own children, being unfaithful in their marriages, and seeking out cruel and violent revenge against anyone who angered them.

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Principal Gods click for main characteristics

Homer the name traditionally assigned to the reputed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two major epics of Greek antiquity. Nothing is known about Homer as an individual. In fact, the question of whether a single person can be said to be responsible for the creation of the two epics is still controversial. However, linguistic and historical evidence allows the assumption that the poems were composed in the Greek settlements on the west coast of Asia Minor sometime in the 9th century BC.

was the daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra, the king and queen of Mycenae. When Electra's father returned from the Trojan war, her mother, Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus killed him. They also killed Cassandra, a concubine of Agamemnon from the Trojan war... more " In ancient Greece, Antigone is mostly related to the myth that was told by the Ancient Greek playwright Sophocles, although there is reference to a different Antigone in the ancient Greek World.
Antigone was the daughter of King Oedipus of Thebes and Jocasta. The story says, Oedipus, the son of Laius and Jocasta killed his father Laius and became the king of Thebes. Oedipus unknowingly married his own mother Jocasta and had children by her. Thus, Antigone was the daughter and the sister of Oedipus... more " story is an ancient Greek myth, folk tale that is passed from generations to generations. About a hero who traveled on a voyage in search of the Golden Fleece, so that he could help his father get his kingdom back from King Pelias.

Jason's father was Aeson, the King of Lolcus and mother Alcimede. Aeson stepbrother Pelias was eager for the throne of Lolcus, so in a battle, he removed Aeson from power and made himself the King. Aeson and Pelias shared a common mother, Tyro. She was the daughter of Salmoneus and sea god Poseidon. Pelias, to make sure that no one from Aeson's family could challenge him, killed his family. But Alcimede saved their baby, Jason. To save him Alcimede gave away her baby son to Chiron, who became his guardian. But Pelias was obsessed with his throne and he consulted an oracle that told him that a man wearing one sandal would be the reason for his end... more "

Chaos - in one ancient Greek myth of creation, the dark, silent abyss from which all things came into existence. According to the Theogony of Hesiod, Chaos generated the solid mass of Earth, from which arose the starry, cloud-filled Heaven. Mother Earth and Father Heaven, personified respectively as Gaea and her offspring Uranus, were the parents of the Titans. In a later theory, Chaos is the formless matter from which the cosmos, or harmonious order, was created. Gaea - She was the mother and wife of Father Heaven, Uranus. They were the parents of the first creatures, the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the Giants - the Hecatoncheires (Hundred - Headed Ones). Uranus hated the monsters, and, even though they were his children, locked them in a secret place in the earth. Gaea was enraged at this favoritism and persuaded their son Cronos to overthrow his father. He emasculated Uranus, and from his blood Gaea brought forth the Giants, and the three avenging goddesses the Erinyes. Her last and most terrifying offspring was Typhon, a 100-headed monster, who, although conquered by the god Zeus, was believed to spew forth the molten lava flows of Mount Etna. Tartarus - The lowest region of the underworld. Hesiod claimed that a brazen anvil would take none days and nights to fall from heaven to earth, and nine days and nights to fall from earth to Tartarus. Tartarus rose out of Chaos and was the destination of wicked souls. Uranus banished his children the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires to Tartarus, as Zeus also did to the Titans. Other famous inhabitants of Tartarus include Sisyphus, Ixion, Tantalus, Salmoneus, Tityus, Ophion, and the daughters of Danaus. Eros - The god of love. He was thought of as a handsome and intense young man, attended by Pothos ("longing") or Himeros ("desire"). Later mythology made him the constant attendant of his mother, Aphrodite, goddess of love. The powers of Eros are often mentioned during a free psychic reading, as they frequently involve questions around love. Erebus - Personification of the darkness of the Underworld and the offspring of Chaos. . In later myth, Erebus was the dark region beneath the earth through which the shades must pass to the realm of Hades below. He is often used metaphorically for Hades itself. Uranus - Gaea - The personification of the sky; the god of the heavens and husband of Gaea, the goddess of the earth. . Their children are the Hecatonchires, the Cyclopes and the Titans. Pontus - The sea god. Cyclopes - Three sons: Arges, Brontes, and Steropes of Uranus and Gaea. The Cyclops were giant beings with a single, round eye in the middle of their foreheads.They helped Zeus defeat their brother, Cronus, by forging lightning bolts. They also made Poseidon's trident and Hades invisibility cap. Hecatonchires - Three sons of Uranus and Gaia. There were three of them: Briareus also called Aegaeon, Cottus, and Gyges also called Gyes. They were gigantic and had fifty heads and one hundred arms each of great strength. They had 100 hands and helped Zeus in his war against the Titans. Cronus - Rhea - Cronus was a ruler of the universe during the Golden Age. He was one of the 12 Titans and the youngest son of Uranus and Gaea, Cronus and his sister-queen, Rhea, became the parents of 6 of the 12 gods and goddesses known as the Olympians. Cronus had been warned that he would be overthrown by one of his own children. To prevent this, he swallowed his first five children as soon as they were born. Rhea did not like this. She substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes for their sixth child, Zeus. He was hidden in Crete, and when he was older, he returned and forced Cronos to disgorge all the other children, who had grown inside of him. Zeus and his siblings fought a war against Cronos and the Titans. Zeus won, and the Titans were confined in Tartarus, a cave in the deepest part of the underworld. Coeus - Phoebe - Coeus was a titan of Intelligence, the father of Leto, husband of Phoebe. Oceanus - Tethys - The personification of the vast ocean. Together with his wife Tethys, they produced the rivers and six thousand offsprings called the Oceanids. He ruled over Ocean, a great river encircling the earth, which was believed to be a flat circle. The nymphs of this great river, the Oceanids, were their daughters, and the gods of all the streams on earth were their sons. Hestia - Virgin goddess of the hearth. She was the symbol of the house, around which a new born child was carried before it was received into the family. Although she appears in very few myths, most cities had a common hearth where her sacred fire burned. I Hades - He was made lord of the underworld, ruling over the dead. He is a greedy god who is greatly concerned with increasing his subjects. Those whose calling increase the number of dead were seen favorably by him. He was also the god of wealth, due to the precious metals mined from the earth. His wife was Persephone whom Hades abducted.
The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions: Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and Tartarus, the deeper region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. It was a dim and unhappy place, inhabited by vague forms and shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed, dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters. Poseidon - God of the sea. His weapon was a trident, which could shake the earth, and shatter any object. He was second only to Zeus in power amongst the gods. Under the ocean, he had a marvelous golden palace. Poseidon was the husband of Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, by whom he had a son, Triton. Poseidon had numerous other love affairs. At one point he desired Demeter. To put him off Demeter asked him to make the most beautiful animal that the world had ever seen. To impress her Poseidon created the first horse. In some accounts his first attempts were unsucessful and created a varity of other animals in his quest. By the time the horse was created his passion for Demeter had cooled. Zeus - Hera - The god of the sky and ruler of the gods of Mount Olympus. He displaced his father and assumed the leadership of the gods of Olympus. Zeus was considered the father of the gods and of mortals. He did not create either gods or mortals; he was their father in the sense of being the protector and ruler both of the Olympian family and of the human race. His weapon was a thunderbolt. His breastplate was the aegis, his bird the eagle, his tree the oak. He was married to Hera but, is famous for his many affairs, which resulted in many known children and probably many more that were not known to be his. Athena was his favorite child. He bore her alone from his head. One of the greatest feasts for Zeus was the Olympic games. They were taking place every four years in Olympia. Even if there was a war between the city-states of Greece they were stopping the war to take part on that games.
Hera's marriage was founded in strife with Zeus and continued in strife. Writers represented Hera as constantly being jealous of Zeus's various amorous affairs. She punished her rivals and their children, among both goddesses and mortals, with implacable fury. The peacock (the symbol of pride; her wagon was pulled by peacocks) and the cow (she was also known as Bopis, meaning "cow-eyed", which was later translated as "with big eyes") were her sacred animals. Her favorite city was Argos. Demeter - Zeus - Goddess of corn and the harvest. She taught mankind the art of sowing and ploughing so they could end their nomadic existence. She was of a severe, a beauty scarcely relieved by her hair. which was as fair as ripened grain. Poseidon coveted her, but Demeter refused herself to him. To escape him she fled to Arkadia where, assuming the shape of a mare, she mingled with the herds of King Oncus. Poseidon, however, succeeded in finding her, changed himself into a stallion and made her the mother of the horse Arion.
When her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, Demeter's grief was so great that she neglected the land; no plants grew, and famine devastated the earth. Dismayed at this situation, Zeus, demanded that his brother Hades return Persephone to her mother. Hades agreed, but before he released the girl, he made her eat some pomegranate seeds that would force her to return to him for four months each year. In her joy at being reunited with her daughter, Demeter caused the earth to bring forth bright spring flowers and abundant fruit and grain for the harvest. However, her sorrow returned each autumn when Persephone had to return to the underworld. The desolation of the winter season and the death of vegetation were regarded as the yearly manifestation of Demeter's grief when her daughter was taken from her. Demeter and Persephone were worshipped in the rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries. Persephone - Persephone was the Queen of the Underworld and the daughter of Demeter. Persephone is the goddess of the underworld in Greek mythology. She is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, goddess of the harvest. Persephone was such a beautiful girl that everyone loved her, even Hades wanted her for himself. Although Zeus gave his consent, Demeter was unwilling. Hades, therefore, seized the maiden as she was gathering flowers and carried her off to his realm. Persephone was a personification of the revival of nature in spring. Her attributes in iconography can include a torch, a crown, a sceptre, and stalks of grain. Leto - Zeus - The mother of Artemis, goddess of the bow and of hunting. She was loved by the god Zeus, who, fearing the jealousy of his wife, Hera, banished Leto when she was about to bear his child. All countries and islands were also afraid of Hera's wrath and refused the desperate Leto a home where her child could be born. Finally, in her wanderings, she set foot on a small island floating in the Aegean Sea, which was called Delos. Iapetus - The son Uranus and Gaea. Iapetus' wife was Clymene. Athena - or Pallas-Athene, is one of the most important goddesses in Greek mythology. Goddess of wisdom, war, the arts, industry, justice and skill. Athena sprang full-grown and armoured from the forehead of the god Zeus and was his favourite child. She was fierce and brave in battle but, only fights to protect the state and home from outside enemies. She was the goddess of the city, handicrafts, and agriculture. She invented the bridle, which permitted man to tame horses, the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. Her attributes in iconography include the aegis (a fringed cloak, sometimes decorated with a Gorgon's head), the helmet, and the spear. Ares - God of war. He was very aggressive. He was unpopular with both gods and humans. Ares was not invincible, even against mortals. He personified the brutal nature of war. He was immortal but whenever he would get hurt he would run back to his father, Zeus and was healed. Ares was mainly worshipped in Thracia. Hebe - The goddess of youth. She, along with Ganymede were the cupbearers to the gods, serving them their nectar and ambrosia. She also prepared Ares' bath, and helped Hera to her chariot. Hebe was Hercules' wife. Hephaestus - God of fire and metalwork. He was born lame and weak, and shortly after his birth, he was cast out of Olympus. In most legends, however, he was soon honoured again on Olympus and was married to Aphrodite, goddess of love, or to Aglaia, one of the three Graces. His workshop was believed to lie under Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily. He made many wonderful artifacts for the gods, including the twelve golden thrones of the Olympians, their weapons and treasures. Apollo - Apollo was primarily a god of prophecy. He sometimes gave the gift of prophecy to mortals whom he loved, such as the Trojan princess Cassandra. As a prophet and magician, he is the patron of medicine and healing. He was a gifted musician, who delighted the gods with his performance on the lyre. He was also a master archer and a fleet-footed athlete, credited with having been the first victor in the Olympic games. His twin sister was Artemis. He was famous for his oracle at Delphi. People traveled to it from all over the Greek world to divine the future. He was also the god of agriculture and cattle, and of light and truth. Artemis - Artemis was the goddess of the hunt and animals, as well as of childbirth. Her twin brother was Apollo. As the moon goddess, she was sometimes identified with the goddesses Selene and Hecate.Her attributes are the bow and arrow, while dogs, deer and goose are her sacred animals. Her most elaborate temple was in Ephesis. Atlas - Son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene, and brother of Prometheus. Atlas fought with the Titans in the war against the deities of Mount Olympus. Atlas stormed the heavens and Zeus punished him for this deed by condemning him to forever bear the earth and the heavens upon his shoulders. He was the father of the Hesperides, the nymphs who guarded the tree of golden apples, and Heracles (Hercules). Prometheus - Prometheus was the wisest Titan, known as the friend and benefactor of humanity.He stole the sacred fire from Zeus and the gods. He also tricked the gods so that they should get the worst parts of any animal sacrificed to them, and human beings the best. Zeus commanded that Prometheus be chained for eternity in the Caucasus. There, an eagle would eat at his liver and each day, the liver would be renewed. So the punishment was endless, until Heracles finally killed the bird. Epimetheus - Epimetheus was a Titan, whose name meant "afterthought". In some accounts, he was delegated, along with his brother Prometheus by Zeus to create mankind. He foolishly ignored his brother Prometheus' warnings to beware of any gifts from Zeus. He accepted Pandora as his wife, thereby bringing ills and sorrows to the world. Maia - Zeus - Maia was a daughter of Atlas. She was one of Zeus' lovers. She, along with Zeus was the mother of Hermes. Dione - Zeus - The goddess or Titaness Dione became by Zeus the mother of Aphrodite. Hermes - Hermes' main role was as a messenger. As the special servant and courier of Zeus, Hermes had winged sandals and a winged hat and bore a golden caduceus, or magic wand, entwined with snakes and surmounted by wings. He conducted the souls of the dead to the underworld and was believed to possess magical powers over sleep and dreams. Five minutes after he was born, he stole a herd of cows from Apollo. He invented the lyre from a cow's internal fibers. After Apollo learned what happened, he knew that his half-brother should he one of the pantheon. Hermes was the patron of trickster and thieves because of his actions early in life. His attributes in iconography include the kerykeion (messenger's staff), winged boots, and petassos (cap). Aphrodite - The goddess of love and beauty. Aphrodite loved and was loved by many gods and mortals. Among her mortal lovers, the most famous was perhaps Adonis. Some of her sons are Eros, Anteros, Hymenaios and Aeneas (with her Trojan lover Anchises). Perhaps the most famous legend about Aphrodite concerns the cause of the Trojan War. She was the wife of Hephaestus. The myrtle was her tree. The dove, the swan, and the sparrow were her birds. - Before the pantheon of Greek gods we are familiar with ruled atop Olympus, an earlier generation of deities, known as Titans, held power. The ruler of these divine beings was Cronus, son of Gaia (Mother Earth). Cronus' mother had informed him that he would be usurped by one of his offspring who would be tremendously powerful. Therefore, whenever Cronus' wife Rhea bore a child he would swallow the newborn god to prevent them from overturning his power... more "
Greek Mythology Links:

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tales and legends of the ancient greek world

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Mythology - Ancient Greek Gods and Myths.

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Principal Gods click for main characteristics Homer the name traditionally assigned to the reputed author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, the two major epics of Greek antiquity. Nothing is known about Homer as an individual. In fact, the question of whether a single person can be said to be responsible for the creation of the two epics is still controversial.

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World Myths and Legends in Art (Minneapolis Institute of Arts)

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This is the Minneapolis Institute of Art's "World Myths and Legends in Art" web site.

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History for kids - Free history network for kids

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Greek Gods

Welcome to our Greek Gods and Goddesses page here on History for Kids. We have some fun facts and pictures for you to color. You will learn some interesting facts about each God as you read down the page. Take your time there is a lot of information on this page, check out the quick facts also if you just need a quick understanding and characteristics of each one.

Athena

Athena was tall, strong, graceful, gray-eyed, and she liked owls. From the beginning, she was a pretty amazing goddess. In fact, even her birth was most unusual.

Zeus, the father of gods and goddesses, was also Athena's father. Her mother was a mortal woman named Metis. Older gods had warned Zeus that he would be in trouble if Metis gave birth to a daughter. So he swallowed Metis whole.

When it came time for Athena to be born, she sprang full grown out of Zeus's head. She was completely dressed in armor, as she always would be. She also carried a shield and a spear. As you might guess about a woman in armor, she was a great warrior.

Athena was also a goddess of wisdom. She taught people about arts and crafts. She also taught them how to think clearly and live well. She was often seen with an owl, so owls became a symbol of wisdom.

Athena didn't get along with the sea god Poseidon. For one thing, they were often rivals over one thing or another. Once the people of a new city were looking for a god to watch over and protect them. Athena and Poseidon both wanted the job.

To impress the city's citizens, the two gods gave them gifts. Poseidon struck the ground with his three-pointed spear, and water poured out. The water turned into a river that flowed into the sea. Poseidon told the people to build ships to sail to the sea. He said that they could travel everywhere. They could become the most powerful people on earth.

The citizens were indeed impressed. But then Athena told them to taste the water. It tasted awful. It was saltwater, which is impossible to drink.

Then Athena gave the citizens her gift. When she hit the ground with her spear, a tree magically grew up within seconds. She explained that it was a special tree-an olive tree. Its wood was good both for building houses and for heating those houses in winter. Better still, the tree's little green fruits, called "olives," were delicious. And oil made out of the olives was useful for cooking.

The citizens liked Athena's gift better than Poseidon's. Not only did they choose Athena to watch over them, they named the city after her. They called it Athens. Poseidon left in a huff, causing a serious flood on his way. But the Athenians weren't bothered very much. With Athena's help, their city grew to be strong and wealthy. Athens became one of the greatest cities of all time. Today it's the capital and the largest city of Greece.
Here are some historical facts about the city of Athens:

Athenians did their best to make their city live up to its name. Inspired by their tales about Athena's wisdom, Athens became a center of civilization.

Athenians turned their city into the world's first democracy.

Athenians wrote the world's first plays, both comedies and tragedies. Those plays were performed in an open-air theater. They are still popular today.

Some of history's greatest thinkers were Athenian. Socrates, Plato, and Aristotle were the city's most famous philosophers.

The world's first historians, Herodotus and Thucydides, lived in Athens.

Athenians created some of the world's most beautiful buildings. The ruins of its most famous temple, the Parthenon, are still standing today. The Parthenon once held a large statue of Athena.

The Athenian Hippocrates is said to be the father of medicine. He wrote a famous oath that is still spoken by doctors today.

Poseidon

The brothers Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon were the most important gods of all. Zeus was the strongest and wisest of the three and ruled over the earth. Hades ruled the Underworld, the world of the dead. Poseidon ruled the seas. He was also the god of earthquakes and horses.

Poseidon had a beard and long blue hair. He drove a golden cart called a chariot.

It was pulled by strange beasts that were half-horse and half-snake. Fish and dolphins always swam along beside the sea god's chariot.

Poseidon carried a three-pointed spear called a trident. He used this to start earthquakes or bring water out of the ground.

Like the sea he ruled, Poseidon could be either calm or stormy. As you might guess, the god of earthquakes had a short temper. He didn't get along with other gods. He didn't always get along with mortals, either.

The people of Troy once asked Poseidon to help build a wall around their city. He helped, but then he got angry when he didn't get paid for his work. He was Troy's enemy ever after that. When Troy fought a terrible war against Greece, Poseidon supported the Greeks.

Each god had a city to protect and watch over. The city showed its thanks by honoring that god especially. Maybe because he was ill-tempered, Poseidon had trouble finding a city to honor him. The people of Athens chose Athena instead of Poseidon as its protector. The people of Naxos chose Dionysus. The people of Aegina chose Zeus. Finally, all the gods had special cities except Poseidon. He was very unhappy and disappointed.

But at long last, the people of Atlantis chose Poseidon. Atlantis was a huge island, and its people loved and honored him. There he fell in love with a mortal princess named Clito. He built a palace for her, and they had ten sons. The sons grew up to be kings who ruled different parts of Atlantis. Those kings ruled wisely, and Atlantis became the greatest civilization in the world. Poseidon was proud and happy.

But bad times came. The first kings of Atlantis died, and their sons were bad rulers. And the sons who came after them were worse yet. Years passed, and Atlantis was no longer the world's greatest civilization. It was actually the worst. It had become both wicked and foolish.

Finally, the people of Atlantis forgot to worship Poseidon. The sea god became angry and used his trident to start a terrible earthquake. Atlantis sank beneath the waves, never to be seen again.

*Horses were very important in the ancient world. Poseidon's earliest worshippers may have been the people who first brought horses to Greece.
Here are some historical facts about Poseidon's story:
*There are many earthquakes in Greece. Not surprisingly, a god of earthquakes was taken very seriously there.

*The sea was very important to the Ancient Greeks. They were great explorers whose ships sailed to distant places.

*Fishermen in the ancient world caught tuna with a trident.

*Atlantis was thought to have been in a faraway ocean. Today we call that ocean the Atlantic.

*Atlantis was probably imaginary. Even so, some people still believe that it once was real. And people keep looking for it.

*Atlantis may have been based on a real place. There once was a large island called Thera. It was destroyed by a huge volcano. Like Atlantis, it sank into the sea.

Hermes

Hermes was the messenger god. He was young and intelligent-looking. He wore a winged hat and winged sandals, and he carried a magic wand. (We know what he looked like because so many sculptors made statues of him.)

Hermes was said to be the god of the marketplace. Oddly, he was also said to be the god of thieves. He himself was a clever thief. He started stealing early in life-actually on the day he was born.

His father was Zeus, the king of the gods. His mother was a young goddess named Maia. He was born in a mountain cave, and only a few minutes after his birth, Hermes decided to make himself a toy. He picked up a tortoise shell and tied strings across it, then plucked the strings. That was how Hermes invented the first musical instrument, which was called a lyre. And he invented music too!

His playing and singing put his mother to sleep. Then, when Hermes was still only an hour or two old, he left the cave and went out to look around at the world. He soon found a herd of cattle that belonged to the god Apollo. The baby Hermes liked the cattle and decided to steal them.

When Apollo wasn't looking, Hermes tied branches to the cows' tails. As he led them away, the branches dragged along and erased their hoof prints. Then he hid the cattle and went back to his cave. He climbed back up into his sleeping mother's arms. When she woke up, she had no idea that he'd even been away.

When Apollo managed to track down Hermes, he was surprised to see that the thief was just a newborn baby. Even so, he demanded his cattle back. Then Hermes started playing the lyre. Apollo was so delighted by the music that he let Hermes keep the cattle in exchange for the lyre. After that, Apollo carried the lyre everywhere and became known as the god of music.

Hermes never stopped being full of mischief. But when he grew up, the gods learned that they could count on him for one important task. With his winged hat and sandals, he ran and flew as fast as the wind, so Zeus named him the messenger of the gods.

Whenever the gods wanted to send messages to mortals, they gave the job to Hermes. Although he didn't always tell the truth himself, he always delivered those messages just the way he was supposed to.

*Along with the lyre, Hermes was said to have invented another musical instrument called a panpipe. It's a kind of flute that is still played today.

*Hermes was said to be the god of travelers. Statues of him could be found at crossroads throughout Ancient Greece. They were put there to bring travelers good luck.
Here are some interesting facts about Hermes' story.
*There were no telephones and no Internet in the ancient world. Messages were usually carried by runners on foot. So the god of messengers was considered a very important god.

*One of the most famous messengers of all time was a soldier named Pheidippides. Story has it that he ran from one city to another, carrying news that the Greeks had won the Battle of Marathon. He delivered the message and died. Today's marathon races are held in his honor.

*Hermes' magic wand was called a caduceus. It had wings, like his hat and sandals. It also had snakes wrapped around it. Today the caduceus is the symbol of the medical profession.

Ares

Ares was the god of war. He wore armor and a helmet, and he carried a shield, sword, and spear. He was big and strong and had a fierce war cry, but his war cry was mostly just a lot of noise. Ares didn't fight at all well. The armored goddess Athena was a much better warrior.

The Ancient Greeks didn't like war, and they didn't like Ares, either. They considered him a troublemaker. And like many troublemakers, Ares was a coward and a bully.

In fact, Ares was never really of use to anybody in a war. One time a group of giants declared war on the gods. The giants wanted to rule the entire universe. To keep Ares out of the fighting, they sneaked up on him and knocked him out cold, then they stuffed him into a jar.

The other gods heard Ares screaming for somebody to let him out. They just ignored him because they figured they could fight better without him. They went on to defeat the giants, and then they let Ares out of the jar after the battle was over. Ares bragged about how he could have beaten the giants if he'd been free. The other gods only laughed.

Ares never stayed loyal to one side or the other in a war. He just enjoyed watching people fighting and dying. The war between Greece and Troy was one of the worst ever fought, and even the gods joined in the battle. When the war started, Ares promised his mother, Hera, to help the Greeks. But he was in love with the goddess Aphrodite, so she easily talked him into helping the Trojans.

The Trojans would have been just as happy without Ares's help. Always the bully, he didn't pick fights with other gods. Instead, he challenged a mortal Greek warrior named Diomedes, but Diomedes wounded Ares.

Ares liked to cause pain for others, but he whined and complained whenever he got hurt. This time was no different. The wound he got from Diomedes wasn't very serious, but even so, Ares didn't keep fighting. He went running back to Olympus, the home of the gods, and wept and wailed to his father Zeus. Even though Zeus bandaged up Ares's wound, he was not at all proud of his warrior son.

That wasn't the only time Ares was wounded. The great hero Heracles wounded him twice, and one of those times he took away Ares's armor and weapons. Both times Ares ran away crying to Olympus.

*For a long time, historians thought that the city of Troy was just a legend. But the ruins of Troy have been found in modern-day Turkey.

*The Trojan War was also thought to be only a legend. But today some historians think that there really was such a war. It was fought between Greece and Troy.

*The Greeks had good reason to dislike war. The cities of Greece fought each other in a terrible war that lasted for 27 years. It's called the Peloponnesian War.
Here are some interesting facts about Ares's story:
*Although the Ancient Greeks didn't like Ares, the Ancient Romans admired him. They called him Mars. They told stories that made Mars sound like a hero.

*The Romans liked Ares because they thought that war was noble. The Romans spoke Latin. The Latin words for "war" and "beauty" are very similar. The word for "war" is "bellum." The word for "beauty" is "bellus."

Zeus

Zeus was the king of the gods. He and his brothers Hades and Poseidon were in charge of the whole universe. Hades ruled the Underworld, the world of the dead. Poseidon ruled the seas. Zeus, the greatest of the three, ruled the earth and the sky. He controlled the weather, causing wind and rain. He also caused thunder and lightning. He threw his thunderbolt like a spear.

Zeus was a good reminder that the gods were not perfect. For one thing, he was not all-powerful. His daughters, the three Fates, decided the futures of both gods and mortals. Zeus couldn't overrule their decisions.

And although Zeus was often wise, he could also be foolish. He could be selfish and even cruel. He was not a good husband to Hera, the queen of the gods. And he was not a good father to many of his children. Not surprisingly, the other gods sometimes rebelled against his rule.

Still, Zeus most gods and mortals respected Zeus. He gave laws and justice to mortals. He taught them kindness and good manners. One story shows how much Zeus prized hospitality and kindness toward strangers.

Zeus liked to travel, sometimes in disguise. Once he was traveling with his son Hermes, the messenger god, in a land called Phrygia. They were both disguised as ordinary mortal men. They stopped at all the houses in Phrygia, asking for food and a place to stay the night. Time and time again, they were rudely turned away. Even rich people turned them away.

At last they arrived at the home of an elderly couple, a woman named Baucis and a man named Philemon. Baucis and Philemon were extremely poor. Even so, they treated the travelers kindly, inviting them into their home for food and drink. They allowed the disguised gods to spend the night.

The next day, Hermes and Zeus took off their disguises. Everyone could see that they were gods. Zeus punished the couple's Phrygian neighbors with a terrible flood. All houses were destroyed, except the little hut of Baucis and Philemon. Zeus turned it into a beautiful temple.

As a reward for their kindness, Zeus offered the couple anything that they wanted. Because they had lived happily together all their lives, they asked never to be parted. Even in death they wanted to remain together. Baucis and Philemon spent the rest of their lives serving as the temple's priestess and priest. When they died they turned into two trees growing out of the same trunk.

*Weather seemed even more mysterious in ancient times than it does today. It's no surprise that the god who controlled the weather was the most powerful god of all.

*Lightning and thunder were especially puzzling to ancient people. Many cultures have had gods of thunder and lightning. In Norse mythology, it was Thor. To the Finns, it was Ukko. To the Aztecs, it was Tlaloc.

*Lightning remained a mystery for thousands of years. During the 1700s, the American scientist and thinker Benjamin Franklin helped solve that mystery. He discovered the lightning was made up of electricity. Then he invented the lightning rods to protect houses and buildings. He was nicknamed "the Man Who Tamed the Lightning."

*In ancient times, travel was difficult and dangerous. Travelers depended on the kindness of people they met along the way. The Greeks even had a word for kindness toward strangers and travelers. They called it xenios.
Here are some interesting facts about Zeus's story:
Aphrodite

Aphrodite had an unusual birth. She rose up out of sea foam, beautiful and fully grown-up. She was the goddess of love, and she liked doves, sparrows, and swans. She was married to Hephaestus, the god of the forge, but not at all happily. She was really in love with Ares, the god of war.

Aphrodite and her son Eros were in charge of making people and gods fall in love. Eros used his magic bow and arrow to make that happen.

Oddly, this goddess of love helped start a terrible war. But she didn't really mean to. Eris, the goddess of discord, liked to stir up trouble. So one day Eris made a golden apple. She wrote the words "For the Fairest" on it. Then she threw this apple where the goddesses Athena, Hera, and Aphrodite would find it.

Each one of them thought she was "the Fairest"-the most beautiful goddess of all. They decided to hold a beauty contest. To judge the contest, they chose a mortal named Paris. He was a handsome Prince of Troy.

Each goddess took Paris aside and offered him a gift. If Paris chose Hera, she promised to make the ruler of the world. If he chose Athena, she promised to make him a victorious soldier. But Paris wasn't very ambitious or brave. He wasn't interested in either of those offers.

Then Aphrodite promised Paris the love of the most beautiful woman in the world. This appealed to Paris much more than the other offers did. So he judged Aphrodite "the Fairest" of the goddesses, and she got to keep the apple.

This was exactly what the troublemaking Eris had hoped for. The most beautiful woman in the world happened to be married already. Her name was Helen. She was the Queen of Sparta and the wife of King Menelaus.

When Helen and Paris ran away to Troy together, Menelaus was furious. He called all the great warriors of Greece together, and they declared war on Troy. Many thousands of warriors died in the Trojan War, which lasted ten years. It ended with the destruction of Troy.

*Today some historians believe that there really was a Trojan war. It was fought between Greece and Troy.

*The Romans called Aphrodite by the name Venus. The planet Venus is named after her.

*Venus is the planet closest to Earth. It is also the nearest planet in size to Earth. Next to the moon, it is usually the brightest object in the nighttime sky. Venus is easiest to see in the morning and evening. That's why it is called both the "Morning Star" and the "Evening Star."

*The Greeks pictured Aphrodite's son Eros as a handsome young man. The Romans called him Cupid. They came to picture him as a little boy with wings and a bow and arrow. Pictures of Cupid are very common on Valentine's Day.

*The goddess Venus was said to be the mother of the hero Aeneas. According to legend, Aeneas helped found the city of Rome. The real-life Roman general and dictator Julius Caesar claimed to be a descendent of Venus.
Here are some interesting facts about Aphrodite's story:
Hera

Hera was the queen of the gods and the protector of women. Her husband Zeus ruled the earth and sky. She was the mother of the war god Ares and the forge god Hephaestus. Her daughter, Ilithyia, was the goddess of childbirth.

Hera was beautiful and graceful. But she was also stern and bossy. And she could be very vain about her good looks. Hera was furious when she lost a beauty contest with Athena and Aphrodite. Another time, a mortal queen claimed to be more beautiful than Hera. The goddess turned that queen into a crane.

Although Hera was the goddess of marriage, her own marriage wasn't happy. For one thing, Zeus was always interested in other women. Hera had good reason to be jealous.
Once she sent a hundred-eyed monster named Argos to spy on Zeus. Even Zeus couldn't get away with much with Argos watching him!

Annoyed, Zeus called upon his son Hermes, the messenger god. He ordered Hermes to kill Argos. This was hard to do, because some of Argos's eyes were always awake and watching. But Hermes managed to put all those eyes to sleep. Then he killed Argos as Zeus had commanded.

Hera put Argos's eyes in the peacock's tail. The peacock was her favorite bird from that time on. Hera was also fond of cows, lions, and cuckoos.

Next, Zeus asked a young goddess named Echo for help. Echo was a wonderful storyteller. At Zeus's orders, Echo told Hera stories. That kept Hera's attention for hours and hours. Meanwhile, Zeus could sneak away and do whatever he wanted.

Hera figured out what was going on. She got very angry with Echo. This wasn't fair, of course. Echo couldn't help what she was doing. After all, she couldn't very well disobey the king of the gods. But when Hera was angry, she could be most unfair.

Hera cursed Echo. She took away Echo's power to tell stories. She even took away Echo's power to speak normally. Instead, Echo could only repeat things said by others.

Echo became so sad that she disappeared completely. But it is said that you can still hear her voice. If you shout in a canyon or valley, Echo might repeat your words.

*Hera was the goddess of the calendar year. The ancient Athenians didn't have just one calendar. Instead, they used a calendar for festivals, another for political matters, and another for the seasons.

*Today many cultures have different yearly calendars. The 12-month calendar mostly used in European and American countries is called the Julian calendar.

*Hera was a goddess who protected women. In Ancient Athens, women needed a protector. Even when Athens became a democracy, women had very few rights. An unmarried girl was ruled by her father; a married woman was ruled by her husband. Women could not become full citizens. Even male slaves had more rights than women did.

*Things were different in Sparta, Athens's warlike neighbor. Spartan men were often away fighting. When the men were gone, women took charge in many important ways. Some of the wealthiest and most powerful Spartan citizens were women. Even so, Spartan women could not hold political positions.

Artemis
Here are some interesting facts about Hera's story:
Artemis was the god Apollo's twin sister. She was goddess of the moon and of the hunt. She didn't like cities very much, preferring to roam forests and mountainsides.

She hunted with a silver bow and silver arrows. Like all good hunters, Artemis liked to protect wildlife. She took special care to watch over small animals.

Artemis was a strong-willed goddess. She knew what she wanted from an early age. Once when she was three years old, she was sitting on her father Zeus's knee. Zeus asked the little goddess what she most wanted in life.

First, she asked Zeus for three different names. These would fit her moods, which could be seen in the changing Moon. When she was cheerful and the moon was bright, she was called Selene. When she was in a bad mood and the moon was dark, she was called Hecate. The rest of the time she was called Artemis.

She also asked Zeus for loyal goddesses to hunt with. Zeus gave her lots of female followers called nymphs. Finally, she told Zeus that she never wanted to have much to do with men. So Zeus made sure that Artemis never fell in love with a man and never had a husband.

Although she wasn't interested in much except hunting, Artemis could also be a good warrior. In fact, she was a much better fighter than Ares, the god of war. She was also more clever. One time some giants declared war on the gods. The giants trapped Ares in a jar, so he couldn't do any fighting at all. Artemis tricked two of the giants by taking the shape of a deer and running between them. The giants both shot arrows at the deer, but killed each other instead.

Artemis was also clever about keeping men out of her life-both gods and mortals. The river god Alpheus fell in love with her and went chasing after her through the woods. Artemis smeared mud all over her own face, then told her nymphs to do the same. Alpheus couldn't tell Artemis and the nymphs apart. The river god gave up and went home, sad and disappointed.

Artemis was especially honored by a legendary race of women called Amazons. They were all warrior women who never married.

*The "Seven Wonders of the Ancient World" was a list made by the Greeks of man-made marvels. A temple of Artemis was on that list. The Great Pyramids of Egypt are the only wonders on the list still standing today.

*Because she was the goddess of the Moon, Artemis has a crater on the Moon named after her. A crater is a hollow place that was formed by collision with an object from outer space.

*The moon has long been believed to affect human moods and actions. One Roman name for the goddess of the moon was "Luna." The word "lunatic," meaning insane person, came from that name.

*A lunar eclipse happens when the earth passes between the sun and the moon. On February 29, 1504, the explorer Christopher Columbus was on the island of Jamaica. He knew that a lunar eclipse was coming, and that the moon would seem to disappear. The islanders didn't know what an eclipse was. Columbus used the eclipse to trick the islanders into doing whatever he wanted.

Hades

The brothers Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were the most important gods of all. Zeus was the strongest and wisest of the three and ruled over the earth. Poseidon ruled the seas. Hades ruled the Underworld, the world of the dead. Hades had dark hair and a dark beard, and he drove a chariot drawn by four dark horses. He was married to Persephone, the queen of the dead.
Here are some interesting facts about Artemis's story:
Neither gods nor mortals liked Hades very much. This wasn't really fair. Hades wasn't mean or cruel. It just wasn't his job to be kind or merciful. His duty was to make sure the dead stayed in the Underworld forever.

Few mortals ever went to the Underworld and made it back alive. One of these was the great singer Orpheus. When his wife, Eurydice, died, Orpheus went to the Underworld to bring her back.

Orpheus's singing delighted Hades, so he agreed to let him take Eurydice back home. Hades made one rule, though. Orpheus wasn't allowed to look at Eurydice as they fled the Underworld. But along the way, Orpheus turned to see if Eurydice was still following him. So she had to stay in the world of the dead forever.

There aren't many stories about Hades. Because he rarely left the Underworld, he seldom had adventures. He just went about the unpleasant business of ruling the dead. When he did go out into the world of the living, it usually ended badly for him.

Once Hades left his realm in search of Sisyphus, the king of Corinth. Sisyphus was one of the cleverest mortals who ever lived. He managed to cheat death time and time again.

Hades planned to put Sisyphus in handcuffs and take him to the Underworld. Instead, the tricky king talked Hades into trying on the handcuffs himself. As long as Sisyphus held Hades hostage, nobody would ever die. The gods couldn't allow that, so they pestered Sisyphus into letting Hades loose.

Sisyphus himself finally died and went to the Underworld. The gods knew that he might still be up to mischief even there. So they sentenced him to an impossible task.

Sisyphus had to roll a huge boulder up a hill, only to have it roll back down again. Then he had to roll it back up the hill, only to have it roll down yet again. Poor Sisyphus had to do this again and again forever. At least it kept him from causing Hades any more trouble.

Eventually, the world of the dead itself came to be called Hades, after its king. A fierce three-headed dog named Cerberus guarded Hades. The river Styx flowed between Hades and the world of the living. A ferryman named Charon rowed dead souls across the Styx.

*The Ancient Greeks feared Hades so much that they avoided saying his name. Instead, they called him "Pluton," which meant "the Rich." This was because Hades' realm was said to be the home of precious stones and metals. The Romans renamed Hades "Pluto."

*Today, a plutocrat is someone who rules other people with wealth. A plutocracy is a government based on wealth.

*A small, distant object called Pluto was once thought to be the farthest planet from the sun. Today Pluto is no longer considered to be a planet at all. The farthest planet from the sun is called Neptune. This was the Roman name for Poseidon, the god of the sea.

*A task that seems pointless and endless is now sometimes called Sisyphean.

Apollo

Apollo was the twin brother of Artemis, the goddess of the hunt and the Moon. Like his sister, Apollo loved hunting with a bow and arrow. He was the god of wisdom, poetry, and music.

Apollo was a handsome god, with long black hair. He drove a golden chariot drawn by swans. He was the leader of the Muses, the nine goddesses of the arts.
Here are some interesting facts about Hades' story:
This god liked lions, wolves, stags, crows, and dolphins. He also liked cattle, and once had a herd of his own. The baby Hermes stole that herd from him. But Apollo let Hermes keep the cattle in return for his lyre. The lyre was a kind of harp that Hermes had made out of a tortoise shell.

When Apollo was still a young god, he wanted to know his future. So he went to a town called Delphi, where a priestess was said to tell fortunes. She was called an "oracle."

When Apollo arrived in Delphi, he found trouble awaiting him. A monster named Python was supposed to guard the oracle. But Python had turned cruel and was terrorizing the people of Delphi.

Apollo killed Python with his bare hands. Then the citizens of Delphi built a temple in his honor. The oracle kept telling people's fortunes there.

After that, Apollo became known as the god of prophecy-which means the ability to foretell the future. He was believed to always tell the truth.

Apollo was also known as great healer. However, he sometimes caused disease as well. His son, Asclepius, was the god of medicine for a while. But Asclepius grew so powerful that he could raise the dead. The gods couldn't allow that, so Zeus killed Asclepius with his thunderbolt.

Because Apollo was called the god of light, he was sometimes mistaken for the sun god. The real god of the sun was Helios, who drove a flaming chariot across the sky.

Helios once made a terrible mistake. He allowed his half-mortal son Phaeton to drive his chariot. But Phaeton couldn't control Helios's horses. He almost destroyed the world with that flaming chariot. Like Asclepius, Phaeton was killed by Zeus's thunderbolt.

*A huge snake called a python can be found in parts of Africa and Asia. It's named after the monster that Apollo killed.

*In ancient times Delphi was said to be the center of the world. Its ruins are still visited today.

*The Pythian Games were an athletic event held every four years in Delphi. They were named after the monster slain by Apollo. Those games were something like today's Olympics. The earliest Olympic games were also played in Ancient Greece.

*A priestess in Delphi really was believed to tell fortunes. Once she was asked about the Athenian philosopher Socrates. She said that no one in the world was wiser than he. Socrates was surprised, because he thought he knew nothing at all. He soon noticed that people who thought themselves wise knew no more than he did. So Socrates was truly wise in knowing himself to be ignorant.

*Today the word Apollonian means wise, prudent, and well thought-out. The god Dionysus was thought to be reckless and unruly, most unlike the calm and sensible Apollo. So the word Dionysian means wild, uncontrolled, and lacking reason.

Hephaestus

Hephaestus was the god of fire. He was a blacksmith whose forge was in a volcano. His helpers were one-eyed giants called Cyclopes. He worked in bronze, iron, silver, and gold. He also made things out of clay, including living creatures. From clay he made Pandora, the first mortal woman in the world.

Hephaestus made many useful things for the gods. For the messenger god Hermes, he made a winged hat and winged sandals. For the sun god Helios, he made a golden chariot to ride across the sky. For the Eros, the god of love, he made a silver bow with silver arrows.
Here are some interesting facts about Apollo's story:
Hephaestus was a good-natured god who usually got along well with everybody. Even so, his mother, Hera, once got angry with him. She threw him off Olympus, the mountain where the gods lived. When he hit the ground, he broke his foot. A goddess named Thetis nursed him back to health. But he walked with a limp ever after that.

Good-natured though he was, Hephaestus didn't forgive Hera. And he finally got even with her. He made a beautiful throne out of gold and offered it to her as a gift. When she sat on it, invisible chains wrapped around her wrists. She couldn't get out of the throne, which rose up into the air.

All the gods tried to talk Hephaestus into letting Hera loose. Hephaestus finally did when the beautiful goddess Aphrodite agreed to marry him. Theirs wasn't a happy marriage, though. Aphrodite was really in love with Ares, the god of war.

The goddess Thetis had a half-mortal son named Achilles. When Achilles was a baby, she bathed him in the river Styx. This was supposed to make him invulnerable, meaning impossible to hurt or kill. Even so, Thetis worried when Achilles got ready to go fight in the Trojan War.

Hephaestus made the best weapons and armor in the world. So Thetis asked Hephaestus to make a shield and armor for Achilles. Hephaestus was still grateful to Thetis for helping him after his fall from Olympus. So he was happy to do as she asked.

Hephaestus's armor didn't let Achilles down during the war. But Thetis had made one mistake. When she had dipped Achilles in the river Styx, she had held him by the heel. So his heel was not invulnerable. Achilles was killed by an arrow in his heel.

*Pandora, the woman Hephaestus made from clay, was said to have had a box of evils. She opened the box, letting all those evils loose in the world. Today, to "open a Pandora's box" means to cause a lot of trouble accidentally.

*The Romans gave Hephaestus the name Vulcan. That's where the word "volcano" comes from.

*The word "vulcanization" also comes from the name Vulcan. Vulcanization is a process for hardening rubber, especially for tires. It uses extreme heat and sulfur.

*Today, a person's weak spot is called an "Achilles's heel," after the story of how Achilles died.

*Human history is sometimes divided into three periods. These are named after the materials most used for tools in those times. The earliest was the Stone Age, followed by the Bronze Age, followed by the Iron Age. The stories about Hephaestus were told in the Iron Age, when blacksmithing was very important.

Hestia

The beautiful Hestia was the oldest of the gods of Olympus. She disliked gossip, so hardly any stories were told about he. But it would be a mistake to think she wasn't important. In some ways, she was the most important of all the gods.

From the earliest times, the other gods of Olympus all had duties. Hermes carried messages, Ares was in charge of war, Artemis watched over all hunters, and Zeus ruled over everybody. Other gods had other jobs. But for a time, no one seemed to know what Hestia was supposed to do.

One day the gods Poseidon and Apollo told Zeus that they both loved Hestia. Both of them wanted to marry her. They demanded that Zeus choose between them. Otherwise, war would break out among the gods. And such a war would have been terrible indeed.
Here are some interesting facts about Hephaestus's story:
But Hestia solved the whole problem very simply. She refused ever to have a husband. Zeus was relieved and grateful to avoid a war. As a reward, he gave Hestia the keys to Olympus. He put her in charge of the gods' everyday business. Hestia made sure that the gods always had plenty of food, clothing, and money. After all, even gods have to worry about such things!

Zeus also made Hestia the goddess of homes everywhere. It was she who taught mortals how to build houses. And every house had a sacred spot for her. That was the hearth, the center of family life.

Mortals prayed to Hestia more than to any of the other gods. Every family meal began and ended with a prayer to Hestia. Whenever a baby was born, the parents carried it around the hearth and prayed to Hestia. Mortals had a saying: "Begin with Hestia." In other words, when doing anything, always start out in the right way.

Hestia lived a quiet life, leaving fame and adventure to others. Zeus's half-mortal son Dionysus showed up on Olympus one day. He wanted to have a throne like the other important gods. Hestia gladly gave up her own throne for him. After all, she was too busy to spend much time sitting there.

Here are some interesting facts about Hestia's story:

*A hearth in an Ancient Greek home wasn't like today's fireplaces. It wasn't placed in a wall at the end of a room.

Instead, it was in the middle of the central room. Its coals burned all the time, whether for warmth or for cooking. In honor of Hestia, Greeks made sure that the fire never went out.

*Every Ancient Greek city also had a public hearth for all citizens. Hestia was sacred there also. When the people of one city founded another city, they took coals with them to light the new city's hearth. As in hearths in private houses, the fires in public hearths were never allowed to die out.

*In Ancient Rome, Hestia was called by the name of Vesta. The six priestesses in her temple were called Vestals. Like Vesta herself, they never married.

*An asteroid called Vesta is named after the goddess. An asteroid is a body that orbits the sun but is much smaller than a planet. Although Vesta is only the second largest asteroid, it is the one most visible from Earth. The largest asteroid is called Ceres, the Roman name for the goddess Demeter.

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Athena Poseidon Hermes Ares Zeus Aphrodite Hera Artemis Hades Apollo Hephaestus Hestia Welcome to our Greek Gods and Goddesses page here on History for Kids. We have some fun facts and pictures for you to color. You will learn some interesting facts about each God as you read down the page.

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Editor's note: This is a guest post from Tony Valdes.

Greek mythology might sound like an obscure area of study, as if it is only relevant to wizened old professors in posh offices at Ivy League schools. Or perhaps you associate the topic with vague memories of sensationalized Hollywood summer movies. Ancient Greek culture, however, contributes much more to the modern world than we might realize.

The influence of the Greek mythology on western civilization began when the Romans adopted the pantheon of Greek gods; this subsequently influenced the names of the planets in our solar system. Fast forward through history and you will find evidence of the Greeks in art, books, poetry, movies, television, and popular culture. For example, every time you don a pair of Nike shoes, you emblazon yourself with the name of the Greek goddess of victory, whose name was, of course, Nike. A company that makes athletic clothing is trying to say something about itself and those who wear their products by choosing such a name, don't you think? Likewise, Midas auto shop, Honda's "Odyssey" minivan, the Olympic games, and literary heavyweights such as William Shakespeare, Dante Alighieri, and Mary Shelley have all taken cues from the Greeks. And this barely scratches the surface.

Acquiring a working knowledge of mythology can enrich a man's life and open cultural doors that would otherwise remain locked. I would compare being knowledgeable about Greek mythology to one of my all-time favorite heroes: Indiana Jones. Remember how Indy seemed to have all that really obscure knowledge about myths, legends, and religions from bygone eras? And remember how awesome it was when he could look at some artifact, document, or piece of architecture and connect the dots? With a little bit of effort, we can do the same, and we aim to do just that in this series on the basics of Greek mythology for the modern man. At the end of this series, I will offer you a fun challenge where you can be your own Dr. Jones and impress a lovely lady in your life. Let's get started...

What Is Myth?

Although we often associate the word "myth" with ancient systems of make-belief religions, a myth is actually a set of stories that is significant to a culture. Although they tend to be fictional, it is not a requirement. Thus Zeus, Superman, Area 51, the Loch Ness Monster, and George Washington can all be considered parts of various mythologies.

George Washington may seem like an odd part of that list, but consider the "larger than life" status that American history has given to our first president. Although he existed in reality, he is no longer simply a man: Washington is a symbol packed with meaning for our nation. Along with fictitious characters like Superman, Washington is a significant part of what defines the American way of thinking. They are eternally linked with who we are and what we believe.

The Problem with Greek Mythology

Before diving into the colorful world of the Greek stories, it is important that we understand that Greek mythology is rife with inconsistencies. In other words, many of the stories are going to sound absolutely ridiculous and, at times, even contradict each other.

When considering these stories, we must remember that the Greeks were creating stories based on their own fallible human nature. Thus the Greek gods are often as cruel, inconsistent, and sinful as humans are. Also keep in mind that the Greeks were not attempting to create a system of absolute truth; they were simply telling stories to explain the world around them. If you were having a good day, then Zeus was a kind and benevolent god. If you were having a lousy day, then Zeus was vengeful and merciless.

We could compare this point to some of our modern mythology. Let's go back and consider Superman again. In some stories a piece of kryptonite the size of a pebble is enough to bring the Man of Steel to his knees in agony; in other stories it takes a chunk the size of a basketball to induce tortuous pain. It all depends on who is telling the story and his or her view of Superman's weaknesses and strengths. Likewise, Batman swings on a pendulum that ranges from the campy Adam West portrayal to the gritty trilogy created by Christopher Nolan.

There is one more point that needs clarifying: when the Romans adopted Greek mythology, they gave Roman names to each of the characters. For our purposes here we'll refer to everyone by his or her Greek name, but when applicable the Roman name will be included in parenthesis.

With that being said, let's begin exploring the stories.

The War of Deities

According to the Greeks, in the beginning of time there was Father Heaven (Uranus) and Mother Earth (Gaea). Together, they bore children known as the Titans. Cronus (Saturn) and Rhea (Cybele) led the Titans in a rebellion against Father Heaven and Mother Earth. The Titans defeated their parents and became the rulers of the heavens.

In turn, Cronus and Rhea had children known as the Olympians. The Olympians are the Greek gods as we know them, led by Zeus and Hera. Cronus, concerned that his children would overthrow him in the same way that he overthrew Father Time, devoured his children. Rhea, however, defied Cronus by tricking him into eating a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes in place of the infant Zeus.

When Zeus came of age, he was outraged to learn the fate of his brothers and sisters. Zeus ambushed Cronus and forced him to vomit up the Olympians, who had apparently survived and grown to maturity in Cronus' stomach. With the help of Prometheus, a rogue Titan, the Olympians defeated Cronus and Zeus took his place as ruler of the heavens. Zeus punished most of the Titans by imprisoning them; however, the Titan named Atlas received a unique punishment: he was doomed to carry the weight of the world upon his shoulders. Prometheus, since he aided the Olympians, was not punished.

The Olympians

Although Zeus was the most powerful of the Olympians and thus the leader, he delegated control of the universe to his brothers and sisters. Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia were the children of Cronus and the original six Olympians; all additional Olympians were children of Zeus (though not all were birthed by traditional means).

With the exception of Hades, who was often depicted dwelling in Tartarus, all of the Greek gods lived in splendor in a city that they named Olympus. This majestic city hovered high above a mountain, which was named Mount Olympus as a result. Mighty clouds served as the gates of Olympus and it was said that no rough wind or foul weather ever shook the city of the gods.

The Olympians - the sons and daughters of Cronus - and their offspring were center stage of all of mythology and understanding the character of each is crucial to understanding every narrative within Greek mythology, so let's take a moment to look at the twelve that are referenced most frequently.

Zeus (Jupiter)

After the overthrow of the Titans, Zeus was not only the leader of the Olympians but also the ruler of the universe. Symbolized by the eagle and wielding lightening bolts as his weapon of choice, there were few who had the courage to challenge even the simplest aspects of Zeus' will. Those who did often did so through trickery and guile rather than through direct confrontation. Depending on the story, Zeus's personality could range from a benevolent father figure to detached, all-powerful tyrant. Because the Greek gods mirrored all the same faults and foibles as humanity, Zeus could make mistakes and be deceived. He was often a skirt-chaser as well, taking a variety of bizarre forms (including but not limited to bulls, swans, and golden rain) to seduce mortal woman. Shakespeare recounted one more notable encounter in his poem titled "The Rape of Lucretia." Super-human demigods like Hercules and Perseus were said to be Zeus' children with mortal women.

Poseidon (Neptune)

A brother of Zeus and the god of the seas, Poseidon was also responsible for earthquakes, which earned him the moniker "earth shaker." His was often portrayed wielding a trident, which he uses to churn the oceans and create storms. Though he was certainly not as powerful as Zeus, Poseidon was not to be trifled with. His dominion over the oceans and influence on land could make or break a sea-faring culture like that of the Greeks. Poseidon was credited with the creation of all sea life, but when the other god and goddesses mocked Poseidon's creations (fish and other sea life), they challenged him to create something beautiful. In response, he created horses.

Hades (Pluto)

Contrary to popular belief and Disney's Hercules, Hades was not the Greek equivalent of the devil in Judeo-Christian tradition. A brother of Zeus and Poseidon, Hades simply got the short stick when the Olympian brothers divvied up their domains. Hades ruled over the underworld, also known as Tartarus. Unlike the Judeo-Christian concept of heaven and hell, all souls - whether good or evil - arrived in Tartarus where Hades was responsible for their care. The only exception to this rule was "Isle of the Blessed," which we will see when we examine the Greeks' concept of geography. There was some degree of punishment for the wicked and reward for the just, but not to the same degree as the heaven and hell dichotomy. Hades was the only Olympian who did not make his home atop Mount Olympus. He brooded in Tartarus with his three-headed dog Cerberus, who guarded the gates and prevented the living from entering and the dead from leaving. Hades wife, Persephone, was a mortal woman whom Hades abducted. Persephone's mother, Demeter, and Olympian, struck a deal with Hades that her daughter would spend half the year with her and the other half in the underworld with him. The Greeks believed that the result of this deal was spring/summer when Persephone was with her mother and fall/winter when she was with her husband.

Hera (Juno)

Hera was the wife of Zeus and, ironically, the goddess of fidelity. As you can imagine, she was particularly irritable when Zeus seduced fellow goddesses or, worse, mortal women. To be mortal and the object of Zeus' affections was a curse; not only would the woman have to explain the odd circumstances surrounding her child's birth, but she would also suffer the wrath of Hera, which could be cruel indeed. Furthermore, the child the woman bore would suffer as well. No one knows this better than poor Hercules, whom we'll discuss in more detail later. Hera was symbolized by the peacock and, though she rarely engaged in any sort of combat herself, she was cunning, stealthy, and held sway over her husband, making her formidable in a way no other Olympian could boast of being.

Hestia (Vesta)

Hestia wasn't as flashy or dramatic as many of the other Olympians, thus she rarely got the spotlight, but that does not diminish her importance to the Greeks. She was the goddess of the hearth, which meant that if you had a comfortable home and a happy family then Hestia had blessed you.

Demeter (Ceres)

Like Hestia, Demeter was often upstaged by her fellow Olympians. She was the goddess of grain, which made her very important to everyday life.

Pallas Athena (Minerva)

Pallas Athena, usually referred to simply as Athena, was the goddess of wisdom. The Greek hoplite helmet she wore perched atop her head easily identified her. She was frequently shown with a shield and spear in hand as well. Though she is not directly associated with war (that accolade goes to Ares) Athena was nonetheless frequently involved in the Greeks' battles. If Ares was the savage brutality and strength of war, Athena was the cunning, strategic side of it. She was most famous for her regard of Odysseus, whom was known as the cleverest of all the Greeks. Like much of mythology, there are conflicting stories about Athena's origin; however, the most widely known is that she sprang full-grown from Zeus' head, which sounds terribly painful for both parties if you ask me.

Apollo (Apollo)

Apollo was very popular with the Greeks as he was the god of truth and prophecy. Temples and oracles were scattered all over Greece that boasted of having a direct line to Apollo; however, the most prestigious of these was the Oracle at Delphi. It was common for Greek kings to consult Apollo regarding war and political conflicts. The Olympian was no stranger to combat; his weapon of choice was the bow, but he was also frequently pictured with a lyre, which displays the diverse qualities of this particular god.

Hermes (Mercury)

Hermes was a curious looking Olympian: he wore a helmet that looked something like a bowl with wings sprouting from it. In addition, his sandals had wings and he carried a scepter (the winged rod entwined with snakes that we now use as a symbol for medical practice). He was the messenger god, a sort of mailman for Olympus and, like the angels sometimes do in Scripture, declares the will of Zeus to the mortal world. As you can infer from his winged attire, Hermes could move with great speed. Interestingly, Hermes was also the god of thieves. You would think someone more reliable would be chosen as Zeus' mouthpiece, but as far as I know Hermes never took advantage of his status to pull off any capers.

Artemis (Diana)

Like Hestia and Demeter, Artemis rarely took center stage. She was the goddess of the hunt and preservation of the wild. Like the aforementioned goddesses, Artemis was essential to the daily lives of the Greeks, but didn't make for very compelling stories.

Aphrodite (Venus)

Ah, Aphrodite, the goddess of beauty and love. Much could be said about this Olympian, but let it suffice to say she stood out even amidst the physical perfection of the Olympians. As you can imagine, Aphrodite frequently had her lovely fingers entwined in the more memorable Greek myths. Her long blonde hair strategically covering her lady parts makes her instantly recognizable in many Renaissance paintings; however, she just as often bares all. There are conflicting stories regarding her birth, but the idea that she sprung forth out of the foam of the sea seems to be the most popular due to Sandro Botticelli's painting titled "The Birth of Venus."

Ares (Mars)

Ares was the infamous god of war. He was not the sort of god the Greeks would consult like Zeus, Apollo, or Athena, but rather he was a personified savage force of nature. He was quite intimidating on the battlefield until he was wounded, at which point he would bellow in rage and flee to Olympus. Ares also had a torrid love affair with Aphrodite, which came back to bite him in a significant way.

Hephaestus (Vulcan)

Only one Olympian was outright butt-ugly. Poor Hephaestus was so unsightly that his mother, Hera, cast him off of the peak of Olympus when he was born. As a result, Hephaestus walked with a limp. He functioned as the god of fire and forging, and everything he created was flawless, unbreakable, and of tremendous value. To have a goblet made by Hephaestus was an honor, but to have a weapon or armor forged by this Olympian was a privilege. Subsequently, Hephaestus forged the lightening bolts for his father, Zeus. The great irony of Hephaestus was that his wife was the lovely Aphrodite. That marriage - and Aphrodite's subsequent affair with Ares - did not go unnoticed in the Greeks' stories. When Hephaestus learned of his wife's infidelity, he forged a net in which to capture his wife in the act of her betrayal. One day while Aphrodite and Ares were - ahem - "meeting" with each other, Hephaestus burst into the room and cast the net over the top of them, and then called the other gods to openly mock Ares and Aphrodite caught in the midst of their shameful act. All is fair in love and war, I suppose.

Dionysus (Bacchus)

Lastly we have Dionysus, the god of wine and festivity. Though he may not have been essential to survival like some of the lesser-known goddesses or be featured prominently in the drama on Olympus, Dionysus was by far the favorite of the Greeks. Theatre, celebrations, athletic competitions, and rich wine all fell under the jurisdiction of Dionysus.

Today's Wrap Up

Every culture and era has its beliefs about deities and their roles in the universe, but only a handful have been as enduring and influential as Greek mythology. Their pantheon was neither a religion nor a set of cultural fables, but rather something that landed right between those marks.

I think that's more than enough for us to chew on today. We could certainly discuss at length the rest of the Greek pantheon, which includes other gods and goddesses as well as lesser supernatural beings, but these twelve are the necessary pieces. In the next post of this series, we will leave the lofty heights of Olympus and examine the mortal world as seen through the eyes of Greek mythology.

Primer on Greek Mythology Series:
The Gods and Goddesses
The Mortal World and Its Heroes
The Trojan War
The Odyssey and Applying What We've Learned

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A Primer on Greek Mythology: Part I -- The Gods and Goddesses

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Editor's note: This is a guest post from Tony Valdes. Greek mythology might sound like an obscure area of study, as if it is only relevant to wizened old professors in posh offices at Ivy League schools. Or perhaps you associate the topic with vague memories of sensationalized Hollywood summer movies.

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The Greeks built temples to their gods and goddesses. Some temples were small, while others were very grand and beautiful with amazing decorations.

Every city in Greece had a 'patron' god or goddess. People believed patron gods protected them from harm.

When people needed help from the gods, they went to the temple to pray. They might go if they were feeling sick, going on a journey or worried about the harvest on the farm.

To please the gods, people brought gifts of money, flowers, food and drink. They offered these gifts as sacrifices. Animals, like cattle, were sometimes killed as sacrifices. Then people feasted on the roasted meat.

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Who were the ancient Greek gods and heroes?

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The Greeks built temples to their gods and goddesses. Some temples were small, while others were very grand and beautiful with amazing decorations. Every city in Greece had a 'patron' god or goddess. People believed patron gods protected them from harm. When people needed help from the gods, they went to the temple to pray.

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Ancient Greece - Gods and Goddesses - The British Museum

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Handouts and Weblinks for Classical Mythology (CLAS230 Monmouth College)

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Chapter 3: Myths of Creation

GENESIS FROM CHAOS

Hesiod in his epic poem the Theogony offers the earliest Greek version of genesis. CHAOS ("yawning void") provides the beginning for creation. Out of Chaos the universe came into being. Later writers interpret Chaos as a mass of many elements (or only four: earth, air, fire, and water) from which the universe was created. From Hesiod's Chaos came Ge, Tartarus, Eros, Erebus, and Night.

GAIA [geye'a], GAEA [jee'a], or GE [gay]. Most important and first, Gaia, the earth and fertility mother, came from Chaos. Contemporary feminist approaches to mythology lay great importance on the fact that many early societies first conceived of deity as a woman.

EROS [er'os] (CUPID). From Chaos came Eros, the potent concept of Love, which is fundamental.

TARTARUS [tar'ta-rus], or TARTAROS. Tartarus, which came out of Chaos, was an area in the depths of the earth. It became a place of punishment in the Underworld; EREBUS [er'e-bus], or EREBOS, its darkness, became another name for Tartarus itself.

THE HOLY OR SACRED MARRIAGE OF EARTH AND SKY

URANUS [ou'ra-nus and you-ray'nus], or OURANOS. Of the elements that Gaia, earth, produced on her own, most significant is Uranus, the male sky or heavens, with his lightning and thunder. The deification of the feminine, mother earth, and masculine, god of the sky, is basic to mythological and religious thinking. Their marriage is designated as a HOLY, or SACRED MARRIAGE, a translation of the Greek HIEROS GAMOS [hi'er-os ga'mos], which has become the technical term.

THE CHILDREN OF URANUS AND GAIA

The holy marriage of sky and earth produced the following:

The three CYCLOPES [seye-klo'peez], or KYKLOPES: each CYCLOPS [seye'klops], o KYKLOPS, meaning "orb-eyed," had only one eye in the middle of his forehead. The Cyclopes forged lightning and thunderbolts.

The three HECATONCHIRES [hek-a-ton-keye'reez], or HEKATONCHEIRES, "hundred-handed": strong and monstrous creatures.

The twelve TITANS: six brothers and six sisters who mate with each other.

SOME TITANS AND THEIR OFFSPRING

Deities of Waters. The Titan OCEANUS [o-see'an-us], or OKEANOS was the stream of Ocean that encircles the disc of the earth in the early concept of geography. He is the father of the many spirits of waters (rivers, springs, etc.), the OCEANIDS [o-see'an-idz], three thousand daughters and three thousand sons.

Gods of the Sun. The titan HYPERION [heye-per'i-on], god of the sun, was father of HELIUS [hee'li-us], or HELIOS, also a god of the sun. Later the god APOLLO [a-pol'loh] became a god of the sun as well. The sun-god dwells in the East, crosses the dome of the sky in his chariot drawn by a team of four horses, descends in the West into the stream of Oceanus, which encircles the earth, and then sails back to the East to begin a new day.

The Son of a Sun-God. PHAËTHON [fay'e-thon], son of the sun-god, whether he be called Hyperion, Helius, or Apollo, wanted to be certain that the Sun was really his father and so he went to the splendid palace of the Sun to find out. The sun-god assured Phaëthon that he was his father, swearing a dread oath that the boy could have anything that he desired. Thus Phaëthon was granted his adamant request that he be allowed to drive the sun-chariot for one day. Too inexperienced to control the horses, Phaëthon created havoc, and in answer to the prayers of Earth was hurtled to his death by the lightning of the supreme god, Zeus or Jupiter. This tale illustrates the brave folly of youth, the conflict between parents and their children, and the search for identity.

Goddesses of the Moon. SELENE [se-lee'nee], goddess of the moon, is a daughter of the titan Hyperion, and she drives a two-horse chariot. Later the goddess ARTEMIS [ar'te-mis] (DIANA) becomes a moon-goddess. Selene (or Artemis) fell desperately in love with the hunter ENDYMION [en-di'mi-on] and used to abandon her duties in the heaven to visit the cave of her beloved. In the end, Endymion was granted perpetual sleep and eternal youth.

Goddess of the Dawn. EOS [ee'os] (AURORA), goddess of the dawn, was a third child of Hyperion. She, like Selene, drives a two-horse chariot. Eos fell in love with the mortal TITHONUS [ti-thoh'nus], or TITHONOS and carried him off. The supreme god Zeus granted her prayer that Tithonus be made immortal and live forever. Poor Eos forgot to ask for eternal youth for her beloved. Tithonus grew older and older, finally being turned into a shriveled grasshopper, while the passion of the eternally beautiful goddess cooled to become dutiful devotion. This tragic story illustrates how our ignorant wishes may be granted to our woe and illuminates the contrast between lovely and sensuous youth and ugly and debilitating old age.
Eos and Tithonus had a son named Memnon, who is killed by Achilles in the Trojan saga (see M/L, Chapter 19). The amorous Eos also carried off other lovers, including Cephalus, who became the husband of Procris in Athenian saga (see M/L, Chapter 23).

CASTRATION OF URANUS AND THE BIRTH OF APHRODITE

Uranus hated his children, and as they were about to be born he hid them in the depths of Gaia, the mother earth. The mythic image is Hesiod's poetic merging of vast sky and earth imagined, at the same time, as man and woman, husband and wife. Gaia's anguished appeals for revenge were answered by the last-born, the wily Cronus. He agreed to accept the jagged-toothed sickle that his mother had fashioned and, from his ambush, he castrated his father as he was about to make love to his mother. The severed genitals of Uranus were cast upon the sea and from them a maiden grew, APHRODITE [af-roh-deye'tee] (VENUS), the powerful goddess of beauty and love.

THE TITANS CRONUS AND RHEA AND THE BIRTH OF ZEUS
CRONUS [kro'nus], or KRONOS (SATURN), and RHEA [ray'a and ree'a], two important Titans, had several children who were devoured by their father as they were born. Cronus, who had castrated and overthrown his own father, Uranus, was afraid that he too would be overcome by one of his children. Therefore, when his son ZEUS [zous] (JUPITER) was born, the mother, Rhea, contrived that the birth be hidden from Cronus. She bore Zeus on the island of Crete and gave her husband a stone wrapped in baby's clothes to devour. Zeus was hidden in a cave and grew up eventually to overthrow his unwitting father; he will marry his sister HERA [hee'ra] (JUNO) and they will become secure as king and queen of the gods.

Saturn Devouring One of His Children,
by Francisco Goya

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GENESIS FROM CHAOS Hesiod in his epic poem the Theogony offers the earliest Greek version of genesis. CHAOS ("yawning void") provides the beginning for creation. Out of Chaos the universe came into being. Later writers interpret Chaos as a mass of many elements (or only four: earth, air, fire, and water) from which the universe was created.

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DK Find Out! | Fun Facts for Kids on Animals, Earth, History and more!

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Visit DK Find Out! to learn about dinosaurs, space, animals, nature & more. Fun learning activities for kids with videos, quizzes & galleries at DKFindOut.com

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Encyclopedia Mythica is the premier encyclopedia on mythology, folklore, and religion. Instant mythology since 1995.

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Note: this web site was created as a proof of concept in 2007. It is partially operational, and is archived here.

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Godchecker's Holy Hit Parade of popular Gods is powered by GodRank™ Technology.

Introduction to Greek Mythology

What can we say about the Greek Gods that they haven't already said about themselves? Consummate tall story tellers, the ancient Greeks had classy classic Gods for all situations.

Greek Mythology is a veritable blockbusting soap opera. What can Zeus possibly get up to next - and with whom? How will Hera take her next revenge? Where will Aphrodite discard her nightie? Who has been barred from Olympus lately - and why? When is the next big punch-up? And will Hermes be sued for selling counterfeit sheep?

Full of twists, turns, plots within plots, wit, humor, satire, belly laughs, blood-curdling thrills, Greek Gods have beginnings, middles, and ends without end. Coming soon to a temple near you. And they are all big stars - brawnier, more beautiful, and larger than any life you have ever known.

The Romans couldn't improve upon them. So they just gave them a quick makeover and turned the whole Greek pantheon into a spin-off sequel.

Options

Introduction to Greek Mythology.

Use our Godbrowser™ to explore the Gods of Greek Mythology.

View the Greek pantheon. Family trees coming soon!

Consult Godchecker's complete alphabetical list of Greek god and goddess names.

REGIONS COVERED: Greece, Greek islands, Athens, Argos, Attica, Corinth, Thessaly, Lesbos, Aegean, Arcadia, Rhodes, Sparta, Delphi, Lemnos, Thebes, Mycenae, Aechaea, Troy.

Many Gods are spread across different regions, cultures and tribes. We've tried to pin them down to a particular area if possible. But corrections are always welcome, especially from people with first-hand knowledge. So if you know the region and would like to comment, we'd love to hear from you. Contact us here.

TRIBES, CULTURES AND PEOPLES COVERED: The Greeks and Hellenic race of the Aegean, including the Spartan, Trojan, Athenian, Peloponnese and Arcadian peoples.

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Greek Mythology - Your guide to the Gods of ancient Greece

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Godchecker's Holy Hit Parade of popular Gods is powered by GodRank™ Technology. What can we say about the Greek Gods that they haven't already said about themselves? Consummate tall story tellers, the ancient Greeks had classy classic Gods for all situations. Greek Mythology is a veritable blockbusting soap opera.

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Greek Mythology offers educational information on all Greek Gods, Greek Goddesses and Myths of Ancient Greece. Study and Learn Greek Mythology with our free online lessons and e-courses.

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Click below at each title to order for free via email or web site download:divertimento in 1721 couplets arranged in 72 songs, by Carlos Parada
On the Eve of the Trojan War

(171 pages, 4.1MB) Mythomania, Really!
Mirrored and edited by Gorgo
(129 pages, 3.1MB)

"mythomania: an abnormal or pathological tendency to tell lies." (NOAD)

# data[].attributes.attachment_link.description
Click below at each title to order for free via email or web site download:divertimento in 1721 couplets arranged in 72 songs, by Carlos Parada On the Eve of the Trojan War (171 pages, 4.1MB) Mythomania, Really! Mirrored and edited by Gorgo (129 pages, 3.1MB) "mythomania: an abnormal or pathological tendency to tell lies."

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Greek mythology is not only interesting, but it is also the foundation of allusion and character genesis in literature. In this lesson plan, students will gain an understanding of Greek mythology and the Olympian gods and goddesses.

Learning Objectives
After completing the lessons in this unit, students will be able to:

Understand the Greek view of creation.

Understand the terms Chaos, Gaia, Uranus, Cronus, Zeus, Rhea, Hyperboreans, Ethiopia, Mediterranean, and Elysian Fields.

Describe the Greek view of the world's geography.

Identify the names and key features of the Olympian gods/goddesses.

Create their own god/goddess.

Create their own myth explaining a natural phenomenon.

Materials

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki

The Mighty 12: Superheroes of Greek Myths by Charles Smith

Greek Myths and Legends by Cheryl Evans

Mythology by Edith Hamilton (which served as a source for this lesson plan)

A paper plate for each student

Internet access to look up relevant sites

Note: Do not give student(s) the filled-in copy of the Gods/Goddesses chart. That is your answer key.

Lesson 1: Greek Creation Mythology

Although when we think of mythology we think of a collection of stories, there is a beginning to them. Understanding the beginning of the story, the creation of the world, gives us a framework to build upon as we learn about the different myths.

The short answer to how the Greeks viewed the creation of the world is this: Scary old gods came first; they got stomped down by their kids, who were better looking, younger gods. These gods created humans. Humans and gods fought for supremacy, and the humans won a few rounds but eventually got trounced and became more and more miserable.

Now, the longer answer: In the beginning, the universe was without form. It was not nothing; there was matter, but it was unorganized, shapeless, mixed up and dark. This was called Chaos.

After Chaos, more divinities, or gods, came into being.

Gaia, the Earth, held up Uranus, the sky. Gaia and Uranus had a bunch of kids. First they had a bunch of monsters including the Cyclops, and then they created the Titans as the second generation. Uranus hated all the Titans and was actually quite ugly about it - but there are only a couple of Titans that you need to remember: first, Oceanus, the god of the sea, and then Cronus, the strongest and best one of all. Gaia was pretty ticked at Uranus for being a jerk, so she helped Cronus overthrow him.

So, let's keep this straight. Cronus is Uranus's son. Cronus became the king (bye-bye Uranus), and married his sister, Rhea - another Titan. It's like a soap opera. This was called the Golden Age because men, who had been made by a Titan named Prometheus, were living in harmony. Everything was hunky dory.

It didn't last, though, because Cronus heard a prophecy that one of his sons would dethrone him, so every time his wife, Rhea, had a baby, he swallowed it. Rhea got a little sick of seeing all of her children swallowed alive, so she tricked Cronus when her sixth child, Zeus, was born; she wrapped up a rock to look like a baby and had Cronus swallow that instead. Zeus rescued his previously swallowed siblings, and all was right with the world.

World View

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

Their world was divided by the Mediterranean, which means "Middle of the Lands" in Latin. The river Ocean flowed around the world in a clockwise motion.

In the north lived the Hyperboreans - an extremely happy people for whom life was sweet. When the old people became tired of living, they threw themselves into the sea. This was a land of constant vacation where people were said to live for 1,000 years.
In the south lived the Ethiopians. In Greek drama, mention is often made of various gods being in Ethiopia, meaning really far away. So, if I say I parked in Ethiopia this morning, would that mean I'm close to my office or far away? The Ethiopians were said to be on good terms with the gods and liked to entertain them.
To the west were the Elysian Fields. This was the closest the Greeks got to the idea of heaven; only the best and brightest of the dead people got to go there.

To Do

1. Read The Gods and Goddesses of Olympus by Aliki.

2. Draw your own representation of the Greek view of the world on the paper plate using colored pencils and the map on the previous page as a guideline. Be sure to include the Ethiopians, the Hyperboreans and the Elysian Fields on your map.

3. Write a one-paragraph essay comparing the Greek view of the world to the contemporary view of it, including at least two points of comparison and two of contrast. You can follow this guideline:

Directions for Paragraph: Begin with a topic sentence. Here is an example:
The Greek view of the world both resembles and differs from the contemporary view.

Next, list two ways the views are similar. Here are examples:
The Greek view resembles the contemporary view in that:
Additionally, the views are similar because:

Next, list two ways the views are different. Here are examples:
However, the Greek view is not the same as the contemporary view because the Greeks believed
The Greeks also thought

Last, you will state a conclusion. Here's an example:
Therefore, even though the views have similarities, they differ in important ways.

Lesson 2: The Olympian gods

Use the information in this lesson to begin to fill in the gods and goddesses chart at the end of this lesson; you will also need to do your own research to complete it. Now that you understand the way that the Greeks viewed the beginning of the world, you are ready to learn about the Olympian gods.

First, we have to explore exactly what we mean by "Olympian gods." Mount Olympus is a real mountain in the north of Greece. Gradually, it became associated less and less with an actual mountain and more with an imaginary place high above the earth. According to the ancient Greeks, the gate to Olympus was made of clouds and it was guarded by four goddesses, the Seasons. Each god had his or her own dwelling place, but Olympus was home base.

There were up to 14 gods considered Olympian gods. Seven of them were Zeus and his siblings, and seven others were children of Zeus. Sometimes only 12 will be listed. The Greeks and Romans shared mythology, so you will find two names for most gods.

Now, use at least two sources in addition to what you read here to fill in your chart (next page) completely. Write down the sources you used on the back of the chart.

Book suggestions

D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths by Ingri and Edgar Parin D'Aulaire

The Mighty 12: Superheroes of Greek Myths by Charles Smith

Greek Myths and Legends by Cheryl Evans

(If your library doesn't have these, check around Dewey Decimal No. 398.2. That's where Greek mythology is.)

Web references

Lesson 3: Mythology biographical poem

A biographical poem, or biopoem, uses a simple but specific structure to describe the most important facts about someone. Your assignment is to write a biopoem about one of the gods or goddesses you have studied. You may choose any god or goddess (except Aphrodite, because she's the example below). The blanks bewlow are for your rough draft. When you're done, copy your final version onto a separate sheet of paper and, if you would like, decorate it.

Follow this format exactly, please:

Example (you may not use this goddess):

Aphrodite,
Goddess of Love, Desire, Beauty and Fertility.
A daughter of Zeus and Dione; wife of Hephaestus.
Lover of sons Aeneas and Cupid and brother Ares.
Who protects sailors.
Who needs a chariot.
Who fears War, Athena and Hera.
Who gives Helen to Paris, a magic belt to Hera, and Medea to Jason.
Resident of Mt. Olympus.
Venus.

Lesson 4: Olympians quiz

Time to test yourself - and beware, answers may be used more than once!

1. If you could have dinner with one god or goddess, who would it be and why?

2. Which god or goddess do you think would make the best president and why?

3. Imagine that Zeus has come to you and said that Olympus is lacking a god or goddess, and he needs you to help. Invent a new Olympian and describe him or her below.

Lesson 5: Putting it all together

Myths are a way of understanding the world. This lesson has been about Greek mythology, but every culture has myths. Myths define social customs and beliefs, explain natural and psychological phenomena, and provide a way for people to discuss things that cause anxiety.

Mythology is all around us. Here are just a few examples of places we find myths today:

Days of the week - Wednesday (Woden or Odin - Norse god); Thursday (Thor - Norse god); Friday (Freya - Norse goddess); Saturday (Saturn - Roman god who ruled before Jove)

Cars - Toyota Avalon and Cressida, Cadillac El Dorado, Honda Odyssey, Mercury

Shoes - Nike

Tires - Midas

Astronomy - Constellations like Orion, the Argo, all of the planets and the Pleiades. The Milky Way itself was supposedly the road over which the stars traveled to Jupiter's palace.

NASA - The first part of U.S. space program was Project Mercury, named after the messenger of the gods because the project's purpose was to send a message to the Soviets that America was in the space race. The Gemini Project was next; Gemini is Latin for "twins," and the project was called this because the capsule held two astronauts. Apollo astronauts rode on Saturn rockets.

Myths also make great stories. They come up in literature all over the place, from really serious stuff like Dante to comic strips. Myths inspire music; actually the word music comes from the mythological muses who inspired art of all kinds. Painters such as Michelangelo and Botticelli were inspired by myths. Even children's movies are a good place to look for myths; you will find them everywhere, including Snow White, Star Wars and The Lord of the Rings. Can you find at least three examples of mythology connections in the world?

Lesson 6: Create your own myth

Hopefully myths inspire you, too, because you are about to create your own myth! As you know, myths were often used to explain natural phenomena. Your challenge is to create your own myth to explain some natural phenomenon or land formation. It could be anything from the origin of hurricanes to how the Grand Canyon or a mountain range was created. You will tell this myth in a story format.

Here are the guidelines:

1. Your story must involve at least two Olympian gods or goddesses. It may contain other gods or goddesses as well.

2. Your story must explain some natural phenomenon (such as a weather event) or some geological feature (a mountain range, a large valley, a sea, an ocean, a polar ice cap, etc.).

3. Your story should be at least 350 words.

4. Your story must have a clear beginning, middle and end.

5. Your story should clearly show that you know something about Greek mythology. You will do this by including details about the Olympian gods and goddesses that show you know their powers, symbols and personalities.

Here are some ideas to get you thinking:

Where did the Rocky Mountains come from?

Where did the Mississippi River come from?

What made the North and/or South Pole(s)?

Why is Earth the third planet from the sun?

Why is it dark at night?

What is in the middle of the earth?

Assessment

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Greek mythology is not only interesting, but it is also the foundation of allusion and character genesis in literature. In this lesson plan, students will gain an understanding of Greek mythology and the Olympian gods and goddesses.

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MythNET - A comprehensive source of information about Greek and Roman Mythology. Learn about the Gods, Mythical Creatures and Monsters, the Heroes and their stories and genealogy.

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Please note that Mythweb does not pretend to cover all the characters of Greek mythology. If you can't find what you are searching for, we suggest you try these links to other sites:

All text and images on this site are copyright 1993-2022 Mythweb.

Real world location: San Francisco, California, USA.

Author: Joel Skidmore

Advisor: William Saturno

Mythweb is guaranteed kidsafe. Click here for our privacy policy.

Sister sites: Mesoweb and Cultures.

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Please note that Mythweb does not pretend to cover all the characters of Greek mythology. If you can't find what you are searching for, we suggest you try these links to other sites: All text and images on this site are copyright 1993-2022 Mythweb. Real world location: San Francisco, California, USA.

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Of all the Ancient Greek facts, their stories of the gods have to be one of the most fascinating!Join National Geographic Kids as we meet some of them...
It was believed that the family of Greek gods lived in a cloud palace above Mount Olympus (the highest mountain in Greece). These gods were thought to have special powers, and each had control over a different aspect of life. Many of them also appear in the tales of Greek mythology.

Zeus was the king of the gods, and the most powerful. He was the god of the sky and thunder, and controlled the weather. He had different powers, his most famous being the ability to hurl lightning bolts at those who displeased him! He hated dishonesty, and would punish those who lied or broke promises.

Hera was Zeus' wife and queen of the gods. She was the goddess of women, marriage and family. Hera was well worshipped by the Ancient Greeks, and the oldest and most important temples of the region were built in honour of her. Her sacred animals were the cow, lion and peacock.

Poseidon was the brother of Zeus, and god of the sea and earthquakes. Although one of the gods of Mount Olympus, he spent most of his time in the ocean. His weapon was a trident which was said to be so powerful it could shake the earth and shatter any object! He had a reputation for being bad-tempered and moody, and would seek revenge on those who angered him.

Did you know we have a FREE downloadable Greek Mythology primary resource? Great for teachers, homeschoolers and parents alike!

Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty. The Greeks believed Aphrodite was created from the foam of the sea on the shores of Paphos, Cyprus. She was considered the most beautiful of the gods, and later married Hephaestus, god of metalwork and fire. Her sacred animal was the dove.

Hades was Zeus and Poseidon's elder brother. Although a god of Mount of Olympus, Hades rarely left his dark kingdom, the underworld, where he ruled over the dead. Because he represented death, Hades was the most feared of the Ancient Greek gods - some people even refused to say his name! Hades was aided in the underworld by his three headed dog, Cerberus.

A son of Zeus, Hermes was the messenger of the gods. He was also responsible for guiding the dead to the underworld. Hermes was said to be the fastest of the gods and wore winged sandals and a winged hat. He was also known for his intelligence and wit, and would help Zeus with his important decisions.

Demeter was the goddess of agriculture, vegetation and crop growth. She was also associated with the seasons. The Ancient Greeks believed that her daughter, Persephone, was taken from her for four months each year, during which Demeter would grieve and withdraw her gifts from the world, creating winter.

A son of Zeus, Apollo was the Greek god of music, arts, light and medicine. He was famous for playing the lyre (an instrument a bit like a small U-shaped harp) - and he was also believed to have invented the lute (a pear-shaped string instrument). Although associated with health and healing, together with his twin sister Artemis, he could bring disease and plague to humans.

Athena was the Greek goddess of wisdom, skill and war. She taught humans various skills and crafts such as weaving, and would protect heroes during war. She was said to be Zeus' favourite daughter, so much so that he would allow her to use his weapons - even this blastastic thunderbolt! Her sacred animal was the owl.

Love reading about the Ancient Greeks? Then be sure to check out our other fab features...

Photos: Getty Images UK

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The Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greece! - National Geographic Kids

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Of all the Ancient Greek facts, their stories of the gods have to be one of the most fascinating!Join National Geographic Kids as we meet some of them... It was believed that the family of Greek gods lived in a cloud palace above Mount Olympus (the highest mountain in Greece).