An Introduction to Greek Mythology

Why Study Greek Mythology? To appreciate your own beliefs To appreciate how myths affect beliefs To understand and appreciate the influence of Greek mythology in our world today To appreciate how beliefs affect behavior To appreciate how the use of imagination makes life more interesting

Greece – Where Is It? Greece is a warm, rocky, hilly country pushing out from southern Europe into the Mediterranean Sea. Thousands of years ago, when myths were created, life was difficult there for most people. Kings ruled many different local regions and wars were common.

What is a Greek Myth? A myth is an ancient anonymous story, usually involving gods and goddesses whom the people believed lived on Mt. Olympus.

Why myths? Myths helped people understand how natural events and human actions happened. For example, in order to explain how the sun traveled across the sky, people created a myth about a sun god driving a mighty chariot.

Myths also helped people control what happened in the world. For example, by telling the story of how a god created rain, people believed they could encourage the god to make rain fall.

The Pantheon of Gods The twelve most important gods and goddesses of ancient Greece, called the Olympians, belonged to the same large , quarrelsome family. All the Olympians lived together in an enormous palace, set well above the usual level of clouds at the top of Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. The Titans were the first gods of the universe. Saturn, ruler of the Titans, was the father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. When Cronus’s children joined forces against him, he was forced to give up his throne to Zeus, who became the ruler of the twelve gods and goddesses, the Olympians.

Zeus (Jupiter) Zeus was the ruler of the gods and goddesses, and his domain was the sky. One of his emblems was the eagle, and the other was the woodpecker. His Roman name is Jupiter.

Hera (Juno) Hera was the queen of the gods, the wife of Zeus and his SISTER!! (The Greeks had some weird ideas about the gods.) Hera disliked being Zeus’s wife because he often married mortal women and told her those marriages did not count because they would grow old and die. Hera’s symbols were the peacock and the cow, and she ruled over marriage.

Poseidon (Neptune) Poseidon , god of the seas and rivers, was the brother of Zeus. His only weapon was the trident (looks like a pitchfork) with which he could stir up the sea and so wreck ships. Poseidon’s emblem was the horse, an animal he pretended to have created.

Demeter (Ceres) Demeter was the goddess of all useful fruits, grains, and grasses. Her Roman name Ceres is the root for our word cereal. Her emblem is the poppy, a flower which grows blood red.

Hephaestus (Vulcan) Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera. He was god of the goldsmiths, jewelers, and blacksmiths. Hephaestus was the only one of the gods who was handicapped because when he was born, Hera (his mother) thought he was too weak to be worthy of her and threw him over a wall, crippling him for life. His emblem is the quail, which does a hobbling dance.

Athena (Minerva) Athena was the goddess of wisdom, and she knew more than anyone else about pottery, weaving, and all useful arts. Athena was also a battle goddess, and when she fought, she always won. The story of her birth was that one day Zeus had a splitting headache, Hephaestus ran up with an axe, split open his skull, and out stepped Athena, fully grown! The wise owl was her symbol.

Aphrodite (Venus) Aphrodite was goddess of love and beauty. Aphrodite had a magic girdle, or belt, which she would wear whenever she wanted to make anyone love her madly. Zeus tried to tame her by making Hephaestus her husband, but she thought it disgraceful to be his wife. Her emblem was the dove.

Ares (Mars) Ares was Hephaestus’s tall, cruel, handsome, boastful brother. He loved fighting for its own sake. Ares and Aphrodite were always holding hands and giggling in corners, which made Hephaestus jealous. He had no manners, no learning, and the worst of taste. His emblems were the wild boar and a blood-stained spear.

Apollo (Apollo) Apollo was the god of music, poetry, medicine, archery, and young unmarried men. He was Zeus’s son and rebelled against his father once or twice but got well punished each time. His emblem was the white mouse, which knew the secrets of the earth and told them to him.

Artemis (Diana) Artemis was goddess of the hunt, the moon, and unmarried girls. She hated the idea of marriage, although she took care of mothers when their babies were born. Her emblem was the she-bear, the most dangerous of all wild animals in Greece.

Hermes (Mercury) Hermes was the messenger of the gods. He was also the god of merchants, bankers, thieves, fortune-tellers, and heralds. Hermes invented the alphabet, and one of his emblems was the crane, because cranes fly in a V. That was the first letter he wrote.

Hestia (Vesta) Hestia was Zeus’s oldest sister. She was goddess of the home Hestia was the kindest and most peaceful of all the Olympians, hated the continual family quarrels, and never chose any emblem for her own.

Dionysus (Bacchus) Dionysus was the inventor of wine and Zeus’s son by a mortal woman. Zeus gave him a seat in in the Council of the gods, but he would have been thirteenth, so sweet Hestia gave him her seat. His emblem was the tiger.