A Supplement to “Out of Chaos” Myth/Sci Fi Mrs. Solt TVHS

 Goddess of fertility, grain, and agriculture  Demeter: Daughter of Zeus and Rhea; sister to Zeus  Zeus and Demeter gave birth to Persephone  Hades abducted (raped) Persephone.  Demeter wandered the earth searching for her daughter. No grains grew upon the earth during this time.  Hermes was sent by Zeus to Hades to force him to return Persephone  Hades gave Persephone a pomegranate which bound her to spend a third of the year with her husband.  Demeter lets things grow only during the time (summer) Persephone is with her.

 Perseus: great story—see link on website to watch the Jim Henson version (Mother=Danae, impregnated by Zeus through a golden shower)—eventually beheaded Medusa  Perses was the son of Perseus and Andromeda(the beginning of the line of Perseids, of which Hecules is a descendent). He is considered the ancestor of the Persians.  Hecate is the daughter of Perses and Asteria, and is honored above all other Immortals by Zeus. In fact, he found no fault with her after the war (even though she was a Titan) ...

 Goddess of magic and witchcraft  Also goddess of the moon and night.  Had power over heaven, earth, and sea.  Later (after the original Greek myths were relayed) she was often depicted with three faces—these are the phases of the moon OR looked after the moon, earth, and the underworld—in all directions from the crossroads  Hecate is best known in Greek mythology for helping Demeter learn what happened to Persephone

 Remember the Persieds (children of Perses)? This is the line from which Hercules emerges  Perhaps the most popular of the Greek gods today—many adventures  Hercules is the son of Zeus and a mortal mother. He became immortal because he nursed from Hera at birth (formation of the Milky Way comes from this)  Later driven mad by Hera and kills his family.  His punishment was performing twelve labors (Hera’s evil scheme)  Survived the labors only to die in a magically mix-up.  BUT, the gift of immortality kicks in and he is resurrected and reconciles with Hera.

 These three are second generation Titans (sons of Iapetus).  The Titans fought against Zeus for 10 years.  The punishment of Atlas was to hold up the heavens for eternity  Prometheus and Epimetheus switched sides during the war, so escaped punishment.  P & E are representatives of mankind.  P=smart (forethought); E=foolish (afterthought)  P created humans from clay. E created animals but used all the gifts—oops!  P instead gave them fire—was punished for this. Do you remember how?  E is said to have accepted Pandora’s gift.

 After Prometheus stole fire from the gods and angered Zeus, Zeus ordered Hephaestus to create the first woman from clay: Pandora.  Endowed with beauty and cunning.  Opened the box/vase/jar that Zeus had given her as a wedding present. What was released?

 Themis was a first generation Titan (brother to Iapetus, whom we met a moment ago)  She was prophetic—put to use as an Oracle at Delphi  She was the goddess of law and order (justice and morality)  Sometimes she is credited as the mother of the Fates.  The Fates=the original “spin doctors”—weaving the threads of destiny  Often thought to even control the destiny of the gods.

 Goddesses of music, song, dance  Inspiration for poets  Goddesses of knowledge who held the memory of the earth and its inhabitants  3 Elder Titan Muses (first generation); Mnemosyne was one  Nine daughters of Zeus are known as the goddesses of music

 Athena was the daughter of Zeus— born from his forehead... Therefore...  Goddess of wisdom and courage (and war, but only in defense)  Arachne was a mortal, a respected weaver  Athena challenged her to a weaving duel  Spoiler alert: Arachne wins, but this enrages Athena  When she shared her guilt and shame with Arachne, it was too much for Arachne and she hung herself.  Athena felt horrible and resurrected Arachne as a spider— forever spinning her beautiful weavings.

 God of shepherds and flocks  Also the god of the woods and forests  His spirit exists in all nature (his name means “all” or “every”)  Son of Hermes  Ears, horns, tail, and back legs of a goat, the rest is a man  Made the first musical instrument (shepherd’s pipe) from the reeds of a maiden (Syrinx—Greek work for pipe) he was pursuing that the gods protected by turning into reeds along a river

 Goddess of the sea  Had the gift of prophecy  Could change her shape whenever she wanted  Prophecy said she would have a son more powerful than his father (both Zeus and Poseidon were pursuing her at the time)  Not wanting any part in that, Zeus had her marry a mortal man  Gave birth to Achilles  She held him by the foot and dipped him in the River Styx for invulnerability  She missed his heel where her hand grasped on  This heel was eventually his downfall thanks to an arrow  This is why we call our vulnerability our Achilles’ heel

 Echo (punished by Hera to not be able to speak except to repeat the sounds of others) fell in love with Narcissus.  Narcissus did not know or understand love.  Rejected, Echo eventually wasted away to nothing but her voice in the woods (an echo).  Narcissus was so cruel with his rejections toward women, the gods punished him by attracting him to his own reflection which he could not resist.  He could not stop admiring his face and eventually died in front of his reflection.  A flower that bears his name sprang up in his memory.

 Daedalus was a great craftsman who designed a palace and labyrinth for King Minos (MIGH- noss).  He later angered the king who put him and his son in the labyrinth, but Daedalus created wings attached with wax to fly off the island and escape.  He warned Icarus not to fly too high, but Icarus became excited and forgot his father’s warning.  He got too close to the sun. The wax melted. He fell into the sea.  Greek’s told this for its morals:  Listen to your elders.  Be moderate—do nothing in excess.

Do you know the stories of the following characters from Greek mythology?