Greek Mythology Read online

  Greek Mythology

  Fascinating Myths and Legends of Greek Gods, Heroes, and Monsters

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  Table of Contents

  Introduction

  Chapter 1: The Greek World

  The Heroic Age

  The Classical Period

  The Hellenistic Age

  Chapter 2: In the Beginning

  The Creation of the World

  The Titans and the Olympians

  Pandora’s Box

  Atlas and Prometheus

  Chapter 3: Greek Gods and Goddesses

  The Gods of Mount Olympus

  Zeus

  Apollo

  Poseidon

  Hera

  Athena

  Aphrodite

  Ares

  Hephaestus

  Hades

  Demeter

  Dionysus

  Hermes

  Artemis

  Hestia

  Hera’s Jealousy

  Hephaestus and Aphrodite

  Nymphs and Other Creatures

  Chapter 4: The Children of the Gods

  The Children of Zeus

  Gods and Demigods

  The Birth of Heracles

  The Amazons

  Chapter 5: Theseus and Other Heroes

  The Adventures of Theseus

  The Adventures of Perseus

  Jason and the Argonauts

  Chapter 6: Tales of Zeus

  Zeus and Ganymede

  Zeus and Leda

  Zeus and Leto

  Chapter 7: Tales of Apollo

  The Children of Apollo

  Apollo and Cassandra

  The Oracle of Delphi

  Laocoon

  Apollo and Hyacinthus

  Chapter 8: The Twelve Labors of Heracles

  First Labor: The Nemean Lion

  Second Labor: The Hydra of Lernea

  Third Labor: The Wild Boar of Erymanthus

  Fourth Labor: The Hind of Ceryneia

  Fifth Labor: The Stymphalian Birds

  Sixth Labor: The Augean Stables

  Seventh Labor: The Cretan Bull

  Eighth Labor: The Horses of Diomedes

  Ninth Labor: The Girdle of the Amazon

  Tenth Labor: Geryon’s Cattle

  Eleventh Labor: The Theft of Cerberus

  Twelfth Labor: The Apples of the Hesperides

  Chapter 9: Lighter Tales of Greek Gods and Heroes

  Oedipus and his Children

  Artemis and Actaeon

  The Myth of Arachne

  Cupid and Psyche

  Chapter 10: The Trojan War

  The Judgment of Paris

  Iphigenia in Aulis

  Achilles and Patroclus

  The Death of Achilles

  The Aftermath: Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

  Chapter 11: Twenty Essential Facts about Greek Myth and Legend

  Fact One: Hades was not counted among the Olympians.

  Fact Two: The oldest texts that detail the Ancient Greek gods are the Iliad and the Odyssey.

  Fact Three: Hades was not only the name of the god of the underworld but also of the underworld itself.

  Fact Four: Before the Olympian gods, there were the Titans.

  Fact Five: The Olympian gods overthrew the Titans to become rulers of the universe.

  Fact Six: Zeus and his brothers drew lots to see who would control which of the three realms of the universe.

  Fact Seven: Hera was not the first wife of Zeus.

  Fact Eight: The exhaustive list of the Olympians is up for debate as some count Hestia among the number while others count Dionysus.

  Fact Nine: The Romans drew most of their gods from the pantheon of Greek gods and goddesses.

  Fact Ten: Most Greek cities had their main temple devoted to their patron god, but there would have been other temples devoted to the rest of the divinities, too.

  Fact Eleven: Zeus won a bet when Tiresias deemed that he was right about sex and not Hera. (The goddess struck him blind as a punishment).

  Fact Twelve: Hestia was the first of the Olympian gods to be born.

  Fact Thirteen: Today, Cupid or Eros is often depicted as an infant, but he was originally described as a handsome youth.

  Fact Fourteen: Both Apollo and Helios were technically gods of the sun.

  Fact Fifteen: Both Artemis and Selene were goddesses of the moon.

  Fact Sixteen: Zeus was known to take on disguises when courting his love interests.

  Fact Seventeen: The Oracle at Delphi would give her prophecies in the form of cryptic answers to questions.

  Fact Eighteen: One might say that it was Eris who was responsible for the Trojan War, not Paris.

  Fact Nineteen: Greek mythology was practiced in regions outside the borders of modern-day Greece.

  Fact Twenty: Much of our information on Greek mythology comes not from the Greeks, but the Romans.

  List of Greek Gods and Other Characters

  Frequently Asked Questions

  Conclusion

  Introduction

  Greek Mythology is one of the great mythologies of the world. Tales of Greek gods and heroes have inspired countless generatio
ns in the Western world, and this trend shows no signs of letting up. These myths even inspired the Ancient Greeks to be better than they often were, even though the gods did not always set the best example. Today, Greek Mythology is taught in schools as part of an introduction to the West. Why? There are a number of reasons, but the struggle against the whims of life and the apparent fickleness of the gods so embodied the Greek experience as to make their mythology almost a representation of the human experience. In Greek mythology lay the foundations of Western art, literature, and philosophy.

  Of course, to the Greeks, their mythology was merely the way the world was. The gods could be fickle and unkind and so too could life. Daily experiences were frequently rife with calamities that seemed to run contrary to reason, and this was also true for the heroes and mythological characters who would have their stories told in drama. To us, Oedipus may seem like a strange unfathomable character, but to the Greeks, he was man himself, burdened by the woes that characterized the life of men on Earth.

  This chasm between ancient life and today is part of what makes mythology so interesting to study. When you take the time to learn about the gods and goddesses of a foreign people, you learn not only about who the people were and why they were, but you may even get a little glimpse at who you are. The drama of your life unfolds in ways that would have been understandable to people of the past even if they are occasionally not understandable to you.

  In Greek Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Greek Gods, Heroes, and Monsters you will be introduced to the formative tales and characters of Greek myth. This introduction will allow you to understand how a people who lived more than two thousand years ago understood and experienced the world. These people may have been different from you, but it can be argued that the basics of life have not changed much in two thousand years (if at all). Human beings still experience the same loves, rages, and disappointments much as they did back then. These types of emotions were well encapsulated in Greek legend, which often takes the form of an elaborate drama.

  To be honest, the drama is the best way to describe Greek myth and legend. Perhaps this is why the Greeks were the inventors of drama as we understand it today. The relationships between the gods, and between gods and mortals often had an emotional character that is seldom found in other mythologies. The Greek gods were jealous and vengeful. They loved and hated. They projected their frustrations onto others. In Greek Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Greek Gods, Heroes, and Monsters, you will learn of the loves of Zeus and of Apollo, and of the jealousies of Hera and Mars. These gods played out their emotions in a highly human fashion.

  But some of the most interesting characters are actually the human ones. Few tales are as fascinating as that of Theseus and the Minotaur. There was also the love of Theseus for Ariadne and Phaedra. Of course, there was Perseus and Andromeda, and Andromeda’s mother Cassiopeia who was placed among the stars. The Greeks were very familiar with the tale of how Perseus slew the gorgon, Medusa. These were stories that children of the time were well-versed in just as children of today can recount the exploits of their favorite cartoon characters.

  Naturally, Heracles was a character that the Greeks often wrote about. His exploits were dramatized in the theaters of their cities and large towns. His labors were reenacted at religious festivals as sort of a reminder that life was hardest of all for the great. The twelve labors of Heracles, indeed, seemed to be another representation of life itself, embodying the reality that life was a constant struggle and one that was sometimes lost. Perhaps all mythologies had this underlying message.

  Everyone reading Greek Mythology: Fascinating Myths and Legends of Greek Gods, Heroes, and Monsters to learn about Greek myths and legends has their own reason for doing so. Some read because they hope to better understand how people of the past thought, perceived and lived. Reading about Greek myth allows one to understand in this fashion because the exploration of myth is practically a journey into the mind of another. When one thinks of the great compendium that is mythology and all of the men whose words and ways of storytelling contributed to this myth and legend, it really seems to be the mind of many others. Mythologies are created by men, by people, and they give a strong indication of the manner in which such people perceive the world.

  What one learns from Greek myth is that the Ancient Greeks saw the world as filled with good things as well as bad. They saw man as engaged in constant struggle with himself. Man loved too much and this love often roped him into trouble, trouble that was not easily escaped from (just ask Zeus). Man struggled against fate and in so doing caused that fate to become a reality. It seemed that Man was destined to always be fooled in his attempts at peace, and many Greek myths (if not most) seem to end unhappily. But then we read about Odysseus and how he managed to return home to his wife Penelope, showing that loyalty - the loyalty the twain had for each other - was rewarded by the gods.

  This is what Greek Mythology is, more so than other mythologies. It is a compendium of lessons that teach men how to deal with the harsh occurrences of the world. Remember that the Greeks did not live in fertile land. They created their civilization on stones and mountainsides. They created cities out of the rubble, polices that hugged the seas and waterways that abutted the Mediterranean. The Greeks were subject to the whims of weather and the anger of the sea. They had to learn to deal with and understand a world that was often cruel or perish if they did not.

  But the Greeks did not perish. They turned their faces up to gods that were like themselves. They learned to navigate a world that was frequently inhospitable and hostile towards them. They fought the Persians at Thermopylae and Marathon and won. They even fought each other: sometimes winning, sometimes losing. These are the people whose belief system and manner of living are encapsulated in the myths and legends that are left to us today.

  In Greek Mythology, you will learn who these ancient people were. You will learn to empathize with them, even though they have been dead for thousands of years. This will entail loving the way that they loved, and feeling rage just how they might feel rage. You will understand the disappointments of Oedipus, Atlas, and Prometheus because you feel them too. You will identify with Hera’s rage about Io, and feel the surprise that Zeus felt when Athena burst fully-formed from his head. This is what it means to immerse your self in Greek myth.

  This emersion is something the Romans understood well. Roman myth really is Greek myth, even if the Romans kept idols of their original gods locked deep in their cupboards. The Romans took most of the Greek myth and made it into their own over a period of hundreds of years. Indeed, the Romans adopted Greekness so early in their history that it is nearly impossible to know precisely when this process began. Greek gods received Roman names. Zeus became Jupiter and Hera Juno. Ares became Mars and Aphrodite Venus. The Romans even worked Greek myth into their own history, describing themselves as being descended from Aeneas after he left Troy.

  This history is important to understand because it is lurking in the myths and legends that have been passed down to us. Although we do not always see the hand of the historian when we read the mythological tale, the hand is there. A skillful historian will understand how the story may have changed over time. They may perceive that Aphrodite did not originate with the Greeks but began as Astarte and Ishtar in the Near East. They realize that Dionysus came laughing and singing from the hills north of Greece. The historian can see how two legendary characters or gods became one as civilization progressed.

  For this reason, we begin our survey of Greek myth and legend by exploring the world of the Greeks. To understand them, it becomes necessary to learn what formed them: to learn the land where some ancestors sprung autochthonous and where others conquered and enslaved. Indeed, the history of the Greeks is rife with the legacy of this conquest, particularly when one examines the Spartans who basically lived as conquerors in a land they had earned by force. This brief exploration of the Greek world will be undertaken in the first chap
ter.

  Like all mythologies, Greek Mythology has its foundation myths. These are the formative stories about the gods, giants, and monsters that existed at the time of the beginning of the world. Some will be familiar with the story of Pandora's box. Others may have heard the stories of Prometheus and Atlas. These stories more than any other give a sense of the manner in which the Greeks perceived their world so we will begin here. This survey will be undertaken in the second chapter.

  At the center of every system of myths and legends are the gods themselves. Some religions believe that Man has been created in God's image while others believe that the gods created man because they were bored. Whatever line the particular religion takes, a review of the gods will give a sense of the gestalt of the religion: the tempo of the belief system. The drumbeat of Greek belief is one that beats quickly like a heartbeat. It is the sound of a life that has been lived in the present. The gods of Greek myth are very much creatures of the present and their story will be told in the third chapter.

  It is the story of the many loves of Zeus. It is the story of the great jealousy of Hera. There are many other tales besides. As in some other mythologies, the main group of Greek gods had to overthrow the gods who came before them. This was the war between the Olympians and the infamous Titans. In Greek Mythology, the goal is for the reader to understand who the Greeks were by learning what they believed. A portion of this entails understanding which gods they revered and which they feared. Gods of war were not as important to the Greeks as they were to Norsemen. An understanding of this dimension on the subject will also be examined in the third chapter.

  In many mythologies, the children of the gods occupy a special, luminal place. They are often neither gods nor mortals. In Greek myth, they have usually termed demigods, a tacit acknowledgment that they were more than mere mortal man. In the fourth chapter, we will explore the place that these children of the gods occupied, and how their place in the Ancient Greek religion was not quite the same as it was in other religious belief systems.