Transcript Greek and Roman Mythology

Introduction to
Greek Mythology
What is Greek Mythology?
The people of ancient Greece shared stories
called myths about the gods, goddesses, and
heroes in which they believed.
 Each god or goddess was worshipped as a
deity and ruled over certain areas of the
Greeks’ lives.
 These exciting stories explained natural
phenomena that could not be explained by
science in the ancient world.
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Why Should We Study
Greek Mythology?
The Ancient Greek culture has been kept alive
by the oral and later written stories handed
down through thousands of years.
 Modern plays, novels, television programs,
movies and even advertisements refer to
Greek gods, goddesses, heroes and their
stories.
 Adventurous and exciting stories delight and
entertain us.
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In the beginning...
…was Chaos (shapeless nothingness)
 Chaos had two children:
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– Night (darkness)
– Erebus (death)
“All was black, empty, silent, endless.”
 Mysteriously, Love was born of
darkness and death.
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And then...
When Love was born, order and beauty
began to flourish.
 Love created Light and Day.
 Earth was created.
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– She was the solid ground, but also a
personality.
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The Earth bore Heaven to cover her
and be a home for the gods.
The First Parents
Mother Earth = Gaea (Gaia)
 Father Heaven = Ouranos (Uranus)
 They had three kinds of children:
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– Three monsters with 100 hands and 50
heads
– Three cyclopes
– The titans
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These were the first characters that had the appearance of life,
although it was unlike any life known to man.
The Titans (The Elder Gods)
There were many of them.
 Enormous size, incredible strength
 Cronos (Saturn): Ruler of the titans
 Rhea: Wife of Cronos
 Oceanus: River that encircled the world
 Iapetus: Father of Prometheus,
Epimetheus, and Atlas (also titans)
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The Principal Gods
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Cronos and Rhea
were parents of
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Zeus (Jupiter, Jove)
Poseidon (Neptune)
Hades (Pluto)
Hera (Juno)
Hestia (Vesta)
Demeter (Ceres)
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Other Olympians
include
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Athena (Minerva)
Ares (Mars)
Hebe (Juventas)
Hephaestus (Vulcan)
Apollo (Apollo)
Artemis (Diana)
Hermes (Mercury)
Aphrodite (Venus)
Dionysus (Bacchus)
Persephone
The Olympians
Zeus
• He ruled the Olympians.
• He was the god of the sky, lightning and
thunder carrying a thunderbolt as his
symbol.
• He married Hera, his sister, which was a
family habit.
• He fathered many children with various
goddesses and mortals.
Zeus
Hera
She was the protector of marriage and the
home.
 She was associated with the peacock, because
of her great beauty.
 She and Zeus were always quarreling.
 She was called the queen of intriguers, a
vindictive and jealous wife, who frequently
outwitted her husband, Zeus.
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Hera
Poseidon
He built an underwater palace with a great
pearl and coral throne.
 Although he chose Thetis, a beautiful water
nymph, as his queen, he, like his brother
Zeus, was a great wanderer fathering
hundreds of children.
 He was a difficult god, changeful and
quarrelsome, but created many curious forms
for his sea creatures.
 He invented the horse for his sister Demeter,
whom he loved.
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Poseidon
Hades
He was the jealous brother to Zeus and
Poseidon.
 He made Persephone his wife after stealing
her from her mother, Demeter, who was his
sister.
 Because he was a violent god, who was also
very possessive of every new soul, he rarely
left his underworld domain.
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Hades
Hestia
She was the sister of Zeus and the daughter
of Cronos and Rhea.
 She represented personal and communal
security and happiness.
 She was thought of as the kindest and
mildest of the goddesses.
 She was of little mythological importance,
appearing in few stories
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Hestia
Demeter
She was the goddess of growing things.
 She was the mother of Persephone, whose
father was Zeus.
 Her daughter was kidnapped by Hades and
taken to the Underworld for six months of
the year causing the change of seasons.
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Demeter
Athena
She was born full grown out of the head of
Zeus.
 She taught man to use tools and taught man’s
wife to spin and weave.
 She was the best-loved goddess on Olympus.
 She hated Ares, god of war, often besting him
in battle.
 The Greek city of Athens is named after her.
 She was said to have created the spider.
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Athena
Ares
He was a ruthless and murderous god,
who displayed the worst of humanity’s
traits.
 He, along with grief, strife, panic, and
terror roams the earth.
 Ironically, he was a coward, who fled the
field of battle.
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Ares
Hephaestus
He was the ugliest of the gods, who was
rejected by his mother, Hera, when she
hurled him off of Mount Olympus crippling
him.
 He fashioned the armor and tools of the gods
on a broken mountain near Mount Olympus.
 He made beautiful jewelry for the goddesses.
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Hephaestus
Apollo
He was the twin brother of Artemis and the
most handsome of the gods.
 He was also the god of the healing arts and
of medicine.
 He drove his chariot across the sky to pull
the sun each day.
 His son, Phaethon, drives Apollo’s sun
chariot with disastrous results.
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Apollo
Artemis
She was the twin sister of Apollo, whose
mother was Leto and father was Zeus.
 She was a chaste huntress, who always
carried a silver bow and arrows.
 She ruled over the untamed places of the
earth.
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Artemis
Hermes
He was the precocious son of Zeus and
Maia, a Titaness.
 As a baby, he made a lyre and pipe for his
half-brother, Apollo.
 He carried Apollo’s golden staff and flew
around the heavens and earth on winged
sandals.
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Hermes
Aphrodite
She is the goddess of desire born from sea
foam. Another myth credits her mother as
Dione and her father as Zeus.
 After all the gods on Mount Olympus courted
her, she married Hephaestus, the ugliest of
the gods.
 Because she was judged the most beautiful of
all the goddesses on Mount Olympus by Paris,
the other goddesses envied her.
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Aphrodite
Dionysus
He is said to be the only god on Olympus with
a mortal parent.
 His creation of wine brings ecstasy and
drunkenness to his revelers.
 Much of the ancient world’s greatest poetry
was created in his honor.
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Dionysus
Persephone
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Roman Name: Proserpina
Daughter of Zeus and Demeter
Goddess of Springtime
Abducted by Hades, and became goddess
of the Underworld
The mint and pomegranate are sacred to
her.
Persephone
Hebe
Roman Name:
Juventas
 Goddess of
Youth
 Cupbearer to the
Gods
 Restored youth
to the aged
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Eros
Roman Name:
Cupid
 Young God of
Love
 Son of
Aphrodite and
Hephaestus
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Iris
Goddess of the
Rainbow
 Messenger for
Zeus and Hera
 Daughter of the
titan Thaumus
and the nymph
Electra
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The Muses
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Nine daughters of
Zeus and
Mnemosyne
Inspired artists of all
kinds
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Goddesses who
presided over the
arts and sciences
“He is happy whom
the muses love.”
Clio, Urania, Thalia, Melpomene, Erato, Calliope, Euterpe, Terpsichore, Polyhymnia
The Graces
Three Goddesses of
Grace and Beauty
 “They give life its
bloom.”
 Aglaia (Splendor)
 Euphrosyne (Mirth)
 Thalia (Good
Cheer)
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The Erinnyes (The Furies)
Roman Name: Furiae
or Dirae (The Furies)
 Three Goddesses of
Vengeance
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– Tisiphone
– Alecto
– Megaera
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They punish
evildoers.
The Fates
Roman Name: Parcae, Moirae
 Three sisters
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– Clotho (“The Spinner”)
– Lachesis (“The disposer of lots”)
– Atropos (“The cutter”)
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They weave, measure, and cut the
thread of life for humans.
The Satyrs
Gods of the woods
and mountains
 “Shepherd gods”
 Goat men
 Companions of
Dionysus
 They like to drink,
dance, and chase
nymphs.
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The Gorgons
Three snakehaired monsters
 Medusa is most
well-known
 Their look turns
men to stone.
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The Centaurs
Half man, half
horse
 Savage
creatures
(except Chiron)
 Followers of
Dionysus
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Sources
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Graphics in this presentation were taken from
the following web sites:
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http://www.bulfinch.org/fables/search.html
http://www.pantheon.org/
http://www.messagenet.com/myths/
http://mythman.com/
http://web.uvic.ca/grs/bowman/myth/index.html
http://www.paleothea.com/
http://www.entrenet.com/%7Egroedmed/greekm/myth.html
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