Archives in English 10 Hestia 31

Antique National School
Grade 10 SY 2019- 2020
Into Antiquity
Exploring the Myths

and Legends of Old
In partial fulfillment of the requirement

in English 10
Submitted to: Jan Michael S. Combong
:
Submitted by Ara Cressa G. Bico
Soleil Esporsado
Vea Mae Patiño
John Mark Anteza
Paolo Miguel Untal
Fate Gwyneth Yson
Date of submission: August 5, 2019 Remarks: Rating:

Chapter 1:
The Greco-Roman Era: Renaissance of Human

Civilization
The Olympian were the principal deities of the Greek pantheon, so named
because of their residency atop Mount Olympus. They gained their supremacy
in a ten-years-long war of gods, in which Zeus led his siblings to victory over
the previous generation of ruling gods, the Titans. They were a family of gods,
the most important consisting of the first generation of Olympians, offspring of
the Titans Cronus and Rhea: Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter and Hestia, along
with the principal offspring of Zeus: Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Aphrodite,
Hephaestus, Hermes, and Dionysus. Although Hades was a major deity in the
Greek pantheon, and was the brother of Zeus and the other first generation of
Olympians, his realm was far away from Olympus in the underworld, and thus
he was not usually considered to be one of the Olympians. The canonical
number of Olympian gods was twelve, but besides the (thirteen) principal
Olympians listed above; there were many other residents of Olympus, who
thus might be called Olympians. Heracles became a resident of Olympus after
his apotheosis and married another Olympian resident Hebe. Some others,
who might be considered Olympians, include: the Muses, the Graces, Iris,
Dione, Eileithyia, the Horae, and Ganymede
The High gods of Olympus
Greek Name: ZEUS (/zjuːs/; Ancient Greek: Ζεύς, Zeús [zdeǔ̯s])

Roman Equivalent: Jupiter
Address: Mount Olympus
Powers: lightning bolts, controlling the weather, causing rain and huge storms,
justice, kings, fate and people etc.
Parentage: Cronus and Rhea
Siblings: Hestia, Hades, Hera, Poseidon, Demeter, Chiron
Consort: Hera (etc)
Offspring: Aeacus,Angelos, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus,
Eileithyia, Anyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Harmonia, Hae,
Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Nemesis,
Pandia, Persephone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, The Graces, The Horae
Symbols: Thunderbolt, eagle, bull and oak, scepter
Attitudes: Anger, Fury, romantic, sympathetic
Title: Supreme God and Ruler of Olympus, Lord of the Sky, The cloud -gatherer,
Rain -God, Zeus the Thunderer, Lord of Justice, Moral Conduct, and God of Fate
Stories: “The birth of Zeus”, “Zeus and his Mates”, “Zeus and The Years of Life.”
Greek Name: HERA (/ˈhɛrə, ˈhɪərə/; Greek: Ἥρᾱ, Hērā; Ἥρη, Hērē in Ionic and
Homeric Greek)
Roman Equivalent: Juno
Powers: Strength, immorality, resistance
Siblings: Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Zeus, Chiron (Half Brother)
Consort: Zeus
Offspring: Angelos, Ares, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Hebe, Hephaestus
Symbols: Pomegranate, peacock, feather, diadem, cow, lily, lotus, cuckoo, panther,
scepter, throne, lion
Attitudes: Jealous & vengeful
Title: Queen of Olympus, Goddess of Childbirth, Women, Home, Life, Royalty,
Marriage and the heavens
Stories: “Hera and the Peacock”, The Creation of the Milky Way”, “Hera’s Beauty
Rituals”
Greek Name: ARES (/ˈɛəriːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἄρης, Áres [árɛːs])

Roman Equivalent: Mars
Address: Mount Olympus. Thrace, Macedonia, Sparta, Thebe
Powers: strength and physically
Parentage: Zeus and Hera
Siblings: Angelos, Eilteithyia, Enyo, Eris, Hebe, Hephaestus, Aeacus, Aphrodite
(Hippolyta, Antiope, Melanippe, and Penthesilea) and Adrestia, Heracles, Hermes,
Minos, Pandia, Persophone, Perseas, Rhadamanthas, the Graces, the Horae, the
Litae, the Muses, the Moirais
Consort: Aphrodite
Offspring: Eros, Anteros, Phobos, Deimos, Monia, Thrax, Phlegyas, Harmonia,
Enyalis, Oenomaus, Amazons (Hippolyta, Antiope,Melanippe and Penthesileal)
Adrestia, Enyalios,
Symbols: spear, helmet, dog (sacred animal), boar, barn, owl, vulture, chariot,
flaming, torch, sword, shield
Attitudes: blood thirsty fighter, quick temper, fearless
Title: Gods of Murder, Cannibals, Violence, War, Bloodlust,
Stories: “The Dragon of Ares and the Foundation of Thebes.”
Greek name: APOLLO (Attic, Ionic, and Homeric Greek: Ἀπόλλων, Apollōn
(GEN Ἀπόλλωνος); Latin: Apollō)
Roman Equivalent: Phoebus
Powers: foretell the future, light, healing, music and appearance
Parentage: Zeus and Leto
Siblings: Artemis, Ares, Athena, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Dionysus, Aeacus,
Angelos, Eileithyia, Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hercules, Hermes,
Minos, Pandia, Persophone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the
Litae, thr Muses, the Moirai
Consort: Daphne, Kyrene, Codonis, Thalia, Kalliope, Leucothea, Kassandra,
Coronis
Offspring: Aclepius, Troilus, Aristeaus, Orpheus, Korybantes,Coronis
Symbols: silver, bow and arrows, lyre, The Sun, Golden Chariot, crop sand,
shepherds, The Laurel tree, animals and birds, laurel wreath, tripod, myrtle
Sacred animal: Python, cow, wolf, dolphin, swan and mouse
Attitudes: jealous, vengeful, cheerful and truthful
Title: God of Music, Intelligence, Civilization, truth, logic, reason, prophecy,
purification, poetry, plague, oracle, sun, healing, archery, light and medicine,
diseases, songs, dance, herbs and flocks, and protection of young
Stories: “Apollo & Hyacinth”, “Apollo in the Land of the Hyperboreans”, “The birth of the Twins”, “Apollo’s Wedding
Proposal”
Greek Name: ARTEMIS (/ˈɑːrtɪmɪs/; Greek: Ἄρτεμις Artemis, Attic

Greek: [ár.te.mis])
Roman Equivalent: Diana
Powers: cleverness, heal, strength, bring and relieves diseases
Parentage: Zeus and Leto
Siblings: Apollo, Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia,
Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia,
Persephone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses, the
Moirai
Consort: Orion
Offspring: N/A
Symbols: bow, arrows, hunting, dog, and moon
Sacred animal: deer, wolves and the cypress
Attitudes: vengeful and impulsive
Title: Artemis Agrotera, Artemis of the Wildland, Mistress of Animals, Goddess of the
Hunt, wildland animals, Virginity, the Mof, Childbirth, protector of young girls,
bringing and relieving diseases in woman, The Moo and Archery, Forests and Hills
Stories: “Artemis & Acleon”, “Artemis, Apollo and the Tears of Niobe”
Greek Name: APHRODITE

Roman Equivalent: Venus
Powers: love, beauty, lust
Parentage: Zeus and Dione
Siblings: Apollo, Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia,
Enyo, Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Hearcles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia,
Persophone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, thrLitae, the Muses, the
Moirai,, Hephaestus, Ares, Poseidon, Hermes, Dionysus, Adonis and Anchises
Offspring: Phobos, Eros, Deimos, Harmonia, Pothox, Anteros, Himeros,
Hermaphroditus, Rhudos, Eryx, Peitho, the Graces, Priapus and Aeneas
Symbols: dolphin, rose, scallop, shell, myrtle, dove, sparrow, girdle, mirror, pearl and
swan, seafoam, lettuce, apple, goose,and rabbit
Attitudes:flirty and mischievious
Title: Divine Lady of the Doves, goddess of Love, Beauty and Lust Fertility
Stories: ”Aphrodite & Anchises”, “The birth of Aphrodite”, “Story of the Golden
Apple”
Greek Name: POSEIDON (/pəˈsaɪdən, pɒ-, poʊ-/; Greek: Ποσειδῶν,

pronounced [poseːdɔ́ːn])
Roman Equivalent: Neptune
Address: Aegean Sea and Mount Olympus
Powers: water, storms, lightning and immorality
Siblings: Hades, Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Zeus, Chiron (half brother)
Consort: Aphrodite, Demeter, Amphitrite
Symbols: trident, fish, dolphin, horse and bull, turquoise, ash, tree, white pine tree
Sacred Animals: horse, dolphins, fish, bull and Ram
Offspring: Theseus, Triton, Polyphemus, Orion, Belus, Agenor, Neleus, Atlas,
Rhude, Benthesikyme, Arion, Chrysaory, Pegasus, Nauplius
Attitudes: fury, bipolar (changing character)
Title: God of the Sea, earthquake, droughts, floods, water, aquatic creatures,
marine weather and horses, storms, horses
Stories: “The share of the World”, “Poseidon & the Dolphin’ feat”, “Poseidon,
Agaeus & the Fatal curse”
Greek Name: DEMETER (/dɪˈmiːtər/; Attic: Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr,

pronounced [dɛːmɛ́ːtɛːr]; Doric: Δαμάτηρ Dāmā́ tēr)
Roman Equivalent: Ceres
Powers: beauty/ Crone, immorality, transformation
Parentages: Cronus and Rhea
Siblings: Hestia, Hera hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Chiron
Consort: Iasion, Zeus, Oceanus, Karmanor, Poseidon, Triptolemus,
Symbols: winged serpent, gecko, wheat, puppy, cornucopia, torch, bread
Offspring: Persophone, Desponie, Areion, Ploutus, Philomelus, Eubelus,
Chrysothemis,
Amphitheus I, Desponia and Eubuleus
Attitudes: kind, gentle-soul, sweet, and generous
Title: goddess of the Harvest, agriculture, fertility and sacred law, the seasons,
nature, nourishment, grain
Stories: “Demeter & the Force of Fire”, “Demeter and The Abduction of
Persphone”, ‘Triptolemus& the Civilization of Land”
Greek Name: HERMES (/ˈhɜːrmiːz/; Greek: Ἑρμῆς)

Roman Equivalent: Mercury
Powers: durability, stamina, agility, strength, reflexes
Parentage: Zeus and Maia
Siblings: Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia,
Hebe, Enyo,Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Heracles, Hermes, Minos,
Pandia, Persophone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the Muses,
theMoirai
Consort: Merope, Aphordite, Dryope, Peitho, Hecate, Merope, Herse and Chione
Offspring: Pan, hermaphroditus, Tyche, Abderus, Autolycus, Eudorus, Angelia, Myrtillus
Symbols: Talaria (winged sandals), caduceus, tortoise, lyre, rooster, petasoso (winged
helmet), wand
Attitudes: very sneaky and cheery
Title: God of Thievery, messenger, road, merchants, travel, astrology, astronomy, athletics,
cunning wiles, language, writing, persuasion, invention, hospitality, athletes, commerce,
boundaries, transition, diplomacy, trickery, guide to the underworld, border crossing
Stories: “Hermes & the Crocus flower”, “The Caduceus of Hermes”, “Hermes & the cattle
of Apollo”
Greek Name: ATHENA (Athene)

Roman Equivalent: Minerva
Powers: Wisdom, strength, agility, immorality, defender
Parentage: Zeus and Metis
Siblings: Aeacus, Angelos, Aphrodite, Apollo, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia,
Hebe, Enyo,Eris, Ersa, Hebe, Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Hearcles, Hermes, Minos,
Pandia, Persophone, Perseus, Rhadamanthus, the Graces, the Horae, the Litae, the
Muses, the Moirai
Consort: Hephaestus
Offspring: NONE (She is a virgin)
Symbols: owls, olive trees, snakes, aegis, armor, helmets, spears, gorgoneion
Sacred animals: snow owl, serpents
Attitudes: discord, envious
Title: goddess of War, Wisdom, Crafts, Battle, Strategies, Mathematics, Civilization, Arts,
Reason, Skills
Stories: “Athena, Arachne & the Weaving Contest”, “Athena & the Price of Impiety”
Greek Name: HESTIA (/ˈhɛstiə, ˈhɛstʃə/; Greek: Ἑστία, "hearth" or "fireside")

Roman Equivalent: Vesta
Powers: hearth and home
Siblings: Demeter, Hera, hades, Poseidon, Zeus, and Chiron
Consort: N/A
Offspring: NONE (She is a Virgin)
Symbols: the hearth and its fire
Attitudes: constant, calm, gentle, and supportive of the family and home
Title: goddess of the Hearth, home, domesticity, family, the State and fire
Stories: “Hestia & the God Priapus”, “Hestia the goddess of Hearth and Home”,
“Hymns to Hestia”
Minor gods & demi- gods and creatures
Greek name: HELIOS (/ˈhiːliɒs/; Ancient Greek: Ἥλιος Hēlios; Latinized as

Helius; Ἠέλιος in Homeric Greek)
Roman Equivalent: Sol
Address: River Okeanos, Sky
Powers: omniscience, sun, sunlight & shield, Immorality, enhanced, pysichal
enhance Parentage: Hyperion and Theia
Siblings: Selene and Eos
Consort: Cylemene, Klytie, Perse, Rhodos, and Leucothea
Symbols: chariot, horse, aureole, roaster, powdered incense, hilotrape, sunflower
Offspring: Astris, Heliades, Horai 1, Horai 2, Charites, Circe, Lampetia, Phaethusa,
Selene, Telchines, Aethon, Actis, Aloeus, Augeas, Electryone, Heliadae, Camirus,
Candalus, Cercaphus, Macar, Ochimus ,Perses, Phaethon, Phasis a lord of Kolkhis
(eastern Black sea) Tenages, Thersanon, Triopes One of seven co- kings of the
island of Rhodes (Greek Aegean).
Attitudes: Helios was sometimes characterized with the ephitet Panoptes (“the all-
seeing”)
Title: God of the Sun, light, fire, knowledge and sight
Stories: “The Daily Journey of Helios,” “The birth of Helios,” “Helios & Island of
Rhodes”
Greek name: SELENE (/sɪˈliːni/; Ancient Greek: Σελήνη [selɛ̌ːnɛː] "Moon")

Roman Equivalent: Luna
Address: Sky
Powers: to ease childbirth, inspire love, to pierce illusion, to mask reality &
conversely
Parentage: Hyperion and Theia
Siblings: Helios and Eos
Consort: Endymion
Offspring: Charites, Phaeton, The Horae, Selene, Aeëtes, Circe, perses, Pasiphae,
Heliadae
Symbols: crescent, chariot, torch, villain, cloak, bull
Attitude: peaceful, very brisk, kind and loving
Title: goddess of the Moon
Stories: “Selene & the Nemean Lion,” “Selene & the Giant Typheous,” “Love of
Selene & Endymion”
Minor gods & demi gods and creatures
Greek name: HECATE (/ˈhɛkətiː/; Ancient Greek: Ἑκάτη, Hekátē)

Roman Equivalent: Trivia
Address: Underworld
Powers: magic, witchcraft, the night, moon, ghosts and necromancy, mist, trivial,
knowledge
Parentage: Peres and Asteria
Siblings: (she is the only child)
Consort: Hermes
Offspring: Scylla, Aeetes, Circe, Pasiphae, Empusa
Symbols: paired torches, black dog, serpents, keys, polect, dagger, and Hecate’s
wheel
Attitudes: faithful in terms of service, protective
Title: goddess of Magic, crossroads, ghosts, the Moon, necromancy, witchcraft,
entrance- way, light, magic, knowledge at herbs, poisonous plants, and sorcery
Stories: “Hecate & The War of the Titans,” “Hecate & the War of Gigantes,”
“Hecate & Hermes,” “Hecate & the Witch gale,” “Hecate & Galinthias”
Greek name: HEBE (/ˈhiːˌbiː/; Greek: Ἥβη)

Roman Equivalent: Juventos
Powers: strength, healing, immorality, to manipulate magic
Parentage: Zeus and Hera
Address: Mount olympus
Powers: strength, healing, immorality to manipulate magic
Parentage: Zeus & Hera
Siblings: Hephaestus, Eileithyia, Aphrodite, Apollo, Aeacus, Aecus, Angelos,
Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Dionysus, Eileithyia, Enyo, Ersa, Helen of
Troy, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, Pandia, Persephone, Persues, Rhadamanthus,
The Graces, The Horae,
The Litae, The Muses, The Moirai
Consort: Heracles
Offspring: Alexiaries, Anicetus
Symbols: wine – cup, eagle, Ivy, fountain of youth, wings, chalice, and
lettuce
Attitudes: she has a perfect personality of a youth
Title: goddess of Eternal Youth, Keeper of the Fountain of Youth, Cupbearer
of the Gods, patron of Brides, goddess of Pardon and Forgiveness, Prime of
Life
Stories: “Hebe & Hercules,” “The Role of Hebe”
Greek name: HEPHAESTUS (/hɪˈfiːstəs, hɪˈfɛstəs/; eight spellings; Greek:

Ἥφαιστος Hēphaistos)
Roman Equivalent: Vulcan
Powers: fire, smiths, craftsmen, metal working/blacksmith, stonemasonry and
sculptor, forge
Siblings: Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Dionysus, Aphrodite, Eileithyia
Enyo, Hebe, Ersa, Helen of Troy, Heracles, Hermes, Minos, The Graces, The
Horae,
The Muses
Consort: Aphrodite, Charis Aglaea
Symbols: hammer, anvil, tongs, volcano
Offspring: Thalia, Eucleia, Eupheme, Philophrosyne,Cabeiri, Euthenia,
Attitudes: friendly, peaceful nature, loving his work, jealous, vengeful
Title: God of Blacksmiths, metal working, carpenter, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors,
metallurgy, fire and volcanoes, stone masonry, forges, technology
Stories: “Iliad and Odyssey,” “Hephaestus & the Creation of the Robots,”
“Hephaestus & the prince of Infidelity”
Greek Name: DIONYSUS (/daɪ.əˈnaɪsəs/; Greek: Διόνυσος Dionysos)

Roman Equivalent: Bacchus, Liber
Powers: strength, vitality, can drive other gods insine
Parentage: Zeus & Semele
Siblings: Apollo, Ares, Hephaestus, Hercules, Hermes, Eris, Eileithyia, Hebe and
Aphrodite
Consort: Ariadne
Offspring: Priapus, Hymen, Thoas, Staphylus, Comus, PHthonus, Oenopian, The
Graces, Deianira Ares, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Aphrodite, Hebe, Hermes, Heracles,
Helen of Troy, Hephaestus, Perseus, Minos, the Muses, the Graces
Symbols: Thyrsus, Grapevine, Leopard Skin, Panther, Cheetah, Bull and other big cats,
Attitudes: carefree, festive, wild, lightheartness
Title: God of the Wine, grape – harvest, wine making, wine, fertility, ritual madness,
religious ecstasy, theatre and drunkenness and fertility, patron of Arts
Stories: “The fatal Secrets of wine making,” “Dionysus & the Wine of Samons,” “Midas
& the Touch of Gold”
Minor gods & demi -gods and creatures
Greek name: EROS (UK: /ˈɪərɒs, ˈɛrɒs/, US: /ˈɛrɒs, ˈɛroʊs/;[2] Ancient Greek: Ἔρως,
"Desire")
Roman Equivalent: Cupid
Powers: love, desire, immorality, physical, attraction, invincibility, magical ability to
cause lust/ infatuation.
Parentage: Ares and Aphrodite
Siblings: Harmonia, Phobos, Deimos, Adrestia, Anteros, Golgos, Beroe
Consort: Psyche
Offspring: Hedone
Symbols: bow and arrows, torch, lyre, candles, hearts, wings and kisses
Attitudes: passionate and carefree
Title: God of Love and sexual desire
Stories: “Cupid and Pysche,” “The Myth of Eros”
Greek name: AELOUS (/iːˈoʊləs/; Ancient Greek: Αἴολος, Aiolos [a͜ɪ́olos],

Modern Greek: [ˈe.o.los])
Roman Equivalent: Hippotades
Address: Island of Aeolia
Powers: keeper of the winds and king of the mythical, floating island of
Aeolia
Parentage: Melanippe and Hippotes or Poseidon
Siblings: Sisyphus, Athamas, Cretheus, and Salmoneus
Consort: Cyane
Offspring: Crethus, Sisyphus, Athamas, Salmoneus, Magnes, Perieperess,
Canace, Alycone, Pisidice, Calyce, Perimede
Symbols: Jar/Open Bag, Harp
Attitudes: self absorbed
Title: Keeper of the Winds, King of the Winds
Stories: “The Odyssey”
Minor gods & demi-gods and creatures
Greek name: HYPNOS (/ˈhɪpnɒs/; Greek: Ὕπνος, "sleep")

Roman Equivalent: Somnus
Address: Underworld
Powers: Sleep
Parentage: Nyx & Erebus
Siblings: Thanatos, Nemesis, Eris,
Keres, Oneiroi, Apate, Clotho, Lachesis, Atropus, Oizys, Charon
Consort: Pasithea
Offspring: Morpheus,Phobetor,Pantasos
Symbols: Is a branch of a poplar tree dipped into the River Lethe, the river of
forgetfulness located in the Underworld
Attitudes: Moody, Harsh
Title: God of Sleep
Stories: “Hypnos & Pasithea,” “Hypnos & Thanatos”
Greek name: THANATOS (/ˈθænətɒs/; Greek: Θάνατος, pronounced in Ancient

Greek: [tʰánatos] "Death", from θνῄσκω thnēskō " to die, be dying")
Roman Equivalent: Mors/Letum
Address: Underworld
Powers: Death, Strength, can see ghosts & spirits, endurance
Parentage: Nyx & Erebus
Siblings: Hypnos, Nemesis, Eris, Keres, Oneiroi, Charon
Consort: Macaria
Offspring: N/A
Symbols: butterfly, poppy, sword, invented torch
Attitudes: Merciless, Aggressive
Title: Reaper of Souls, God of Peaceful (just touching a person and then they die).
Stories: “Thanatos & Alkastis,” “Thanatos in the Iliad,” “Thanatos in Odyssey”
Minor gods & demi-gods and creatures
Greek name: IRIS (/ˈaɪrɪs/; Greek: Ἶρις Ancient Greek: [îːris])

Roman Equivalent: Iris/Arcus
Powers: Shape-shifter, Handmaiden, Messenger Rainbow
Parentage: Thaumas & Electra
Siblings: Arke, Aello, Celaeno, Ocypete
Consort: Zephyrus
Offspring: Pothos
Symbols: rainbow, caduceus, iris, pitcher
Attitudes: Optimistic, Faithful, Loyal, Merciful, Sweet -tempered
Title: goddess of the rainbow, Fertility, Colors, the Sea, Heraldry, the Sky, Truth
and oath, Messenger of the Gods
Stories: “Messenger Iris & Exile of Demeter,” “Iris & the Labour of Leto,” “Iris
& the Trojan War”
Greek name: PAN /pæn/;[1] Ancient Greek: Πάν, Pan)

Roman Equivalent: Faunus
Address: Arcadia
Powers: Strength, can transform objects, Teleportation, Impervious to injury
Parentage: Zeus or Dionysus & Driope
Siblings: Satyr, Laertes, Circe, Maenads
Consort: Syrinx, Echo, Pitys
Offspring: Silenos, Inyx, Krotos, Xanthus
Symbols: pan-pipe, goat
Sacred animal: goat
Attitudes: Gentle
Title: God of Nature, the Wild, Shepherd, flocks of mountain wilds, and is
often associated with sexuality, Rustic God
Stories: “Pan & the Wanderings of Demeter,” “Music Contests of Pan &
Apollo”
Greek name: THE SATYRS (Greek: σάτυρος sátyros, pronounced [sátyros])

Roman Equivalent: Faunus
Address: Paneffus & Mount Helicon
Powers: Can transform into styr or faun, Manifestation of forests and animal
spirits
Parentage: The Daktyloi & The Hekaterides
Siblings: Satyroi
Consort: The Nymphs
Offspring: Pronomos, Lykos, Pherespondos
Symbols: N/A
Attitudes: Animalistic
Title: N/A
Stories: “Satyrs & The War of the Gigantes,” “Argus-Panoples & The Arcadian
Satyr,” “Satyrs Poetical Miscellany”
Greek name: CHIRON (/ˈkaɪrən/ KY-rən; also Cheiron or Kheiron;

Greek: Χείρων "hand")
Roman Equivalent: Chiron
Address: Mount Pelion
Powers: Knowledge & Skill in Medicine, Music, Archery
Parentage: Cronus & Philyra
Siblings: Dolops,Aphros
Consort: Nymph Chariclo
Offspring: Endeis, Melanippe, Okyrrhoe, Karystos
Symbols: The man-beast blend itself is the major attribute of the centaur.
Attitudes: Overly indulge drinker, wild, lusty, kind, civilized
Title: Wisest and Justest of all the centaurs.
Stories: “Chiron Mentor & Asclepius,” “Chiron,” “Peleus & The
Treachery of Acastus,” “The Death of Chiron & The Constellation
Sagittarius”
Minor god & demi-gods and creature
Greek name: THE CENTAURS (/ˈsɛntɔːr/; Greek: kένταυρος,

kéntauros, Latin: centaurus)
are half-human, half-horse creatures in Greek mythology. They have
the body of a horse and the torso, head and arms of a man. They were
considered to be the children of Ixion, king of the Lapiths, and
Nephele, a cloud made in the image of Hera. According to a different
myth, however, they were all born from the union of a single
Centaurus with the Magnesian mares.
One of the best known centaurs is Chiron or Cheiron, a wise centaur.

Although most centaurs were depicted as lustful and wild, Chiron was
a notable exception; modest and civilised, he was known for his
medicinal skills and teaching abilities. He lived on Mount Pelion in
Thessaly and was the tutor of a number of Greek mythical
characters such as Achilles and Aesculapius. He was immortal; however, he was accidentally wounded by Heracles
with an arrow treated with the blood of the monster Hydra, causing him insufferable pains. So, when Heracles asked his
father to free Prometheus and Zeus demanded that someone must be sacrificed, Chiron volunteered and died, both to free
Prometheus and himself from the pain.
Greek name: ORION (/əˈraɪən/; Ancient Greek: Ὠρίων or Ὠαρίων; Latin:

Orion)
Roman Equivalent: Orion
Address: Boeotia
Powers: Ability to walk on water,hunter
Parentage:Poseidon and Euryale
Siblings: Aloadai, Antaios, Ephialtes, Kharibdis, Khrysaor, Laistrygon,
Otos, Polyphemos
Consort: Side
Offspring: Metioche and Menippe
Symbols: sword and shield
Attitudes: drunkenness
Title: Gian Hunter
Stories: “Dead Stars”, “Artemis and Orion”
Greek name: PEGASUS (Greek: Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; Latin: Pegasus,

Pegasos)
Roman Equivalent: Pegasus
Address: Mount Helicon
Powers: Flight, Immortality
Parentage: Poseidon & Medusa
Siblings: Chrysoar
Consort: N/A
Offspring: N/A
Symbols: knowledge, glory, and inspiration.
Attitudes: Unabashedly temperamental, moody.
Title: Divine winged horse
Stories: “Pegasus & the Spring of Hippocrene”, “The Constellation
Pegasus”
Greek name: SIBYL

Roman Equivalent: Sibylla
also called Sibylla, prophetess in Greek legend and literature.
Tradition represented her as a woman of prodigious old age uttering
predictions in ecstatic frenzy, but she was always a figure of the mythical
past, and her prophecies, in Greek hexameters, were handed down in writing.
In the 5th and early 4th centuries bc, she was always referred to in the
singular; Sibylla was treated as her proper name, and she was apparently
located in Asia Minor. From the late 4th century the number of sibyls was
multiplied; they were localized traditionally at all the famous oracle centres
and elsewhere, particularly in association with Apollo, and were
distinguished by individual names, “sibyl” being treated as a title.
Greek name: MUSES (Ancient Greek: Μοῦσαι, Moũsai)

Roman Equivalent: Musae, Camenae
Address: Mount Olympus, Mount Helicon
Powers: Ability to transform into a muse, ability to inspire their favored art
Parentage: Zeus & Mnemosyne
Siblings: Artemis, Aeacus, Aphrodite, Ares, Athena, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Enyo etc.
Consort: Apollo, Pierus, Oegnus
Offspring: Orpheus, Sirens, Apollo, Thalia, Hyacinthus
Symbols: Lyre, Scrolls, Globe, Writing Tablet, Comic and Tragic Mask, Flute
Attitudes: Careless, Responsible
Title: Greek goddesses of poetic inspiration, the adored deities of song, dance, and memory, on whose mercy the
creativity, wisdom and insight of all artists and thinkers depended.
Stories: “Apollo & The Muses,” “Muses in Raphael’s Parnassus”
9 Muses Description
Calliope (“The One with a Beautiful Voice”)
Is the superior Muse. She inspired homer as he wrote The

Iliad and the Odyssey. She accompanied kings and princes
to help them impose justice and serenity. Calliope is the
protector of poetic works, the rhetoric arts, music, and
writing. Calliope usually depicted with laurels in one hand
and two Homeric poems in the other.
Clio (“the Celebrator,” “The Proclaimer”)
Is the protector of history. In ancient Greece, the word for

“history” was “clio” (which derived from “Kleos”, the
Greek word for heroic arts). Depictions of Clio portray her
holding a clarion in her right arm and a book in her left
hand.
Erato (“The Lovely One”)
Is the protector of lyrical and love poetry. She holds a

lyre, love arrows and a bow.
Euterpe (“She Who Please”)
Is the protector of song and poetry of death, love and war.

She created several music instruments and inspires the
creation of beautiful music. She is often portrayed with a
flute in her hands while her other instruments surround
her.
Melpomene (“She Who Sings”)
Is the protector of the tragedies. She created rhetoric

speech and the melodies of tragedy, she is typically
depicted holding a tragic theatrical mask.
Polyhymnia (“She of the Many Hymns”) Is the protector of divine hymns. She created geometry
and grammar. She is usually depicted wearing a veil and
looking up to the heavens.
Terpsichore (“The One Delighting in the Dance”)
Is the creator and protector of dance. She also created the

harp and education. She is usually depicted with a laurel
wreath on her hand while she hold her harp and dances.
Thalia (“The Cheerful One”) Is the opposite of Melpomene. She is the protector of
comedy, the sciences (including geometry, architecture,
and agriculture) and symphonies. She is typically holds a
comedic theatrical mask in her depictions.
Urania (“The Heavenly One”) Is the protector of celestial bodies. She created astronomy,
and she bears stars, a celestial sphere, and a compass
Greek name: NYMPHS (Greek: νύμφη nýmphē, Ancient: [nýmpʰɛː] Modern: [nífi])
The Classes of Nymph Definition

ANTHUSAE
nymphs of flowers. They were probably the

same as Leimenides, a type of Oceanid.
AURAE
The nymphs of the cooling breeze. They were

daughters of the wind-god Boreas, or Okeanos,
the earth-encircling fresh-water stream.
BACCHAE The Bacchic nymphs, companion of Dionysus. They

were also known as Thyiades.
BUCOLAE Bucolic or rustic nymphs. Another name for the

Epimelides.
CRENAEAE Naiad nymphs of wells and fountain.
DRYADS
The nymphs of trees and forests.
EPIMELIDES Nymphs of highland pasture, the protectresses of sheep-

flocks.
HALIAE
Nymphs of the sea, the sands, and the rocky shores. They
had the schools of fish, and other sea creature in their
keeping.
HAMADRYADS.
Oak-tree Dryads whose life force was bound to that of a

particular tree
HELEIONOMAE
Niads nymphs of fresh water marshes and wetlands.

LAMPADES
Torch-bearing nymphs of the underworld.
LEIMENIDES Nymphs of the water-meadows—pastures thick with lush

grass and flowers.
LIMNATIDES Naiad nymphs of lakes.
MAENADS
The frenzied nymphs of the train of Dionysus.
MELIADES Another name for Epimelides.
MELIAE
Nymphs of honey, bees and honey dew. They were also

Dryads of the mountain ash.
MELISSAE Honey nymphs.
NAIADS Nymphs of the sources of fresh-wate: springs, fountains,

streams, rivers and lakes.
NEPHELAE
Nymphs of the clouds.
NEREIDS Fifty Haliad sea-nymphs.

OCEANIDS
Nymphs who presided over the sources of fresh-water.
OREADS Nymphs of the mountains.
PEGEAE Naiad nymphs of spring.
POTAMEIDES Nymphs of the rivers.
Greek name: ERINYES (THE FURIES) (/ɪˈrɪniˌiːz/; sing. Erinys /ɪˈrɪnɪs/,

/ɪˈraɪnɪs/;[1] Greek: Ἐρινύες, pl. of Ἐρινύς, Erinys)
Roman Equivalent: Dirae
Address: Underworld
Powers: Immortality, Invisibilty, can make poison w/magic, flight, vitality,
strength
Parentage: Gaia & by the blood of Uranus
Siblings: Cronus
Consort: Boreas, Ares
Offspring: Hippoi, Areioi, Drakom, Areion
Symbols: turtle doves and the narcissus.
Attitudes: Angry, Vegenful
Title: The goddesses of Vengeance
Stories: “Erinyes Purifiers of the Dead Sailors,” “Dungeon of the Damned”
The Three Furies are:

Megaera was described as the 'jealous one'
Tisiphone was described as the 'blood avenger'
Alecto was described as 'unceasing in pursuit'
Minor god & demi-gods and creatures
Greek name: HARPIES (plural harpies, Greek: ἅρπυια,[1][2] harpyia,

pronounced [hárpyi̯ a]; Latin: harpȳia)
Roman Equivalent:
Address: Sky
Powers: Spirits of sudden,sharp gusts of wind. Were dispatched by the
god to snatch away people and things from the earth. Sudden mysterious
disappearance.
Parentage: Thaumas and Electra
Siblings: Aello, Ocypete, Podarge, Nicothoe, Celaeno
Consort: Zephyrus, Boreas
Offspring: Balius and Xanthus, Phlogeus and Harpagos, Xanthus and
Podarkes, Balius and Xanthus; Arion
Symbols: N/A
Attitudes: Snatcher, swift robbers, vicious, cruel and violent.
Title: N/A
Stories: “The Mythical Story of the Harpies”
Greek name: NEMESIS (/ˈnɛməsɪs/; Ancient Greek: Νέμεσις)

Roman Equivalent: Rivalitas
Address: Earth
Powers: Retribution and Indigination
Parentage: Nyx
Siblings: Achyls, Apate, Dolos, Eleos, Elpis, Epiphron, Eris,
Hesperides, hybris, Hypnos, Ker, Moirai, Momus, Moros, Oizys,
Oneirei, Philotes, Sophrosyne, Thanatos, Or the Oceanides, the
Potamai
Consort: Zeus, Tatarus
Offspring: Helen of Troy and the Telchines
Symbols: sword, lash, dagger, measuring rod, scales, bridle
Attitudes: inordinate good fortune.
Title: goddess of Vengeful Fate, Rightful, Retribution, Revenge
Stories: “Narcissus”, “The Myth of Nemesis”
Minor god & demi-gods and creatures
Greek name: ERIS (/ˈɪərɪs, ˈɛrɪs/; Greek: Ἔρις, "Strife")

Roman Equivalent: Discordia
Address: Tartarus
Powers: Flight, Force of suffering for mankind
Siblings: Enyo, Ares, Hebe, Eileithyia, Aether, Hemera,
Oizys, Hypnos, Morai, Oneiroi, Apate, etc.
Consort: Ares
Offspring: Ponos, Lethe, The Algae, Limos
Symbols: golden apple of discord
Attitudes: Cruel, Kinder to men, Wrath
Title: Goddess of Strife and Discord, Disorder, And Chaos
Stories: “Eris & The Golden Ape of Discord,” “The Fable of
Eris & Heracles”
Realm of Hades and the Monsters
Greek name: HADES (/ˈheɪdiːz/; Greek: ᾍδης Hádēs; Ἅιδης Háidēs)

Roman Equivalent: Dis Pater, Orcus
Address: Underworld
Powers: Invisibility, power over the dead, controls riches and wealth
Siblings: Poseidon, Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Zeus, Chiron
Consort: Persephone
Offspring: Melinoe, Zagreus
Symbols: cerebrus, cornucopia, scepter, cypress, narcissus, keys, serpents, the barn
owl, mint, asphodel, plant, bident.
Attitudes: Fierce, Inexorable, Morbid
Title: God of the Underworld, the Earth, Fertility, Riches and Metals, king of the
Dead and the Subterranean Regions.
Stories: “Hades & the War Of Titans,” “Hades & the Hero Orpheu
Greek name: PERSEPHONE (/pərˈsɛfəni/ pər-SEF-ə-nee; Greek: Περσεφόνη), also

called Kore (/ˈkɔːriː/ KOR-ee; Greek: Κόρη; "the maiden"),
Roman Equivalent: Proserpina
Address: Underworld, Mount Olympus
Powers: Springtime. Vegetation, could summon spirits
Parentage: Zeus & Demeter
Siblings: Chrysothemis, Minos, Pandia, Amphiteus, Ares, Athena, Perseus, etc.
Consort: Hades
Offspring: Melinoe, Zagreus
Symbols: pomegranate, seed of grain, torch flowers and deer
Attitudes: Introvert, Obedient, Youthful
Title: goddess of Rebirth, Spring and the Underworld, Flowers and Vegetation.
Stories: “Persephone Favour: Heracles,” “Persephone Wrath: Minthe”
Greek name: CERBERUS (/ˈsɜːrbərəs/;[2] Greek: Κέρβερος

Kerberos [ˈkerberos])
Roman Equivalent:
Address: Underworld
Powers:It has a mane of snakes, three heads, and a tail which was
a living serpent. His looks could frighten many mortals and
demigods. It is also very large, and ferocious, with sharp teeth that
can slice flesh.
Parentage: Typhoeus & Echidna
Siblings: Lernaean Hydra; Orthrus, a two-headed hellhound; and
the Chimera, a three-headed monster.
Consort: N/A
Offspring: N/A
Symbols: represent evil, anger, vigilance and fury.
Attitudes: violent,
Title: Hound of Hades
Stories: “Hesiod's theogony”, “Pindar and horaces Cerberus”
Greek name: CHARON (/ˈkɛərɒn, -ən/; Greek Χάρων)

Roman Equivalent: Charun
Address: Underworld
Powers: strength, longlife, Resistance to injury
Parentage: Erebus & Nyx
Siblings: Thanatos, Hypnos, Ker,Morai, Geras
Consort: N/A
Offspring: N/A
Symbols: The Oar or Pole of a boatman, The double-headed hammer,
maul or mallet.
Attitudes: Quick tempered, Gruff, Greedy
Title: The Ferryman, Rower
Stories: “Charon & the River Styx,” “Charon and the Romans”
RIVERS OF THE UNDERWORLD

STYX
The River Styx is the most commonly known of all the rivers that flow into the Underworld. It is the largest
river of the five as it circles the Underworld seven times. The river was name after Styx, a goddess Zeus made by whom
the most solemn oaths were sworn. Styx is also the nymph river. The River is described as the most sinister of all the
rivers, and is often referred to as the River of Hatred.
LETHE
The River Lethe is also one of the main rivers of the Underworld and in this case, the river itself represent forgetfulness.
The goddess Lethe, the goddess of forgetfulness, presides over this river. River Lethe is also known as river of oblivion.
Upon entering the Underworld, the dead would have to drink the waters of Lethe to forget their earthly existence.
ACHERON
Besides being part of the mythology of the Underworld, River Acheron is also a real river in Greece. The
Acheron is the River of Woe or the River of Pain. This also the main river where the ferryman of the Underworld Charon,
would transport the souls into afterlife. As it borders the world of living.
PHLEGETHON
This river is one of the most turbulent. Considered to be the River of Fire, Phlegethon is said to be the only
river that travels deep into the Underworld, even deeper than the other four rivers. River Phlegeton also leads to Tartarus,
which is where the dead are judged and where the prison of the Titans is located.
COCYTUS
River Cocytus is referred to as the River of Wailing. Cocytus is the river of cries and lamentation. The River
Cocytus is actually described as flowing into the River Acheron. For the souls that Charon refused to ferry over because
they had not received a proper burial, the River Cocytus would be their wandering grounds.
SCYLLA
Scylla was a monster that lived on one side of narrow channel of water, opposite her counterpart Charybdis.
The two sides of the strait were within an arrow’s range of each other so close that sailors attempting to avoid Charybdis
would pass dangerously close to Scylla and vice versa.Scylla made her first appearance in Homer’s Odyssey, where
Odysseus and his crew encounter her and Charybdis on their travels. Later myth gave her an origin story as a beautiful
nymph who gets turned into a monster. The strait where Scylla dwelled has been associated with the Strait of Messina
between Italy and Sicily.
CHARYBDIS
Charybdis was sea monster in Greek mythology, which dwelt in the Strait of Messina. It was later rationalized as a
whirlpool. It was believed that Charybdis lived under a rock on one side of the strait. Since the passage between the two
monsters was very narrow, sailors who tried to avoid one sea monster would unavoidable get into reach of the other.
Charybdis swallowed large amounts of water and then belched them out, creating large whirlpools that resulted in the
destruction of passing ships.
Charybdis considered the offspring of Poseidon and Gaea, serving her father and helping him in his quarrel against
Zeus. Zeus became angry that Charybdis had flooded large areas of land with water, so he turned her into a monster that
would eternally swallow sea water, creating whirlpool.
CHIMAERA
Chimera was a monstrous fire breathing hybrid creature of Lycia in Asia Minor, composed of the parts of more than
one animal. It is usually depicted as a lion, with a head of a goat arising from its back, and a tail that might end with
snake’s head and one of the offspring of Typhon and Echidna and a sibling of such monsters as Cerberus and the
Lernaean Hydra.
The term Chimera has come to described any mythical or fictional animal with parts taken from various animals, or
to described anything composed of very disparate parts or perceived as wildly imaginative, implausible, or dazzling.
GORGONS
Gorgon is a mythical creature portrayed in ancient Greek literature. Gorgons refers to any of three sisters who had hair
made living of venomous snakes, as well as a horrifying visage that turned those who beheld her to stone. Traditionally,
while two of the Gorgons were immortal, Stheno and Euryale, their sister Medusa was not and she was slain by the
demigod and hero Persues.
MINOTAUR
Minotaur is a mythical creature portrayed in Classical times with the head and tail of a bull and the body of a man.
The Minotaur dwelt at the center of the Labyrinth, which was an elaborate maze-like construction designed by the
architect Daedalus and his son Icarus, on the command of King Minos. The Minotaur was eventually killed by the
Athenian hero Theseus.
It was the offspring of Pasiphae the wife of Minos, and a snow-white bull sent to Minos by the god Poseidon for
sacrifice. Minos, instead of sacrificing it, kept it alive; Poseidon as a punishment made Pasiphae fall in love with it. Her
child by the bull was shut up in the Labyrinth created for Minos by Daedalus.
AREAS & INHABITANTS OF THE UNDERWORLD
The Avernus.
Avernus was an ancient name for a crater near Cumae (Cuma), Italy, in the Region of Campania west of Naples.
It is approximately 2 miles in circumference. Within the crater is Lake Avernus (Lago d'Averno).[1] Avernus was
believed to be the entrance to the underworld, and is portrayed as such in the Aeneid of Virgil. The name is coming from
the greek word "αερνος", meaning without birds, because according to tradition all birds flying over the lake were
destined to fall dead. In later times, the word was simply an alternate name for the underworld.
The bottomless Alcyonian Lake at Lerna.
It was a region in the Peloponnese in Greece, which was the backdrop for one of the Labours of Heracles in Greek
mythology. It was the place where one of the best known mythical monsters dwelled, the Lernaean Hydra. It was a
water snake that had nine heads; eight of them were mortal, but as soon as one was cut off, two more would appear. The
ninth head was immortal and could not be slain by normal means. Slaying the Lernaean Hydra was the second labour that
King Eurystheus gave to Heracles, as was demanded by the goddess Hera.
Lerna was a region that had lots of springs and swamps, and was also one of the entrances to the Underworld. In this
area, the Lernaean Mysteries were held as a tribute to the goddess of nature, Demeter. It was also here that the god
Poseidon slept with Amymone, daughter of Danaus, to whom he revealed the secret of the Lernaean lake.
A cavern near the ancient town of Tenarus
Situated at the tip of the middle promontory of Peloponnese (known back then as
Cape Tanaerum, and called Cape Matapan today), the cave exists to this very day; it
was through this cave that Heracles dragged Cerberus out of Hades and Orpheus
tried to bring Eurydice back to the world of the living.
FIELD OF PUNISHMENT
Field of Punishment is the place in the underworld where the rest of the dead would spend eternity, based upon their
judgement. According to myth, there were judged of the dead, who would sentence the soul upon arrival.
THE ASPHODEL MEADOWS
The Asphodel Meadow is where the souls of people lived of near equal good evil rested. It essentially was a plain of
Asphodel flowers which were the favorite food of the Greek dead. It is described as a ghostly place that is an even less
perfect version of life on earth. Some depictions describe it as a land of utter neutrality.
ELYSIUM
Elysium also called Elysian Fields in Greek mythology, originally the paradise to which heroes on whom the gods
conferred immortality were sent. It probably was retained from Minoan religion. In Homer’s writings the Elysian Plain
was a land of perfect happiness at the end of the Earth, on the banks of the Oceanus. A similar description was given by
Hesiod of the Isles of the Blessed. In the earlier authors, only those specially favoured by the gods entered Elysium and
were made immortal. By the time of Hesiod, however, Elysium was a place for the blessed dead, and, from Pindar on,
entrance was gained by a righteous life.
CREATION OF
THE UNIVERSE &
BEGINNING OF
TIME
STORY OF CREATION
In the beginning, there was only Chaos, the gaping emptiness. Then, either all by themselves or out of the formless void, sprang forth three
more primordial deities: Gaea (Earth), Tartarus (the Underworld), and Eros (Love). Once Love was there, Gaea and Chaos – two female deities –
were able to procreate and shape everything known and unknown in the universe.
The Children of Chaos and Gaea

Chaos gave birth to Erebus (Darkness) and Nyx (Night). Erebus slept with his sister Nyx, and out of this union Aether, the bright upper air,
and Hemera, the Day, emerged. Afterward, feared by everyone but her brother, Night fashioned a family of haunting forces all by herself. Among
others, her children included the hateful Moros (Fate), the black Ker (Doom), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), Oneiroi (Dreams), Geras (Old Age),
Oizus (Pain), Nemesis(Revenge), Eris (Strife), Apate (Deceit), Philotes (Sexual Pleasure), Momos (Blame), and the Hesperides (the Daughters of the
Evening).
Meanwhile, Gaea gave birth to Uranus, the Starry Sky. Uranus became Gaea's husband, surrounding her from all sides. Together, they
produced three sets of children: the three one-eyed Cyclopes, the three Hundred-Handed Hecatoncheires, and the twelve Titans.
The Castration of Uranus
However, Uranus was a cruel husband and an even crueler father. He hated his children and didn’t want to allow
them to see the light of day. So, he imprisoned them into the hidden places of the earth, Gaea's womb. This angered Gaea,
and she plotted with her sons against Uranus. She made a harpe, a great adamant sickle, and tried to incite her children to
attack Uranus. All were too afraid, except the youngest Titan, Cronus.
Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush for Uranus. As he was preparing to lay with Gaea, Cronus castrated him with
the sickle, throwing his severed genitals into the ocean. It is unclear as to what happened to Uranus afterward; he either
died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to Italy. From the blood that was spilled on the earth due to his castration,
emerged the Giants, the Meliae (the Ash Tree Nymphs), and the Erinyes (the Furies). From the sea foam that was
produced when his genitals fell into the ocean, arose Aphrodite, the Goddess of Beauty.
Cronus Devouring His Children
Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and
the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus and set the dragoness Campe to guard them. He
married his sister, the Titaness Rhea, who bore him five children.
However, Gaea and Uranus had both prophesied that Cronus would eventually
be overthrown by one of his sons. So much like his father, Cronus maltreated
his children, devouring each of them at the time of birth. Rhea was distressed
by Cronus’ treatment of her children and, just like Gaea before him, plotted
against her husband. On the advice of her mother, when it was time to give birth
to her sixth child, Rhea hid herself on Crete, leaving the new-born child to be
raised by the nymphs of the island. To conceal her act, she wrapped a stone in
swaddling clothes and passed it off as the supposed baby to Cronus, who,
unaware of her intentions, swallowed it yet again.
The Return of Zeus

The child was Zeus. Raised by the
nymphs Adrasteia and Ida, and the she-goat Amalthea, he
quickly grew into a handsome youth in a cave on the Cretan
Mount Ida. When the time came, he left Crete to ask his
future wife, the Titaness Metis (Wisdom), for an advice on
how to defeat Cronus. She answered by preparing a drink
indistinguishable from Cronus’ favorite wine but designed to
make him vomit for ages. Zeus disguised himself as the
gods’ cupbearer and, after a while, successfully
slipped Metis’ drink to Cronus. The plan worked
perfectly: Cronus started vomiting and spilled out all
of Zeus’ five siblings, but only after throwing up the stone.
Called Omphalos, or the Navel, the stone was later set up
at Delphi by two eagles Zeus sent to meet at the center of the
world. Overwhelmed with gratitude, Rhea’s children – Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon – recognized Zeus as
their leader.
The Titanomachy
However, Cronus was still in command – and yet to be
defeated. He was too old to protect himself from the attacks of
his progeny, but he enlisted the help of the faithful Titans, who
also feared the new generation of gods. This led to a decade-
long war between the Titans and the Olympians, remembered
by generations hence as the Titanomachy. Atlas became
the Titans’ leader and led his armies to many victories. At one
point, it even seemed that Zeus would be defeated. However,
at the advice of Gaea, he went to Tartarus and released
the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires. In gratitude,
the Cyclopes provided Zeus with his signature thunderbolt;
they also made a trident for Poseidon and a helmet of
invisibility for Hades. The tables had turned.
However, as so many times before, the final victory would not be the result of brute force, but it would happen due
to a cunning little trick, possibly devised by Prometheus, who deserted from the Titans’ army beforehand. Armed with
boulders, Hecatoncheires set an ambush for the Titans. At the right time, Zeus retreated his forces, drawing the Titans into
the Hecatoncheires’ trap. The Hundred-Handed ones started raining down hundreds of boulders, with such a fury that
the Titans thought the mountains were falling down upon them. They ran away, and Zeuscould finally consider himself
the King of the Universe.
Zeus exiled the Titans who had fought against him into Tartarus. He made an exception with Atlas, though: being
the leader of the opposing force, he was punished to hold the universe on his shoulders.
Zeus and Typhon

Zeus’ power would be challenged on few
occasions afterward. Just after the Titanomachy,
his grandmother Gaea, outraged by the
imprisonment of her children, issued forth one last
child of her, the monstrous Typhon. He was so
fearsome that most of the gods fled the second
they saw him; however, Zeus didn’t hesitate. He
faced the monster and using the power of his
lightning bolts, he was able to defeat
it. Typhon was subsequently buried under Mount
Etna in Sicily.
They say that you can still hear him growling under the volcano. And that someday in the distant future, he will return to
challenge Zeus once again.
The Titanomachy
The Titanomachy is a series of wars in
Greek mythology. These wars took place in
Thessaly, and were also called the War of the
Titans, the Battle of the Titans, the Battle of the
Gods or just the Titan War. These wars were
between the Titans, the older gods, and the
Olympians, a newer generation of gods. The
Titans ruled Mount Othrys, and the Olympians
would rule Mount Olympus. The Titans and the
Olympians fought to decide who would rule the
universe. In the end, the Olympians who were
led by Zeus won.
There were several poems about the war between the gods during the Classical Greek Age. Only one poem has survived.
It is called the Theogony and is said to be written by Hesiod. The Titans and Olympians are mentioned in many other
poems, particularly those of Orpheus.
Before the war started the Titans were in power, and Uranus was in charge of the universe. Uranus made his wife, Gaea
angry because he locked up some of her children. These children were the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires. He locked
them up in the Tartarus, which was a prison deep below the earth. Gaea was very mad that Uranus had locked up her
children, so she made them a giant weapon and told them to castrate their father. Cronus was the only child that would do
as his mother told him. So Cronus and his mother made a plan to overthrow Uranus.
The plan worked, and when Uranus was castrated his blood fell to earth and into the sea. From this blood, several sets of
children were born. The Gigantes, the Erinyes, and the Meliae were all made from Uranus’ blood that fell to the earth.
Aphrodite was born from Uranus’ blood that fell into the sea.
Cronus, with his mother’s help, managed to overthrow his father, Uranus. But Uranus made a prediction that Cronus
would be overthrown by his sons. Because Cronus was afraid of losing the kingdom, he made the same mistakes his father
did and turned into a terrible, angry king and did lots of horrible things to stay in power. He put his brothers back into
prison and ate his children, just to keep them from overthrowing him. But Rhea, his wife, managed to fool Cronus and
keep one of his children safe. This child was named Zeus. Rhea hid him away in a cave on the island of Crete so he would
be safe. On the island, Zeus was raised by a goat, named Amalthea.
Once Zeus grew up, he went to his father’s mountain and served him as a cupbearer. His father did not know that Zeus
was his son. A Titan goddess named Metis helped Zeus fool his father into drinking a mixture of mustard in his wine. This
caused Cronus to feel sick, and he threw up all of his children that he had eaten, one by one. Once Cronus had expelled all
of Zeus’ brothers and sisters, Zeus talked them into rebelling against Cronus, their father.
This is what started the Titanomachy, or the Titan’s War. Zeus and his brothers and sisters rebelled against his father,
Cronus. Zeus set the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires free from their underground prison and convinced them to join the
rebellion against Cronus too. Remember, Cronus had been the one who locked up his siblings, so they agreed to join Zeus.
The Hecatonchires used rocks as weapons, and the Cyclopes made Zeus’ thunderbolts. Together they also made
Poseidon‘s trident and Hades‘ helm of darkness.
The only Titians (the older generation) to fight with Zeus were Themis and Prometheus. This war lasted ten years. Atlas
was a major leader on the side of the Titans and Cronus. After the war was over, Zeus imprisoned all of the Titans, except
for Themis and Prometheus who fought for him. These Titans were imprisoned in the earth the same way that Cronus,
Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes once were. Hecatonchires guarded the Titans in their prison. Because Atlas was such an
important fighter for the opposition, Zeus gave him the special punishment of holding up the world.
After the Titans’ War Zeus and his brothers, Hades and Poseidon decided to divide the universe into three parts. They
drew straws to see who would rule over which part. Zeus drew the longest straw, so he was given the title of king of the
sky. This also meant that he was the head of mortals and all the gods, too. Poseidon got the middle straw, so he became
king of the sea. Hades drew the shortest straw, so he became the ruler of the Underworld.
The Underworld is also known as the realm of the dead. There are some differently told versions of the Titanomachy, one
of which says that Zeus eventually let the Titans go free.
Once Zeus had reign over the earth, he decided to ask Prometheus and Themis to create man and animals to populate the
earth as a new generation of mortal beings. Themis created animals, and Prometheus was given the job of creating man.
Themis took his job very seriously and finished all of the animals before Prometheus had even decided what gifts to give
mankind. By the time Prometheus was ready to give mankind the gifts, Themis had already used them all on the animals!
Prometheus was so angry that he stole the godly fire back from Zeus, and gave it to man. Zeus was so angry that he
chained Prometheus to a mountain forever. Zeus was still so angry that he wanted to punish mankind. He did this by
creating a beautiful woman, named Pandora. Pandora was given a box with a little bit of each of the gods’ powers.
Pandora then married, and lived a very happy life, until one day she got very curious. Pandora and her husband decided to
open the box.
When they opened this box, all the evils of the world came spilling out. According to Greek mythology, this is where we
get pride, envy, greed, pain, suffering and anything bad. Pandora and her husband managed to close the box before every
horror escaped. They only opened it one more time because the box whispered that it had hope inside, and wanted to let it
out. They did open the box then, and hope was released for all of mankind.
The Creation of Man by Prometheus
Prometheus and Epimetheus were spared imprisonment in Tartarus because they had not fought with their
fellow Titans during the war with the Olympians. They were given the task of creating man. Prometheus shaped man out
of mud, and Athena breathed life into his clay figure.
Prometheus had assigned Epimetheus the task of giving the creatures of the earth thier various qualities, such as swiftness,
cunning, strength, fur, wings. Unfortunately, by the time he got to man Epimetheus had given all the good qualities out
and there were none left for man. So Prometheus decided to make man stand upright as the gods did and to give them fire.
Prometheus loved man more then the Olympians, who had banished most of his family to Tartarus. So when Zeus decreed
that man must present a portion of each animal they scarified to the gods Prometheus decided to trick Zeus. He created
two piles, one with the bones wrapped in juicy fat, the other with the good meat hidden in the hide. He then bade Zeus to
pick. Zeus picked the bones. Since he had given his word Zeus had to accept that as his share for future sacrifices. In his
anger over the trick he took fire away from man. However, Prometheus lit a torch from the sun and brought it back again
to man. Zeus was enraged that man again had fire. He decided to inflict a terrible punishment on both man and
Prometheus.
To punish man, Zeus had Hephaestus create a mortal of stunning beauty. The gods gave the mortal many gifts of wealth.
He then had Hermes give the mortal a deceptive heart and a lying tongue. This creation was Pandora, the first women. A
final gift was a jar which Pandora was forbidden to open. Thus, completed Zeus sent Pandora down to Epimetheus who
was staying amongst the men.
Prometheus had warned Epimetheus not to accept gifts from Zeus but, Pandora's beauty was too great and he allowed her
to stay. Eventually, Pandora's curiosity about the jar she was forbidden to open became to great. She opened the jar and
out flew all manor of evils, sorrows, plagues, and misfortunes. However, the bottom of the jar held one good thing - hope.
Zeus was angry at Prometheus for three things: being tricked on sacrifices, stealing fire for man, and for refusing to tell
Zeus which of Zeus's children would dethrone him. Zeus had his servants, Force and Violence, seize Prometheus, take
him to the Caucasus Mountains, and chain him to a rock with unbreakable adamanite chains. Here he was tormented day
and night by a giant eagle tearing at his liver. Zeus gave Prometheus two ways out of this torment. He could tell Zeus who
the mother of the child that would dethrone him was. Or meet two conditions: First, that an immortal must volunteer to die
for Prometheus. Second, that a mortal must kill the eagle and unchain him. Eventually, Chiron the Centaur agreed to die
for him and Heracles killed the eagle and unbound him.
PANDORA’S BOX
The story of Pandora’s box begins with the story of Zeus, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Prometheus and his brother
Epimetheus were Titans but pledged their loyalty to Zeus and the Olympians, since Prometheus was born with the special
power of prophecy and knew that Zeus would defeat the Titans. Zeus rewarded Prometheus and Epimetheus for their
loyalty and gave them the job of creating the first creatures to live on Earth. Epimetheus formed the animals and gave
each a special skill and form of protection. Prometheus took his time molding man, and was left with no forms of
protection since Epimetheus had already given them all away. Prometheus knew man needed some form of protection and
asked Zeus if he could let man have fire. Zeus refused. Fire was only for the gods. Prometheus ignored Zeus and gave
man fire anyway. For this, Prometheus was punished. Zeus tied him with chains to a rock far away in the Caucasus
Mountains where nobody would find him. Every day Zeus sent an eagle to feast upon Prometheus’ liver, which grew back
every day so that Prometheus would have to endure this torture daily until Heracles found Prometheus and killed the eagle
and let Prometheus go.
This torture wasn’t enough of a punishment for Zeus who also believed that humans should be punished for accepting the
gift of fire from Prometheus. To punish man, Zeus created a woman named Pandora. She was molded to look like the
beautiful goddess Aphrodite. She received the gifts of wisdom, beauty, kindness, peace, generosity, and health from the
gods.
Zeus brought her to Earth to be Epimetheus’ wife. Even though Epimetheus’ brother, Prometheus, had warned him of
Zeus’ trickery and told him not to accept gifts from the gods, Epimetheus was too taken with her beauty and wanted to
marry her anyway.
As a wedding present, Zeus gave Pandora a box (in ancient Greece this was called a jar) but warned her never to open it.
Pandora, who was created to be curious, couldn’t stay away from the box and the urge to open the box overcame her.
Horrible things flew out of the box including greed, envy, hatred, pain, disease, hunger, poverty, war, and death. All of
life’s miseries had been let out into the world. Pandora slammed the lid of the box back down. The last thing remaining
inside of the box was hope. Ever since, humans have been able to hold onto this hope in order to survive the wickedness
that Pandora had let out.
“Pandora’s box” now means anything that is best left untouched, for fear of what might come out of it.
TRUE LOVE
NEVER
DIES
BAUSCIS & PHILEMON
Baucis and Philemon were an elderly couple. They did not
have much, but loved each other greatly. One day two travelers
showed up at their ‘shack and poverty’ (casa paupertatemque) They
did not know that the guests were actually mortal (mortali) forms of
Jupiter and Mercury, but as Baucis and Philemon were a very kind
and pious (pia) couple, they invited the travelers inside. These
walking (petentes) forms of Jupiter and Mercury had already been
turned away from one thousand homes (mille domos). However,
Baucis and Philemon began to prepare (parabant) the best meal they
could for the strangers, even though they didn’t have much.
Hospitality was very important to the Romans, so, in return for their
kindness, Jupiter gave them what they wanted most: to die at the
same moment. He turned the old man and woman (senex et femina)
into two trees growing from the same trunk so that they would live
and die together.
EROS & PSYCHE

Once upon a time there was a king with three daughters.
They were all beautiful, but by far the most beautiful was the youngest,
Psyche. She was so beautiful that people began to neglect the worship of
Venus (Aphrodite), the goddess of love and beauty. Venus was very
jealous, and asked her son Cupid to make Psyche fall in love with a
horrible monster. When he saw how beautiful she was, Cupid dropped the
arrow meant for her and pricked himself, and fell in love with her.
Despite her great beauty no-one wanted to marry Psyche. Her parents
consulted an oracle, and were told that she was destined to marry a
monster, and they were to take her to the top of a mountain and leave her
there. The west wind took her and wafted her away to a palace, where she
was waited on by invisible servants. When night came her new husband
visited her, and told her that he would always visit her by night and she
must never try to see him.
Although her invisible husband was kind and gentle with her, and the invisible servants attended to her every desire,
Psyche grew homesick. She persuaded her husband to allow her sisters to visit her. When they saw how she lived they
became very jealous and talked Psyche into peeking at her husband, saying that he was a monster who was fattening her
up to be eaten and that her only chance of safety was to kill him. Psyche took a lamp and a knife, but when she saw her
beautiful husband, Cupid, she was so surprised she dripped some hot wax onto his shoulder, waking him. He took in the
situation at a glance and immediately left Psyche and the magnificent palace she had been living in disappeared in a puff
of smoke.
Psyche roamed about looking for her husband, and eventually in desperation approached his mother, Venus. Still angry,
the goddess set various tasks for Psyche. The first was to take a pile of wheat, barley, millet, vetches, beans, and lentils
and separate them by evening. In despair, Psyche was unable to start dividing the grains. An ant took pity in her and called
over its fellow ants and separated the pile for Psyche and then disappeared before Venus returned.
The next morning, Venus demanded that Psyche cross a river and collect the golden wool of the sheep grazing there.
When she reached the riverside, the river god warned Psyche not to tempt a flood and beware of the rams that destroy
mortals. Instead, he advised Psyche to cross at midday, when the waters were calm and the sheep took shelter in the shade
and pick the wool off of the bushes and trees.
For the next task, Venus handed Psyche a box and instructed her to travel to the underworld and collect beauty from
Proserpine. Psyche decided to throw herself off a tower and let fate dictate her path through the underworld. But as she
stood on the tower's top, a voice from the tower told her of a safer way to travel to Hades's realm. It also warned her to not
open the box after collecting the beauty. After successfully navigating through the underworld and collecting the beauty,
Psyche's curiosity got the best of her. As she opened the box, she was overcome by a deep sleep.
At last Cupid found out what was going on, he flew to where Psyche lay and gathered the sleep from her
body and put it back into the box. He then persuaded Jupiter to order Venus to stop her persecution of Psyche. Then they
were married and lived happily ever after - and it really was ever after since Psyche was made a goddess. In due time,
Psyche gave birth to a daughter, Pleasure.
PYGMALION & GALATEA

Pygmalion was a talented Greek sculptor from Cyprus. After
becoming disgusted by some local prostitutes, he lost all interest in women
and avoided their company completely.
Pygmalion saw women as flawed creatures and vowed never to

waste any moment of his life with them. He dedicated himself to his work and
soon created Galatea, a beautiful stature of a woman out of ivory. Ironically,
the masterpiece of his life was this statue of a woman. Perhaps he sought to
correct in marble the flaws he saw in women of flesh and blood.
Whatever the case, Pygmalion worked so long and with such

inspiration on the statue of Galatea, that it became more beautiful than any
woman that had ever lived or been carved in stone. As he finished the statue’s
features, they became exquisitely lovely, and he found himself applying the
strokes of hammer and chisel with increasing affection.
When his chisel finally stopped ringing, there stood before him a
woman of such perfection that Pygmalion, who had professed his disdain of
all females, fell deeply in love.
He would bring it gifts, caress it, kiss it and talk to it every day. He
brought it gifts he thought women would enjoy, such as pretty seashells,
beads, songbirds, baubles and flowers.
He would dress the statue in fine clothing, and put rings on her
fingers, necklaces around her neck and even earrings. However, what irony
that he who had scorned women should fall in love with a woman who could
never love him in return! Pygmalion’s mind oscillated between doubt and joy.
Fearing he may be mistaken, again and again with a lover’s ardor he touches the
object of his hopes. It was indeed alive! The veins when pressed yielded to the
finger and again resumed their roundness.
Slowly it dawned on Pygmalion that the animation of his sculpture was the result
of his prayer to Goddess Aphrodite who knew his desire. At last, the votary of
Aphrodite found words to thank the goddess. Pygmalion humbled himself at the
Goddess’ feet. Soon Pygmalion and Galatea were wed, and Pygmalion never
forgot to thank Aphrodite for the gift she had given him.
Aphrodite blessed the nuptials she had formed, and this union between
Pygmalion and Galatea produced a son named Paphos, from whom the city of
Paphos in Cyprus (this city was sacred to Aphrodite), received its name.
Pygmalion and Galatea brought gifts to her
temple throughout their life and Aphrodite blessed them with happiness and
love in return.
The unusual love that blossomed between Pygmalion and Galatea enthralls all.
Falling in love with one’s creation and then getting the desired object as wife-
perhaps this was destined for Pygmalion.
Even to this day, countless people and young lovers are mesmerized by this
exceptional love that existed between two persons at a time when civilization
was in its infancy.
ADMETUS & ALCESTIS

In a little town north of Delphi, and not very far
from the sea, there lived a young man named Admetus.
He was the ruler of the town, and hence was called its
king; but his kingdom was so small that he could walk all
round it in half a day. He knew the name of every man
and woman and child in the town, and everybody loved
him because he was so gentle and kind and at the same
time a king.
Late one day, when the rain was falling and the wind was
blowing cold from the mountains, a beggar came to his
door. The man was ragged and dirty and half starved, and
Admetus knew that he must have come from some strange
land, for in his own country no one ever went hungry. So
the kind king took him into the house and fed him; and
after the man had bathed he gave him his own warm
cloak, and bade the servants make a place for him to sleep
through the night.
In the morning Admetus asked the poor man his name, but he shook his head and made no answer. Then Admetus asked
him about his home and his country; and all that the man would say was: “Make me your slave, master! Make me your
slave, and let me serve you for a year.”
The young king did not need another servant. But he saw that the poorest slave in the land was better off than this man,
and so he took pity on him. “I will do as you ask,”he said. “I will give you a home and food and clothing; and you shall
serve me and be my slave for one year.”
There was but little that the stranger knew how to do, and so he was sent to the hills to take care of the king’s sheep and
goats. For a whole year he tended the flocks, finding the greenest pastures and the freshest water for them, and keeping
the wolves away. Admetus was very kind to him, as he was to all his servants, and the food and clothing which he gave
him were of the best in the land. But the stranger did not tell his name nor say anything about his kindred or his home.
When a year and a day had passed, it so happened that Admetus was walking out among the hills to see his sheep. All at
once the sound of music fell upon his ear. It was no such music as shepherds play, but sweeter and richer than any he had
ever heard before. He looked to see where the sound came from. Ah! who was that sitting on the hilltop, with the sheep
around him listening to his music? Surely it was not his shepherd?
It was a tall and handsome young man, clad in robes lighter and finer than any king might wear. His face was as bright as
sunbeams, and his eyes gleamed like lightning. Upon his shoulder was a silver bow, from his belt hung a quiver of sharp
arrows, and in his hands was a golden lyre.
Admetus stood still and wondered. Then the stranger spoke:

“King Admetus,” he said, “I am the poor beggar whom you fed–your slave to whom you were so kind. I have served you,
as I agreed, for a whole year, and now I am going home. Is there anything I can do for you?”
“Yes,” said Admetus; “tell me your name.”
“My name is Apollo,” was the answer. “Twelve months ago my father, mighty Jupiter, drove me away from before his
face and bade me go out friendless and alone upon the earth; and he told me that I should not turn again towards home
until I had served a year as some man’s slave. I came to you, ragged and half starved, and you fed and clothed me; and I
became your slave, and you were as kind to me as though I were your son. What shall I give you to reward you?”
“Lord of the Silver Bow,” said the king, “I have all that any man can want. I am happy in the thought that I have been of
some help to you. I can ask for nothing more.”
“Very well,” said Apollo; “but if the time should ever come when you need my help, let me know.”
Then the bright prince walked swiftly away, playing sweet music as he went; and Admetus with glad heart returned to his
home.
II. The Chariot
From the place where Admetus lived it was only a few miles to Iolcus, a rich city by the sea. The king of Iolcus was a
cruel tyrant named Pelias, who cared for nobody in all the world but himself. This Pelias had a daughter named Alcestis,
who was as fair as any rose in June and so gentle and good that everybody praised her. Many a prince from over the sea
had come to woo Alcestis for his wife; and the noblest young men in Greece had tried to win her favor. But there was only
one to whom she would listen, and that was her young neighbor, King Admetus.
So Admetus went before gruff King Pelias to ask him whether he might wed Alcestis.
“No one shall have my daughter,” said the old king, “until he proves that he is worthy to be my son-in-law. If you want
her, you must come for her in a chariot drawn by a lion and a wild boar. If you come in any other way, she shall not be
your wife.” And Pelias laughed, and drove the young man out of his palace.
Admetus went away feeling very sad; for who had ever heard of harnessing a lion and a wild boar together in a chariot?
The bravest man in the world could not do such a thing as that.
As he walked along and saw the sheep and goats feeding on the hilltops near his own town, he chanced to think of Apollo
and of the last words that he had heard him say: “When you need my help, let me know.”
“I will let him know,” said Admetus.
Early the next morning he built an altar of stones in the open field; and when he had killed the fattest goat of the flock, he
built a fire on the altar and laid the thighs of the goat in the flames. Then when the smell of the burning flesh went up into
the air, he lifted his hands towards the mountain tops and called to Apollo.
“Lord of the Silver Bow,” he cried, “if ever I have shown kindness to the poor and the distressed, come now and help me.
For I am in sore need, and I remember your promise.”
Hardly was he done speaking when bright Apollo, bearing his bow and his quiver of arrows, came down and stood before
him.
“Kindest of kings,” he said, “tell me how I can help you.”

Then Admetus told him all about the fair Alcestis, and how her father would give her only to the man who should come
for her in a chariot drawn by a lion and a wild boar.
“Come with me,” said Apollo, “and I will help you.”
Then the two went together into the forest, the Lord of the Silver Bow leading the way. Soon they started a lion from its
lair and gave chase to it. The fleet-footed Apollo seized the beast by its mane, and although it howled and snapped with its
fierce jaws it did not touch him. Then Admetus started a wild boar from a thicket. Apollo gave chase to it, too, making the
lion run beside him like a dog. When he had caught the boar, he went on through the forest, leading the two beasts, one
with his right hand, the other with his left; and Admetus followed behind.
It was not yet noon when they came to the edge of the woods and saw the sea and the city of Iolcus only a little way off. A
golden chariot stood by the roadside as if waiting for them, and the lion and the boar were soon harnessed to it. It was a
strange team, and the two beasts tried hard to fight each other; but Apollo lashed them with a whip and tamed them until
they lost their fierceness and were ready to mind the rein.
Then Admetus climbed into the chariot; and Apollo stood by his side and held the reins and the whip, and drove into
Iolcus.
Old King Pelias was astonished when he saw the wonderful chariot and the glorious charioteer; and when Admetus again
asked him for the fair Alcestis, he could not refuse. A day was set for the wedding, and Apollo drove his team back to the
forest and set the lion and the wild boar free.
And so Admetus and Alcestis were married, and everybody in the two towns, except gruff old King Pelias, was glad.
Apollo himself was one of the guests at the wedding feast, and he brought a present for the young bridegroom; it was a
promise from the Mighty Folk upon the mountain top that if Admetus should ever be sick and in danger of death, he might
become well again if some one who loved him would die for him.
III.
The Shadow Leader Admetus and Alcestis lived together happily for a long time, and all the people in their little kingdom
loved and blessed them. But at last Admetus fell sick, and, as he grew worse and worse every day, all hope that he would
ever get well was lost. Then those who loved him remembered the wedding gift which Apollo had given him, and they
began to ask who would be willing to die in his stead.
His father and mother were very old and could hope to live but a short time at best, and so it was thought that one of them
would be glad to give up life for the sake of their son. But when some one asked them about it, they shook their heads and
said that though life was short they would cling to it as long as they could.
Then his brothers and sisters were asked if they would die for Admetus, but they loved themselves better than their
brother, and turned away and left him. There were men in the town whom he had befriended and who owed their lives to
him; they would have done everything else for him, but this thing they would not do.
Now while all were shaking their heads and saying “Not I,” the beautiful Alcestis went into her own room and called to
Apollo and asked that she might give up her life to save her husband.
Then without a thought of fear she lay down upon her bed and closed her eyes; and a little while afterward, when her
maidens came into the room they found her dead.
At the very same time Admetus felt his sickness leave him, and he sprang up as well and strong as he had ever been.
Wondering how it was that he had been so quickly cured, he made haste to find Alcestis and tell her the good news. But
when he went into her room, he saw her lying lifeless on her couch, and he knew at once that she had died for him.
His grief was so great that he could not speak, and he wished that death had taken him and spared the one whom he loved.
In all the land every eye was wet with weeping for Alcestis, and the cries of the mourners were heard in every house.
Admetus sat by the couch where his young queen lay, and held her cold hand in his own. The day passed, and night came,
but he would not leave her. All through the dark hours he sat there alone.
The morning dawned, but he did not want to see the light. At last the sun began to rise in the east, and then Admetus was
surprised to feel the hand which he held growing warm. He saw a red tinge coming into the pale cheeks of Alcestis.
A moment later the fair lady opened her eyes and sat up, alive and well and glad.
How was it that Alcestis had been given back to life?
When she died and left her body, the Shadow Leader, who knows no pity, led her, as he led all others, to the cheerless
halls of Proserpine, the queen of the Lower World.
“Who is this who comes so willingly?” asked the pale-faced queen.
And when she was told how Alcestis, so young and beautiful, had given her life to save that of her husband, she was
moved with pity; and she bade the Shadow Leader take her back again to the joy and sunlight of the Upper World.
So it was that Alcestis came to life; and for many years she and Admetus lived in their little kingdom not far from the sea;
and the Mighty Ones on the mountain top blessed them; and, at last, when they had become very old, the Shadow Leader
led them both away together.
IDAS & MARPESSA

The story of Idas and Marpessa is a myth of love.
These two characters proved that love and eternal devotion
cannot be conquered by sword, power, beauty or glory. Marpessa
was a young maiden who some time in her life found herself in
the need to choose her husband between a mortal and a god.
What was her decision? Let's look through the myth to find the
answer. Discover the myth of Idas and Marpessa. Win the chariot
race to win the girl Marpessa was the only daughter of Evenus,
king of Etolia, and granddaughter of Ares, god of war.
Marpessa grew up to be a very beautiful and noble
girl. Evenus was very possessive of his daughter and he wanted
her to remain by his side throughout her life. He also trained her
to become a young warrior. Evenus did not want to get his
daughter married to any prince or other man. He planned a wise strategy to get rid of the men who were eager to marry
Marpessa. He announced that any prince who wants to marry Marpessa will have to first defeat her father in a chariot
race. Those who fail will have to face death. Evenus was sure of his success because he had been given by Ares, his
father, some strong horses.
The result of the races was coming as expected. Many princes lost their lives in the carriage race. Kidnapped
by Idas The last turn was of Idas, the prince of Messenia, in the Peloponnese. He was the son of Aphareus and Arene. He
was confident that he would win the race because he had the support of a winged chariot, given as a gift by Poseidon, the
sea god. Idas indeed won the race and demanded Marpessa for his bride, as his father had promised. However, Evenus did
not want to keep his promise and tried to prevent Idas from getting married to his daughter. This is when the young and
impulsive man decided to kidnap Marpessa. He grabbed her and flew away on the winged chariot of Poseidon. Having
lost every single hope in his life, Evenus drowned himself in a river.
The river was later named after him. It runs through the south part of Etolia and flows into the Ionian Sea.
Fighting with Apollo Idas and Marpessa reached Messene and spent the night at a nearby temple. The next morning, when
Idas woke up, he realized that Marpessa was missing.
Apollo had seen the girl during the night and had stolen her. Idas got extremely angry at Apollo. He ran after
him with the winged chariot, prepared for a deadly war to get his beloved girl back. Eventually, Apollo and Idas came
face to face and set their swords one against the other. The fight began and lasted for many hours. From the dawning till
the sunset, the two men were fighting for their love. The fight was tough and merciless. After so many hours, the two
rivals were still even. The hard sounds of their swords could be heard till Olympus and started to be annoying for the rest
of the gods. That is when Zeus decided to interfere and stop this useless battle. The great decision. Since the fight between
these two brought no result, Zeus asked Marpessa to choose herself between them. Marpessa took a look at both men and
stood there uncertain. At one part, he had the divine Apollo, the most handsome and attractive man she had ever seen.
Apollo could give her anything she wanted: glory, power and lots of gifts. However, Apollo was a god,
ageless, and therefore he was unfaithful by nature. She could not trust him that he would stay by her side for all her life,
even when Marpessa would grow old and lose her beauty. She could have nothing else but a short relationship with a god
that would soon come to an end and she would be left alone and heart-broken. On the other side, Idas was not handsome
at all.
He had the brutality of a warrior all over him and had learned to live toughly. He loved her, though, and had
proved his love many times. Life with him would be mortal and simple but at least she would have a committed, faithful
relationship for all her life. Marpessa immediately made up her mind. She turned down Apollo and chose Idas as her
husband. Apollo left the battlefield disgraced and promised not to hurt any of them to take revenge. Idas and Marpessa got
married and lived happily ever after.
TRAGEDIES
DAEDALUS AND ICARUS
Daedalus is a great inventor, most of his works are very famous. He
had an apprentice which name is Talos, Talos himself proposed a
theory which is greater than Daedalus theory. So because of Daedalus
jealousy to Talos, Daedalus killed Talos by tossing him in the hill of
the acropolis. because of what Daedalus he was banned from their
land. so he went to Crete where King Minos lives. Daedalus build a
Labyrinth for king Minos as a gift. The purpose of the Labyrinth is a
cage for the minotaur. One day Theseus the Athenian hero went to
Crete to kill the minotaur. Princess Ariadne, the daughter of King
Minos instantly fell in love with Theseus. So she helped Theseus by
asking help from Daedalus. Daedalus then gave Princess Ariadne a
thread as a weapon they will use. Theseus and Princess Ariadne then
successfully killed the minotaur, after that they escaped Crete
together.
When King Minos found out what happened, he instantly put
Daedalus and his son Icarus in the Labyrinth as a punishment. King
Minos then blocked all the way out of the Crete, he told fishermen not
to allow a person to sail in the ocean without his permission. When
Daedalus knew about he thinked of a way how to get out of the Labyrinth.
Daedalus then build a artificial feathers for him and his son. So
before they fly, Daedalus warned his son Icarus not to go to close in
the sun as in the water. But Icarus didn't listened to his father's
advice, so he fell out from the air and got drowned in the ocean.
Daedalus then mourned for his son's death. So he went to Apollo's
temple and offer his wings as a commemoration for his son's death.
Daedalus went to an island.
When King Minos knew about this he also went to the island and
ask people where Daedalus is. But a sudden event happened, King
Minos got killed by the king of the island daughters. Daedalus lives
his life, not running from anything.
HERO AND LEANDER
A hunky dude named Leander lives in a city called
Abydus.
Leander's hometown is situated on the Hellespont, a
narrow strait that links the Mediterranean Sea with the
Black Sea. (Psst, the Hellespont, a.k.a. the
Dardanelles, is still around.)
On the other side of the Hellespont is another city
called Sestus.
One day, there's a big festival in Sestus, celebrating
Aphrodite and Adonis, and Leander decides to check
it out.
While he's there, he spots Hero, a smokin' hot
priestess of Aphrodite.
Though she's a priestess of the goddess of love, Hero
is a virgin and lives alone in a tower by the
Hellespont, with only an old nurse to hang out with.
This solitary lifestyle is all the idea of Hero's overprotective parents.
Leander shimmies over to Hero, and it's love at first sight.
The hunky young man tells Hero that it doesn't make any sense that she's still a virgin, since she's a priestess of Aphrodite.
Surely the goddess of love wouldn't approve.
"Wow, I never thought of that," says Hero, and—just like that—the two become lovers.
Leander wants to marry Hero, but she tells him that her parents would never let her marry a guy from a foreign city.
"Fine," says Leander. "I'm going to come back to be with you every night. Just leave a light burning in the top of your
tower, and I'll swim across the Hellespont." Yeah, there wasn't a ferry.
For a while, Hero and Leander are in total bliss.
Leander is an awesome swimmer, and as long as Hero leaves the light burning, he has no problem paddling across the
strait at night.
Eventually, though, the season changes and things get stormy.
One night, a bunch of winds are blowing every which way, and the currents in the Hellespont are totally out of control.
Leander can't stand the idea of not seeing Hero, though, so he dives in any way.
Unfortunately, the winds also manage to blow out Hero's light.
Uh oh.
Leander gets totally turned around in the dark, and the waves swallow him.
In the morning, Hero finds his body washed up on the rock shore.
The girl is so upset that she throws herself from the top of the tower into the Hellespont.
And in the end, the lovers can only be together in death.
Ceyx and Alcyone
The lovely Alcyone was the daughter of
Aeolus, the Greek god of the wind, and
her mother was either Enarete or Aegiale.
She was the devoted wife of Ceyx, King
of Trachis, in central Greece. Ceyx ruled
his kingdom with justice and in peace.
Alcyone and Ceyx were admired by gods
and mortals alike for their great physical
beauty, as well as the profound love they
had for each other.
They were so happy in their marriage that

they used to often playfully call one
another Zeus and Hera. This infuriated the
chief of the gods who regarded it an
audacity. Zeus waited for the proper time
to punish the arrogant couple who dared
to make themselves comparable to
gods.Ceyx was still in mourning over his brother's death and deeply troubled over some ominous signs that had
observed. So, he decided to consult the oracle of Apollo at Carlos in Ionia (Western Anatolia). Alcyone,
however, tried to dissuade her husband from his decision to travel through the dangerous seas to consult the
oracle.
She reminded him of the danger from the fury of the winds which even her father, the god of the winds, often
found difficult to control: she put pressure over her husband to take her along with him. But Ceyx wouldn't put
his beloved wife through unnecessary danger. Alcyone watched with a bad feeling as the ship carrying her
husband was getting away from the harbour.Zeus, the chief god, decided this was an opportune time to punish
the couple for their sacrilege. He launched a thunderbolt that raised a furious hurricane engulfing the ship which
began to sink.
Ceyx realized that the end had come for him and, before he got drowned, he prayed to the gods to allow his
body be washed ashore so as to enable his beloved Alcyone to perform the funeral rites. As Ceyx gasped his last
breath, his father Esophorous, the morning star, watched helplessly, shrouding his face with clouds, unable to
leave the heavens and rescue his son. The lovely Alcyone waited for her husband for a long time, praying
continually to the gods, especially Hera, queen of the gods, for the safe return of Ceyx. Hera felt profound
sorrow for the tragic fate of Ceyx. She sent her messenger Iris, goddess of the rainbow, to look for Hypnos, the
god of Sleep and comforter of the afflicted, to whom was assigned the mission of gently informing Alcyone
about the death of her husband. Hypnos, in his turn, entrusted the mission to his son Morpheus, an expert in
forming apparitions.
Morpheus created a life-like specter of Ceyx which revealed to Alcyone the tragic circumstances concerning the
shipwreck and death of her husband. In profound grief, Alcyone ran to the seashore beating her breasts and
tearing her garments. She suddenly beheld the body of a man that had been washed ashore. Coming closer, she
realized it was the body of her beloved Ceyx. After performing the last rites and unable to continue living
without her husband, Alcyone threw herself into the sea and got drowned, determined to join her husband in the
land of the dead.The gods on Olympus were profoundly affected by the tragic fate of Alcyone and Ceyx, as well
as their wonderful love for one other which not even the frosty hands of death could extinguish. In order to
atone for his rash action that was responsible for this tragedy, Zeus transformed the couple into the Halcyon
birds (kingfisher).
APHRODITE AND ADONIS
It is said that Adonis was born of the illicit union between King
Theias of Smyrna and his daughter Myrrha. Urged on by
Aphrodite herself, the goddess of beauty, love and sexual desire,
who had been offended when King Theias forgot to make a
sacrifice for her, Myrrha had made amorous advances towards
her father but he was successfully keeping her away. One night,
she managed to lure her father out into the open and there under
cover of darkness she laid with him. As dawn broke, Theias
discovered to his utter disgust the deception of his daughter and
with sword in hand chased her into the wild, wanting to punish
her for her audacity. Sensing Myrrha's necessity, Aphrodite
transformed her into a tree, the myrrh tree. Still in anger, Theias
shot an arrow into the tree trunk, splitting it wide open and it
was from there that Adonis was born, the child of an awful
union between a father and his daughter.
Baby Adonis was adorable beyond words and since there was
no one to look after him, Aphrodite took him under her wing. So obsessed was she with him that she began
neglecting her duties as a goddess. As a remedial measure, she sent the child to be looked after by Persephone,
the Queen of the Dead in the Underworld. It was also a move to keep him away from interfering eyes. However,
Persephone, too, fell dearly in love with Adonis and refused to give him up when Aphrodite came for him.
There was a bitter argument and Zeus had to intervene to prevent a disastrous argument between the two. He
decided that every year Adonis would spend 4 months first with Persephone, the next 4 months with Aphrodite
and the last 4 months he would be left alone, so that he may learn to look after himself.
Adonis grew up to be a very handsome young man and one look at him could make every woman's heart
excited with desire. That excited was also the heart of goddess Aphodite, who was extremely charmed at this
young man. Adonis loved the great outdoors and was a master of the hunt. Once, when Aphrodite was to go
away for a few days, she warned Adonis not to stray too far into the forest while hunting. At the same time, she
told him to stay away from any beast that did not run away from him. However, the heart of young Adonis was
audacious and neglecting Aphrodite's warning he plunged deep into the forest. There he came upon a wild boar
and, no matter how much he tried, he could not scare it away. The boar, angered, attacked Adonis and with one
massive heave of its head pierced the young man with its tusk. It is said that the boar which killed Adonis was
no ordinary beast but the god Ares, who was one of Aphrodite's many lovers. Jealous of her passion for Adonis,
Ares, disguised himself in the form of a boar and attacked the young man.
Hearing the screams of his beloved Adonis, Aphrodite immediately headed for the forest, where she found him
breathing his last. Kneeling by his side, she sprinkled nectar over the wound and to ease his pain she sang gently
to him. A smile caressed Adonis' countenance, as he silently passed away into the Realm of the Dead. The
nectar that Aphrodite sprinkled on Adonis' wound had turned the droplets of his blood into beautiful red
anemones, while the rest of his blood flowed, becoming the river Adonis, which is today known as the river
Nahr Ibrahim in coastal Lebanon. Persephone greeted Adonis with arms wide open as he entered the
underworld and her delight knew no bounds. At the same time, Aphrodite, knowing that her Adonis must be in
the clutches of Persephone, rushed to the underworld to bring him back. Once again, Zeus had to intervene and
stop the women from quarrelling over who would have rightful possession of Adonis. With great patience he
told them that henceforth, Adonis would spend half the year with Aphrodite and the other half with Persephone.
This last aspect may symbolize the life of a man, who spends half his life with his mother and half his life with
his wife.
Echo and Narcissus
Echo was a beautiful nymph, fond of the
woods and hills, where she devoted herself
to woodland sports. She was a favorite of
Diana, and attended her in the chase. But
Echo had one failing; she was fond of
talking, and whether in chat or argument,
would have the last word.
One day Juno was seeking her husband,

who, she had reason to fear, was amusing
himself among the nymphs. Echo by her
talk contrived to detain the goddess till the
nymphs made their escape. When Juno discovered it, she passed sentence upon Echo in these words: “You shall
forfeit the use of that tongue with which you have cheated me, except for that one purpose you are so fond of—
reply. You shall still have the last word, but no power to speak first.”
This nymph saw Narcissus, a beautiful youth, as he pursued the chase upon the mountains. She loved him and
followed his footsteps. O how she longed to address him in the softest accents, and win him to converse! but it
was not in her power. She waited with impatience for him to speak first, and had her answer ready. One day the
youth, being separated from his companions, shouted aloud, “Who’s here?” Echo replied, “Here.” Narcissus
looked around, but seeing no one, called out, “Come.” Echo answered, “Come.” As no one came, Narcissus
called again, “Why do you shun me?” Echo asked the same question. “Let us join one another,” said the youth.
The maid answered with all her heart in the same words, and hastened to the spot, ready to throw her arms
about his neck. He started back, exclaiming, “Hands off! I would rather die than you should have me!” “Have
me,” said she; but it was all in vain. He left her, and she went to hide her blushes in the recesses of the woods.
From that time forth she lived in caves and among mountain cliffs. Her form faded with grief, till at last all her
flesh shrank away. Her bones were changed into rocks and there was nothing left of her but her voice. With that
she is still ready to reply to any one who calls her, and keeps up her old habit of having the last word.
Narcissus’s cruelty in this case was not the only instance. He shunned all the rest of the nymphs, as he had done
poor Echo. One day a maiden who had in vain endeavoured to attract him uttered a prayer that he might some
time or other feel what it was to love and meet no return of affection. The avenging goddess heard and granted
the prayer.
There was a clear fountain, with water like silver, to which the shepherds never drove their flocks, nor the
mountain goats resorted, nor any of the beasts of the forests; neither was it defaced with fallen leaves or
branches, but the grass grew fresh around it, and the rocks sheltered it from the sun. Hither came one day the
youth, fatigued with hunting, heated and thirsty. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own image in the water;
he thought it was some beautiful water-spirit living in the fountain. He stood gazing with admiration at those
bright eyes, those locks curled like the locks of Bacchus or Apollo, the rounded cheeks, the ivory neck, the
parted lips, and the glow of health and exercise over all. He fell in love with himself. He brought his lips near to
take a kiss; he plunged his arms in to embrace the beloved object. It fled at the touch, but returned again after a
moment and renewed the fascination.
He could not tear himself away; he lost all thought of food or rest, while he hovered over the brink of the
fountain gazing upon his own image. He talked with the supposed spirit: “Why, beautiful being, do you shun
me? Surely my face is not one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon
me. When I stretch forth my arms you do the same; and you smile upon me and answer my beckonings with the
like.”
His tears fell into the water and disturbed the image. As he saw it depart, he exclaimed, “Stay, I entreat you! Let
me at least gaze upon you, if I may not touch you.” With this, and much more of the same kind, he cherished
the flame that consumed him, so that by degrees he lost his colour, his vigour, and the beauty which formerly
had so charmed the nymph Echo. She kept near him, however, and when he exclaimed, “Alas! alas!” she
answered him with the same words. He pined away and died; and when his shade passed the Stygian river, it
leaned over the boat to catch a look of itself in the waters. The nymphs mourned for him, especially the water-
nymphs; and when they smote their breasts Echo smote hers also. They prepared a funeral pile and would have
burned the body, but it was nowhere to be found; but in its place a flower, purple within, and surrounded with
white leaves, which bears the name and preserves the memory of Narcissus.
ORPHEUS AND EURYDICE

Orpheus is known as the most talented
music player of the ancient times. It is said that
god Apollo was his father, from whom took his
extreme talent in music, and the Muse Calliope
was his mother. He was living in Thrace, on the
northeastern part of Greece. Orpheus had a
divinely gifted voice that could charm everyone
who heard it. When he was presented first the
lyre as a boy, he had it mastered in no time at
all. The myth says that no god or mortal could
resist his music and even the rocks and trees
would move themselves to be near him.
According to some ancient texts, Orpheus is

accredited to have taught agriculture, writing and medicine to the mankind. He is also attributed with having
been an astrologer, a seer and founder of many mystic rites. The strange and ecstatic music of Orpheus would
intrigue the mind of people to things over natural and had the power to broaden the mind to new unusual
theories.
However, apart from a musical talent, Orpheus also had an adventurous character. He was believed to have
taken part in the Argonautic expedition, which is the voyage of Jason and his fellow Argonauts to get to Colchis
and steal the Golden Fleece. In fact, Orpheus played a vital role during the expedition because, playing his
music, he put to sleep the "sleepless dragon" that was guarding the Golden Fleece and thus Jason managed to
get the Fleece. Moreover, the music of Orpheus saved the Argonauts from the Sirens, the strange female-like
creatures who were seducing men with their nice voice and then they were killing them.
Orpheus used to spend much of his early years in the idyllic pursuits of music and poetry. His skill had far
surpassed the fame and respect of his music. Humans and beasts alike would be enchanted by it and often even
the most inanimate of objects would yearn to be near him. Well into his youth he had mastered the lyre and his
melodious voice garnered him audiences from near and afar. It was at one such gathering of humans and beasts
that his eyes fell on a wood nymph. The girl was called Eurydice, she was beautiful and shy. She had been
drawn to Orpheus enamored by his voice and such was the spell of beauty in music and appearance that neither
could cast their eyes off each other. Something inexplicable tugged the hearts of the two young people and soon
they feltl dearly in love, unable to spend a single moment apart. After a while, they decided to get married.
Their wedding day dawned bright and clear. Hymenaios, the god of marriage, blessed their marriage and then a
great feast followed. The surroundings were filled with laughter and gaiety. Soon the shadows grew large,
signaling an end to the revelry that had lasted much of the day and the wedding guests all took leave of the
newly-weds, who were still sitting hand-in-hand and starry eyed. They soon both realized that it was time they
were on their way and departed for home.
However, things would soon change and grief would ensue happiness. There was one man who was despising
Orpheus and desired Eurydice for his own. Aristaeus, a shepherd, had plotted a plan to conquer the beautiful
nymph. And there he was, waiting in the bushes for the young couple to pass by. Seeing that the lovers were
approaching, he intended to jump on them and kill Orpheus. As the shepherd made his move, Orpheus grabbed
Eurydice by the hand and started running pell-mell through the forest.
The chase was long and Aristaeus showed no signs of giving up or slowing
down. On and on they ran and suddenly, Orpheus felt Eurydice stumble
and fall, her hand slipping from his grasp. Unable to comprehend what had
just happened, he rushed to her side but stopped short in dismay, for his
eyes perceived the deathly pallor that suffused her cheeks. Looking
around, he saw no trace of the shepherd for Aristaeus had witnessed the
event and had left. Few steps away, Eurydice had stepped on a nest of
snakes and had been bitten by a deadly viper. Knowing that there was no
chance of survival, Aristaeus had abandoned his try, cursing his luck and
Orpheus.
After the death of his beloved wife, Orpheus was no more the same
carefree person he used to be. His life without Eurydice seemed endless
and could do nothing more than grief for her. This is when he had a great
but yet crazy idea: he decided to go to Underworld and try to get his wife
back. Apollo, his father, would talk to Hades, the god of the Underworld,
to accept him and hear his plea.
Armed with his weapons, the lyre and voice, Orpheus approached Hades and demanded entry into the
underworld. None challenged him. Standing in front of the rulers of the dead, Orpheus said why he was there, in
a voice both mellifluous and disquieting. He played his lyre and sang out to King Hades and Queen Persephone
that Eurydice was returned to him. Not even the most stone-hearted of people or Gods could have neglected the
hurt in his voice.
Hades openly wept, Persephone's heart melted and even Cerberus, the gigantic three-headed hound guarding the
entry to the underworld, covered his many ears with his paws and howled in despair. The voice of Orpheus was
so moving that Hades promised to this desperate man that Eurydice would follow him to the Upper World, the
world of the living. However, he warned Orpheus that for no reason must he look back while his wife was still
in the dark, for that would undo everything he hoped for. He should wait for Eurydice to get into the light
before he looked at her.
With great faith in his heart and joy in his song, Orpheus began his journey out of the underworld, joyful that he
would once again be reunited with his love. As Orpheus was reaching the exit of the Underworld, he could hear
the footfalls of his wife approaching him. He wanted to turn around and hug her immediately but managed to
control his feelings. As his was approaching the exit, his heart was beating faster and faster. The moment he
stepped on the world of the living, he turned his head to hug his wife. Unfortunately, he got only a glimpse of
Eurydice before she was once again drawn back into the underworld.
When Orpheus turned his head, Eurydice was still in the

dark, she hadn't seen the sun and, as Hades had warned
Orpheus, his sweet wife was drowned back to the dark
world of the dead. Waves of anguish and despair swept over
him and shuddering with grief he approached the
Underworld again but this time, he was denied entry, the
gates were standing shut and god Hermes, sent by Zeus,
wouldn't let him in.
From then on, the heart-broken musician was wandering

disoriented, day after day, night after night, in total despair.
He could find no consolation in anything. His misfortune
tormented him, forcing him to abstain from contact with any
other woman and slowly but surely he found himself
shunning their company completely. His songs were no
more joyful but extremely sad. His only comfort was to lay
on a huge rock and feel the caress of the breeze, his only
vision were the open skies.
And so it was that a group of irate women, furious for his scorn towards them, chanced upon him. Orpheus was
so desperate that he did not even try to repulse their advances. The women killed him, cut his body into pieces
and threw them and his lyre into a river. It is said that his head and his lyre floated downriver to the island of
Lesvos. There the Muses found them and gave Orpheus a proper burial ceremony. People believed that his
grave emanated music, plaintive yet beautiful. His soul descended down to Hades where he was finally reunited
with his beloved Eurydice.
Selene and Endymion

Selene was the Goddess of the Moon, and
it's personification in Classical Mythology.
In many ways, she and her brother Helios
took the places of Nyx and Hemera. Helios,
Selene, and Eos, were the three siblings who
effectively ruled the changing of the hours.
While Selene was driving her milky horses
across the sky one evening, her soft gaze fell
on the shepherd Endymion. He was taking a
nap among all his sheep, and he was one of
those guys that is just so cute when he's asleep. So Selene got this huge crush on him. She couldn't get him out of her
head.
That night Selene went to Zeus and asked if Endymion could be granted eternal youth and eternal life. She remembered
her sister Eos' bad luck with mortal's and eternal life, and had no wish to be left with a grasshopper.
Zeus granted Selene's wish, and Endymion slept on for eternity, smiling in his sleep. And no wonder. He dreamed that he
held the moon in his arms, but it was more than a dream, because Selene bore fifty daughters to Endymion - all beautiful,
pale, and sleepy.
Phaeton and the chariot of

the Sun
Phaethon, whose name means "shining",
was the son of the Sun-God Helios and a
mortal woman, Clymene. However, he
was living only with his mother as his
father had a difficult task to perform. He
was responsible to drive the horse chariot
with the Sun from the one side to the
Earth to the other during the daytime.
One day, a school-mate of Phaethon

laughed at his claim that he was the son of
a god and said he didn't believe him. In
tears, Phaethon went to his mother and
demanded proof of his paternity. Clymene
assured her son that he was indeed the son
of the great god Helios and sent him on his way to the palace of his father to establish his legitimacy.
A delighted and hopeful Phaethon travelled to India, as there was the palace of his father who was supposed to
begin every day his course from the East. When he reached the palace of Helios, he was astonished at its
magnificence and luxury. His eyes were almost blinded by the dazzle of the light all around him.
The palace was supported by massive columns adorned with glittering gold and precious stones, while the
ceilings and doors were made with polished ivory and silver. Phaethon watched with awe the exquisite
representation of the earth, the sea and sky on the walls of the palace.
Amazed with all the luxury he had faced, Phaethon came into the august presence of his reputed father, Helios,
sitting on a diamond-studded throne surrounded by the presences of the Day, the Month, the Year, and the
Hour. His other attendants included Spring, bedecked with flowers, Summer, with a garland of spear-like
ripened grains, Autumn, with feet reddened with grape juice and Winter, with hoar-frost in his hair.
Phaethon told Helios about the humiliation he had to suffer because of the imputation of illegitimacy. He
pleaded Helios to recognize him as his son and establish beyond all doubt the legitimacy of his birth. Helios got
deeply moved and firmly affirmed Phaethon's paternity and legitimacy. In fact, he declared, in the presence of
all his attendants, that he will gladly grant his son any favour that he would ask him.
Phaethon, happy because great Helios had recognized him as his son, decided to test the limits of his father's
love and benevolence. The rash boy asked to be allowed to drive the awesome Chariot of the Sun for one day.
Helios was fearful at his son's irrational request. He tried to explain to his son that even the mighty Zeus could
not presume to drive the Chariot of the Sun, much less a mere mortal. That onerous task was reserved solely for
him, god Helios.
Unfortunately, once the gods had promised a favor, they could not withdraw or deny it. Helios used all his
persuasive skills to plead the rash Phaethon to withdraw his outrageous demand, but to no avail. The boy
insisted that Helios kept his promise. The god of the Sun could do nothing else but to give in.
Wanting to drive the awesome Chariot of the Sun was one thing, but to actually do it was not as simple as our
naive Phaethon had imagined. A helpless Helios tried to warn his son for the dangers involved in driving the
Chariot with its fiery horses which even the great god himself had found it difficult to control on many
occasions. He advised Phaethon to steer the Chariot through a middle course and not to go too high or too low.
Helios rubbed an expression of power and arrogance on his son's face. As soon as he took off, Phaethon realized
that he had taken on more than he could handle. He found himself utterly powerless to control the fiery horses.
When the horses realized the weakness and inexperience of their young charioteer, they began to steer a wild
and dangerous course. The Chariot of the Sun was said to have blazed a gash in the skies which supposedly
became the Milky Way, a spiral galaxy.
Then the uncontrollable Chariot with the Sun began to steer a too low course, hitting the earth and unleashing
immense destruction, including the burning of the African continent and turning it into desert, making the
Ethiopian people black-skinned, since they were burnt from the fire of the Sun, and even causing considerable
damage to the river Nile.
The danger of a greater destruction infuriated the chief of the gods, Zeus, who struck the boy down with his
thunderbolt. The body of the dead Phaethon fell into the Eridanus River, which was later to be known as the
river Po of Italy. The unfortunate Phaethon was deeply mourned by his sisters, the Heliades, who were
transformed into poplar trees to stand by the river and protect their brother for always.
Apollo and Daphne

Apollo, the god of light and poetry, found Eros, who is nowadays known
as Cupid, dealing with his bows and arrows. Eros was using bows to
struck people into love. Apollo had just won Python, a horrible earth-
dragon that was living in the area of Delphi, and had got so arrogant from
his victory that he abruptly told Eros to leave war-like weapons to mighty
gods like him and stick to his own pastimes, devaluing his duty to inflate
love and passion to others.
This infuriated the headstrong Eros who decided to take his revenge on
the audacious Apollo. Eros climbed on a rock of Mt Parnassus and
unleashed two arrows: one sharp and gold-tipped and another blunt and
lead-tipped. The sharp, gold-tipped arrow pierced the heart of Apollo
inflaming his love for Daphne, a beautiful nymph, daughter of the river
god Peneus, while the blunt, lead-tipped arrow struck the nymph creating
an intense aversion for love in the her heart.
She was constantly rejecting the love of the glorious Apollo, despite his repeated pleadings and cajoleries. She
similarly detested all the other men who were trying to get her. It is said that Leucippus, a handsome man, had
been so desperate to win Daphne that he disguised himself into a girl and mixed her company. However, the
nymphs understood his trickery and killed him.
In the meanwhile, Apollo was persistently pursuing Daphne. The poor girl, in order to escape from him and to
protect his virginity, pleaded for help from her father, Peneus (or from Mother Earth, according to another
version), who drew back to Daphne's prayers and transformed the nymph into a nice short plant with excellent
smell.
This plant was the laurel, which is called "daphne" is Greek, after the nymph's name. Apollo was heart-broken
at the loss of Daphne and to remember her for ever, he made the laurel the symbol of tribute to poets. The laurel
became therefore the symbol of the god. Note that Pythia, the priestess in the oracle of Delphi, was chewing
leaves of laurel to communicate with Apollo and give her prophesies to people.
Leto and Niobe

The beginning of the story The tragic tale of Niobe is one of
the most poignant in Greek mythology. Her father was
Tantalus, king of a town above Mount Sipylus in Anatolia, but
we do not know exactly who her mother was. Niobe had two
brothers, Broteas and Pelops, who would later be a legendary
hero and would give his name to Peloponnese. When Niobe
grew up, she got married to Amphion, king of Thebes.
This was a turning point in her life and a series of tragic events
followed, to give her a distinct place in one of the most tragic
dramas in Greek mythology. Niobe and Amphion gave birth to
fourteen children, seven sons and seven daughters. The fatal mistake and the horrible crime At a ceremony held in honor
of Leto, the mother of the divine twins, Apollo and Artemis, who was also living in Thebes, Niobe, in a fit of arrogance,
bragged about her fourteen children. In fact, Niobe said that she was superior to Leto, as she had fourteen children and not
only two. When the twins knew this insult, they got enraged and at once, came down to Earth to kill the children of Niobe.
Apollo, the god of light and music, killed all seven of Niobe's sons with his powerful arrows in front of their mother's
eyes.
Although Niobe was pleading Apollo to feel mercy for her last surviving son, Apollo's lethal arrow had already left his
bow to find its mark with deadly accuracy, thus wiping out all the male descendants of Niobe. Artemis, the virgin goddess
of nature and hunting, killed Niobe's seven daughters with her lethal arrows and their dead bodies were lying unburied for
nine days. Turning into a rock Devastated by the slaughter of his children, Amphion committed suicide. Some versions
say that he too was killed by Apollo when he tried to avenge his children's deaths. And so it was that Niobe's entire family
had been wiped out by the gods in a matter of moments, and in deep anguish, she ran to Mount Sipylus. There she pleaded
Gods to give an end in her pain. Zeus felt sorry for her and transformed her into a rock, to make her feelings of stone.
However, even as a rock, Niobe continued to cry. Her endless tears poured forth as a stream from the rock and it seems to
stand as a moving reminder of a mother's eternal mourning. To this day, Niobe is mourning for her children and people
believe that her faint image can still be seen carved on a limestone rock cliff on Mount Sipylus, with the water that seeps
out of the porous rocks bearing a strong allusion to her ceaseless tears. The meaning of the Myth The tragic tale of Niobe
centered on the consequences of hybris, a strange concept in the Greek antiquity, which said that if you act with arrogance
towards the Gods, then you will be punished.
Actually Niobe's story is a classic example of the wrath of gods against human weaknesses and has been beautifully
narrated in Homer's Iliad. The tale of Niobe also finds mention in Metamorphoses, a narrative poem, written by the
renowned Roman poet Ovid, who, however, has inverted the traditionally accepted order and portrayed the desires and
conquests of the gods with aversion, while elevating human passions to a higher level.
Pyramus and Thisbe
Once upon a time, in Babylonia, two families
lived side by side. In one home lived the
handsome young man known as Pyramus, and in
the other lived the maiden every young man
loved. Her name was Thisbe. They met when
they were children, and what began as a
wonderful friendship blossomed into love as
they grew older.
That would have been a fine thing for most

families, but the parents of Pyramus and Thisbe
forbade them to marry. The families had begun
to quarrel when their children were young, and
their quarrel grew into a terrible feud. They built
a tall wall between their two houses and told
their children never to speak to or see each other.
But love will find a way to overcome walls, and as the years passed, Pyramus and Thisbe managed to convey
their feelings for each other with glances. And then one day they discovered, to their delight and astonishment,
a crack in the wall. No one else knew of its existence. Pyramus and Thisbe knew their love was blessed, and the
crack allowed them to whisper messages back and forth to each other.
"This wall is the cruelest thing in the world," Pyramus whispered. "How can anything keep us apart?"
But Thisbe, who was a gentle soul, said softly, "We have much to be grateful for, my love. We owe this crack in
the wall our gratitude. It permits us to send each other our loving words."
"You are right, Thisbe," Pyramus whispered, and that night, like every other night, they whispered farewell and
pressed their lips to either side of the wall, their kiss goodnight.
One morning, as the stars dimmed and the sun began to burn the night's frost from the ground, they met again at
the wall. "Thisbe," Pyramus whispered, "I have a plan." He told his lover of his idea, born of his longing to be
with her.
They agreed that that night, while everyone was fast asleep, they would slip away. They would leave their
homes, their families, all they had known all their lives, and at a place known as the Tomb of Ninus, where a
mulberry tree grew and a cool spring flowed, they would meet and forever be together. They kissed farewell.
"Until tonight," Pyramus whispered. "Whoever arrives first must wait."
"I'll be there," Thisbe promised.
That night, when her parents were asleep, Thisbe tiptoed out of the house and quickly made her way to the
Tomb. She reached the place before her beloved, and so she sat beneath the tree, alone in the quiet night, her
heart beating so hard with excitement, she thought she might faint. Then, suddenly, she heard a sound. She
turned and saw a stately lioness stalking toward the spring, seeking to quench her thirst. Blood dripped from her
mouth, the evidence of a recent kill.
When Thisbe saw the creature, she ran and hid inside a hollow rock. Shivering with fear, she held her breath
and waited quietly.
The lionness took her drink and turned to leave, but then she spotted something on the ground. Thisbe had
dropped her mantle in her haste. The lionness, curious, picked it up between her teeth and then, seeing it was
not worth eating, dropped it and moved into the forest.
Pyramus came running. His parents had stayed awake late, and he knew his beloved would be waiting. As he
approached, he saw the lionness's footprints in the sand. "Thisbe!" he called, alarmed by this sight. "Thisbe, are
you there?"
Thisbe was still hiding, and the sound of the wind and the rock muted her lover's voice. She did not hear a word,
and did not answer.
Pyramus, meantime, ran toward the spring. It was then that he spotted the veil lying upon the ground, bloodied
by the lion's mouth.
"Thisbe!" he cried again. He wept in despair. "Beloved, I am the cause of your death," for he was certain that
the lionness had killed her. "You are more worthy of living than I, and you have died. I will follow you to
death."
With those words he lifted the mantle and covered it with kisses and tears. He drew his sword and pierced his
heart. His blood stained the white mulberries crimson.
Now Thisbe, having waited patiently, crept slowly from her hiding place, cautiously looking around. She
tiptoed toward the spring, and when she reached the tree, she thought at first she must have come to the wrong
spot. "The berries were white," she said, half to herself, and decided to retrace her footsteps. As she turned, she
saw her beloved lying on the ground.
Thisbe screamed and ran to him. She wept tears into his wound and showered kisses upon his face. "Pyramus,"
she wailed, "who has killed you? Hear me, please, my darling. Lift your head."
When he heard her voice, Pyramus opened his eyes and smiled. That was his last gesture before he closed his
eyes and died.
When Thisbe saw her mantle and Pyramus' sword upon the ground, she understood. "You have taken your life
for mine," she wept. "I will follow you to death. And may our parents, who denied us happiness, allow us to be
joined in death. May they bury us together in one tomb."
Then she looked at the mulberry tree and said one last prayer. "Carry the marks of our love. Keep your berries
crimson in our memory." And with those words she plunged Pyramus' sword into her own body.
The families mourned deeply, and they granted the lovers' last wish, for they understood that nothing would
keep them apart. The gods granted their wish as well. Forever afterward, the berries of the mulberry tree
remained crimson.
Apollo and Asclepius
Soon after this, Apollo took the little Asclepius in
his arms and carried him to a wise old schoolmaster
named Cheiron [the centaur], who lived in a cave
under the gray cliffs of a mountain close by the sea.
"Take this child," he said, "and teach him all the lore
of the mountains, the woods, and the fields. Teach
him those things which he most needs to know in
order to do great good to his fellow-men."
And Asclepius proved to be a wise child, gentle and

sweet and teachable, and among all the pupils of
Cheiron he was the best loved. He learned the lore of
the mountains, the woods, and the fields. He found
out what virtue there is in herbs and flowers and
senseless stones, and he studied the habits of birds
and beasts and men. But above all he became skillful in dressing wounds and healing diseases, and to this day physicians
remember and honor him as the first and greatest of their craft. When he grew up to manhood his name was heard in every
land, and people blessed him because he was the friend of life and the foe of death. As time went by, Asclepius cured so
many people and saved so many lives that Pluto, the pale-faced king of
the Lower World, became alarmed. "I shall soon have nothing to do," he
said, "if this physician does not stop keeping people away from my
kingdom."
And he sent word to his brother Jupiter, and complained that Asclepius
was cheating him out of what was his due. Great Jupiter listened to his
complaint, and stood up among the storm clouds, and hurled his
thunderbolts at Asclepius until the great physician was cruelly slain.
Then all the world was filled with grief, and even the beasts and the trees
and the stones wept because the friend of life was no more.
When Apollo heard of the death of his son, his grief and wrath were
terrible. He could not do anything against Jupiter and Pluto, for they
were stronger than he, but he went down into the smithy of Vulcan,
underneath the smoking mountains, and slew the giant smiths who had
made the deadly thunderbolts.
Then Jupiter, in his turn, was angry, and ordered Apollo to come before
him and be punished for what he had done. He took away his bow and arrows and his wonderful lyre and all his beauty of
form and feature, and after that Jupiter clothed him in the rags of a beggar and drove him down from the mountain, and
told him that he should never come back nor be himself again until he had served some man a whole year as a slave.
And so Apollo went out, alone and friendless, into the world, and no one who saw him would have dreamed that he was
once the sun-bright Lord of the Silver Bow. Apollo spent his year of slavery in service to Admetus
Apollo and Hyacinth
Hyacinthus was the son of the Muse Clio and the King of Macedonia
Pierus. He was considered to be the companion of both the Greek
god Apollo and Zephyrus, the god of the winds. Those two deities
were competing with each other who will gain the favor of the
handsome young man.
One day, Apollo was teaching Hyacinthus how to throw the discus
and, on his striving to impress his lover, Apollo threw the discus with
all his force. Immediately, Hyacinthus tried to run after the discus, but
was unfortunate enough to get struck by it and injure himself
severely! Despite Apollo’s
effort to save the young man’s
life with herbs, in the end the
young man passed away.
From the blood that was shed, Apollo created a beautiful flower, each petal of
which had the letters “AI” inscribed- they were symbolizing Apollo’s painful cry…
HEROES
AND
DEMI - GODS
The Labors of Hercules
The goddess Hera, determined to make trouble for Hercules, made him lose his mind. In a confused and angry
state, he killed his own wife and children.
When he awakened from his "temporary insanity," Hercules was shocked and upset by what he'd done. He
prayed to the god Apollo for guidance, and the god's oracle told him he would have to serve Eurystheus, the
king of Tiryns and Mycenae, for twelve years, in punishment for the murders.
As part of his sentence, Hercules had to perform twelve Labors, feats so difficult that they seemed impossible.
Fortunately, Hercules had the help of Hermes and Athena, sympathetic deities who showed up when he really
needed help. By the end of these Labors, Hercules was, without a doubt, Greece's greatest hero. His struggles
made Hercules the perfect embodiment of an idea the Greeks called pathos, the experience of virtuous struggle
and suffering which would lead to fame and, in Hercules' case, immortality.
The First Labor: The Nemean Lion
Initially, Hercules was required to complete ten labors, not twelve. King Eurystheus decided Hercules' first
task would be to bring him the skin of an invulnerable lion which terrorized the hills around Nemea.
Setting out on such a seemingly impossible labor, Hercules came to a town called Cleonae, where he stayed at the house
of a poor workman-for-hire, Molorchus. When his host offered to sacrifice an animal to pray for a safe lion hunt, Hercules
asked him to wait 30 days. If the hero returned with the lion's skin, they would sacrifice to Zeus, king of the gods. If
Hercules died trying to kill the lion, Molorchus agreed to sacrifice instead to Hercules, as a hero.
When Hercules got to Nemea and began tracking the terrible lion, he soon
discovered his arrows were useless against the beast. Hercules picked up his club
and went after the lion. Following it to a cave which had two entrances, Hercules
blocked one of the doorways, then approached the fierce lion through the other.
Grasping the lion in his mighty arms, and ignoring its powerful claws, he held it
tightly until he'd choked it to death.
Hercules returned to Cleonae, carrying the dead lion, and found Molorchus
on the 30th day after he'd left for the hunt. Instead of sacrificing to Hercules
as a dead man, Molorchus and Hercules were able to sacrifice together, to
Zeus.
When Hercules made it back to Mycenae, Eurystheus was amazed that the
hero had managed such an impossible task. The king became afraid of
Hercules, and forbade him from entering through the gates of the city.
Furthermore, Eurystheus had a large bronze jar made and buried partway in
the earth, where he could hide from Hercules if need
be. After that, Eurystheus sent his commands to
Hercules through a herald, refusing to see the powerful hero face to face.
Many times we can identify Hercules in ancient Greek vase paintings or sculptures simply because
he is depicted wearing a lion skin. Ancient writers disagreed as to whether the skin Hercules wore
was that of the Nemean lion, or one from a different lion, which Hercules was said to have killed
when he was 18 years old. The playwright Euripides wrote that Hercules' lion skin came from the
grove of Zeus, the sanctuary at Nemea:
The Second Labor: The Lernean Hydra
The second labor of Hercules was to kill the Lernean Hydra. From the murky waters of the swamps near a place
called Lerna, the hydra would rise up and terrorize the countryside. A monstrous serpent with nine heads, the hydra
attacked with poisonous venom. Nor was this beast easy prey, for one of the nine heads was immortal and therefore
indestructible.
Hercules set off to hunt the nine-headed menace, but he did not go alone. His trusty nephew, Iolaus, was by his side.
Iolaus, who shared many adventures with Hercules, accompanied him on many of the twelve labors. Legend has it that
Iolaus won a victory in chariot racing at the Olympics and he is often depicted as Hercules' charioteer. So, the pair drove
to Lerna and by the springs of Amymone, they discovered the lair of the loathsome hydra.
First, Hercules lured the coily creature from the safety of its den by shooting flaming arrows at
it. Once the hydra emerged, Hercules seized it. The monster was not so easily overcome,
though, for it wound one of its coils around Hercules' foot and made it impossible for the hero
to escape. With his club, Hercules attacked the many heads of the hydra, but as soon as he
smashed one head, two more would burst forth in its place! To make matters worse, the hydra
had a friend of its own: a huge crab began biting the trapped foot of Hercules. Quickly
disposing of this nuisance, most likely with a swift bash of his club, Hercules called on Iolaus to
help him out of this tricky situation.
Each time Hercules bashed one of the hydra's heads,

Iolaus held a torch to the headless tendons of the neck.
The flames prevented the growth of replacement heads,
and finally, Hercules had the better of the beast. Once he had removed and
destroyed the eight mortal heads, Hercules chopped off the ninth, immortal head.
This he buried at the side of the road leading from Lerna to Elaeus, and for good
measure, he covered it with a heavy rock. As for the rest of the hapless hydra,
Hercules slit open the corpse and dipped his arrows in the venomous blood.
Eurystheus was not impressed with Hercules' feat, however. He said that since
Iolaus had helped his uncle, this labor should not count as one of the ten. This
technicality didn't seem to matter much to anyone else: the ancient authors still give
Hercules all of the credit. Even so, Pausanias did not think that this labor was as fantastic as the myths made it out to be:
to him, the fearsome hydra was just, well, a big water snake.
The Third Labor: The Hind of Ceryneia

Diana’ s pet deer
For the third labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the Hind of Ceryneia. Now, before we go any
further, we'll have to answer two questions: What is a hind? and, Where is Ceryneia?
Ceryneia is a town in Greece, about fifty miles from
Eurystheus' palace in Mycenae. A hind is simply a female
red deer. You'd think it would have been easy for a hero
like Hercules to go shoot a deer and bring it back to
Eurystheus, but a few problems made things complicated.
This was a special deer, because it had golden horns and
hoofs of bronze. Not only that, the deer was sacred to the
goddess of hunting and the moon, Diana; she was Diana's special pet. That
meant that Hercules could neither kill the deer nor hurt her.
He couldn't risk getting Diana angry at him; he was already
in enough trouble with Hera. Hercules set out on this
adventure, and he hunted the deer for a whole year. At last, when the deer had become weary with
the chase, she looked for a place to rest on a mountain called Artemisius, and then made her way to
the river Ladon. Realizing that the deer was about to get away, Hercules shot her just as she was
about to cross the stream. He caught the deer, put her on his shoulders and turned back to Mycenae.
As Hercules hurried on his way, he was met by Diana and Apollo.
Diana was very angry because Hercules tried to kill her sacred animal. She was about to take the
deer away from Hercules, and surely she would have punished him, but Hercules told her the truth.
He said that he had to obey the oracle and do the labors Eurystheus had given him. Diana let go of
her anger and healed the deer's wound. Hercules carried it alive to Mycenae.
The Fourth Labor: Erymanthian Boar
For the fourth labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the Erymanthian boar alive. Now, a boar is a
huge, wild pig with a bad temper, and tusks growing out of its mouth.
This one called the Erymanthian boar, because it lived on mountain called
Erymanthus. Everyday the boar would come crashing down from his lair on the
mountain, attacking men and animals all over the countryside, gouging them with
its tusks, and destroying everything its path.
On his way to hunt the boar, Hercules stopped to visit his friend Pholus who was a
centaur and lived in a cave near Mount Erymanthus. Everyone knows that centaur is
a human from his head to his waist, and a horse for the rest of his body and his legs.
Hercules was hungry and thirsty, so the kindly centaur cooked Hercules some meat in the fireplace, while he himself ate
his meat raw. When Hercules asked for wine, Pholus said that he was afraid to open the wine jar, because it belonged to
all the centaurs in common. But Hercules said not to worry, and opened it himself.
Soon afterwards, the rest of the centaurs smelled the wine and came to Pholus's cave. They were
angry that someone was drinking all of their wine. The first two who dared to
enter were armed with rocks and fir trees.
Hercules grabbed burning sticks from the fireplace and threw them at the
centaurs, then went after them with his club. He shot arrows at the rest of
them and chased after them for about twenty miles. The rest of the centaurs
fled in different directions. One of the centaurs, Chiron, received a wound that
no amount of medicine would heal...but what happened to Chiron is another
story.
While Hercules was gone, Pholus pulled an arrow from the body of one of
the dead centaurs. He wondered that so little a thing could kill such a big
creature. Suddenly, the arrow slipped from his hand. It fell onto his foot
and killed him on the spot. So when Hercules returned, he found Pholus
dead. He buried his centaur friend, and proceeded to hunt the boar.
It wasn't too hard for Hercules to find the boar. He could hear the beast
snorting and stomping as it rooted around for something to eat. Hercules
chased the boar round and round the mountain, shouting as loud as he
could. The boar, frightened and out of breath, hid in a thicket. Hercules
poked his spear into the thicket and
drove the exhausted animal into a deep patch of snow.
Then he trapped the boar in a net, and carried it all the way to Mycenae.
Eurystheus, again amazed and frightened by the hero's powers, hid in his partly
buried bronze jar.
The Fifth Labor: Augean Stables

Cleans Up
For the fifth labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to clean up King Augeas' stables. Hercules knew this job would mean
getting dirty and smelly, but sometimes even a hero has to do these things. Then Eurystheus made Hercules' task even
harder: he had to clean up after the cattle of Augeas in a single day.
Now King Augeas owned more cattle than anyone in Greece. Some say that he was
a son of one of the great gods, and others that he was a son of a mortal; whosever
son he was, Augeas was very rich, and he had many herds of cows, bulls, goats,
sheep and horses.
Every night the cowherds, goatherds

and shepherds drove the thousands of animals to the stables. Hercules went
to King Augeas, and without telling anything about Eurystheus, said that he
would clean out the stables in one day, if Augeas would give him a tenth of
his fine cattle. Augeas couldn't believe his ears, but promised. Hercules
brought Augeas's son along to watch. First the hero tore a big opening in the
wall of the cattle-yard where the stables were. Then he made another opening
in the wall on the opposite side of the yard.
Next, he dug wide trenches to two rivers which flowed nearby. He turned the
course of the rivers into the yard. The rivers rushed through the stables, flushing
them out, and all the mess flowed out the hole in the wall on other side of the
yard.
When Augeas learned that Eurystheus was behind all this, he would not pay
Hercules his reward. Not only that, he denied that he had even promised to pay a
reward. Augeas said that if Hercules didn't like it, he could take the matter to a
judge to decide.
The judge took his seat. Hercules called the son of Augeas to testify. The boy
swore that his father had agreed to give Hercules a reward. The judge ruled that
Hercules would have to be paid. In a rage, Augeas ordered both his own son and Hercules to leave his kingdom at once.
So the boy went to the north country to live with his aunts, and Hercules headed back to Mycenae. But Eurystheus said
that this labour didn't count, because Hercules was paid for having done the work.
The Sixth Labor: Stymphalian Birds
After Hercules returned from his success in the Augean stables, Eurystheus came up with an even more difficult task. For
the sixth Labor, Hercules was to drive away an enormous flock of birds
which gathered at a lake near the town of Stymphalos.
Arriving at the lake, which was deep in the woods, Hercules had no idea
how to drive the huge gathering of birds away. The goddess Athena
came to his aid, providing a pair of bronze krotala, noisemaking
clappers similar to castanets. These were no ordinary noisemakers. They
had been made by an immortal craftsman, Hephaistos, the god of the
forge.
Climbing a nearby mountain, Hercules clashed the krotala loudly, scaring the birds out of the trees, then shot them with
bow and arrow, or possibly with a slingshot, as they took flight. Some versions of the legend say that these Stymphalian
birds were vicious man-eaters. The 2nd century A.D. travel writer, Pausanias, trying to discover what kind of birds they
might have been, wrote that during his time a type of bird from the Arabian
desert was called "Stymphalian," describing them as equal to lions or leopards
in their fierceness. He speculated that the birds Hercules encountered in the
legend were similar to these Arabian birds. Pausanias also saw and described
the religious sanctuary built by the Greeks of Stymphalos and dedicated to the
goddess Artemis. He reported that the temple had carvings of the Stymphalian
birds up near its roof. Standing behind the temple, he saw marble statues of
maidens with the legs of birds.
The Seventh Labor: The Cretan Bull

After the complicated business with the Stymphalian Birds, Hercules easily disposed of the
Cretan Bull.
At that time, Minos, King of Crete, controlled many of the islands in the seas around Greece,
and was such a powerful ruler that the Athenians sent him tribute every year. There are many
bull stories about Crete. Zeus, in the shape of a bull, had carried Minos' mother Europa to Crete,
and the Cretans were fond of the sport of bull-leaping, in which contestants grabbed the horns
of a bull and were thrown over its back.
Minos himself, in order to prove his claim to the throne, had promised the sea-god Poseidon
that he would sacrifice whatever the god sent him from the sea. Poseidon sent a bull, but Minos
thought it was too beautiful to kill, and so he sacrificed another
bull. Poseidon was furious with Minos for breaking his promise.
In his anger, he made the bull rampage all over Crete, and caused Minos' wife Pasiphae to
fall in love with the animal. As a result, Pasiphae gave birth to the Minotaur, a monster with
the head of a bull and the body of a man. Minos had to shut up this beast in the Labyrinth, a
huge maze underneath the palace, and every year he fed it prisoners from Athens.
When Hercules got to Crete, he easily wrestled the bull to the ground and drove it back to
King Eurystheus. Eurystheus let the bull go free. It wandered around Greece, terrorizing the
people, and ended up in Marathon, a city near Athens.
The Athenian hero Theseus tied up some loose ends of this story. He killed the
Cretan Bull at Marathon. Later, he sailed to Crete, found his way to the center of the
Labyrinth, and killed the Minotaur.
The Eighth Labor: Horses of Diomedes
After Hercules had captured the Cretan Bull, Eurystheus sent him to get the man-
eating mares of Diomedes, the king of a Thracian tribe called the Bistones, and bring
them back to him in Mycenae.
According to Apollodorus, Hercules sailed with a band of volun teers across the
Aegean to Bistonia. There he and his companions overpowered the grooms who were
tending the horses, and drove them to the sea. But by the time he got there, the
Bistones had realized what had happened, and they sent a band of soldiers to recapture
the animals. To free himself to fight, Hercules
entrusted the mares to a youth named Abderos.
Unfortunately, the mares got the better of young Abderos and dragged him
around until he was killed.
Meanwhile Hercules fought the Bistones, killed Diomedes, and made the rest flee. In
honor of the slain Abderos, Hercules founded the city
of Abdera. The hero took the mares back to Eurystheus, but Eurystheus set them free.
The mares wandered around until eventually they came to Mount Olympos, the home
of the gods, where they were eaten by wild beasts.
Euripides gives two different versions of

the story, but both of them differ from
Apollodorus's in that Hercules seems to
be performing the labor alone, rather than
with a band of followers.
In one, Diomedes has the four horses harnessed to a chariot, and Hercules has
to bring back the chariot as well as the horses. In the other, Hercules tames
the horses from his own chariot:
The Ninth Labor: The Belt of Hippolyte

For the ninth labor, Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the belt of
Hippolyte [Hip-POLLY-tee]. This was no ordinary belt and no ordinary
warrior. Hippolyte was queen of the Amazons, a tribe of women warriors.
These Amazons had nothing to do with the Amazon river in South America.
Their name comes from a Greek word meaning "missing one breast." This is
because an Amazon's right breast got in the way when she threw a spear.
The Amazons lived apart from men, and if they ever gave birth to children, they
kept only the females and reared them to be warriors like themselves.
Queen Hippolyte had a special piece of armor. It was a leather belt that had been given to
her by Ares, the war god, because she was the best warrior of all the Amazons. She wore
this belt across her chest and used it to carry her sword and spear. Eurystheus wanted
Hippolyte's belt as a present to give to his daughter, and he sent Hercules to bring it back.
Hercules' friends realized that the hero could not fight against the whole Amazon army by
himself, so they joined with him and set sail in a single ship. After a long journey, they
reached the land of the Amazons and put in at the harbor. When Hercules and the Greeks got off the
boat, Hippolyte came down to visit them. She asked Hercules why he had come, and when he told
her, she promised to give him the belt.
But the goddess Hera knew that the arrival of Hercules meant nothing but trouble for the Amazons.
Disguised as an Amazon warrior, Hera went up and down the army saying to each woman that the
strangers who had arrived were going to carry off the queen.
So the Amazons put on their armor. The women warriors charged on

horseback down to the ship But when Hercules saw that they were
wearing their armor and were carrying their weapons, he knew that he was under attack.
Thinking fast, he drew his sword and killed Hippolyte.
Then he undid her belt and took it away from her.
Hercules and the Greeks fought the rest of the Amazons in a great battle.
When the enemy had been driven off, Hercules sailed away. After a stopover at the city of
Troy, Hercules returned to Mycenae, and he gave the belt to Eurystheus.
The Tenth Labor: Cattle of Geryon

To accomplish his tenth labor, Hercules had to journey to the end of the world. Eurystheus
ordered the hero to bring him the cattle of the monster Geryon. Geryon was the son of Chrysaor
and Callirrhoe. Chrysaor had sprung from the body of the Gorgon Medusa after Perseus
beheaded her, and Callirrhoe was the daughter of two Titans, Oceanus and Tethys. With such
distinguished lineage, it is no surprise that Geryon himself was quite unique. It seems that
Geryon had three heads and three sets of legs all joined at the waist.
Geryon lived on an island called Erythia, which was near the boundary of Europe and Libya.
On this island, Geryon kept a herd of red cattle guarded by Cerberus's brother, Orthus, a two-
headed hound, and the herdsman Eurytion. Hercules set off on for Erythia, encountering and
promptly killing many wild beasts along the way, and he came to the place where Libya met Europe. Here, Apollodorus
tells us, Hercules built two massive mountains, one in Europe and one in Libya, to commemorate his extensive journey.
Other accounts say that Hercules split one mountain into two. Either way, these
mountains became known as the Gates or Pillars of Hercules. The strait Hercules
made when he broke the mountain apart is now called the Strait of Gibraltar,
between Spain and Morocco, the gateway from the Mediterranean Sea to the
Atlantic Ocean.
Sailing in a goblet which the Sun gave him in admiration, Hercules reached the
island of Erythia. Not long after he arrived, Orthus, the two-headed dog, attacked
Hercules, so Hercules bashed him with his club. Eurytion followed, with the same result. Another herdsman in the area
reported these events to Geryon. Just as Hercules was escaping with the cattle, Geryon attacked him. Hercules fought with
him and shot him dead with his arrows.
The stealing of the cattle was not such a difficult task, compared to the trouble
Hercules had bringing the herd back to Greece. In Liguria, two sons of Poseidon,
the god of the sea, tried to steal the cattle, so he killed them. At Rhegium, a bull
got loose and jumped into the sea. The bull swam to Sicily and then made its way
to the neighboring country. The native word for bull was "italus," and so the
country came to be named after the bull, and was called Italy.
The escaped bull was found by a ruler named Eryx, another of Poseidon's sons,
and Eryx put this bull into his own herd. Meanwhile, Hercules was searching for the runaway animal. He temporarily
entrusted the rest of the herd to the god Hephaestus, and went after the bull. He found it in Eryx's herd, but the king would
return it only if the hero could beat him in a wrestling contest. Never one to shy away from competition, Hercules beat
Eryx three times in wrestling, killed the king, took back the bull, and
returned it to the herd.
Hercules made it to the edge of the Ionian Sea, with the end of his journey
finally in sight. Hera, however, was not about to let the hero accomplish this
labor. She sent a gadfly to attack the cattle, and the herd scattered far and
wide. Now, Hercules had to run around Thrace gathering the escaped cows.
Finally, he regrouped the herd and, blaming his troubles on the river Strymon in Thrace, he filled the river with rocks,
making it unnavigable. Then, he brought the cattle of Geryon to Eurystheus, who sacrificed the herd to Hera. The ancients
don't tell us how long either Hercules or Europe took to recover from this eventful jaunt.
The Eleventh Labor: The Golden Apples of the Hesperides

Poor Hercules! After eight years and one month, after performing ten
superhuman labors, he was still not off the hook. Eurystheus demanded two
more labors from the hero, since he did not count the hydra or the Augean
stables as properly done.
Eurystheus commanded Hercules to bring him golden apples which belonged

to Zeus, king of the gods. Hera had given these apples to Zeus as a wedding
gift, so surely this task was impossible. Hera, who didn't want to see Hercules
succeed, would never permit him to steal one of her prize possessions, would
she?
These apples were kept in a garden at the northern edge of the world, and they were
guarded not only by a hundred-headed dragon, named Ladon, but also by the
Hesperides, nymphs who were daughters of Atlas, the titan who held the sky and the
earth upon his shoulders.
Hercules' first problem was that he didn't know where the garden was. He journeyed through Libya, Egypt, Arabia, and
Asia, having adventures along the way. He was stopped by Kyknos, the son of the war god, Ares, who demanded that
Hercules fight him. After the fight was broken up by a thunderbolt, Hercules continued on to Illyria, where he seized the
sea-god Nereus, who knew the garden's secret location. Nereus transformed himself into all kinds of shapes, trying to
escape, but Hercules held tight and didn't release Nereus until he got the
information he needed.
Continuing on his quest, Hercules was stopped by Antaeus, the son of the sea god,
Poseidon, who also challenged Hercules to fight. Hercules defeated him in a
wrestling match, lifting him off the ground and crushing him, because when
Antaeus touched the earth he became stronger. After that, Hercules met up with
Busiris, another of Poseidon's sons, was captured, and was led to an altar to be a
human sacrifice. But Hercules escaped, killing Busiris, and journeyed on.
Hercules came to the rock on Mount Caucasus where Prometheus was chained.
Prometheus, a trickster who made fun of the gods and stole the secret of fire from
them, was sentenced by Zeus to a horrible fate. He was bound to the mountain, and
every day a monstrous eagle came and ate his liver, pecking away at Prometheus'
tortured body. After the eagle flew off, Prometheus' liver grew back, and the next day
he had to endure the eagle's painful visit all over again. This went on for 30 years,
until Hercules showed up and killed the eagle.
In gratitude, Prometheus told Hercules the secret to getting the apples. He would have to send Atlas after them, instead of
going himself. Atlas hated holding up the sky and the earth so much that he would agree to the task of fetching the apples,
in order to pass his burden over to Hercules. Everything happened as Prometheus had predicted, and Atlas went to get the
apples while Hercules was stuck in Atlas's place, with the weight of the world literally on his shoulders.
When Atlas returned with the golden apples, he told Hercules he would take them to Eurystheus
himself, and asked Hercules to stay there and hold the heavy load for the rest of time. Hercules
slyly agreed, but asked Atlas whether he could take it back again, just for a moment, while the
hero put some soft padding on his shoulders to help him bear the weight of the sky and the earth.
Atlas put the apples on the ground, and lifted the burden onto his own shoulders. And so Hercules
picked up the apples and quickly ran off, carrying them back, uneventfully, to Eurystheus.
There was one final problem: because they belonged to the gods, the apples could not remain
with Eurystheus. After all the trouble Hercules went through to get them, he had to return them to
Athena, who took them back to the garden at the northern edge of the world.
The Twelfth Labor: Cerberus
The most dangerous labor of all was the twelfth and final one.
Eurystheus ordered Hercules to go to the Underworld and kidnap the beast
called Cerberus (or Kerberos). Eurystheus must have been sure Hercules would
never succeed at this impossible task!
The ancient Greeks believed that after a person died, his or her spirit
went to the world below and dwelled for eternity in the depths of the earth. The
Underworld was the kingdom of Hades, also called Pluto, and his wife,
Persephone. Depending on how a person lived his or her life, they might or
might not experience never-ending punishment in Hades. All souls, whether
good or bad, were destined for the kingdom of Hades.
Cerberus was a vicious beast that guarded the entrance to Hades and kept the living from entering the world of
the dead. According to Apollodorus, Cerberus was a strange mixture of creatures: he had three heads of wild dogs, a
dragon or serpent for a tail, and heads of snakes all over his back. Hesiod, though, says that Cerberus had fifty heads and
devoured raw flesh. Cerberus' parents were the monster Echinda (half-woman, half-serpent) and Typhon (a fire-breathing
giant covered with dragons and serpents). Even the gods of Olympus were afraid of Typhon.
Among the children attributed to this awful couple were Orthus (or
Othros), the Hydra of Lerna, and the Chimaera. Orthus was a two-headed
hound which guarded the cattle of Geryon. With the Chimaera, Orthus fathered
the Nemean Lion and the Sphinx. The Chimaera was a three-headed fire-
breathing monster, part lion, part snake, and part goat. Hercules seemed to have
a lot of experience dealing with this family: he killed Orthus, when he stole the
cattle of Geryon, and strangled the Nemean Lion. Compared to these
unfortunate family members, Cerberus was actually rather lucky.
Before making the trip to the Underworld, Hercules decided that he

should take some extra precautions. This was, after all, a journey from which no mortal had ever returned. Hercules knew
that once in the kingdom of Hades, he might not be allowed to leave and rejoin the living. The hero went to Eleusis and
saw Eumolpus, a priest who began what were known as the Eleusinian Mysteries. The mysteries were sacred religious
rites which celebrated the myth of Demeter and her daughter Persephone. The ancients believed that those who learned
the secrets of the mysteries would have happiness in the Underworld. After the hero met a few conditions of membership,
Eumolpus initiated Hercules into the mysteries.
Hercules went to a place called Taenarum in Laconia. Through a deep, rocky cave, Hercules made his way
down to the Underworld. He encountered monsters, heroes, and ghosts as he made his way through Hades. He even
engaged in a wrestling contest! Then, finally, he found Pluto and asked the god for Cerberus. The lord of the Underworld
replied that Hercules could indeed take Cerberus with him, but only if he overpowered the beast with nothing more than
his own brute strength.
A weaponless Hercules set off to find Cerberus. Near the gates of

Acheron, one of the five rivers of the Underworld, Hercules encountered
Cerberus. Undaunted, the hero threw his strong arms around the beast, perhaps
grasping all three heads at once, and wrestled Cerberus into submission. The
dragon in the tail of the fierce flesh-eating guard dog bit Hercules, but that did
not stop him. Cerberus had to submit to the force of the hero, and Hercules
brought Cerberus to Eurystheus. Unlike other monsters that crossed the path of
the legendary hero, Cerberus was returned safely to Hades, where he resumed
guarding the gateway to the Underworld. Presumably, Hercules inflicted no
lasting damage on Cerberus, except, of course, the wound to his pride!
PERSEUS AND MEDUSA
Acrisius, the king of Argos, was told by the oracle of Delphi
that his own grandson would kill him one day. This grandson
would be the child of his daughter Danae. Scared of the
upcoming future and his destiny, King Acrisius decided to
deprive his daughter of any possible intercourse, mating and
child bearing, so he built a room beneath the earth and
imprisoned Danae there.
However, as the legend says, Zeus came to her in the form of

golden rain, pierced through the walls of chamber, and
Danae’s body. Hence, Perseus was born. Hearing the news but
not believing that Zeus was the father of the newborn, Acrisius
let his daughter and grandchild out to the open sea on an ark. They eventually came to the shores of Serifos island, where
they were saved and adopted by a local couple, the man being the brother of the king of the island, Polydectes.
When Perseus grew up to a handsome and strong young man, one more time he found himself in the way of one king, this
time King Polydectes, who wanted Danae to become his wife. Knowing that he wouldn’t have the woman for himself as
long as Perseus was there to protect her, the king made a plan to send Perseus not only far away but also to a dangerous
mission. Polydectes told Perseus to bring him the head of the gorgon Medusa.
Medusa was one of three sisters, the gorgons, but she was the only mortal one. Some versions say all three were born as
monsters, but the predominant myths had them as gorgeous maidens. Medusa was so beautiful that Poseidon was crazy
about her, but she didn’t care about him; Poseidon turned her and her sisters into monsters with live snakes covering their
heads. Medusa kept her beautiful face but everything else was so monstrous. And whoever dared to look into her face
ended up being turned into stone.
Perseus thus had a hard task. He asked Athena and Hermes for help and two of them, together with the nymphs, provided
winged sandals to fly him to the end of the world where gorgons lived, a cap that made him invisible, a sword and a
mirrored shield. The latter was the most important tool Perseus had, since it allowed him to see a reflection of Medusa’s
face and to avoid being turned into stone.
When he cut Medusa’s head off, from the drops of her blood suddenly appeared two
offspring: Pegasus, a winged horse, and Chrysaor, a giant or a winged boar. It’s
believed that those two were Medusa’s children with Poseidon.
In any case, once he accomplished his task Perseus flew back and escaped Medusa’s
sisters who tried to reach him. Later, Perseus used Medusa’s head as a weapon in
many occasions until he gave the head to Athena to place it on her shield.
The myth of Perseus and Medusa was one the most powerful inspiration for many
artists in the ancient times, but it hasn’t lost its artistic significance to the present day
either. Paintings and sculptures of the moment of beheading or Medusa’s portrait
itself are famous all over the world. One of the most known art work is the Medusa shield by Caravaggio, painted at the
end of the 16th century. It is exposed in the Uffizi museum in Florence. Close by the museum, in the main plaza of
Firenze (Florence) there is a sculpture of Perseus.
Theseus and the Minotaur
The Minotaur was the son of Pasiphae, wife of King Minos of Crete.
Queen Pasiphae slept with a bull sent by Zeus, and gave birth to Minotaur, a
creature half man – half bull. King Minos was embarrassed, but did not want
to kill the Minotaur, so he hid the monster in the Labyrinth constructed by
Daedalus at the Minoan Palace of Knossos.
According to the myth, Minos was imprisoning his enemies in the Labyrinth
so that the Minotaur could eat them. The labyrinth was such a complicated
construction that no one could ever find the way out alive.
Son of Minos, Androgeus, went to Athens to participate to the Panathenaic

Games, but he was killed during the Marathon by the bull that impregnated
his mother Pasiphae. Minos was infuriated, and demanded Aegeus the king of
Athens to send seven men and women every year to the Minotaur to advert the plague caused by the death of Androgeus.
The third year, Theseus, son of Aegeus decided to be one of the seven young men that would go to Crete, in order to kill
the Minotaur and end the human sacrifices to the monster. King Aegeus tried to make him change his mind but Theseus
was determined to slay the Minotaur.
Theseus promised his father that he would put up white sails coming back
from Crete, allowing him to know in advance that he was coming back
alive. The boat would return with the black sails if Theseus was killed.
Theseus announced to King Minos that he was going to kill the Monster,
but Minos knew that even if he did manage to kill the Minotaur, Theseus
would never be able to exit the Labyrinth.
Theseus met Princess Ariadne, daughter of King Minos, who fell madly in
love with him and decided to help Theseus. She gave him a thread and told
him to unravel it as he would penetrate deeper and deeper into the
Labyrinth, so that he knows the way out when he kills the monster.
Theseus followed her suggestion and entered the labyrinth with the thread.
Theseus managed to kill the Minotaur and save the Athenians, and with
Ariadne’s thread he managed to retrace his way out.
Theseus took Princess Ariadne with him and left Crete sailing happily back to Athens.
Theseus’ boat stopped at Naxos and the Athenians had a long celebration dedicated to Theseus and Ariadne. After long
hours of feasting and drinking, Ariadne fell asleep on the shore and didn’t enter the boat that sailed to Athens. Theseus
figured out that Ariadne was not with them when it was too late and he was so upset that he forgot the promise made to
his father and did not change the sails. King Aegeus was waiting at Cape Sounion to see the sails of the boat. He saw the
black sails from afar and presumed his son was dead. He dropped himself to the waters, committing suicide and since
then, this sea is called the Aegean Sea.
Jason ad Argonauts
When Pelias, the half-brother of Aeson, deposed Aeson and claimed the
throne of Iolcus threatening to kill anyone who disputed his claim, Jason,
the heir to the throne, was smuggled away from the kingdom and put into
the care of Chiron the gentle Centaur.
After many years, Jason made his way back to Iolcus to regain his
kingdom. On his way he helped an old woman by carrying her across a
river. He lost one of his sandals in the stream but earned the gratitude of
the woman, who was the goddess Hera in disguise. Since then, Hera
would always be a friend and an ally of Jason.
King Pelias had been warned by an Oracle to beware of a man wearing

one sandal. When Jason appeared with one bare foot, Pelias sent him on
an expedition to find the Golden Fleece, knowing it was unlikely that
Jason would ever return.
Jason had won the favor of the goddesses Hera and Athena. With their help Jason built the fabled ship Argo, which had
50 oars. He recruited 50 remarkable people called the Argonauts. They included one woman, Atalanta, and Hercules, the
strongest man who lived ever. Orpheus, the poet from Thrace, who could sing more sweetly than the Sirens, as well as
Castor and Polydeukis, the brothers of Helen of Troy, were also in the team of the Argonauts. Jason and the Argonauts set
sail for the Black Sea where the legend said the Golden Fleece was hidden. After many adventures, the Argonauts
reached the kingdom ruled by Aetes. The king, whose help the Argonauts needed, imposed seemingly impossible tasks
upon Jason. One was to harness the fire breathing bulls with brazen feet and plow a
field. Then he was to sow the plowed field with dragons’ teeth, from which would
spring fully armed warriors. Fortunately for Jason, Medea, daughter of Aetes, had
fallen in love with him. Medea used her powers as a sorceress to help him. Jason
mastered the bulls, and when the armed men sprang from the dragons’ teeth, Jason
did what Kadmus had done before him: He threw a stone into the midst of the
warriors, who accused each other of throwing the stone. They fought amongst
themselves until all were dead.
Medea then led Jason to the place where the Golden Fleece hung, guarded by a
terrible dragon. Using a magic potion, Medea put the dragon to sleep, allowing Jason
to secure the precious trophy. Jason and the Argonauts put to sea, accompanied by
Medea, and pursued by King Aetes.
Medea slew her brother, Apsirtus, who had accompanied them. She cut his body into
pieces and flung them into the sea and onto the surrounding land, knowing that Aetes
would gather up the dismembered pieces of his son’s body to give them a ceremonial burial. Thus Jason and the
Argonauts escaped with the Golden Fleece, and returned it to Iolcus.
LEGENDS
AND
ORIGINS
Ares and Alectryon
In Greek Mythology, Alectryon was a young soldier who was assigned by Ares
to stand guard outside his door while the god indulged in illicit love with
Aphrodite. He fell asleep on guard duty and the sun-god Helios walked in on the
couple. Helios then alerted Hephaestus on what Ares was doing with Aphrodite.
Furious, Ares punished Alectryon by tuming him into a rooster which never
forgets to announce the arrival of the sun in the morning by its crowing. Both the
words Alectryon and halcyon might have been corrupted from Halaka, one of the
old Persian appellations of the sun. in the ‘Vendidad’ it is said that the sacred
bird “Parodars”, called by men Hahrktak raises its voice at the dawn: and in the
“Bundeshasb”, the sun I spoken of as Halaka, the cock, the enemy od darkness
and evil, which flee before his crowning.
Apollo and Clytie

There was a nymph named Clytie, who was so beautiful that
Apollo fell in love with her. She was very proud and glad of
being loved by the god of the Sun, and loved him a great
deal more than he loved her. But she believed that his love
was as great as her own: and so she lived happily for a long
time.
But one day, Apollo happened to see a king's daughter,

whose name was Leucothoe. He thought she was the most
beautiful creature he had ever seen: so he fell in love with
her, and forgot Clytie as much as if there was nobody but
Leucothoe in the world. Clytie, however, knew nothing of all
this, and only wondered why Apollo never came to see her
any more.
Now the king, whose name was Orchamus, kept his daughter
very strictly: and did not wish her to have anything to do
with Apollo. I suppose he was afraid of Apollo's loving her for a time, and then leaving her to be miserable and unhappy,
as happened to many nymphs and princesses in those days besides Clytie. So when King Orchamus found that Apollo was
making love to Leucothoe, he shut her up in his palace, and would not allow her to go out or anybody else to go in.
But Apollo was much too clever to be beaten in that way. He disguised himself as Leucothoe's own mother, and so came
to see her whenever he pleased, without anybody being anything the wiser. And so everything went on just as he wished,
if it had not been for Clytie, whom he had treated just as King Orchamus was afraid he would treat Leucothoe.
Clytie wondered why Apollo never came to see her till she could bear it no longer; and she watched him, to find out what
was the reason of it all. She watched till at last she saw somebody who looked like a queen go into the palace of King
Orchamus. But she knew Apollo much too well to be taken in by any disguise. She secretly followed him into the palace,
and found him making love to Leucothoe.
In her misery and jealousy, she went straight to King Orchamus, and told him what she had seen. Perhaps she hoped that
the king would send his daughter away altogether, so that Apollo would then come back to her. She could not possibly
foresee what would really happen. King Orchamus was so enraged with his daughter for receiving Apollo's visits against
his commands that he ordered Leucothoe to be buried alive. Of course he could not punish Apollo: because Apollo was a
god, while he was only a king.
Perhaps you will think that Apollo might have managed to save Leucothoe from such a terrible death as her father had
ordered for her. As he did not, I suppose that King Orchamus had her buried before anybody could tell the news—at any
rate she was dead when Apollo arrived at her grave. All he could do for her was to show his love and his sorrow by
turning her into a tree from which people take a sweet-smelling gum called myrrh.
As to Clytie, whose jealousy had caused the death of the princess, he refused ever to speak to her or look at her again: and
he turned her into a sunflower, which has no perfume like the myrrh-tree into which he had changed Leucothoe. But, in
spite of his scorn and of everything he could do to her, Clytie loved him still: and though he would not look at her, she
still spends her whole time in gazing up at him with her blossoms, which are her eyes. People say that the blossoms of the
sunflower always turn toward the sun—towards the east when he is rising, towards the west when he is setting, and
straight up at noon, when he is in the middle of the sky. Of course, like all other blossoms, they close at night, when he is
no longer to be seen. As for the sun himself, I suspect he has forgotten both Clytie and Leucothoe long ago; and sees no
difference between them and any other trees or flowers.
Aurora and Tithonus

Long ago the goddess Eos fell in love with Ares,
the god of war, and like so many others, he could
not resist the beauty of this goddess of the dawn.
Rosy-fingered Eos dressed in long robes of
saffron, and sitting upon her throne she
glimmered and cast a look upon Ares he could
not resist.
Alas, Aphrodite heard news of Ares' love, and

bursting with jealousy, she cast a curse upon Eos:
The goddess of the dawn would never stop
falling in love.
And so it was that time after time, Eos fell in

love with mortal men. This was a sad fate for a
goddess, for mortal men do not live forever as goddesses do. But of all the tales of heartbreak, there was no sadder story
than the tale of Tithonus.
Tithonus was a proud young man, a prince of Troy, handsome and brave, and the moment Eos saw him, she fell deeply in
love. That was her way, but this time she decided she must carry him away with her, and so she brought him to her palace,
away from his homeland.
Naturally Tithonus loved Eos. Who could resist the love of such a beautiful goddess? Just as she does today, in those
years long ago, Eos woke the world each morning with curling rings of light, and every morning she mystically brought
the world out of darkness. Whenever Tithonus looked at her, he felt a glow, the way so many people feel at dawn -- as
buoyant as an April morning on those days when the first buds begin to bloom.
Tithonus and Eos lived together happily, and they had two sons, Memnon and Emathion, who also became famous among
men and gods. All seemed well, but as time passed, Eos remembered something she had forgotten: Mortals do not live
forever.
Eos began to mourn the future. How would she survive without her love? She could not imagine such a life, and so she
asked the greatest god of all, Zeus, to grant Tithonus immortality.
"Please," Eos pleaded, "let my beloved Tithonus live forever." Her eyes filled with tears, her skin flushed, and even Zeus
was moved, and so he granted her request.
Now Tithonus was immortal.
Never was there a happier man. Loved by a beautiful goddess, he was a proud father and ruler of a bountiful land, and Eos
too was joyful, but they hadn't realized one thing.
Tithonus would live forever, but even Zeus did not have the power to make him a god. And so, as time passed, Tithonus,
like all mortals, began to age. First Eos noticed the wrinkles upon his brow, and as the years passed, his muscles began to
grow weak, his arms and legs grew slender, his hair grew gray and thin. Even the light of his beloved Eos no longer gave
him the strength it once had.
When Eos understood Tithonus's fate, the sight of him filled her with such sadness that she could not bear to look at him.
So she left him alone and traveled, falling in love with others.
Eos fell in love with other mortal men and other gods, and when she returned to Tithonus she would see her once-
handsome beloved withering away. Day after day, he grew older. Like a shadow he roamed silent palaces of the gods of
the east, thinking of long-ago days, remembering Eos' wish for his immortality, and ashamed of his desire for it.
How arrogant he had been. He hadn't thought of the future. In his youth he had never even imagined waste, and now here
he was wasting away. Even love and beauty and power could not save him. Soon he wanted to be like other mortal men.
He wished for the return of the natural order of life.
Some mornings when a soft breeze parted the clouds, he looked down at the dark world where he had once lived, and
again he looked at Eos. Seeing her mysterious glimmering face and her exquisite light, he remembered the way she had
once loved him. He watched with longing as the gloomy darkness below parted, and the rosy light of his beloved Eos
warmed the world. This made him still sadder, for her warmth and glow were now lost to him, and he began to sing,
"Give me back my mortality." But even the gods could not grant this request.
And now the rosy shadows of Eos bathed him in coldness as he looked down at his wrinkled feet, and cried out to Eos:
"Every morning you renew your beauty, but I am a fool, a fool who desired to be different from his fellow men, and now I
cry to you, forever. I will never stop singing this song. I sit here remembering what I cannot be."
Eos could bear this no longer, and so she used her powers to transform this shell of a man into a cicada. She watched as he
emerged from the ground, his body pale but fresh as he shed his old skin, wings spreading where once there were arms,
and that voice, singing on, and on, and on.
Io and Argus
Io was another woman to whom Zeus
fell in love and made her suffer. She was a
beautiful girl living in Argos, central Greece,
when Zeus saw her and fell madly in love.
Disguised into a cloud, Zeus made love to her.
His jealous wife, however, Hera, learnt about
this relationship and turned Io into a cow to
keep her away from her husband. Io was about
to suffer many misfortunes until she was finally turned into a woman again and have a normal life.
Io was the daughter of Inachus, one of the River Gods and king of Argos. She was a beautiful, young girl and a priestess
of goddess Hera. However, one day, great god Zeus saw her and fell madly in love with this maiden. Io was constantly
avoiding his amorous attempts, until Zeus took the form of clouds, surrounded her and made love to her. Unfortunately,
his jealous wife, Hera, learned about this relationship and turned Io into a white cow to punish her and stop them from
getting involved.
Io was tied to an olive tree in Heraion, the holy temple of Hera outside Argos, and the fierce hundred-eyed dog, Argus
Panoptes, was guarding her and keeping Zeus away. However, Zeus found the way to set Io free and disregard his wife
without doing it in person. He sent Hermes, the messenger god, to kill Argus, which was an extremely difficult task, since
Argus always had fifty eyes open and fifty at sleep.
Hermes took the form of a shepherd who is good at music and story telling. Using his skills, Hermes lulled all hundred
eyes of Argus to sleep and killed him. Mythology has it that Hera took all the hundred eyes of Argus and placed them on
the tail of her favourite bird, the peacock, which was her symbol.
Hera could not bear the humiliation any more. She then sent a gadfly to sting bovine Io continually until she got mad.
Indeed, Io was wandering from country to country like a mad cow, always being stung by the gadfly. During her journey,
she crossed the path between Propontis and the Black Sea. Since then, this path was named Bosporus, which means "the
passage of the cow".
After a while, in Mount Caucasus, she met the Titan Prometheus, who was chained by Zeus. Prometheus was punished by
the Master of the Gods for giving the fire to the humanity, since until then the fire was a privilege only to Gods.
Prometheus thus was sentenced to be chained on the rocks for ever. Every day, an eagle would come to eat his liver. The
liver would grow again in the night and next morning the eagle would come again to eat it. This torment would continue
for eternity.
Io, thus, met chained Prometheus during her journey, who gave her comfort. He predicted that, one day, Io would take
back her human form, bear children from Zeus and one of her descendants would come to free Prometheus from his
torture. After many years of wandering, Io eventually reached Egypt, where Zeus gave her back her human form.
Io bore a son, Epaphus, and a daughter, Keroessa, from Zeus. According to mythology, Epaphus later founded the town of
Memphis in Egypt, which he named after his wife. Keroessa mated with sea god Poseidon and gave birth to a son, Byzas,
who would later found the town of Byzantium, now known as Constantinople.
Io eventually married Telegonus, the king of Egypt, and their grandson, Danaus, would return to Greece with his fifty
daughters, the Danaides. Eleven generations afterwards, one of Io's descendants, the legendary Hercules, would set
Prometheus free from his chains. The descendants of Io would also make the royal houses of Thebes and Argos.
ILIAD
The story covered by “The Iliad”
begins nearly ten years into the seige of Troy by
the Greek forces, led by Agamemnon, King of
Mycenae. The Greeks are quarrelling about
whether or not to return Chryseis, a Trojan captive
of King Agamemnon, to her father, Chryses, a
priest of Apollo. When Agamemnon refuses and
threatens to ransom the girl to her father, the
offended Apollo plagues them with a pestilence.
The Greeks, at the behest of the

warrior-hero Achilles, force Agamemnon to
return Chryseis in order to appease Apollo and end
the pestilence. But, when Agamemnon eventually
reluctantly agrees to give her back, he takes in her stead Briseis, Achilles‘s own war-prize concubine. Feeling
dishonoured, Achilles wrathfully withdraws both himself and his Myrmidon warriors from the Trojan War.
Testing the resolve of the Greeks, Agamemnon feigns a homeward order, but Odysseus encourages the
Greeks to pursue the fight. During a brief truce in the hostilities, Paris and Menelaus meet in single combat over Helen,
while she and old King Priam of Troy watch from the city walls and, despite the goddess Aphrodite’s intervention on
behalf of the over-matched Paris, Menelaus is the victor. The goddess Athena, however, who favours the Greeks, soon
provokes a Trojan truce-breaking and battle begins anew.
The Greek hero Diomedes, strengthened by Athena, drives the Trojans before him but, in his arrogance
and blood-lust, strikes and injures Aphrodite. Despite the misgivings of his wife, Andromache, the Trojan hero, Hector,
son of King Priam, challenges the Greek warrior-hero Ajax to single combat, and is almost overcome in battle.
Throughout all, in the background, the various gods and goddesses (particularly Hera, Athena, Apollo and Poseidon)
continue to argue among themselves and to manipulate and intervene in the struggle, despite Zeus’ specific orders to the
contrary.
Achilles steadfastly refuses to give in to pleas for help from Agamemnon, Odysseus, Ajax, Phoenix and
Nestor, spurning the offered honours and riches and even Agamemnon‘s belated offer to return Briseis to him. Diomedes
and Odysseus sneak into the Trojan camp and wreak havoc. But, with Achilles and his warriors out of battle, the tide
appears to begin to turn in favour of the Trojans. Agamemnon is wounded in the battle and, despite the heroics of Ajax,
Hector successfully breaches the fortified Greek camp, wounding Odysseus and Diomedes in the process, and threatens to
set the Greek ships on fire.
Torn between his allegiances, Achilles orders his friend and lover, Patroclus, to dress in Achilles‘own
armour and to lead the Myrmidons in repelling the Trojans. Intoxicated by his success, Patroclus forgets Achilles‘
warning, and pursues the fleeing Trojans to the walls of Troy and would have taken the city were it not for the actions of
Apollo. In the heat of the battle, though, Hector finds the disguised Patroclus and, thinking him to be Achilles, fights and
(again with Apollo’ help) kills him. Menelaus and the Greeks manage to recover Patroclus’s corpse before Hector can
inflict more damage.
Distraught at the death of his companion, Achilles then reconciles with Agamemnon and rejoins the
fray, despite knowing his deadly fate, and drives all the Trojans before him in his fury. As the ten year war reaches its
climax, even the gods join in the battle and the earth shakes with the clamour of the combat.
Clad in new armour fashioned specially for him by Hephaestus, Achilles takes revenge for his friend
Patroclus by slaying Hector in single combat, but then defiles and desecrates his corpse for several days. Now, at last,
Patroclus’ funeral can be celebrated in what Achilles sees as a fitting manner. Hector‘s father, King Priam, emboldened by
his grief and aided by Hermes, recovers Hector‘s corpse from Achilles, and “The Iliad” ends with Hector‘s funeral during
a twelve day truce granted by Achilles.
Although attributed to Homer, “The Iliad” is clearly dependent on an older oral tradition and may well
have been the collective inheritance of many singer-poets over a long period of time (the historical Fall of Troy is usually
dated to around the start of the 12th Century BCE). Homer was probably one of the first generation of authors who were
also literate, as the Greek alphabet was introduced in the early 8th Century BCE, and the language used in his epic poems
is an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects such as Aeolic Greek. However, it is by
no means certain that Homer himself (if in fact such a man ever really existed) actually wrote down the verses.
Analysis – What is the Iliad about?

“The Iliad” was part of a group of ancient poems
known as the “Epic Cycle”, most of which are now lost to us,
which dealt with the history of the Trojan War and the events
surrounding it. Whether or not they were written down, we do
know that Homer‘s poems (along with others in the “Epic Cycle”)
were recited in later days at festivals and ceremonial occasions by
professional singers called “rhapsodes“, who beat out the measure
with rhythm staffs.
“The Iliad” itself does not cover the early events of

the Trojan War, which had been launched ten years before the
events described in the poem in order to rescue Helen, the wife of
King Menelaus of Sparta, after her abduction by the Trojan prince,
Paris. Likewise, the death of Achilles and the eventual fall of Troy
are not covered in the poem, and these matters are the subjects of
other (non-Homeric) “Epic Cycle” poems, which survive only in fragments. “The Odyssey”•, a separate work also by
Homer, narrates Odysseus‘ decade-long journey home to Ithaca after the end of the Trojan War.
The poem consists of twenty-four scrolls, containing 15,693 lines of dactylic hexameter verse. The entire
poem has a formal rhythm that is consistent throughout (making it easier to memorize) and yet varied slightly from line to
line (preventing it from being monotonous). Many phrases, sometimes whole passages, are repeated verbatim over and
over again throughout “The Iliad”•, partly to fulfill the demands of the metre and partly as part of the formulaic oral
tradition. In the same way, many of the descriptive phrases that are linked with a certain character (such as “swift-footed
Achilles“, “Diomedes of the great war cry“, “Hector of the shining helm”, and “Agamemnon the lord of men”) match the
number of syllables in a hero’s name, and are repeated regularly to the extent that they almost seem to become part of the
characters’ names themselves. The immortal gods and goddesses are portrayed as characters in “The Iliad”•, displaying
individuality and will in their actions, but they are also stock religious figures, sometimes allegorical, sometimes
psychological, and their relation to humans is extremely complex. They are often used as a way of explaining how or why
an event took place, but they are also sometimes used as comic relief from the war, mimicking, parodying and mocking
mortals. Indeed, it is often the gods, not the mortals, who seem casual, petty and small-minded.
The main theme of the poem is that of war and peace, and the whole poem is essentially a description of
war and fighting. There is a sense of horror and futility built into Homer‘s chronicle, and yet, posed against the
viciousness, there is a sense of heroism and glory that adds a glamour to the fighting: Homer appears both to abhor war
and to glorify it. Frequent similes tell of the peacetime efforts back home in Greece, and serve as contrasts to the war,
reminding us of the human values that are destroyed by fighting, as well as what is worth fighting for. The concept of
heroism, and the honour that results from it, is also one of the major currents running through the poem. Achilles in
particular represents the heroic code and his struggle revolves around his belief in an honour system, as opposed to
Agamemnon‘s reliance on royal privilege. But, as fighter after heroic fighter enters the fray in search of honour and is
slain before our eyes, the question always remains as to whether their struggle, heroic or not, is really worth the sacrifice.
“Menin“or “menis“ (“anger“ or “wrath“) is the word that opens “The Iliad”, and one of the major
themes of the poem is Achilles coming to terms with his anger and taking responsibility for his actions and emotions.
ODYSSEY
Ten years after the Fall of Troy, and
twenty years after the Greek hero Odysseus first
set out from his home in Ithaca to fight with the
other Greeks against the Trojans, Odysseus’ son
Telemachus and his wife Penelope are beset with
over a hundred suitors who are trying to persuade
Penelope that her husband is dead and that she
should marry one of them.
Encouraged by the goddess Athena

(always Odysseus’ protector), Telemachus sets
out to look for his father, visiting some of
Odysseus’ erstwhile companions such as Nestor,
Menelaus and Helen, who have long since arrived
home. They receive him sumptuously and recount
the ending of the Trojan War, including the story of
the wooden horse. Menelaus tells Telemachus that
he has heard that Odysseus is being held captive by the nymph Calypso.
The scene then changes to Calypso’s island, where Odysseus has spent seven years in captivity. Calypso is
finally persuaded to release him by Hermes and Zeus, but Odysseus’ makeshift boat is wrecked by his nemesis Poseidon,
and he swims ashore onto an island. He is found by the young Nausicaa and her handmaidens and is made welcome by
King Alcinous and Queen Arete of the Phaeacians, and begins to tell the amazing story of his return from Troy.
Odysseus tells how he and his twelve ships were driven off course by storms, and how they visited the
lethargic Lotus-Eaters with their memory-erasing food, before being captured by the giant one-eyed cyclops
Polyphemus (Poseidon’s son), only escaping after he blinded the giant with a wooden stake. Despite the help of Aeolus,
King of the Winds, Odysseus and his crew were blown off course again just as home was almost in sight. They narrowly
escaped from the cannibal Laestrygones, only to encounter the witch-goddess Circe soon after. Circe turned half of his
men into swine, but Odysseus had been pre-warned by Hermes and made resistant to Circe’s magic.
After a year of feasting and drinking on Circe’s island, the Greeks again set off, reaching the western edge
of the world. Odysseus made a sacrifice to the dead and summoned the spirit of the old prophet Tiresias to advise him,
as well as the spirits of several other famous men and women and that of his own mother, who had died of grief at his
long absence and who gave him disturbing news of the situation in his own household.
Advised once more by Circe on the remaining stages of their journey, they skirted the land of the Sirens,
passed between the many-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis, and, blithely ignoring the warnings of
Tiresias and Circe, hunted down the sacred cattle of the sun god Helios. For this sacrilege, they were punished by a
shipwreck in which all but Odysseus himself drowned. He was washed ashore on Calypso’s island, where she compelled
him to remain as her lover.
By this point, Homer has brought us up to date, and the remainder of the story is told straightforwardly in chronological
order.
Having listened with rapt attention to his story, the Phaeacians agree to help Odysseus get home, and they
finally deliver him one night to a hidden harbour on his home island of Ithaca. Disguised as a wandering beggar and
telling a fictitious tale of himself, Odysseus learns from a local swineherd how things stand in his household. Through
Athena’s machinations, he meets up with his own son, Telemachus, just returning from Sparta, and they agree together
that the insolent and increasingly impatient suitors must be killed. With more help from Athena, an archery competition
is arranged by Penelope for the suitors, which the disguised Odysseus easily wins, and he then promptly slaughters all
the other suitors.
Only now does Odysseus reveal and prove his true identity to his wife and to his old father, Laertes.
Despite the fact that Odysseus has effectively killed two generations of the men of Ithaca (the shipwrecked sailors and the
executed suitors), Athena intervenes one last time and finally Ithaca is at peace once more.
Analysis – What is the Odyssey about?
Like “The Iliad”, “The Odyssey” is attributed to the Greek epic poet Homer, although it was
probably written later than “The Iliad”, in Homer’s mature years, possibly around 725 BCE. Also like “The Iliad”, it
was clearly composed in an oral tradition, and was probably intended more to be sung than read, probably accompanied
by a simple stringed instrument which was strummed for an occasional rhythmic accent. It is written in Homeric Greek
(an archaic version of Ionic Greek, with admixtures from certain other dialects such as Aeolic Greek), and comprises
12,110 lines of dactylic hexameter verse, usually divided up into 24 books.
Many copies of the poem have come down to us (for example, a survey of all surviving Egyptian
papyri carried out in 1963 found that nearly half of the 1,596 individual “books” were copies of “The Iliad” or “The
Odyssey” or commentaries on them). There are interesting parallels between many of the elements of “The Odyssey”
and the much older Sumerian legends in the “Epic of Gilgamesh”. Today, the word “odyssey” has come to be used in
the English language to refer to any epic voyage or extended wandering.
As in “The Iliad”, Homer makes frequent use of “epithets” in “The Odyssey”, descriptive tags used
regularly to fill out a line of verse as well as to provide detail about character, such as Odysseus “the raider of cities”
and Menelaus “the red-haired captain”. The epithets, as well as repeated background stories and longer epic similes,
are common techniques in the oral tradition, designed to make the job of the singer-poet a little easier, as well as to
remind the audience of important background information.
Compared to “The Iliad”, the poem has many changes of scene and a much more complex plot. It
employs the seemingly modern idea (later imitated by many other authors of literary epics) of starting the plot at what is
chronologically towards the end of the overall story, and describing prior events through flashbacks or storytelling. This is
appropriate, however, as Homer was elaborating on a story which would have been very familiar to his listeners, and
there was little likelihood of his audience being confused, despite the numerous sub-plots.
The character of Odysseus embodies many of the ideals the ancient Greeks aspired to: manly
valour, loyalty, piety and intelligence. His intelligence is a mix of keen observation, instinct and street smarts, and he is a
fast, inventive liar, but also extremely cautious. However, he is also portrayed as very human – he makes mistakes, gets
into tricky situations, loses his temper and is often moved to tears – and we see him in many roles (as a husband, father
and son, but also as an athlete, army captain, sailor, carpenter, storyteller, ragged beggar, lover, etc).
The other characters are very much secondary, although Odysseus’ son Telemachus shows some
growth and development from a passive, untested boy to a man of valour and action, respectful to gods and men, and loyal
to his mother and father. The first four books of “The Odyssey” are often referred to as “The Telemachy” as they follow
Telemachus’ own journey.
Among the themes explored by “The Odyssey” are those of homecoming, vengeance, the restoration
of order, hospitality, respect for the gods, order and fate, and, perhaps most importantly, loyalty (Odysseus’ loyalty in
persisting in his attempts to return home, even after twenty years, Telemachus’ loyalty, Penelope’s loyalty and the loyalty
of the servants Eurykleia and Eumaios).
AENEID
“The Aeneid” (Lat: “Aeneis”) is an epic poem
by Vergil (Vergil), the pre-eminent poet of the
Roman Empire. It was his final work and the twelve
books of the poem occupied him for about ten years
from 29 BCE until his death in 19 BCE.
It tells the legendary story of the Trojan

hero Aeneas who, after years of wandering after the
fall of Troy, travelled to Italy to battle the Latins,
eventually becoming the ancestor of the Roman
nation. It is Vergil’s best-known work and was
considered the masterpiece of Roman literature by
the Romans of his day, and the fluidity of its
rigorously structured poetry and its vivid portrayals
of human emotion have earned it a legacy as one of
the greatest poems in the Latin language.
In keeping with the style of the epics of Homer, the poem begins with an invocation to the poet’s Muse,
and an explanation of the principal conflict of the early part of plot, which stems from the resentment held by the goddess
Juno against the Trojan people.
The action begins with the Trojan fleet, led by Aeneas, in the eastern Mediterranean, heading towards Italy on
a voyage to find a second home, in accordance with the prophecy that Aeneas will give rise to a noble and courageous
race in Italy, which is destined to become known throughout the world.
The goddess Juno, however, is still wrathful at being overlooked by the judgment of Paris in favour of
Aeneas‘s mother, Venus, and also because her favourite city, Carthage, is destined to be destroyed by Aeneas‘
descendants, and because the Trojan prince Ganymede was chosen to be the cup-bearer to the gods, replacing Juno’s own
daughter, Hebe. For all these reasons, Juno bribes Aeolus, god of the winds, with the offer of Deiopea (the loveliest of all
the sea nymphs) as a wife, and Aeolus releases the winds to stir up a huge storm, which devastates Aeneas’ fleet.
Although himself no friend of the Trojans, Neptune is infuriated by Juno’s intrusion into his domain, and
stills the winds and calms the waters, allowing the fleet to take shelter on the coast of Africa, near Carthage, a city
recently founded by Phoenician refugees from Tyre. Aeneas, after encouragement from his mother, Venus, soon gains the
favour of Dido, Queen of Carthage.
At a banquet in honour of the Trojans, Aeneas recounts the events which led upto their arrival, beginning
shortly after the events described in “The Iliad”. He tells of how the crafty Ulysses (Odysseus in Greek) devised a plan
for Greek warriors to gain entry into Troy by hiding in a large wooden horse. The Greeks then pretended to sail away,
leaving Sinon to tell the Trojans that the horse was an offering and that if it were taken into the city, the Trojans would be
able to conquer Greece. The Trojan priest, Laocoön, saw through the Greek plot and urged the horse’s destruction, but he
and both his sons were attacked and eaten by two giant sea snakes in an apparently divine intervention.
The Trojans brought the wooden horse inside the city walls, and after nightfall the armed Greeks emerged
and began to slaughter the city’s inhabitants. Aeneas valiantly tried to fight off the enemy, but he soon lost his comrades
and was was advised by his mother, Venus, to flee with his family. Although his wife, Creusa, was killed in the melée,
Aeneas managed to escape with his son, Ascanius, and his father, Anchises. Rallying the other Trojan survivors, he built a
fleet of ships, making landfall at various locations in the Mediterranean, notably Aenea in Thrace, Pergamea in Crete and
Buthrotum in Epirus. Twice they attempted to build a new city, only to be driven away by bad omens and plagues. They
were cursed by the Harpies (mythical creatures that are part woman and part bird), but they also unexpectedly encountered
friendly countrymen.
In Buthrotum, Aeneas met Hector’s widow, Andromache, as well as Hector‘s brother, Helenus, who had the
gift of prophecy. Helenus prophesied that Aeneas should seek out the land of Italy (also known as Ausonia or Hesperia),
where his descendants would not only prosper, but in time would come to rule the entire known world. Helenus also
advised him to visit the Sibyl in Cumae, and Aeneas and his fleet set off towards Italy, making first landfall in Italy at
Castrum Minervae. However, on rounding Sicily and making for the mainland, Juno raised up a storm which drove the
fleet back across the sea to Carthage in North Africa, thus bringing Aeneas’ story up to date.
Through the machinations of Aeneas’ mother Venus, and her son, Cupid, Queen Dido of Carthage falls
madly in love with Aeneas, even though she had previously sworn fidelity to her late husband, Sychaeus (who had been
murdered by her brother Pygmalion). Aeneas is inclined to return Dido‘s love, and they do become lovers for a time. But,
when Jupiter sends Mercury to remind Aeneas of his duty and his destiny, he has no choice but to leave Carthage. Heart-
broken, Dido commits suicide by stabbing herself on a funeral pyre with Aeneas’ own sword, predicting in her death
throes eternal strife between Aeneas’ people and hers. Looking back from the deck of his ship, Aeneas sees the smoke of
Dido‘s funeral pyre and knows its meaning only too clearly. However, destiny calls him, and the Trojan fleet sails on
towards Italy.
They return to Sicily to hold funeral games in honour of Aeneas’ father, Anchises, who had died before
Juno’s storm blew them off course. Some of the Trojan women, tired of the seemingly endless voyage, begin to burn the
ships, but a downpour puts the fires out. Aeneas is sympathetic, though, and some of the travel-weary are allowed to stay
behind in Sicily.
Eventually, the fleet lands on the mainland of Italy, and Aeneas, with the guidance of the Sibyl of Cumae,
descends into the underworld to speak with the spirit of his father, Anchises. He is given a prophetic vision of the destiny
of Rome, which helps him to better understand the importance of his mission. On returning to the land of the living, at the
end of Book VI, Aeneas leads the Trojans to settle in the land of Latium, where he is welcomed and begins to court
Lavinia, the daughter of King Latinus.
The second half of the poem begins with the break out of war between the Trojans and the Latins.
Although Aeneas has tried to avoid war, Juno had stirred up trouble by convincing Queen Amata of the Latins that her
daughter Lavinia should be married to a local suitor, Turnus, the king of the Rutuli, and not Aeneas, thus effectively
ensuring war. Aeneas goes to seek military support among the neighbouring tribes who are also enemies of Turnus, and
Pallas, son of King Evander of Arcadia, agrees to lead troops against the other Italians. However, while the Trojan leader
is away, Turnus sees his opportunity to attack, and Aeneas returns to find his countrymen embroiled in battle. A midnight
raid leads to the tragic deaths of Nisus and his companion Euryalus, in one of the most emotional passages in the book.
In the battle that follows, many heroes are killed, notably Pallas, who is killed by Turnus; Mezentius
(Turnus’ friend, who had inadvertently allowed his son to be killed while he himself fled), who is killed by Aeneas in
single combat; and Camilla, a sort of Amazon character devoted to the goddess Diana, who fights bravely but is
eventually killed, which leads to the man who killed her being struck dead by Diana’s sentinel, Opis.
A short-lived truce is called and a hand-to-hand duel is proposed between Aeneas and Turnus in order to
spare any further unnecessary carnage. Aeneas would have easily won, but the truce is broken first and full-scale battle
resumes. Aeneas is injured in the thigh during the fighting, but he returns to the battle shortly afterwards.
When Aeneas makes a daring attack on the city of Latium itself (causing Queen Amata to hang herself in
despair), he forces Turnus into single combat once more. In a dramatic scene, Turnus’ strength deserts him as he tries to
hurl a rock, and he is struck by Aeneas‘ spear in the leg. Turnus begs on his knees for his life, and Aeneas is tempted to
spare him until he sees that Turnus is wearing the belt of his friend Pallas as a trophy. The poem ends with Aeneas, now in
a towering rage, killing Turnus.
Analysis – What is the Aeneid about?
The pious hero Aeneas was already well known in Greco-Roman legend and myth, having been a major
character in Homer’s “The Iliad”, in which Poseidon first prophesies that Aeneas will survive the Trojan War and
assume leadership over the Trojan people. But Vergil took the disconnected tales of Aeneas‘ wanderings and his vague
mythical association with the foundation of Rome and fashioned them into a compelling foundation myth or nationalist
epic. It is notable that Vergil chooses a Trojan, and not a Greek, to represent the heroic past of Rome, even though Troy
lost the war to the Greeks, and this may reflect a Roman uncomfortableness with talking about the glories of Greece’s
past, in case they might seems to eclipse the glories of Rome itself. Through his epic tale, then, Vergil at once manages to
tie Rome to the heroic legends of Troy, to glorify traditional Roman virtues, and to legitimize the Julio-Claudian dynasty
as descendants of the founders, heroes and gods of Rome and Troy.
Vergil borrowed heavily from Homer, wishing to create an epic worthy of, and even to surpass, the Greek
poet. Many contemporary scholars hold that Vergil‘s poetry pales in comparison to Homer‘s, and does not possess the
same originality of expression. However, most scholars agree that Vergil distinguished himself within the epic tradition of
antiquity by representing the broad spectrum of human emotion in his characters as they are subsumed in the historical
tides of dislocation and war.
“The Aeneid” can be divided into two halves: Books 1 to 6 describe Aeneas‘ journey to Italy, and Books 7 to
12 cover the war in Italy. These two halves are commonly regarded as reflecting Vergil‘s ambition to rival Homer by
treating both the wandering theme of “The Odyssey” and the warfare theme of “The Iliad”.
It was written in a time of major political and social change in Rome, with the recent fall of the Republic
and the Final War of the Roman Republic (in which Octavian decisively defeated the forces of Mark Anthony and
Cleopatra) having torn through society, and the faith of many Romans in the greatness of Rome was seen to be severely
faltering. The new emperor, Augustus Caesar, however, began to institute a new era of prosperity and peace, specifically
through the re-introduction of traditional Roman moral values, and “The Aeneid” can be seen as purposely reflecting this
aim. Vergil finally felt some hope for the future of his country, and it was the deep gratitude and admiration he felt for
Augustus that inspired him to write his great epic poem.
In addition, it attempts to legitimize the rule of Julius Caesar (and by extension, the rule of his adopted son,
Augustus, and his heirs) by renaming Aeneas‘ son, Ascanius, (originally known as Ilus, after Ilium, another name for
Troy), as Iulus, and putting him forward as an ancestor of the family of Julius Caesar and his imperial descendants. In the
epic, Vergil repeatedly foreshadows the coming of Augustus, perhaps in an attempt to silence critics who claimed that he
achieved power through violence and treachery, and there are many parallels between Aeneas‘ actions and Augustus’. In
some respects, Vergil worked backward, connecting the political and social situation of his own day with the inherited
tradition of the Greek gods and heroes, in order to show the former as historically derived from the latter.
Like other classical epics, “The Aeneid” is written in dactylic hexameter, with each line having six feet
made up of dactyls (one long syllable and two shorts) and spondees (two long syllables). It also incorporates to great
effect all the usual poetic devices, such as alliteration, onomatopoeia, synecdoche and assonance.
Although the writing of “The Aeneid” is generally highly polished and complex in nature, (legend has it that
Vergil wrote only three lines of the poem each day), there are a number of half-complete lines. That, and its rather abrupt
ending, is generally seen as evidence that Vergil died before he could finish the work. Having said that, because the poem
was composed and preserved in writing rather than orally, the text of “The Aeneid” that has come down to us is actually
more complete than most classical epics.
Another legend suggests that Vergil, fearing that he would die before he had properly revised the poem,
gave instructions to friends (including the Emperor Augustus) that “The Aeneid” should be burned on his death, partly
due to its unfinished state and partly because he had apparently come to dislike one of the sequences in Book VIII, in
which Venus and Vulcan have sexual intercourse, which he saw as non-conformity to Roman moral virtues. He
supposedly planned to spend up to three years editing it, but fell ill while returning from a trip to Greece and, just before
his death in September 19 BCE, he ordered that the manuscript of “The Aeneid” be burned as he still considered it
unfinished. In the event of his death, though, Augustus himself ordered that these wishes be disregarded, and the poem
was published after only very minor modifications.
The main overall theme of “The Aeneid” is that of opposition. The main opposition is that of Aeneas (as
guided by Jupiter), representing the ancient virtue of “pietas” (considered the key quality of any honorable Roman,
incorporating reasoned judgment, piety and duty towards the gods, the homeland and the family), as against Dido and
Turnus (who are guided by Juno), representing unbridled “furor” (mindless passion and fury). However, there are several
other oppositions within “The Aeneid”, including: fate versus action; male versus female; Rome versus Carthage;
“Aeneas as Odysseus” (in Books 1 to 6) versus “Aeneas as Achilles” (in Books 7 to 12); calm weather versus storms; etc.
The poem emphasizes the idea of a homeland as one’s source of identity, and the Trojans’ long wanderings
at sea serve as a metaphor for the kind of wandering that is characteristic of life in general. A further theme explores the
bonds of family, particularly the strong relationship between fathers and sons: the bonds between Aeneas and Ascanius,
Aeneas and Anchises, Evander and Pallas, and between Mezentius and Lausus are all worthy of note. This theme also
reflects Augustan moral reforms and was perhaps intended to set an example for Roman youth.
In the same way, the poem advocates the acceptance of the workings of the gods as fate, particularly
stressing that the gods work their ways through humans. The direction and destination of Aeneas’ course are preordained,
and his various sufferings and glories over the course of the poem merely postpone this unchangeable destiny. Vergil is
trying to impress on his Roman audience that, just as the gods used Aeneas to found Rome, they are now using Augustus
to lead it, and it is the duty of all good citizens to accept this situation.
Aeneas’s character throughout the poem is defined by his piety (he is repeatedly referred to as “pious
Aeneas”) and the subordination of personal desire to duty, perhaps best exemplified by his abandonment of Dido in the
pursuit of his destiny. His behaviour is particularly contrasted with Juno’s and Turnus’ in this regard, as those characters
fight fate every step of the way (but ultimately lose out).
The figure of Dido in the poem is a tragic one. Once the dignified, confident and competent ruler of
Carthage, resolute in her determination to preserve the memory of her dead husband, Cupid’s arrow causes her to risk
everything by falling for Aeneas, and she finds herself unable to reassume her dignified position when this love fails. As a
result, she loses the support of the citizens of Carthage and alienates the local African chieftains who had previously been
suitors (and now pose a military threat). She is a figure of passion and volatility, starkly contrasted with the order and
control represented by Aeneas (traits that Vergil associated with Rome itself in his own day), and her irrational obsession
drives her to a frenzied suicide, which has struck a chord with many subsequent writers, artists and musicians.
Turnus, another of Juno’s protégés who must eventually perish in order for Aeneas to fulfill his destiny, is
a counterpart to Dido in the second half of the poem. Like Dido, he represents the forces of irrationality in contrast to
Aeneas‘ pious sense of order and, whereas Dido is undone by her romantic desire, Turnus is doomed by his unrelenting
rage and pride. Turnus refuses to accept the destiny Jupiter has decreed for him, stubbornly interpreting all the signs and
omens to his own advantage rather than seeking their true meaning. Despite his desperate desire to be a hero, Turnus’
character changes in the last few battle scenes, and we see him gradually lose confidence as he comes to understand and
accept his tragic fate Some have found so-called “hidden messages” or allegories within the poem, although these are
largely speculative and highly contested by scholars. One example of these is the passage in Book VI where Aeneas exits
the underworld through the “gate of false dreams”, which some have interpreted as implying that all of Aeneas’
subsequent actions are somehow “false” and, by extension, that the history of the world since the foundation of Rome is
but a lie. Another example is the rage and fury Aeneas exhibits when he kills Turnus at the end of Book XII, which some
see as his final abandonment of “pietas” in favour of “furor”. Some claim that Vergil meant to change these passages
before he died, while others believe that their strategic locations (at the very end of each half of the overall poem) are
evidence that Vergil placed them there quite purposefully.
“The Aeneid” has long been considered a fundamental member of the Western canon of literature, and it
has been highly influential on subsequent works, attracting both imitations as well as parodies and travesties. There have
been numerous translations over the years into English and many other languages, including an important English
translation by the 17th Century poet John Dryden, as well as 20th Century versions by Ezra Pound, C. Day Lewis, Allen
Mandelbaum, Robert Fitzgerald, Stanley Lombardo and Robert Fagles.

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Antique National School

Grade 10 SY 2019- 2020

Exploring the Myths

In partial fulfillment of the requirement

Submitted to: Jan Michael S. Combong

Vea Mae Patiño

John Mark Anteza

Paolo Miguel Untal

Fate Gwyneth Yson

Date of submission: August 5, 2019 Remarks: Rating:

The Greco-Roman Era: Renaissance of Human

Greek Name: ZEUS (/zjuːs/; Ancient Greek: Ζεύς, Zeús [zdeǔ̯s])

Greek Name: ARES (/ˈɛəriːz/; Ancient Greek: Ἄρης, Áres [árɛːs])

Greek Name: ARTEMIS (/ˈɑːrtɪmɪs/; Greek: Ἄρτεμις Artemis, Attic

Greek Name: APHRODITE

Greek Name: POSEIDON (/pəˈsaɪdən, pɒ-, poʊ-/; Greek: Ποσειδῶν,

Greek Name: DEMETER (/dɪˈmiːtər/; Attic: Δημήτηρ Dēmḗtēr,

Greek Name: HERMES (/ˈhɜːrmiːz/; Greek: Ἑρμῆς)

Greek Name: ATHENA (Athene)

Greek Name: HESTIA (/ˈhɛstiə, ˈhɛstʃə/; Greek: Ἑστία, "hearth" or "fireside")

Greek name: HELIOS (/ˈhiːliɒs/; Ancient Greek: Ἥλιος Hēlios; Latinized as

Greek name: SELENE (/sɪˈliːni/; Ancient Greek: Σελήνη [selɛ̌ːnɛː] "Moon")

Greek name: HECATE (/ˈhɛkətiː/; Ancient Greek: Ἑκάτη, Hekátē)

Greek name: HEBE (/ˈhiːˌbiː/; Greek: Ἥβη)

Greek name: HEPHAESTUS (/hɪˈfiːstəs, hɪˈfɛstəs/; eight spellings; Greek:

Greek Name: DIONYSUS (/daɪ.əˈnaɪsəs/; Greek: Διόνυσος Dionysos)

Greek name: AELOUS (/iːˈoʊləs/; Ancient Greek: Αἴολος, Aiolos [a͜ɪ́olos],

Greek name: HYPNOS (/ˈhɪpnɒs/; Greek: Ὕπνος, "sleep")

Greek name: THANATOS (/ˈθænətɒs/; Greek: Θάνατος, pronounced in Ancient

Greek name: IRIS (/ˈaɪrɪs/; Greek: Ἶρις Ancient Greek: [îːris])

Greek name: PAN /pæn/;[1] Ancient Greek: Πάν, Pan)

Greek name: THE SATYRS (Greek: σάτυρος sátyros, pronounced [sátyros])

Greek name: CHIRON (/ˈkaɪrən/ KY-rən; also Cheiron or Kheiron;

Greek name: THE CENTAURS (/ˈsɛntɔːr/; Greek: kένταυρος,

One of the best known centaurs is Chiron or Cheiron, a wise centaur.

Greek name: ORION (/əˈraɪən/; Ancient Greek: Ὠρίων or Ὠαρίων; Latin:

Greek name: PEGASUS (Greek: Πήγασος, Pḗgasos; Latin: Pegasus,

Greek name: SIBYL

Greek name: MUSES (Ancient Greek: Μοῦσαι, Moũsai)

Is the superior Muse. She inspired homer as he wrote The

Clio (“the Celebrator,” “The Proclaimer”)

Is the protector of history. In ancient Greece, the word for

Is the protector of lyrical and love poetry. She holds a

Euterpe (“She Who Please”)

Is the protector of song and poetry of death, love and war.

Melpomene (“She Who Sings”)

Is the protector of the tragedies. She created rhetoric

Terpsichore (“The One Delighting in the Dance”)

Is the creator and protector of dance. She also created the

The Classes of Nymph Definition

nymphs of flowers. They were probably the

The nymphs of the cooling breeze. They were

BACCHAE The Bacchic nymphs, companion of Dionysus. They

BUCOLAE Bucolic or rustic nymphs. Another name for the

The nymphs of trees and forests.

EPIMELIDES Nymphs of highland pasture, the protectresses of sheep-

Oak-tree Dryads whose life force was bound to that of a

Niads nymphs of fresh water marshes and wetlands.

Torch-bearing nymphs of the underworld.