]LEARNER GROUP 1

The Creation
In the beginning, there was neither light nor dark, place nor thing, up nor down. There was
nothing. This nothingness was called Chaos; in short, simply the lack of either things or order. Even in
Chaos, however, lay the possibilities of order and these possibilities were like seeds from which, in time,
all things grew.

The first thing to grow out of Chaos was Night, spreading its wings of darkness like giant bird.
Next to emerge was Erebus, the bottomless place were Deaths lives. Then Night laid a silver egg, out of
which hatched Eros, or Love. The beginning of Love was also the beginning of light, life, and joy.

Mother Earth, or Gaia, and Father Heaven, called Uranus, then came into this universe of light
and dark, and life and death. Rain fell from Heaven and lakes, and oceans, and rivers were made, and
green plants began to spring out of Earth.

Uranus and Gaia had a quite number of children. The first three offspring were ugly monsters; each had
fifty heads and a hundred hands. Uranus was so disappointed with them that he immediately shut them
up inside the earth. The Cyclopes were the next three children of Gaia and Uranus. Each Cyclopes had
one enormous, glassy eye in the middle of his forehead. Although they were cleverer than the three
monsters and were even skilled at making weapons from metal, Uranus shut them away, He thought
they were ugly and perhaps even dangerous.

The Titans, six sons and six daughters, were the last of Uranus and Gaia's children. Compared
with their ferocious older brothers, they were rather good-looking and well-behave.

Because Gaia was upset about the fate of the monsters and the Cyclopes, and feared the same
treatment for the Titans, she called them together. Gaia warned them that the same thing might happen
to them if they didn't do something about Uranus first.

But, big and strong as they were, the Titans were afraid of their father. Each one said he couldn't
possibly think of anything to do; and each suggested that one of the other Titans find a solution. Finally,
Cronus, the youngest Titan, came up with a secret plan. Although it was not a clever plan, it took his
father by surprise. Uranus was so used to running things his own way that he simply did not expect any
opposition.

This is what happened: Cronus got a sharp sickle from the mother and attacked Uranus with it, badly
wounding him. Uranus was in too much pain to fight back, so all he could do was flee. But as he fled
upwards, as high as he could go, he shouted down to Cronus, "You’ll get the same treatment from one
of your children one day. Beware!"

And since the exile of Uranus, the sky has come near the earth. Some of the blood of Uranus fell
to earth, though, and turned into Giants and the Erinyes, or Furies. These terrible creatures had live
snakes for hair, and they chase wrong-doers abound until they were punished.

Although Gaia expected sympathy and cooperation from Cronus, she was greatly disappointed. Instead
of freeing his older brothers, Cronus quickly took his father's place as a ruler of the world and made his
Titan brothers his generals. To Oceanus, he gave the rule of the River-Ocean that circled around the

The Creation Story According to the Greek

world. He gave control of all light in the world to his brother Hyperion. The children of Hyperion, the
Sun, the Moon, and the Dawn, rode across the sky in their chariots once each day.
Although Gaia was angry at her highlander son Cronus, she had no say in the matter for the time
being. And the Titans were known as the Elder Gods.

LEARNER GROUP 2
The Golden Age
The Golden Age was a time of perfect peace and happiness. Every day was like spring; flowers
bloom the year round. The men of the Golden Age, the subjects of Cronus, were greatly loved by their
gods. They lived very much like gods, without cares or labor. The earth provided them with all the food
needed acorns: wild fruit, and honey that dripped from trees. They were rich in flocks and drank the
milk of sheep and goats. They knew no pain, no worry, and no wars. They never quarreled. Indeed, they.
were always happy, and their time were spent in singing and dancing. There were no mortal
descendants of his golden race, for there were no women, they were such a good race that, at their
passing, their pure spirits remained on earth as the guardians of mankind.

The War in Heaven – Part 1

Cronus never forgot his father's warning that he, too, would be overthrown by one of his own
children someday. To prevent this, he swallowed his five children as soon as they were born. Hestia,
Demeter, and Hera, his daughters, and his sons; Hades and Poseidon, had all been swallowed by the
time the sixth child was on its way.

His wife, Rhea, was very upset by this. She went to her mother, Gaia, and asked how
she could put a stop to this unfatherly behavior. Gaia, having had a similar problem with her husband
Uranus, was more than happy to advise her. She told Rhea to go to the island of Crete and to hide her
newborn child in a secret cave on Mount Ida, a mountain there. She was to give Cronus a stone,
wrapped in blankets, instead of the baby. Gaia said that Cronus would never know the difference.

Rhea did as Gaia had told her, and Cronus swallowed the bundle-stone, blankets and all. He
never even looked up what he was doing.

The child was a son, Zeus, who grew up on Crete, well cared for by nymphs and shepherds. He
could not travel to the palace, however, without endangering his life. Finally, one day Rhea sent the
messenger Metis to visit Zeus and to show him how to brew a strong poison from herbs. The messenger
told Zeus to go to Cronus's palace and hide there until he could get a chance to put the poison into
Cronus's wine cup. Zeus did this, and one night, while he was hiding under the supper table, he got his
chance. Cronus had eaten a big meal and was sitting, drowsing, over his wine. Zeus slipped the poison
into the cup.

LEARNER GROUP 3
The War in Heaven – Part 2

As soon as Cronus had drunk the poisoned wine, an amazing thing happened. He got so sick that
up came his first five children as well as the big stone wrapped in blankets.

The Creation Story According to the Greek

 Cronus had a strong stomach, though, and the poison only made him sick for a while. Although
Zeus and his brothers, Hades and Poseidon tied their father to his chair, he was soon shouting for his
brother Titans. And thus began a battle that lasted for years. The Elder Gods were led by the Titan Atlas,
and the younger gods were led by Zeus. First the Titans chased the younger gods up Mount Olympus,
and it looked as if the Elder Gods were winning. But Zeus went to see his grandmother, Gaia, since it had
been her advice that had brought things to pass anyway.

Gaia was old, and she was getting impatient and more than a little irritated with the quarrels of
her family. Besides she was still upset that her husband Uranus had shut their first children in the earth.
So she said to Zeus, "You had freed your mother's firstborn children. but until you free mine, you will not
be victorious."

Zeus did not understand Gaia's words, for he knew little of his family story. So he shrugged his
shoulders and went back to the battle.

The battle between the titans and the younger gods might have raged even longer had it not
been for Prometheus. a son of Iapetus, one of the Titans. Prometheus could see into the future. and he
knew that the reign of Cronus and the Titans was ending. He thought that it would be best to settle
things with the least possible damage to everyone concerned, so he asked the other titans to make a
truce. They shouted him down. "Not a chance!" they said.

Prometheus then went to Zeus and told him all about the monstrous children of Gaia and
Uranus. He said to Zeus, “If you released them, they will fight on your side." Zeus went out to the
underworld and freed the hundred-handed monsters and the Cyclopes. The monsters fought against the
Titans with all their strength, and the Cyclopes made armor and weapons for Zeus and his brother. They
made a helmet for Hades which made him invisible, three-pronged spear for Poseidon and thunderbolts
for Zeus.

The younger gods now quickly won the war. Some of the titans were flung into the underworld,
some escaped and disappeared forever, and Atlas was made to stand at the western edge of the world,
holding up the heavens" Only Prometheus and one or two of the titan women were saved. Perhaps
Prometheus was saved because of the help he had given to Zeus and the younger gods.

LEARNER GROUP 4
The Reign of Zeus – Part 1
After the war was over, Zeus said that he would be the head of gods and men because he had
done the Most to overthrow the Titans and lead the younger gods to victory. But he divided the rule of
the kingdom with Poseidon and Hades. Zeus ruled heavens, Poseidon controlled the ocean, and Hades
took charge of the world of the dead, or underworld. All the gods and goddesses and their children
settled themselves on Mount Olympus, their new home.

Zeus kept an eye on everything, everywhere. Poseidon looked after the sea and enjoyed riding
over waves in his golden chariot. When he was in bad mood, which was often enough, he stirred up
storms with his trident, a three-pronged spear, wrecking ships and drowning sailors. When he was
bored, he would go to Mount Olympus and sit around playing games and gossiping with the other gods.

The Creation Story According to the Greek

After Hades became god of the underworld, he rarely left home, and became a very gloomy fellow. He
spent most of his time making lists of his wealth and sorting the dead into their proper groups.

There were twelve important gods and goddesses, and they were all so different that they rarely
all agreed on anything. Fortunately, each one had his or her own special duties, and each was an expert
on something, so they managed to get along and even expended on each other for some things.

Zeus married his sister Hera, who then became queen of the gods. She was also the goddess of
marriage, but she spent much of her time nagging Zeus or spying on him, for as he was vain and jealous.
It is no wonder that Zeus spent a great deal of time away from home, changing himself into a bull, an
eagle, a cloud, or whatever fancy struck him, so that Hera could not find him.

Athena, goddess of war and wisdom, was the offspring of Zeus. She sprang forth from his head
and completely armed. And she was his favorite child.

Zeus tossed Hephaestus out of Olympus because of a quarrel, and he fell for nine days and
nights before he finally landed on the Greek island of Lemnos, The fall made him lame in one foot, but
he hobbled about on Lemnos, doing the best he could. He was very good at forging things out of metal,
and when Zeus saw him what a skilled artisan he was, he brought him back to Olympus where he could
be useful, although, he was both lame and homely.

Aphrodite, the goddess of love, came out on the foam of the sea. She just appeared in the
seashell one day, floating off the coast of Cythera. The most beautiful of the goddesses, Aphrodite had
an embroidered girdle, or sash, which could cause anyone to fall in love with her when she wore it. But
Zeus, grateful to Hephaestus for a service he had done, married Aphrodite to this most homely of the
gods.

Aphrodite, however, spent a lot of time flirting with Ares. Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, was the god of
war. He was often drunk, always quarrelsome, and not very well thought of by the other gods and
goddesses. But Aphrodite found him more interesting than her plain, hardworking husband.

LEARNER GROUP 5
The Reign of Zeus – Part 2

Phoebus Apollo and Artemis were the twins of Zeus and Leto, a Titan woman. They were both
skilled in archery and carried bows and arrows - golden for Apollo and silver for Artemis. They were also
good at healing almost any illness. In many ways, though, they were opposites of one another. Artemis
was the goddess of moon and of hunting, and she was also the guardian of children and young animals.
She had no desire to get married, for she preferred hunting and running through the woods to doing
household matters. The most handsome of the gods, Apollo was the sun of darkness or trickery, so he
was also the god of truth, prophecy, and music.

Hermes was the son of Zeus and Atlas' daughter, Maia. When he was only a few hours old he
stole some cattle from Apollo and used pieces of their hide stretched across a tortoise shell to make a
kind of harp. He called his musical instrument a lyre. Apollo was enraged at the theft of his cattle, but
Hermes shrewdly offered to give Apollo the lyre in exchange for the cattle he had stolen. Since the lyre
was just Apollo needed for his music and prophecy making, he promised to forgive Hermes, on condition

The Creation Story According to the Greek

that Zeus would find him something more useful to do than steal property. Zeus immediately saw where
Hermes's talent lay and made him god of merchants and trade. He gave Hermes winged sandals and
winged cap, with which he could travel more quickly than anyone else. and Hermes became the
messenger of gods. He was seen at all the important battles, delivering messages, and he raced back and
forth when there were arguments. He seemed to be very pleased at once.

Hestia, Zeus's sister, was the goddess of home and family. She never quarreled but set a good
example for the others by being quiet, modest, and kind. This most peaceful of the twelve Olympian
gods and goddesses spent most of her time at home. Fires in her honor were kept burning on the all
hearths in the world.

In addition to the twelve gods and goddesses of heaven, there were three important earth gods-
Demeter, Dionysus, and Pan. Demeter, Zeus's sister, was goddess of harvest, Dionysus was the god of
Wine, and Pan was god of the shepherds. All three were important in the daily affairs of man.

At one time Demeter looked after the earth and kept it fruitful all year long. She later changed
her policy. Hades decided one day that he needed a wife to sit by him and help him with all the business
in the underworld. Since he did not want to waste any time in selecting a wife, he rode up the surface of
the earth one day and saw Persephone, Demeter's daughter. She was very beautiful, so he snatched her
and carried her home to the underworld with him. Demeter was so unhappy at the loss of her daughter
that she refused to tend her garden. All the Rowers and other plants died, and the leaves fell off the
trees. Persephone was unhappy in the underworld, too, and she refused to eat anything in Hades'
kingdom, except for six pomegranate seeds. Hades saw how miserable she was and .finally allowed her
to visit her mother on earth for six months of each year, but because of the six seeds she had eaten, she
had to return to live with him in the underworld for the other six months. This was the beginning of the
seasons, for Demeter would make the plants grow only during the time that Persephone lived with her.

Zeus was Dionysus's father, but his mother was a mortal woman. Semele. Perhaps because he
was the only important god to be half mortal, Dionysus died each year. After the grapes had been
harvested and the wine made, Dionysus was torn to pieces by his own drunken followers. But each
spring he was reborn. Dionysus sometimes locked like a carefree, laughing youth but at other times he
appeared to be an evil old drunkard was able to look li.ke both, for he was not only the god of joy, but
also the god of madness.

Pan was a solitary god. Sometimes, he was not seen by the shepherds whom he protected, and
they could only hear the music of his reed pipe. He had invented the pipe himself and it could sound
both sad and gay, lonely and sweet. Pan often admired the girls he saw as he wandered through the
woods and fields. But he was half man and half goat, and the girls ran from Pan because he was so ugly.

EXPERT GROUP 6
Prometheus Creates Man 
The quarrelsome men of the Silver Age had all been drowned in the great flood. But now that
the war between the Titans and the Olympians was over, the time was right for a new race of men to be
created. Since the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses were busy ruling, playing, and quarreling among
themselves, the gods assigned this task to Prometheus and Epimetheus, the sons of the Titan, Iapetus.

The Creation Story According to the Greek

 Prometheus had sided with the Olympians in their battle with the titans, perhaps because he
could see in the future and knew that they would win. His name means "fore- thought". Epimetheus was
nothing like his brother. His name meant the ‘afterthought’ and he was always changing his minds about
things.

Epimetheus was scatter-brained and impulsive. He wanted to do well at his share his name, he
did not see the mistakes he was of the task of creating man, but, true to his name, he did not see the
mistakes he was making until he had already made them. First, he made the birds, then the fish, and
then the animals. He fashioned each creature as carefully as if it were the only one. He gave the gift of
some fine quality which would set it apart from all the rest. He gave cunning to the fox, swiftness to the
antelope, wings to the eagle, a hard shell to the turtle, and so on. When he had finished all the
creatures, he turned to the task he had made till the very end, that of making man. He first thought of
giving man a warm furry hide, but he had already given that to the bear. Then he thought of giving man
fierce claws, but they had been given them to the tiger. Sharp horns, a leathery skin, eyes that can see in
the dark - Epimetheus tries desperately to remember whom he had thought to make the best of his
creations, but there was nothing left to give. He realized his mistake and begged Prometheus to help
him.
"Prometheus," he cried, "What can I do?"

"It's too bad you didn't think about this when you began," said Prometheus. "But if man is going
to be soft, naked and slow, the least I can do is see that he is not stupid.” So saying, Prometheus took a
bit of clay and shaped it into a small likeness of noble gods. He stood man upright, so that he always
looked up to the heavens. Then he breathed life into clay and gave man a superior mind with which he
could reason, plan, remember, and dream. In this way, Prometheus set man above all other creatures.

Prometheus Brings Fire to Man

The great flood that ended the Silver Age not only destroyed the men of that time, it also shook
lose all the ice and snow which had been struck up in the northern part of the world. The climate of the
earth was no longer mild, and the new men Prometheus had made suffered greatly from the cold. They
spent a lot of time complaining about the bad weather and said that is was cruel joke for someone to
create them just to live such miserable lives. 

"These men are more disagreeable than others," said Zeus. 

When Prometheus heard this, he knew that Zeus would soon decide to drown these men, too,
unless something was done. The best thing Prometheus could think of to make men's lives better was
the gift of fire. With fire, man can warm himself, cook his food, and forge metal for tools and weapons.
He could make lights at night, so that the world would not seem such a dark, dreary place. Prometheus
also knew that Zeus would never agree to this, so he made his plans secretly.

He gave a last look at Olympus, for he knew he could never ever return, and he told Athena
good-bye. She had been his best friend there. Without another backward glance, Prometheus set out for
the fiery home of the sun. He broke from the sun a fragment of glowing coal and, hiding it in the hollow
of a giant fennel stalk, he carried it down to earth. There he lit a central fire and showed men how to
make it for themselves by rubbing sticks together.

Sitting around their evening fires, eating roast ox or lamb, men said to each other that they
didn’t know they had survived before, without this fine thing, fire.

The Creation Story According to the Greek

The Punishment of Prometheus
When Zeus heard that Prometheus had give fire to man, he was terribly angry. He didn't really
care whether man had fire or not, but the fact that Prometheus aided man without permission made
him furious. Zeus decided to make an example of Prometheus.

He ordered Prometheus to be seized and chained to the face of a great cliff in the Caucasian
Mountains. A giant vulture was sent to eat at Prometheus's liver all day long. Each day his liver grew
back, and there was no end to his suffering.

Hermes told Prometheus that Zeus saw no reason to continue the punishment if Prometheus
would make a reasonable agreement. Since Prometheus could see into the future, he would be able to
tell Zeus the identity of the mother of the child destined to overthrow him, just as he had overthrown
his father and Cronus had overthrown Uranus before him. For that information. Zeus would free
Prometheus.

Prometheus answered that he had already done more favors for Zeus than Zeus had ever done
for him, and that he would not submit to a blackmail. "I am in the right," said Prometheus. "And I would
rather suffer than give in to an unreasonable tyrant. This answer made Zeus wild with anger, but he
could do nothing more than rave.

EXPERT GROUP 7
Pandora's Box
Of course, Zeus was unreasonably angry, but he didn't care. He was powerful and he didn't want
anyone to doubt it. From Prometheus, Zeus turned his anger upon mankind. Men were far too
comfortable so far as he was concerned.

Zeus thought of a clever plot to punish them for their disobedience, and he chuckled at his own
cleverness. He would send a creation of his own to live among Prometheus's men. Zeus ordered
Hephaestus to design a beautiful creature, a woman.

"She is lovely" said all the gods and goddesses when they saw her. "Let us help". Hestia gave the
woman gentleness, Hermes made her light-footed, Aphrodite made her lovable, Apollo gave her a
musical nature, and so on. They named her Pandora, or "all-gifted".

In Epimetheus's house there was a box left from the time when he and Prometheus had created
the first creatures. They had used all the good things, but the he stored in this box. When Prometheus
was taken away, his parting words to Epimetheus were, "Guard the box with your life."

Epimetheus said, "Oh, I will." But he forgot all abo ut it, leaving the box to stand, gathering dust
in an unused attic.

When Epimetheus was at home, Pandora made him happy by singing sweet songs, arranging the
cushions in his chair to make him comfortable, and bringing him good tidbits in golden platters. But as
soon as Epimetheus left the house, Pandora was off poking into cupboards, reading old letters, and in

The Creation Story According to the Greek

general prying into things, instead of tending to her household work. Like all the women after her,
Pandora had great curiosity.

One day when Epimetheus was gone, Pandora found the box. It was tied around and round with
ropes and padlocked shut with a thin chain. Pandora ran and got the knife from the kitchen. One by one
she cut through the ropes on the box and let them fall. Then she took Epimetheus's ring of keys from the
closet. He made many keys, and she tried nearly before one turned in the lock. With a loud clatter, the
chain fell to the floor. Now, only the latch remained, which she could easily move.

For a long time, Pandora just sat there, looking at the dusty box. She had a strong feeling she
should leave it alone. But what might it contain? A present for her? Jewels? Or perhaps something
Epimetheus was ashamed of?

She lifted the lid as a crack, thinking to take a quick peek and shut it again. Instantly all sort of
evil things rushed out and flew into the world: old age, sickness, envy, revenge, worn, pain, greed, hate,
and everything else bad that you can think of. These things had been loose in the world ever since, and
man has never been completely happy.

But Prometheus had foreseen the day when someone might unloose those evils, and he had put into the
box one good thing - hope, which even today helps man to bear the sorrows of his  life.

--ENGLISH 10

The Creation Story According to the Greek