THE CREATION

In the beginning there was an empty darkness. The only thing in this void was Nyx, a bird with black
wings. With the wind she laid a golden egg and for ages she sat upon this egg. Finally, life began to stir in the
egg and out of it rose Eros, the god of love. One half of the shell rose into the air and became the sky and the
other became the Earth. Eros named the sky Uranus and the Earth he named Gaia. Then Eros made them fall
in love.

Uranus and Gaia had many children together and eventually they had grandchildren. Some of their
children become afraid of the power of their children. Kron

us, in an effort to protect himself, swallowed his children when they were still infants. However, his wife
Rhea hid their youngest child. She gave him a rock wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed,
thinking it was his son.

Once the child, Zeus, had reached manhood his mother instructed him on how to trick his father to give
up his brothers and sisters. Once this was accomplished the children fought a mighty war against their father.
After much fighting the younger generation won. With Zeus as their leader, they began to furnish Gaia with life
and Uranus with stars.

Soon the Earth lacked only two things: man and animals. Zeus summoned his sons Prometheus (fore-
thought) and Epimetheus (after-thought). He told them to go to Earth and create men and animals and give
them each a gift.

Prometheus set to work forming men in the image of the gods and Epimetheus worked on the animals.
As Epimetheus worked he gave each animal he created one of the gifts. After Epimetheus had completed his
work Prometheus finally finished making men. However, when he went to see what gift to give man
Epimetheus shamefacedly informed him that he had foolishly used all the gifts.

Distressed, Prometheus decided he had to give man fire, even though gods were the only ones meant
to have access to it. As the sun god rode out into the world the next morning Prometheus took some of the fire
and brought it back to man. He taught his creation how to take care of it and then left them.

When Zeus discovered Prometheus' deed he became furious. He ordered his son to be chained to a
mountain and for a vulture to peck out his liver every day till eternity. Then he began to devise a punishment
for mankind. Another of his sons created a woman of great beauty, Pandora. Each of the gods gave her a gift.
Zeus' present was curiosity and a box which he ordered her never to open. Then he presented her to
Epimetheus as a wife.

Pandora's life with Epimetheus was happy except for her intense longing to open the box. She was
convinced that because the gods and goddesses had showered so many glorious gifts upon her that this one
would also be wonderful. One day when Epimetheus was gone she opened the box.

Out of the box flew all of the horrors which plague the world today - pain, sickness, envy, greed. Upon
hearing Pandora's screams Epimetheus rushed home and fastened the lid shut, but all of the evils had already
escaped.

Later that night they heard a voice coming from the box saying,

"Let me out. I am hope."

Pandora and Epimetheus released her and she flew out into the world to give hope to humankind.
 THE OLYMPIANS

Greek mythology was used as a means to explain the environment in which humankind lived, the
natural phenomena they witnessed and the passing of time through the days, months, and
seasons. Greek myths were also intricately connected to religion and explained the origin and lives of the
gods, where humanity had come from and where it was going after death.

Greek myths gave faces and characters to the gods of the Greek religion but they also gave people helpful
practical advice on the best way to lead a happy life. Another purpose of myths was to re-tell historical events
so that people could maintain contact with their ancestors, the wars they fought, and the places they explored.

With the assistance of Hades and Poseidon, Zeus overthrew his father, Cronus, king of the Titans, and
became the chief deity in a new pantheon comprising mostly his siblings and children. In addition to controlling
the weather, Zeus was noted for his chronic infidelity to his sister-wife, Hera. Among the results of his
weakness for comely mortal women was Helen of Troy. His Roman equivalent was Jupiter.
Poseidon is best known as the Greek sea god, but he was also the god of horses and of earthquakes. (Thus,
many of his temples were inland.) And he had some seriously strange children. Though humanoid, he fathered
both the winged horse Pegasus (by Medusa, no less) and the Cyclops Polyphemus, who is blinded by
Odysseus and his crew in the Odyssey. His Roman equivalent was Neptune.
Like many gods in the Greek pantheon, Hermes presided over multiple spheres. He was a pastoral figure,
responsible for protecting livestock, and was also associated with fertility, music, luck, and deception. In
the Odyssey, he is depicted as a messenger god. His Roman equivalent was Mercury.
The queen goddess of Olympus, Hera was both sister and wife to Zeus. Though she is often depicted as
reserved and austere, she was mercilessly vindictive when it came to her husband’s [many] extramarital
adventures. Unfortunately for the objects of Zeus’s godly affections, Hera tended to torment the "other women"
(and their offspring, including Heracles) rather than Zeus himself. Her Roman equivalent was Juno.
Hades ruled the world of the dead, with which he was sometimes synonymous. The chilly lord of the
underworld was among the few Greek gods to come across as dispassionate. He was not the ultimate judge of
the souls that wandered his domain nor did he mete out their punishments for sins committed during their
mortal lives. He was, however, cunning; he tricked Persephone into eating enchanted pomegranate seeds so
that she would have to remain with him for a portion of the year.
Dionysus was a son of Zeus born to a mortal mother. When Zeus accidentally killed her, he sewed the young
Dionysus into his thigh and, when the young god emerged, passed him to the care of the maenads. The cult of
Dionysus revolved around intoxication, sex, and savage ritual sacrifice. He was often symbolized by a bull due
to his association with the sacrificial animal. Elements of his character are seen in the Roman god of wine,
Bacchus.
Demeter, an agricultural goddess, was mother to Persephone, who was abducted by the underworld god
Hades to be his bride. While searching for her stolen daughter, she accepted the hospitality of the royal family
of Eleusis. The Eleusinian Mysteries, perhaps the most important religious rites in ancient Greece, are
attributed to her teachings. Her Roman equivalent was Ceres.
The twin brother of Artemis, Apollo was among the most important (read: feared) of the gods. Son of Zeus, he
disseminated the will of his divine compatriots through various means, notably oracles. The Oracle at Delphi
was his mouthpiece; a 2001 study determined that the oracle was likely hallucinating due to ethylene gas rising
from the rocks beneath the temple.
Ares was the god of bloodlust. (His half-sister Athena represented the more "noble" aspects of combat and
civil conduct during war.) Though his fellow deities weren’t particularly fond of him, the Spartans had no
problems, er, donating some prisoners of war to his worship. And sacrificing dogs…yeah, that’s right, Ares
liked dead puppies. Jerk. His Roman equivalent was Mars.
Artemis was the fleet-footed goddess of the hunt. Often depicted in painting and sculpture with a deer or a
hunting dog, she was both huntress and protectress of the living world. Her Roman equivalent was Diana.
Athena was the goddess of reason, wisdom, and war. She famously sprung fully formed from the forehead of
Zeus. A major figure in the Odyssey, in which she instructed Odysseus, she also guided Perseus and Heracles
through their trials. The Parthenon was her chief temple in Athens, which is named in her honor. Her Roman
equivalent was Minerva.
Aphrodite was the goddess of love, sex, and beauty. Unsurprisingly for a love goddess, she was said to have
emerged from the foam generated when the severed testicles of her father, Uranus, were thrown into the sea
by his son, the Titan Cronus. (Or is that surprising?) Kind of makes Botticelli’s surreally lovely Birth of Venus—
which depicts Aphrodite’s Roman counterpart emerging from the waves—a little more visceral, doesn’t it?