Name: Master Copy of Notes
INVESTIGATION: GREEK & ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
King Midas
& His
Golden
Touch
Eros and
Psyche
Title of the
Myth
Dionysus
WHO? What characters are involved?
WHAT? What is the main conflict and significant events in the myth?
-Dionysus/Bacchus
(God of the Vine)
-Zeus
-Semele
-Pentheus
-Bacchus/Dionysus
-Midas
-Apollo
-Cupid/Eros
-Psyche
-Aphrodite
-West Wind
Zephyr
-Dionysus is born of Zeus and Semele (she wants to see him as a god; he reveals himself and she burns to death) but Zeus is able to rescue the unborn baby by sewing him into his thigh
-Dionysus wants revenge on Pentheus because he did not believe that his mother, Semele, was pregnant with Zeus’ child so he makes him mad and lures him into the jungle where he witnesses the Maenads worshipping Dionysus and in a drunken rage they tear Pentheus to pieces.
-King Midas returns one of Bacchus’ servants to him and so Bacchus offers to grant him any wish.
-King Midas wishes for everything that he touches to turn to gold. However, he regrets this decision after he accidently turns his daughter to gold.
-In a baptismal scene, Bacchus revokes his wish due to Midas’ prayers.
-Psyche is revered as the most beautiful of all women, even more beautiful than
Venus/Aphrodite. Aphrodite, jealous, enlists
Cupid to help.
-However, Cupid falls in love with her. They only spend nights together because she cannot seem him. She peeks one night with her candle
(because her jealous sisters prompt her) and the wax drops on him, burning him. He is angry and everything vanishes.
-Psyche prays to Aphrodite for Cupid to forgive her and she makes her endure numerous trials.
She marries Cupid and they have a child
“Pleasure.”
WHERE?
Where do these events take place in the story?
Rome
Rome
Cupid’s
Magical Castle by the West
Winds of
Zephyr
WHEN? When were the myths recorded? Is this an earlier?
Later myth?
Dionysus is the last god that is accepted into the
Olympians so his stories are newer myths.
(9 C.E.)
This is a later myth because it involves Bacchus who is the last to be inducted as an
Olympian.
Recorded in the
2 nd century A.D.
WHY? What is the purpose of this myth? Why is it important?
To explain why wine was created; to warn of the dangers of alcohol. To warn of the relations between gods and mortals
To reveal the dangers of greed.
Love is blind; don’t give into peer pressure; don’t be too curious.
HOW? How is the conflict resolved? How is this story important?
The story provides an illustration of how wine can bring joy or madness.
Bacchus revokes his wish after
Midas prays to him.
She searches and endures trials for him. Cupid’s wound heals.

Name:
Perseus &
Medusa
Pygmalion
& Galatea
Master Copy of Notes
INVESTIGATION: GREEK & ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
-Perseus
-Medusa
-Polydectes
Narcissus &
Echo
-Narcissus
-Echo
-Pygmalion
-Galatea
-Venus/Aphrodite
(Goddess of Love and Beauty)
-Acrisius receives an Oracle that he will be killed by Perseus so he sends him into the sea with his mom, Danae in a wooden chest. He lands on
Polydectes Island and wants him dead so he can marry Danae. He sends him on a mission to find and bring the head of Medusa back as a wedding present.
-Perseus prayed to the gods (Hermes and Athena).
They provided him with a sword and shield that allows him to cut off Medusa’s head.
-Medusa was a beautiful woman who was raped by
Poseidon in the Temple of Athena. Angered,
Athena turned her into a Gorgon.
-It is said that it is the blood from her head that created the snakes that we have in the world today.
-Echo is a nymph with a beautiful voice and song that many (even the gods) long for. However, she tricks Hera and Hera punishes her by making her only be able to repeat others’ words.
-Echo falls in love with Narcissus but he rejects her and sees himself in the water. Paralyzed with love for himself he gazes into his reflection for eternity. A flower (the Narcissus) grows in its place.
-Pygmalion is disgusted with women because they are so sinful and he decides to abstain from women (misogynist!)
-He builds a sculpture of a beautiful woman and falls in love with her. He prays to Venus dutifully and she makes the sculpture, Galatea, real.
Island of
Polydectes,
Argos, and the
Sisters’ Island
By the Waters
(but it does not appear to be baptismal— though it leads to his transformation into a flower).
8 A.D. (Ovid)
8 A.D. (Ovid)
In his studio 8 A.D. (Ovid)
To explain how snakes are made; to demonstrate the power of prayer.
To respect and pray to the gods;
To live a moral life
The gods aid
Perseus to allow him to get the
Gorgon’s head to
To not be selfobsessed; To not trick the gods; To not boast of one’s talents
There is beautiful flower in his place and
Echo still lives on as an echo.
Pygmalion is rewarded for being such a good man that
Venus grants him his own love and creation.

Name:
The Fall of
Icarus
Master Copy of Notes
INVESTIGATION: GREEK & ROMAN MYTHOLOGY
Orpheus &
Eurydice
-Orpheus
-Eurydice
-Daedalus
-Icarus
-King Minos
-Perdix
-Orpheus is an amazing musician that falls in love with Eurydice. As soon as they are married,
Eurydice is bit by a viper and dies.
-Orpheus goes ‘to the end of the world’ (aka the
Underworld) to rescue her. She can be saved as long as he does not look back to see if she is following him. He resists the urge until he walks out and looks back but she is still partially in the
Underworld.
-He must witness for a second time the death and loss of his beloved wife.
-He sings songs of his tragedies that inspire many of the myths we know today.
-Daedalus constructs a labyrinth for King Minos to imprison the Minotaur, but the King also imprisons Daedalus (the skilled craftsman) to protect the secrets of the labyrinth.
-Daedalus plots an escape with his son Icarus by making wings of out of wax. He warns his son to not fly too low to the water for it will wash off his wings or too close to the sun for it will melt.
-When Icarus escapes he becomes so happy and excited that he flies too close to the sun and his wings melt and he falls into the sea and drowns while his father Daedalus watches.
-Also Daedalus is jealous of his nephew, Perdix’s accomplishments so he pushes him off of a cliff but Athena transforms Perdix into a partridge to save him.
In and out of the
Underworld
Crete
8 A.D. (Ovid)
8 A.D. (Ovid)
To trust that your loved ones are with you; To do everything you can to be with the ones you love; To go on even through tragedy.
Orpheus finds some solace in his music.
Don’t fly too close to the sun.
Do not be consumed with self-achievement and ambition. Do not become too arrogant.
Athena gives
Daedalus wings to escape because of his tragic loss of his son Icarus.