Greek and Roman Mythology
English I
Class notes
What is a myth?
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The word “myth” comes
from the Greek word
mythos meaning
“story” or “legend.”
Definition of myth
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A myth is a sacred story that typically
revolves around the activities of a
supernatural being, such as a god,
demigod, goddess, or such entity.
Purpose of a myth
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It will seek to explain at least some
aspect of the origin of things.
– Example: The Greek myth of
Prometheus, a human being who
stole the secret of fire from the
gods and was punished with
everlasting torment, purported to
explain the origin of mankind's use
of fire.
Who wrote them?
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A myth has no attributable author and
would typically have come into
existence through oral tradition.
What is Greek Mythology?
Greek Mythology is a collection of
myths that Greeks used to explain their
world.
 Although we now view these stories as
fiction, the Greeks believed them to be
true.
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The Greeks & Their Beliefs
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The Greeks had many gods.
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The Olympian gods resembled the Greeks’
need to be grandiose.
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Because the Olympian gods mirrored the
Greeks, they were heavily flawed.
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Because the Greeks focused on being
grandiose, the Olympian gods were mostly
portrayed as physically strong, beautiful and
intelligent.
The World according to the Greeks
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Both good and evil comes from the gods.
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Heroes and monsters came from the gods.
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This idea has influenced all religions that
came after.
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Many of the conflicts that are portrayed in
the myths are between family members.
In the beginning...
Chaos
– In the beginning there was
no earth, sky or sea. There
was only confusion and
darkness, called Chaos.
 Chaos had two children:
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– Night (darkness)
– Erebus (death)
And then...
Mysteriously, Love was born of darkness
and death.
 Love created Light and Day.
 Earth was created

– Chaos gave birth to Mother Earth. She eventually
gave birth to a son, Uranus, also known as Father
Heaven. Mother Earth and Father Heaven had
many children.
The First Parents
Gaea (Mother Earth)
 Uranus (Father Heaven)
 They had three kinds of children:

– The monsters
– The Cyclopes
– The Titans
The Monsters
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First, they had three
monstrous sons.
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Each had fifty heads and
one hundred hands.
The Cyclops
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They had three more sons
- the Cyclops.
They were just as big and
just as ugly.
They had one eye in the
middle of their foreheads.
They were as strong as
Earthquakes and
Tornadoes combined.
The Titans
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The first gods
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Enormous size, incredible strength
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Six sons and six daughters
– Brothers: Oceanus, Coeus, Crius,
Hyperion, Iapetus, and Cronus
– Sisters: Thea, Rhea, Themis,
Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Tethys.
Birth of the Olympians
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Among their children was the
greatest Titan, Cronus.
Cronus gained power from his
father, Uranus, by castrating him.
Then, Cronus became ruler over
heaven and Earth and married his
sister, Rhea.
From their union came the
Olympian gods.
Zeus is born
Power changed Cronus and made him
evil. He was so afraid that one of
his sons was going to do to him
what he did to his father that he
swallowed all of his children
immediately after their birth. Rhea
secretly gave birth to her sixth
child, Zeus, and gave him to Mother
Earth.
Rhea’s Plan

When Cronus asked to see
the sixth child, Rhea
handed him a rock
wrapped in a blanket.
Just like her previous
children, Cronus
swallowed the rock
without hesitation, just as
she had planned.
Zeus’ Promise

Zeus was safely being raised by
Nymphs and shepherds. Eventually
Zeus grew up and Rhea, his mother,
told him about what Cronus did to his
siblings. Zeus made a promise to his
mother that he would make Cronus pay
for what he did
Zeus’ Revenge

When Zeus returned to his
mother, she disguised him as a
servant and concocted a poisonous
potion for him to put into Cronus’
drink. The concoction caused Cronus
to vomit up each of his five children,
one by one. Once everyone was
freed, the six children decided to
battle against Cronus.
After the battle was over…

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The war lasted ten years. Finally, when it
ended, Zeus and his siblings were victorious.
Now that the battle was over, the three
brothers had to decide who was going to rule
the universe. It was decided that Hades
would rule the underworld, Poseidon would
rule the sea and Zeus would rule the heaven
and become ruler of all the gods of Mt.
Olympus.
The Principal Gods

Cronos and Rhea were parents of
– Zeus
– Poseidon
– Hades
– Hera
– Hestia
– Demeter
Zeus
Poseidon
Hades
Hera
Hestia
Demeter
Your Research Project

You will research one of the Greek gods
or goddesses and create a PowerPoint
presentation to present orally to the
class.
Research and Outline
You will choose or be assigned a god
or goddess from mythology to
research
 You will have three days to gather
information and create your
presentation

Create a PowerPoint Presentation
Begin by typing your information into
the PowerPoint document.
 Once you have your information in, you
may add pictures, animation, etc.

Presentation Requirements:

Your Power Point Presentation should include at least
six (6) slides with the following information:
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Your Name
Name of god/goddess
A picture of god/goddess
Roman Name
Nickname
Job of the god/goddess
Symbol or emblem of god/goddess
Weapon of the god/goddess
Family Genealogy (parents, wife/husband, lovers, children, etc.)
Other interesting facts
Bibliography (Sources)
Evaluation

The teacher will use a rubric to critique
each presentation.

Students will use the information from
all reports to successfully pass a test on
Mythology.
Storing Your Information
– Each student should have a
personal flash drive on which to
save his/her document.
– If you do not have a flash drive,
you will need to save your
presentation to google docs.
– It is your responsibility to have
your presentation saved and ready
to present on the day it is due!!!
Final word
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If you have a computer, PowerPoint and Internet at
home, you may work on this project at home;
however, for those students who don't have these
advantages, we will spend adequate time in class to
complete the project if you work diligently.
If you would like to work on it outside of the
classroom or find you need more time to complete
any section that involves a computer, you can use
the computers in the library before school, after
school, or during lunch; I will be happy to write you
a pass.
Gods/Goddesses
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Zeus
Hera
Poseidon
Hades
Hestia
Demeter
Athena
Apollo
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Artemis
Aphrodite
Hermes
Ares
Hephaestus
Dionysus
The Erinyes
The Gorgons
Athena
Apollo
Artemis
Aphrodite
Hermes
Ares
Hephaestus
Dionysus
The Erinnyes (The Furies)
The Gorgons