“In the Beginning”
According to the first creation myth, the universe was created out
of Chaos or the dark and formless void.
The purpose of “In the Beginning” explains how
the universe and gods were created.
The fate of Atlas at the end of the “War in
Heaven” is he must hold the heavens on his
shoulders. The “War in Heaven” myth shows
how gods can be capable of good and also of
evil. We also learned that gods cannot be killed
in battle because they cannot die.
Cronus wounded his father with a sickle and ruled in
his father’s place. Then, he swallowed his children to
avoid the curse Uranus placed on him.
“After the Earth Appeared”
Prometheus was a good friend of humans and wanted to
give them the gift of fire but Zeus said no (because he didn’t
like Prometheus). Prometheus decided to sneak up to Mount
Olympus and steal Zeus’ fire. He than gave the gift of fire to
humans. This angered Zeus and so he tortured
Prometheus by chaining him to a mountain.
Prometheus actually did several things to make
Zeus mad. Prometheus tricked Zeus with the
meat, stole his fire, AND would not tell who
would over throw him. His sufferings “were to be without end”
because Prometheus is immortal (he can’t die!). Zeus sought more
revenge on Prometheus by sending Pandora down to earth. When
Pandora opened the jar (which she was told not to…but she did it
anyway) bad things came flying out. Over
time, humans became more and evil so Zeus
was determined to destroy the
human race with a great flood.
After the flood, only two people
survived: Deucalion and
Pyrrha (who had remained
pious when the rest of the humans had become evil).
Deucalion and Pyrrha restored the human race. Prometheus had a
brother named Epimetheus who was not very smart and needed
lots of help from his brother Prometheus. The
story of Pandora’s box explains why there was
misery and pain in the ancient Greeks lives and is
representative of Eve from the Old Testament in
“Genesis” (You know, Adam and Eve and that
apple).
“The Palace of Olympus”
Gods rarely noticed humans because they were too caught up in
their own arguments and fights. If they did notice humans, it was
to decide who would win a war or to punish
a prideful person.
The fates decided who would be the ruler of the gods. Zeus
won the coin toss and ruled from above with thunderbolts. He was
the most powerful. Zeus
was never secure
because he new there was
a prophecy (the
fates told him so) that
said his reign
would come to an end.
Gods and goddesses of
Olympus are
different from the Biblical God because they can be stupid
, jealous
, and spiteful
as humans.
“Icarus and Daedelus”
Icarus is the adventurous son of Daedelus.
Unfortunately, they are trapped on an island
(which later on in the story is named after
Icarus). Daedelus is King Minos’ architect. The two plan to escape
the island by two sets of wings that
Daedelus has fashioned. Daedelus (Dad)
warns Icarus (son) not to fly too close to
the sun. But…Icarus doesn’t listen. Icarus’ wings
which are made with wax melt and he plummets
back to earth. The moral of the story is young
children should listen to their elders.
“Narcissus”
Zeus
was known for being a ladies’
man and would often call on the nymph
Echo to distract his wife Hera while he
was out.
Hera
eventually figured out
what her husband was up to and curses Echo’s voice causing her to
repeat the last thing anyone says. (This
explains why we hear echoes) Ironically,
Echo repeats the last words of Narcissus
when he is lost in the woods. The irony
is her words are the same but with different meaning. Isn’t this
ironic?! Now, Narcissus is very conceited. So conceited, it leads
to his downfall.
Narcissus dies and in his place grown a daffodil
(ever notice how a daffodil droops mournfully?).
Both Echo and Narcissus die from a broken
heart.
“Demeter and Persephone” or “Ceres and Proserpine”
Eros, the god of love, was the root of the
problem (a.k.a. Cupid). He shot Hades
right in the heart with his arrow.
Demeter – Mom. Demeter gets very mad that
her daughter is gone (do you blame her?) and
curses the entire land. Persephone eventually
is allowed to spend some time on earth but
when Persephone is deep within the earth;
Demeter grieves and kills all the plants (we call
that time winter).
Persephone – Daughter. Goddess of Spring.
She was cheerful and bright. Queen of the
Underworld and abducted by Hades.
Persephone couldn’t return to earth forever
because she nibbles on some fruit in the
underworld (she was hungry and the
pomegranate seeds looked tasty).
Hades – God of the Underworld. After being hit
in the heart with Eros’ love arrow, Hades falls
madly in love with Persephone and abducts her.
The
weak little water nymph Cyane tries to stop Hades but is no match.
The moral of the story is to mind your own
business.