Greek Mythology
Another name for Greek is Hellenic. Uranus and Gaea were the original god and goddess of Greek mythology.
Together, they had three groups of children: the Cyclops, the Titans and the hundred-handed giants. Uranus
gave power to the Titans. Some of their children were not given power and began to disobey them. As a result,
he sent them to live in Tartarus, a great abyss. Gaea chose her youngest son, Cronus, a Titan, to lead a rebellion
against his father and gave him a flint sickle. Cronus defeated his father.
When Cronus and Rhea begin to have children, Cronus swallowed each of the newborns whole to prevent them
from overtaking his rule. When Zeus, one of their children, is born, Rhea wraps rocks in swaddling clothes to
deceive him. Cronus eats the rock and does not realize his son survived. Eventually, Zeus becomes his father’s
cupbearer. He gave Cronus a drink that made him throw up all of Zeus’s swallowed siblings. When Zeus’s
siblings are freed, they elect him leader and set up their battle camp at Mount Olympus. Zeus also freed the
cyclops from Tartarus. As a result of that, the cyclops gave gifts to him and to his two brothers. Zeus received a
lightning bolt. Poseidon received a trident and Hades received a helmet of invisibility. During the Great War
between the Titans and the Olympians, Atlas was the leader of the Titan army.
Priam and Hecuba were the King and Queen of Troy; their eldest son's name was Hector. All of them were
beloved by the Trojan people. A prophecy was made when the Queen of Troy became pregnant with her second
child. The prophecy predicted that Paris’s birth would cause the downfall of the great nation of Troy.
The King and Queen of Troy do not have the heart to kill their newborn child, so they order their chief
herdsman to take the baby away and destroy him. Their servant obeys and takes him to Mount Ida where he
abandons him to either freeze to death or starve. A bear comes and keeps the baby safe through the night.
Paris raises a prize bull and holds competitions to see if anyone else's bull can beat his favorite. He promises a
golden crown to the winner. His bull is ultimately defeated by Ares. Because Paris is not bitter, but awards the
crown to the winner of the bullfight without malice, the gods and goddesses believe him to be noble, pure and
righteous.
When a sea nymph and her mortal choice get married, all of the gods and goddesses are invited except for Eris,
the goddess of chaos and discord. Eris throws a golden apple into the middle of the banquet table, knowing it
will cause a fight amongst the women because it is inscribed with the Greek writing meaning "to the fairest."
Three goddesses emerge from the chaos of the fight over Eris's gift; they are Hera, Aphrodite and Athena. Zeus
does not want to make a decision about which one of them is the most beautiful. Since Zeus has relationships
with all three of the goddesses who emerge, he passes off the decision to Paris, a mortal. Each goddess offers
Paris, the young shepherd, a gift. They offer him: Hera offered power- he would be a great king of land and
people; Athena promised warrior skill- he would be given great battle strategy, skill and strength; and Aphrodite
offered him love- he would be given the love of the most beautiful mortal woman in the world, Helen. Helen
was said to have “the face that launched a thousand ships.” Helen was already married to Menelaus of Sparta.
This is what triggers the Trojan War. Odysseus did not want to go to war over an unfaithful woman. He was
happily married and was raising his son. In order to "dodge the draft,” he pretended to be “mad” so they
wouldn’t want him to fight