GREEK MYTHOLOGY
AND
LITERATURE
MYTHS WERE:
Educational
They
taught the Greeks
about the ways of the gods.
Entertainment
They
explained events and
occurrences
MYTHS WERE CREATED TO:
 Explain
natural or historical events
 Explain how the world worked
 Storms
 Earthquakes
 Battles
 Illness
 Seasons
 Volcanoes
MOST IMPORTANT
 Zeus

– Roman name Jupiter
The supreme god of the Olympians
 Hera

– Roman name Juno
Wife of Zeus, queen of Olympians
 Aphrodite


GREEK GODS WERE:
– Roman name Venus
The goddess of love, beauty and
fertility
The protector of sailors
 Ares
– Roman name Mars
The god of war, or more precisely of
warlike frenzy.
 Hephaestus – Roman name Vulcan
 The god of fire and crafts (The two
together relate to blacksmiths.)

 Artemis
– Roman name Diana
The goddess of the hunt
She helped women in childbirth, but
also brought sudden death with her

arrows.
 Dionysus
– Roman name Bachus
 The god of wine
 Hermes – Roman name Mercury
 Messenger to the gods
 Guided souls to the underworld
 Winged sandals
 Poseidon
 The
– Roman name Neptune
god of the sea and carried a
trident
 Hades
– Roman name Pluto
 The god of the underworld
 Demeter – Roman name Ceres
 Goddess of planting and harvest
 Bundle of wheat is her symbol
 Athena – Roman name Minerva
 Goddess of warfare and wisdom
 Owl and olive branch is her peace
symbol
 Apollo – Roman name Apollo
 He ruled the sun, truth and light
 Hestia



– Roman name Vesta
Goddess of the hearth and home,
hospitality
Symbol is fire and circle
Greeks built temples to keep the
gods happy
ORACLES – SPOKE FOR THE
GODS AND OFFERED ADVICE
The
oracle at Delphi, a city in
central Greece, was so
respected that leaders went
to her for advice about how to
rule
HEROES WERE OFTEN
FEATURED IN MYTHS.
 Heroes
had special abilities and
faced monsters
 Theseus traveled to Crete and
killed the Minotaur and escaped
the labyrinth
 Jason sailed across the seas in
search of the Golden Fleece
 Hercules fought many monsters
and performed 12 impossible tasks