In the
Beginning…
In the beginning, all was nothingness. Some say the nothingness was noisy chaos,
and others suggest that all was silent. Although no one could say how or when, the
nothingness became light, and day was followed by night. Then came love. With love,
Mother Earth (Gaea) and Father Heaven (Uranus) came into being. Because of their
love, they had many children. They had two kinds of children: Titan children and
monster children. The Titan children were enormous, strong, and beautiful. The
monster children were ugly and frightening.
Uranus disliked his monster children and locked them underground in the darkest
part of the earth. However, Gaea was heartbroken and asked her youngest son,
Cronus, who was one of the Titans, to rescue them. He agreed. To thank him for his
help, Mother Earth gave her son Cronus and his sister Rhea, who was also a Titan, rule
of heaven and earth.
Cronus and Rhea married each other and had six children. Each time Rhea
presented Cronus with a child, however, he swallowed it. Rhea was horrified. When
her sixth child was born, she wrapped a rock in a blanket instead of the baby and
presented it to Cronus. He swallowed the rock, believing it to be the baby. Rhea then
sent her sixth child, Zeus, to the island of Crete to be raised. Once Zeus had grown up,
he and Rhea fought against Cronus to make him vomit the five swallowed children,
now fully grown.
Zeus divided the world among himself, his brothers (Hades and Poseidon), and his
sisters (Hestia, Demeter, and Hera). Thus began the final generation of rule by the
Olympians.
• The ancient Greeks
used Mythology as their
basis of religion in
about 1200 B.C.
 They believed in
polytheism
• The main 12
gods/goddesses were
knows as The Big Twelve,
and they ruled at Mount
Olympus:
• Zeus, Poseidon, Hera,
Athena, Apollo, Artemis,
Ares, Hephaestus,
Aphrodite, Hermes,
Hestia, Demeter.
 Located in Mount
Olympus, Greece
 Is said to have been the
temple of the gods and
goddesses.
 Personality- Older man
with a white beard and
long hair; dislikes liars
or people who break
promises
 Title or Duty-Father
Zeus. Ruler of Mount
Olympus, sky, rain
 Symbols: eagle, oak tree,
and thunderbolt.
 Personality- proud and quick-
tempered goddess. Iris, the
rainbow god was her loyal
messenger.
 Title or Duty-Queen of the
gods. Over marriage; cares for
married women
 Symbol- The peacock
 Punished Echo.
 Personality- Tall,
masculine woman
 Title or duty- Grey-Eyed
Athena, and Heavenly
Queen. Over war, battle,
and victory, wisdom,
and art.
 Symbols - owl, olive
tree, crow, and serpent.
 Personality- Tall and powerful
with a long beard.
 Title or duty- Earth Holding,
Earth Shaker, and Ruler of
Horses. He is the god of the
sea
 Symbols- trident, horse, bull,
dolphin, and pine tree.
 Personality- Cold and
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unfeeling; has no pity for
others, and does not like to let
people out
Title or duty- Lord of the
Underworld. Governs the dead
He is seen with his scepter,
symbolizing his power as a
king, and the horn of plenty,
representing him as the giver
of wealth.
Symbol- Scepter, horn of
plenty.
Here he rules with Cerberus
(3-headed dog).
 Personality- Kind, gentle,
nurturing
 Title or duty- Sister of Zeus.
She is the goddess of fertility
and agriculture. She is also
the goddess of law and order,
including marriage.
 Symbol- Ear of wheat and the
horn of plenty.
 She wears a hunting tunic, and
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has a long robe and crescent
on her head.
Personality- An eternally
young woman, beautiful and
vigorous.
Title or Duty- The Huntress
and the Lady of Wild Things.
Over wild and domestic
animals, hunters, childbirth,
and has healing powers, and
the moon.
Symbols-Bow and quiver,
torch, and crescent. The
cypress tree was sacred to her.
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Personality- Youthful and
manly with golden hair and a
masculine body.
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Title or Duty- God of Light,
Truth, and the Healer.
Chariot of winged horses
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Symbols- quiver, silver bow,
laurel, crow, dolphin, flute,
and golden lyre. Has a
chariot.
 Title or duty- He was the swift
messenger of the Gods.
 Personality- handsome young
man with a winged hat,
winged sandals, and a golden
staff twined with serpents.
 Symbol- Winged sandals,
winged hat, magic wand, and
the caduceus, adopted by the
American Medical
Association.
 Ranked one of the top Greek
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Gods.
Personality- A dark haired
man who has difficulty
walking due to misformed
feet. Some accounts make him
small in stature.
Sculpted Pandora
Title or Duty- He was the God
and ruler of fire. He was also a
blacksmith, and make
weapons for the gods and
mortals.
Symbol- Volcano
 Personality- She was youthful,
and beautiful. She can make
anyone love her.
 Title or Duty- Golden
Aphrodite. Goddess of love
and beauty, and the goddess of
all fruitfulness
 Symbols- She is most often
seen with a rose, myrtle tree,
apple, dove, and sparrow.
 Personality- Gigantic and
muscular, often dressed in a
helmet and armed with a spear
and shield.
 Title or Duty- God of War
 His symbols and powers
include: blood, shield, spear,
and his animals were the
vulture and the dog.
A sweet, modestly dressed young woman. She often is shown wearing a veil.
Hestia
• Personality- A sweet,
modestly dressed young
woman. She often is
shown wearing a veil.
• Title or duty- Goddess
of hearth and home.
• Symbols- The hearth
and tamed fire that
burns there.
 Daughter of Atlas, and a
nymph who tried to con
Odysseus into spending seven
years on her island home in
exchange for immortality.
 After Zeus ordered her to
release him, she helped him
make a raft to sail away.
 Once a beautiful maiden.
 Love potion in bathing pool.
 She changed into a hideous
sea monster with six barking
dog heads, each with sharp
teeth.
 Lives opposite of Charybdis
 Daughter of Poseidon and
Gaia.
 She stole cattle from Herakles,
and Zeus cast her to stay there.
 Sometimes she creates
whirlpools. (stuck between a
rock and a hard place)
 Sisters
 Deadly, seductive singing.
 Odysseus heard their
songs, but plugged his
sailors ears with beeswax,
and had himself tied to
the ship mast so he
couldn’t be tempted by
their voices.
 A wood nymph
 Punished by Hera
 She fell in love with Narcissus,
who became enchanted with
his own reflection and never
knew the real Echo.
 Also known as Hercules
(Roman).
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Great hero
 The only mortal to be granted
immortality upon his death.
 These were the nature
goddesses.
 Rivers, caves, trees, or springs.
 Was a Titan
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The gods were known as
Olympians
 In a fight against the gods, he
sided with the Titans instead,
and when they lost Zeus
punished him. He was forced
to hold up the heavens as
punishment, and is often seen
holding the world on his
shoulders.
 They have the upper bodies of
men, and the lower torsos of
horses.
 They are cruel and uncivilized
and often devour raw flesh
and right in battle.
 The Graces- Three daughters
of Zeus:
Euphrosyne (joy)
 Thalia (bloom)
 Aglaia (brilliance)
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They are commonly
worshipped with Dionysus and
Aphrodite.
 He was the god of wine,
poetry, theater.
 His sacred items were the vine,
ivy, tiger, and lion.
 His symbols were the grapes,
the cup, and crown of vine or
ivy.
 Also known as Cupid
(Roman).
 He is the god of Love.
 He is often seen with his bow
and quiver, and has golden
wings which give him speed.
 They were half human and
half beast, and were usually
seen with claws, scales, and
wings.
 Turned people to stone
 Medusa- snakes
 Perseus vs. Medusa
 Women with bodies, wings,
and the claws of birds.
 Carried off the souls of the
dead.
 She is the goddess of
the rainbow.
 She is depicted as a winged
figure who carried a
herald’s staff.
 He has the body of a man and
the head of a bull.

Theseus killed him in the
labyrinth with his own horn.
 Goddess of victory
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She was a young, winged
goddess.
 She often was seen with the
wreath, palm branch, and
wand of victory.
 Pandora’s Box
 Let evil into the world.
 Disobeyed Hermes.
 Son of Poseidon and
the gorgon, Medusa.
 Blood of Medusa
 Winged Horse
o
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Long ago, people had a hard time
explaining what was happening
around them.
There were no scientists or teachers
to explain why things happened - like
why we have 4 seasons, for example.
They made up their own stories to
explain why and how things worked.
For example, the sun rose each
day because Apollo drove his
chariot across the sky every
morning.
Myths were originally passed down through
oral tradition. The most famous examples
of myths are The Iliad and The Odyssey.
 Myths were also a form of
entertainment in early Greece.
They were performed as plays
usually to an audience.
 Myths give human
characteristics to non-human
objects.
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Example: Pandora’s Box
 We study mythology
because it is the
religion, the science,
and the literature of
people from the past.
 Today, we use many Greek Mythology names to
represent companies, brands, and everyday items.
 Examples of modern uses:
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Nike brand tennis shoes
Months of the year
Amazon.com (the race of the Greek warrior women)
The space mission Apollo 11
Ajax (Trojan War hero)
Titanic (Titans- first gods and goddesses in mythology)
Mentor – Son of Alcumus, friend to Odysseus
 On your ticket to leave,
write 1 COMPLETE
sentence of something
you have learned today.
 You may write about
anything you have seen
in the PowerPoint.