MYTHOLOGY
CH.3 CREATION:
HOW THE WORLD BEGAN
At first
there was only Chaos
Chaos gave birth to:
The night and
Erebus
(Darkness -“the
unfathomable depth
where death dwells”
(Hamilton, p. 65).)
Erebus and Night gave birth
to:
Eros,
or Love
Eros gave birth to:
The Day
And The Light
Day and Light had two children:
Gaia or the
Earth
And
The
Heavens
Called
“Uranus”
The first children of
Gaia and Uranus
were monsters-*3 had 100 hands, 50 heads
*3 were Cyclops “wheeleyed”
*12 were Titans
THE 12 TITANS
•
•
•
•
•
•
Cronus
Oceanus
Iapetus
Hyperion
Crius
Coeus
•
•
•
•
•
•
Rhea
Thetis
Dione
Mnemosyne
Themis
Phoebe
THE MONSTER CHILDREN…
• Cyclopes
MONSTER CHILDREN CONT…
• Giants
A Bad Father
Uranus- the Heavens - hated his children
• He imprisoned the monsters as soon as they
were born (100 hands and 50 heads)
• Gaia was upset and asked for help from her
other children.
• Her son Cronus wounded his father
“terribly”. From his blood other monsters
were born: the Erinyes (Furies)
• And Giants
Erinyes (Furies)
• Fourth race of monsters
– Sprang up from Uranus’ blood
• Their job was to pursue and punish sinners
• Called “Those who walk in the darkness”
• Had snakes for hair and cried tears of blood
• As long as there was sin in the world they
couldn’t be banished from earth.
CRONUS AND RHEA
• Cronus (also known as Saturn)
was the lord of the universe
• Rhea (Ops in Latin) was
Cronus’ sister
CRONUS AND
RHEA MARRIED
• But Cronus feared a
child would overthrow
him as king
• So he ate his first five
children!!!
ONE CHILD WAS SAVED!
• Before Cronus could eat the last
baby, Rhea hid the baby and sent
him to Crete.
• This baby was “Zeus (Jupiter)”
• Gave Cronus a Rock to eat
instead!
WHEN THE BABY GREW
UP
• He came back and with the help of
his grandmother forced his father to
“disgorge” his siblings (Hamilton, p.
69).
THIS “BABY” WAS
ZEUS
• Called
Jupiter by
Romans
• He became
King of the
gods
A DREADFUL WAR
• A dreadful war followed between Cronus and
his brothers, the Titans, and Zeus and his five
brothers and sisters.
• This war supposedly almost “wrecked the
universe” (Hamilton, p. 68).
• Zeus wins because he released the hundredhanded monsters who fought on us his side, with
Prometheus, a son of the Titan Iapetus who
sided with Zeus.
PROMETHEUS AND ATLAS
• As a result of the war,
Prometheus’ brother, Atlas
was forced to bear on his
back the weight of the
world.
• The Titans were crushed,
but Earth still gave birth to
her last, most frightening
creature – Typhon.
– His eyes flashed fire – had a
hundred heads
THE WAR {RECAP}
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
6.
7.
8.
Cronus kills his father (Uranus) and becomes supreme
Titan
Cronus and Rhea have children.
Cronus eats all the children, fearing one of them will grow
up and overthrow him as king.
Rhea tricks Cronus with the sixth Child-Zeus
Rhea tricks Cronus by giving him a rock wrapped in a
baby blanket, allowing Zeus to escape.
Zeus grows up to be a very strong god
Zeus goes back to Mt. Olympus, gives Cronus a poisonous
drink that makes him vomit up all the children he
swallowed.
Zeus defeats Cronus and becomes ruler of all the gods.
HOW THINGS STARTED OUT…
Mother Earth (Gaea)
Titan Children
Rhea
Zeus
Hades
Father Heaven (Uranus)
Monster Children
Cronus
Poseidon
Hestia Demeter Hera
THE TITAN CHILDREN…
Cronus-The Ruling Titan
Rhea-Wife of Cronus
Oceanus-the unending stream of water encircling
the world
Hyperion-the Titan of light, the father of the sun,
the moon, and the dawn.
Prometheus-wisest of the titans
Atlas-fought against Zeus. Zeus punished Atlas by
making him hold up the earth for all eternity.
ZEUS’ REIGN
• Zeus gained thunder and lightning under his
own control and used it to strike Typhon down
• One more attempt was made to defeat Zeus:
– The Giants rebelled and tried to defeat him.
– Zeus had the help of Hercules, his son, and he
defeated them and threw them into Tartarus
• Now that there were no more monsters, the
earth was ready for mankind.
MANKIND CREATED
• Prometheus – means forethought
• His brother, Epimetheus – means afterthought, he
was very scatterbrained who jumped on his first
impulse then changed his mind.
– He gave all the good qualities to the animals and left
nothing for men.
– He asked his brother, Prometheus for help.
• Prometheus then fashioned man after the gods
– He went to heaven and the sun where he lit a torch and
brought down fire – a better protection than fur or
feathers
MANKIND CREATED
• In another account, the gods made men together.
– The first race was a golden race that had neither
work nor pain.
– The next race was an inferior silver race.
– The following was the brass, who were terrible and
followed by a race (#4) of heroes that fought glorious
wars and went on to blessed lands.
– The fifth race was that of iron, modern man. This
race grows more wretched with each generation, and
someday Zeus will have to destroy them.
ZEUS ANGERED BY PROMETHEUS
• Both stories agree that there were no
women in the early age.
– Zeus created them as revenge because
Prometheus tricked the gods into
accepting fat wrapped around bones
instead of real meat for sacrifice.
– Zeus swore by Styx to keep this
sacrificial procedure and made women
as a punishment.
THE FIRST WOMAN
• The first woman created was Pandora.
• She is described as a “sweet and lovely
thing to look upon” (Hamilton, p. 74).
• Her name means “the gift of all”
(Hamilton, p. 74).
• In this myth, women are described as
“evil to men” (Hamilton, p. 74).
PANDORA
• The source of her misfortune wasn’t her
wicked nature, it was her curiosity.
• The gods gave her a box that held harmful
things and told her not to open it.
• Zeus sent Pandora to Epimetheus, but
Prometheus warned Epimetheus to never
accept anything from Zeus. He didn’t
listen.
• Pandora, in her curiosity, opened the box.
PANDORA
• When Pandora lifted the lid plagues and
sorrow flew out.
• The only positive thing that came out of the
box was HOPE. It was the only solace
offered to man to comfort them in their
misfortune.
• Zeus did this to remind Prometheus that he
would never be able to deceive him again.
ZEUS SEIZES PROMETHEUS
• Zeus forgot his debt that he owed Prometheus
for helping Zeus in his fight against the Titans.
• Instead, Zeus had his servants, Force and
Violence, seize Prometheus and take him to
Caucasus.
• Zeus knew that according to fate, he would be
dethroned by a son that would inevitably force
the gods from their home in heaven.
• Prometheus was the only Titan who knew who it
would be, but he would tell no one, not even
Hermes.
PROMETHEUS’ PUNISHMENT
• Prometheus refused to tell Hermes or Zeus who
would dethrone Zeus.
• He knew he served Zeus well and wouldn’t
respond to such cruelty and tyranny.
– Hermes told Prometheus that an eagle would visit
him each day and feast upon his liver
• It’s said that the Centaur, Chiron, sacrificed
himself for Prometheus
• There is also another myth that indicates that
Hercules slew the eagle and saved Prometheus.
PROMETHEUS’ LEGACY
• In both myths, Prometheus never
gave in.
• He is known as the “great rebel
against injustice and the authority
of power” (Hamilton, p. 76).
Prometheus and IO
• When Prometheus was first bound to
the rock, a heifer named Io spoke to him
like a woman.
• She felt bad for Prometheus, but
surprisingly Prometheus knew who she
was.
• Zeus tried seduce Io and Hera found out
and changed her into a “starving beast”
(Hamilton, p. 79).
IO’S STORY
• Zeus tried to hide his relationship with Io
from Hera by putting a cloud over the earth.
• Hera was too smart for this and flew down to
earth.
• Hera told Zeus to give Io to her as a gift.
Zeus couldn’t refuse or it would indicate his
guilt.
• Hera then turned Io over to Argus, who had
a hundred eyes.
IO’S STORY
• Zeus is saddened to see Io in her misery so he
devices a plan that has Hermes read a story to
Argus and lull him to sleep.
• Hermes killed Argus when he was asleep, but
Hera thought ahead and placed eyes in the tail of
the peacock, her favorite bird.
• Hera then sent a “gad-fly” to plague Io as she
wandered from place to place.
IO’S LEGACY
• Prometheus only pointed Io to her
future.
• Io meets Zeus near the Nile River
where he restores her to her human
form.They later have a son named
Epaphus.
• Io’s descendant would be Hercules,
who we already know rescues
Prometheus from his torture.