1. INTRODUCTION TO GREEK MYTHOLOGY
English I
Pre-AP

2. I. What are Myths?
Myths: stories that use fantasy to express ideas about life that cannot easily be expressed in realistic terms.
They are, at heart, religious stories. They deal with and explore the relationship between human beings and the unknown/spiritual world.
They were once believed to be true.

3. II. Purposes of Myths Scientific: explanations of things in nature
Literary: entertainment; good storytelling
Religious: give meaning to things in life; explain the role of the gods in everyday life

4. III. Why Do We Study Myths?
They depict and reveal behavior and problems common to all human beings.
Remind us that human nature is the same across time and culture.
Reveal that many social, ethical, and religious attitudes continue through time.
They reflect the attitudes, priorities, and values of the cultures that produced them.

5. IV. The Belief System of Ancient Greece
In Greek mythology, gods “did not create the universe… the universe created the gods” (Hamilton 24).
In the beginning… there was only Chaos.

6. IV. The Belief System of Ancient Greece
From Chaos emerged…
Gaea: Mother Earth
In Greek culture, more emphasis was placed on Gaea then on Ouranos, reflecting the Greeks’ reliance on the land and the Earth itself.
Ouranos: Father Heaven
Gaea and Ouranos had three types of children, all monsters, the most important of which were the Titans.

7. IV. The Belief System of Ancient Greece
One Titan, Cronus, rebelled against Ouranos as a result of Ouranos’s treatment of some of his children.
For some time, Cronus (Saturn) and his wife/sister Rhea ruled the universe until their son, Zeus, overthrew his father and conquered the Titans, becoming supreme ruler of the universe.
It was only after Zeus took control and the Olympians and other immortals took their places that humans entered the picture.

8. V. The Greek Gods
In Greek mythology, man was not created in the image of the gods; rather, the gods were in the image of man.
Although Greek religion centered on a pantheon, separate villages worshipped separate gods in many instances.
In many cases, deities existed before the patriarchal religion of Zeus incorporated them.

9. VI. The Twelve Olympians
The Twelve great gods who succeeded the Titans
Lived on Mt. Olympus, which could have either been
The physical mountain in Thessaly OR
A mountain in a mysterious region above the Earth.
Olympus was NOT HEAVEN.

10. VI. The Twelve Olympians

11. VI. The Twelve Olympians
Zeus (Jupiter)
Poseidon (Neptune)
Hades (Pluto)
Hestia (Vesta)
Hera (Juno)
Ares (Mars)
7. Athena (Minerva) 8. Apollo (Apollo) 9. Aphrodite (Venus) 10. Hermes (Mercury) 11. Artemis (Diana) 12. Hephaestus (Vulcan)

12. VI. The Twelve Olympians
ZEUS
God of the sky, thunder, and justice
King and most powerful of the gods; Ruler of Mount Olympus
POSEIDON
God of the sea and earthquakes
Brother of Zeus
Odysseus’s enemy

13. VI. The Twelve Olympians
HADES
God of the Undeworld
Zeus and Poseidon’s brother
HESTIA
Goddess of the Hearth

14. VI. The Twelve Olympians
HERA
Goddess of marriage and married women
Exceptionally beautiful
Zeus’s wife
ARES
God of War

15. VI. The Twelve Olympians
ATHENA
Goddess of wisdom and the arts of war and peace
Protector of Odysseus
Zeus’s favorite daughter
APOLLO
God of archery, poetry, music, medicine, and prophecy

16. VI. The Twelve Olympians
APHRODITE
Goddess of Love and Beauty
HERMES
Messenger god
God of commerce, speed, and trade

17. VI. The Twelve Olympians
ARTEMIS
Goddess of the Wild Things, the moon, and crossways
HEPHAESTUS
God of fire and the forges – Blacksmith to the gods

18. VII. Death in Ancient Greece
According to the Greeks, all departed souls went to the Underworld.
Two Main Divisions of the Underworld:
Erebus: where the dead pass when they die
Tartarus: the main division

19. VII. Death in Ancient Greece
The dead are ferried across the point where the River Acheron (river of woe) pours into the River Cocytus (river of lamentation) by an aged boatman named Charon.
Charon will ONLY ferry into the Underworld those who have been properly buried and who have had the passage fee placed on their lips at burial.

20. VII. Death in Ancient Greece
At the gate sits Cerberus, the three-headed dog who permits all the dead to enter, but not to exit.
The Underworld is ruled by the god Hades and his queen, Persephone.