Greek Gods and Mythology

(Hestia, Internet).Poseidon, the god of the sea was also known as the earth shaker. He was the brother of Zeus. He was also the horse god. Horses would be sacrificed in his honor (Poseidon, Internet). Demeter was the Olympian goddess of the harvest. She was the daughter of Kronos and Rhea. She was a very beautiful goddess. Her daughter, Persephone, was abducted by hades and held in the underworld. Zeus settled that her daughter could spend two thirds of the year with her mother and the other one third with her husband. It is said that the crops do not grow when Persephone is with her husband and not with Demeter (Demeter, Internet). The Olympian goddess, Athena, was very beautiful, but known as the grim goddess. She was the daughter of Zeus. Athena deprived Medusa of her charms and turned her into a monster. Peruses killed Medusa and cut off her head and gave it to Athena. She would use Medusas head to turn people to stone (Athena, Internet). The last Olympian god is Hermes. He was the messenger of the gods. He had winged sandals. His father was Zeus. He also guided Sould to the underworld (Hermes, Internet).The second group that is focused on is the Titans. The Titans consisted of twelve gods and goddesses (Titans, Internet). The first Titan is Kronus. He was married to Rhea. He was the son of Heaven and Earth. He killed his father and took over. Every time a child was born of him, he swallowed it, until he was tricked by his wife and swallowed a stone instead of the child. She hid the child from him and it grew up to overthrow him (Kronus, Internet). The Titan goddess, Rhea, was the mother of the gods (Mcleish, 524). The Titan Oceanus was the god of the rivers. His father was Uranus (Heaven). He is the original water, which all the rivers and streams come from. Thetys, the daughter of Uranus was married to her brother Oceanus. They had three thousand daughters. The daughter of Uranus, Mnemosyne was the Titan goddess of memory. She had nine daughters with Zeus. If the dead drank from the well of Mnemosyne they would remember everything in their lives. The Titan goddess Themis was the goddess of law and justice. She always sat next to Zeus. Her and Zeus had one daughter together. The Titan goddess Theia was known as the goddess of sight. She also had plenty of gold and silver. She was married to Hyperion. She was the daughter of Uranus. Hyperion was the father of Helios, Selene, and Eos (In to Greece, Internet). The Titan Cirus married Eurbia. He had three children. His children were Astraios, Perses, and Pallas. He was the grandfather of the west wind, north wind, south wind, east wind, and all the stars. The Titan Lapetus was the father of Prometheus, Epimetheus, and Atlas. Coeus was the Titan god of Intelligence. He was also the father of Leto. The Titan goddess of the moon, Phoebe was the mother of Leto (Titans, Internet). All the Titans, Like the Olympians have special places in mythology.There are other gods and goddess not a part of either the Olympians or the Titans. There was a god known as Pan. Pan means “all”. His mother deserted him as a baby. He was the son of Mercury the Mischievous. He was the king of hunters, fishermen, and the lord of flocks, herds, and all the wild things of the forest. He was also the deity of the countryside. He was also the Shepard god of Arcadia. His appearance was that of a goat. He had goat feet and two horns. He was a lover of noise (Forbush, 99). The god Orion was the son of Neptune. He was very clumsy and strong. He was the earthborn child of Poseidon. Orion was the male figure in a number of fertility rites. His first love was Merope, the daughter of the king of the islands of Chios. Meropes father held her off from Orion and then Orion tried to steal her away. Orion was a hunter. He did most of his hunting with the huntress queen, Diana. Diana’s brother Apollo objected to Orion and Diana. Apollo wanted to see how good Diana was at hunting. He told her to hit a speck in the water with her arrows. She hit the speck and then found out that is was Orion’s head. She put Orion up in the heavens as one of the brightest stars in the most beautiful cluster of stars (Pinsent, 34). The Greek goddess and personification of the rainbow, Iris, was also a golden winged messenger of the gods. Pandora, which means “all-giving” was the first woman created by Zeus. She was originally an earth goddess. A king named Acrisius had a daughter named Danae. Danae had a baby named Perseus. Acrisius was so angry he put Danae and Peruses in a chest and threw them out into the sea. They floated safely to the island Seriphos where Polydects was king. The king’s brother who was a fisherman caught the chest in his net. Peruses grew up there to become very strong. Polydects wanted to marry Danae but Peruses would not allow it. Polydects set up a plan to get rid of Peruses. He had a fake wedding and since Peruses was very poor he did not bring a gift. Polydect devised a plan for Peruses to make up not bringing a gift. He told Peruses to get the head of Medusa. Peruses agreed to the plan. Peruses successfully captured the head of Medusa and gave it to Polydect. Medusa was the eldest of three gorgons. She was known as the ruler. She was a terrible monster who was once beautiful and cherished her hair. The goddess Athena deprived her of her charms and turned her beautiful hair into hissing serpents. She then became very cruel. Anything that looked at Medusa would turn to stone (Medusa, Internet). The god Bellerophon was honored by the gods when he was young. He was the son of Eurynome. He wanted to capture the horse Pegasus. He was able to bridle and ride Pegasus where the horse grazed. He went to king Pittheus and received permission to marry his daughter. Before the marriage Bellerophon accidentally killed one of his brothers and was banished. The king’s wife accused Bellerophon of trying to seduce her. Proetus wanted to get rid of Bellerophon without telling everyone why. He sent Bellerophon to deliver a message to his wife’s father, king Iobates. Bellerophon was welcomed into Iobates house as a guest. The message he brought to Iobated explained about his daughter and Bellerophon. Iobates was disturbed and his solution was to tell Bellerophon to perform a series of heroic but deadly tasks. Bellerophon completed all of the tasks. Iobates made amends by giving Bellerophon half of his kingdom and his daughter to marry. Bellerophon decided to ride Pegasus to Mount Olympus. Seus put an end to his trip by having Pegasus stung and Bellerophon flew off. He was not crippled by the fall but had to spend the rest of his life on earth. Bellerophon died alone on earth (Bellerophon, Internet). Hercules who was a mortal but became a god upon his death was known to be very strong. He was stronger as a mortal was than most gods were. He was the lost son of Zeus. His mother was a mortal. Although he was very strong, he lacked intelligence and wisdom. He was easily offended. He got into many quarrels with gods and mortals. People would also take advantage of him because they thought he was too dumb to realize it. He held may grudges against people and did not forget them. Many of his great acts were while making up for something stupid he had done. He usually wore a lion skin garment with the head still attached. He was too strong to be punished, but would make up for his wrongs because he felt there should be justice for the acts he had committed. Many terrible things happened to Hercules because Hera hated him (Hercules, Internet). The goddess Erida is known as “hate.” She was the sister of war god Ares. Zeus sent her to the confinement of the Achaians. She screamed into the soldier’s ears and they woke up with nothing else on their minds but killing. Their hearts longed for war and bloodshed. She entered the war and grew so much that her head reached the heavens. She was unstoppable (Erida, Internet). Thanatos was a creature of bone chilling darkness. He is called the son of night and the brother of sleep. He is known as “death”. His heart is made of iron and when he gets a hold of someone light never shines on him or her again (Thanatos, Internet). There is also Skylla. She was a beast with six heads. Odysseus wanted to fight with Skylla, but she killed six of her crew (Skylla, Internet). There was a god known as Prometheus, “the rebel god.” His name meant forethought. He did not like Zeus. He tried to trick him with a false sacrifice. Zeus being on whom can see all knew he was being tricked. Prometheus also stole lighting bolts from Zeus and gave them to the mortals of earth. He had pity on the mortals and was always giving them gifts. He was never punished for the wrongs he did to Zeus; instead the whole world was punished. Finally Zeus hung Prometheus from a cliff where an eagle ate at his flesh. Zeus would torture him all the time. After quite a long time Hercules climbed the mountain, killed the eagle and set Prometheus free (Prometheus, Internet). There was a vicious snake named Python who Apollo had to kill before he could found his oracle. After killing Python, Apollo had to redeem himself because Python was immortal. Apollo started the Pythian games in Python’s honor (Python, Internet). There was also a creature named Typheous. He was a fire breathing with one hundred heads dragon that never rested. Zeus killed him with his lighting bolts (Typheous, Internet). There were three Cyclopes; Brontes, Steropes, and Arges. They were one-eyed monsters. Each of them represented either thunder, lighting, or the lighting bolt. They were the first smiths. When the god Cronus came into power, he imprisoned the Cclops. Zeus released them and they fought together in the Trojan War. Zeus was rewarded by the Cyclops with lighting and thunder. The Cyclops worked for Zeus after the war, making lighting bolts for him (Cyclops, Internet). Zeus created a woman named Nephele from the clouds. He made her to trick Lxion. Lxion had done a lot of bad things and the gods wanted him punished. Zeus always tried to see the good in Lxion. Zeus stopped trying when he found out that Lxion wanted his wife Hera. Zeus made Nephele to look just like Hera. Lxion went for Nephele. When Lxion had sex with Nephele Zeus caught them. He bound Lxion to a fiery wheel that rolled across the skies forever. Nephele moved on and became the wife of Athamus and they had two children together (Nephele, Internet). Those are some gods and goddess not in either the Olympians of the Titans.One of the most memorable events in Greek Mythology is the Trojan War. The war was fought over the ancient city of Troy. The Trojans were the inventors of the city. The most powerful king, Agamemon, lived in Greece. He had married Clytemnestra, the sister of Helen. Helen was the most beautiful woman in the world. She was married to Agamemnon’s brother. The two brothers had tremendous power in Greece. The story of the Trojan War starts with Eris “strife” throwing down a golden apple at the wedding of Peleus and Thetis. Zeus could not bring himself to make a decision about how to stop his queen Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite from bickering. Zeus led the goddesses to Mt. Ida where Paris, the most beautiful son of Priam was waiting. Hera offered him the lordship of all Asia for herself. The goddess Athena offered Paris victory in war and wisdom. Aphrodite only offered herseld since she was the most beautiful woman in the world; also known as Helen of Sparta. Paris of course gave the applet to Helen. When Paris went to Sparta to give the apple to Helen her husband, Menelous threw a feast for him. Menelous left the house go to visit the king of Knossos. When he left, Helen and Paris ran off together to Troy. When Menelous heard the news he asked his brother, Agamemnon to get revenge. Agamemnon sent Envoys to Troy to demand Helens return. When Envoys came back without Helen, Menelous collected an army. This is how the war started. The Trojan War took ten years. During the tenth year, the Greeks stopped attacking Asia Minor and went after Troy. In the battle at the Scaeon gate, Paris struck Achilles in the heel, the only place he was vulnerable. The Trojans still refused to give up the fight for Helen. A wooden horse was built to get into the city of Troy. The horse was left as a thank you to Athena. The Greeks burned their camps and sailed to make it look as they had given up. The Trojans found the horse and the burned camps and took the horse into the city. The soldiers then jumped out of the horse and killed every Trojan in sight. After the massacre, no male was left in Troy. Meneloes was determined to get revenge and kill Helen, but when he was in front of her and saw her beauty he could not bring himself to kill her. The Greeks in victory burned Troy and started home. This victory did not bring the Greeks happiness, only grief. They were split up by massive storms and could not find their way home. In the very end, Agamemnon was killed by this wife and the war ended (The story of Trojan War, Internet).The Greeks had a special place for the dead. They either went to heaven or the underworld. In some cases they did not go anywhere. They just had to wait in the field of Asphode for nothing. Hades was the ruler of the underworld. He was the ruler of the dead. He was the son of Kronus and Rhea. He was the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. He abducted Persephone and ruled with her. He bound her to the underworld forever. He sits on a thrown made of Ebony and has a helmet given to him by the Cyclops that makes him invisible. He is also known as the rich one. He is also very violent. Hades does not allow anyone to leave the underworld. He enjoys the mortal’s sigh and tears. He rules the underworld with his helper, Thanatos, “Death.” The three-headed dog, Cerberus, who attacks everyone except sprints, guards the gate of the underworld. The underworld has four great rivers; Styx (hateful), Cocytus (waiting for the dead), Acheron (pain), and Pyriphlegethon (burning with the pyre). There is a fifth river, Lethe that is associated with re-incarnation. The Underworld of Greek mythology is like Christians Hell (Evslin, 100).Greek Mythology consists of many stories of the lives of mortals and immortals. There are gods and goddess for almost every aspect of life. The Greeks believed in the gods and goddess and everything they did. Mythology was a way to explain the everyday battles of life. The gods displayed a since of normality making mythology so easy to follow and believe in. In Greek mythology they did things that people today would never think of doing like marrying their sister or brother. Incest was a very common thing in Greek Mythology. The Greeks needed something to believe in and that is how the gods and goddess came to be. If people did not believe in them, then the stories would never even exist. No one can say for a fact if the stories of Greek Mythology ever happened. The only thing that can be said is that back in 800 B.C. people believed in the stories and the gods. When Greek Mythology is looked at closely it almost mimics life of the world today. People still have greed, hate, and envy. People still feel love. Nothing will ever change mythology because in two thousand years people will tell stories about the generations of the 21st century and think it is different from their lives, but relate to the stories at the same time. Greek Myhology is not the only kind of Mythology there is also Roman and Egyptian Mythology. In the ear of 800 B.C. nearly every culture had a sort of Mythology. The gods and goddess in every culture were a reason for life. They explained how life came to be. There were many creation myths about how the world was created. Many people believe different myths.