Greek Mythology
A is a story that is important to people. The word comes from the Greek word Mythos, which means story. So, really, some myths could be true! The Greeks told several myths to help people get through life.
What happened to myths while in Greece?
After they were formed, some myths merged with others, some contradicted eachother, and some of the main characters, also known as gods and goddesses, were reused in other stories.
Did you know...
The first Greek gods
The widely known gods Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, and others, were actually not the first gods. Before them came:
The Olympic gods
Many ancient manuscripts
say that there were 12 gods
that lived on Mt. Olympus,
the largest mountain in
Greece. Although the list
of the 12 differ from writer
to writer, it can probably be
assumed that Zeus, the sky
god, and his sister and wife,
Hera, queen of Mt. Olympus,
were among them.
The Ancient Greek story of the
Creation of people
The Ancient Greek story is very different from what we believe now, but it still teaches a lesson. It goes like this:
Two Titans were put in charge of creating the creatures for Earth. One was wise, but the other was not. The unwise one gave all of the creatures he created a gift, such as wings or claws, but he didn't plan anything, so he ran out of gifts before he got to the humans. The wise one, though, saved him by creating the humans in the gods' image, and giving them fire. However, the fire made Zeus angry, so the Titan brothers were tortured as punishment.
Lesson:
1) Plan ahead.
2) With good things can come consequences
The Ancient
Greek Origins
of the Seasons
As you know, the Ancient Greeks had different ways of explaining things. Another one is of how the seasons started:
One day, Demeter, the crop goddess, lost her daughter, Persephone. Hades, god of the underworld, had kidnapped her. Demeter was so upset that she did not make the plants grow until her daughter was rescued, which took 4 months. She was returned, but she had eaten some pomegranate seeds. There is a rule in the underworld that if you eat something, you must stay there. So, after that, Persephone returned to the underworld 4 months every year, and at this time, nothing grows.
Questions
Now you know...
Any
- Remember, myth doesn't mean fictional. It's a story.
- Myths could contradict and still stand side by side.
- The first Greek gods were not the well known Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, but rather 5 others.
- There were 12 olympic gods.
- Myths normally help people live and teach life lessons, such as the ones you just heard.
Cool!
The End!
Also Including:
- Tartarus: the underworld
- Erebus: the darkness in the underworld
- Eros: love
Gaia: goddess of the Earth
Nyx: goddess of the night
- Unlike several other types of mythology, most Greek gods and goddesses take the shape of humans.
myth