Mythology

Athena

n the version recounted by Hesiod in his Theogony, Zeus lay with Metis, the goddess of crafty thought and wisdom,[75] but he immediately feared the consequences[75] because Gaia and Ouranos had prophesized that Metis would bear children wiser than he himself.[76][Notes 7] In order to prevent this, Zeus swallowed Metis,[77] but it was too late because Metis had already conceived.[77][78] Eventually Zeus experienced an enormous headache;[79] Prometheus, Hephaestus, Hermes, Ares, or Palaemon (depending on the sources examined)[80] cleaved Zeus' head with the double-headed Minoan axe, the labrys.[80] Athena leaped from Zeus's head, fully grown and armed, She would protect Odysseus

Hesiod

was a Greek poet generally thought by scholars to have been active between 750 and 650 BC, around the same time as Homer.[2][3] He is generally regarded as the first written poet in the Western tradition to regard himself as an individual persona with an active role to play in his subject.[4] Ancient authors credited Hesiod and Homer with establishing Greek religious customs.

Euripides

was a tragedian of classical Athens. Along with Aeschylus and Sophocles, he is one of the three ancient Greek tragedians for whom a significant number of plays have survived.

Xenophon

was an ancient Greek philosopher, historian, soldier, mercenary, and student of Socrates.[1] As a historian, Xenophon is known for recording the history of his contemporary time, the late-5th and early-4th centuries BC, in such works as the Hellenica, about the final seven years and the aftermath of the Peloponnesian War (431-404 BC), a thematic continuation of Thucydides' History of the Peloponnesian War. As one of the Ten Thousand (Greek mercenaries), he also participated in Cyrus the Younger's failed campaign to claim the Persian throne from his brother Artaxerxes II of Persia and recounted the events in Anabasis, his most notable history. Like Plato (427-347 BC), Xenophon is an authority on Socrates, about whom he wrote several books of dialogues (the Memorabilia) and an Apology of Socrates to the Jury, which recounts the philosopher's trial in 399 BC.

Aeschylus

was an ancient Greek tragedian. He is often described as the father of tragedy. He made play on Agamemnon and Prometheus

Laertes

Father of Odysseus. He was an argonaut and went with Jason. Realm included Ithaca. At first Odysseus doesnt tell him he is his son but he does and Laertes helps kill family of the suitors

The Laistrygones

Giants who destroyed most of Odysseus' ships.

Hephaestus

God of the forge

EUMAIOS

Good host. He takes care of Odysseus in disguise. Says he misses him very much so and treats Telemachus as a son.

Demeter

HOME » GREEK GODDESSES » DEMETER Demeter Greek Goddess of Agriculture, Fertility, Sacred Law and the Harvest Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and presides over grains and the fertility of the earth. Although she was most often referred to as the goddess of the harvest, she was also goddess of sacred law and the cycle of life and death. Her virgin daughter PERSEPHONE was abducted by the god of the underworld, HADES, and Demeter endlessly searched for her, preoccupied with loss and grief. The seasons halted and living things stopped growing and died. At this point, ZEUS had to intervene and send his messenger HERMES to the underworld to bring Persephone back and prevent the extinction of all life on Earth. Hades agreed to Persephone's relief but gave her a pomegranate as she left. When she ate the pomegranate seeds, she was bound to him for one third of the year, either the dry Mediterranean summer, when plant life is threatened by drought, or the autumn and winter. Demeter and Persephone were also the central figures to the Eleusinian Mysteries - a series of large and secretive concerts held every five years. These mysteries represented the abduction of Persephone by Hades in three phases. The "descent" (loss), the "search" and the "ascent". The main theme is the "ascent" of Persephone and the reunion with her mother.

Hades

Hades was the god of the underworld and the name eventually came to also describe the home of the dead as well. He was the oldest male child of CRONUS and Rhea. Hades and his brothers ZEUS and POSEIDON defeated their father and the TITANS to end their reign, claiming rulership over the cosmos. They agreed to split their rule with Zeus becoming god of the skies, Poseidon god of the sea and Hades god of the underworld.

Teucer

Half brother of Ajax. He was an archer and this was known as cowardly. He made sure to guard the body of Ajax and make sure it was buried

Aegisthus

He was the son of Thyestes and his daughter, Pelopia. The product of an incestuous union motivated by his father's rivalry with the house of Atreus for the throne of Mycenae, Aegisthus murdered Atreus to restore his father to power. Later, he lost the throne to Atreus's son Agamemnon. While Agamemnon was at the Trojan war, Aegisthus became the lover of the king's estranged wife Clytemnestra. The couple killed Agamemnon on his return. He became king of Mycenae for seven years before he was killed in his turn by Agamemnon's son Orestes.

Lucian

Hellenized Syrian artist. He parodies alot of the Greek myths.

Prometheus

Hesiod revisits the story of Prometheus in the Works and Days (lines 42-105). Here, the poet expands upon Zeus's reaction to Prometheus's deception. Not only does Zeus withhold fire from humanity, but "the means of life," as well (42). Had Prometheus not provoked Zeus's wrath (44-47), "you would easily do work enough in a day to supply you for a full year even without working; soon would you put away your rudder over the smoke, and the fields worked by ox and sturdy mule would run to waste."

Typhoios

"Succession Myth" given in Hesiod's Theogony.[130] The Hesiodic succession myth describes how Uranus, the original ruler of the cosmos, hid his offspring away inside Gaia, but was overthrown by his Titan son Cronus, who castrated Uranus, and how in turn, Cronus, who swallowed his children as they were born, was himself overthrown by his son Zeus, whose mother had given Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow, in place of Zeus. However Zeus is then confronted with one final adversary, Typhon, which he quickly defeats. Now clearly the supreme power in the cosmos, Zeus is elected king of gods.

Er's Tale

A myth about a man's journey through the afterlife. Essentially it is a tale of Socrates to explain that what we do has implications on the afterlife.

Gaia

According to Hesiod, Gaia conceived further offspring with Uranus, first the giant one-eyed Cyclopes: Brontes ("Thunder"), Steropes ("Lightning") and Arges ("Bright");[15] then the Hecatonchires: Cottus, Briareos and Gyges, each with a hundred arms and fifty heads.[16] As each of the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires were born, Uranus hid them in a secret place within Gaia, causing her great pain. So Gaia devised a plan. She created a grey flint (or adamantine) sickle. And Cronus used the sickle to castrate his father Uranus as he approached Gaia to have sex with her. From Uranus' spilled blood, Gaia produced the Erinyes, the Giants and the Meliae (ash-tree nymphs). From the testicles of Uranus in the sea came forth Aphrodite.[17]

Epimetheus

According to Hesiod, who related the tale twice (Theogony, 527ff; Works and Days 57ff), Epimetheus was the one who accepted the gift of Pandora from the gods. Their marriage may be inferred (and was by later authors), but it is not made explicit in either text. In later myths, the daughter of Epimetheus and Pandora was Pyrrha, who married Deucalion, a descendant of Prometheus. Together they are the only two humans who survived the deluge.[4]

Aetiological narrative

An aetiological myth is an "origins" myth - a story about the beginnings of something. For instance, the Book of Genesis from the Bible is considered to be an aetiological myth in that it gives a story about how god created the universe. Many (if not most) people take the story to be figurative, rather than literal, making it a myth about the origin of the universe.

Virgil

Ancient Roman poet of the Augustan era. He composed the Aeneid. He has had a very deep impact on Western literature.

Theseus

Athenian response to Heracles. Athens rival was thebes and you couldnt have a Theban hero. Killed minotaur of crete

Kalypso

Calypso is remembered the most for her role in Homer's Odyssey, in which she attempts to keep the fabled Greek hero Odysseus on her island to make him her immortal husband. According to Homer, Calypso kept Odysseus prisoner at Ogygia for seven years,[6] while Apollodorus says five years[7] and Hyginus says one.[8] Calypso enchants Odysseus with her singing as she moves to and fro, weaving on her loom with a golden shuttle. During this time they have sex together, although Odysseus soon comes to wish for circumstances to change. Odysseus can no longer bear being separated from his wife Penelope and wants to go to Calypso to tell her. His patron goddess Athena asks Zeus to order the release of Odysseus from the island, and Zeus orders the messenger Hermes to tell Calypso to set Odysseus free, for it was not his destiny to live with her forever. She angrily comments on how the gods hate goddesses having affairs with mortals, but eventually concedes, sending Odysseus on his way after providing him with wine, bread, and the materials for a raft.

Charon

Charon is the ferryman of the underworld. We get a better explanation about him in the Aeneid. His toll is why people are burried with coins

Eurystheus

Eurystheus was the candidate of Hera. He imposes the twelve labors upon Heracles. He was very bitter of Heracles

Protagoras

Example used by Socrates. Protagoras was a sophist

Hermes

Homer and Hesiod portrayed Hermes as the author of skilled or deceptive acts and also as a benefactor of mortals. In the Iliad, he is called "the bringer of good luck", "guide and guardian", and "excellent in all the tricks". He was a divine ally of the Greeks against the Trojans. However, he did protect Priam when he went to the Greek camp to retrieve the body of his son Hector and accompanied them back to Troy.[19] He also rescued Ares from a brazen vessel where he had been imprisoned by Otus and Ephialtes. In the Odyssey, Hermes helps his great-grand son, the protagonist Odysseus, by informing him about the fate of his companions, who were turned into animals by the power of Circe. Hermes instructed Odysseus to protect himself by chewing a magic herb; he also told Calypso of Zeus' order to free Odysseus from her island to allow him to continue his journey back home. When Odysseus killed the suitors of his wife, Hermes led their souls to Hades.

Nausikaa

Hospitality!!! Nausicaä and her handmaidens go to the sea-shore to wash clothes. Awoken by their games, Odysseus emerges from the forest completely naked, scaring the servants away, and begs Nausicaä for aid. Nausicaä gives Odysseus some of the laundry to wear, and takes him to the edge of the town. Realizing that rumors might arise if Odysseus is seen with her, she and the servants go ahead into town. But first she advises Odysseus to go directly to Alcinous' house and make his case to Nausicaä's mother, Arete. Arete is known as wiser even than Alcinous, and Alcinous trusts her judgment. Odysseus follows this advice, approaching Arete and winning her approval, and is received as a guest by Alcinous.[3] During his stay, Odysseus recounts his adventures to Alcinous and his court. This recounting forms a substantial portion of the Odyssey. Alcinous then generously provides Odysseus with the ships that finally bring him home to Ithaca. Nausicaä is young and very pretty; Odysseus says that she resembles a goddess, particularly Artemis. Nausicaä is known to have several brothers. According to Aristotle and Dictys of Crete, Nausicaä later married Telemachus, the son of Odysseus, and had a son named Ptoliporthus.

Elpenor

Importance of burial rigghts Elpenor was not especially notable for his intelligence or strength, but he survived the Trojan War, and appears in the Odyssey. He is the youngest man to survive the Laestrygonians. While Odysseus was staying on Aeaea, Circe's island, Elpenor became drunk and climbed onto the roof of Circe's palace to sleep. The next morning, waking upon hearing his comrades making preparations to travel to Hades, he forgot he was on the roof and fell, breaking his neck. Odysseus and his men apparently noticed his absence, but they were too busy to look for him. When Odysseus arrived in Hades, Elpenor was the first shade to meet Odysseus, and pleaded with him to return to Aeaea and give him a proper cremation and burial. After finishing his task in the underworld, Odysseus returned to Aeaea and cremated Elpenor's body, then buried him with his armour and marked the grave with an oar of his ship.

Circe

In Homer's Odyssey, Circe is described as living in a mansion that stands in the middle of a clearing in a dense wood. Around the house prowled strangely docile lions and wolves, the drugged victims of her sorcery;[4] they were not dangerous, and fawned on all newcomers. Circe worked at a huge loom.[5] She invited Odysseus' crew to a feast of familiar food, a pottage of cheese and meal, sweetened with honey and laced with wine, but also laced with one of her magical potions and drunk from an enchanted cup.[6] Thus so she turned them all into swine with her magic wand or staff after they gorged themselves on it. Only drunken Eurylochus, suspecting treachery from the outset, escaped to warn Odysseus and the others who had stayed behind at the ship. Odysseus set out to rescue his men, but was intercepted by the messenger god, Hermes, who had been sent by Athena. Hermes told Odysseus to use the herb moly[7] to protect himself from Circe's wizardry and, having resisted it, to draw his sword and act as if he were going to attack her. From there, Circe would ask him to bed, but Hermes advised caution, for even there the goddess would be treacherous. She would take his manhood unless he had her swear by the names of the gods that she would not. Odysseus followed Hermes' advice, freeing his men and then remained on the island for one year, feasting and drinking wine.

Ouranos

In the Olympian creation myth, as Hesiod tells it in the Theogony,[20] Uranus came every night to cover the earth and mate with Gaia, but he hated the children she bore him. Hesiod named their first six sons and six daughters the Titans, the three one-hundred-handed giants the Hekatonkheires, and the one-eyed giants the Cyclopes. Uranus imprisoned Gaia's youngest children in Tartarus, deep within Earth, where they caused pain to Gaia. She shaped a great flint-bladed sickle and asked her sons to castrate Uranus. Only Cronus, youngest and most ambitious of the Titans, was willing: he ambushed his father and castrated him, casting the severed testicles into the sea.

Hera

Jealous wife sterotype. Goddess of the hearth. Queen of the gods. Causes alot of problems for people such as Herc

Orpheus

Legendary musician. Travled as an Argonaut. His wife Eurdydice died and he went down to rescue her

Anticlea

Mother of Odysseus. He sees her in the underworld and she asks why is he alive. She essentially tells Odysseus what is going on in his life back home

Aeneas

One of the founders of Troy. This is Virgils response to a Roman epic. He sails around the world before he finds Rome.

Georgics

Orpheus

Helios

Personification of the sun. In the Odyssey he has an island full of cattle who are eaten by Odysseus. This is the opposite of being a good visitor

The Cyclopes

Polyphemus

Penelope

Penelope is the wife of the main character, the king of Ithaca, Odysseus (Ulysses in Roman mythology), and daughter of Icarius of Sparta and his wife Periboea. She only has one son by Odysseus, Telemachus, who was born just before Odysseus was called to fight in the Trojan War. She waits twenty years for the final return of her husband,[7] during which she devises various strategies to delay marrying one of the 108[8] suitors (led by Antinous and including Agelaus, Amphinomus, Ctessippus, Demoptolemus, Elatus, Euryades, Eurymachus and Peisandros). On Odysseus's return, disguised as an old beggar, he finds that Penelope has remained faithful. She has devised tricks to delay her suitors, one of which is to pretend to be weaving a burial shroud for Odysseus's elderly father Laertes and claiming that she will choose a suitor when she has finished. Every night for three years, she undoes part of the shroud, until Melantho, one of twelve unfaithful serving women, discovers her chicanery and reveals it to the suitors. Because of her efforts to put off remarriage, Penelope is often seen as a symbol of connubial fidelity and we are reminded several times of her fidelity. But due to Athena's meddling, who wants her "to show herself to the wooers, that she might set their hearts a-flutter and win greater honor from her husband and her son than heretofore", Penelope does appear before the suitors (xviii.160-162). As Irene de Jong comments:

The Sirens

Perpetuates stereotype that women are dangerous. were dangerous creatures, who lured nearby sailors with their enchanting music and singing voices to shipwreck on the rocky coast of their island.

Persephone

Persephone was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, and the queen of the underworld. She was abducted by Hades, the god of the underworld, infuriating her mother who made the crops wither and the earth barren. Zeus intervened and tried to bring Persephone back to the world of the living; however, Persephone ate the seeds of a pomegranate that Hades had given to her, binding her to him for one third of the year.

Lotus Eaters

Poppy were a race of people living on an island dominated by lotus plants. The lotus fruits and flowers were the primary food of the island and were a narcotic, causing the inhabitants to sleep in peaceful apathy. of them who ate the honey-sweet fruit of lotus was unwilling to take any message back, or to go away, but they wanted to stay there with the lotus-eating people, feeding on lotus, and forget the way home. (9.91-97)

Alcmene

Related to Perseus and Andromeda. Zeus pretends to be her husband and impregnates her with Heracles

Marduk

Simillar to zeus

Telemachus

Son of Odysseus When Penelope challenges the suitors to string Odysseus' bow and shoot an arrow through the handle-holes of twelve axeheads, Telemachus is the first to attempt the task. He would have completed the task, nearly stringing the bow on his fourth attempt; however, Odysseus subtly stops him before he can finish his attempt. Following the suitors' failure at this task, Odysseus reveals himself and he and Telemachus bring swift and bloody death to the suitors.[7]

Tiresias

Son of a shepherd and a nymph. Famous for clairvoiance, he would recieve visions. The blind prophet whose help Odysseus seeks in the Underworld.

Amphitryon

Step father of Heracles

Tecmessa

The daughter of the Phrygian king Teleutas, whose territory was ravaged by the Greeks during a predatory excursion from Troy. Tecmessa was made prisoner, and was given to Ajax, the son of Telamon, who lived with her as his wife, and had by her a son, Eurysaces.

Palinurus

They offered his life for to save many, but he actually falls offshore. He was actually killed in Italy

Pandora

The more famous version of the Pandora myth comes from another of Hesiod's poems, Works and Days. In this version of the myth (lines 60-105), Hesiod expands upon her origin, and moreover widens the scope of the misery she inflicts on humanity. As before, she is created by Hephaestus, but now more gods contribute to her completion (63-82): Athena taught her needlework and weaving (63-4); Aphrodite "shed grace upon her head and cruel longing and cares that weary the limbs" (65-6); Hermes gave her "a shameful mind and deceitful nature" (67-8); Hermes also gave her the power of speech, putting in her "lies and crafty words" (77-80) ; Athena then clothed her (72); next Persuasion and the Charites adorned her with necklaces and other finery (72-4); the Horae adorned her with a garland crown (75). Finally, Hermes gives this woman a name: Pandora - "All-gifted" - "because all the Olympians gave her a gift" (81). (In Greek, Pandora has an active rather than a passive meaning; hence, Pandora properly means "All-giving." The implications of this mistranslation are explored in "All-giving Pandora: mythic inversion?" below.) In this retelling of her story, Pandora's deceitful feminine nature becomes the least of humanity's worries. For she brings with her a jar (which, due to textual corruption in the sixteenth century, came to be called a box)[7][8] containing[9] "burdensome toil and sickness that brings death to men" (91-2), diseases (102) and "a myriad other pains" (100). Prometheus had (fearing further reprisals) warned his brother Epimetheus not to accept any gifts from Zeus. But Epimetheus did not listen; he accepted Pandora, who promptly scattered the contents of her jar. As a result, Hesiod tells us, "the earth and sea are full of evils" (101). One item, however, did not escape the jar

Anchises

Trojan father of Aeneas. He was carried out of the burning city in a scene that is often depicted in art. His father was in the Elysian fields

Semonides

Types of Women, sometimes translated simply as Women or rendered as Semonides 7, is an Archaic Greek satirical poem written by Semonides of Amorgos in the seventh century BCE. The poem is based on the idea that Zeus created men and women differently, and that he specifically created ten types of women based on different models from the natural world. Semonides' poem was influenced by Hesiod's story of Pandora, told in both his Works and Days and his Theogony. The poem survives due to its inclusion in Joannes Stobaeus' Anthology. Despite the poem's length and its interest as evidence as to early Greek attitudes towards women, it has received little scholarly attention and has generally been considered to be of little literary merit.

Choice of Heracles

Virtue vs Vice

Clytemnestra

Wife of Agamemnon. She was very upset when he sacrificed his daughter. In the Odyssey it is unclear if she actually killed Aga. but it is likely.

Eurydice

Wife of Orpheus. She stepped on a viper and died. Was almost out of the underworld but Orpheus looked at her

Iris

is the personification of the rainbow and messenger of the gods. She was the messenger to the gods during the titanomachy while her sister was messenger to the titans. She is kind of like Hermes but does not appear in the Odyssey

The Muses

are the inspirational goddesses of literature, science, and the arts in Greek mythology. They were considered the source of the knowledge embodied in the poetry, lyric songs, and myths that were related orally for centuries in these ancient cultures. They were later adopted by the Romans as a part of their pantheon.

Demodocus

is a poet who often visits the court of Alcinous, king of the Phaeacians on the island of Scherie. During Odysseus' stay on Scherie, Demodocus performs three narrative songs. Demodocus first appears at a feast in the hall of Alcinous, after he approved that Odysseus should be provided with a ship for a safe passage home. During the feast Demodocus sings about the disagreement between Odysseus and Achilles at Troy. Everyone enjoys the singing except for Odysseus who bursts into tears because of the pain and suffering of which the song reminds him. Odysseus would raise his cup and pour libations to the gods every time there was a pause in the singing but when Demodocus began again Odysseus would pull his cloak over his head to hide his tears.

Sophocles

is one of three ancient Greek tragedians whose plays have survived. His first plays were written later than those of Aeschylus, and earlier than or contemporary with those of Euripides. Sophocles wrote over 120 plays[3] during the course of his life, but only seven have survived in a complete form: Ajax,

Homer

is the name ascribed by the ancient Greeks to the legendary author of the Iliad and the Odyssey, two epic poems which are the central works of ancient Greek literature. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War, the ten-year siege of the city of Troy by a coalition of Greek states. It focuses on a quarrel between King Agamemnon and the warrior Achilles lasting a few weeks during the last year of the war. The Odyssey focuses on the journey home of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, after the fall of Troy. Many accounts of Homer's life circulated in classical antiquity, the most widespread being that he was a blind bard from Ionia, a region of central coastal Anatolia in present-day Turkey. Modern scholars consider them legends.[2][3][4] The Homeric Question—concerning by whom, when, where and under what circumstances the Iliad and Odyssey were composed—continues to be debated. Broadly speaking, modern scholarly opinion falls into two groups. One holds that most of the Iliad and (according to some) the Odyssey are the works of a single poet of genius. The other considers the Homeric poems to be the result of a process of working and re-working by many contributors, and that "Homer" is best seen as a label for an entire tradition.

Minos

was the first King of Crete, son of Zeus and Europa. He would offer sacrifice of Athenians. Minotaur is his half son

Nestor

was the wise King of Pylos described in Homer's Odyssey He and his sons, Antilochus and Thrasymedes, fought on the side of the Achaeans in the Trojan War. Though Nestor was already very old when the war began, he was noted for his bravery and speaking abilities. In the Iliad, he often gives advice to the younger warriors and advises Agamemnon and Achilles to reconcile. He is too old to engage in combat himself, but he leads the Pylian troops, riding his chariot, and one of his horses is killed by an arrow shot by Paris. He also had a solid gold shield. Homer frequently calls him by the epithet "the Gerenian horseman." At the funeral games of Patroclus, Nestor advises Antilochus on how to win the chariot race. Antilochus was later killed in battle by Memnon. In the Odyssey, Nestor and those who were part of his army had safely returned to Pylos since they did not take part in the looting of Troy upon the Greeks' victory in the Trojan War. Odysseus's son Telemachus travels to Pylos to inquire about the fate of his father. Nestor receives Telemachus kindly and entertains him lavishly but is unable to furnish any information on his father's fate. Also appearing in the Odyssey are Nestor's wife Eurydice and their remaining living sons: Echephron, Stratius, Aretus, Thrasymedes and Peisistratus. Nestor also had two daughters named Pisidice and Polycaste.

Io

was, in Greek mythology, one of the mortal lovers of Zeus. She was an ancestor of many kings and heroes such as Perseus, Cadmus, Heracles, Minos, Lynceus, Cepheus, and Danaus. The astronomer Simon Marius named a moon of Jupiter after Io in 1614.

The Fates

were the white-robed incarnations of destiny. They controlled the mother thread of life of every mortal from birth to death. They were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its course without obstruction. The gods and men had to submit to them, although Zeus's relationship with them is a matter of debate: some sources say he is the only one who can command them (the Zeus Moiragetes), yet others suggest he was also bound to the Moirai's dictates.