Gods and Goddesses in Greek Mythology, Summaries of History

Download Gods and Goddesses in Greek Mythology and more Summaries History in PDF only on Docsity! |, UBRARY OF Ee ecko aid Gods and Goddesses in Greek Mythology Don Nardo 5 Introduction 7 Tales of Gods Walking on Earth Chapter One 13 Myths of the Major Greek Gods Chapter Two 25 Gods of the Sea, Sky, and Countryside Chapter Three 36 Deities Who Watched Over Cities Chapter Four 47 Heavenly Wrath for Human Folly Chapter Five 59 Th e Greek Gods in Western Culture Source Notes 70 For Further Research 73 Index 75 Picture Credits 79 About the Author 80 Contents 30 forge.” Hephaestos was able to punish his wife and her lover, Homer adds, because “the alert sun-god Helios had tipped him off .”18 Another dweller of the sky prominent in the Greek myths was Boreas, the purple-winged deity of the north wind. He also served as the god of winter; during January and February he used his icy breath to cool the air across the known world. In one of his myths he mar- Myth-Tellers’ Corner: Herodotus Born in about 484 BCE, Herodotus wrote the world’s  rst-known modern-style history book. Although he was a historian by trade, and therefore tried to deal with facts rather than tall tales, his text does contain references to and summaries of several myths. Herodotus traveled widely throughout the Mediterranean world to collect infor- mation for his book, and his descriptions of ancient Egypt and Meso- potamia during his time are priceless today. To his credit, Herodotus did not claim that any of the myths he cited were true. Yet he did admit his belief that the gods existed and intervened in human affairs. “Many things make it plain to me,” he writes, “that the hand of God is active in human affairs.” In addition to the story of the runner Phidippides’s meeting with the god Pan and various episodes from the Argonautica, Herodotus wrote about the abduction of Helen and other events from the mythical Trojan War; the exploits of Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes; and how the Cretan ruler King Minos kept a  esh-eating monster, the Minotaur, in a maze beneath his palace. Also, Herodotus said, Minos was descended from Europa, a maiden whom the god Zeus, disguised as a bull, carried from Palestine to Crete. Thus, although Herodotus did not necessarily believe that the myths he men- tioned actually occurred, he provided details that supplemented the writ- ings of the leading ancient myth-tellers, like Homer and Hesiod. Herodotus, Histories. Trans. Aubrey de Sélincourt. New York: Penguin, 1996, p. 116. ried Oreithyia, daughter of Athens’s early ruler Erechtheus. Among their offspring were Chione, the female deity of snow, and the winged twin warriors Calais and Zetes, two of Jason’s Argonauts. (Because they could fly, the brothers chased away the Harpies, hideous winged mon- sters who had been terrorizing an old man the Argonauts encountered.) Divine Nike, Bringer of Victory Still another sky deity, Nike, started out as one of four divine warriors who guarded Zeus’s splendid throne. But over time she emerged as the preeminent Greek goddess of victory. After that, she long remained an invisible but vital presence in Greek life. Indeed, in a sense the classical Nike, the goddess of victory, was called upon to help Greek warriors defeat their enemies in battle. In statues and other depictions of the goddess, she typically holds a laurel wreath, the symbol bestowed upon Greeks who won military victories or other nonmilitary contests. water trade route, it was only natural to have the lord of the seas as its patron. That god was thought to watch over the many Corinthian merchant ships that sailed off, bound for distant ports throughout the Mediterranean and Black Seas. People thought it was no accident, therefore, that Corinth became one of Greece’s premiere maritime and commercial powers during the classical period. Imported products from hundreds of cities—both Greek and non-Greek—poured into the Corinthian agora, its central marketplace, where thousands of people shopped daily. Every city- state had its own agora. But Corinth’s was one of the two or three largest in the Greek-speaking world, a reflection of the city’s remark- able prosperity. To thank Poseidon for making that success possible, the Corinthi- ans erected a massive temple to him in the midst of the urban center overlooking the isthmus. Meanwhile, the Athenians built temples to The Temple of Poseidon at Isthmia was dedicated to the sea god who both symbolized and watched over the maritime power of the Corinthians. The original temple was built in the seventh century BCE. It was rebuilt and expanded after a fire destroyed the structure in 470 BCE. 73 For Further Research Books Arthur Cotterell, Th e Illustrated A-Z of Classic Mythology. Leicester, UK: Lorenz, 2014. Kathleen N. Daly, Greek and Roman Mythology A to Z. New York: Chelsea House, 2009. Edith Hamilton, Mythology. New York: Grand Central, 2011. Caroline H. Harding and Samuel B. Harding, Greek Gods, Heroes, and Men. Bayside, NY: A.J. Cornell, 2014. Mark P.O. Morford and Robert J. Lenardon, Classical Mythology. New York: Oxford University Press, 2010. George O’Conner, Zeus, King of the Gods. New York: First Second, 2010. Liam Saxon, A Smart Kids Guide to Ancient Greek Gods and Goddesses. New York: CreateSpace, 2015. Kathleen Sears, Mythology 101: From Gods and Goddesses to Monsters and Mortals, Your Guide to Ancient Mythology. Fort Collins, CO: Ad- ams Media, 2014. Stephan Weaver, Greek Gods: Th e Olympians. New York: Amazon Dig- ital Services, 2015. Internet Sources Gods-and-Monsters.com, “Th e Greek God Hephaestus.” www.gods -and-monsters.com/greek-god-hephaestus.html. Greek Gods and Goddesses, “Zeus: Greek God of the Sky and King of the Gods.” http://greekgodsandgoddesses.net/gods/zeus. 75 Note: Boldface page numbers indicate illustrations. Achilles, 23, 33, 34 Acropolis, 37–38, 41, 46 Adkins, Lesley, 24 Aesop, 33 Aesop’s Fables, 33 Agamemnon, 58 Age of Heroes, 11, 13, 14, 37, 41 agoras, 40, 41 Amazonomachy, 44 Amazons, 44 anathema, 56 aner, 44 animal sacrifi ces, 46 Aphrodite, 18, 29–30 Apollo, 18–20, 24, 34, 36, 47, 48–49, 66 Arachne, 56, 57 archaeos, 11 Ares, 18, 29–30, 55 Argonautica, 21, 27–28, 33–34 Argonauts, 27–28, 31 Aristophanes, 35 arrogance, 52, 55–56, 57 Artemis, 18–19, 36 Asclepios, 20–21, 34 Athena myths about, 17–18, 21–22 as patron of Athens, 36, 37–38, 39, 45 temples of, 41–44, 45–46 in Western culture, 65–66, 67 wrath of, 47, 56, 57, 58 Athena Parthenos, 43, 67 Athens, 21, 37–38, 44–46 Atlas, 27 Atreus, 58 Augustus, 51 Barrie, J.M., 68 Bernini, Gian Lorenzo, 61 bios, 25–26 Th e Blessing of Pan (Dunsany), 68 Boreas, 30–31, 33 Bowra, C.M., 8–9, 11, 36, 47 Bronze Age, 10 Cadmus, 7, 30 Calais, 31 cannibalism, 56–57 Centauromachy, 44 centaurs, 32–33, 34, 44 Centennial Park, 65 Cetus, 22 Chaos, 16 Chione, 31 Chiron, 32–34, 34 Christianity, 59–60 Cima de Conegliano, 66 city deities, 36–46 city-states, 11, 17, 21, 36 Clash of the Titans, 64 classical Greeks, 8, 10, 11 Clytemnestra, 58 coinage, 66 Columbia University, 65 Corinth, 39–41 Coronis, 19–20 cosmos, 17 country gods, 32–35 Court of Pan (Signorelli), 66 creation myths, 16 Index 76 Crete, 10, 17 Cronos, 17 cultural amnesia, 10–11 Dante, 60 Dark Age, 10–11, 21 deities. See gods and goddesses Delos, 18 Delphic oracle, 48–49, 52, 53 Demeter, 17, 22–24, 35 democracy, 44 demos, 37 destiny, 50 Dionysus, 9, 15, 53–55 divine retribution, 47–58 divine will, 50, 52 Dossi, Dosso, 61 Dunsany, Lord, 68 Earth Mother, 41 Eleusinian Mysteries, 24 Eleusis, 23–24 epic poems, 11–12, 16 Erechtheum, 41 Erechtheus, 31, 45 Europa, 30 fate, 50 festivals. See religious festivals films, 62–65, 64 Four Rivers Fountain, 61 Freeman, Charles, 45 Gaea, 41 gamos, 49 genesis, 26 Gigantomachy, 42, 44 gods and goddesses. See also specific gods and goddesses bond between humans and, 13–16 characteristics of the, 13–14 of cities, 36–46 in film, 62–65 human features of the, 12 myths of the major, 13–24 of natural world, 25–35 Olympians, 14–24 retribution by, 47–58 standard portrayals of, 11–12 in Western culture, 59–69 Golden Fleece, 21, 27–28, 62 Grant, Michael, 51 The Great God Pan (Machen), 68 Greece Bronze Age, 10 city-states, 11, 17, 21, 36 classical, 8, 10, 11 Dark Age, 10–11, 21 role of women in, 44–45 greed, 53–55 Greenough, Horatio, 61 gyne, 45, 46 Hades, 17, 22, 55 Hamilton, Edith, 15–16 Harpies, 31 Harryhausen, Ray, 63 hearths, 24 Hecatompedon, 41–43 Helios, 29–30, 33, 36 Hephaestos, 18, 23, 29–30, 45 Hera, 7–8, 14–15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 36 Heracles (Hercules), 22, 26–27, 45 Hermes, 18, 22, 55, 61, 63 Herodotus, 12, 28, 30, 35, 52 heroes, 11 Herzberg, Max J., 69 Hesiod, 12, 16 Hesione, 22 Hesperides, 27 Hestia, 17, 22–24 Homer, 11–12, 23, 29–30 Iliad (Homer), 11, 23 immortality, 14 impiety, 58 Ingres, Jean-Auguste-Dominique, 61 Iskhys, 19 Jason, 27–28, 33–34