MYTHOLOGY

What is a myth?Myth comes from Greek word mythos (a legend or story)-It is a collection of stories often based on what

people think is true.-Myths can be complex in meaning. -Myths do more than explain.

How do we know them?

They are passed on by:• Story telling

• Dance• Rituals• Dramas• artwork

Common themes

• Creation of the world-Many myths have the world start out as an egg or ocean.-Tears from a Creator-Mud or an object

• A guide for living-Aborigines of Australia used myths to create their laws.-Greeks used myths to show how to act as people

Themes cont.

• Explaining death and afterlife.-Egyptians connected the path of Ra with the afterlife

Creation of the World• Vikings- Fire and Ice

Fire meets ice and the dripping became the first people

• Japanese- a god and wife “stir” the ocean with a

spear to create 1st island

• Persians- two spirits Ahura Mazda and Ahriman

-one good, one bad existed from the start.

-Ahura Mada made the world and Men

America

• Native Americans- world on a turtle’s back

• 1st woman fell from the sky

• Toad living in water dived down, got mud, put it on turtle’s back and made first land and place for that woman

The Olympic Gods and Myths

Mythology

• Titans- Race of gods before the Olympians• Muses- Goddesses of music and the arts• Oracles- told the future in riddles• Greek gods had lots of “titles”

– Athena- “gray-eyed” “bright-eyed”– Zeus- “broad-browed”, “dark-misted”– Artemis- “goddess of wild things”

Greek beginnings

• Greeks- Earth(Gaea) was a disk floating on water with a Oceanus (a river) around it.

• Gaea is the Earth goddess. She had children with her brother Uranus, then later with a son Cronus.

• She was connected to early god worship in the beginning of farming times.

The Titans

• “The Titans, also known as the elder gods, ruled the earth before the Olympians overthrew them. The ruler of the Titans was Cronus who was de-throned by his son Zeus. Most of the Titans fought with Cronus against Zeus and were punished by being banished to Tartarus.”

• http://edweb.sdsu.edu/people/bdodge/scaffold/gg/titan.htmls planets.

The Beginning• Gaea (Earth)• Marries Uranus (Sky)• They have the Titans- 6 girls, 6 boys• ……then later they have the Cyclopes(lightning, thunder,

thunderbolt)• ……then later the 50 headed-100 arms monsters• Uranus thinks these Cyclopes and monsters are ugly…and sends • them to Tartarus - a deep pit below the Underworld.• Gaea gets mad and gets one of her Titan sons Cronus to scare away

Uranus.• She then remarries …Pontus(Seas)•  Out of this happy marriage comes the forests, small creatures,

rivers, •  and Man on earth

• Cronus marries Rhea-• He knows one day he might have a son who gets rid

of him so he swallows all of his children.• Rhea with Gaea’s help hides her sixth child, Zeus in a

cave.• Wood nymphs and a goat raise Zeus. He eventually

gets old enough to leave • and then confronts Cronus.• -Cronus vomits up the other titan children - Demeter,

Hestia, Hera, Posidon, Hades-• -When Cronus sees how powerful Zeus has become

he flees and surrenders his powers.

• - Zeus then had problems with the former Titans. • They wanted to rule too.• -The Titans Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus

left the Titans and help Zeus . Prometheus could see

into the future. • -Zeus overthrows the Titans in a huge battle and

chains them up in various places.• -Prometheus is a little angry at how his friends are

treated so he betrays Zeus by giving Mankind fire.• -Zeus punishes Prometheus and Epimetheus

Greek Mythology family tree

http://www.ancientgreece.com/s/Mythology/

Greek Gods and Goddesses

• Pantheism- belief that all forces in the world are gods or goddesses-Satyrs, nymphs, maidens

• Idealized traits of the Gods and Goddesses– Apollo- “the most Greek of them all”- the ideal

attributes of mind and body; young, handsome, athletic and intelligent and skilled.

• Hubris- excessive pride

Myth summaries

4-W’s• What- What are main themes, reasons• Who- what are the main characters• Where- locations• Wow factor- What are some features of it that

you would remember?

Prometheus

• The story of fire • Main elements- fire,

revenge, seeing into the future

• Why did Prometheus do it?

• Was he a hero or a villain or both?

• Does he know Man will one day not need Gods?

• What would you do?

Pandora’s Box

• Gift from Hermes• Greed, Slander, Envy,

other miseries• Pandora as a gift from

Zeus to Epimetheus• Epimetheus-brother to

Prometheus• (see handout on

Deucalion myth)

Pandora’s Box-cont.

• Myth of Deucalion follows Pandora’s Box. It Includes a story of a flood by Zeus to get rid of humans

• Deucalion resembles Noah as he builds an ark.

• Idea of casting stones over shoulder to make new mortals

(see handout)

The Big Flood

• The Story of Deucalion and Pyrrha

• (see your handout)

Origin of the Seasons

• Demeter, Persephone, Hades

• Explains what phenomena besides cycle of seasons and famines?

• Persephone=“Kore”= word for corn. In Europe means any grain.

• 7 months/5 months

Arachne

• She tried to hang herself but Minerva got her down. Why?

• Why did Minerva change her into a spider?

• Where does a spider sit on its web?

• Why do we think of most spiders as female?

Arachne

• Arachne, Athena (Minerva)

• Themes –- “Hubris”-Spiders, webs-MetamorphosisWhat scenes did Arachne

weave and why was that not “smart”?

Baucis and Philemon

• Baucis, Philemon, Jupiter(Zeus), Mercury(Hermes)

• Virtues emphasized• Hospitality, humility,

deference• What is the

metamorphosis and is a reward or curse?

The Underworld

• (from Read aloud Myths and legends)• The River Styx, • Acheron- the river of pain• Cocytus- the river of groans• Phlegethon- the river of fire• Lethe- the river of forgetfulness

Underworld

• Hades• Charon- ferryman• Payment in coins• Journey across the Styx one

would see monsters, dead souls

• Other common sights• The three Furies• The Keres (Hounds of Hell)

which chase down those trying to flee

• Gates of Hades kingdom guarded by Cerberus

Underworld

• No living person allowed in except in a few myths

• Judged this way• A) angered the gods you

went to Tartarus-punished there

• B) Glorious lives- went to Elysian Fields- sunshine, plenty of food, beautiful meadows

• Rare for souls to appear directly before Hades.

• Sometimes Persephone would get Hades to intervene and show mercy on a soul

The Furies

Other classical myth monsters

Cyclops dealing with Ulysses

I am going to eat this little fellow

Homer's brief description in the Iliad of the Chimera is the earliest surviving literary reference:

"a thing of immortal make, not human, lion-fronted and snake behind, a goat in the middle, and snorting out the breath of the terrible flame of bright fire".

The Chimera

Other Greek mythology “monsters”

The Furies• “In Greek and Roman mythology, the

Furies were female spirits of justice and vengeance. They especially went after people who had murdered family members.Tthe Furies punished their victims by driving them mad. When not punishing wrongdoers on earth, they lived in the Underworld and tortured those punished souls down there. “

• Read more: Furies - Myth Encyclopedia - mythology, Greek, god, names, ancient, Roman, king, people, children, evil, culture http://www.mythencyclopedia.com/Fi-Go/Furies.html#ixzz0gUZ6Ho0v

MEDUSA“Medusa was originally a beautiful maiden, but when she was seduced by Poseidon in Athena's temple, she became furious and changed her beautiful hair into serpents and made her face so terrible to look at that the sight of it would turn a man to stone. She was beheaded by the hero Perseus.”

(www.flickr.com/photos/mypixbox/3770599178)

HARPIESRazor-clawed, smelly birds with the faces of women, who messed up the food of King Phineus of Salmydessus. The king was so grateful to the Argonauts for ridding him of these pests that he suggested a way that Jason and his shipmates might avoid being crushed to death by the “Clashing Rocks. “

http://www.mythweb.com/encyc/entries/harpies.html

Look for me under

your bed….

The Python“In some myths the infant Apollo slew Python at the oracle of Gaea in Delphi; in others Apollo killed the serpent in order to claim the oracle for himself.” http://answers.encyclopedia.com/question/greek-mythology-killed-python-401734.html

The Sphinx“THE SPHINX (or Phix) was a female monster with the body of a lion, the breast and head of a woman, eagle's wings and, according to some, a serpent-headed tail.She was sent by the gods to terrorize the town of Thebes as punishment for some ancient crime. There she ate all the young people who could not solve her. Kreon, the then leader of Thebes, offered the kingship of Thebes to any man who could destroy her. Oedipus accepted the challenge, and when he solved the Sphinx's riddle, she threw herself off a mountainside in despair. http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.theoi.com/image/img_sphinx.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.theoi.com/Ther/Sphinx.html&usg=__7rSJnsXSs8dvbHUZ6yfY8DHni74=&h=329&w=280&sz=23&hl=en&start=4&sig2=LRdldovCjy--ZmVK2PVjeQ&itbs=1&tbnid=gNruZfJnBNuZAM:&tbnh=119&tbnw=101&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dthe%2Bsphinx%2B%252B%2Bgreek%2Bmythology%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=YaGFS5rSHYSuNdmyiTQ

Riddle of the Sphinx“In Greek mythology, the Sphinx sat outside of Thebes and asked a riddle of all travelers who passed by. If the traveler failed to solve the riddle, then the Sphinx killed him/her. And if the traveler answered the riddle correctly, then the Sphinx would destroy herself.

The riddle:What goes on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening?Oedipus solved the riddle, and the Sphinx destroyed herself.

The solution: A man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, walks on two legs as an adult, and walks with a cane in old age.

Of course morning, noon, and night are metaphors for the times in a man's (person's) life. Such metaphors are common in riddles. There were two Thebes, apparently this Thebes was the one in Greece. And this Sphinx was apparently not the one at Giza, in Egypt.”

http://www.jimloy.com/puzz/sphinx0.htm

Typhon“TYPHOEUS (or Typhon) was a monstrous immortal storm-giant who was defeated and imprisoned by Zeus in the pit of Tartaros. He created terrible storms. Typhoeus ‘s head touched the stars. He appeared man-shaped down to the thighs, with two coiled vipers in place of legs. Attached to his hands in place of fingers were a hundred serpent heads, fifty per hand. He had wings, with dirty matted hair and a beard, pointed ears, and eyes flashing fire. Some myths say he had two hundred hands each with fifty serpents for fingers and a hundred heads, one in human form with the rest being heads of bulls, boars, serpents, lions and leopards. He hurled red-hot rocks at the sky and storms of fire boiled from his mouth. He scared the Gods but Zeus defeated him.”

http://images.google.com/imgres?imgurl=http://www.theoi.com/image/img_typhon.jpg&imgrefurl=http://www.theoi.com/Gigante/Typhoeus.html&usg=__1oxdYhX8naDKFgmemA1fIbHWaBk=&h=262&w=356&sz=36&hl=en&start=7&sig2=xRlfcZY4-zcWBRijLGB2BQ&um=1&itbs=1&tbnid=_AjaRJ6X9ChN8M:&tbnh=89&tbnw=121&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dtyphon%2Band%2Bzeus%2Band%2Bgreek%2Bmythology%26um%3D1%26hl%3Den%26safe%3Dactive%26gbv%3D2%26tbs%3Disch:1&ei=vaOFS_P1CqDMNNzk1TQ

Achilles Heel

• Achilles Heel incident- Achilles in the Trojan

War- -How did he die?

-What is the tibial vein?

Phaethon• Helios, Phaethon• Have you ever made a promise in

haste and regretted it?• Wisdom of father loses to

foolishness of son• Themes:- Youthful over-enthusiasm- Artic regions- Desert regions- Dark skin of Africans- Closure:- Do you have a Phaethon”

experience?

*See additional handout on Phaethon myth

Orpheus

• Orpheus, Calliope, Apollo, Eurydice, Hades, Cerberus, Persephone, Zeus,Contellation Lyra

• What lessons might be gained from this myth?

• What other stories do you know that have a lesson about “looking back”?

**See additional handout on Orpheus

Wait! I hear my friends

Icarus and Daedalus

• Icarus, Daedalus, King Minos

• Lesson to youth= -Listen the advice of your

elders.-What is there to admire

about Icarus?-What lesson is learned

about obedience to the laws of nature?

Hercules

• What are the labors he had to do? List them.

• Which labors had to do with using his “smarts”?

• Compare and Contrast Hercules with Prometheus.

• What would be a list of labors given to a “modern day” Hercules?

I like

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puppy

Hercules -labors 1 and 2

Nemean lion Hydra

1st Labor2nd Labor

Hercules’ third labor

Stag of Artemis

Hercules- labors 4 and 5

Cleaning the Augean stables

4th Labor5th Labor

Killing the great boar

Hercules’ 6th labor

Battling the Stymphalian birds

Hercules labors 7 and 8

Man eating mares of DiomedesBull of Poseidon

8th Labor7th Labor

Hercules labors 9 and 109th Labor 10th Labor

Battling GeryonGirdle of Hippolyta

Hercules labors 11 and 1212th Labor

CerberusApples of Hesperides

11th Labor

More Hercules adventures

Wrestling the giant Antaeus

Fighting Acheolus ( in the form of a bull)

Hercules frees Prometheus

The death of Hercules

Modern Day Hercules- Joe Flynn with a “big” dog !

Modern Day Hercules

What you looking at shrimp?…

Atalanta

• Atalanta, King of Arcadia• Her previous boyfriend was killed

for defending her against various evil men

• She did not want to marry anyone thinking it would be a betrayal to her dead boyfriend.

• She devised the race as a way to appease her father.

• Losers of a race against her were executed

• **SEE HANDOUT***

• She found Hippomenes attractive and asked him not to race her. She was afraid for him to lose.

• Why did Aphrodite help Hippomenes trick Atalanta?

• What does this myth say about women and men?

*see additional handout on Atalanta

Echo and Narcissus

• Echo, Zeus, Hera, Narcissus, Nemesis,

• Explains what natural phenomenon?

• What is a “narcissus”?• “Narcissist”

I love me

King Midas

• Midas, Dionysus, Midas’ daughter

• The “Midas Touch”• What is the lesson to be

learned from this myth?

The “Midas Touch”

-The desire for riches should not rule your life. Family, friendship, love are more “golden” traits to have in life.

Test Review

• Know the basic story lines of myths in our book, handouts, and the information from our independent projects given in class.

Classical mythology report

• What