They supplied Gaia with life and Uranus with stars. Man and the animals were two things Earth did not have. Prometheus and Epimetheus were Zeus? sons. Zeus told them to go to earth and create men and animals, and Zeus would give them a gift. Prometheus worked on men, and Epimetheus worked on animals. They gave a gift to each animal and men. However, when Prometheus was looking for a gift for man, Epimetheus used up all the gifts. Because of this, Prometheus gave man fire, which only gods were supposed to have and use.
The next morning, Prometheus took the fire, and taught his men how to take care of it, and then he left them. When Zeus discovered this, his son was chained to a mountain, and a vulture would eat his liver everyday forever. After this, he tried to make a plan to punish man for this.
Another one of Zeus? sons created Pandora. Pandora was beautiful, and each of the gods and goddesses gave her a gift. Curiosity and a box were what Zeus gave Pandora. She then got married to Epimetheus. She was happy with him, but she wanted to open the box Zeus gave her. She thought that the box had glorious gifts. One day, when Epimetheus was gone, she opened the box. Out came the horrors of the world today- pain, sickness, envy, and greed.
When Epimetheus heard the screams, Epimetheus rushed home to close the box, but it was too late. Later that day, they heard a voice. ?Let me out. I am hope.? They released her, and she flew out to give hope to mankind.
Mythology: Olympians Duties
The Olympians were the major Greek goddess and gods who lived on Mount Olympus. We?re going to talk about their duties. The first god we are going to talk about is Zeus. He was the king of gods, and the ruler of Mount Olympus. Hera was the wife of Zeus, the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Poseidon was the ruler of the sea. Hades was the ruler of the underworld, and riches. Demeter was the goddess of harvest. Hestia was the goddess of hearth, fire, and home. Ares was the god of war. Hephaestus was the god of fire, and blacksmiths. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty.
Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom. Artemis was the god of hunting and moon. Apollo was the god of the sun, music, and poetry. Dionysus was the god of wine and merriment. Finally, Hermes was the god of messenger, commerce, and travel. The Greeks had many gods and goddesses for different parts of their lives.
Mythology: The Story of Arachne
In Greek mythology, I find the stories very interesting. The gods act like humans, and are jealous, wanting more and acting competitive, just like we are! The story we are going to talk about today is how Arachne challenged the goddess Athena to a weaving contest. Arachne lived in Hypaipa of Lydia.
Arachne began to brag that she could beat Athena. When Athena heard of this, she was angry. Athena disguised herself as an old woman. She warned Arachne not to challenge her. Arachne did not know that was secretly Athena, and she wished to challenge her. Soon, she dropped her disguise, and the contest began. Athena wove a scene. This was when she won the city of Athens over Poseidon. Arachne wove a tapestry showing the infidelity of the gods.
After this, Athena was mad. She was mad because she chose a disrespectful choice of subjects. When she lost her temper, Athena destroyed and hurt Arachne. She destroyed her tapestry and loom, and hit her on the head. (Ouch!) She was ashamed of herself. She then hung herself. After this, Athena took pity. She sprinkled her with juices of aconite, which loosened the rope, and became a cobweb. This changed Arachne to a spider. The lesson of the story is not to brag about yourself.
Literature: Homer?s Epics
Homer was a famous epic writer. He wrote many epic poems. He had two major epic poems. One of them was the Iliad, which was about the Trojan War. The Iliad is famous for depictions of famous characters. One of the characters was Achilles. When he was born, his mom dipped him in a river that would allow him to live forever, but he had one weak spot, the heel that his mother held as she dipped him. He later died. An interesting fact, is that they actually used these books to find the ruins of Troy. They confirmed a real war happened, but it didn?t happen exactly of what the Iliad told us.
Another one of Homer?s epics was the Odyssey. The Odyssey describes the adventures of Odysseus, after the Trojan War. The gods determined the trip home should take about 10 years. They helped him, and worked against him during that time. These epic poems still influence us today! ?Achilles heel? means the persons weakest area. Even today we still use ideas from the ancient literature.
Literature: Aesop?s Fables
Aesop has many famous fables. A fable is a short story, involving animals, that tells a moral lesson. Have you ever heard of ?The Hare and the Tortoise?? Well, you probably didn?t know that Aesop wrote this! The hare and tortoise was about a race. The hare took a nap, because he thought the tortoise was too slow. The tortoise kept going and going, at a slow, but steady pace. By the time the hare woke up, the tortoise was already at the finish line. The fables taught many lessons, and the lesson of this fable was to have patience.
Literature: History
The Greeks were the first to write down their history. Herodotus and Thucydides were the most famous ancient Greek history writers. Herodotus was called the ?Father of History?. He was interested in recording events. He was born in 484 B.C. and died in 425 B.C. One of his most famous accounts was his book called History, which was about the Persian Wars. Thucydides wrote the history of the Peloponnesian War. He used numerous ways to make sure his accounts were accurate, by using eyewitness and first hand accounts. This set a standard for writing history.
