Part 1 & 2
The purpose of Greek and Roman mythology
The myths tell us the way the human race thought and felt ages ago
Anyone who looked at her would turn to stone.
Medusa
The goddesses Hera, Aphrodite, and Athena were feuding over who was the fairest, and would become the owner of the golden apple.
the Judgment of Paris
He brought all of the misfortunes on the house of Atreus
Tantalus, a King of Lydia
He wished that everything he touched would turn to gold. When he tried to eat, and his meal turned to gold, he realized the folly of his wish. He asked Bacchus to take the favor back, which he did
Midas
The first parents and their children
Heaven and Earth were the first parents.
The Titans (Cronus-Saturn, Ocean, Tethys, Hyperion, Mnemosyne, Themis, and Iapetus) were their children.
He threw a discus that accidentally swerved and killed his grandfather.
How Perseus killed his grandfather.
Paris shot an arrow at him. Apollo guided the arrow to his heel, which was his only vulnerable spot.
The punishment for feeding the gods human meat.
Whenever he stooped to drink, the water drained away. When he reached above to pick fruit from the tree, the wind tossed the fruit out of his reach.
They killed their husbands on their collective wedding night. They were sent to the underworld, where they had to try to carry water in jars filled with holes. They were forced to repeat this futile task time and time again
the Danaids
Hera’s personality
She was the protector of marriage. She was usually portrayed as angry and vindictive, mostly toward the many human females with whom Zeus fell in love
He established a government by the people, where all were equal.
Theseus
The cause of the Trojan War
Aphrodite took Paris to the most beautiful woman in the world. She was Helen, who lived in Greece and was married to King Menelaus of Sparta. Paris took her back to Troy with him. All of Helen’s former suitors allied with Menelaus to get her back.
She ordered the people of Thebes to worship her as a goddess. Apollo and Artemis were angered, and they shot all of Niobe’s children as she watched. Then they changed her into a stone
Niobe
Minerva challenged her to a contest. When it appeared that the girl’s work was as good as the goddess’s, Minerva beat her. Minerva revived the body and turned her into a spider.
Arachne
Zeus’ two brothers and where they ruled.
Poseidon (Neptune) ruled the sea, and Hades (Pluto) ruled the underworld and the dead
the strongest man on earth, and the great hero of the rest of Greece, except Athens.
Hercules
Athena disguised him as a beggar. He was able to make himself known to his son, Telemachus, and Eumaeus, a servant. Penelope had proposed that whomever could shoot his bow would be her next husband
Odysseus
Clytemnestra, killed him. She had never forgiven him for sacrificing their daughter.
Agamemnon
He told the river god that Zeus had carried away the god’s daughter. Zeus punished him by sending him to Hades and making him roll a rock uphill. The rock continually rolled back downhill.
Sisyphus
The Elysian Fields
A place of blessedness in the underworld where those who were good in life went.
Why did Hercules perform his twelve labors?
Hera had made him mad. He killed his wife and children
He was looking for a new place to live. He eventually ended up in Italy, and was believed to be the real founder of Rome. Cupid made Dido fall in love with him. He searched for the golden bough then went to the lower world to see his father.
Aeneas
He founded the city of Thebes. Was Turned into a Serpent showing that suffering was not always a punishment for evil, but that the innocent could also suffer.
Cadmus
The central theme of the Norse mythology.
Victory was possible in death, and courage was never defeated