In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life. They explained everything from religious rituals to the weather, and they gave meaning to the world people saw around them.
http://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology
The Theogony tells the story of the universe’s journey from nothingness (Chaos, a primeval void) to being, and details an elaborate family tree of elements, gods and goddesses who evolved from Chaos and descended from Gaia (Earth), Ouranos (Sky), Pontos (Sea) and Tartaros (the Underworld).
mythological figures and events appear in the 5th-century plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and the lyric poems of Pindar. Writers such as the 2nd-century BC Greek mythographer Apollodorus of Athens and the 1st-century BC Roman historian Gaius Julius Hyginus compiled the ancient myths and legends for contemporary audiences.
The twelve main Olympians are:
- Zeus (Jupiter, in Roman mythology): the king of all the gods (and father to many) and god of weather, law and fate
- Hera (Juno): the queen of the gods and goddess of women and marriage
- Aphrodite (Venus): goddess of beauty and love
- Apollo (Apollo): god of prophesy, music and poetry and knowledge
- Ares (Mars): god of war
- Artemis (Diana): goddess of hunting, animals and childbirth
- Athena (Minerva): goddess of wisdom and defense
- Demeter (Ceres): goddess of agriculture and grain
- Dionysos (Bacchus): god of wine, pleasure and festivity
- Hephaistos (Vulcan): god of fire, metalworking and sculpture
- Hermes (Mercury): god of travel, hospitality and trade and Zeus’s personal messenger
- Poseidon (Neptune): god of the sea
Other gods and goddesses sometimes included in the roster of Olympians are:
- Hades (Pluto): god of the underworld
- Hestia (Vesta): goddess of home and family
- Eros (Cupid): god of sex and minion to Aphrodite
Pandora, the first woman, whose curiosity brought evil to mankind;
Narcissus, the young man who fell in love with his own reflection–are just as significant.
Greek mythology is colorful, individualistic, amazingly diversified, and rationalistic. It displays a culture where personal honor is paramount and in which conflict is always present. Homer is both ebullient and stark in the way he depicts war. He delights in his senses, in courage and prowess, but he also shows the horrors of death. He is casual toward the gods, admiring their might but laughing at their human antics. Opposed to him is the early poet Hesiod, fierce, pious, a bit naive, but full of powerful conviction in the gods. He dislikes Homer's irreverent attitude. However, Homer's Iliad and Odyssey and Hesiod'sTheogony contribute much to our knowledge of Greek myths.
The Homeric Hymns, recorded from 700 B.C. to about 450 B.C., were poems in praise of various gods that told of their various exploits. Pindar, a lyrical poet of the late sixth century B.C., wrote Odescelebrating the winners of Greek festivals in which myths were referred to or explicitly told. Pindar was as pious as Hesiod, but he expurgated the brutal elements and rationalized the myths for a more sophisticated audience.http://www.cliffsnotes.com/literature/m/mythology/critical-essays/a-brief-look-at-mythology
Eros, along with Gaea, was the child of Chaos in early Greek mythology. He represented the creative principle of attraction that brings beings together, establishes friendships and marriages, creates cities, and so on. In later myths he was the son of Aphrodite and represented lust.
Zeus was the supreme deity of the Greeks and was depicted as a robust, mature man with a flowing beard. At first a storm-god who wielded the thunderbolt, Zeus became the All-Father who populated the heavens and the earth by his promiscuous liaisons; and he finally became the grand dispenser of justice. His palace was on Mount Olympus, together with the homes of the other Olympians. Jupiterand Jove were his Latin names.
Hera was the jealous wife and sister of Zeus, the protectress of marriage and childbirth. In several myths she was quite vindictive toward those with whom Zeus fell in love. Her Latin name was Juno.
Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty, was either born of the sea-foam or was the daughter of Zeus. She represented sex, affection, and the power of attraction that binds people together. According to some myths Hephaestus was her husband, Ares her lover, and Eros her son. Aphrodite's Latin counterpart was Venus, a more erotic goddess.
Iris was the goddess of the rainbow and sometimes a messenger of the gods.
The Nine Muses were part of Apollo's retinue and were the daughters of Mnemosyne, or memory. These were goddesses of inspiration: Clioof history, Melpomene of tragedy, Urania of astronomy, Thalia of comedy, Terpsichore of dance, Calliope of epic poetry, Erato of love verse, Euterpe of lyric poems, and Polyhymnia of sacred songs.
Persephone was the lovely daughter of Zeus and Demeter, a goddess of springtime. After Hades abducted her she became the queen of the underworld. Proserpina was her Latin name.
The Gorgons were three hideous dragonish sisters that could change men to stone at a glance. Medusa was the most famous one.
The Sirens were sisters who sat on rocks by the sea and lured sailors to their doom by singing to them.
Mnemosyne was the Titaness of memory and the mother of the Muses. Zeus fathered the Muses
The TITANIDES were the six earth-goddess daughters of Heaven (Ouranos) and Earth (Gaia). They were the female counterparts of the Titanes, the primal gods of time, divinities of both Heaven and the Tartarean pit, the cosmic inverse of heaven.
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