Imogen’s guide to Greek Mythology

Introduction

The ancient Greek civilisation stretched across the Mediterranean, but all parts and sides shared lots of the same hero’s and gods. The stories that are told about these figures are called Greek Myths. Myths helped the ancient Greeks to understand the world around them.

This was something I found out very quickly when I started learning about mythology, but luckily for us these stories that are told will keep on going and going and become a popular tradition.

The creation

The first and most powerful of all gods to spring from Chaos was Gaia-the earth. Gaia alone created the spiralling mountains where the rest of the gods would eventually live, as well as the shining sea, which lay over all the land. She also made the god Ouranos, or the Heavens, to rest above her. The next to appear from Chaos was Tartarus, the underworld, and Eros or love. Finally, Chaos created Erebos, or darkness, and Nyx the knight. Erebos and Nyx created Aether together, and these were the first of the gods.

The Olympian gods

There are 12 main Olympian Gods, these are Zeus the king of the gods, Hera the queen of the gods, Aphrodite the goddess of love and beauty, Artemis the goddess of the hunt and the moon, Poseidon the god of the sea, Athena the goddess of strategic war, Hades the god of the underworld, Apollo the god of art and music, Demeter the goddess of nature, Hephaestus the god of blacksmiths, fire and forges, Dionysus the god of art and wine and finally Ares the god of war.

Zeus and Hera

Zeus is married to Hera the queen of the gods and together Zeus and Hera rule Mount Olympus and the Olympian Gods. Zeus is a majestic symbol of maturity and strength, and Hera has a symbol of peacock for it is an ancient symbol of pride. Zeus’s weapon is thunder bolts and lightning. His parents are Cronus and Rhea. Zeus has an amazing power to change himself into any form; can banish others to the underworld or bestow immortality.

Aphrodite and Hephaestus

Aphrodite and Hephaestus are married although this marriage is not through choice. Aphrodite really loves Ares the god of war. Hephaestus was born ugly so his parents threw him in the sea, so he lived and survived there for 9 years!  Aphrodite was brought to life on foam on the sea and was in a scallop shell, there for the scallop shell is one of her four symbols including a red rose, because when Aphrodite pricked her finger on a white rose the blood changed the colour of the white rose red. Her third symbol is a dove because Aphrodite’s worshippers purified her temples by sacrificing a dove and her final symbol is the golden apple; because the golden apple was a prize awarded to her for being the most beautiful god.

Artemis and Apollo

Artemis and Apollo are twins, Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and the moon and Apollo is the god of music and art. Apollo was known to be very independent and neither of them are married or in love. Artemis loved punishing hunters who killed more game than they needed to eat. Artemis’s symbols are dog, deer, bird and cypress tree. she has a responsibility of protecting women, animals and cities. Her only weapon is a silver bow and arrow and her parents are Zeus and Leto.

Posieden and Hades

Zeus, Hades and Posieden are brothers. Zeus is the king of the gods,  Hades is the god of the underworld and Poseidon is the god of the sea. Poseidon is one of the most bad-tempered and moody gods and Hades is strangely into death.

Athena

Athena is the goddess of stratejic war, creativity and mathematics. She was known to be Zeus’s favourite daughter and Zeus had around 10 daughters. Athena was born through a disgusting process for she sprang to life through her fathers forhead.

Demeter

Demeter is the goddess of nature and the guardian of marriage. She has a hobby of disguising herself as an old woman, Demeter roamed the earth rewarding some cities with good harvests and punishing others with a poor harvest.

She is able to make plants and trees grow and die. As a fun fact, Demeter created the four seasons.

Dionysus

Dionysus is the god of wine. This time Zeus gave birth to Dionysus through his leg. Zeus happened to be flying overhead in the shape of an eagle and when he spotted Semele, he immediately fell madly in love. He changed to a mortal shape to speak to her. Semele was overwhelmed by seeing Zeus in his godly form.

Ares

Ares is the god of war and in battles he would only help the side that craved blood. Ares loved blood. Even though he was very handsome he didn’t get it easy with marrige. When Ares got into a meltdown no one could calm him down exept for the goddess of love and beuty Aphrodite.

Summary and future stories

I find the Greek Myths really interesting and can’t wait to continue learning about the mischief and mayhem they got up to.

I hope you found this a useful and informative guide, I would love to hear from you in the comments section below.

Until next time …