The rest of the Olympians were children of Zeus.

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download "The rest of the Olympians were children of Zeus."

Grant Mosley
5 years ago
Views:

2 The Olympians Most accounts also list Aphrodite, goddess of love, among the Olympians although she is of an older generation. She is often seen accompanied by her son, Eros (or lust), whom we call Cupid today. The rest of the Olympians were children of Zeus. Zeus married his sister, Hera, who bore him Ares (the god of war) and Hephaistos (god of the forge). Zeus also slept with Leto, who bore him two children, Apollo and Artemis. The domains of these two gods are slightly harder to pin down.

3 The Olympians Artemis was goddess of the hunt and of wild places, but also a goddess of virginity and of transitions (childbirth, weddings, rites of passage and the like.) Apollo is even trickier to define. He was god of the lyre, of art, of shepherds, of archery, of medicine and of disease. Apollo's most important role was as a god of prophesy, who delivered cryptic oracles from his shrine at Delphi. Zeus' other daughter, Athena, was born of less conventional means. Zeus ate the Goddess Mentis (literally, a mind). This gave him a terrible headache.

4 The Olympians Desperate for relief, he asked Hephaistos to crack his head open with a hammer. From the head of Zeus, sprung Athena. Like her siblings, Athena wears many hats. First and foremost, she is the patron goddess of wisdom. She is also the goddess of crafts, of cities and the goddess of heroes. Another son of Zeus was Hermes, who delights in mischief. Hermes was the god of trickery, of travelers, of crossroads, of thieves, of athletes and of inventors.

5 The Olympians Hermes was the messenger of the gods and also played the important role of escorting the souls of the dead from the Earth above to the underworld below. Zeus' final son, Dionysus, is one of the strangest deities of the Greek pantheon. At his most basic, Dionysus is the god of wine, of the theatre and of dancing. In this sense, Dionysus is the god of having a good time. Yet there is more to Dionysus than just getting wasted and partying. Dionysus is the god of everything animal in man.

6 The Olympians Compare this to Apollo, who provides a counterpoint by representing everything civilized in man. Syncretism Dionysus was probably a borrowed god, taken from the Egyptian cult of Isis and Osiris. Like the Egyptians, the Greeks practiced syncretism, combining similar gods into one. When they met a foreign god, they combined him with the closest match in their own pantheon. They also practice syncretism with their own gods, so that Demeter, Rhea and Gaia are often interchangeable in Greek Myth.

7 Those are the main gods of the Greeks. The Demigods Yet, the Greeks did not limit their worship to gods. They also worshipped heroes, who were almost inevitably demigods - the children of a mortal and an immortal. Each Greek hero exemplifies a virtue, which the Greeks called arete. This arete allows them to overcome some trial, or pathos, and prove themselves. Most of these heroes come from the Iliad and the Odyssey. Others have myths all their own. Noble Theseus volunteered to be a sacrifice to the Minotaur, only to kill the monster and free Athens from oppressive Minoan rule.

8 The Demigods Clever Perseus slew Medusa by showing her, her own reflection. Talented Orpheus traveled to the underworld to recover his lost love. Beautiful Jason retrieved the Golden Fleece by wooing the sorceress Medea to his cause. Yet, perhaps the most famous of these heroes is mighty Heracles. His story bears closer inspection. As a demigod, Heracles hopes for immortality. Yet, as an illegitimate child of Zeus, he is hated by Zeus' wife, Hera.

9 The Demigods Hera makes Heracles go through a series of incredible trials to prove himself worthy to join the company of the gods. After passing through these tests, Heracles is rewarded. Instead of going to the underworld to suffer with everyone else, Heracles gets to go to a nice, wonderful place where his every desire will be met. Thus, historically speaking, Heracles is the first person to go to heaven. It was not until much later that mere mortals, without any divine pedigree, could hope to go anywhere but the bleak underworld.

10 Mortals and Their Gods This attitude toward the average man is typical of Greek gods. The gods care about their children and can be incredibly touchy about their particular domains, but for the most part, the Gods couldn't care less about human beings. Compare this to the Christian god, who knows and loves every one of us. To an ancient Greek, the thought of a god taking personal interest in you is more terrifying than comforting. The Greek gods, especially the Olympians, can be very cruel to humans; raping them, killing them and turning them into animals. Dionysus even arranged for a man to be ripped to shreds by his own mother.

11 Mortals and Their Gods This hostile indifference characterizes most of Greek religion. Gods only help their own children out of love. The rest of us must bargain with the gods, offering gifts in exchange for their aid. This can best been seen in the final story of this presentation, that of Prometheus. Under the rule of Chronos, humanity had enjoyed a golden age. Though they knew nothing of farming, they fed off the earth's bounty, which was freely given - much like in the Garden of Eden.

12 Mortals and Their Gods With the rise of the Olympians, life became much harder for mortals. The earth no longer produced fruit without labor. Human beings were about to starve when Prometheus came to their rescue. Prometheus was a friend to mortals, and so he taught them to farm, to store food and all the other crafts of civilization. Men rejoiced in their mastery of the world. The Olympians saw that man was getting too big for his britches and took fire away. Enraged, the Olympians thought to wipe out humanity.

13 Mortals and Their Gods Without fire, man was doomed. So, Prometheus stole fire from the gods and gave it back to man. Prometheus offered them an alternative. 'You let man use fire to cook his food, and man will give you a portion of the food he cooks.' The gods found this acceptable, but Prometheus cared more for men than for the Olympians, so he tricked them. He had the men wrap bones in fat and hide all the meat in the stomach of a bull. When the gods were asked to choose their portion, they choose the large fatty portion, thinking this the better cut and left man the stomach full of meat. Bound by their agreement, the Gods could no longer wipe man off the face of the earth and had to be satisfied with sacrifices of bone and fat.

14 Mortals and Their Gods To punish man, they created woman (the Greeks had a less than admirable view of women). To punish Prometheus, they bind him to a stone at the edge of the world and set an eagle to tear out his liver every day. Thus Prometheus is the first example of a Christ, a figure who dies for the sins of man. Yet Prometheus is also the first Lucifer. In fact, the name Lucifer means bringer of light. He defies the will of Zeus to give humanity a secret knowledge. For his transgression, he is doomed to eternal punishment.

15 Role in Christianity Greek myth (and later Greek philosophy) would play a huge role in the formation of Christianity as early Christians attempted to appeal to a larger audience and to distinguish their religion from Judaism. Greek religious festivals became holy days, Greek heroes turned into Christian saints and Greek virtues found places of honor alongside their Christian counterparts. Even Christian rituals are distinctly Greek. The Greeks were drinking wine to commemorate Dionysus - the son of a god who died and returned from the grave - long before Jesus was ever born. Thus, we have seen a rough outline of Greek myth and religion. Greek religion was decentralized and unique to specific locations, yet all based on a common pantheon of anthropomorphic gods.

16 These gods were all too human and could be terribly cruel. The Greeks dealt with their gods by offering them gifts and trying not to do anything that might anger them.

Introduction to Greek Mythology. Gender Unit Mod. Humanities/Grad. Project

Introduction to Greek Mythology Gender Unit Mod. Humanities/Grad. Project What is Greek Mythology? The people of ancient Greece shared stories called myths about the gods, goddesses, and heroes in which