Firestone 4
My Understanding of the Greek Gods and Surrounding Mythology
12/19/20
RELG. 3030 Digital Book
by S.F.
Professor Thibodeau
Greetings Professor Thibodeau,
I have organized my Digital Book as follows:
In the beginning, I do my best to answer key questions that were given throughout the semester, and at the very end, before the index, I have my own comprehensive reflections on something that touched on a real part of my life while trying to understand mythology. That something is the parallels between modern day relationships issues, female roles and the ways in which mythology is still shaping them.
8.* Here is a thesis to consider: “There is, basically, no mythology in the United States at the present time.” Agree or disagree? State your reasons.
I think to negate the presence of mythology in the United States of current day is easier than to argue for its existence. I believe the United States does have mythology but to validate my point I must first reflect on what the definition of a myth is. A myth is a story. It is a story that uses the supernatural to convey or explain the issues, agendas, and history of the society which creates it. It may be retold with variations, but the core message remains the same. Nowadays, there are different mediums being used to tell myths. The works of Homer remain rooted in writing, but there are more complex mediums in the 21st century.
Homer is credited with capturing the oral traditions of storytelling in his writing. He transcribed and compiled the stories of many. The works of dystopian novelists and TV shows/movies are analogous in this way.
Shows such as The Walking Dead, movies and books such as The Hunger Games, or Cormac McCarthy’s The Road, all share a conscious effort on the creator’s part to demonstrate a world torn apart by our own governments or societies, on the edge of extinction, either dead from subservience, apocalypse, or some inevitable collision of the two. This could be a reach. The myths of the Greek and Roman Gods were well divulged, spread mainly through oral storytelling. Even if Athena were switched for Minerva, you could discern the two for their fixed properties of wisdom, leadership, and warrior woman. I ask you do not depart from this take just yet, because in every dystopian novel the message remains eerily the same. The entities which were fixed in our self-interest have become the end of us It is a symbol of the leeching materialism that fuels the United States currently, and of our own selfish interests as an individualistic society.
In The Walking Dead, the zombies are the supernatural element. They become this concentrated evil that has wreaked havoc on the world. Yet as the story progresses, the viewer may find that the living possess a far more heinous energy than the dead. How does this even remotely attach itself to current day United States?
We are in nebulous times. The world seems dark to many, either because of political leadership or lack thereof. Dystopian stories such as these find a secure home in many people’s hearts because they are looking for a concrete idea to fixate on, to tear themselves way from the over-consumption of products and trite processes of daily life. The Road, by Cormac McCarthy is a fitting narrative of the compelling interaction between father and son reminds the reader of something deeply human. The United States is starved of its primal understandings. We sit in front of screens and ironically drive ourselves deeper into loneliness, into decay. The concept of the dystopian world is not unique to just American authors and creators, but it resonates with so many of those here because they find themselves trapped in their own dystopian hemisphere.
Is it an unconventional example of the myth? Of course. But I find that the issues, content, and the mythology of the undead resonates with us is the core of our mythology in present United States.
*B. If you had to put a sticker of one of these deities on your computer, which would you select, and why?
Easy choice. Hera. Despite being viewed as this jealous wife who was constantly interfering with Zeus’ dalliances, I see Hera as an amusing and cunning character. The brilliance she displayed when asking Zeus if she could keep the cow that was secretly his girl Io shows that Hera was no fool when it came to understanding her husband’s infidelity. She sought to rival him by being just as mischievous as he was deceptive.
Considering modern-day acceptance of monogamy, I feel that Hera (goddess of marriage) understood that even if you were the thunder God and the supreme ruler of Olympus, that did not mean you could just sleep around as you wished. In the case of Leto, when Hera found out that Leto was pregnant and married to Zeus, she was so upset she tried to get every land to deny Leto shelter so she could not rest throughout her pregnancy. Petty? Of course. But who said you couldn’t be petty as a Greek goddess?
Zeus tried to hide his romances in the first place because he feared Hera. And I think that is awesome. She was the only god in Olympus who he dared not cross. The final story of Semele, Dionysus’ mother, is quite sad, given that Hera inadvertently killed her by planting doubt in Semele that Zeus was really a Greek god. When Hera convinces Semele to demand Zeus show her his splendor, despite knowing that no mortal eyes could gaze upon her husband, its about as malicious as it is magnificent. At the end of the day, Hera wanted Zeus all to herself, and instead of weeping about it she actively fought him with every opportunity available. So why shouldn’t Hera be a sticker on my computer? I think I’m going to have to find one right now.
*C. Are the Greek gods ‘good’, ‘bad’, a mix – or do these labels not really apply?
Asking if the Greek Gods are wholly good or bad is like asking if you or I are totally good or bad people. The Greek Gods, despite their supremacy and immortality, are people too. They have their own motivations and desires, and weaknesses. Depending on which perspective you take, Hades could seem out of line for kidnapping Persephone or you could empathize with his loneliness in the Underworld. Artemis could be deemed as a bit dramatic by turning Actaeon into a stag, or it could be a well-suited punishment for a peeping tom. The antics of Hermes on Apollo are so similar to those of rival younger and older sibling that I could not help but empathize. These are characters that possess humanness because they are told by mortals, for mortals, for the purpose of relating to the bizarre experience that is human nature.
So no, these labels do not apply. I would say instead that each God is meant to embody a feature of the human experience. While eating your children is not a feasible task (I should hope), grief over being expunged by your heirs or neighboring countries could parallel the fear that Cronus felt about his emerging children.
7.*Is Prometheus presented by Hesiod as a heroic figure challenging an evil Zeus? Or is he a criminal challenging a just supreme king?
Prometheus is presented as the challenging, cunning and heroic figure to an omnipotent king Zeus. Although Zeus’ punishment for Prometheus may be deemed severe, as he chains Prometheus to pillars and allows a large eagle to digest his liver every day, it is with great severity that a king must rule in order to concrete the respect his subjects have for him. However, his severity is equally matched with Prometheus’ genius, and thus displays for some interesting antics. Heracles even clamors to help free Prometheus from his punishment because he sees Prometheus as a great equalizer to Zeus’ overbearing rules.
When the ritual sacrifice of Mekone is expected to be performed in honor of Zeus, Prometheus assumes that Zeus will fasten his sights to the sacrificial ox meat with the most shining fat (the one in which he hid the white bones). Prometheus shows himself to underestimate Zeus when he does this, as he does not know that Zeus has “eternal counsels”.
In this way I believe Hesiod tries to present Prometheus in a better light than Zeus, as he remained one of the few Gods willing to rival the great Zeus.
Hesiod refers to him as a ‘good’ son, when he states, “the good son of Iapetus fooled him by stealing the far-seen gleam of tireless fire.” Why would the author refer to Prometheus as such if he did not believe him on the right side of history? Prometheus attempts to give power to the humans when he gives them fire. It is Zeus who wishes to remain in sole control of the humans, thus punishing them at every turn when Prometheus is caught. In a literary sense, Prometheus is Zeus’ foil. He is neither so strong that he can outwit Zeus but so petty that his threats go undetected. It is also interesting that Zeus becomes the third in a line of tyrannical leaders, following his father Cronus and his father Uranus to look over the Earth.
2.* Was Actaeon a victim of bad luck, or did he bear some responsibility for invading the goddess’s privacy?
Though it can be argued that Actaeon was spying on Diana/Artemis while she bathed, the entire stanza of his encounter with her and her posse of nymphs in Ovid, Metamorphoses grants him some sympathy. Not only because his chance encounter with Diana was not an intentional pursuit, but because he is cursed so soon afterwards.
“He has set aside
his hunting and is wandering around
the unknown wood, uncertain where he is.
The Fates have led him there.” (Lines 263-266).
In this text, the Fates are the ones at fault for having led Actaeon to the bathing springs. Having no idea of where he was, Actaeon is a victim more than he is an aggressor. Although it is understandable that the goddess, in a vulnerable state, would seek protection from this strange male in her presence, Diana seeks no answers before acting. Immediately after Actaeon appears in the cave of Gargaphia, the nymphs cry out and alert Diana before he has a chance to even explain himself. Although classically this is a predatory situation, I did not feel the sense of threat from the hunter Actaeon as much as I did from the nymphs and Diana, who possessed control of the situation.
Reading this passage and how quickly Diana descends upon him and curses him, I could not help but feel pity for the hunter. Acteon was not allowed a moment to defend his presence before he was transformed. This is not an unusual method of punishment for gods/goddesses, as earlier in Book 2, Juno likewise curses Callisto for being raped by Jupiter and bearing his child. In both situations, the offender is changed into an animal. Finally, Actaeon is attacked by his own dogs when he changed into a stag, furthering his despair as a hunter, and contrasting his strength and virility of manhood.
Perhaps, the punishment of Actaeon was a punishment in general on the conquering nature of men, who in previous stories have raped women and had their way with them. So, in this way it was no so much a particular punishment for Actaeon but an overall lesson for men.
3.* Describe the picture woven by Arachne in her tapestry, and the picture woven by Athena. How do they differ in terms of their stories? In terms of how they are organized? Which picture is more sympathetic to the powerful? More sympathetic to the powerless? What is the ‘lesson’ of Arachne’s punishment? What does this myth say about the power of art?
In the contest between Arachne and Minerva/Athena, the two weave vastly different perceptions of the great gods/goddesses. In Arachne’s tapestry, she depicts the gods as oppressors and manipulators of the mortals. As one example, she depicts Zeus/Jupiter when he changed himself into a bull and abducted Europa. Arachne also creates the picture of when Zeus deceitfully “filled the womb of beautiful Antiope with twins” (110) and when Neptune wished to mate with a virgin, so he kidnapped her. In these various scenes, the gods (specific to male) and their brutality (mostly sexual aggressions) are seen from the point of view of the inferior and helpless mortals. There is this element of exploitation of the female form that is acutely disturbing, and I believe it speaks volumes that while Arachne’s subject matter is dark, her weavings themselves are expressed as faultless and beautiful.
Meanwhile, Athena’s work is the very opposite subject matter. In Minerva’s tapestry, the gods are cunning and magnificent in their domination over humanity. Minerva gives praises to Juno for her power to conquer Antigone and change her into a bird, and she depicts the Twelve gods in her work while they look on in amazement. Minerva’s work is evidently more sympathetic of the powerful, while Arachne’s is a more stark and bitter addressal of the disparity between the powerless and the powerful gods.
While both contestants are women, Minerva allies herself with her immortal counterparts before she deigns to understand Arachne’s side, a huge lapse in judgement from the goddess of wisdom if you ask me.
The ‘lesson’ of Arachne’s punishment is to never speak ill of the gods, no matter the criminal acts they have committed themselves. While she is turned into a spider, she allowed to keep weaving for all her bloodline, as the gods must relent that her weaving skills were successful.
This myth imparts the truth that you will find in art. No matter how uncomfortable the scenes that Arachne depicted, Pallas and Minerva “could not fault Arachne’s work”. In this way, it can be said that art is a way to achieve a voice when you have no other meaningful way of doing so. The fact that such a story exists tells us two things; that mortals themselves could engage with the stories in way that points out the problematic ways of the gods, while also submitting to their omnipotence. If Arachne had beat her fists in the air at the crimes of the gods, it would probably have gained little traction, but the fact that her art was so unparalleled and amazing, made her one of the more famous stories of mythology because the gods could never take that talent away from her.
*2. Read Paul Bloom’s account of the Oedipus Complex, which plays a key role in Freud’s account of the psychosexual development of a male child:
https://oyc.yale.edu/psychology/psyc-110/lecture-3
Question: does the Oedipus in Sophocles’ play have an ‘Oedipus complex’?
The ‘Oedipus Complex’ which Professor Bloom explains as a Freudian theory, is one which involves the erogenous zones and the subsequent connection between the phallic stage and that of the boy’s compassion and love for his mother. In Sophocles’ play, Oedipus is acting out the symptoms of Freud’s theory—but with the wrong parents in mind. While he considers Polybus his real father, he sees Polybus as a threat and is thus relieved when he told by the messenger that Polybus has died from old age. However, this is all because Oedipus believes he must marry his mother (not his true birth mother), Merope and there is some dread here, as he is already married to Jocosta and sees “defiling” his mother’s bed as a great sin.
Ironically, Oedipus has already carried out the prophesy, having killed Laius in the road and laid in bed with Jocosta. He did not, however, have an Oedipus Complex because he was unaware of the relations between himself and Jocosta. Had he understood that Jocosta was the one who birthed him initially, and he still had this idea of sensual love for her, then this would be a verifiable example of Oedipus Complex. Yet because Oedipus is the first occurrence of this example, he cannot be psychoanalyzed the same way a young boy who does not know how to express the bounds of his love to his mother might feel.
Thus, Oedipus is subjected to his father’s will when he is pushed from his real lineage into the home of his adopted parents. Although Laius believed his son was already gone and later reunites with him as his final end, this is a story that revolves around Laius’ actions more than it does any one of Oedipus’ actions.
*3. Read Oedipus’ encounters with Creon and Teiresias. Is his suspicion that the two are plotting against him rational or unjustified, based on everything Oedipus knows at the time?
“What you are saying
is not customary and shows little love
toward the city state which nurtured you,
if you deny us your prophetic voice.” (Lines 382-384)
Initially, Oedipus’ confusion and anger seems justified when talking with his blind prophet Teiresias. After all, an innocent man would be just as eager to know what he was being accused of to defend himself adequately. However, when Teiresias reveals the truth that Oedipus is the polluter of the land who is causing his own people to suffer, Oedipus denies the truth and goes so far as to lament that Creon has hired a “double-dealing quack”. Oedipus does not try to conceal his rage at Teiresias, but this is not an indicator of his knowing the truth. In fact, it infers that he is so beyond the knowledge of the truth that Teiresias revealing the riddles to him only incites panic.
Nevertheless, Oedipus’ suspicion is rational, given his reaction to Creon’s news. When Creon tells him of the death if Laius, Oedipus does not decry this as false or old news but seeks immediately to find the answer to the murder, much the way any normal person would seek answers when they are threatened.
“Then I will start afresh, and once again
shed light on darkness. It is most fitting
that Apollo demonstrates his care
for the dead man, and worthy of you, too.
And so you’ll see how I will work with you,
as is right, seeking vengeance for this land,
as well as for the god. This polluting stain
I will remove, not for some distant friends,
but for myself.” (Lines 155-166)
Therefore, Oedipus acts as if he has no inner knowledge of the crime and wishes to solve it to the fullest degree. His line “I will remove, not for some distant friends, but for myself” is impactful because it reflects on his own identity as someone with a conscience and righteousness to find the truth.
*4. Reread the part of the play (around line 960) where Oedipus describes his encounter with his father. Who is in the wrong in this encounter?
Laius is wrong in this encounter. His bizarre treatment of Oedipus, who he did not know was his son, is deserving of any punishment which a stranger would retaliate with after being beaten with a whip. While Oedipus’ actions are extreme, given that he vanquished all the men at the scene, is it not Laius and his guide’s fault for instigating the fight? One could argue that even without know that Laius was his father, Oedipus was enacting the Freudian theory by feeling threatened by the man who is his biological father. On an emotional level Oedipus does not wield his temper lightly, and when humiliated by Laius he punishes him to the ultimate degree.
*5. What are Oedipus’ worst personality flaws? Is there any decision he could have made earlier in life that would have prevented his tragedy and that would have also made sense?
Oedipus’ worst personality flaw is the same as his father Laius; a belief in the absoluteness of an oracle’s prophecy. When he hears of the rumors of his birth and flees from Corinth, he denies his adopted parents the chance to help him sort through his confusion. This is also a version of his brashness, another of his flaws that reveals itself when he lashes out at Laius in the road and kills him and all his traveling men. I believe the only chance Oedipus had in avoiding his tragedy would have been to address his adopted parents and take into account that his nature was not so much dictated by prophecy than it was by his own choices. Too often fate becomes an excuse to say that there are no other viable paths or options, when really the strongest thing one can do is go against the supposed fate to carve out their own meaning from life. Though I do not doubt this story would have ended in tragedy, given Jocosta’s deceit and lies.
*B. Read Quintus of Smyrna book 1 (in Course Documents)
This book is a conventional tale of warriors fighting in the Trojan War, except for one major detail: the premier warrior fighting for Troy is a woman. In what passages do characters reflect on the impact of this gender difference? What do they say or think? Does Penthesilea break gender norms, or does her story only serve to reinforce them?
Penthesilea becomes the savior to the Trojan king Priam after the loss of their greatest warrior Hector. She and her Amazons are their redemptive stake in the war against the Greek Army and Achilles and Ajax, and Priam rejoices in her aid, believing she will win. While the story begins with all the makings of an empowering female heroine, its ending is rather devastating and absurd, while the characters who comment on Penthesilea either promote a false image of her or lack faith in her completely.
One example of the faithless is Hector’s widow, Andromache, who knows Penthesilea will never be able to defeat Achilles because her own husband “was much better in fighting battles than you are”, which in itself appears to be a very sexist claim, although it has more to do with the undefeatable Achilles than it does with Penthesilea’s strength. Women are usually more critical of other women who rise to power than men, so it does not surprise me that Andromache did not preemptively rejoice at Penthesilea’s vows.
One Trojan, upon seeing Penthesilea demolish many of the Greeks, states that she is an “immortal goddess” (9), and that Zeus is on their side. In this way, he lessens the accomplishments of Penthesilea as a woman and her victories become centered around the untouchable qualities of gods. He goes on to state that she must be the “virgin warrior goddess Athena”, or Artemis or Eris (apparently virginity is an enhancing quality) and so Penthesilea loses her individuality at the word of these Trojan men.
Tisiphone, wife of Meneptolemus, finds confidence in the Amazonian ways and urges her fellow Trojan women to take up arms alongside their male counterparts. This is the ancient equivalent to a girl-power movement, and it works in igniting a flame in the Trojan women, which is quickly extinguished by a priestess who argues “but people are trained to do different tasks, and people ought to do the tasks for which they are trained.” (11). Although the priestess’ argument demoralizes the women and they return to their safety, it is important to understand the validity of her stance. The women really did not have any training that would justify putting their lives on the line. The Greeks would easily slaughter them, and only result in more bloodshed which Tisiphone was calling for. While being critical of the passive stance of the Trojan women in this story, I believe their ability to rationalize instead of throw themselves into the perils of war is a subtle strength on their part.
Perhaps the biggest downfall of this story is Penthesilea’s death; her javelin attempts are horribly off-target, and Achilles kills her in one instant.
To add insult to her injury, Achilles says “Lie there and die, girl… You should been a weaver, not a warrior; war takes away the courage of even strong men”. (15-16). Achilles calls her a girl, not even gracing her with the dignity of calling her a warrior or a woman, and since he is the victor, his last words become the cement for her legacy. In fact, the only thing he admires about Penthesilea is not her courage but her beauty, thus reinforcing gender norms and the ways in which women are valued for their superficial qualities and not their convictions. Penthesilea did not have to win her battle to have made advancements in the history of women. It is instead the way her death made her out to be a delusional and weak person that makes a joke out of the female narrative.
*1. Does the text comment on Memnon’s national origin? What if anything does it say about the difference between Greeks and ‘Ethiopians’?
The text does comment that Memnon hails from Ethiopia, “land of Black people”, but this King Priam does not mention as much as he does of King Memnon’s superior tactics in battle, and how he overcame the Solyemi soldiers. However, during the war, there are several differences between the Greeks and Ethiopians. Firstly, when Memnon rushes and attacks Antilochus out of revenge, he does so for his fellow warriors. However, for the Greeks, this attack is more personal as Antilochus is Nestor’s son. Given that he attacked their bloodlines and not just their warriors, this is what makes Nestor call upon Achilles and say that Memnon will “feed [Antilochus’ corpse] to dogs and birds”, indicating the Ethiopians may have barbaric ways of disposing of enemy bodies.
In the middle of battle, Achilles has time for a lengthy harangue to flex his lineage, indicating that because he is of Zeus’ kin, that he is the superior to Memnon. Memnon is also born of the gods, as he is the son of the “immortal goddess Dawn”. Unfortunately, his divinity does not save him. One could surmise that the close relation to Zeus and Memnon’s tragedy are tales of great importance to the Greeks, who win yet again because of Achilles and Zeus. Even by the end of the story, Dawn only relents and allows light to pass on Earth because of her fear of Zeus. Greeks yet again have the upperhand because of their connection with Zeus.
*1. How do Odysseus’ crew members behave during the Circe story? Do they ‘deserve’ to be transformed? Why do you think Circe transforms them? And why does she turn them into animals (rather than into chairs, say, or stones)?
In the Circe story, Odysseus’ crew members go in search of life after grieving over Polyphemus the Cyclops and the loss of their men to his hunger. Upon hearing Circe’s sweet singing, the men erroneously believe that she could be of no threat, and so implore her to open her gates. Polites refers to her as “perhaps a goddess”, encouraging the idea that she can provide them with some guidance or fortune. I believe Circe transforms the men, similar to how the wild lions and wolves become tamed, because she neutralizes threats to herself by turning them into simple creatures. Circe does not want to kill them, but she doesn’t want to risk being overpowered by a horde of men either. I do not think the men ‘deserve’ to be transformed, but given her role as a solitary female among two dozen men, I also cannot blame her for
From likes 239-241:
“They had bristles, heads, and voices just like pigs—
their bodies resembled swine—but their minds
were as before. Inside their pens they wept.”
These three lines are important in understanding Circe’s intent, because she doesn’t wish for them to lose their humanity, merely to become creatures that pose no danger to her. The fact that she changes them into pigs is also indicative of how she sees the male form; she changes them into the very beasts that would willingly devour her food and drink, but has them retain their self-awareness because to Circe, this is the definition of man. In modern day, a woman would probably not invite twenty strangers into her home to begin with, but given that these are warriors of Odysseus, it is likely they could have entered in a forceful way if necessary.
This idea of Circe being intimidated by man and the disparity between man and woman is affirmed later into the story when Odysseus pulls a sword on her, one could interpret this as him imposing his virility upon her, and she offers to sleep with him in exchange for trusting one another. Circe bargains with the appeal of sex because she knows no other way to appeal to man I pity Circe because the only way she could interact with males was either to drug them or sleep with them.
The Problem (my reflection on the interplay between love, relationships, and the modern parallels)
In this semester of Heroes, Gods, and Monsters I had a subconscious question that I think I was trying to answer by reading the ancient text. That question is how did mythology shape the way people thought about their lives, their loved ones, relationships, and womankind? The answer was disappointing in a way that finding out that the person you married is not perfect kind of way. To think critically about the text is to allow yourself to understand your own faults and measure yourself via these characters.
At the beginning of the semester, you asked us to choose our favorite of the gods/goddesses and explain why. The reason I clung to Hera as my favorite goddess (and still do) is because her relationship with Zeus appeared so modern, so feminist, you could say. She was able to outsmart Zeus the way no one else could. If she discovered one of his mistresses or wives, she would have them turned into cows, wild animals, or in the case of Zeus and Semele, murdered by his own hand. He feared her, she had possession of his brain but just not the parts she wanted to. And this truth deeply saddens me. I think all people, but women more than others, have felt this sense of wanting to be loved and wanting to be needed. They want their partner to have only thoughts of them and to dream only of them. Hera masked her emotional pain as jealousy and while her vindictive nature won her this reputation of cold-bloodedness, I saw it as her way of being able to cope with her own existence. Yes, she was a goddess, but even her supernatural abilities did not gift her immunity from Zeus’ wrath. And in mythology, sadly, even devout, and true love is rarely possible.
Even Aphrodite, the goddess of love, has an adulterous relationship that fizzles out from love of Hephaestus and leads her to fall into the arms of Ares. There is a reason cheating is not a modern affliction, as it has these interwoven ideas with religion and the supremacy of gods. Therein, man and woman alike took these stories as explanations for their own morality. And they still do.
But my plight was not just about cheating. It was about the perception of woman holistically. When late into the semester we read about Penthesilea I had this innate feeling that the story would end with her being vanquished. I mean, how could it not? Women want to believe that they can be independent from men, and just as physically capable, but that is rarely true. When Penthesilea crashes to the ground and Achilles stands over her and calls her a little girl, it just sparked this idea in me that the aggression Achilles felt towards Penthesilea was not just because she was an opposing force to the Greeks, but because she was an opposing female force, and how dare she step out of line?
I did not write this reflection to go on for the woes of women or to feel bad about it. I wrote it because sometimes people look to mythology for this concept of fantasy but what they are most disturbed by is how real it is. The banishment of Actaeon to his stag form felt eerily parallel to a #metoo allegation. Especially with how he was chased by his own pack of dogs, the ones that had obeyed him before, and now felt lost and so different a species among the enraged nymphs. And the story of Arachne and Athena reminded me that sometimes, woman is woman’s worst enemy when they are trying to seek change and find solidarity. Athena was in a role of great power, she did not know the desperation Arachne felt when trying to weave her story about the truth of the gods’ rapes and molestations, so it was easier for her to reject the peasant girl and rationalize the male gods’ misdeeds than challenge them.
There is a lot of pain from understanding ancient mythology, and partially this is because it makes the reader horribly aware of their own misgivings and mistakes. For myself, I recognized in me that insecurity of becoming a nag the way Zeus often felt Hera was to him.
INDEX
Aphrodite is the goddess of love and she was born of the sea foam. She was chosen to be Hephaestus’ wife and bore him a son Eros, also known as Cupid. She later chosen Ares as her husband over his brother Hephaestus.
Apollo is the twin brother of Artemis. He is the god of music, light, reason, and music. He is known for the slaying of Python in Delphi, as well for his skills in archery alongside his sister Artemis. He took on many wives while his sister remained unmarried.
Artemis is goddess of the hunt, born unto Leto and Zeus along with her twin Apollo. She is most well known for her bewitchment of Actaeon into a stag from Ovid’s Metamorphoses after he was caught spying on her and her nymphs by accident.
Cronos was the ruler of the universe, son of Gaia, who kept his titans and cyclops brothers captive in the Earth. His wife was Rhea, and every time she bore a child he would devour it to prevent his offspring from overthrowing him. His son Zeus eventually did.
Demeter is the goddess of harvest. As mother of Persephone, when her daughter is abducted to the underworld, she threatens extinction of crops and life if Persephone is not returned. The compromise between herself and Hades gives way to the explanation of spring.
Dionysus is the god of wine, son of Zeus and Semele. He grew up in Nysa, safe from Hera thanks to Hermes. When he finally joined Olympus he was refuted by Hera, though Zeus allowed him a seat, and the ability to visit his mother Semele in the underworld.
Gaia is Mother Earth, and creator of all life on the planet. Uranus the sky became the father to her children. She created the Titans, the Fates, the Muses, as well as the three Cyclops and Cronus, who she later plotted to overthrow.
Hades is the god of the dead and the underworld, where the mortal souls travel down from the river Styx. He is eldest brother to Zeus and Poseidon and known for kidnapping Persephone from her mother Demeter to be his bride in the underworld.
Helen was the reason for the Trojan Wars between Greece and Troy. When Paris took her from King Menelaus of Sparta, he fled knowing he could not win the fight. When the Greeks won the war, she was returned to Menelaus.
Hephaestus is the god of smithing and fire. When he tried to act as mediator for his parents Zeus and Hera, Zeus flung him to Lemnos where the impact made him crippled. He worked with the Cyclops to smith weapons, and later married Aphrodite.
Hera is the wife and sister of conniving king of the gods Zeus. She is the Goddess of marriage, most notably mother to Hephaestus and Ares. Though she is seen as a jealous and malicious wife, she is the only goddess Zeus fears.
Heracles is the Greek hero written about by Homer, who completed the Twelve Labors involving conquering/exploring past Greece and even fighting Hades in exchange for his immortality. He is the son of Zeus. His Roman equivalent is Hercules. Heracles was meant to be the guardian of the world.
Hermes is the resident troublemaker of Olympia, and younger sibling to Zeus’ abundance of children. His mother is Maia. Hermes is the god of thieves and mischief, and one of his first acts of mischief was stealing older brother Apollo’s cows not long after being born.
Hesiod was a Greek poet and contemporary of Homer’s, who wrote the Theogeny, a framework for explaining the entire Olympian family, gods and goddesses, seen as both a tribute to the gods and as Hesiod claimed, he was given the inspiration through divine intervention.
Homer was the Greek poet and famous for his works of the Iliad the Odyssey whose real identity is not known. He archived the representations of the gods/goddesses and mythology in Greek tragedies and epics. His work was performed by aoidos through oral tradition.
Memnon was the king of Ethiopia who came to fight alongside King Priam of the Trojans against the Greeks in the Trojan War. His mother was the goddess Dawn. In his battle with Achilles, he was overpowered and loss due to Achilles being kin of Zeus.
Penthesilea was queen of the Amazons, the band of powerful female warriors. She took Troy’s side in the Trojan war against the Greeks and was written about by Quintus of Smyrna in her failed attempt to take down the Greek god Achilles.
Persephone is the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. She was stolen away from Demeter by Hades as he sought a bride, and although she was returned to Demeter by her father, she ate the fruit of the underworld and so her return marks the beginning of winter.
Poseidon is the god of the sea. He was gifted his first wife Amphitrite by the first sea god, Nereus. Referred to as “Earthshaker” from the strength of his trident. His first born was Triton, and Poseidon’s brothers are Hades and Zeus.
Zeus is the son of Cronos and Rhea. He is the king of the Greek gods in Olympia and father to many of them. Zeus is the most powerful of the gods, he is the god of thunder. His wife is Hera.