Greek mythology

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Greek mythology is a collection of the religion and stories of the ancient Greeks. Many of these Greek beliefs have been preserved and passed down to us today. As was common in that time period in Europe and the Middle East (with the exception of Judaism) the concept of gods was usually as part of a pantheon that were basically more powerful forms of humans complete with petty rivalries and human frailties. They were worshipped just as much out of fear as out of reverence.

Stories also abounded of heroes and fantastical beasts. The most courageous acts of courage were from humans, or at least those who were half human. The concept of intermarriage or mating between gods and man caused many demi-gods who would then go on and continue to mate with humans themselves. Many parts of ancient Greece claimed some connection with godhood as did much of the world (again, except for Judaism).

War of the Giants


Important Figures in Greek Mythology

Greek sanctuaries.

The Achaeans was a collective name for the ancient Greeks and their allies who fought against the Trojans during the Trojan War.

Aeacus was a son of Zeus, the father of Peleus, and grandfather of Achilles.

Aetolia is a region in northwestern Greece.

Agamemnon is a mythical king of Mycenae. During the Trojan War, as described in Homer's Iliad, Agamemnon was the Supreme commander of the Greek forces. He was a member of the House of Atreus, which is considered to have been cursed due to its violent history, and was brother to Menelaus, king of Sparta. With his wife, Clytemnestra, Agamemnon had four daughters: Chrysothemis, Electra, Iphianissa, and Iphigenia; he also had one son, Orestes. During the Trojan War, Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia to Artemis, to ensure strong winds for the voyage to Troy. During the war, he captured Priam's daughter, Cassandra, and brought her back to Mycenae with him. However, upon his return, he discovered that Clytemnestra had taken a new husband, Aegisthus. Clytemnestra killed both Agamemnon and Cassandra after luring them to a banquet.

Agrius was a prince of Calydon, the son of Portheus.

Altes was king of the Leleges and father of Laothoë (a wife of Priam).

Althaea was the mother of Meleager.

Antilochus was the son of Nestor, brother of Thrasymedes, and a favorite of Achilles after the death of Patroclus. He was killed by Memnon of Ethiopia during the Trojan War. Achilles was recovering Antilochus' body when Paris hit him with an arrow in his heel, killing him.

Antimachus was the father of the Trojans Pisander, Hippolochus, and Hippomachus.

Argissa was a city in Thessaly, in the kingdom of Polypoetes.

Argos was a city-state in ancient Greece, largely eclipsed by Sparta in prominence and importance. Argos played a role in the mythology of the Trojan War at which time it was said to be ruled by Diomedes. "Argos" could also refer to the entire Argolid, which was the kingdom of Agamemnon. As Agamemnon was the commander of the entire Greek force, "Argos" also could refer very generally to all of allied Greece during the Trojan War. The kingdom of Achilles was sometimes referred to as "Pelasgian Argos".

Bellerophon was the hero of Greek mythology who tamed and rode the flying horse Pegasus during his victory over the three-headed monster Chimera.


Caeneus was a Lapith hero of the generation of Nestor, father of Coronus.

Calydon was a city in Aetolia, the site of a legendary battle between Aetolians and Curetes.


Calypso, in Greek mythology was a nymph, and a daughter of Atlas, queen of the island of Ogygia, who by her fascinating charms detained Ulysses beside her for 7 of the 10 years of his wanderings home from Troy; she died of grief on his departure.[2]

Charon, in Greek mythology was the ferryman of the ghosts of the dead over the Styx into Hades, a grim old figure with a mean dress and a dirty beard, peremptory in exacting from the ghosts he ferried over the obolus allowed him for passage-money.[3]

The Chimera or Chimaera (pronounced keye-MIR-uh) was "a fire-breathing she-monster in Greek mythology having a lion's head, a goat's body, and a serpent's tail."[4] The monster was slain by Bellerophon, riding the winged horse, Pegasus. The term has multiple uses in modern biology. One prominent definition is an animal that has multiple different populations of genetically distinct cells that originated from different zygotes. Some humans are naturally chimeric, sharing cells from a twin (often one that was never born) or a parent.[5] In popular usage, a chimera means something deliberately created with a combination of human and animal cells. Such combination is often opposed on religious and ethical grounds. Some Catholic bishops have argued that such embryos should not be created but should be brought to term if created in contrast to proposed legislation in Great Britain which would allow both the creation of chimeras and outlaw the implantation of a chimera once created.[6][7]

Coronus was the son of Caeneus, father of the Achaean Leonteus.


The Curetes were Aetolians living in Pleuron, who made war on the Aetolians of Calydon.

The Cyclopes are members of the Greco-mythical race of giants with a single eye in the middle of their forehead, like monsters. The most famous of these was Polyphemus, descendant of Poseidon from Homer's Odyssey.

Dionysus ("twice-born") was the god of wine. He was known to the Romans as Bacchus.

Echo was a nymph in Greek mythology. Because of an affair she had with Zeus, she was cursed by Hera to be able to speak only by repeating what she heard.

Eurydamas was an interpreter of dreams, and father of the Trojans Abas and Polyidus.

The Gigantes (monstrous giants) are (according to the poet Hesiod) the children of Uranus and Gaia. The titans are as well often imagined to be of great size and strength, hence the word titanic. Also the Cyclopes, in mythology, are giants with one eye. Goliath, the champion of the Philistines, was a giant, as well as Gog the giant of the Amorites, (og in Hebrew means "gigantic"). [8].

Hercules fights against a lion

Jason was a person from pagan Greek mythology. He sailed (on his ship the Argo with Hercules and Orpheus and the other Argonauts) to Colchis to retrieve the Golden Fleece. King Aeetes of Colchis assigned Jason several tasks he had to perform before he could retrieve the Golden Fleece; these tasks were supposed to be impossible, but King Aeetes’s daughter Medea had fallen in love with Jason so she aided him in the tasks. With Medea’s aid (Medea was a powerful witch as well as being a princess), Jason won the Golden Fleece and he and Medea were married and he had two children by her. Later in his life, he divorced Medea so he could marry King Creon's daughter; in revenge for this betrayal Medea killed Jason’s new bride and both of the children she had by him, leaving him to mourn their loss. [9] Jason is also a Christian name for a boy.

In ancient Crete, the labyrinth was said to have been designed by Daedalus to hold the mythical monster, the Minotaur.

Labyrinth: The Minotaur at the center of the Labyrinth

Laodamia was a daughter of Bellerophon, the mother of Sarpedon by Zeus, killed by the goddess Artemis

Leonteus was an Achaean, son of Coronus, co-commander with Polypoetes of the Lapiths from Argissa during the Trojan War.

Medea ,(from the Greek for cunning), was a sorceress, daughter of Aeetes, king of Colchis. She helped Jason to obtain the Golden Fleece and married him. However, she was deserted in Corinth and avenged herself by killing their two children.

Medusa was one of the Gorgons. Legends said that she was the fairest of the beautiful Gorgon sisters- yet also the vainest. By means of deflating Medusa's ego, the goddess Athena changed the belle's gorgeous golden tresses into a mass of lethal snakes. Nevertheless, Medusa still continued to spend hours in front of the mirror, even though suitors shied away, because she was possessing of many more attractive qualities as well. Outraged at Medusa's narcissism, Athena decided to punish all of the Gorgon sisters. She exiled them to a deserted, isolated island. Then she put an additional curse on them: if a mortal ever looked at them straight in the eyes, s/he would turn to stone. Over the years spent alone in their new domain, they eventually turned into monsters, with characteristics such as long, yellow fangs, clammy skin, and monstrous size. After many brave heroes had been reduced to statues by her lethal glare, Medusa was eventually slain by Perseus, who avoided looking at her eyes by instead observing her through her reflection in Athena's reflective shield. He succeeded in beheading the monster, and, when she died, Pegasus, the winged horse, flew out of her neck.


Melas was the son of Portheus, brother of Oeneus.

Meleager was the son of Oeneus and Althaea, prince of the Aetolians in Calydon.


The Minotaur was half-man and half-bull. It was the offspring of Pasipha, the wife of King Minos of Crete, and a bull[10]. Poseidon had given a bull to Minos to sacrifice to the god, but it was so beautiful, the the king could not sacrifice it and kept it instead. As punishment, Poseidon made the queen, Pasipha, fall in love with the bull and their offspring was the minotaur. At first the minotaur wreaked havoc throughout Crete, but eventually Minos caught it and imprisoned in the labyrinth, a maze designed by the architect Daedalus that was so complex that no one could escape from it. For food, the minotaur was given fourteen Athenians every year who were put in the maze and hunted by the minotaur. After a time, however, the Athenian hero Theseus came to Crete to be fed to the minotaur, but instead, with the help of Minos' daughter Ariadne, killed it with his bare hands.

The Titan Mnemosyne was the mother of the Muses by Zeus.

Mount Olympus is the place of the gods in Greek mythology. It towers up from the center of the earth. Here at least twelve major gods live and hold court. The myths are vague on whether it is an actual mountain that can be traveled to by foot or only a region of the heavens.

The Myrmidons were the people of Phthia in southern Thessaly. They were ruled by Peleus and commanded during the Trojan War by Achilles.


Neleus was the father of Nestor, former king of Pylos.

The Nereids were Greek sea-goddesses, daughters of Nereus.

Nereus was a sea-god of the Ancient Greeks, known as the "Old Man of the Sea." He was the father of Thetis and all the Nereids.

Oedipus, mythical king of Thebes who killed his father and married his mother in Oedipus Rex, a Greek tragedy by Sophocles.

Oeneus was king of Calydon, son of Portheus, father of Tydeus and Meleager.



Peleus was the son of Aeacus, king of the Myrmidons, father of Achilles, and husband of Thetis.

Pelops was the son of Tantalus who served him to the gods at a feast. Fortunately, the gods realized what was happening before eating Pelops, and so were able to re-assemble him. Pelops later married Hippodamia after beating her father in a chariot race. He had two sons: Atreus and Thyestes.

Perseus is a great hero, a demigod and the son of Zeus and Danae. He slays the gorgon Medusa and rescues Andromeda. The tale of Perseus and Medusa was artfully retold by Nathaniel Hawthorne in his story, "The Gorgon's Head."[13] In astronomy, Perseus is a not-very-conspicuous constellation located near Cassiopeia. The Perseids are an annual meteor shower, peaking on August 12th; the meteors in this shower appear to radiate from a center in Perseus, hence the name.

Phaeton was the son of the sun god [Helios]] [14]. When his mother told him who his father was, he set out to meet him and discover whether he indeed was the sun god's son. He met Helios who confirmed what his mother said, and, to prove it, swore by the river Styx that he would grant any request of Phaeton's. Unfortunately, what Phaeton wanted most was to drive the god's chariot for a day. Although Helios knew that this would be deadly folly, he had sworn by the Styx and so had no choice but to leave his son to his fate. Phaeton began driving the chariot, but quickly lost control, threatening the Earth so that Zeus was forced to kill him. This myth was used to teach what happened when mortals forgot their place and thought that they were the gods' equals.

Phthia was a sector of southern Thessaly, the kingdom of Peleus, and home of Achilles and the Myrmidons.

Pirithous was a son of Zeus, king of the Lapiths, and father of Polypoetes.

Pleuron was a city in Aetolia.

Portheus was an Aetolian hero, father of Agrius, Melas, and Oeneus, grandfather of Tydeus.

Proteus was the king of Argos who plotted against the life of Bellerophon.


Tantalus was the father of Pelops, whom he cut up and served to the Greek gods at a feast. In punishment, the gods sent him to Tartarus, where he was always up to his waist in water and just out of reach of some delicious-looking grapes. From this myth we get the word tantalizing, and also one of Aesop's Fables.

Tethys can refer to several different things: *the Greek Titan who was the mother of rivers *one of the Cassini moons of Saturn *a post-Panthalassic ocean that separated Gondwana and Lorasia during the Mesozoic Era.

Theseus was a mythological character, the son of Aegeus and Aethra of Athens. He was raised by his mother away from his father, but his mother had been instructed to send Theseus to claim his place as his father's heir once he was strong enough to roll away a boulder that was guarding a sword and shoes belonging to Aegeus. After a time, he rolled away the boulder and prepared to journey to his father's kingdom. Because the roads to Athens were filled with dangerous bandits, Theseus' mother and grandfather tried to convince him to take the safe route by sea, but Theseus was determined to prove his valor and become a hero by traveling over land. As he traveled, he encountered numerous outlaws, but he killed them all, and by the time he reached Athens he had built a reputation as a good and courageous fighter, so much so that his father, on the advice of Medea, intially tried to poison him before realizing that Theseus was his son. Theseus went on many other adventures, most notably sailing to Crete to kill the Minotaur. Periodically, the Athenians were forced by King Minos of Crete to give him seven young men and seven young women to be put into the Labyrinth and fed to the Minotaur. One year, Theseus volunteered and, instead of being eaten by the Minotaur, killed it. Unfortunately, this episode ended in the death of Aegeus. Before leaving, Theseus had told Aegeus that if he came back alive, he would raise white sails on his ship as he returned, but he forgot and instead kept the ship's usual black sails, causing Aegeus to think him dead. In grief the King killed himself.

Tydeus was the son of Oeneus, father of Diomedes.

Zeus was the leader of the gods.

See also

External links


  2. Nuttall Encyclopedia of General Knowledge, article on Calypso originally published in 1907 written by Reverend James Wood
  3. Nuttall Encyclopedia of General Knowledge, article on Charon originally published in 1907 written by Reverend James Wood
  8. Hebrew Bible
  9. Encyclopedia Mythica[1]
  12. Nuttall Encyclopedia of General Knowledge, article on Orion originally published in 1907 written by Reverend James Wood
  13. Hawthorne, Nathaniel (1852), A Wonder-Book for Girls and Boys. The Gorgon's Head, online
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