Greek Mythology affects us even today. Spiders got their scientific name from Greek Mythology. It comes from the story of Arachne and Athena. Arachne was a mortal who was very skilled in the art of weaving. She became so conceited by her ability that she challenged Athena, who was herself an extremely fine weaver, to a contest. Athena accepted, and the contest began. Arachne’s weaving was beautiful, but Athena’s was much more beautiful than any mortal weaving. Although Athena had won, she thought that such skill should not be wasted. Instead of killing Arachne, which was what happened to most mortals who challenged gods or goddesses, Arachne was turned into a spider. To this day, spiders are called arachnids, and they are forever weaving their glistening webs.
The gods and goddesses were just a rationalization. The Greeks needed a way to explain things they couldn’t understand. So, to explain lightning and the sun rising and setting, the Greeks created various gods and goddesses. There is a god or goddess for anything you can think of.
The first two the Greeks created were Uranus (Heaven) and Gaea (Earth). 18 children were born to them. 12 of these children were the 12 Titans, and the other six were monsters. The 12 Titans were Oceanus, Tethys, Mnemosyne, Thea, Hyperion, Iapetus, Themis, Crius, Phoebe, Coeus, Cronos, and Rhea. The six monsters were divided into two different kinds: the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchieres. The Cyclopes were one-eyed monsters, and the Hecatonchieres were 100-handed monsters. The Cyclopes’ names were Brontes, Steropes and Ages, and the Hecatonchieres’ names were Briareus, Cottus and Gyes.
While Uranus hated all his children, he hated the monsters the most. He hated them so much, in fact, that he confined them to Tartarus. Tartarus was the lower region of the earth, where gods and goddesses sent people (or monsters) they wanted to torture. Isn’t that nice?
As all mothers do, though, Gaea loved all her children. She asked the Titans to help her free her children, but the only one who would was Cronos. Cronos didn’t really care about his siblings in Tartarus. All he really wanted was the throne. So, he killed Uranus and became the king, and never freed the monsters.
Cronos then married Rhea, his sister, and had sixchildren with her. He was worried about the same fate as his father, so as each of his children were born, he ate them. Actually, he only ate five of them: Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Poseidon and Hades. Finally, Rhea got the picture, and when Zeus was born, she substituted a rock for him.
Cronos mistook the rock for his son, and ate it. Then Rhea took Zeus to the island of Crete where he was raised by nymphs. When he was fully grown, Rhea brought him back to Mount Olympus where he waged war against his father.
On Zeus’ side were his brothers and sisters, which Cronos had been forced to regurgitate. Also on his side were the six monsters which Zeus had managed to free from Tartarus. On Cronos’ side were the 12 Titans and some of their children.
The war was called Titanomachy, and it lasted for centuries. Eventually, the Titans surrendered. Zeus did not take any pity on them and confined them all to Tartarus.
Actually, three Titans refused to fight against Zeus, and weren’t confined to Tartarus. They were Atlas, Prometheus, and Epimetheus. Atlas was very strong, and was made to bear the weight of the world on his shoulders. Prometheus or foresight could see into the future, and for some time he was Zeus’ chief consultant. Epimetheus, or afterthought, wasn’t of much use to anybody, since the only thing he could do was see things after they happened. Zeus probably figured he couldn’t be much harm, so he wasn’t sent to Tartarus.
After Titanomachy, Zeus gave everyone something to reign over. Zeus became the god of the sky and weather. Rhea became the goddess of marriage. Hestia became the goddess of the home. Poseidon became the god of the sea and was often associated with horses. Demeter became the goddess of harvest, and Hades became the god of the underworld. Any other gods and goddesses who came along originated from at least one of these six.
Demeter, Zeus, Hera, Hestia, and Poseidon are five of the twelve Olympians. The other seven Olympians, Aphrodite, Hephaestus, Ares, Apollo, Artemis, Athena and Hermes are from Zeus’ love affairs. The only reason Hades wasn’t an Olympian was because he didn’t live on Mount Olympus, he lived in the underworld. Their marriages and affairs are really interesting. In order to understand mythology, they should be discussed.
Zeus married Hera and had four children by her: Hephaestus (god of fire), Ares (god of war), Eileithyia (goddess of childbirth), and Hebe (goddess of youth). All the rest of his 100 or so children he had in love affairs, so it’s rather difficult to see why he bothered to get married at all. What was even worse, though, was the fact that Zeus didn’t really seem to care who he had an affair with. He had all kinds of affairs with mortals, Titans, and Just about anyone else possible.
Here are some of his most important affairs, meaning an affair where an important child was born. From his affair with Metis, he had Athena, the goddess of war. From his affair with Demeter, his sister, he had Persephone, the goddess of the seasons. His affair with Dione, daughter of Oceanus and Tethys, resulted in the birth of Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. Atlas’ daughter, Maia, was the mother of Hermes, messenger of the gods, by Zeus. From his affair with Leto, daughter of Phoebe and Coeus, he had Artemis, the goddess of the moon and hunting, and Apollo, the god of the sun and music. With Leda he had Helen, who played a major part in the Trojan War, and Castor and Pollux, also called the twins, who make the constellation Gemini. Also, his affair with Danae led to the birth of Perseus, who beheaded Medusa. Semele bore Zeus a son named Dionysus, the god of ‘wine. Dionysus is called twice-born from the womb of Semele and the thigh of Zeus. What happened was Hera found out about the love affair between the two and killed Semele. This was possible because she was a mortal, unlike the gods. When Zeus saw her dying he snatched the child from her womb, and inserted it in his thigh. In nine months the child was born out of Zeus’ thigh. These are only a few of his many love affairs. He had many more, but these are too numerous to acknowledge.
Poseidon married three times, but as far as any of the myths go, he never cheated on his wives. His first wife was Demeter, the goddess of harvest. With her he had the horse, Arion. As mentioned before, Poseidon was often associated with horses, so when Demeter turned herself into a mare, Poseidon turned himself into a stallion and from their mating came Arion. His second wife was the sea goddess, Amphitrite. With her he had many children called Tritons. They were half man and half fish. Medusa was Poseidon’s third and final wife. At the time she was beheaded by Perseus, she was pregnant with the winged horse, Pegasus. When she was slain, from her blood rose Pegasus.
Aphrodite married Hephaestus and Ares. She also had quite a few love affairs. Her marriage to Hephaestus, the god of fire, was rather strange as Aphrodite was beautiful and Hephaestus was ugly and lame. He became lame when he interrupted a fight between his parents. Zeus became angry and hurled Hephaestus from the heavens. He fell all day and all night and when he finally landed he injured his leg. Aphrodite’s marriage to Ares, the god of war, was a bit more logical. He wasn’t lame and he was exceptionally handsome. From their marriage was born Harmonia (Harmony), Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Panic). Aphrodite had two well known affairs. One was with Hermes, the messenger of the gods. From this affair Aphrodite had Hermaphroditus, a combination of Hermes and Aphrodite. Her other major affair was with the morthr3qnis. Adonis was a hunter and Aphrodite wanted to be with him all the time, so she left her post at Mount Olympus and became Adonis’ assistant. One day the gods needed her on Mount Olympus and she was forced to leave Adonis’ side for a time. Before she left she warned him to be careful. Adonis paid no heed to her warning because he thought he knew what he was doing. Soon, he saw a wild boar and decided to kill it. Unfortunately, the arrow did not immediately kill the animal and it turned on Adonis and tore him to pieces. Needless to say, there were no children from this affair.
Apollo, the god of music and the sun, was never very lucky with women. He tried to woo many goddesses and mortals, but they rejected him. Once, in the case of the goddess Clytie, the curse was reversed. She loved Apollo, but he did not care for her. Finally, Apollo married the mortal, Coronis. Alas, his happiness couldn’t last. Coronis died while having her son, Asclepius.
Artemis, Hestia, Athena, and Hermes never married, although Hermes did have a few children. Artemis, Hestia, and Athena were just spinsterly, especially Hestia. Hestia was proposed to by Hades and Poseidon, but she refused to marry either of them. Artemis and Athena were just too busy with their responsibilities to have time for marriage. Then there was Hermes. Besides Hermes having Hermaphroditus with Aphrodite, he also had a child with the goddess, Penelope. This child was named Pan, and he was half goat and half man.
While Hades wasn’t one of the twelve Olympians, there is an interesting story that goes with his marriage. Hades was very lonely down in the underworld and longed to have a wife. One day when he was away from the underworld, Hades happened upon Persephone, the daughter of Demeter and Zeus, picking flowers. She was a very beautiful girl with long black curls and sparkling brown eyes. Hades fell for her immediately. Knowing that he was too ugly and that Persephone would never marry him of her own free will, he asked Zeus for permission to carry her off into the underworld and make her his wife. Zeus consented without consulting Demeter. The next day while Persephone was picking flowers, Hades emerged from the underworld, picked her up and carried her off in his chariot.
When Demeter could not find her daughter that evening she was terrified. Zeus still hadn’t told her was happened and wasn’t ever planning on telling her. Demeter was so distraught over losing her daughter that she neglected her duties and wandered the earth searching for Persephone. Soon famine threatened to wipe out the face of the earth. Zeus realized that if this kept up, there wouldn’t be any mortals to rule over. Finally, he was forced to tell Demeter. He begged her to resume her duties, and to give food back to the mortals. Demeter refused to do anything until her daughter was returned to her.
Zeus finally told Demeter that as long as Persephone hadn’t eaten anything in the underworld, she would be permitted to return to the surface. Unfortunately, Persephone had eaten six pomegranate seeds in the underworld, and for every seed Persephone ate she had to stay in the underworld one month. Her return to Mount Olympus marks the beginning of spring, while her descent into the underworld marks the beginning of fall. During the period of time when Persephone is in the underworld, Demeter again neglects her duties in her sorrow, and the earth becomes desolate.
Those are the marriages and love affairs of the major gods and goddesses. There are also many interesting myths about these same gods and goddesses, and others. Many of them hold the origin and meaning of some of the words we use today, as in the case of Arachne and Athena. Some of them are just amusing or tragic stories.
The story of Pyramus and Thisbe is simply the story of Romeo and Juliet, interpreted by the Greeks, and also with a few slight alterations. Pyramus was the handsomest youth, and Thisbe was (of course) the prettiest maiden in Babylon. They were childhood friends, and as they grew older they fell in love. Their parents, however, strongly objected to an engagement and marriage.
The two lovers were forbidden to talk to each other, but even this could not keep them apart. They discovered a crack in the wall that separated their two houses. It was through this crack that they planned their elopement. They planned to meet one night under a certain white mulberry tree. Thisbe arrived there first but, at the sight of a lion, its jaws dripping with blood, she fled from the meeting spot, dropping her veil. The lion picked up the veil in its bloody jaws and then dropped it as it left the meeting place.
Pyramus then arrived, and seeing the blood-covered veil, feared Thisbe had been killed. With this thought, he plunged his sword into his side and died. Thisbe, returning to warn Pyramus of the lion, saw him lying dead and took her own life with the same sword. Their blood stained the fruit of the mulberry tree a deep purple, and so it has remained ever since.
The constellation, Orion was also derived from a story in Greek Mythology. Orion was the giant son of Poseidon and a great favorite of Artemis’. One day Apollo pointed out a black spot far off in the water, and challenged Artemis, the goddess of hunting to hit it. She did, but later discovered that she had killed Orion. So that everyone should remember him, she placed him in the sky among the stars where his dog, Sirius (the Dog Star) follows him. Some other constellations from Greek Mythology include: Castor and Pollux (Gemini), Pan (Sagittarius), Ares (Aries), Pegasus, Andromeda and Perseus.
Speaking of Perseus and Andromeda, that is a very enjoyable story. Andromeda’s mother, Cassiopeia, was the queen of Cepheus. She was also very beautiful and boasted that she was more beautiful than the goddesses. The goddesses became angry and asked Poseidon, the god of the sea, to punish Cassiopeia. He did so by sending a huge sea monster to devour all the townspeople.
Finally, the king consulted an oracle on his predicament. The oracle said the only way to quench the wrath of the gods was to sacrifice his daughter, Andromeda, to the sea monster. Her parents were deeply grieved over this, for Andromeda was lovelier than even her mother. Still, every day the number of people the sea monster ate grew, and eventually the king and queen realized that unless they sacrificed Andromeda they would be left without a kingdom.
So, a day for the sacrifice of Andromeda was set. When the day arrived, Andromeda and her parents went down to the seashore. There she was chained to a rock and left to be eaten by the monster. But, that was not to be. Perseus, who was flying above, saw the great crowd and came down for a closer look. Seeing the beautiful maiden chained to a rock, she asked an onlooker what was happening. Hearing the story, Perseus introduced himself to Andromeda and told her he would save her, which he did. When the sea monster approached, Perseus plunged his sword into its heart and a few seconds later the monster was floating dead on the water. Then, as in all stories, they fell in love and married.
Another story about Perseus is the beheading of Medusa. It begins with the story of his mother. Danae was the beautiful daughter of King Acrislus. The only problem was that the oracle that the king consulted said that the son of Danae would one day kill him. To avoid this Acrisius shut Danae up in a room, and only her maids attended to her. Unfortunately, this did not solve the king’s problem.
Zeus fell in love with the beautiful maiden. In time, Danae bore Zeus a son named Perseus. Soon Acrisius found out, and shut the two up in a wooden chest and sent it out to sea. Even this did not kill Perseus and his mother.
The wooden chest landed on the shore of an island. A fisherman opened the chest and finding Danae and Perseus, brought them to the king of the island, Polydectes. Soon, Polydectes fell in love with Danae and asked her to marry him. Danae refused because she was devoted to her son. Polydectes thought that if he could get rid of Perseus, Danae might agree to marry him. So, he commanded Perseus to bring him the head of Medusa.
Medusa was one of the three ugly Gorgons, but they hadn’t always been that way. Medusa had once been very beautiful, but she bragged so much about her beauty that Athena became jealous. Athena turned the lovely Medusa and her two pretty sisters into ugly monsters with snakes for hair, bulging eyes, and protruding fangs. After that, one glance from Medusa would turn a person to stone.
Perseus knew that he could not complete this task without help. So he asked for the help of Athena. Athena told Perseus to seek out the Three Gray Sisters. They could reveal where the Gorgons lived and supply Perseus with the three things he would need to make the journey successful.
The Three Gray Sisters had been gray since birth, but that was not the only thing remarkable about them. The Three Sisters shared one eye. They each took turns using it. In between the passing, all of the sisters were blind.
Quietly, Perseus stole into the cavern where the Three Sisters lived. He knew he must get the eye; otherwise there would be no way to force the Sisters to give him what he needed. During the passing of the eye, Perseus snatched it. At length, the Sisters were forced to tell Perseus where the Gorgons lived and supply him with the three things he needed. These included the helmet of Hades (which would make him invisible), a pair of winged sandals to help him fly, and a pouch in which to place her severed head. Hermes also supplied him with a sickle to cut off Medusa’s head.
When Perseus reached the place where the Gorgons lived, they were asleep. Perseus couldn’t look directly at them, but he could see them in his polished shield. He cut off Medusa’s head, put it in the pouch and flew away. Little did he know that he was off to save Andromeda. In the end, he did kill his father, though quite by accident. One day when Perseus was throwing a discus it slipped, hitting his father and killing him instantly.
Probably the most famous story in Greek Mythology, though, is the Trojan War. The event that would eventually lead to the Trojan War was the marriage of the mortal king, Peleus, to the sea nymph, Thetis. All the gods and goddesses were invited except the goddess of discord, Eris. She was enraged that she had been overlooked, and decided to take revenge. So, in the middle of the wedding reception, Eris threw a golden apple labeled, “For the Fairest” on the ground.
A bitter fight ensued over who should get the apple. Finally, the competition was narrowed down to Aphrodite, Hera and Athena. They asked Zeus to settle the dispute, but he wisely declined. Instead, he told the three goddesses to go to Paris of Troy. He would settle the argument.
Paris of Troy was the son of King Priam. He had 49 other brothers, of whom only Hector is important. More is said of him later in the story. The only reason Paris was important was because he was prophesied to one day bring disaster to Troy. At the moment he was just a handsome youth.
The three goddesses arrived while Paris was tending his sheep. They told him that he must decide who got the apple. Each goddess tried to win his favor. Hera promised him great power and happiness. Athena promised him wisdom and respect from everyone. But, Aphrodite promised Paris the most beautiful woman in the world for his wife. Naturally, the golden apple was awarded to Aphrodite.
The most beautiful woman alive was definitely, without a doubt, Helen of Troy. Helen was the daughter of the mortal, Leda, and Zeus. Helen was so beautiful, in fact, that for a time it appeared that her many suitors might start a war. Finally, the wisest of them, Odysseus, came up with a plan. All the suitors must not only pledge that they would abide peacefully by whatever decision Helen made, but they must also agree that if anyone ever tried to hurt Helen or her husband in any way they would help punish the criminal. Everyone agreed, and Helen chose as her husband Menelaus, the King of Sparta.
Paris and Aphrodite traveled to Sparta where they managed to induce Helen to elope with Paris. As soon as Menelaus heard of the abduction, he summoned all of Helen’s former suitors to help him find her. Thus, the Trojan War started.
The Trojan War was fought for nine years without any real success on either side. After a bitter fight between Agamemnon and Achilles in which Achilles refused to fight anymore, Achilles best friend, Patroclus took charge of the Greek warriors. The Greeks won many victories early in the tenth year, but soon Patroclus came face to face with Hector. Hector was the best Trojan warrior, and he was greatly feared. Hector turned on Patroclus and killed him. When Achilles heard of his friend’s death, he swore revenge. The next day Achilles and Hector met in battle. As Hector charged Achilles, Achilles found the one part of Hector that his armor didn’t cover. Through this spot Achilles plunged his sword and killed Hector instantly. The Trojan’s greatest warrior was dead.
Even then Troy did not fall, some of 1t due to the fact that Achilles was killed by Paris. Evidently, Paris found out about the one spot where Achilles was not immortal: his heel. When Achilles was born his mother, Thetis, dipped him in the River Styx to make him immortal. The only part of him which stayed mortal was the section of the heel by which Thetis held him. Paris, upon finding this out, shot Achilles with a poison arrow in his vulnerable heel. Paris got his own back, though, when the Greeks used poison arrows to kill him a few days later.
Then, one day the Trojans were amazed to find the Greeks retreating. Shortly, all the Greeks had left in their ships. At first the Trojans hesitated, then with shouts of joy they opened the gates and ran out. The Trojans stood in bewilderment, staring at the giant wooden horse standing just outside the walls of their city. The Trojans just assumed it was a gift, and rolled it inside the walls of Troy. In the middle of the night a small, concealed wooden door opened, and out of the horse came a herd of Greek warriors. That night many Trojans were slain, and Helen returned to Menelaus. The next morning the city was in ruins. Thus, the Trojan War ended. Eris had gotten her revenge.
Bibliography
Cotterell, Arthur and Rachel Storm. The Ultimate Encyclopedia of Mythology. Hermes House: New York, 1999.
Littleton, C Scott, ed. Mythology: The Illustrated Anthology of World Myth and Storytelling. Duncan Baird Publishing: London, 2002.
Moncrieff, A.R. Hope. A Treasury of Classical Mythology. Barnes & Noble Books: New York, 1992.
