Greek & Roman Myth

Chaos & Primordial Gods, Titans, Olympians

Christian/Jewish: Genesis 1: 1-19

1 In the beginning God created the heavens and the earth. 2 Now the earth was formless and empty, darkness was over the surface of the deep, and the Spirit of God was hovering over the waters.

3 And God said, “Let there be light,” and there was light. 4 God saw that the light was good, and he separated the light from the darkness. 5 God called the light “day,” and the darkness he called “night.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the first day.

6 And God said, “Let there be a vault between the waters to separate water from water.” 7 So God made the vault and separated the water under the vault from the water above it. And it was so. 8 God called the vault “sky.” And there was evening, and there was morning—the second day.

9 And God said, “Let the water under the sky be gathered to one place, and let dry ground appear.” And it was so. 10 God called the dry ground “land,” and the gathered waters he called “seas.” And God saw that it was good.

11 Then God said, “Let the land produce vegetation: seed-bearing plants and trees on the land that bear fruit with seed in it, according to their various kinds.” And it was so. 12 The land produced vegetation: plants bearing seed according to their kinds and trees bearing fruit with seed in it according to their kinds. And God saw that it was good. 13 And there was evening, and there was morning—the third day.

14 And God said, “Let there be lights in the vault of the sky to separate the day from the night, and let them serve as signs to mark sacred times, and days and years, 15 and let them be lights in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth.” And it was so. 16 God made two great lights—the greater light to govern the day and the lesser light to govern the night. He also made the stars. 17 God set them in the vault of the sky to give light on the earth, 18 to govern the day and the night, and to separate light from darkness. And God saw that it was good. 19 And there was evening, and there was morning—the fourth day.

Hesiod’s Theogony, lines 116-138

Verily at the first Chaos came to be, but next wide-bosomed Earth, the ever-sure foundations of all (4) the deathless ones who hold the peaks of snowy Olympus, and dim Tartarus in the depth of the wide-pathed Earth, and Eros (Love), fairest among the deathless gods, who unnerves the limbs and overcomes the mind and wise counsels of all gods and all men within them. From Chaos came forth Erebus and black Night; but of Night were born Aether (5) and Day, whom she conceived and bare from union in love with Erebus. And Earth first bare starry Heaven, equal to herself, to cover her on every side, and to be an ever-sure abiding-place for the blessed gods. And she brought forth long Hills, graceful haunts of the goddess-Nymphs who dwell amongst the glens of the hills. She bare also the fruitless deep with his raging swell, Pontus, without sweet union of love. But afterwards she lay with Heaven and bare deep-swirling Oceanus, Coeus and Crius and Hyperion and Iapetus, Theia and Rhea, Themis and Mnemosyne and gold-crowned Phoebe and lovely Tethys. After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, and he hated his lusty sire.

Primordial Gods

Chaos Gaia, Tartarus, Pontus, Eros Erebus (Darkness) & Nyx (Night),

Aether (Light) & Hemera (Day) Gaia births Uranus (Greek =

Οὐρανός, “Sky”) To cover her & be her mate

Gaia & Uranus

Children: The Titans 100-eyed Giants, Hecatonchires, Cyclops

“Monsters” Uranus hated them, wanted to remain in power So, he imprisoned them inside Gaia, in Tartarus

Cronus (or Cronos, Roman = Saturn), encouraged by Gaia, castrates Uranus with a sickle. Blood falls into sea, forms Gigantes, Furies Genitals fall into sea, form Aphrodite

Cronus & (his sister) Rhea New ruling pair: “The Golden Age” Re-imprisoned the Titans in Tartarus Children: the Olympian Gods

(Demeter, Hestia, Hera, Hades, Poseidon) Cronus was scared that he would be

overthrown Swallowed them & kept them in his belly 6th child = Zeus (Roman = Jupiter)▪ Rhea gave Cronus a stone instead

Zeus & the Olympians

Zeus raised in Crete Tricked Cronus, spiked his drink

(mixture of mustard & wine?), Cronus vomits up Zeus’siblings

Zeus freed the Titans from Tartarus; Cyclopes forged the thunderbolt

“Titanomachy”- Zeus & Olympians & freed Titans vs. Cronus & his ruling Titans

Dividing the world by drawing lots

Zeus & his brothers divide Zeus: Sky Poseidon: Waters Hades: Underworld (World of the Dead)

Zeus marries his sister Hera, but has many affairs with other women (both mortal & immortal)

12 Olympians

Greek Names (Roman) Zeus (Jupiter) Hera (Juno) Poseidon (Neptune) Demeter (Ceres) Athena (Minerva) Dionysus (Bacchus) Apollo (Apollo) Artemis (Diana) Ares (Mars) Aphrodite (Venus) Hephaestus (Vulcan) Hermes (Mercury)

Sometimes included… Hades (Pluto) Hestia (Vesta) Asclepius (Vejovis) Eros (Cupid) Hebe (Juventas) Heracles (Hercules) Pan (Faunus) Persephone

(Proserpina)

Raphael’s Loggia di Psiche (1518-1519)

What you need to know

Greek Name Roman Name God of _______ Parents? Children? How is he/she depicted?

Symbols? Weapons?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twelve_Olympians

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Family_tree_of_the_Greek_gods

Constellation Myths to know

Andromeda, Cassiopeia, Cepheus, Perseus

Aquarius Gemini Leo Libra, Virgo Orion, Scorpius Pisces Sagittarius Taurus Ursa Major, Ursa

Minor

Use Symbaloo via http://www.dcsomalearningcommons.org/latin.html

Use links at bottom under the heading, “The Major Constellations”: http://www.comfychair.org/~cmbell/myth/myth.html