Rhet 201-08 Portfolio The Greek gods

Zeus Apollo Hermes Poseidon Ares

Hephasstus Dionysus Pan Eros Hades

Athena Artimus Aphrodite Hera

Demeter Heracles Oedipus Perseus

Medusa Jason Theseus Minotaur

Atalanta Bellerphon Pegasus Pandora

Atlas Narcissus Orpheus Eurydice

Titans Cyclops Midas Persephone

Zeus Apollo Hermes Poseidon Ares

Hephasstus Dionysus Pan Eros Hades

Athena Artimus Aphrodite Hera

Demeter Heracles Oedipus Perseus

Medusa Jason Theseus Minotaur

Atalanta Bellerphon Pegasus Pandora

Atlas Narcissus Orpheus Eurydice

Titans Cyclops Midas Persephone

Rhet 201-08 Portfolio

The Greek Gods: Where did they come from?

Theories and Stories

18/07/12

Nour Nader Etman

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Table Of Content:

Cover letter 3

Journal 1 4-5

Journal 2 6-7

Library Notes 8

Journal 3 9-11

Annotated Bibliography 12-15

Survey Notes 16

Class notes (Paper format) 17-18

First Draft 19-21

Second Draft 22-26

PowerPoint Presentation 27-56

Presentation Notes 57-58

Third Draft 59-72

Final Draft 73-87

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Cover Letter:

Writing my Rhet paper was a journey, and a very interesting one at that. I found out a lot

of things and discovered many interesting facts about my topic. Most of all though I did

something I was passionate about, disregarding the grades and assignments, I enjoyed this

experience because it gave me a chance to ponder into something I was always interested in and

further explore it. Having only worked for six weeks I might not have had enough time to find

out and learn everything I wanted to but the amazing thing about researching a passion of yours

is that it doesn’t have to stop here. I will with no doubt continue reading and learning about the

Greek gods and I feel like this course has opened a wide new door for me. I decided to arrange

my portfolio chronologically in order to see the development of ideas and the process that

occurred. My portfolio has both typed content and hand written notes I took in class and it also

includes my presentation because I felt these were essential to give an all inclusive understanding

of the progression in my research.

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Nour Nader Etman

900111220

Possible Topics

I was thinking about researching topics that we started discussing last semester in my seminar

course “who am I?” One of the main things that I was really interested in was exploring the left

and right brain, and why our society values left brain abilities more than right brain talent. It’s

more probable for parents to support their kids, for example, if they want to major in engineering

rather than art. As a person that has always preferred the non science subjects to the scientific

ones I think I can relate to this very much. I see it around me every day when I ask my friends

what they plan on studying or why they aren’t majoring in what they are really passionate about.

I honestly believe that if a person works in something they really love the results of their work

will be more outstanding than working or studying something you think society would approve

of.

Another topic that I was always interested in was Greek Gods and their ancient beliefs. I had a

project about ancient Greece in school and the largest part I discussed was their Gods and all the

different things they ruled I found it very fascinating. I loved how they gave them a story, made

them a family how it symbolized that one cannot exist without the other. It was also interesting

to read the characteristics they attributed to these Gods. Like how the god of war was considered

murderous but also a coward.

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I am also very passionate about women rights and how here in Egypt women are, until now,

looked upon as lesser than men. Our society doesn’t understand the concept of single moms or of

women who have a goal in life other than getting married and having a dozen kids. Even with all

the women rights that are implemented like educational and voting rights, our society didn’t

really change their perspectives. Women are still expected to do the things they did before any of

their rights were granted. People question women who would choose career over family yet

applaud a man who does that and say he is committed to becoming successful. Being a woman

shouldn’t give us any less of a right to be independent like men.

I think I have decided to research Greek Gods. The topic has always intrigued my interest and

this would be a great opportunity to try and explore it further. Greeks were remembered in

history for everything from their architecture to their beliefs, maybe they were on to more than

we gave them credit for. I would like to understand more about how these Gods came into their

beliefs and what they believed about them exactly. Right now all I know is the names of the

Gods and what they are in charge of, I am hoping to learn more.

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Nour Nader

900111220

Research Notes

There are a lot of theories when it comes to Greek Gods, and because they weren’t something solid it is

difficult to find which is correct and which is not. Something all the sources agreed upon though was

how they were passed on, in the form of stories, from parents telling their children and maybe that is

why they may vary and they may have been altered through time.

I found a couple of books in the library, a particularly interesting one called “The Greeks and their Gods”.

The chapter in the book that talks about their origins mentions that religion as a whole originates from

art and poetry. The theory was that any art wasn’t a direct creation of the artist rather an urge that

needed to get out something from within them that they didn’t have control over; this feeling came out

in the form of myths and poems.

In an online article called “Understanding the Origin of the Greek Gods” it explains the story that was

told about how they all came into existence and how the Olympians, Zeus’ family, came into control. It

started with 5 divinities. One of them was “Earth”; she then had some children with “The sky”. One of

the children grew to over through his father and proceeded to have children of his own, who eventually

overthrew him, lead by Zeus who then became the king of Gods and married his sister Hera the goddess

of marriage and childbirth.

The book “Religions of the ancient Greeks” also mentions this story, stating that the Greek gods might

have been influenced by the Near Eastern Gods as similar versions of the story existed in their

languages. Some theories even mention the possibility that they might have been stolen from the

Egyptians. The Greek Gods although maybe influenced by the near east had their own twists to them

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that were very Greek. The myths that the stories of these Gods originate from are said to have discussed

fundamental issues in their society. Among other theories religious scriptures being the origin was

mentioned.

An additional theory mentioned in Wikipedia was that the Gods were actually once real human being

that were given divine attributes due to their positions, maybe kings or people of power. Then the

legends that we hear now are just alterations of real stories that made them seem God-like divine.

Citation:

"Understanding the Origin of the Greek Gods." For Dummies. Web. 12 June 2012.

"The Origin of the Greek Gods." The Origin of the Greek Gods. N.p., 15 Oct. 2006. Web. 12 June 2012

"Greek Mythology." Wikipedia. Wikimedia Foundation, 06 Dec. 2012. Web. 12 June 2012

Guthrie, W.K.C. The Greeks and Their Gods. Boston: Beacon, 1954. Print

Price, Simone. Religions Of The Ancient Greeks. New York: Cambridge UP, 1999. Print.

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Library Notes

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Nour Nader

900111220

I-search Topic

My topic started off as Greek Gods but it was too general and broad, I thought about talking

about one particular God but that would have made it too narrow, so as I read the many sources I

found I decided I would try to find out where these Gods originated from.

The more I read the more I found out that it was very indefinite and that I wasn’t really going to

find a specific answer. I read a lot of theories and a lot of them were very interesting but I found

out that my search had to be split into 2 parts.

My research question is:

What is the Origin of Greek Gods?

With 2 sub questions:

Where did the Gods come from according to Mythology?

Where did the mythology stories of the Gods originate from?

In the first question I explore the ancient Greek theory of how they’re gods came into existence.

It tackles the stories that they told through the generations about the creation of earth and how

the Olympians took control of the world. This is the part where I talk about their myths; things

that we now know are impossible and couldn’t possibly be true.

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The second question addresses the unknown origin of these stories. How did they come up with

such an out of this world scenario? There are a lot of theories regarding this, but all agree that the

way these myths were kept going was by retelling it over and over.

In my new sources, I found a website called Ancient Greece, it explains as a summary the family

tree of the Gods, and then continues to give details about each God. This will help me in my first

sub question.

Another online article called “origins of the world” added to the story of how Zeus became the

king of the gods by explaining how he got his all famous lightning bolt. Apparently when he

overthrew his father he let out the Cyclopes which had been imprisoned, they then offered him

the lightning bolt as a thank you, they were the only ones who could make theses lightning bolts.

“Greek Gods Greek Myths” explains about the history of the creation of the gods, the peoples

need for them and what their purpose was. Though this article mentions that their religion didn’t

have scriptures, this statement contradicts a previous source I had read. This source is very useful

in answering my 2nd question it is coming from a historical point of view rather than a mythical

one.

The final source I found called “The creation of the first Greek gods” mentions that the Greeks

reason for coming up with the stories of the Gods was to justify “the various abstract

significances like Love, Birth or Death.” This is why the God world was a lot alike our human

world. Full of passion, hate, jealousy and betrayal, they were no saints, the gods, just really big

and strong human.

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Citation

1. "Ancient Greek Gods and Myths." Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012

2. Davidson, James. "The Origins of the World." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media,

01 Nov. 2008. Web. 13 June 2012.

3. "Greek Gods." All About History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012.

4. "Theogony - The Creation of the First Greek Gods." Greek Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13

June 2012

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Nour Nader Etman

900111220

Annotated Bibliography

"Ancient Greek Gods and Myths." Mythology. Web. 13 June 2012

It explains as a summary the family tree of the Gods, and then continues to give details about

each God. The website arranged the information very well and made it easily accessible. It talks

about each God’s story and the myths that have been told about them. Stories like how Hera was

jealous of Zeus’ multiple affairs and how Poseidon created the horse were mentioned among

others.

Davidson, James. "The Origins of the World." The Guardian. Guardian News and Media, 01

Nov. 2008. Web. 13 June 2012.

The theory of the gods’ birth was told here but it was more elaborate. The article added to the

story of how Zeus became the king of the gods by explaining how he got his all famous lightning

bolt. Apparently when he overthrew his father he let out the Cyclopes, who had been imprisoned,

they then offered him the lightning bolt as a thank you, they were the only ones who could make

theses lightning bolts.

Graves, Robert. Greek Gods and Heroes. Garden City, NY: Doubleday, 1960. Print.

Graves goes deeper into Greek mythology and discusses various stories and legends. The most

interesting part for my research was his chapter on the end of the Olympians. A story of how the

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last Olympian worshiping king was killed and how this marked the end of Zeus’ reign was

explained. Graves then tells us that even though they don’t rule anymore they are still around us,

in the star constellations that the Christians never changed and in the stories they left behind. The

Greek gods left a truly unforgettable mark of the world.

"Greek Gods." All About History. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012.

In this article the history of the creation of the gods is explained, the peoples need for them and

what their purpose was. Though this article mentions that their religion didn’t have scriptures,

this statement contradicts a previous source I had read. This source is very useful in finding out

why the Greeks came up with these myths about the gods; it is coming from a historical point of

view rather than a mythical one.


An additional theory mentioned in Wikipedia was that the gods were actually once real human

beings that were given divine attributes due to their positions, maybe kings or people of power.

The legends that we hear now then are just alterations of real stories that made them seem God-

like divine. This is a very logical theory; after all, these myths have been around for a long time

and have undoubtedly been altered from generation to generation. Like any story that has no

origin, people change it until it becomes something totally different than the original.


In a chapter in Guthrie’s book he talks about the origins of the Greek gods and their religion, he

mentions that religion as a whole originates from art and poetry. The theory was that any art

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wasn’t a direct creation of the artist rather an urge that needed to get out something from within

them that they didn’t have control over; this feeling came out in the form of myths and poems.

This is a very interesting theory that I thought looked at more than just the Greek gods but also

religion as a whole and how art and beauty are interrelated with the divine.

"The Origin of the Greek Gods." The Origin of the Greek Gods. N.p., 15 Oct. 2006. Web. 12

June 2012

A theory here mentions the possibility that the idea for the Greek gods might have been stolen

from the Egyptians. The fact that the gods might have once been mortal men is also considered

here. The article then explores the connection with Egyptian gods further. This supports another

one of my sources that mentions the Greek’s inspiration coming from other cultures.


The story about the birth of the gods is also mentioned here, but it states that the Greek gods

might have been influenced by the Near Eastern gods as similar versions of the story existed in

their languages.. Although the Greek gods may have been influenced by the near east, they had

their own twists to them that were very Greek. These myths that the stories of the gods originate

from are said to have discussed fundamental issues in the Greek society at the time. Among other

ideas, a theory stated that there were religious scriptures which were the origins of the Greek

gods. The fact that Price mentioned that they were influenced by other cultures makes a lot of

sense. There were only a few cultures present at the time and they definitely formed a lot of ideas

from each other. Their religion is very likely to be one of them.

"Theogony - The Creation of the First Greek Gods." Greek Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June

2012

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This source mentions that the Greeks reason for coming up with the stories of the Gods was to

justify “the various abstract significances like Love, Birth or Death.” This is why the God world

was a lot alike our human world. Full of passion, hate, jealousy and betrayal, they were no saints,

the gods, just really big and strong human.


It is explained here the story that was told about how the gods came into existence and how the

Olympians, Zeus’ family, came into control. It started with five divinities. One of them was

“Earth”; she then had some children with “The sky”. One of the children grew to over throw his

father and proceeded to have children of his own, who eventually overthrew him, led by Zeus

who then became the king of Gods and married his sister Hera, the goddess of marriage and

childbirth. This is considered the origin of the world according to the Greeks. The article

explained clearly an otherwise complex story of the birth of the gods. I found this source very

useful to give me insight on how the Greeks thought.

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Survey Draft

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Paper format:

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First Draft:

The Greeks were one of the oldest civilizations that existed on earth. They affected a lot

of what we know now and even how we live. One thing though that people never took seriously

was their religious beliefs and their gods; but what do we really know about these gods other

than what we see in the movies and on TV? I personally didn’t know much. I knew that there

was more to know though and that’s why I decided to choose this as my I-search Topic. The

Greeks had a lot of gods and a number of myths to go with them which made it hard for me to

decide what exactly I wanted to research. I read the many sources I found and decided to try to

find out where these Gods originated from. The more I read the more it was apparent that the

answer was very indefinite and that I wasn’t really going to find something specific. I read a lot

of theories and a lot of them were very interesting but found out that my search had to be split

into two parts. There are those theories about where the stories about the gods came from and

there are the stories of how the gods themselves came into existence. I will be discussing both

further in my paper.

The Greeks had a very vivid imagination and came up with creative extraordinary myths.

The one about the gods’ birth is no exception. There are a lot of different versions of the story

but they all boiled down to the same idea. The world started off as nothing but Chaos, but from

this chaos five divinities came into shape. “Gaia (the mother Earth), Tartarus (the underworld),

Erebus (the darkness that covers the underworld), Night (darkness that covers Earth), and Eros

(Love).” (“Understanding Greek Gods”) From these five originated everything we know now.

The darkness of the underworld, Erebus, and the darkness of the earth, Night, produced six

children together. They created the Day called Herma, Light whose name was Phôs and then

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Doom, Death, Misery, Deceit, and Discord. These Guys while important aren’t where the gods

originated from, so let’s go back to where it all began, Gaia, the earth.

Gaia, on her own, made the mountains and the seas but most importantly she gave birth

to Uranus referred to as the sky or heaven. (Davidson, James) The Earth took the sky as her lover

and Gaia and Uranus had kids. The order in which of their groups of kids came first is unclear

but basically they had Hekatoncheires, Cyclopes and The Titans. Both the Hekatoncheires and

the Cyclopes were monsters. Hekatoncheires had “not one but fifty heads and a hundred arms

fitted to their massive shoulders” (Davidson, James) While the Cyclopes were giants with one

eye in the middle of their forehead. The most important group of children in our story though are

the Titans. Uranus didn’t like any of his children and shoved them back into the earth’s womb,

Gaia was very unhappy with that and devised a plan to get back at her lover. She asked the

Titans for help but only the youngest Coronus (sometimes spelt Koronus) would help his mother.

“ Gaia made a huge sickle out of flint and gave it to Cronos with some pretty explicit

instructions.” The next time Uranus was to lay with Gaia Coronus attacked him. He castrated his

own father. When Coronus threw his father’s genitals into the sea it created foam, this foam took

the shape of a woman and later came from it one of the most famous goddesses we know now,

Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. After having castrated his father Coronus was now in

charge but his father left him with something that would haunt him forever a prophesy. He told

him that one day one of his sons would turn on him, just as he had done.

The prophesy didn’t shake Coronus though, he was too overwhelmed with power to care

at the time. He married his sister Rhea and when they came to have children he didn’t forget the

prophesy. As a solution he decided he would swallow all his children. The gods never learned

that eating your children or shoving them back up their mom never pleased the ladies. Rhea of

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course didn’t like her husband’s actions so she went to her parents for help. The plan was, when

Rhea was to give birth to her youngest and sixth child she would do it in secret and hide the

baby, giving Coronus a stone to swallow instead.

Zeus grew up safely on Crete. The Nymphs gave him milk from a magical goat

named Amalthea, and the Curetes, minor gods who had the job of protecting him, banged

their spears against their swords every time baby Zeus cried, and that way Cronos never

heard him. (“Understanding Greek Gods”)

Zeus matured really fast and surely enough overthrew his dad. After beating his father in

a wrestling match he forced his to cough up his brothers and sisters. From Coronus’ stomach

came out five gods and goddesses; they were Hera the Goddess of marriage, Poseidon, God of

the sea, Hades the God of the underworld, Hestia, Goddess of the hearth and Demeter, Goddess

of crops and the harvest. Zeus was now in charge! He took his siblings and went to mount

Olympus were they made their home. Zeus and Hera got married and gave birth to most of the

Olympian gods we know now. Zeus also set free the Cyclopes and the Hekatoncheires who

helped him beat the Titans by manufacturing his all famous lightning bolts that only they, the

Cyclopes, could make. Here ends our story of how the gods were born, and how Zeus became

the one on the throne.

Stories like this one have been passed through the ages from generation to another, but

who came up with them? Why? This is what I had set to find out. One of the theories that

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Second Draft:

The Gods:

Where did they come from?

The ancient Greeks were one of the oldest civilizations that existed on earth. They

affected a lot of what we know now and even how we live. One thing though that people never

took seriously was their religious beliefs and their gods; but what do we really know about these

gods other than what we see in the movies and on TV? I personally didn’t know much. I knew

that there was more to know though and that’s why I decided to choose this as my I-search

Topic. The Greeks had a lot of gods and a number of myths to go with them which made it hard

for me to decide what exactly I wanted to research. I read the many sources I found and decided

to try to find out where these gods originated from. The more I read the more it was apparent that

the answer was very indefinite and that I wasn’t really going to find something specific. I read a

lot of theories and a lot of them were very interesting but found out that my search had to be split

into two parts. There are those theories about where the stories about the gods came from and

there are the stories of how the gods themselves came into existence. I will be discussing both

further in my paper.


The one about the gods’ birth is no exception. There are a lot of different versions of the story





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The darkness of the underworld, Erebus, and the darkness of the earth, Night, produced six





to Uranus referred to as the sky or heaven. (Davidson, James) The Earth took the sky as her lover

and Gaia and Uranus had kids. The order in which of their groups of kids came first is unclear

but basically they had Hekatoncheires, Cyclopes and The Titans. Both the Hekatoncheires and

the Cyclopes were monsters. Hekatoncheires had “not one but fifty heads and a hundred arms

fitted to their massive shoulders” (Davidson, James) While the Cyclopes were giants with one

eye in the middle of their forehead. The most important group of children in our story though are

the Titans. Uranus didn’t like any of his children and shoved them back into the earth’s womb,

Gaia was very unhappy with that and devised a plan to get back at her lover. She asked the

Titans for help but only the youngest Coronus (sometimes spelt Koronus) would help his mother.

“ Gaia made a huge sickle out of flint and gave it to Cronos with some pretty explicit

instructions.” The next time Uranus was to lay with Gaia Coronus attacked him. He castrated his

own father. When Coronus threw his father’s genitals into the sea it created foam, this foam took


Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. After having castrated his father Coronus was now in

charge but his father left him with something that would haunt him forever a prophecy. He told


The prophecy didn’t shake Coronus though, he was too overwhelmed with power to care


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prophecy. As a solution he decided he would swallow all his children. The gods never learned




baby, giving Coronus a stone to swallow instead.

Zeus grew up safely on Crete. The Nymphs gave him milk from a magical goat named

Amalthea, and the Curetes, minor gods who had the job of protecting him, banged their

spears against their swords every time baby Zeus cried, and that way Cronos never heard

him. (“Understanding Greek Gods”)


a wrestling match he forced his to cough up his brothers and sisters. From Coronus’ stomach

came out five gods and goddesses; they were Hera the goddess of marriage, Poseidon, god of the

sea, Hades the god of the underworld, Hestia, goddess of the hearth and Demeter, goddess of

crops and the harvest. Zeus was now in charge! He took his siblings and went to mount Olympus

were they made their home. Zeus and Hera got married and gave birth to most of the Olympian

gods we know now. Zeus also set free the Cyclopes and the Hekatoncheires who helped him beat

the Titans by manufacturing his all famous lightning bolts that only they, the Cyclopes, could

make. Here ends our story of how the gods were born, and how Zeus became the one on the

throne.

Stories like this one have been passed through the ages from generation to another, but

who came up with them? Why? This is what I had set to find out. One of the theories of how

these stories were made up was that the Greeks came up with these gods after hearing and being

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influenced by other cultures at the time. The Near Eastern gods had similar versions of the story

in their languages. Although the Greek gods may have been influenced by the near east, they had

their own twists to them that were very much Greek. Another culture that was mentioned that

might have influenced them was the Ancient Egyptian culture. This theory proved to be the most

popular, out of the theories I found, in my survey. I believe the reason for that was because most

of the people that took the survey were Egyptian and tend to go for anything with their country’s

name in it.

The theory ranking in second place was surprisingly that religion as a whole originates

from art and poetry. The theory was that any art wasn’t a direct creation of the artist rather an

urge that needed to get out something from within them that they didn’t have control over; this

feeling came out in the form of myths and poems. This is a very interesting theory that I thought

looked at more than just the Greek gods but also religion as a whole and how art and beauty are

interrelated with the divine. 33.3% of the people who took my survey believed that this was more

plausible than the other options; I didn’t think that many people would go for something like art

and poems as the origins or religion but I was proved wrong.

Least popular theory was that the gods might have been real humans at a point. The

theory proposes that they were human beings that were given divine attributes due to their

positions, maybe kings or people of power. The legends that we hear now then are just

alterations of real stories that made them seem God-like divine. This is a very logical theory;

after all, these myths have been around for a long time and have undoubtedly been altered from

generation to generation. Like any story that has no origin, people change it until it becomes

something totally different than the original. Why I think this was the least theory chosen might

be because people don’t like to attribute human characteristics to gods, even if it is not the gods

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they believe in. They like making gods seem untouchable and perfect. What sets apart the Greek

gods though was that they were not saints, but they live like humans to a huge extend. They had

jealousy, fighting and problems very similar to what we humans go through. Even though this

wasn’t a popular choice I still think it’s highly plausible.

In the survey I conducted I looked more into the reasons why the Greeks felt the need to

have gods. The most popular choice was “To explain natural phenomena they didn’t understand

(eg. Sunrise and sunset)”, only a little behind it came “To justify the various abstract

significances like Love, Birth or Death”. People probably chose these because they are what

seems to be the start of all religions. Like how the prophets usually find put that God is out there

when they look around the beautiful earth and think that there has to be something more out

there. The least chosen was “To make sure that the people stayed in line” this gives the

indication that people look at the need for religion as something less of a way to control people

and more of a way to understand the world around us.

I also decided to see why people thought these myths survived all this time and are still

around till now. 58% thought that it was because of the fact that they were part of history. The

rest of the people were equally split between “They have been retold with the purpose of

entertainment” and “They have been passed on to teach children values”. My last question was

aimed to see who was the most popular god or goddess other than Zeus. The two most mentioned

names were Poseidon and Aphrodite. Another thing I noticed was that a lot of people confused

the Greek gods with the roman gods because of the similar attributes.

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The Presentation:

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Presentation notes:

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Third Draft:

The Gods:



affected a lot of what we know now and even how we live. One thing though that people never

took seriously was their religious beliefs and their gods; but what do we really know about these

gods other than what we see in the movies and on TV? I personally didn’t know much, but I

wanted to. I had a pretty good idea that there was more to know and that’s why I decided to

choose this as my I-search Topic. The Greeks had a lot of gods and a number of myths to go with

them which made it hard for me to decide what exactly I wanted to research. I read the many

sources I found and decided to try to find out where these gods originated from. The more I read

the more it was apparent that the answer was very indefinite and that I wasn’t really going to find

something specific. I read a lot of theories and a lot of them were very interesting but found out

that my search had to be split into two parts. The first part is the stories of how the gods

themselves came into existence; the second part is those theories about where these stories came

from. I will be discussing both further in my paper.


The one about the gods’ birth was no exception. There are a lot of different versions of the story





Etman 60

The darkness of the underworld, Erebus, and the darkness of the earth, Night, produced seven





to Uranus referred to as the sky or heaven (James Davidson). The Earth took the sky as her lover

and Gaia and Uranus had kids. The order in which of their groups of kids came first is a point of

difference that I found between my 2 sources. James Davidson said that the titans came first but

the article “Understanding the Greek Gods” explained that they were the youngest group of

children. Basically they had Hekatoncheires, Cyclopes and The Titans. Both the Hekatoncheires

and the Cyclopes were considered monsters. Hekatoncheires had “not one but fifty heads and a

hundred arms fitted to their massive shoulders” (James Davidson) While the Cyclopes were

giants with one eye in the middle of their forehead. The most important group of children in our

story though is the Titans. Uranus didn’t like any of his children and shoved them back into the

earth’s womb. Gaia was very unhappy with that and devised a plan to get back at her lover. She

asked the Titans for help but only the youngest Cronus (sometimes spelt Koronus) would help

his mother. “Gaia made a huge sickle out of flint and gave it to Cronos with some pretty explicit

instructions.” The next time Uranus was to lay with Gaia Cronus attacked him. He castrated his

own father. When Cronus threw his father’s genitals into the sea it created foam, this foam took


Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. After having castrated his father Cronus was now in

charge but his father left him with something that would haunt him forever a prophecy. He told


Etman 61

The prophecy didn’t shake Cronus though; he was too overwhelmed with power to care


prophecy. As a solution he decided he would swallow all his children. The gods never learned




baby, giving Cronus a stone to swallow instead.






a wrestling match he forced his to cough up his brothers and sisters. From Cronus’ stomach came

out five gods and goddesses; they were Hera the goddess of marriage, Poseidon, god of the sea,

Hades the god of the underworld, Hestia, goddess of the hearth and Demeter, goddess of crops

and the harvest. Zeus was now in charge! He took his siblings and went to mount Olympus were

they made their home. Zeus and Hera got married and gave birth to most of the Olympian gods

we know now. Zeus also set free the Cyclopes and the Hekatoncheires who helped him beat the

Titans by manufacturing his all famous lightning bolts that only they, the Cyclopes, could make

(James Davidson). Here ends our story of how the gods were born, and how Zeus became the

one on the throne.

Etman 62

Stories like this one have been passed through the ages from generation to another and

have gone through a lot of changes over the centuries to become what we know now, but who

came up with them? Why? This is what I had set to find out. One of the theories of how these

stories were made up was that the Greeks came up with these gods after hearing and being

influenced by other cultures at the time. The Near Eastern gods had similar versions of the story

in their languages (Simone Price). Although the Greek gods may have been influenced by the

near east, they had their own twists to them that were very much Greek. Another culture that was

mentioned that might have influenced them was the Ancient Egyptian culture ("The Origin of the

Greek Gods."). This theory proved to be the most popular, out of the theories I found, in my

survey. I believe the reason for that was because most of the people that took the survey were

Egyptian and tend to go for anything with their country’s name in it.


from art and poetry. The theory was that any art wasn’t a direct creation of the artist rather an

urge that needed to get out something from within them that they didn’t have control over; this

feeling came out in the form of myths and poems This is a very interesting theory that I thought

looked at more than just the Greek gods but also religion as a whole and how art and beauty are

interrelated with the divine. “Religion arose from the awareness of beauty and the earliest

revelation of the divine was through poetry” (W.K.C. Guthrie).. 33.3% of the people who took

my survey believed that this was more plausible than the other options; I didn’t think that many

people would go for something like art and poems as the origins or religion but I was proved

wrong.

Least popular theory was that the gods might have been real humans at a point. The

theory proposes that they were human beings that were given divine attributes due to their

Etman 63

positions, maybe kings or people of power ("Greek Mythology."). The legends that we hear now

then are just alterations of real stories that made them seem God-like divine. This is a very

logical theory; after all, these myths have been around for a long time and have undoubtedly

been altered from generation to generation. Like any story that has no origin, people change it

until it becomes something totally different than the original. Why I think this was the least

theory chosen might be because people don’t like to attribute human characteristics to gods, even

if it is not the gods they believe in. They like making gods seem untouchable and perfect. What

sets apart the Greek gods from other gods was that they were not saints, but they live like

humans to a huge extend. They had jealousy, fighting and problems very similar to what we

humans go through. Also a lot of the myths mention interaction between the gods and humans.

Even though this wasn’t a popular choice I still think it’s highly plausible.



(eg. Sunrise and sunset)”, only a little behind it came “To justify the various abstract

significances like Love, Birth or Death”( "Theogony - The Creation of the First Greek Gods.").

People probably chose these because they are what seems to be the start of all religions. Like

how the prophets usually find out that God is out there when they look around the beautiful earth

and think that there has to be something more to all this. The least chosen was “To make sure

that the people stayed in line” this gives the indication that people look at the need for religion as

something less of a way to control people and more of a way to understand the world around us.

I also decided to see why people thought these myths survived all this time and why they

are still around till now. 58% thought that it was because of the fact that they were part of

Etman 64

history. The rest of the people were equally split between “They have been retold with the

purpose of entertainment” and “They have been passed on to teach children values”.

My last question was aimed to see who were the most popular god or goddess other than

Zeus. The goddess that was mentioned the most was Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty.

Poseidon god of the sea was also mentioned a lot. Another thing I noticed was that a lot of

people confused the Greek gods with the roman gods because of the similar attributes they have.

The Romans basically had the same gods as the Greeks but with different names.

After going through all these theories I don’t really have a definite answer yet, but I

understand so much more about the Greek gods. People may think that these are just weird

stories that are seemingly useless now but learning about these myths can be very enlightening.

Like the story of Narcissus and Echo which talks about how we must not be vain and how we

should direct our love towards others rather than ourselves (Robert Graves). This is only one

example though most of the Greek myths have a deeper meaning to them but people just look at

them as obstinacies. In the end I would just like to say that I have thoroughly enjoyed doing this

research and will probably continue reading about the gods after the course. These people, the

Greeks, have created amazing history and their religious belief is just as spectacular.

Etman 65

Work Cited

"Ancient Greek Gods and Myths." Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012


Nov. 2008. Web. 13 June 2012.





"Origin of the Greek Gods, The" The Origin of the Greek Gods. N.p., 15 Oct. 2006. Web. 12

June 2012


"Theogony - The Creation of the First Greek Gods." Greek Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13

June 2012


Etman 66



It explains a summary of the family tree of the Gods, and then continues to give details about



jealous of Zeus’ multiple affairs and how Poseidon created the horse among others were

mentioned.


Nov. 2008. Web. 13 June 2012.



bolt. Apparently when he overthrew his father he let out the Cyclopes, they had been imprisoned

by the titans, as a thank you they offered him the lightning bolt. They were the only ones who

could make theses lightning bolts giving Zeus a one-of-a-kind weapon




last Olympian worshiping king was killed marking the end of Zeus’ reign and the end of the

Olympians’ power was explained. Graves then tells us that even though they don’t rule anymore

they are still around us, in the star constellations that the Christians never changed and in the

stories they left behind. The Greek gods left a truly unforgettable mark of the world.

Etman 67








An additional theory mentioned was that the gods were actually once real human beings that

were given divine attributes due to their positions, maybe kings or people of power. The legends

that we hear now then are just alterations of real stories that made them seem God-like divine.

This is a very logical theory; after all, these myths have been around for a long time and have

undoubtedly been altered from generation to generation. Like any story that has no origin, people

change it until it becomes something totally different than the original.








Etman 68


June 2012








their languages. Although the Greek gods may have been influenced by the near east, they had








2012




the gods, just really powerful humans.

Etman 69










Etman 70

Appendix 1

(Survey Questions)

This is a survey for my English research paper about the Greek gods and their myths. Please help

me by taking a few minutes to fill this out. Thank you :)

*1. Age:

*2. Gender:

Gender: Male

Female

3. Rate your knowledge of the Greek gods (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest)

1

I don't know anything

2 3 4

5

I consider myself an expert on the subject

*4. Have you ever been interested in the Greek gods?

Have you ever been interested in the Greek gods? Yes

Etman 71

No

*5. Where do you think the Greek Myths about the gods originated from?

The gods were once real humans

They were influenced by gods from other cultures at the time (Near east, Egyptian, etc..)

They originated form poems and art

*6. Why did the Greeks come up with these gods?

To justify the various abstract significances like Love, Birth or Death

To make sure that the people stayed in line

To explain natural phenomena they didn’t understand (eg. Sunrise and sunset)

*7. Why do you think these myths have survived until now?

They have been passed on to teach children values

They have been retold with the purpose of entertainment

They are part of history

8. Name a Greek God or Goddess you know and what they rule (Other than Zeus)

God:

Etman 72

What they ruled:

Etman 73

Final Draft:

Nour Nader

Rhet 201- 08

Michael Gibson

I-search paper

18/07/12

The Greek Gods:


The Theories and the Myths


affected a lot of what we know now and even how we live today (Roy D'Silva). Despite this, one

thing that some people seemed to have a problem taking seriously was the Greeks’ religious

beliefs and their gods; but what do we really know about these gods, other than what we see in

the movies and on TV? I personally didn’t know much, but I wanted to. I had a pretty good idea

that there was more to know and that is why I decided to choose this as my I-search Topic. The

Greeks had a lot of gods and a number of myths to go with them which made it hard for me to

decide what exactly I wanted to research. I read the many sources I found and decided to try to

find out where the idea of these gods originated from. The more I read the more it was apparent

that the answer was very indefinite and that I wasn’t really going to find something specific. I

Etman 74

read a lot of theories and many of them were very interesting but found out that my search had to

be split into two parts. The first part is the stories of how the gods themselves came into

existence; the second part is those theories about where these stories came from. I will be

discussing both further in my paper.


The one about the gods’ birth was no exception. There are a lot of different versions of the story





The darkness of the underworld, Erebus, and the darkness of the earth, Night, produced seven


Doom, Death, Misery, Deceit, and Discord. These guys while important aren’t where the gods



to Uranus referred to as the sky or heaven (James Davidson). The Earth took the sky as her lover

and Gaia and Uranus had kids. The order in which their groups of kids came first is a point of

difference that I found between my two sources. James Davidson said that the Titans came first

but the article “Understanding the Greek Gods” explained that they were the last group of

children. Basically Gaia and Uranus had the Hekatoncheires, the Cyclopes and the Titans. Both

the Hekatoncheires and the Cyclopes were considered monsters. The Hekatoncheires had “not

one but fifty heads and a hundred arms fitted to their massive shoulders” (James Davidson)

While the Cyclopes were giants with one eye in the middle of their foreheads. The most

Etman 75

important group of children in our story though is the Titans. Uranus didn’t like any of his

children and shoved them back into the earth’s womb. Gaia was very unhappy with that and

devised a plan to get back at her lover. She asked the Titans for help but only the youngest

Cronus (sometimes spelt Koronus) would help his mother. “Gaia made a huge sickle out of flint

and gave it to Cronos with some pretty explicit instructions.” The next time Uranus was to lay

with Gaia Cronus attacked him. He castrated his own father. When Cronus threw his father’s

genitals into the sea it created foam, this foam took the shape of a woman and later came to form

one of the most famous goddesses known as Aphrodite, the goddess of love and beauty. After

having castrated his father, Cronus was now in charge, but his father left him with something that

would haunt him forever, a prophecy. He told him that one day one of his sons would turn on

him, just as he had done.

The prophecy didn’t shake Cronus much; he was too overwhelmed with power to care at

the time. He then married his sister Rhea and when they came to have children he didn’t forget

the prophecy. As a solution he decided he would swallow all his children. The gods never

learned that eating your children or shoving them back up their mom never pleased the ladies.

Rhea of course didn’t like her husband’s actions so she went to her parents for help. The plan

was, when Rhea was to give birth to her youngest and sixth child she would do it in secret and

hide the baby, giving Cronus a stone to swallow instead.





Etman 76


a wrestling match he forced him to cough up his brothers and sisters. From Cronus’ stomach

came out five gods and goddesses; they were Hera the goddess of marriage, Poseidon, god of the

sea, Hades the god of the underworld, Hestia, goddess of the hearth and Demeter, goddess of

crops and the harvest. Zeus was now in charge! He took his siblings and went to mount Olympus

where they made their home. Zeus and Hera got married and gave birth to most of the Olympian

gods known in modern times. Zeus also set free the Cyclopes and the Hekatoncheires who

helped him beat the Titans by manufacturing his all-famous lightning bolts that only they, the

Cyclopes, could make (James Davidson). Here ends our story of how the gods were theoretically

born, and how Zeus became the one on the throne.

Stories like this one have been passed through the ages from one generation to another

and have gone through a lot of changes over the centuries to become what they are now, but who

came up with them? Why? This is what I had to find out. I found a lot of sources, but it was a

little difficult going through them and using only what was related to my research. In these

sources were a lot of theories that answered my question, but not one in specific. I decided to

conduct a survey and see which of these theories people found more convincing and believable. I

had a hard time figuring out how to shape my questionnaire because my topic wasn’t one of

opinion rather one of history. When I took it from an opinion point of view, I was able to come

up with questions that really helped me in my research.

One of the theories of how these stories were formulated was that the Greeks came up

with these gods after hearing and being influenced by other cultures at the time. The Near

Eastern people had similar versions of the story in their languages (Simone Price). Although the

Greek gods may have been influenced by the near east, they had their own twists that made them

Etman 77

very much Greek. An example of these cultures that might have influenced them was the Ancient

Egyptian culture ("The Origin of the Greek Gods."). This theory proved to be, in my survey, the

most popular out of the theories I found. I believe the reason for this might be because most of

the people that I surveyed were Egyptians who tend to go for anything with their country’s name

in it.


from art and poetry. This theory suggests that any art wasn’t a direct creation of the artist rather

an urge that needed to get out, something from within them that they didn’t have control over;

this feeling came out in the form of myths and poems. “Religion arose from the awareness of

beauty and the earliest revelation of the divine was through poetry” (W.K.C. Guthrie). This is a

very interesting theory that I thought looked at more than just the Greek gods but also religion as

a whole and how art and beauty are interrelated with the Divine. 33.3% of the people who took

my questionnaire believed that this was more plausible than the other options; I didn’t think that

many people would go for something like art and poems as the origins of religion but I was

proved wrong.

The least popular theory was that the gods might have been real humans at one point. The

theory proposes that they were human beings who were given divine attributes due to their

positions, maybe kings or people of power ("The Origin of the Greek Gods."). The legends that

we hear now then are just alterations of real stories that made the charters seem more divine.


undoubtedly been altered from generation to another. Like any story that has no documented

origin and was passed on through oral means, people change it until it becomes something totally

different than its original context. Why I think this was the least theory chosen might be because

Etman 78

people don’t like to attribute human characteristics to gods, even if the gods have already been

dismissed as mythical. They like making gods seem untouchable and perfect. What I found

though, that sets apart the Greek gods from most of the other mythical gods, was that they were

not faultless, but lived like humans to a great extent. They had jealousy, fighting and problems

very similar to what we humans go through. Also a lot of the myths mention interaction between

the gods and humans, sometimes even leading to a half human half god combination. Even

though this wasn’t a popular choice I still think it’s highly plausible.



(eg. Sunrise and sunset)”. Only a little behind this theory came “To justify the various abstract

significances like Love, Birth or Death”( "Theogony - The Creation of the First Greek Gods.").

People probably chose these because they are what seems to be the start of all religions, like how

the prophets usually find out that God is out there when they look around beautiful earth and

think that there has to be something more to all this. The least chosen was “To make sure that the

people stayed in line” which gives the indication that people look at the need for religion as

something less of a way to control people and more of a way to understand the world around us.

I also decided to see why people thought these myths survived all this time and why they

are still around till now. 58% thought that it was because of the fact that they were part of

history. I think the majority chose this because they wouldn’t think that people might be

interested in these myths for any reason other than historical education. The rest of the people

were equally split between “They have been retold with the purpose of entertainment” and “They

have been passed on to teach children values”. People may think that these myths are just weird

stories that are seemingly useless now but learning about these myths can be very enlightening.

Etman 79

Like the story of Narcissus and Echo which talks about how we must not be vain and how we

should direct our love towards others rather than ourselves (Robert Graves). This is only one

example of how the Greek myths have a deeper meaning to them, but people just look at them as

obstinacies. The reason that teaching children morals wasn’t chosen as much could be because

people don’t know these myths and the values behind them.

My last question was aimed to see who was the most popular god or goddess other than

Zeus. The goddess that was mentioned the most was Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Like

my expectations, Poseidon, god of the sea, was mentioned a lot as well. I thought both Poseidon

and Hades would have had the most mentions since they are all over the movies and films but

surprisingly Hades wasn’t mentioned as often. Another thing I noticed was that a lot of people

confused the Greek gods with the Roman gods because of the similar attributes they have. The

Romans basically had the same gods as the Greeks but with different names.

My research helped me understand how Egyptians see these myths and theories. Out of the

90 responses I got only 3 people rated themselves as experts on this topic in addition to 13

people who rated themselves close to that. The average rating was 2.33 with a maximum of 5,

this shows that their knowledge of the subject wasn’t much, yet 64.1% of them admitted that

they have been interested in Greek gods at a point in time. This made me conclude that very few

Egyptians actually dig deeper into what they like; most don’t really follow their passion and

most of the times just look at the surface of things. The range of ages was between 10 and 53 and

I had almost the same number of male and female (53.3% - 46.7% respectively). The sample was

varied and had a big range which I thought gave me more accurate results.

Etman 80

After going through all these theories I don’t really have a definite answer yet, but I

understand so much more about the Greek gods. I gained insight on how people see myths and

mythological gods and understood more about their way of thinking. I was also able to decide on

which theory I believed in more even if it wasn’t the most picked in my survey, this helped me

understand a little better who I am and how I think. My humble opinion is that the Greek gods

were once real human beings and that people need to research more about their interests in order

to enrich themselves as individuals.

Etman 81

Work Cited

"Ancient Greek Gods and Myths." Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13 June 2012


Nov. 2008. Web. 13 June 2012.

D'Silva, Roy. "Greece Facts: Interesting Facts About Greece." Buzzle.com. Buzzle.com, 05

Jan. 2012. Web. 17 July 2012.




"Origin of the Greek Gods, The" The Origin of the Greek Gods. N.p., 15 Oct. 2006. Web. 12

June 2012


"Theogony - The Creation of the First Greek Gods." Greek Mythology. N.p., n.d. Web. 13

June 2012


Etman 82



It explains a summary of the family tree of the Gods, and then continues to give details about



jealous of Zeus’ multiple affairs and how Poseidon created the horse among others were

mentioned.


Nov. 2008. Web. 13 June 2012.



bolt. Apparently when he overthrew his father he let out the Cyclopes, they had been imprisoned

by the titans, as a thank you they offered him the lightning bolt. They were the only ones who

could make theses lightning bolts giving Zeus a one-of-a-kind weapon




last Olympian worshiping king was killed marking the end of Zeus’ reign and the end of the

Olympians’ power was explained. Graves then tells us that even though they don’t rule anymore

they are still around us, in the star constellations that the Christians never changed and in the

stories they left behind. The Greek gods left a truly unforgettable mark of the world.

Etman 83








An additional theory mentioned was that the gods were actually once real human beings that

were given divine attributes due to their positions, maybe kings or people of power. The legends

that we hear now then are just alterations of real stories that made them seem God-like divine.


undoubtedly been altered from generation to generation. Like any story that has no origin, people

change it until it becomes something totally different than the original.








Etman 84


June 2012








their languages. Although the Greek gods may have been influenced by the near east, they had








2012




the gods, just really powerful humans.

Etman 85










Etman 86

Appendix 1

(Survey Questions)

This is a survey for my English research paper about the Greek gods and their myths. Please help

me by taking a few minutes to fill this out. Thank you :)

*1. Age:

*2. Gender:

Gender: Male

Female

3. Rate your knowledge of the Greek gods (1 being the lowest and 5 being the highest)

1

I don't know anything

2 3 4

5

I consider myself an expert on the subject

*4. Have you ever been interested in the Greek gods?

Have you ever been interested in the Greek gods? Yes

Etman 87

No

*5. Where do you think the Greek Myths about the gods originated from?

The gods were once real humans

They were influenced by gods from other cultures at the time (Near east, Egyptian, etc..)

They originated form poems and art

*6. Why did the Greeks come up with these gods?

To justify the various abstract significances like Love, Birth or Death

To make sure that the people stayed in line

To explain natural phenomena they didn’t understand (eg. Sunrise and sunset)

*7. Why do you think these myths have survived until now?

They have been passed on to teach children values

They have been retold with the purpose of entertainment

They are part of history

8. Name a Greek God or Goddess you know and what they rule (Other than Zeus)

God: What they ruled:

Etman 88

Rhet 201-08 Portfolio The Greek gods

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Transcript of Rhet 201-08 Portfolio The Greek gods