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| God of the smiths. His Roman name is Vulcan. He was thrown of Lemnos. He marries Aphrodite (aka Beauty and the Beast). Aphrodite was adulterous with Ares. Hephaestus caught them in bed with a net chain and took them to the Gods for them to laugh. |
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| God of War, blood-lust. He was wounded at Troy by Athena and Diomedes for siding with the Trojans. Athena used the cap of invisibility and Diomedes sword. Has 4 children with Aphrodite [Phobos (fear), Deimos (Panic), Harmonia and Eros]. |
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| Trickster and messenger of the Gods. He is the son of Zeus and Maia (daughter of Atlas). He protects travelers and guides souls to the underworld (psychopompos). He wears a hat, sandals with wings, and carries the Caduceus. He once steals Apollo's sheep but atones by giving him a lyre. He is associated with the use of magic. |
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| Son of Hermes. Half goat and half human. Ugly and very lecherous. Women tend to ignore and fight his advances. Induces panic. |
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| A nymph pursued by Pan. She was cursed by Hera for talking too much. Hera forces her to repeat only the last words someone says. |
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| Plato's work where he describes the origin of humans. Said that humans were once a blob that consisted of two heads, four hands, four feet and 2 genitals. They were cut in half by Zeus as punishment. Our soul mate is the person we were cut away from. |
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| Another work by Plato saying that Humans and other mortals were made by the Gods from the elements of the earth. Follows the story of Prometheus and Epimetheus. They were given the task of allotting suitable powers. Man was the last mortal that Epimetheus had to give powers to. When he ran out of attributes to give man, Prometheus stole Athena and Hephaesteus' skills and gave mankind fire. Man had no political skill so Hermes taught them respect and justice. |
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| Goddess of agriculture and wheat. She is the force that makes grain sprout from seed. She is the mother of Persephone who is later abducted by Hades. Demeter leaves Olympus in anger and dresses like a mortal. She travels to Eleusia and is found by daughters of King Celeus and Queen Metaneira. She nannies their infant Demophoon. Doesn't eat or drink until Iambe makes her laugh. She finally requests Kykeon. After being discovered for being a Goddess, she instructs the city to make a cult for her. She then removes power from the land and causes death of vegetation and starvation. |
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| Goddess of the house. Defines the internal space of the female world. Never leaves Olympus and remains a virgin (honor instead of marriage). In Rome, 6 virgins tended to Hestia's shrine. If they lost their virginity, punished by being buried alive. |
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| Goddess of sexual desire and passion. Also known as Cypris or Cytherea. She has an affair with Ares and their son is Eros (cupid). Also has a son with Hermes, called Hermaphroditus. |
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| Son of Hermes and Aphrodite. Fused to the nymph Salmacis. She refused to let go and he ended up with male genitalia and female breasts. |
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| Son of Aphrodite and Hermes or Dionysus. Has an enormous erectile penis to ward off evils. Associated with prosperity. |
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| King of Cyprus who becomes disgusted with immoral women of Cyprus. He fashions the perfect wife out of marble. Aphrodite gives the statue life, called Galatea. They have a son, Paphos, who is the founder of the Cyprian city sacred to Aphrodite. |
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| Son of Paphos has daughter Myrrha. His wife boasts that Myrrha is more beautiful than Aphrodite. Aphrodite punishes them by making Myrrha fall in love with her father. For 12 days, Cinyras has sex with Myrrha. When he finally sees who it is, he tries killing her. Aphrodite turns Myrrha into a tree (Myrrh tree). |
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| Son of Myrrha and Cinyras, born when the Myrrh Tree was cut open. He is loved by Aphrodite. He is warned not to hunt but eventually he is gored and dies. |
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| Zeus punishes Aphrodite for turning Myrrha into a tree. She has an inescapable desire for a mortal, Anchises, prince of Troy. She talks Anchises into marriage. Their son is Aeneas. Anchises is told not to boast who the mother is. When he does, Aphrodite strikes him in the thigh, laming him. Aeneas is the founder of ancient Rome. |
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| Daughter of Leto and twin sister to Apollo. Goddess of the wilderness. Called Potnia Theron as Queen of the Beast. Associated with hunting and very skilled in archery. If a woman died in childbirth, she is said to be struck by the arrows of Artemis. |
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| Queen of Thebes. Challenges honor of Leto (Niobe has 12 children, Leto only has 2). Apollo and Artemis decide to kill Niobe's children. |
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| Son of Poseidon (devotee of Artemis). Wants Oenopion's (King of Chios) daughter. He eventually rapes her and is blinded by Oenopion. He walks to eastern horizon and regains eyesight. Begins affair with Eos (dawn). Artemis is angry (either with affair or with rape) and puts a scorpion on his head to kill him. Orion and scorpion are now constellations. |
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| Theban prince. Goes out hunting and accidentally sees Artemis naked. She turns him into a stag to be hunted. His dogs hunt and eat him. |
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| Daughter of Zeus. Powerful virgin usually with shield or aegis and helmet. Goddess of wisdom and war. She is the mistress of Athens. Always faithful to Zeus. Establishes first court of law in Athens. She is also the Goddess of crafts. |
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| Believes her weaving skills were equal to that of Athena. She challenges Athena to a competition. Arachne wove of the sexual adventures of the Gods. Either Athena was angry or Arachne lost and tried to hang herself, but Athena turned Arachne into a spider. |
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| Daughter of Demeter. Also called Korê. Abducted by Hades while playing in a flowery meadow (Zeus' fault). Demeter mourns for 9 days and Hecate leads her to Helius who tells her who took her. |
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| After Hades captures Persephone, Zeus sends Hermes to retrieve her, in order to make Demeter happy and relieve vegetation on Earth. Before he can retrieve her, Hades gives Persephone pomegranate seeds, thereby binding her to the Underworld for a couple months in the year. Explains the agricultural seasons. Bride of Hades: a girl who dies unmarried. |
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| Festivals for Demeter and Persephone occurring in the hall of initiation. Inside, initiates drank kykeon (drink of Demeter). Given heira (sacred things). Had to travel from Athens to Eleusis. In Athens, they were given a piglet to sacrifice. They then traveled back to Elusis, mocked by others along the way (similar to Iambe). If they divulge what happens in the initiation process, they were killed. |
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| Goddess of sex and war - a near easter Goddess and older than Greek mythology. She goes to the underworld to see her sister Ereshkigal to usurp her throne. After removing her sister, she is turned into a piece of meat and hung on a hook. Enki and the prime minister go to mourn and pour food and water of life on her, restoring Inanna. In order to leave, she needs someone to replace her. She sends her man Dumuzi because he neglected to mourn her. |
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| Brother and Sister as well as husband and wife. Osiris is killed by his brother Set. Isis puts fragments of him back together and constructs a golden phallus. She uses a spell and bring him back to life momentarily. He impregnates her and then dies. Their son Horus is set to be the next King. |
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| Great mother figure of Phrygia. Zeus tries to rape her, but she resists. Instead, Zeus spills his seed on a rock. Out comes Agdestis. Dionysus tricks Agdestis to castrate himself by tying a noose between feet and genitals. The blood that spurts forms a pomegranate tree. Priests of Cybele would castrate themselves as supreme sacrifice. |
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| Plucks a pomegranate from Agdestis, puts it in her dress and becomes pregnant. She bears a son Attis. Agdestis raises Attis but gets angry when Attis wants to marry Midas' daughter. At their wedding, Agdestis makes everyone at the wedding crazy. Attis castrates himself in spite of Agdestis. Bride-to-be kills herself and falls over Attis. |
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| God of Wine. Replaces Hestia among the other Olympians. Cult of Dionysus (Bacchus) celebrates madness (drinking, sex, violence - lots of resistance). Semele, Theban Princess is pregnant by Zeus dressed as mortal. Hera makes Semele doubt Zeus is a god. When Semele demands to know, Zeus incinerates her. Hermes saves the Fetus and Zeus sews fetus to his thigh. Dionysus is then given to Ino, Semele's sister. Hera makes Ino and her husband crazy, forcing them to kill their children. Zeus transforms Dionysus into a goat and gives him to Nymphs of Nysa. In Nysa, Hera finds Dionysus and makes him crazy. Dionysus wanders and finds Cybele, who cures him. |
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| Cult of Dionysus. Followed him east all the way to India. Women were Bacchae, crazy and raging. Some males where Satyrs (part human part goat). Met with a lost of resistance. He killed and caused madness to anyone who refused his cult. The cult appealed especially to women. Here is chief enemy. Carried the Thyrsus, staff with ivy leaves and a pine cone. |
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| A play written by Euripides. Talks about Dionysus' return to Thebes. His mother's sisters Agave and Autonoe kept lying about Semele having Zeus as a lover. Dionysus casts a spell on all women of Thebes. They become raving mad in the mountains outside the city. |
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| King of Thebes. He is angry at the cult for making the women mad and captures Dionysus, mocking him. As he sends him to prison, an earthquake occurs and Dionysus escapes. Dionysus then finds out that Pentheus is a voyeur. He dresses Pentheus up as a woman to show him what the women are doing and he then orders the other women to kill Pentheus. Agave, Pentheus' mother removes his head. |
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| A legendary musician and poet. His wife, Eurydice was killed by a snakebite. Orpheus travels to the underworld and warms the heart of Hades with music. He is allowed to take Eurydice out if he doesn't look back. He does look back and Eurydice vanishes forever. |
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| Greek architect of nude statues. His most famous is that of Aphrodite made for her temple of Cnidus. Aphrodite asked when Praxiteles saw her naked. |
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| Greatest monument and temple to Athena. The greatest religious festival is held here. |
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| Going to the House of Hades. The soul is associated with the breath of life (leaving the body upon death). A proper burial allows the soul to enter the underworld and be with Hades. Those who committed a crime against the Gods are punished. |
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| The underworld is drab and boring. Most souls fly around like bats. The few souls of great heroes however get a happier afterlife in Elysium. |
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| He attempted to rape Leto, mother of Apollo and Artemis. As punishment, he was stretched out for an eagle to eat at his liver. |
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| Tricked the Gods into eating his son Pelops. He stood in water underneath branches of fruit, both which would endlessly move away from him. |
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| Tattles on one of Zeus' affairs. He pushes a boulder up a hill and just before he reached the top, it would roll down again, and he would therefore have to push it back up. |
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| He was the greatest mortal prophet because he lived as both a man and a woman. While young, he changed to a woman because he killed a female snake while it was having sex. Seven years later, he killed a male snake while it was having sex and became a man again. Zeus and Hera asked which he liked better and he said female feels 90% pleasure. Hera blinds him but Zeus gives him gift of prophecy and long life. Has divine wisdom. |
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| A philosophical myth in "The Republic." After death, soul is judged by deeds and given 1000 years of bliss or 1000 years punishment. After 1000 years, they have to choose their next life. They then drink from River of Forgetfulness (River Lethe) and are reincarnated. |
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| The Underworld is divided into two regions. Tartarus is where people are punished and Elysium is where anyone who is good is rewarded (available to everyone). Cerberus, 3 headed dog, guards entrance. The dead are grouped by age or by their action. |
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| Tried to seduce Hera. Punished by Zeus and bound to a fiery wheel that is forever spinning. |
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| Earliest known mythical hero. Was king of Uruk around 2700 BCE. He is a great king with no rivals. People beg for relief so Gods create Enkidu, a man of nature. |
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| A man of nature created by Gods. He ran with animals and lived in wilderness. Eventually he has sex with a prostitute for 7 days which "tames" him. Animals shun him and he becomes weaker. He starts becoming more human, eating and drinking like one. He goes to Uruk to challenge Gilgamesh. Gilgamesh wrestles and throws him down but they become best friends. |
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| Gilgamesh and Enkidu go on many adventures (kill Humbaba). Eventually, Ishtar wants to have sex with Gilgamesh but he refuses (mocks her). Ishtar sends bull of heaven to kill Gilgamesh. Enkidu jumps on bull and Gilgamesh slices it's neck. Enkidu throws genitals of bull in Ishtar's face. Ishtar demands someone dies and it's Enkidu. Gilgamesh mourns (realizes life is meaningless if limited by mortality). He travels on epic journey. He meets Siduri but does not accept her advise and then travels to Utnapishtim. To gain mortality, he must stay away for seven nights but he falls asleep for six days. Eventually celebrated as a hero upon his death. |
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| Gained immortality from Enlil for saving mankind on an ark from a flood. Challenges Gilgamesh to gain immortality by making him stay awake for six days (seven nights). Tells Gilgamesh of plant in water that restores youth, but not immortal. |
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| Daughter of Melia and Inachus. Priestess of Hera but Zeus desired her. He puts a cloud around her and rapes her. Hera is suspicious and investigates. Zeus changes Io into a cow. Hera ties Io to Argus (100 eyes, child of Gaea), to be watched over. Hermes is sent, sings all eyes to sleep, and kills Argus (Argeiphontes). She then wanders and runs into Prometheus. |
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| When Io returns to Egypt, Zeus touches her and she becomes pregnant with Epaphus, who becomes King of Egypt. Has two grandchildren, Agenor and Belus. Belus becomes King of Egypt . |
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| Has two sons, Aegyptus and Danaus. Aegyptus has 50 sons and Danaus has 50 daughters. Aegyptus wants his sons to marry Danaus' daughters but Danaus refuses (fear of loosing power). Danaus flees to Argo but Aegyptus' sons follow. Danaus accepts wedding but orders each daughter to kill their husband on their wedding night. |
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| Daughter of Danaus. She spares Lynceus because he spares her virginity. They end up as King and Queen of Argos. They have son Abas, who has sons Acrisius and Proteus. |
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| Son of Abas, and grandson of Hypermnestra. Told by the oracle that the son of his daughter Danae will kill him. He imprisons Danae in an underground chamber. When he finds out Perseus, son of Danae is born, he puts them in wooden box and casts them out into sea. |
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| Son of Danae and Zeus. While in her cell, Zeus impregnates Danae with a golden rain shower. He and his mother arrive at Seriphos where Dictys raises them. He is the founder of the Mycenaeans. |
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| King of Seriphos and brother of Dictys. Danae refuses him for marriage. As a result, he wants gift for marrying another woman. Perseus can't provide a gift so Polydectes makes him do a near impossible task (head of a gorgon). |
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| Granddaughters of Gaea and Pontus (daughters of Ceto). Live at edge of world. Stheno = Strength, Euryale = Far-Leaper, Medusa = Wide-Ruler (only mortal). Very fast with wings. Will turn you to stone if they see you. |
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Athena guides Perseus to Graeae, sisters of Gorgons who share only one eye. Perseus grabs their eye and they tell him how to find the nymphs. The nymphs provide
• Cape of Hades - Invisibility
• Winged Sandals - Speedier
• Kibisis- Leather pouch to carry head
• Scimitar - help for decapitating head
• Bronze Shield - avoid looking directly at Gorgon
Perseus finds Gorgons and sneaks up on Medusa while she sleeps. After he cuts off her head, Pegasus flies out. He then flies off with Medusa's head. |
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| Daughter of Cepheus and Cassiopea. They boasted that Andromeda was very pretty and the Nereids had Poseidon send a flood and Ceto to kill them. Andromeda is sacrificed. Perseus sees this and rescues Andromeda on his way back to Seriphos. Cuts off Ceto's head. He then marries Andromeda. |
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| Folktale Pattern. Involve prohibition, seclusion, violation of prohibition, threat of punishment/death, liberation. |
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| Son of Perseus. Had 9 sons and daughter Alcmena. His nephews were Amphitryon (good) and Eurystheus (bad). Amphitryon takes care of Alcmena but ends up killing Electyron. |
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| Flees to Thebes after killing his brother Electyron. He then wants to marry Alcmena but she won't have sex until he avenges her dead brothers. Amphitryon departs to kill pirates. He returns and takes Alcmena to bed. He then returns and takes Alcmena to bed again. The first time he returns is actually Zeus. Therefore Alcmena is pregnant with two children (Heracles - Zeus and Iphicles - Amphitryon). |
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| Greatest Greek hero. Son of Alcmena and Zeus. While a baby, Hera sends snakes to kill him but he strangles them. When Hera nurses Heracles but he bites her nipple and her milk sprays everywhere (milky way). In school, he breaks the lyre and after his teacher Linus criticizes him, he bashes his head. Grows to eight feet tall and is very athletic. Marries Megara and has 3 children. Hera makes him crazy and he kills Megara and his children. To atone for this, the oracle says he must serve Eurystheus. |
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| 1/12 labors. Heracles has to kill lion of Nemea in Mycenae. Skin is too tough for arrows and club too weak. Heracles strangles lion with bare hands. Wheres lion skin and head. He carries dead lion to Eurystheus but Eurystheus is cowardly. Tells Heracles to report to Copreus (Dung man). |
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| 2/12 labors. A water serpent with many heads in Mycenae swamps. Nephew Iolaus comes with him. When Heracles cuts off a head, a new one grows back. Iolaus uses a torch to cauterize each stump before a new head grows back. Heracles dips his arrow's in the Hydra's blood (a single drop could kill a man). |
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| 3/12 labors. Artemis' magical deer. Heracles tracked it for a year and wounded it (could not kill it). While carrying it back to Mycenae, he meets Apollo and Artemis. He apologizes to them and explains his tasks. |
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| 4/12 labors. Heracles traps it in a snowbank and brings it to Mycenae. While hunting the boar, Heracles meets Pholus, a centaur. Heracles wants some of Pholus' wine belonging to centaurs. The other centaurs smell it and begin violently attacking him. The Head Centaur Chiron is struck with violence arrow and Pholus cuts himself with another. Centaurs are enemies for life. |
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| 5/12 labors. King Augeas never cleaned his stables. Heracles diverts 2 rivers to wash them out in one day. |
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| 6/12 labors. Swarm of birds in Lake Stymphalis. Man-eating birds with wings that fired arrows and beaks that pierced armor. Heracles uses castanets to flush them (given by Athena). He then shoots most with his arrows. |
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| 7/12 labors. He has to capture (can't kill) bull. Sails to Crete, grabs bull by horns, tosses him into sea, and rides him back to Mycenae. |
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| 8/12 labors. Diomedes is son of Ares and King of Thrace. His 4 wild horses tethered to iron chains eat human flesh. Heracles clubs Diomedes and feeds him to the horses. Then he calms the horses down and rides them back to Mycenae. |
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| King of Pherae. After Apollo was kicked out of Olympus and served Admetus as a shepard, he granted Admetus the power of escaping death if he could find someone to fill his spot. Ademtus' wife Alcestis agreed to die for him. |
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| Wife of Admetus. Agrees to die for him so he can avoid death. On the day of her death, Heracles shows up. Admetus avoids telling him but eventually Heracles finds out. When death arrives to take Alcestis, Heracles wrestles death and gets Alcestis back to life. |
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