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GREECE and ROME
The Classical Realm

Primary Sources on Greek mythology

Homer's Iliad and Odyssey

(No relation to the cartoon character)

Hesiod's Theogony and Works and Days

Creation and Origins

Hesiod couldn't get a date

Hesiod was a disgruntled old guy

Greek Gods and their stories

One time, Hephaestus attempted to throw himself at Athena...but Athena shooed him away.
Some of Hephaestus's "baby grease" got onto Athena's leg; and for some reason, this led to the birth of a child:
Erichthonius, a lad with the tail of a serpent instead of legs

Erichthonius grew up to be king of Athens.

The Many Lovers of Zeus
His lovers are in bold
His children by them are in italics

Metis (One of the Oceanids,
or basically a mermaid
)
Athena (goddess of wisdom)

Themis (Titan of fixed order)
The Moirai/Fates (governors or destiny)

Hera (Queen of Mount Olympus; wife of Zeus)
Ares (god of war)
Hephaestus (god of t
he forge)
Hebe (goddess of youth)
Eilethyia (goddess of childbirth)


Leto (Titan of motherhood)
Apollo (sun god of the arts)
Artemis (moon goddess of the hunt)


Maia (one of the Pleiades Titans)
Hermes (messenger of the gods)

Semele (princess of Thebes)
Dionysus (god of wine and revelry)

Demeter (goddess of the harvest)
Persephone (goddess of springtime, wife of Hades)

Eurynome (dancing creator goddess)
The Graces (attendants of Aphrodite)

Mnemosyne (Titan of memory)
The Muses (goddesses of the arts)

Thetis (basically a mermaid)
Passed off to King Peleus of Thessaly.
By him, she became the mother of Achilles (of heel fame)


Io (princess of Argos)
Epaphos (king of the Maghreb)

Europa (Princess of Phoenicia)
Minos (King of Crete, manager of the Minotaur)
Rhadamanthus (one of the judges of Hades)


Danae (princess of Argos)
Perseus (slayer of Medusa)

Alkmene (Queen of Tiryns)
Herakles (Hercules, if you use the Roman name)


Leda (princess of Sparta)
Castor and Polydeuces (the Dioskuroi twins)
Clytemnestra (Queen of Argos in Homer's Iliad)
Helen of Troy (the face that launched a thousand ships)


Antiope (Princess of Thebes)
Zetheus and Amphion (builders of the walls of Troy)

Ganymede (a handsome young Trojan lad)
He is Zeus's only same-sex lover.

Disguises used by Zeus for his liaisons
Cuckoo bird (Hera)
Swan (Leda)
White bull (Europa)
Golden shower (Danae)
Eagle (Ganymede)
Satyr (Antiope)
Alkmene's husband (Alkmene)

The Greek gods never died out

There is a growing movement of literal Greek god worshippers in the here and now.
This movement is called Hellenism.

 

Age of Heroes

Age of Heroes
Both mighty and tragic

Greek Mythology Creatures

How did Medusa come to be?
It depends on who you ask:

In the earliest versions, Medusa is Medusa from the start.

In the version from Hesiod (who, remember, was a disgruntled old man who couldn't get a date), Medusa used to be human and seduced Poseidon in Athena's temple, and that's how she turned into...well, Medusa.

In the version presented by Ovid (who just wanted to slander the Greek gods to make the ROman gods look perfect), Poseidon "captured" Medusa, then Athena turned her into...Medusa out of spite.

Roman Myths

Primary Sources on Roman Mythology
Ovid's Metamorphoses
Virgil's Aeneid, a Roman edition of Homer's Od
yssey

While the Romans appropriated a lot of their myths from the Greeks (which is why people in the modern world often confuse Roman and Greek myths), the Romans also absorbed gods and myths from the other peoples they conquered; such as Egyptian Isis, Celtic Epona, and Anatolian Cybele.

Since the Roman Empire was so ethnically diverse, the gods of Egypt, the Middle East, Etruscan Italy, and Celtic Europe can be considered "Roman gods", along with the Greek gods and the original Roman gods. 

Roman Equivalents of the Greek Olympians
Jupiter (Zeus)
Juno (Hera)
Neptune (Poseidon)
Vesta (Hestia)
Pluto (Hades)
Ceres (Demeter)

Venus (Aphrodite)
Mars (Ares)
Vulcan (Hephaestus)
Minerva (Athena)
Apollo (Apollo)
Diana (Artemis)
Mercury (Hermes)
Bacchus (Dionysus)

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