Zeus – King of the Gods, the heavens, weather, and law and order. He wields a thunderbolt as a weapon, and is known for his unfaithfulness to his wife. Hera – Goddess of the family and marriage, known as a protector of married women and women in childbirth. She’s the sister and wife of Zeus. She is known for her jealous and vengeful nature, usually directed at her husband as well as his lovers and illegitimate children. Poseidon – Zeus’s brother and god of the seas. He is the god of earthquakes and father of Pegasus, making him also known as a god of horses. Hades – Zeus’s brother, king of the underworld, and god of the dead. Demeter – Zeus’s sister and goddess of the harvest, grains, and agriculture. Athena – Daughter of Zeus and the Titan Metis. The goddess of wisdom, war, and crafts. She is a rival to Poseidon. Apollo – Son of Zeus by the Titan Leto. The god of music, prophecy, archery, and medicine, as well as a protector of young boys. Although Helios is the god and controller of the sun, Apollo is also known as a god of the sun. Artemis – Twin sister of Apollo. The goddess of the hunt, the moon, the wilderness, and wild animals, as well as a protector of young girls. Also the founder and leader of the Hunters of Artemis, an all-girls group of young girls who dedicated their lives to the hunt and to Artemis, swore off all romance, and lived immortally unless killed in battle. Ares – Son of Zeus by Hera. The god of war and courage. Hephaestus – Son of Zeus by Hera. He is the god of fire, metalworking, craftsmen, and smiths. He is also disabled. The smith of the gods, he crafted their weapons. Thrown off the top of Olympus by his mother, Hera, because of his deformity. Hermes – Son of Zeus by the minor goddess Maia. He is the messenger of the gods and the god of thieves, trade, travelers, shepherds, roads, cunning, and language. Aphrodite – Depending on which myth you read, either the daughter of Zeus and the Titan Dione, or she emerged from sea foam after the Titan Uranus was castrated and his testicles thrown into the sea. She is the goddess of love and beauty. Dionysus – Son of Zeus and the mortal princess Semele. He is the god of wine, festivity, madness, theater, and vegetation.
Heracles (Hercules) – He was the strongest human, but he also had a horrible temper. He completed 12 labors to absolve the guilt of killing his own family in a fit of madness. Perseus – Cast into the sea in a chest as a child; defeated the Gorgon Medusa and the Kraken; and married Andromeda. Theseus – A cousin of Hercules, he was as wise as Hercules was strong. He defeated the Minotaur and escaped the labyrinth on Crete and became the king of Athens. Achilles – The hero of Homer’s Iliad, which tells the tale of the Trojan War. His mother, the nymph Thetis, dipped him in the river Styx as a child to make him immortal, but since she held him by the heel, this part of him remained vulnerable. (This was considered punishment for not fully trusting the gods. ) After killing Hector, the greatest warrior of the Trojans, he is struck in the heel by a poisoned arrow and dies. Odysseus – The hero of Homer’s Odyssey. He had the idea for the Trojan horse – a giant hollow horse with Greek warriors hidden inside – which was used to defeat Troy. After the war, he spent 10 years returning home, battling monsters, gods, and witches along the way. Jason – Set sail with the Argonauts, and after fighting off monsters and Sirens, found the golden fleece with the help of the witch Medea, who fell in love with him.
Sisyphus – A trickster who cheated the gods more than once, he is famous for his punishment after death: in the underworld of Hades, he is condemned to forever roll a boulder to the top of a steep hill; and as soon as the boulder reaches the top, it rolls down the far side and he must start again. Tantalus – Tantalus was a favorite of the gods, and invited them to a feast at his home, where he had his own son cooked up and served to them. This was not a good idea. He, too, became famous for his punishment: forever standing in a pool of clean water, with delicious fruits hanging from trees overhead. Yet when he reached for the fruit, the wind tossed the branches out of reach, and when he bent down to drink, the water drained away. Pygmalion and Galatea – Pygmalion was a sculptor who created a statue so beautiful and lifelike that he fell in love with it. Aphrodite took pity on him and brought the statue to life as the woman Galatea. Persephone – The beautiful daughter of Demeter, goddess of the harvest, she was abducted by Hades, who took her to the underworld to be his wife. She was forced to dwell there four months a year, while she could spend the rest of the time on earth. This myth explains the seasons: the winter months are the ones in which she is in Hades. Midas and the Golden Touch – King of Phrygia, Midas found favor with the god Dionysus who offered to grant him whatever he wished. He asked for the power to turn whatever he touched to gold, and then quickly realized his mistake, when everything he tried to eat or drink turned to gold. Prometheus the Fire Thief – He stole the fire of the Zeus and taught mankind how to use it. As a punishment, he was chained to a rock and each day an eagle came and ate out his liver, which was magically restored overnight. Europa – A woman so beautiful that Zeus fell in love with her. He came to her in the guise of a beautiful white bull, and bowed before her. When she climbed on his back, he carried her to a cave where he revealed his true nature. Europe is named after her. Daedalus and Icarus – Daedalus designed the labyrinth on Crete, where king Minos later had him and his son Icarus imprisoned. Daedalus built wings of wax and feathers for himself and his son so they could fly to freedom, but Icarus flew too high and his wax wings melted. He fell and drowned in the Icarian Seas, which was named after him. Orpheus and Eurydice – Orpheus was a great musician. When his love Eurydice died, he went down to the underworld and played his lyre so beautifully that Hades agreed to let Eurydice go, so long as Orpheus agreed not to look on her until they reached the surface. But Orpheus worried that he had been tricked. He looked back only a few feet from the surface, only to see Eurydice be whisked away back to the underworld because he had looked too soon.
University courses – Universities such as Oxford, Duke, Brown, Harvard, and Yale offer online courses on Greek myths and heroes. Some of these, such as Harvard Professor Nagy’s course “Concepts of the Hero in Greek Civilization” are offered for free. Paid Online Courses – The most well-known series of for-profit courses online are offered by The Great Courses at www. thegreatcourses. com. Free Online Courses – There are a variety of sites that bring together free mythology courses from across the web, including www. mooc-list. com (for courses from the Massive Open Online Course project) and oedb. org (Open Education Database).
Learn Mythology Basics – iPhone / iPad GreekMythology. com - Android Greek Mythology by Anduin – Google / Android Greek Mythology by Socratica – Google / Android Greek Mythological – iPhone / iPad – Offers more detailed information on mythology and the ancient Greek world.
http://www. theoi. com http://www. greekmythology. com http://www. greekmyths-greekmythology. com
Jenny March’s The Penguin Book of Classical Myths (2009) – Professor March’s work provides a clear, easy to read retelling of the major myths, alongside the latest scholarship on their origins, development, and meanings. Richard Buxton’s The Complete World of Greek Mythology (2004) – Buxton offers an overview of mythology, placing the myths in their social and cultural context. His book is also packed with extras such as genealogical tables and beautiful illustrations. Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes (1942) – Hamilton draws on all the great Greek writers, and some Roman ones, too, in compiling her introductory text that covers all the key gods and myths. Timothy Gantz’s Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources (1993) – Gant’s book is the most scholarly, and also the densest introduction to Greek mythology. He draws on both early Greek writers and art in order to recreate the myths as they were in the days of Homer and Aeschylus. [5] X Research source Robert Graves’s The Greek Myths (1956) – Graves is a sort of anti-Gantz. He is a wonderful writer, and his myths make for an easy and enjoyable introduction to Greek mythology. His scholarship, on the other hand, is decidedly sub-par, and his theories of the origins of Greek mythology and the relations between its cast of characters have been more or less all disproven.
Robert Fagles has produced the authoritative translation of both The Iliad and The Odyssey. You can find online translations of The Iliad at http://www. theoi. com/Text/HomerIliad1. html and of The Odyssey at http://www. theoi. com/Text/HomerOdyssey1. html. You can also find the original Greek, along with translations, at http://homer. library. northwestern. edu/.
Aeschylus – Born around 525BC, the most famous of his seven surviving plays are Prometheus Bound and the Oresteia Trilogy: Agamemnon, The Libation Bearers, and The Eumenides. Find his works at http://www. theoi. com/Text/AeschylusPrometheus. html. Euripides – Born around 486BC and of humble origins, his plays are unique in that his characters often question the gods and fight against their fates. [9] X Research source Nineteen of his plays survive. Some of the most famous include The Bacchae, The Trojan Women, Medea, Electra, and Orestes. Find his works online at http://www. perseus. tufts. edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acollection%3AGreco-Roman. Sophocles – Also born around 486BC, he was a priest of Asclepius who has seven extant plays, including Oedipus, Electra, and Oedipus at Colonus. His works are online at http://www. perseus. tufts. edu/hopper/collection?collection=Perseus%3Acollection%3AGreco-Roman.
