WE ARE HERCULES

Greek Gods and Myths

Mythology does not just tell the stories of gods and goddesses, however. Human heroes–such as Heracles, the adventurer who performed 12 impossible labors for King Eurystheus Pandora, the first woman, whose curiosity brought evil to mankind; Pygmalion, the king who fell in love with an ivory statue; Arachne, the weaver who was turned into a spider for her arrogance; handsome Trojan prince Ganymede who became the cupbearer for the gods; Midas, the king with the golden touch; and Narcissus, the young man who fell in love with his own reflection–are just as significant.

The gods of Greece

The gods of the Greek pantheon are divided here into several categories. The first three of these--the Olympian gods, Titan gods, & primeval gods--represent the three different generations of gods to rule the cosmos. The next five categories divide the gods according to domain, namely the gods of sky, sea, earth and underworld. The final category contains personifications, those gods and spirits which represented abstract ideas, human emotions and conditions.

Greek Mythology

The Greeks created myths to explain the creation of the world and of human beings. Many myths describe the gods and goddesses and how they related to one another and to humans. For example,the myth of Prometheus tells how to stole fire from the gods and gave it to humans. Zeus punished him for this by Channing him to a rock.

Honoring the gods

The Greeks believed it was important to honor the gods. An angry God could cause trouble. The Greeks created statues of the gods and built temples as places for the gods to live. They also held special events to honor the gods.

Holy festivals

One of the major festivals of Greece,Holi is celebrated with enthusiasm and gaiety on the full moon day in the month of Phalgun which is the month of March as per the Gregorian calendar. Each month began with the new moon,and the festival of noumenia was held. The most important festivals honored the 12 olympians gods. Every time Athena had a festival a new robe was a woven for her statue in the main temple.

The Olympics

Games were part of religious festivals in Greece. The Olympics are games held every four years as part of a major festival that honored Zeus. Only men competed in the Olympics.

Early Greek literature

Greeks told stories about their heroes in addition to stories about God. Most things we know about early Greeks come from stories passed down generation to generation. According to tradition,a bling man,homer,composed the most famous epics.

Epics of Homer

Homers epic the Iliad is about the Trojan war,which began one of the Trojans stole a kings wife. A war did take place in a ancient tray around 1870,but it did not happen exactly how Iliad portrays. Homers other great epic was the odyssey and that describes the adventures of the Greek hero odyssey after the Trojan war.

Aesop's fables

A storyteller named Aesop is credited with writing down many ancient Greeks fables. His best is the hare and the tortoise a tortoise challenge a hare at a race and the hare is sure he will win but he oversleeps and the tortoise wins the race. People still use this story to encourage people to work steadily at a task that seems impossible to accomplish.

CITATIONS

• Google images
• Haiku Deck
• Holifestival.org
• Class discussion
• Class notes

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