What is mythology (06/17/2007)
(...) Robert Graves, for example, distinguishes true myth, which for him is "the reduction to narrative shorthand of ritual mime performed in public festivals, and in many cases recorded pictorially on temple walls, vases, seals, bowls, mirrors, chests, shields, tapestries, and the like," from twelve other categories, such as: philosophical allegory, satire or parody, minstrel romance, political propaganda, theatrical melodrama, realistic fiction. The definitions set forth by Rose in his invaluable handbook have deservedly won wide acceptance. His distinctions are clear, serviceable, and enlightening; although inevitably artificial per se, they are by no means intended to be adopted as rigid. (...)

The historical dimension of Greek myths (06/17/2007)
(...) But we know today that the country was settled in Paleolithic times (before 70,000 B.c.). (...)

Myths of Creation in Greek culture: Part 1 (06/17/2007)
(...) 700), as far as we can tell, was the first to give literary expression to a systematic explanation of how the gods, the universe, and mankind came into being. At any rate his is the earliest account that has survived, and it may be considered the classic Greek version in many respects; the genealogical scheme is presented in his Theogony, while his Works and Days adds significant details. Hesiod invokes the Muse in the manner of epic, but his text is steeped in a religious aura of divinely inspired revelation (Theogony 108 ff. (...)

Myths of Creation in Greek culture: Part 2 (06/17/2007)
(...) From within his voice flows faintly and he no longer has the strength that he formerly had in his supple limbs.   Later writers add that eventually Tithonus was turned into a grass hopper. By far the most important Titans are Cronus and Rhea, but before we consider them we must again take up Hesiod's account (Theogony 139-210). (...)

ZEUS Rise to POWER: The Creation of Man: Part 1 (06/17/2007)
(...) Othrys. The struggle was said to have lasted ten years, the traditional length for a serious war, be it this one or the famous conflict of the Greeks against the Trojans. An excerpt from Hesiod will convey the magnitude and ferocity of the conflict (Theogony 678-721). (...)

ZEUS Rise to POWER: The Creation of Man: Part 2 (06/17/2007)
(...) When Hermes, Zeus' messenger, appears in the last episode, Prometheus is arrogant and insulting in his refusal to bow to the threats of more terrible suffering and reveal his secret. The play ends with the fulfillment of the promised torment; the earth shakes and cracks, thunder and lightning accompany wind and storm as Prometheus, still pinned to the rock is plunged by the cataclysm beneath the earth; there he will be plagued by the eagle daily tearing his flesh and gnawing his liver. Prometheus' final utterance echoes and affirms the fiery heat and mighty spirit of his first invocation: "0 majesty of earth, my mother, 0 air and sky whose circling brings light for all to share. (...)

Zeus, Hera and their children: Part 1 (06/17/2007)
(...)   Although Hestia is important, her role and function are relatively limited and therefore she may be briefly discussed here. Her mythology is meager. She rejected the advances of both Poseidon and Apollo and vowed to remain a virgin; like Athena and Artemis, then, she is a goddess of chastity. (...)

Zeus, Hera and their children: Part 2 (06/17/2007)
(...) But whatever is fitting that you should hear, then not anyone either of gods nor of men will know it before you. But do not pry or ask questions about each and every thing to which I wish to give thought apart from the gods."   And then ox-eyed Hera in her majesty replied: "Most dread son of Cronus, what kind of answer is this you have given? I have not pried too much or asked questions before but completely on your own you plan whatever you wish. (...)

Anthropomorphic conception and Greek humanism (06/17/2007)
(...) Ichor (a substance clearer than blood) flows in their veins. Just as they can feel the gamut of human emotion, so too they can suffer physical pain and torment. They are worshiped in shrines and temples and sanctuaries; they are honored with statues, placated by sacrifices, and invoked by prayers. (...)

Nemesis and Croesus (06/17/2007)
(...) The latter [wealthy but unlucky] is better able to fulfill his desires and to endure a great disaster that might befall him, but the other man [who is lucky] surpasses him in the following ways. Although he is not similarly able to cope with doom and desire, good fortune keeps these things from him, and he is unmaimed, fiee from disease, does not suffer evils, and has fine children and a fine appearance. If in addition to these things he still ends his life well, this is the one whom you seek who is worthy to be called happy. (...)

The Persians and Croesus (06/17/2007)
(...) And they made the attempt but were unable to master the flames. Then, according to the Lydian version of the story, when Croesus learned of Cyrus' change of heart as he saw all the men trying to put out the fire but no longer able to hold it in check, he shouted aloud calling on Apollo, if ever he had received from him any gift that was pleasing, to stand by him and save him from the present evil. In tears he called on the god and suddenly out of the clear and calm atmosphere storm clouds rushed together, burst forth in violent torrents of rain, and quenched the fire. (...)

Poseidon and the sea monsters (06/17/2007)
(...) Peleus and Thetis celebrated their marriage in great ceremony and they had a son, Achilles, who did indeed become mightier than his father. Galatea, another Nereid, was loved by the Cyclops, Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon. Ovid's account (Metamorphoses 13. (...)

Athena and Minerva in greek mythology (06/17/2007)
(...) Zeus, king of the gods, first took as his wife Metis, who was very wise indeed among both gods and men. But when she was about to give birth to the bright-eyed goddess Athena, then Zeus treacherously deceived her with wheedling words and swallowed her down into his belly at the wise instigations of Gaea and starry Uranus. These two gave Zeus this advice so that no other of the eternal gods might rule supreme as king in his place. (...)

Aphrodite and Eros in Greek mythology: Part 1 (06/17/2007)
(...) In general Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty, love, and marriage. Her worship was universal in the ancient world, but its facets were many and varied. At Corinth, for example, temple harlots were kept in Aphrodite's honor; at Athens this same goddess was the staid and respectable deity of marriage and married love (one could presumably forget or deny the Aphrodite who betrayed her husband Hephaestus in Homer's story). (...)

Aphrodite and Eros in Greek mythology: Part 2 (06/17/2007)
(...) And so great Zeus caused Aphrodite herself to fall in love with a man, because he did not want her to continue her boasts that she in her power had joined the immortal gods and goddesses in love with mortals to beget mortal children but had experienced no such humiliating experience herself. The Hymn continues (53-201): Zeus put into Aphrodite's heart sweet longing for Anchises, who at that time was tending cattle on the high ranges of Mt. Ida with its many streams. (...)

Aphrodite and Eros in Greek mythology: Part 3 (06/17/2007)
(...) But he left a few on their bellies around their navel as a reminder of their experience of long ago. And so when their original nature had been split in two, each longed for his other half and when they encountered it they threw their arms about one another and embraced in their desire to grow together again and they died through hunger and neglect of the other necessities of life because of their wish to do nothing separated from each other. Whenever one of a pair died, the other that was left searched out and embraced another mate, either the half of a whole female (which we now call woman) or of a male. (...)

Aphrodite and Eros in Greek mythology: Part 4 (06/17/2007)
(...) Love and the lover desire what they do not possess, namely, the beautiful and the good, and the ultimate goal of their pursuit is happiness. Love finds particular expression in the procreation of what is beautiful both physically and spiritually, and all men in their quest to bring forth in beauty are thereby touched by a divine harmony with the immortal. Procreation is the closest means by which the human race can attain to perpetuity and immortality; love, then, is a love of immortality as well as of the beautiful and the good. (...)

The Homeric Hymn to Artermis (06/17/2007)
(...) The goddess Leto mated with Zeus and bore the twin deities, Artemis and Apollo. The story of Apollo's birth on the island of Delos is recounted in the next chapter in the version given by the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, but there are variants. Traditionally Artemis is born first at a place called Ortygia (the name means Quail Island), which cannot be identified with certainty. (...)

Callisto and Diana in Greek Mythology (06/17/2007)
(...) '' And as she spoke she seized Callisto's hair and threw her to the ground. Callisto spread her arms in suppliant prayer; her arms began to bristle with black hair, her hands to be bent with fingers turning to curved claws; she used her hands as feet and the face which once delighted Jupiter grew ugly with grinning jaws. Her power of speech was lost, with no prayers or entreaties could she win pity, and a hoarse and frightening growl was her only utterance. (...)

Who was Apollo in Greek Mythology (06/17/2007)
(...) But they all trembled and were very much afraid and not one of them, even the more rich, dared to receive the god Phoebus, until lady Leto came to Delos and asked with winged words: "Delos, if you would like to be the home of my son, Phoebus Apollo, and to establish for him a rich temple-do not refuse, for no one else will come near you, as you will find out, and I do not think that you will be rich in cattle and sheep or bear harvests or grow plants in abundance-if you would then have a temple of Apollo, the far-shooter, all men will congregate here and bring hecatombs and the aroma of rich sacrifices will rise up incessantly and your inhabitants will be nourished by the hands of foreigners." Thus she spoke; Delos rejoiced and said to her in answer: "Leto, most renowned daughter of great Coeus, I should receive your son, the lord who shoots from afar, with joy, for the terrible truth is that I have a bad reputation among men, and in this way I should become greatly esteemed. But I fear this prediction (and I shall not keep it from you): they say that Apollo will be someone of uncontrollable power, who will mightily lord it over both the immortal gods and mortal men on the fruitful earth. (...)