a/n: ok i do not oun a word of this. it all belongs to nancy loewen.
Greek and Roman Mythology
Athena
Chapter 1.
About Mythology
Ancient Greek and Roman people told stories to create order and understanding in their lives. Most people did not know much about science. Their stories used characters to explain things in nature. People understood these characters and why characters did made the world seem more familiar and less frightening.
Gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters were the main characters in Greek and Roman stories. Ancient people believed these powerful beings influenced history and the natural world.
These stories are called myths because people today do not believe them. People now use science to explain why htings happen in nature. But long ago, the stories served an important purpose. The collection of the hundreds of Greek and Roman myths is called classical mythology.
There are two main kinds of myths. Explanation myths tell how and why things happen. For example, one Greek tells how spiders make webs.
Characters search for something in quest myths. The search may be for treasure or for a person. Heroes were the main characters in quest myths. They overcame danger and harship to complete their goals. Quest myths teach people values. Ancient people told these stories to show good cam conquer evil.
History of Mythology
Greece is a country in what is now Europe. Rome was the capital city in the Roman Empire. Rome is in what is now Italy. The Roman Empire was a group od contries under Roman rule. The myths in classical mythology started in both ancient GReece and Rome.
Greeks were among the first people to tell stories about gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters. They began telling these myths in about 200 B.C. Greek people passed myths down from generation to generation.
The Roman Empire conquered Greece about 100 B.C. The Roman people respected Greek beliefs even though the conquered Greece. Roman began to tell their own mythsl. Some of the Roman myths were similar to the GReek myths. Mnay Roman gods and goddesses had the same power as Greek gods and goddesses. The Roman gave different names to their characters. For example, THe Greeks named their goddess of wisdom and war Athena. The Romans named their goddess of wisdom and war Minerva. Both Athena and MInerva had the same powers and duties. Both Romans and Greeks told similar about and Athena and Minerva. THis book uses the Greek names of the characters.
Most people living in ancient Greece and the Roman Empire did not know how to write and read. They did not write the myths down on paper. Instead, people learned myths from storytellers. Storytellers memorized the myths and told the stories to people.
Storytellers sometimes added new ideas to make the myths seem mroe storytellers told the myths incorrectly. Many versions of the myths exist today because storytellers told the myths in different ways.
History of the Gods
The oldest god, Heaven, and the oldest goddess, Earth, married and had many children. Some of their children were giants with 150 hands. Heaven and Earth also had cyclopes. These giantsonly has one eye in the middle of their foreheads. Earth also gave birth to several giants called titans.
Heaven was cruel. He did not like some of his children. He locked the 150-handed giants and and cyclopes underground.
Heaven's titan son Cronus did not like his father. Cronus wanted to rule the world. So Cronusconquered his father and became the ruler. Cronus locked Heaven underground with the cyclopes and 150-handed giants.
Cronus married his sister, Rhea. Rhea gave birth to six children. CRonus ate all of his children after they were born. He did not want them to conquer him. But Rhea gave Cronus a rock to eat when Zeus was born. Cronus thought the rock was Zeus. He ate the rock instead of Zeus. Rhea his Zeus from Cronus.
Zeus conquered Cronus. This made Zeus king of the gods. Zeus gave Cronus a potion that freed his brothers and sisters from Cronus' body. Zeus locked Cronus and the other titans underground. He freed the cyclopes and the 150- handed giants.
Some of Cronus' and Rhea's married each other and had children. Their children were gods and goddesses too. These gods and goddesses became known as the olympians.
Gods and Goddesses
Some gods and goddesses were more powerful than others. The gods and goddesses sometimes fought each other to increase power and rank. Athena was a very powerful goddess.
People believed that the powerful gods and goddesses lived on top of Mount Olympus. Mount Olymus is the highest mountain in Greece. Less important gods and goddesses lived throughout the earth, sky, and sea. Athena live on Mount Olympus.
The gods and goddesses acted very much like humans. But unlike humans, gods and goddesses were immortal and did not die. They had magical powers the were almost unlimated.
Religion
reeks and Romans worshiped the gods and goddesses form their stories. Each person worshiped the powerful beings that mattered most to their lives. Heroes prayed to Athena for help. She often helped them to overcome hardships to complete their quests.
Greeks and Romans honored the gods and goddesses in many ways. Some built temples to honor their favorite powerful beings. People brought offerings of money and food to the temples.
Characters in Mythology
Classical mythology contained hundreds of characters. Some characters appeared in many different stories. Others were in only a few stories. Most characters belonged to one of the following groups.
Titans: These gods and goddesses were powerful giants. They were the children of Heaven and Earth.
Olympains: These were the main gods in the classical mythology. Olympians looked like humans. But they had magic powers. They ruled fronm the top of Mount Olympus. Zeus was the head of the Olympians.
Lesser gods: These gods were less powerful than the Olympians. They often were associated with one particular area sukc as a river or mountain.
Demigods: These characters were half god and half human. They had more power than ordinary humans, but were weaker than the gods. Demigods were not immortal.
Monsters: Monsters could be a combination of different animals or of animals and humans. Gods sent monsters to punish people.