Transcript The Gods

The Gods
 The Greeks believed that the universe
created the gods. This belief is the reverse
of most creation stories. For example, the
native Americans believed that the great
spirits created the earth.
 The Greeks also believed the universe was
the first parent.
 The universe’s children were the Titans.
 The gods were the children of the Titans
and the grandchildren of the universe.
The Titans and the Twelve Great
Olympians
 The Titans were the Elder gods.
 They were giant in size and strength.
 The Titans reigned supreme in the universe
for a very long time.
 There were many Titans but there are few
stories written about them.
 Cronus or Saturn (Latin) ruled until Zeus
fought and dethroned him.
 Cronus had swallowed all of his children up until
Zeus. Cronus swallowed his previous children,
Hestia, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon because of a
prophesy that one of his children would dispose
him. Rhea and her mother Gaia wrapped a stone in
a baby bunting and Cronus who believed this was
Zeus swallowed the stone instead of the baby.
Rhea hid Zeus in a cave in Crete so Cronus would
not be able to swallow him. When Zeus became a
young man he made his father regurgitate his
brothers and sisters.
 Zeus’s siblings rose up and fought the
Titans.
 When Zeus or Jupiter became the ruler
Cronus or Saturn fled to Italy bringing the
“Golden Age”. This was a time of great
peace and happiness.
 Ocean was a river that encircles the earth.
His wife was Tethys.
 Some noteworthy Titans were Hyperion,
father of sun, moon, and dawn.
 Mnenmyosyne- meaning memory.
 Themis-meaning Justice.
 Iapetus- who was important because of his
sons.
 Atlas-who held up the pillars that separated
the earth and the heavens.
 Prometheus-who brought fire to the
humans.
 These older gods were lowered in status
when Zeus arrived.
 The twelve gods called the Olympians were
supreme among the gods.
 They were called Olympians because they
lived on Olympus.
 Originally Olympus was associated with
Mt. Olympus which was the highest
mountain in Greece.
 In the Iliad, Zeus talks to the gods from the
“topmost peak of the many ridges of
Olympus.”
 Then further in the Iliad, Zeus could “hang
earth and sea from a pinnacle of Olympus.”
 Zeus’s siblings drew lots to determine what
domains they would control.
 Poseidon ruled the seas.
 Hades ruled the dead.
 Zeus ruled heaven.
 Olympus was common to all three realms.
 The 12 Olympians are the following:
 Zeus/Jupiter
 Poseidon/Neptune
 Hades/Pluto
 Hestia/Vesta
 Hera/Juno
 Ares/Mars
 Athena/Minerva
 Apollo
 Aphrodite/Venus
 Hermes/Mercury
 Artemis/Diana
 Hephaestus/Vulcan
Zeus
Zeus pursues lots of women and tries to hides
his affairs from Hera (his wife).
Zeus is a patchwork quilt of the many
different gods. He gets a lot of different
characteristics from various gods.
When the worship of Zeus spread to a
particular village where there was an
ultimate ruler the two gods would slowly
merge together.
 When the two gods merged the wife of the
previous god was transferred to Zeus. This
is were his endless love affairs come into
the myths.
 All of the gods had conflict within their
personalities. They had some not so
attractive qualities such as Zeus’s
philandering ways and his demand that
people sacrifice and take the right course.
 His breastplate was the aegis or a shield.
 His bird was the eagle.
 His tree was the oak.
 His will was interpreted by the listening to
the rustling of oak leaves.
 His oracle to interpret the leaves was
Dodona.
Hera
 Hera was Zeus’s wife and sister.
 She was raised by the Titan Ocean.
 Hera was the protector of married women.
 She was praised in poetry but mainly seen
as punishing Zeus’s women.
 Hera judged and punished Zeus’s women all
equally harshly whether or not they were
tricked by Zeus or not.
 Hera held grudges in fact she extended the
Trojan war because a Trojan had judged
another goddess lovelier than she.
 Hera’s daughter Ilithyia helped women in
childbirth.
The cow and the peacock are sacred animals
to Hera.
Argos is her favorite city.
Poseidon/Neptune
 Poseidon is the ruler of the sea.
 He is second only in importance to Zeus.
The sea was very important to the Greeks as it
was central to life for Greeks on either side
of the Aegean. The Greeks are fishermen
and sailors.
This stresses the importance that Zeus holds
for them.
 Poseidon’s wife’s name is Amphitrite.
 She is a granddaughter of the Titan Ocean.
 What kind of things can you think of that could go
wrong on the seas?
 Poseidon controls storm, calm, and the surges of
the sea.
 He calms the seas via a golden car that drives over
the waters. The waves subside in stillness in the
spots where the wheels of the car pass over.
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 He has a trident, a three pronged spear, that
can shake or shatter anything he decides on.
 He has a beautiful palace under the sea but
prefers to be on Olympus.
 He gave the first horse to humans and they
were extremely grateful for that.
 He is also connected with bulls but lots of
other gods are as well.
Hades/Pluto
 Hades is the third brother of the Olympians.
 He rules the Underworld and the realm of
the dead.
 He is also known as Pluto, the god of
wealth and precious metals in the earth.
Some examples of precious metals are gold,
and titanium can you name any others?
 He has an invisibility cap or helmet.
 I like to think of Hades as a hermit, who does not
like leaving the Underworld and seldomly does so.
 He is characterized as a terrible god.
 He does not feel any sympathy.
 So of all the gods there doesn’t seem to be the
normally present struggle with Hades between
good and bad. The other gods struggle and this
shows that the gods are human like and flawed.