A brief background of Greek Mythology and the Origin of the Universe.

1. Greek Mythology

2.  Greek Mythology
-refers to the myths and hero legend of the ancient |Greeks
 Myths
 -stories about gods or other supernatural beings.
 -usually explain the origins of the world or how human customs
came to be
 -typically set in the distant past, during the early history of the
world, before or soon after the appearance of human beings
 Sources:
• passed along orally from one generation to the next
SONG
POETRY RECITATION
STORYTELLING

3. Written literary pieces
Epics - long narrative poems recounting the great deeds of heroes
Examples:
•Iliad- focuses on the hero Achilles (hero of the Trojan war)
•Odyssey - tells the adventure of Odysseus (Ulysses)
•Hesiod’s Theogony - describe the origins of the world
• Homeric Hymns - a collection of poems addressed to different
gods
•Apollodoro’s Library - an ancient book of mythology
•Greek tragedies - w/c concern famous heroes and heroines.

5. Literature of the Ancient
Romans
(who borrowed much from the Greeks)
 Important works:
Vergil’s Aeneid
-an epic poem about the Trojan hero Aeneas
Ovid’s metamorphosis
-collection of mythological stories about
people and animals who change into
something else

7. Origins of the Universe
In the whole universe there was nothing else: all was
black , empty, silent, endless.
• CHAOS -huge space, came into being first
Believed to have children NIGHT
Erebus
• From darkness & death, Love was born & w/ its birth
order & beauty began to banish blind confusion .
Love - created light w/ its companion radiant DAY
-next was the creation of Earth (Gaea) which
just happened .
Earth– solid ground
Heaven– was the blue vault on high

8. First creatures who had the appearance of life
were the children of:
Mother Earth (Gaea) Their children were said to be
Father Heaven (Ouranos) MONSTERS

9. Tartarus - a great prison for gods & other
immortal beings, who could not be killed
Love – caused living beings to be drawn
together and to mate one another, producing
nearly everything in the world.
Earth– was once inhabited by strange gigantic
creatures called TITANS
 Hecatoncheires
-monstrously huge and strong
-had each a hundred hands & fifty heads
•Cyclops(Wheel-eyed)
-each had only 1 enormous eye , as round as big as a
wheel in the middle of their forehead.

10. Cyclops Titan

11. CYCLOPS
-each had
only one
enormous eye,
as round and
as big as a
wheel in the
middle of their
forehead

12. TITAN (Atlas)
• Last came
were the Titans
- they are of great
size and strength
but they were
purely not
destructive

13. HEAVEN/SKY (OURANOS)
•became the 1st
ruler of the
world
•cruel and
jealous father
•prevented
some his
children from
being born from
their mother

14. GAIA(GAEA)Plotted against
SKY through the
help of their
youngest son,
CRONUS - lay in
wait for his
father and
wounded him
badly by
castration/cuttin
g of genetalia
(His penis was
cut)

15. BLOOD
The Fourth
race of
monsters,
sprang up
his from
blood

16. Erinyes/
Furies
-were born “to
pursue and
punish sinners”
-hair made up of
snakes & eyes
that wept tears
of blood.

17. *Assumed the throne of his father
- The children of Cronus and Rhea were called the OLYMPIANS!
CRONUS
-proved to be as just as bad as his father had been
-swallowed his children
*afraid that one of his children would overthrow him
-knew that one of his children will overthrow him
until Rhea gave birth to zeus

18. ZEUS
-6th child
-secretly carried to Crete
Rhea
-had given her husband a great
stone wrapped in baby clothes and
swallowed down accordingly
-grew up, he forced his father to
vomit up his other children w/ the
help of his grandmother GAEA
Followed a terrible war between
CRONUS (helped by his brother
Titans) and ZEUS (w/his five
brothers and sisters) a war that
almost wrecked the universe (a.k.a.
Titanomachy)

19. Titans- were defeated
Reasons:
*Zeus released from their
prison the hundred-handed
monsters
- *One the sons of the Titan
Iapetus his son
Prometheus (who was very
wise took sides w/ Zeus)
ZEUS
-punished his enemies terribly
-some were imprisoned in
Tartarus

20. ATLAS
-it was held up by one
of the Titans, Atlas,
who supported it on
its shoulders
*took them about 10
years to defeat the
Titans,
THEY WHERE NOT
COMPLETELY
VICTORIOUS

21. EARTH (Gaea)
-gave birth to her last
and most frightful
offspring
1.) Typhon-a huge,
violent, monster w/
snaky heads
*BUT – w/ the use of
Zeus weapons w/c were
the thunder & lightning
he struck Typhon down

22. 2.GIANTS
BUT- gods were already strong
and helped by the mighty
Hercules ( A son of Zeus)
* The giants were defeated and
hurled down to TARTARUS

23. ENDING
Zeus became the third and final ruler of the cosmos. He nurtured
his children and ruled justly
* Ruled Olympia/Mt. Olympus together w/ his brothers and sisters