3. Phaethon
Phaethon was a name given to
different figures in Greek mythology, but
the best known was the son of the Oceanid
nymph Clymene and either the god
Apollo or Helios; both of those gods were
associated with the sun.
4. Phaetheon
The myth has it that when Phaethon was
challenged by his friends, he asked his mother
if his father was really a
god. Clymene reassured him that it was true
and told him to ask his father directly.
So, he asked Apollo (or Helios) to give
him some proof that he was his son by linking
him to the sun in some way. The young man
asked that he drive the sun chariot for one day
and his father agreed.
5. Phaethon
Although his father warns him that no god
(let alone a human) can control the horses and
safely ride the chariot across the sky, Phaethon
will not listen. The god reluctantly conceded to
the boy's wishes and handed him the reigns.
But his inexperience proved fatal, for Phaethon
quickly lost control of the immortal steeds and
the sun-chariot veered out of control setting the
earth ablaze.
6.
7. Phaethon
Apollo/Helios seems to
have no choice but to
watch as the horses run
recklessly through the sky,
crashing into stars and
even setting the earth on
fire. To prevent the entire
planet from
burning, Zeus sends a
thunderbolt which kills
Phaethon and drives the
horses into the sea.
8. Phaethon
The plains of Africa
were scorched to desert and
men charred black. Zeus,
appalled by the destruction,
smote the boy with a
thunderbolt, hurling his
flaming body into the waters
of the River Eridanos.
Phaethon's sisters,
the Heliades, gathered on the
banks and in their mourning
were transformed into amber-
teared poplar trees.
9. Phaethon
After his death Phaethon was placed amongst
the stars as the constellation Auriga ("the
Charioteer"), or else transformed into the god
of the star which the Greeks named Phaethon--
the planet Jupiter or Saturn.
The name Phaethon means "the shining" or
"radiant one" from the Greek verb phaethô "to
shine."
11. Pegasus and Bellerophon
Pegasus was a
winged horse born from
the blood of beheaded
Medusa, and given by the
goddess Athena to the
Muses of the Mount
Helicon to being taken
care of.
12. Pegasus and Bellerophon
Bellerophon was a great
equestrian, a young man from Corinth,
whose biggest dream was to have Pegasus
for himself.
Although Bellerophontes is
supposed to be the son of King Glaucus of
Corinth, there were rumors that his father
was actually Poseidon, the God of the Sea.
In the latter case, that would mean
that Pegasus and Bellerophon were
brothers via their father, but that was
never the interesting part of the myth
about the two of them.
13. Pegasus and Bellerophon
While Pegasus was enjoying his calm days with
the Muses, Bellerophon was dreaming about
adventures. Looking for them he met Proteus, the
early sea-god, and son-in-law of the King of Lycia.
Believing in their friendship, Bellerophon didn’t
recognize Proteus’s jealousy, let alone his friend’s
plan to kill him.
14. Pegasus and Bellerophon
Aware of Bellerophon’s adventurous
nature, Proteus sent him with a sealed letter
to his in-laws. When he arrived in Lycia,
Bellerophon found out that every night
Chimera terrorized the village taking
children, women and livestock away and
leaving their bones alongside the mountain.
15.
16. Pegasus and Bellerophon
Bellerophon didn’t know that his own
death was requested in the letter he brought.
Proteus asked his in-laws to get rid of the
messenger. Instead of killing him on spot, the
king asked Bellerophon to kill the Chimera,
knowing that he would never come back alive.
Bellerophon excited and went for advice
to Polyidus or Polyeidos, the wisest man in
Lycia. Polyeidos told him he would need the
winged horse Pegasus.
17. Pegasus and Bellerophon
More than anything, Bellerophon
wants to ride Pegasus, a winged horse, so he
goes to Athena's temple to pray. Athena
comes to him in a dream and gives him a
golden bridle which, she says, will tame the
horse. It does, and Pegasus becomes
Bellerophon's loyal beast.
18.
19. Pegasus and Bellerophon
Bellerophon was given the King’s
daughter for his wife and he succeeded the
king after his death. But Belerophon’s
restless nature called for new adventures
and he rode Pegasus to fly to the Mount
Olympus to visit the gods.
20. Pegasus and Bellerophon
Was it greed or simply lack of awareness, but it
was the wrong idea of Bellerophon. Furious because
Bellerophon even dared to think to come to the heights of
the Olympus, Zeus sent a gadfly towards the flying guest.
Pegasus was stung and disturbed and Bellerophon lost
his balance and fell on the ground.
21. Athena, as it’s said, spared his life
softening the ground for the fall, but until the
end of his life, the crippled and lonely
Bellerophon was hiking around looking for his
precious Pegasus.
Pegasus continued to live on Mt
Olympus, where Zeus welcomed him and kept
him as his favorite and most important steed.
The myth says that Pegasus was loyal to Zeus
until his last day.
24. Otus & Ephialtes
The giants Otus and Ephialtes, also known as the
"Aloadae", were the sons of Iphimedia and Poseidon,
the god of the seas.
It all happened when Iphimedia fell in love with
Poseidon, so day by day she went down to the
seashore, where she could scoop water from the
waves with her hands and pour it into her lap until
she became pregnant.
25. Otus & Ephialtes
Otus and Ephialtes were extraordinary giants.
Every year they grew about 18 inches broader
and six feet higher. However, they didn't look
horrifying at all. Instead, they were beautiful
and gentle creatures.
When they were only nine years old, the two
brothers began to challenge the gods on several
occasions.
26. Otus & Ephialtes
The 3 Challenges of Otus
and Ephialtes:
The first challenge of
the brothers was to abduct
and imprison Ares, the god
of war. They managed to do
so for 13 months, until the
gods reluctantly
sent Hermes, the
messenger of the gods to
release him.
27. Otus & Ephialtes
Their next challenge was to put one
mountain upon another, threatening to use
these mountains to climb up to heaven.
When Zeus,the king of the gods, found out,
he was about to hit both giants with his
lightning - but Poseidon, their loving father,
convinced Zeus to show mercy for his
children.
28. Otus & Ephialtes
The fatal third challenge
The third challenge of the two brothers
was to catch Artemis, the goddess of the hunt.
When Artemis saw the twins approaching, she
quickly transformed herself into a deer and
leapt between them.
Greedily, the two brothers threw javelins
to hit the animal, but the javelins went back
and killed them both.
31. Daedalus
Daedalus is the brilliant architect who
constructed the Labyrinth for
the Minotaur in Crete. When
King Minos learns that Theseus has escaped
from it, he knows that Daedalus must have
helped him out. As punishment, Minos puts
Daedalus and his son Icarus in the
Labyrinth. Even they cannot find a way out
along the paths.
32.
33. Daedalus
Daedalus builds himself and his son
wings out of wax and feathers. He warns
Icarus not to fly too high because the sun
will melt the wings. As they are flying in
their escape, excitement and power overtake
Icarus, and he flies too high. The sun melts
his wings, the boy falls to the ocean, and the
waters swallow him up
