1) The ancient Greek god Zeus decided that the city now known as Athens needed an official name and called all the gods to Mount Olympus to decide. 2) Poseidon and Athena competed to have the city named after them by providing gifts to the inhabitants. Athena created an olive tree and Poseidon created a salt water spring. 3) The king of Athens, Cecrops, judged that Athena's olive tree was more useful, so the city was named Athens after the goddess Athena.

1. mytharb
ar
The Pelasgian myth

3. The Pelasgian myth
3

4. This book is the outcome of my dissertation project in
the frames of the MSc Design and Digital Media at the
University of Edinburgh. The design, information and
the version of the myth are based on a combination of
different sources that I found during my research for the
processing needs of my project. Although I tried to be
as much consistent as I could, this book does not seek
to present the most precise information. The project as
a whole aims to suggest an Augmented Reality (AR)
educative prototype that would be a basis for further
research and more accurate details.
© Loukia Goni
August 2011, University of Edinburgh
4

5. Augment your Reality
1. Download the free BuildAR Pro 2 Trial. You can access it here: http://
www.buildar.co.nz/download-manager/
2. Click on the BuildAR Pro folder and open the BuildAR Viewer.
3. Select Cancel to the 'Choose Tracker Type' window.
4. Select 'video' and 'camera' as your video source. Press the green
arrow and then OK.
5. Do you see yourself in the window? If not, check that your webcam
works properly.
6. Go to File and Open scene. Select scene 1 (book pages 3-11) and
wait a little bit to load.
7. Point the black and white markers inside the book to the webcam.
8. Be careful not to cover the markers with your hands or other items.
11. Repeat step 4 to load scene 2 (p.12-21), 3 (p.22-25) and 4 (p.26-29).
Let the magic begin!
5

6. The pelasgian myth
Long ago, in ancient Greece in the era of the powerful
gods, the sublime god of the Greek Pantheon, Zeus,
foresaw that the small city under the rock of Acropolis
would have a glorious future and decided that it should
obtain a proper name. Until then the city was known
as Akti or Aktiki, after the name of it’s first native king,
Aktaios. Zeus invited the other 11 Olympian Gods on
the top of the highest mountain of Greece, Olympus,
to announce that one of them would be chosen for the
name and the land of the city.
6

7. The gods pleased to hear these news considered
themselves as the most appropriate for this occasion.
However, Zeus thought that the inhabitants of the city
where good at constructing solid boats to travel and
creating nice pots and statues to adorn the temples.
And he narrowed the competition to take place
between Poseidon, the god of the Sea, and Athena,
the protectress of the Arts. The winner would be the one
whose gift that should emerge from the earth would be
the most useful for the city.
7

8. Athena
8

9. The goddess of wisdom, civilization, warfare, strength,
strategy, arts, crafts, justice and skill. She is a shrewd
companion of heroes and the goddess of heroic
endeavour. In her role as protectress of the city, the
greek polis, many people throughout the Greek world
worshiped her as Athena Polias, which means “Athena
of the city”. The Parthenon temple on the Acropolis was
built by the Athenians in her honor.
9

10. Poseidon
10

11. Poseidon is most famous as the god of Sea. The son
of Crones and Rhea, Poseidon has six siblings who
eventually "divided the power of the world." The division
of the universe involved him and his brothers, Zeus and
Hades. Poseidon became ruler of the sea, Zeus ruled the
sky and Hades got the underworld. The other divinities
attributed to Poseidon involve the god of earthquakes
and the god of horses.
11

12. Cecrops
12

13. King Cecrops is the son of Earth and mythical founder
of the city of Athens in Acropolis, which at the time of
his kingship was called Kekropia. He is supposed to have
lived around 1600 BC. He was especially worshiped on
the Acropolis in the form of a snake. He is the first Attic
hero and chthonic deity, often presented as twin-track,
half human and half snake.
13

14. Erechteion
Erechteion is an unusual building devoted to the worship
of various ancient gods. It is situated in the northern side
of the Arcropolis. It was constructed of Pentelic marble
during the Peloponnesian War, between 421 and 406
BC, probably by the architect Mnesicles.
14

15. The north portico is supported by six tall Ionic columns.
Their height reaches the 7.635 m. The door, which original
height was 4,88 m. and its width 2,43 m. leads to the
vestibule of the western part of the Erechteion. The door
on the right leads to the Pandroseion yard.
15

16. In the western part of the Erechteion was Pandroseion
which was dedicated to Pandrosos, one of Cecrop’s
daughters. There is also the sacred olivetree, Athena’s
gift to the city during the dispute with Poseidon.
16

17. 17

18. The eastern section of the temple was devoted to the
worship of Athena Polias. The entrance was a six- column
Ionic portico. The height of the column was 6,586 m.
18

19. 19

20. The myth
At the defined day, the opponents, goddess Athena and
god Poseidon went to the rock of Acropolis and sat on the
golden thrones next to the King Cecrops, who would attend
as witness.
20

21. 21

22. Zeus and the other gods would attend from above,
whereas the people of the city were invited to make
the judge in the dispute.
22

23. 23

24. Athena was the first to present her gift to the city. She
went to the Padroseion yard, she touched the ground
with her spear and all of a sudden an olivetree full of fruit
appeared. This tree was preserved for many years later.
Even after it was burnt by the Persians, it grew back the
next day.
24

25. 25

26. After Athena’s gift, Poseidon stood up from his throne
and confidently threw his trident to a rock. Immediately
a wave of salt water sprang from the rock and formed
a small lake known as the Erechthiida’ sea.
26

27. 27

28. Then Zeus declared the end of the race and told the
other gods to determine who won. At the same time
requested the testimony and the opinion of Cecrops.
From the top of the hill Cecrops glanced around, but
wherever he turned his eyes, looked at salt water. Sea
was everywhere.
28

29. The olive tree of Athena was the first to sprout across the
country and yet, it was the promise to the city for glory
and happiness. Cecrops decided that Athena’s gift was
more useful and gave the dominance of the city to her.
29