Greek

Mythology

By:
Antonita Akshaya Suresh
IV-F 4
 Contents

The story of Echo……………1 & 2

Magical Rocks-an Ares myth……….3 & 4
Psyche & eros…………. 5-9
Atlanta and the golden apples………10
The story of Echo
One day, Zeus tore into the woods, looking for a place to hide.
His wife, Hera, was after him again. Would he never learn to
stop flirting with the nymphs who lived deep in the woods?
Apparently not. Spotting Echo, he asked her to help him escape
the eagle eye of his wife. One did not turn down a request from
Zeus, not and live to tell about it.
When Hera tore into the woods after Zeus, Echo sidetracked her
with chatter and gossip. After that day, each time Zeus raced
into the forest with Hera close on his heels, Echo sidetracked her
with chatter and gossip. For some time, this worked well for
Zeus.
When Hera finally figured out what was going on, she punished
Echo by denying her much of her beautiful voice. All Echo
could do forever after was repeat the last few sounds she heard.
The god Pan spotted Echo one day and fell madly in love. But
Echo would have nothing to do with him. This made Pan so
angry that he used his powers to panic his shepherds. They went
mad, and tore Echo to pieces. Pieces of Echo were carried by the
wind all over the world.
0Gaia, the Earth mother, who had always liked Echo, could not
change what Pan had done. She could not change what Hera had
done. But she could let the pieces of Echo keep what voice
remained to them.
Thanks to Gaia, even today, you can sometimes hear a piece of
Echo repeating the sounds around her - the howl of a dog, the
toot of a train, or the last few words that people say.
The Magical Rocks
Once upon a time, a long time ago, Ares, the Greek god of war,
was fighting against the Greeks in a field in the northernmost tip
of ancient Greece. The field was on the border of Macedonia, a
country to the north. The Macedonians were forever crossing the
line, trying to conquer the Greek city-states, one at a time. Ares
kept a close eye on that field as a many a battle had been fought
there. Ares did not wish to miss a good battle. Athena, goddess
of wisdom, saw her half brother, screaming and shouting
happily, as the Greeks died around him. Athena believed the
Greeks cause was just, as they were simply defending their
home. She picked up a rock and threw it as hard as she could at
Ares. Ares wasn't paying attention as usual. He was busy
enjoying the bloodshed. The rock knocked him out cold. When
he woke up, the battle was over. The Greeks had won! Ares
never knew it was his sister, Athena, who had knocked him out
of the battle!
After that, nobody knows how but somehow, a rumor started
that the great god Ares had been attacked by a magical rock!
Nobody listened to the rumor, nobody that is except two young
brothers. The brothers owned the field where battles kept
happening. It was very hard to grow crops while men were
fighting. The boys had grown into giants! Well, not giants
perhaps, but certainly tall and manly and strong. The boys
quietly collected a huge stack of heavy rocks, hoping one of
them would be a magical rock. Their neighbors thought they
were building a wall to help protect their field from the
Macedonians. But actually, they were waiting for Ares. They
knew Ares would show up sooner or later, because Ares loved
bloodshed, and many a battle had been fought in their field. Ares
was bound to keep checking. Sure enough, one day, they spotted
the great god Ares in their field! They threw rocks at him. They
were very fortunate that one of their rocks hit Ares and knocked
him out cold before Ares noticed what they were doing. The
boys quickly stuffed Ares into a huge vase and plugged the top
securely.
Ares was stuck in that vase for a very long time. And for a very
long time, the brothers lived a peaceful life. No battles were
fought. Their crops flourished. Their neighbors to the north
became their friends. Ares might still be in that vase today if one
of the brothers had not bragged to a neighbor about what they
had done. The god Hermes heard about it. (Sooner or later,
Hermes heard about everything.) Hermes rescued his brother,
not that Ares said thank you. But Ares never came back to that
field, thinking perhaps that the tale of magical rocks was true!
Besides, there were many other fields in ancient Greece, and
many other battles. As long as there was bloodshed to enjoy
somewhere, Ares was happy.
 Psyche & Eros

Once upon a time, a long time ago, there lived three princesses.
Psyche, the youngest, was very kind. She was also very
beautiful. She was so beautiful, in fact, that the powerful
goddess of love, Aphrodite, became jealous of Psyche.
In fear of what the great goddess might do to them if they paid
attention to Psyche, all the young men in the kingdom avoided
Psyche whenever possible, and none offered to marry her. Her
two sisters married finally. But Psyche stayed at home with her
father.
Psyche could not remain at home forever. In those days, girls
had to marry someone. Her father consulted Apollo's oracle at
Delphi for guidance. You know oracles! Who knows what the
oracle actually said. What the king heard was that his beloved
daughter should prepare for her death. Sadly, the king took
Psyche to the edge of a cliff and left her there.
In despair, Psyche might have leaped to her death. Before she
could, she felt herself lifted into the air. Zephyrus, the gentle
west wind, had taken pity on the girl, and gently carried her to a
faraway palace, to the home of his good friend, Eros, the lonely
god of Love.
Eros was a handsome young man, but he had a pair of very big
wings. He did not wish to scare Psyche. He made himself
invisible and warned Psyche if she valued his love, not to try to
catch a glimpse of him.
Psyche was treated with great gentleness and good company and
much laughter and soon fell in love with her invisible host. For
some time, they were blissfully happy. But Psyche longed to see
her family. Eros finally agreed to allow her to invite her two
sisters to his palace.
Filled with envy at the sight of the palace and the riches it
contained, her two sisters maliciously convinced Psyche that she
was being fooled, that her husband was a fearsome monster, and
that she had to escape!
"But he's so kind, so gentle," she argued. "He cannot be a
monster. I would know!"
"He's fooling you, Psyche. Trust us." They returned home,
dissatisfied with their own lives, and jealous of Psyche's.
Psyche cried and cried, but one night, she took a lamp in one
hand and a dagger in the other, and crept into her host's
bedroom. Instead of the monster she expected to find, she saw
Eros, a handsome young man, with two white wings. She was
not frightened at all.
A drop of oil from the lamp she held fell on the sleeping god. He
woke instantly. He saw his Psyche, leaning over him with a
dagger in her hand. With great sorrow, he spread his wings and
flew away.
Psyche crumbled to the floor. How foolish she had been to listen
to her sisters. She ran outside, to the river. She threw herself into
the water. She expected to drown. But Pan, the god of
shepherds, pulled her safely from the water.
"Aphrodite is the goddess of love. Ask for her help," Pan
advised her.
Psyche prayed to Aphrodite for help. Aphrodite was still jealous.
She pretended to help her, because she was, after all, the
goddess of love, but gave Psyche tasks to prove her love for
Eros that no mortal could possibly accomplish. Yet, Psyche
accomplished task after task. Although she did not know it,
Psyche was helped by invisible beings, sent by Eros, who loved
her still, and watched over her.
At last, Aphrodite told Psyche her final task was to retrieve a
box from the underworld, a very special box filled with magical
beauty supplies. With these, she could make herself so beautiful
that Eros would fall hopelessly in love with her.
You might think Psyche would be excited - her last task! - but
Psyche knew she had to die to enter the land of shades. It was
hopeless.
Suddenly, she heard a voice speaking softly in her ear. It warned
her of dangers ahead and what she had to do to retrieve the box
without dying.
The voice was very clear. Here is what she had to do:
1. Have a coin ready for the toll to the underworld
2. Bring three pieces of sweetbread to give to Cerberus, the three
headed dog
3. DO NOT EAT ANYTHING, not even a seed
4. Once you find it, bring the box to Aphrodite without looking
inside.
Psyche did everything she was told. She arrived back in the land
of light safely. Waiting for Aphrodite to show up, she became
nervous. What if it was the wrong box? Psyche opened the box
just a crack to peek inside. A foul smelling cloud poured out.
Psyche dropped to the ground as if dead.
To save her life, Eros returned to his visible form, and prodded
her with the point of a golden arrow. She awoke immediately.
"Psyche, what am I going to do with you? Will you never
learn?"
"I have learned," Psyche said softly. "I've learned that I love
you."
Eros gathered her into his arms and flew them back to his
palace.
It took a while, but Eros finally convinced his mother,
Aphrodite, to accept Psyche as his wife. With Aphrodite's help,
he convinced the great Zeus to admit Psyche to the ranks of the
immortal gods.
In celebration, Psyche and Eros threw a party at the palace.
Apollo played his lyre. Dionysus brought the wine. And all the
gods rejoiced. As for Eros and Psyche, they lived happily ever
after.
Atlanta and the golden apples
Atalanta said she would only marry a man who could beat her in a race. And if
she won the race, she would kill the man who lost.to make it easy for the men
she stood eighty feet behind the racer.

Many men came and raced Atalanta, but she beat all of them easily, and killed
them one after the other. Then Hippomenes came to race Atalanta, and they
fell in love. Atalanta begged Hippomenes not to race her, because then she'd
have to kill him, but Hippomenes was determined to get her to marry him.
Hippomenes prayed to Aphrodite to help him win, and Aphrodite told him
how to win with three golden apples that she gave him. During the race,
Hippomenes threw down one of these golden apples from time to time, and
Atalanta thought they were so cool that she stopped to pick them up, and so
Hippomenes was able to win the race and marry Atalanta.