MYTHOLOGY

Mythology (from the Greek mythos for story-of-the-people, and logos for word

or speech, so the spoken story of a people) is the study and interpretation of
often sacred tales or fables of a culture known as myths or the collection of
such stories which deal with various aspects of the human condition: good
and evil; the meaning of suffering; human origins; the origin of place-names,
animals, cultural values, and traditions; the meaning of life and death; the
afterlife; and the gods or a god. Myths express the beliefs and values about
these subjects held by a certain culture.

Types of Myth

Scholar Joseph Campbell notes how mythology is the underlying form of

every civilization and the underpinning of each individual’s consciousness. In
his seminal work, The Hero with a Thousand Faces, he discusses what he calls
the “monomyth”, the similarities in theme, characters, purpose, and narrative
progression of myths from different cultures, at different times, around the
world and throughout history.

There are many different types of myth but, essentially, they can be grouped
into three:

 Etiological Myths
 Historical Myths
 Psychological Myths

1. Etiological myths (from the Greek aetion meaning `reason’) explain why a

certain thing is the way it is or how it came to be. For example, in Egyptian
mythology the sycamore tree looks the way it does because it is home to
the goddess Hathor, the Lady of the Sycamore. Etiological myths can offer
explanations for why the world is the way it is – as in the story from Greek
mythology of Pandora’s Box which explains how evil and suffering was
released into the world – or how a certain institution came to be – as in the
Chinese myth of the goddess Nuwa who kept creating human beings over
and over and over until she grew tired and instituted the practice of
marriage so humans could reproduce themselves.
2. Historical myths retell an event from the past but elevate it with greater
meaning than the actual event (if it even happened). One example of this is
the story of the Battle of Kurukshetra as described in the Indian
epic Mahabharata in which the Pandava brothers symbolize different
values and provide role models, even if they are occasionally flawed.
Kurukshetra is then presented in microcosm in the Bhagavad Gita where
one of the Pandavas, Arjuna, is visited on the battlefield by the
god Krishna, avatar of Vishnu, to explain one’s purpose in life. Whether
the Battle of Kurukshetra ever took place is immaterial to the power of
these two stories on a mythological level. The same can be said for the
Siege of Troy and its fall as described in Homer’s Iliad or Odysseus’
journey home in the Odyssey or Aeneas’ adventures in the work of Virgil.

3. Psychological myths present one with a journey from the known to the
unknown which, according to both Jung and Campbell, represents a
psychological need to balance the external world with one’s internal
consciousness of it. However that may be, the story of the myth itself
usually involves a hero or heroine on a journey in which they discover
their true identity or fate and, in so doing, resolve a crisis while also
providing an audience with some important cultural value.

Probably the best-known myth of this type is that of Oedipus the prince

who, seeking to avoid the prediction that he would grow up to kill his
father, leaves his life behind to travel to another region where he
unknowingly winds up killing the man who was his actual father who had
abandoned him at birth in an attempt to circumvent that same prediction.
The Oedipus tale would have impressed on an ancient Greek audience the
futility in trying to escape or change one’s fate as decreed by the gods and
would have inspired fear and awe of those gods in the people, thus
instilling a desirable cultural value. On a personal level, the story could
also encourage a hearer to accept whatever trials he or she was enduring at
the time since even a royal personage like Oedipus suffered and, further,
whatever one was dealing with was probably not as bad as killing one’s
father and inadvertently marrying one’s mother.
 HOW THE WORLD WAS CREATED
The Creation

In the beginning there was only Chaos. Then out of the void appeared Erebus, the unknowable
place where death dwells, and Night. All else was empty, silent, endless, dark. Then, Love was born
bringing along the beginning of order. From Love emerged Light, followed by Gaea, the earth.
Erebus slept with Night, eventually giving birth to Ether, the heavenly light, and to Day, the earthly
light. Then, Night alone created Doom, Fate, Death, Sleep, Dreams, Nemesis, and all things that
dwell in the darkness haunting mankind.
Meanwhile, Gaea alone gave birth to Uranus, the sky. Uranus became Gaea's husband,
surrounding her on all sides. Together, they produced the three Cyclopes, the three
Hecatoncheires, and twelve Titans.
However, Uranus was a cruel father and husband. He hated the Hecatoncheires and imprisoned
them by pushing them into the hidden places of the earth, Gaea's womb. This angered Gaea and
she plotted against Uranus. She made a flint sickle and tried to get her children to attack Uranus.
All were too afraid, except the youngest Titan, Cronus.
Gaea and Cronus set up an ambush of Uranus as he lay with Gaea at night. Cronus grabbed his
father and castrated him with the sickle, throwing the severed genitals into the ocean. It is unclear as
to what happened to Uranus afterwards; he either died, withdrew from the earth, or exiled himself to
Italy. As he departed, he promised that Cronus and the Titans would be punished. From the blood
that was spilled on the earth due to his castration, emerged the Giants, the Ash Tree Nymphs, and
the Erinnyes. From the sea foam that was produced when his genitals fell in the ocean,
emerged Aphrodite.
Cronus became the next ruler. He imprisoned the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires in Tartarus.
He married his sister Rhea, and had many children. He ruled for many ages;
however, Gaea and Uranus both had prophesied that Cronus would be eventually overthrown by a
son. To avoid this, Cronus swallowed all of his children as they were born. Rhea was angry at the
treatment of the children and plotted against Cronus. When it was time to give birth to her sixth
child, Rhea hid herself, then she left the child to be raised by nymphs. To conceal her act she
wrapped a stone in swaddling cloths and passed it off as the baby to Cronus, who swallowed it.
This child was Zeus. He grew into a handsome youth at the island of Crete. He consulted Metis on
how to defeat Cronus. She prepared a drink for Cronus designed to make him vomit the other
children. Rhea convinced Cronus to accept his son and Zeus was allowed to return to Mount
Olympus as Cronus's cupbearer, giving him the opportunity to serve Metis' potion to Cronus. The
plan work perfectly and the other five children emerged out of Cronus. As gods, they were
unharmed and thankful to their youngest brother, they made him their leader.
Cronus was yet to be defeated though. He and the Titans, except Prometheus, Epimetheus,
and Oceanus, fought to retain their power; this led to the War between the Titans and
the Olympians called Titanomachy. Atlas became their leader in battle and it looked for some time
as though they would win and put the young gods down. However, Zeus was cunning; he went
to Tartarus and freed the Cyclopes and the Hecatoncheires.Prometheus joined Zeus as well. He
returned to battle with his new allies; the Cyclopes provided Zeus with lightning bolts for weapons;
theHecatoncheires were armed with boulders, waiting in an ambush. At the right
time, Zeus retreated drawing the Titans into the Hecatoncheires's ambush, who rained down
hundreds of boulders with such a fury that the Titans thought the mountains were falling on them.
They ran away, leaving Zeus victorious.
Zeus exiled the Titans who had fought against him into Tartarus, with the exception of Atlas, who
being the leader of the opposing force, was punished to hold the universe on his shoulders.
However, even after this victory, Zeus was not safe. Gaea, angry that her children had been
imprisoned, gave birth to her last child, Typhon.Typhon was the deadliest monster in Greek
mythology and was known as the "Father of All Monsters". He was so fearsome that most of the
gods fled; however, Zeus faced the monster and flinging his lighting bolts was able to kill
it. Typhon was buried under Mount Etna in Sicily.
Much later, Zeus faced a final challenge set by the Giants. They went so far as to attempt to
invade Mount Olympus, piling mountain upon mountain in an effort to reach the top. Nevertheless,
the gods had already grown strong, and with the help of Heracles, the Giants were subdued and
killed.
Perhaps the most confusing aspect of this myth is the extensive use of names that seem difficult to
non-native Greek speakers to pronounce. This sometimes causes frustration and loss of track when
trying to establish the continuing relationship between these characters in the birth of the world. So,
please be patient and try to associate these names with the characters and events that took place...
It all started when Chaos, Gaea (Earth) and Eros started sleeping with each other, leading to the
Gods. So, in Greek mythology, the creation of the world starts with the creation of the different
classes of Gods. In this instance, the term 'gods' refers to the characters that ruled the Earth (without
necessarily possessing any divine attributes) until the 'real' Gods, the Olympians, came. So after
this brief introduction, the next step to examine is the creation of the Gods (which really is the same
thing, it's just that when you are interested inthe creation of the world, you look at the very
beginning of the creation of the Gods, while, to examine the creation of the Gods, you have to look
a little deeper).
Hesiod's Theogony is one of the best introductions we have on the creation of the world. According
to Hesiod, three major elements took part in the beginning of creation; Chaos, Gaea, and Eros. It is
said that Chaos gave birth to Erebos and Night, while Uranus and Oceanus emerged fromGaea.
Each child had a specific role, and Uranus' duty was to protect Gaea. Later, the two became a
couple and
were the first Gods to rule the world. They had twelve children known as the Titans, three known as
the Cyclopes, and three Hecatoncheires, the hundred-handed Giants.
The situation from here on however wasn't very peaceful. Uranus was a cruel father, afraid that he
might be overthrown by his children; thus, he decided that his children belonged deep inside Gaea,
hidden from himself and his kingdom. Gaea, infuriated with this arrangement, agreed at first, but
later chose to help her children. She devised a plan to rid her children from their tyrant father, and
supplied her youngest child Cronuswith a sickle. She then arranged a meeting for the two, in
which Cronus cut off his father's genitals. The seed of Uranus which fell into the sea gave birth
to Aphrodite, while from his blood were created the Fates, the Giants, and the Meliad nymphs.
Cronus succeeded his father in the throne and married his sister Rhea. He also freed his siblings
and shared his kingdom with them. Oceanuswas given the responsibility to rule over the sea and
rivers, while Hyperion guided the Sun and the stars. When Cronus and Rhea started having their
own children, Cronus was possessed by the very same fears that haunted his father.
Cronus eventually decided that the best way to deal with this problem was to swallow all his
children. Of course, Rhea was very displeased and devised a plan to free her children. She
managed to hide her youngest child, Zeus, from Cronus, by tricking him into swallowing a stone
wrapped in infant clothes instead of the baby himself.
The great Zeus was brought up by the Nymphs on Mount Dikte in the island of Crete. In order to
cover the sound of his crying, the Kouretes danced and clashed their shields. As Zeus entered
manhood, he gained the strength few would dare dream of. He overthrew his father, and freed his
siblings from his father's stomach, taking the throne and the rule of the universe.

THE TITANS and THE TWELVE GREAT OLYMPIANS

TITANS (or the Elder Gods) – were for untold ages supreme in the universe.
– were of enormous size and of incredible strength.
– there were many of them, but only a few appear in the stories of mythology.
Cronus (Saturn)
the most important Titan.
he ruled over the other Titans
his wife is his sister, Rhea.
The father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Hestia, and Demeter
RHEA (the wife of Cronus)
OCEAN (the river that was supposed to encircle the earth.
TETHYS (Ocean’s wife)
HYPERION (the father of the sun, moon and dawn)
MNEMOSYNE (Memory)
THEMIS (usually translated by Justice)
IAPETUS
ATLAS (who bore the world on his shoulders)
PROMETHEUS (the saviour of mankind)

THE TWELEVE GREAT OLYMPIANS

1. ZEUS (Jupiter)

 The supreme leader.

 Lord of the Sky, Rain-god and the Cloud-gatherer, who wielded the awful thunderbolt.

 His wife was Hera.

 He is represented as falling in love with one woman after another and descending to all
manner of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife.
  His breastplate was the aegis.

 His bird was the eagle, his tree is the oak.

2. Hera (Juno)

 Zeu’s wife and sister.

 The protector of marriage, and married women were her peculiar care.

 The cow and the peacock were her sacred animals.

 Argos was her favorite city.

3. Poseidon (Neptune)

 Ruler of the Sea

 Zeus’s brother and second only to him in eminence.

 His wife was Amphitrite (a granddaughter of the Titan, Ocean).

 He was commonly called Earth-shaker and was always shown carrying his trident.

 He had some connection with bulls as well as horses.

4. Hades (Pluto)

 The third brother among the Olympians.

 Ruler of the Underworld and over the dead.

 The God of Wealth

 He had far-famed cap or helmet which made whoever wore it invisible.

 He was not a welcome visitor.

 He was unpitying, inexorable, but just; a terrible, not an evil god.

 His wife was Persephone (Proserpine), Queen of the Lower World.

 He had three-headed dogs or hellhounds, Cerberus.

 King of the Dead – not Death himself, whom the Greeks called Thanatos (Orcus).

5. Pallas Athena (Minerva)

 The daughter of Zeus (alone!).

  She is a fierce and ruthless battle goddess, but elsewhere she is warlike only to defend the
State and the home from outside enemies.

 She was the pre-eminently the Goddess of the City, the protector of civilized life, of
handicrafts and agriculture; the inventor of the bridle, who first tamed horses for men to use.

 She was her father’s favorite child.

 The word oftenest to describe her is gray-eyed or, as it sometimes translated, flashing-
eyed.

 Chief of the virgin goddess and was called Maiden, Parthenos, and her temple was the
Parthenon.

 She was the embodiment of wisdom, reason, purity.

 Athens, her special city; the olive created by her was her tree; the owl, her bird.

6. Phoebus Apollo

 The son of Zeus and Leto (Latona), born in the little island of Delos.

 He has been called the most Greek of all gods.

 The master musician who delights Olympus as he plays on his golden lyre; the lord too of the
silver bow, the Archer-god, far-shooting; the Healer.

 The God of Light and Truth.

 Phoebus means brilliant or shining.

 The laurel was his tree.

 Many creatures were sacred to him, chief among them are the dolphin and the crow.

7. Artemis (Diana)

 Apollo’s twin sister, daughter of Zeus and Leto.

 One of the three maiden goddess of Olympus.

 She was the Lady of wild Things, Huntsman-in-chief to the gods, an odd office for a woman.

 The protectress of dewy youth.

 As Phoebus was the Sun, she was the Moon, called Phoebe and Selene (Luna).

 The cypress was sacred to her; and all wild animals, but especially the deer.

8. Aphrodite (Venus)
  The Goddess of Love and Beauty.

 She is the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

 Beautiful, golden goddess.

 She was the wife of Hephaestus.

 The myrtle was her tree; the dove her bird – sometimes, too the sparrow and the swan.

9. Hermes (Mercury)

 The son of Zeus and Maia (daughter of the Titan, Atlas)

 He was graceful and swift of motion.

 He had winged sandals; winged low-crowned hat; and winged magic wand, the Caduceus.

 Zeus’s Messenger.

 He was the shrewdest and most cunning.

 He was the Master Thief.

 The God of Commerce and the Market, protector of traders.

 In odd contrast to this idea of him, he was the also the solemn guide of the dead, the Divine
Herald who led the souls down to their last home.

10. Ares (Mars)

 The God of War.

 Son of Zeus and Hera.

 His bird was the vulture.

11. Hephaestus (Vulcan)

 The God of Fire.

 Son of Hera (alone!).

 The lame and ugly god of the forge.

 He is highly honored in Olympus, the workman of the immortals.

 He was kindly, peace-loving god, popular on earth as in heaven.

12. Hestia (Vesta)

 Zeus’s sister.

 One of the virgin or maiden goddess.

 She has no distinct personality and she plays no parts in the myths.

 The Goddess of Hearth, the symbol of the home, around which the newborn child must be
carried before it could be received into the family.

 In Rome her fire was cared for by six virgin priestesses, called Vestals.