Greek Myths and Stories

Chapter One: The Gods of Greece

This chapter can also be titled as The Origin of Greek Gods and Goddesses.

Key words in this chapter are: Cronus, Rhea, Zeus ( Jupiter), Cyclopes, Hera ( Jun

o), Poseidon ( Neptune), Hades (Pluto), Demeter ( Ceres),

Persephone ( Proserpine), Hermes ( Mercury), Hephaestus ( Vulcan), Ares ( Mars),

Apollo, Artemis ( Diana), Athena ( Minerva), Aphrodite ( Venus), Eros ( Cupid)

Zeus at VersaillesZeus at Versailles

A Statue of Jupiter

Poseidon ( Neptune )

Hades ( Pluto )

Pluto and Proserpine in Versailles

Pluto took Proserpine away

Persephone going back to the upper world

Return of Persephone

Athena,goddess of wisdom

The Birth of Venus by Botticelli

Alexandre Cabanal’s Birth of Venus ( 1863 )

Sacred and Profane Love ( 1514 ), painted by Titian, the most distinguished Italian artist in the Renaissance

Venus, Cupid and Adonis

Cupid and Psyche

Daphne and Apollo

Diana, goddess of hunting

The three Graces in Denmark

Nymphs and Satyr (1873) by Bouguereau

Nymphs and Satyr (1873)

John Williams Waterhouse, Hylas and the Nymphs ( 1896 )

Bouguereau, Orestes driven Mad by the Furies

Questions Why Cronus swallowed his children as so

on as they were born? How many children had been swallowed b

efore Zeus ( Jupiter ) was born? How did Zeus ( Jupiter ) was saved by his

mother? What’s the meaning of Zeus’ name? How

he got his name?

Why did Jupiter fight against his father Cronus?

How did Jupiter fight against his father Cronus?

Who were Jupiter’s brothers and sisters? Who was the god of sea? Who was the go

d of the underground world? Why nobody wanted to marry Pluto and to

be the queen of the kingdom of the underworld?

How Pluto got a beautiful girl as his wife? What happened when Proserpine was taken to the underworld to be a queen?

Who was the goddess of wisdom? Where did she come from?

Who was the goddess of love and beauty? Where did she come from and to whom she was given to be a wife?

Who was Eros, or Cupid? What would happen if one’s heart was pierced by his arrow?

Who were Fates? What would happen if they desired to destroy somebody?

Chapter 2 and 3 Deucalion and Cadmus

Deucalion 丢卡利翁，普罗米修斯（ Prometheus ）的儿子，皮拉（ Pyrrha ）的丈夫，赫楞（ Hellen ）的父亲。

Phoenicia 腓尼基，地中海东岸古国，约在今天叙利亚、黎巴嫩一带。腓尼基的文字影响了希腊的文字。多数学者相信希腊文起源于腓尼基文。

Cadmus 卡德摩斯。欧罗巴被宙斯拐走后，阿革诺耳（ Agenor ）派卡德摩斯兄弟外出寻找。此时有神喻要卡德摩斯停止寻找，并跟随一头牛走，在牛歇息的地方建城。卡德摩斯执行神示，成为忒拜（ Thebes ）的建城者。事实上，他和欧罗巴一样，可以视为欧洲人的祖先，因为当今多数学者相信，希腊文起源于腓尼基文，希腊字母来源于腓尼基字母。卡德摩斯的故事在一定程度上反映了这一历史事实，因为在课文中，卡德摩斯教会人们读书写字 ---“他的学校是欧洲最早的学校。”

Europa 欧罗巴，腓尼基国王阿革诺耳的女儿，卡德摩斯的妹妹。她在海边玩耍时，被宙斯化为公牛带到克里特岛，并和宙斯生国王米诺斯。教材中说她被带到今天的欧洲，欧洲因她而得名。

Amphion 安菲翁，会用音乐筑墙的琴师。 Harmony （ Harmonia ） 哈耳摩尼娅，卡德摩斯的妻子，阿瑞斯和阿佛洛狄忒的女儿。“哈耳摩尼娅的项链”代表不吉的礼物或不幸的命运，已经成为西方成语 .

The two chapters tell different stories. The first one tells how Greek people wer

e all destroyed by a flood out of the will of Jupiter because they became wicked, and how Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha escaped from death and became the only survivals, and how they became the ancestors of the new-born Greek people.

In this chapter the first thing we should note is that where the English word “music” came from. It came from Muses, the nine goddesses of poetry, arts, and sciences. You know that the great contribution ancient Greek people made to human civilization is their poetry, arts, sciences and philosophy, so Muses should be remembered by us. In the following times, especially from Renaissance to 19th century, western poets and writers always wished to have inspiration from the Muse who was in charge of poetry or literature.

The second thing we should keep in mind is that how ancient Greeks got their name. They got their name from one of the son of Deucalion, who was named Hellen. The name differs from Helen, the most beautiful woman in all the Greek world. The two words differs form each other because one has two “L” in spelling while another has only one “L”.

Anyway, we should know that Greek people call themselves as Hellenes and call their country as Hellas.

The third one that we should pay our attention to is that there were many stories in ancient world which talked about the flood. For example, the great flood in ancient China, which was connected with Da Yu, who is known by all Chinese People. But I wonder if you know the great flood described in the Bible.

According to the Bible, when God saw all the people became wicked, he decided to destroy them by a flood, and while the great flood destroyed all the humans, only Noah and his family members ---- his wife and their three sons ---- survived the disaster by getting into a big boat called Ark. Now, one would be tempted to ask, why there are so many similar myths and stories in different cultures? And this is the task that comparative literature has to do.

Now I will talk about another story. It is about Cadmus and Europa.

In reading this story we should learn by heart that Europe got its name after Europa, the beautiful daughter of a king in Asia.

Such a story tries to tell us that European people created their civilization under the influence of ancient Asian peoples such as Phoenicia and Mesopotamia.

Both Cadmus and Europa can be seen as the ancestors of European people.

According to your textbook, Europe got its name after Europa, and Cadmus taught people the arts of reading and writing, so the Greek people learned their a-b-c’s, and Cadmus’ school was the first school in Europe. This is precisely what modern historians try to tell us. According to modern scholars, Greek language came from Phoenician language, that means it had an Asian origin, and the story of Cadmus reflects just the same historical fact.

Questions Where did the word “music” come from? or, Wh

ere did the word “music” has its origin? Why Jupiter decided to destroy the early Greek

s by a flood? How did Deucalion and his wife survive while al

l his fellowmen were destroyed by the flood ? What is an “oracle” ? What did a god speak to

Deucalion from the cleft in Mount Parnassus ?

What happened when Deucalion and Pyhhra had thrown stones behind them as they were asked to do by a god?

Why Greeks called themselves Hellenes? How did they call their country？

According to the textbook, how Europe got its name ?

Who was Europa? How she was carried off ( abducted, taken away ) to a far-off place ?

Why Cadmus gave up his search of Europa? What he was asked to do by an oracle?

When the dragon’s teeth were planted in soil, what happened ?

What did Cadmus shout to those warriors when they were fighting against each other ?

What did Cadmus do after he built Thebes ? Who was Harmony and what happened to her ac

cording to the text? Retell the ending of the story about Cadmus.

Apollo and the nine Muses

Apollo and the nine Muses

Europa was taken away by the Bull by Titian

Rembrandt， Europa was taken away by the Bull

Cadmus slew the Dragon

Chapter Four Agamemnon & Achilles

Agamemnon 阿伽门农：迈锡尼国王、特洛伊战争中希腊联军的统帅。

Peleus 珀琉斯：赛萨利国王，阿喀琉斯之父；在他和忒提丝的婚礼上不和女神扔下了金苹果。

Thetis 忒提丝：阿喀琉斯之母；曾将刚出生的阿喀琉斯放入冥河浸泡。

Priam 普里阿摩：特洛伊国王、赫克托耳和帕里斯之父。

Paris 帕里斯：特洛伊王子；曾充当赫拉、雅典娜、阿佛洛狄忒争夺“金苹果”的裁判。因带走海伦而引发特洛伊战争。

Helen 海伦：希腊第一美女、墨涅拉俄斯的妻子；因被帕里斯带走而引发特洛伊战争。

Menelaus 墨涅拉俄斯：阿伽门农的弟弟、海伦的丈夫、斯巴达国王、特洛伊战争中的希腊将领。

Iphigenia 伊菲革涅亚：阿伽门农的女儿，曾被其父用来向神献祭。

Achilles 阿喀琉斯：珀琉斯和海中女神忒提丝所生的儿子，浑身刀枪不入，唯一的弱点是脚踝；特洛伊战争中希腊最英勇善战的将领。

Ulysses 尤利西斯：又名俄底修斯，伊萨卡国王，以足智多谋著称。荷马史诗《伊利亚特》中希腊联军之著名将领，献木马计攻下特洛伊；后成为荷马另一部史诗《奥德赛》之主人公。

Patroclus 帕特洛克勒斯：阿喀琉斯的好友，死于赫克托耳之手。他的死使阿喀琉斯重新参战攻打特洛伊人，并杀死赫克托耳为其复仇。

Hector 赫克托耳：特洛伊国王普里阿摩斯的儿子、帕里斯的兄弟。特洛伊最勇猛的英雄，为阿喀琉斯所杀。

Andromache 安德洛玛刻：赫克托耳的妻子，以对丈夫的钟爱著称；特洛伊失陷后被希腊人掳走。

Paris and the Three Goddesses

Paris as the Judge

Paris and Helen by David

The Sacrifice of Iphigenia, a 1st Century AD Roman copy of a 4th Century BC painting by Timanthes, discovered at Pompeii, and now in the Museum at Naples.

Achilles discovered by Ulysses

Achilles and Agamemnon quarreled by David

Achilles and Agamemnon quarreled

The Embassy to Achilles

Achilles fought Hector

Achilles slain Hector

Achilles was killed

Questions

What did the goddess of discord do while all the gods and goddesses were enjoying the wedding feast?

What words were written on the golden apple? Who were the three goddesses who all wanted

to get the golden apple? Who was Paris? What did his mother dream

when he was born? And what decision was made by his father?

How each of the three goddesses tried to persuade Paris to decide the matter in her favor?

Who was Helen, and what was the cause of the Trojan War?

Why Agamemnon had to sacrifice his own daughter?

What did Achilles’ mother do after he was born? Why Achilles refused to fight the Trojans and

declared he would help the Greeks no more? Who advised the Greeks to build the wooden

horse?

Liberal English