“How the World and Mankind Were Created”

Information from Edith Hamilton’s Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes

(1969)

At first, there was just Chaos…

BLACKEMPTYSILENT

ENDLESS

…from Chaos came two children…

Night & ErebusNight & Erebus

(Erebus is the unfathomable depth where death dwells. Night…well, you know what “Night” is!)

…Then suddenly…

“A marvel

of

marvels…”

The Greek playwright, Aristophanes, says it best:

“…Black-winged Night/ Into the bosom of Erebus dark and deepLaid a wind-born egg, and as the seasons rolled/ Forth sprang Love, the longed-for, shining, with/ wings of gold.”

In other words: Darkness and Death had a BABY!

Awww… Love was born.

With it’s birth, order and beauty began to clear out the confusion and chaos. Then…Love created Light and a companion, Day!

“What Came Next” (Creation Checklist):

1. Mother Earth, the beautiful—Solid ground and a personality, too!

2. Father Heaven, “equal to Earth, to cover her on all sides and a home forever for the blessed gods.”

3. Other obvious marks of life: stars in the sky, a restless sea…

(when Love and Light arrived, it was a clear sign that mankind was soon to show up)

But STOP!

Before mankind could show up, Mother Earth and

Father Heaven had a few surprises!

The first “children” on earth were…

The Monstrous Children of Mother Earth and Father Heaven

Hundred-handed ones: three “children” with one hundred hands and fifty heads each!

Cyclopes: three “children” with one enormous eye in the middle of their foreheads!

Titans: numerous Titans; not all destructive!

Profile: Mother Earth

A very old “woman” that “brought forth [her children] from her dark depths when the world was young.”

–Hundred-handed Ones–Cyclopes–Titans

Profile: Father HeavenFather Heaven was a very bad father! Here’s why:

–Hundred-handed Ones: he imprisoned each in a secret place within the Earth.

–Cyclopes and Titans: he left them alone and did not raise them as a good father should.

Result:Mother Earth was ticked off beyond belief!

BEWARE A Woman’s Wrath!

• Mother Earth appealed to the Cyclopes and Titans to help her.

• Only Cronus, her Titan son, was bold enough to help her.

• Cronus attacked his father and wounded him…and from his blood came the Giants and the Furies!

Furies? What are those?

Job Description: To pursue and punish sinners.

Physical Description: “writhing snakes for hair and eyes that wept tears of blood.”

Job Security: As long as there is sin on the Earth, the Furies will be present.

So, how does this story end?

• Cronus and Rhea (his sister!) get married.

• Rhea gives birth five times and Cronus eats each child; Rhea gets smart the sixth time around!

• Rhea has her sixth child, Zeus, and has him carried off to Crete (a Greek Island).

• When Zeus was full-grown, he and his grandmother, Mother Earth, released Zeus’ brothers and sisters from their “prison”!

Family Tree of Mother Earth and Father Heaven

Mother Earth m. Father Heaven

Hundred-Handed Ones Cyclopes Titans

(Cronus

m. Rhea)

Zeus Hera Hades Poseidon Hestia Demeter

Then….after Zeus released his brothers and

sisters, there was a terrible war!

The War of Cronus vs. Zeus:

• Cronus fought with his brother Titans.

• Cronus and the Titans were conquered by Zeus and his siblings.

• Zeus fought with his brothers and sisters.

• Zeus released the Hundred-handed Ones and they helped fight against Cronus and the Titans.

Punishment of the Titans

“ Bound in bitter chains beneath the wide-wayed earth,/ As far below the earth as over earth/ Is heaven, for even so far down lies Tartarus./ Nine days and nights would a bronze anvil fall/ And on the tenth reach earth from heaven./ And then again falling nine days and nights,/ Would come to Tartarus, the brazen-fenced.”

And what of the Titan, Atlas; what was his punishment?

The Weight of the World!

“Even though Zeus won the war, he was not completely

victorious!”

Mother Earth gave birth to her last, most frightening creature—Typhon!

But…Zeus had a trick up his sleeve!

With his thunderbolt, Zeus struck Typhon in his heart and “his

strength was turned to ashes.”

And then…

One final attempt was made to

dethrone Zeus—the GIANTS attacked!

And then…

The Giants were defeated and cast into Tartarus, the lowest level of Hades.

And then…

Just WAIT…Just WAIT…THERE THERE ISIS MORE! MORE!

As of now, the earth is cleared As of now, the earth is cleared of all monsters, so that of all monsters, so that means humans can make means humans can make their grand debut!their grand debut!

And how were mortals And how were mortals created?created?

Read pages 70-77 to find Read pages 70-77 to find out!out!

Now…where did mankind Now…where did mankind come from?come from?

And how were mortals created?

A. Prometheus and Epimetheus B. The Gods’ Golden RaceC. PandoraD. The DelugeE. All of the AboveF. None of the Above

A. Prometheus and Epimetheus:

Prometheus: “forethought” Epimetheus: “afterthought”

Epimetheus jumped the gun and created animals first, giving them all the best traits: strength, swiftness, courage, cunning, fur, feathers, wings, shells, etc.

Nothing was left for man!Prometheus had to take over from there! He made

mortals in the image of the gods—upright, not on all fours.

Then, he went to the heavens, to the sun, and lit a torch to bring fire down to men, better protection than anything the animals had!

The Gods’ Golden Race

The gods created mortals that lived like gods—no work, pain, or sorrow. Life was “golden” for them!

When they passed away, their spirits would stay behind.

The gods were not happy with only their golden race, so they experimented with other metals—silver, brass, bronze, iron.

The Silver Age

These mortals were very inferior to their predecessors.

They had too little intelligence so they continually injured each other.

Their spirits did not live after their bodies had passed away.

The Brass and Bronze Ages

The Brass Age:They were terrible men, strong, and

lovers of war and violence.They were completely destroyed by their

own hands. The Bronze Age:An age of godlike heroes who fought great

wars and went on great adventures.The stories of these heroes has passed

through the ages.

The Iron Age

The iron age lived in evil times and there was too much evil on the earth so they never rested from their toil or sorrow.

As the generations passed, things would continue to become worse; a time would come when humans worship power.

Zeus would destroy all when no man feels anger or shame anymore because of a wrongdoing.

Only if the common people rise against the rulers that oppress them, something might be done.

The End…WAIT!

What about Pandora? How does her story fit in? And, what about the Deluge? Who are Pyrrha and

Deucalion?

Pandora, Version A

Pandora was a gift from Zeus to all men because men had tricked Zeus.

Zeus created Pandora to be a “sweet and lovely thing to look upon,” but she was evil for men.

All the gods gave Pandora a gift at her creation—silvery clothing, an embroidered veil, beautiful flower garlands, and a crown of gold.

Zeus presented Pandora to men, and the rest is history!

Pandora, Version BAgain, Zeus created Pandora the same way

as before. But this time, each of the gods gave Pandora a gift in a box that she was not to open.

Zeus offered Pandora to Epimetheus as a gift; he accepted against Prometheus’ advice.

For a little while, Pandora was successful forgetting her box, but curiosity got the better of her and she opened it. When Pandora opened the box, plagues, sorrow, and mischief flew out of the box. She closed it as quick as possible, but the only thing to remain in the box was hope.

And the Deluge…Zeus was upset that the earth had grown so

wicked that he sent a great flood that lasted for nine days and nights.

It rained so much that the entire earth was drowned in rain, except for the very top of the Parnassus mountains.

There Zeus found Pyrrha and Deucalion, the son and niece (married) of Prometheus.

Zeus pitied them and drained the floodwaters.

Pyrrha and Deucalion sacrificed the bones of their mother by throwing them behind them; when the bones hit the ground, they turned into people.

Background: DemeterOther Names: CeresDomain: Goddess of the CornParents: Cronus and RheaInteresting Information:

→Older deity than Dionysus because corn is older than grapes.

→Grain fields and threshing-floors were sacred to her.→Demeter suffered the pain of losing her daughter for

four months of every year. →There was a festival to worship Demeter at harvest

time; it was held every fifth September, for nine days.→The harvest festival eventually became a mysterious,

worshipping ceremony.→The ceremony was known as the Eleusinian Mysteries.

Background: DionysusOther Names: BacchusDomain: God of WineParents: Zeus and SemeleInteresting Information:

→Dionysus was involved with the Eleusinian Mysteries of Demeter.

→Dionysus’ festival was held at the time when the grapes were brought to the wine press.

→The festival for Dionysus was held in a theater; the ceremony was the performance of a play.

→Dionysus was both a joyful and destructive god, much like wine, bringing joy and destruction to mortals’ lives.

→Dionysus suffered the pain of harvesting and the winter season.

Demeter Myth Questions1. Who is Persephone? Who is Demeter?2. What happened because Persephone had

disappeared?3. Who told Demeter where Persephone was? Where was

she?4. What happened in the house of Metaneira?5. Why did Zeus have to intervene concerning Demeter?

What did he do?6. What did Hades make Persephone eat? Why?7. How long each year was Persephone to go back to “the

world of the dead?”8. Why was Demeter called the “Good Goddess?”9. What theme was dominant in the stories of Demeter and

Persephone?10. What in nature does the story of Persephone explain?

Dionysus Myth Questions1. Dionysus was the only god: _________2. Who was Semele and how did she die? What happened to her

unborn baby?3. Dionysus is god of the: ________4. Explain the story of the pirate ship in ten complete sentences.5. Who is Ariadne?6. What did Dionysus do for/with his mother?7. What two ideas are present in the worship of Dionysus?8. Who are Pentheus and Thebes?9. How did Pentheus die?10. What did the Greeks know about wine and men when they drank

it? What does it tell us of Dionysus?11. Why is Dionysus called “the most important of the gods of

Greece?”12. Why does Dionysus always feel pain?