Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes
Learn the essential narratives of Western culture.
Greek and Roman mythology are essentially the stuff of legend. From the beginning of the universe to squabbles on Mount Olympus, the assault of Troy, and Orpheus's loss of Eurydice, these stories have touched and fascinated humans for centuries.
Furthermore, the power of these myths has inspired opera, tragedy, sculpture, and art over the years. This is due in part to the fact that stories from classical mythology and literature were included in education. While it is no longer the case, its influence may still be seen throughout Western society. If you come across these myths in stories or museums, it can feel like you're losing out if you need help understanding them.
However, you are not the only one who has stood in front of a sculpture, such as Bernini's Rape of Proserpina or a Greek vase adorned with red figures, and felt as if something was missing since you didn't know the complete narrative.
As a result, it can be beneficial to learn the fundamentals of classical mythology, which you will do here!
In this brief, you will learn.
Which Greek god should you worship if you're a creative person?
Where the Athenian Parthenon temple got its name.
Why you may not have wanted to teach music to a Greek hero.
1. The Greeks believed that the world existed before the gods.
The Ancient Greeks believed that there was nothing at first. There were no gods or people. There was just nothingness, the void that was Chaos.
Something happened, but no one knew how. Two offspring sprang from this oblivion, named Night and Erebus, who were thought to live in darkness and death.
Night then laid an egg on Erebus, and Love emerged from the darkness within Night and the death within Erebus, giving order to the chaotic abyss.
Love then produced two new beings of its own: Light and Day.
What's most intriguing about the Greek origin myth is that there was no attempt to explain the reasoning. No god was the architect or initiator; everything merely happened. The same was true for the formation of the Earth itself.
The Greek poet Hesiod simply stated that Earth came into being and then gave birth to a starry Heaven equal to herself.
You may have also noticed that in these mythologies, there is no distinction between an object and a personified agent. Earth and Heaven are locations, but they also function as individuals. That is why Mother Earth is also known as Gaea, and Father Heaven is frequently referred to as Ouranos.
Gaea and Ouranos had a number of monster children. Here, we have a link to the Greeks. We know the planet was once entirely of monsters. The Greeks were no different. It's simply that their creatures were more human-like; it wasn't a world entirely of enormous reptiles and mammoths. The only difference was that the Greek monsters had more human characteristics.
Three of their children had 100 hands and 50 eyes, while three were born with only one eye each: Cyclops. Finally, there came the massive Titans.
But Ouranos despised his own children. Cronos, the youngest of these, was so enraged by this that he castrated his father, deposed him, and took control of everything in his place.
Cronos elected to govern alongside his sister Rhea, and they had several children together. However, Cronos became a worried dad after discovering that one of his offspring would someday dethrone him. To prevent this from happening, Cronos began devouring his sons and daughters. Only one son, Zeus, was able to escape after Rhea succeeded in hiding him on the island of Crete.
Zeus eventually decided to overthrow his father. Zeus vanquished Cronos and the other Titans, becoming the world's single king, with the help of the Titan Prometheus.
2. The Romans eventually absorbed the Greek gods, who resembled humans.
The Greek gods continue to amaze, and their influence is seen in art and society today. While the Greeks didn't consider them human, their appearance and behavior frequently were.
This differs sharply from other ancient religious systems. Just think about how the Egyptians envisioned their female gods. The desert still has stone carvings of Egyptian gods. Many of these statues contain both human and animal traits, and the majority are so massive that their apparent humanity is actually monstrous. The Great Sphinx, for example, features a woman's head and a large cat's body and can be seen from a long distance.
The earliest preclassical Greek poetry, such as Homer's Iliad, established the norms for how these human-like gods should act. That is unsurprising, given that humans were essential to Greek ideas and art. Simply put, gods existed alongside humans.
It was so accurate that ancient mythological tourism was prevalent. Ancient Greeks could visit the island of Cythera, where the goddess of Love, Aphrodite, was created from the sea's foamy waters.
Mythology, as conceived by the Greeks, was a means of explaining the unknown - a humanizing rational framework.
Just consider how the Greeks employed Zeus to explain some aspects of the natural world. He did not exist as an amorphous creator god who constructed his own religious realm, as the Christian God does. Instead, Zeus was explicitly the god of thunder, providing a "rational" explanation for a single natural occurrence.
The Romans were another influential ancient Mediterranean civilization. They were practical people, famous today for fighting and conquering rather than philosophizing. Nonetheless, they were highly devout and had taken the Greek gods as their own.
Among the Roman gods was the Lar, a type of ancestral family ghost who guarded the family hearth. Then there were the Numina, goddesses who oversaw domestic operations. They included Priapus, the deity of fertility and fruitfulness, and Terminus, the protector of frontiers.
The Roman god Saturn was originally one of the Numina associated with the harvest, but his duty was combined with that of the Greek Cronos. Similarly, his son, the Roman Jupiter, was connected with the Greek god Zeus.
Although the Romans regarded the gods differently than the Greeks, the realms and features of the "merged gods" mainly were comparable.
As you may have noticed, things can get confusing! So, let us take a deeper look at the pantheon of gods.
3. Some of the Greek gods lived on Olympus together, much like a family.
Divine name reduplication can be perplexing, so let us present these Greco-Roman gods using their Greek names.
Zeus and his immediate siblings were some of the most powerful gods. As previously stated, Zeus commanded thunder, storms, and lightning and was frequently shown carrying a lightning bolt; he was the greatest of the gods.
It's worth noting, however, that despite his power, he was not omnipresent or omniscient. He was simply more substantial than all the other gods. Zeus had two brothers: Hades and Poseidon.
Hades ruled the Underworld, where dead souls resided. Poseidon, meanwhile, ruled over the oceans and waves. His iconic trident is still well known.
Zeus married his sister, Hera, the goddess of marriage. Unfortunately, Hera does not have a good reputation in mythology; she is frequently described as jealous of the women Zeus sought, to the point of punishing them.
Zeus' children, legitimate and illegitimate, were strong in their own right.
The first to go was Athena, Zeus' favorite. According to the myth, she emerged fully grown and armed from his head.
Athena was the goddess of cities and culture. She was deeply identified with Athens and vehemently protected it. She was also known as Maiden or Parthenos, which is why the Athenians named her temple on the Acropolis the Parthenon.
Zeus and Titan Leto conceived twin offspring, Apollo and Artemis. Apollo was frequently shown as a musician, the god of light and truth, and all that was good and lovely. He was also affiliated with Delphi's famous oracle, which served as his main temple. Artemis was the hunter goddess, and she protected wild animals, particularly deer.
Zeus' son Hermes served as the gods' messenger. He moved quickly and was well-known for his cunning.
Then there was Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera. He was the god of battle, and neither his parents nor the Greeks liked him; he was both cowardly and brutal.
It is unclear whether Aphrodite, the goddess of Love and beauty, was also a child of Zeus. The early myths saw it that way, while later Greek and Roman traditions depicted her emerging from the sea foam, as seen in the first portion.
Aphrodite married the deity of fire, Hephaestus, the gods' craftsman. Hephaestus was born from Hera as a form of vengeance against Zeus for the birth of Athena.
Hephaestus was poorly treated and was frequently portrayed as the only ugly god on Mount Olympus. Nonetheless, he was a well-known character in the mortal realm, where he and Athena patronized artisans and manufacturers.
You may recognize some of these gods by their Roman names: Aphrodite as Venus, Ares as Mars, Zeus as Jupiter, Artemis as Diana, and Hades as Pluto.
4. Two gods dwelt on Earth, close to the human domain, where they were deeply concerned.
In general, the gods of Olympus receive the most attention. After all, they were formidable creatures. However, the Greeks and Romans held two other gods in high regard. The ancients recognized the significance of these gods in their daily life. They were also thought to have resided closer to home, on Earth rather than on Mount Olympus' summits.
The Romans referred to Demeter, Zeus' sister, as Ceres. She was the goddess of harvest and oversaw the seasons. More precisely, her daughter Persephone's story explained the seasonal cycle.
According to myth, Persephone was strolling through magnificent fields of narcissi. Suddenly, Hades appeared, opened a chasm, grabbed Persephone, and married her in the Underworld.
Demeter's grief was so overwhelming that she was unable to manage the crops or guide the seasons. Though the Earth had become barren and frozen, she vowed that nothing would grow until she saw her daughter again.
Zeus was forced to intercede. He sent his messenger, Hermes, to convince Hades to release Persephone.
But Hades put a ruse on Persephone: she ate pomegranate seeds supplied by Hades, who knew that if she ate any food from the Underworld, she would be forced to stay.
A peace was eventually reached, and it was agreed that Persephone would live with Hades in the Underworld for four months each year.
The Greeks used this fable to explain why winter is barren and cold: Demeter's grief had brought everything to a halt. Every spring, Persephone spends eight months with her mother. With her return, life and spring return, allowing humanity to feast on the land's abundance.
Dionysus, or Bacchus to the Romans, was another earthbound god. He was the deity of wine, a very materialistic luxury. Dionysus was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman named Semele, making him the only god without two immortal parents.
As one might assume from the deity of wine, Dionysus had two personalities. He could be both friendly and cruel. Dionysus's dual nature demonstrates how intelligent the Greeks were: they recognized wine's potency for both good and evil, dragging people down while also inspiring them to greatness.
Now that we've covered the primary gods of Greece and Rome let's examine some of their most famous myths.
5. Greece had many heroes, but Hercules was the greatest of all.
The Greeks had many heroes, each with a unique story, and each region had its own favorite. Theseus, the fabled founder of Athens, was important to the people there. He is well known for killing the Minotaur, a bull-headed monster who resided in Crete's labyrinth.
However, one hero stood out above the rest: Hercules.
Hercules was Zeus's son with a mortal woman named Alcmene. Hercules, the son of the mighty Zeus, possessed incredible strength.
However, he lacked rationality and serenity despite his physical might. He was frequently driven by deadly bursts of wrath, memorably killing his music teacher while attempting to play the lyre.
Hera was dissatisfied with her husband, Zeus, fathering yet another illegitimate child, so she set out to punish Hercules, inciting him into a red passion that killed his wife, Megara, and their three children. When Hercules regained his composure, he found himself standing in a gory hall, surrounded by the remains of his family.
Hercules sought restitution for his wrongs, first consulting the wise monarch Theseus at Athens for advice. But the Athenians were unwelcoming; they wanted nothing to do with this heinous murderer.
So Hercules traveled to Delphi to consult the oracle. Her counsel was to approach King Eurystheus of Mycenae and obey his orders. King Eurystheus' demands are still known as the 12 Labors of Hercules. The challenges were chosen based on the assumption that no man could perform them.
The most famous of these jobs was presenting Eurystheus with Cerberus, the Underworld's three-headed dog.
Hercules was also entrusted with using his bare hands to catch Artemis' golden deer and cleaning Augeas' stables.
Cleaning out stables was not only embarrassing for a hero but also highly arduous. Augeas had hundreds and thousands of animals, and the stalls had not been touched in years. Furthermore, Hercules was given a deadline of before sundown!
Hercules devised a shortcut that took advantage of his athletic abilities, diverting two rivers to run through the stables and washing them in one fell sweep.
After his obligations were completed, Hercules married again, this time to Deianira. But it was through her that he met his death. It was prophesied that Hercules would die at the hands of no one. But the dying centaur Nessus fooled Deianira by giving him an item of miraculous clothing. He said that the robe, bathed in centaur blood, contained a love enchantment. Deianira wanted Hercules to remain faithful, so she gave him the robe. But when Hercules put it on, he became poisoned and perished in agony.
6. Numerous myths about Love and grief exist, but none are more well-known than that of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Because the wooden horse of Troy is likely the most well-known characteristic of Greek storytelling, it's logical that you assumed all stories were about heroes and warfare. However, the Greeks were also very interested in Love and loss.
Consider the fable of Narcissus and Echo.
Narcissus was a gorgeous and egotistical boy; maidens fell madly in Love with him, but he couldn't care less.
Even Echo, a gorgeous nymph, did not move him. Echo was unable to say anything save the last words given to her as a result of Hera's curse. One day, while she was following Narcissus, he turned to ask, "Is anyone here? Echo could only repeat, "Here, here." She retreated from the world in caves. Call out her name in any cave today, and you will still hear her response.
Meanwhile, Narcissus' vanity served him poorly.
One day, while passing by a pool, he caught a glimpse of his own reflection and was so taken by his attractiveness that he couldn't move. Finally, he died, saying a final "Farewell." What voice echoed his words back? Obviously, it was Echo.
Echo's fellow nymphs were alarmed and followed Narcissus to the pool. But all they discovered was a beautiful, lonely flower. They christened it Narcissus, and it still goes by that name now.
Perhaps the most well-known fabled story of faithful Love is that of Orpheus and Eurydice.
Orpheus was a musician without a peer. His ability to play the lyre and sing could shift the course of a river; such was his power. It was said that only gods could outperform him.
His beloved was the maiden Eurydice, and they were to marry. As their wedding ceremony came to an end, Eurydice was bitten by a snake. Within minutes, she was dead and called by Hades.
Orpheus was tormented with guilt. He planned to travel to the Underworld, hoping that his music might persuade Persephone and Hades, who lived there, to liberate Eurydice.
Initially, everything went as planned. Orpheus lulled Cerberus to sleep with his lyre, and the rulers of the Underworld granted his wish - with one condition: Orpheus could not glance back to see Eurydice as they returned to the mortal world.
As they left Hades, Orpheus felt the first rays of sunshine. Eurydice followed a few steps behind him as they exited the Underworld. But Orpheus couldn't take it any longer and turned to face his Love, against his instructions. She was immediately carried back to the Underworld. They never saw one another again.
7. The Golden Fleece narrative is about travel, killing, and Love.
Before losing his bride, Orpheus had participated in one of the most renowned mythological adventures: the pursuit of the Golden Fleece.
Jason, the true monarch of Iolcus in Greece, was the primary character here. Jason's cousin, Pelias, governed in his place.
Pelias dreaded being toppled, so Jason was secreted away as a boy. When Jason reached adulthood, he returned to Iolcus, and Pelias was eager to meet him. Meanwhile, Pelias had heard that a man wearing a single sandal would ascend to his throne. As he approached Jason, Pelias realized he had misplaced a sandal on the way to Iolcus. Jason announced outright that the throne was his, and he was willing to go to any length to restore it.
Pelias carefully assigned Jason an impossible quest to recover the throne, one that would almost certainly kill him. His task was to fetch the Golden Fleece from faraway Colchis across the eastern sea.
Jason accepted. He collected a crew of the age's best heroes and prepared to disembark aboard the Argo, becoming known as the Argonauts. The crew included Orpheus, Hercules, Achilles' father, Peleus, and the sons of Boreas, the north wind.
On their voyage to Colchis, they encountered harpies, horrible monsters with the heads of women and the bodies of birds, as well as giants known as Gegeines. They even marched through areas ruled by the Amazons, a tribe of female warriors who were Ares' daughters.
When they arrived at Colchis, Jason explained his mission to King Aeetes. But King Aeetes was equally cunning, ordering Jason to yoke two fire-breathing bulls. He must next plow a field, sow it with dragon teeth, and kill the soldiers that emerge from it.
However, unbeknownst to Aeetes, Hera had instructed Aphrodite to send her son Eros to Colchis. Eros is tasked with causing Aeetes' daughter, Medea, to fall in Love with Jason.
When Medea first lays eyes on Jason, Eros launches a love arrow into her.
Medea was also unique; she was a sorceress. She handed Jason an ointment that would make his skin impermeable. She taught him how to wrestle bulls and battle warriors. When they emerge from the ground, he must toss a heavy stone at them, prompting them to turn against one another. Jason followed Medea's instructions and triumphed, much to the wrath of Aeetes.
Jason's final obstacle was to slip past the massive serpent that guarded the Fleece.
Medea once more saved Jason. She produced a herbal ointment that, when administered to the snake, put it to sleep. Jason finally had the Golden Fleece in his possession.
Let us conclude this story while the pair is still happy: Medea left Colchis with the Argonauts, and Jason reclaimed his kingdom with his future wife by his side.
8. The Iliad describes the Greek war against Troy, which is framed by the kidnapping of women.
Greek tales have survived from antiquity, with the Greek war against Troy being the most well-known. Homer's epic poem, the Iliad, is one of the most ancient accounts of the story.
Prince Paris initiated the conflict. He resided in Troy, a city-state on the coast of Asia Minor. He kidnapped the lovely Helen to be his bride. Helen, however, was already the queen of Menelaus, the king of the Greek city-state of Sparta. In response, the outraged Greeks collected a fleet of 1,000 ships and set sail for Asia Minor, intending to lay siege to Troy.
The Greek army was populated by heroes such as Menelaus' brother, Agamemnon; Odysseus, ruler of Ithaca; Ajax; and, of course, the powerful Achilles.
Achilles was unique in that he could not be injured. As a kid, his mother, the sea goddess Thetis, dipped him into the river Styx, which bordered the Underworld. This made him impregnable, except for his ankle, where she had gripped him.
Paris' brother Hector served as the Trojans' chief warrior. He was believed to be the most virtuous man, and Achilles was the strongest warrior. Hector and Paris' father, the intensely pious Priam, directed the Trojan activities.
The fight, however, involved more than simply mortals. Throughout the ten-year siege, the gods also fought and altered their affiliations.
Aphrodite and Ares, as well as the twins Apollo and Artemis, all supported the Trojans. Poseidon, Hera, and Athena sided with the Greeks. Despite his fondness for Troy, Zeus chose to remain impartial.
And the gods did not hesitate to intercede. After nine years of siege, King Agamemnon claimed Chryseis, a Trojan maiden, as his own bride. When Chryseis' father prayed to Apollo, the deity became angered and unleashed a plague upon the Greek ships. For a time, the war shifted in Troy's favor. The Greek army's funeral pyres smoldered unabated as slain warriors were laid to rest.
In the face of both the epidemic and the Trojan army, Achilles realized that something had to give. The Greeks would have to please Apollo or return home in defeat.
A council was called, and the prophet Calchas rose. He believed he could appease Apollo, but he dared not speak for fear of his life. So Achilles pledged to protect Calchas no matter what. Calchas argued that the Greek issues stemmed from Chryseis' kidnapping.
Achilles, backed by all of Greece's leaders, persuaded a highly angry Agamemnon to return his hostage. And that is precisely how the Iliad begins!
9. The deaths of some of the Trojan War's most extraordinary heroes also heralded its conclusion.
Agamemnon was now without his prized hostage wife. He coerced Achilles into handing over his own prisoner bride. With that, Achilles' big pout began. He declined to fight. His equally outraged mother, Thetis, supported Achilles. She advised him to leave the Greeks and sail home. After viewing her son, Thetis went to Olympus to seek Zeus for help in a Trojan victory.
But Zeus proceeded to hedge his bets. He preferred Troy, but the struggle between Olympus' factions raged on. Zeus did not want to engage in a public battle with his wife, Hera, so he devised a scheme.
Achilles was crucial to the Greek triumph. Zeus understood that without him, the Greeks had little hope of overcoming the Trojans. This meant that as long as Achilles remained in his tent, refusing to let his soldiers fight, the Trojans had a chance of winning. As a result, Zeus gives Agamemnon a dream, convincing him to attack the Trojan fortifications despite the fact that Achilles and his troops were not present.
The subsequent conflict was the most difficult yet. The gods fought alongside their favorites until Zeus decreed that they should cease intervening. Without supernatural assistance, the Greeks were forced to return to their beached ships.
The end appeared to be near when Patroclus, Achilles' closest friend, disguised himself in Achilles' armor and led Achilles' warriors into combat. The momentum had shifted to the Greeks. But the famous Trojan warrior Hector intervened. He killed Patroclus and claimed Achilles' armor as his own. Hector was nearly invulnerable thanks to the unbreakable armor created by Hephaestus, the god of metals.
When Achilles learned of Patroclus' death, he was finally motivated to get out of his rut. Enraged, he set off for his confrontation with Hector.
Hector finally confronted Achilles and struck his shield with his spear. But Achilles, filled with rage and enraged by Patroclus' murder, could not be matched. He killed Hector, lashed his body behind his chariot, and dragged it around the city three times. It is here that the Iliad concludes.
But it did not end well for Achilles; his mother had predicted that Hector's death would lead to Achilles' own.
In a later conflict, Apollo guided an arrow released by Paris. It struck Achilles' vulnerable heel, his only weak point. With that, Achilles was killed.
The siege was brought to a conclusion because of Odysseus' cleverness, not his military strength.
Odysseus devised the idea of making a giant wooden horse. The Greek soldiers would conceal inside, and the horse would be left as a purported surrender gift for the Trojans to take inside their city walls.
The trick worked, and the horse was led in through the Scaean Gate.
At dusk, the Greeks descended and opened the gates to the remainder of the Greek army outside the walls. During the horrific bloodbath that followed, every Trojan man was executed.
10. The Greeks' return from Troy proved dangerous, particularly for Odysseus.
Winning the most extensive siege in history was no small accomplishment for the Greeks. They'd only accomplished it with the assistance of the gods, who wanted a display of thanks. Unfortunately, the Greeks abandoned Troy without thanking the gods for their help. The following section of the story is presented in Homer's Odyssey, another epic poem.
This error infuriated gods such as Athena and Poseidon, who had previously supported the Greeks. As punishment, they made their travel home as arduous as possible.
Odysseus and his crew took ten years to return to their home island of Ithaca, the longest of any of them.
Odysseus and his men came across the Cyclops Polyphemus on their journey. They also beached in the kingdom of the Lotus-eaters, where the cuisine helped Odysseus' crew forget their desire to go home.
Once back on board, they were buffeted by storms. They then arrived at Aeaea, the island of the witch Circe. She transforms Odysseus's crew into swine, but the cunning Odysseus manages to resist her spell.
Hermes, disguised as a boy, had given him an herb that would make him immune to Circe's spells. After her spells failed, Circe fell in Love with Odysseus. She converted the group back into men and released them to continue their journey.
The group then approached the Sirens, whom Circe had warned Odysseus about. To keep them from being soothed by the Sirens' music, he had his soldiers plug their ears with beeswax and bind him to the ship's mast.
After ten years of adventures and a ten-year return voyage, Odysseus arrived at Ithaca. It had been 20 years since he last saw his wife, Penelope, and son, Telemachus. Even though they had waited for him, most of his subjects assumed Odysseus was dead, and Penelope had spent much of his absence rejecting suitors.
Odysseus disguised himself and returned to his palace, unsure of how he would be received. But Athena revealed Odysseus' true identity to Telemachus, allowing the two to reunite. They devised a strategy to kill the suitors, concealing their weapons before attacking.
Meanwhile, Penelope developed her own devious plot.
She informed the suitors that she would marry whoever could string her husband's bow and shoot an arrow through 12 golden rings. They all tried but failed.
But then Odysseus, still disguised, took his turn. He strung the bow like a lyre, and his aim was accurate. The disguise faded, and Telemachus sealed the triumph. Arrows rained down on the suitors before they could reach for their weapons. Odysseus sent them to the last man. He was at home.
Final Summary
Greek and Roman mythology is a rich tapestry of divine and human characters, monsters, and gods. Classical mythology, unlike other ancient accounts about the gods, placed people at the heart of their world with gods that resembled humans in form. The myths provide exciting stories of Love and adventure, as well as cruel conflicts and odd voyages, each with something for us mortals to relate to.