18.11.10

Who was who in Greek Mythology?

Well, nice topic... I just finished watching "The Clash of the Titans", and decided to do some research about the Gods in Greek Mythology. As I dug deeper, this little search of mine got more and more interesting... I'm proud to introduce the weird bunch...

ZEUS: The God of all the Greek Gods... He was the youngest son of Chronus and Rhea. He married his sister, Hera! (oh God!). However, he wasn't faithful to Hera and he had affairs with other Goddesses and mortal women. He was the father of Ares, Artemis and Apollo...to name a few... When he wanted to punish people, he sent thunders and lightning. Hercules and Perseus were his sons from mortal women. Cool dude, eh? He used a thunderbolt as his weapon-and symbol.

HERA: She was the Goddess of women and marriage. Although she was Zeus's sister, she married him! All her life, she chased after Zeus's mistresses and illegitimate children. She was a jealous and quick-tempered Goddess(goddess of women...what can you expect?!) She was especially jealous of Aphrodite(duh!). She gave birth to a very ugly child called Hephaestus, he was so ugly that Hera, her mother sent him away from Mount Olympos. Later, this ugly guy came back for revenge, but then changed his mind when Hera offered him Aphrodite.(poor girl...)

POSEIDON: The God of the water, horses and earthquakes. He was Zeus's brother. He was married to Amphitrite(I have noo idea who she was). Together, they had a child called Ployphemos. Polyphemos was half man-half fish. Poseidon was always jealous of his brother Zeus. Like Zeus, Poseidon also had a lot of affairs with other women, Goddesses and creatures.

HADES: It means "invisible" in Greek. He was the God of the underworld, death and fear. (hmm.... spooky... ) He was the third brother of Zeus, but he was not very popular. He never left the underworld and he didn't join any of the celebrations among the other Gods. He was married to Persephone. In fact, Hades ruled his own empire in the underworld...where "sleep" and its brother "death" also resided. They say, Hades sent people dreams and he had all the treasure of the underworld. Some people also called him Pluton. (and he is the only one who is faithful to his wife?! Ironic..)

ATHENA: She was the Goddess of peace, phylosophy and art. Her father was Zeus and her mother was Metis. She never got married. In addition, she helped soldiers in wars and brought justice to caos. She was a nice catch... Good for her... A legend tells that Zeus swallowed Metis(his first wife) because he was afraid that she would destroy her. However, when Zeus swallowed Metis, she was already pregnant with Zeus's baby, Athena! Metis gave birth to Athena inside Zeus(eeewwwww!). She taught Athena how to fight and to be strong. Later, after Athena grew up, she came out of Zeus's head and demanded respect! Oh my my my..... Talking about a family drama....

APOLLO: He was the God of medicine, music, poetry and health. His father was Zeus and his mother was Leto. He had a twin sister, Artemis. Apollo fell in love with a mortal girl called Daphne. However, Daphne didn't want Apollo because she wanted to die as a virgin, so she asked Artemis to hide her somewhere. Artemis turned her into a tree. They say that's where the daphne tree comes from... hmmm interesting....

APHRODITE: Aaaahhh... She was the Goddess of love and beauty. Romans called her Venus. Oh dear!! She didn't have any parents, she was made of Uranus's genital organ! Oh nooo.... that is NOT how I imagined her birth! After Cronus threw Uranus's genital organ into the sea, drops of blood became alive and turned into this Goddess! She was married but frequently unfaithful to her husband. She was very much attracted to Ares(God of war) because of his violent nature. Her beauty did not do well for her. She was miserable and depressed in some cases, and this made her lose some of her beauty. She had a lot of children, but never lost her figure...(tummy-tuck??)

ARES: He was the God of blood, war and violence and the son of Zeus and Hera. Romans called him Mars. His children were "terror" and "fear" who were from Aphrodite. (who would name their children Terror and Fear?!) He was a heart breaker, for sure.

HERMES: Aside from the infamously expensive bags, he was the messenger of Gods. He also guided people to the underworld.  He was an orphan(we actually don't know who his parents were). On the first day he was born, he invented lyre!! (the musical instrument). He stole Apollo's cattle. Of course, Apollo got very angry and wanted his cattle back. Hermes started playing the lyre. Apollo liked it very much and gave his cattle to Hermes and took the lyre from him. (that's what I call good shopping). He could fly to places.

This is it for now... here are some pictures. can you match the information to the Gods? Give it a try;)



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3 comments:

  1. 1. Venus (Aphrodite)painting by Boticelli
    2. Apollo (Phebeus)
    3. Athena (Minerva)
    4. Hades (Pluto)
    5. Hera (Juno)
    6. Hermes (Mercury)his staff is the symbol of
    medicine.The element mercury takes its name
    after this God because he moves very fast.
    7. Ares (Mars)
    8. Poseidon(Neptune)
    9. Zeus (Jupiter)

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  2. Now it all makes sense to me as you've written the planets next to each name. They say Pluto is the planet of illusions and disappointment. Also, Mercury is the planet of Gemini, and a Gemini is known to move, think and act fast. I had no idea Greek Mythology is related to astronomy.

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  3. Yes,I heard that.Greek Mythg is related to astronomy.I like historical things of Greeks therefore I researching.Especially I like the alphabet of Greek :) delta,gama bla bla ...

    ReplyDelete