[intro music]
Hi everyone
This is the beginning of a new series, in
which we will cover Greco-Roman and Norse mythology,
as detailed in Edith Hamilton’s
Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes.
Now the first episode today will be relatively
simple, as we will just be talking about creation
of the world, the gods, and the heroes.
So let’s talk about creation.
In contrast to most other religions or belief
systems, the ancient Greeks believed that
rather than a divinity creating the universe,
that the universe had created the gods.
First creating Heaven and Earth, Ouranos and Gaea respectively.
Then from the Heaven and Earth came the Titans,
or ‘Elder Gods’, and from the Titans,
came the gods that we are going to be focusing
on today.
So let’s talk a little bit about the gods, and
how they ended up ruling the world.
As Hamilton outlines, “The Titans [or] the
Elder Gods, were for untold ages supreme in
the universe.
. . . There were many of them, but only a few
feature in the stories of Mythology.”
Preeminent among the titans was Saturn or
Cronos, the lord of time.
He fathered the three most powerful gods,
Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades.
Cronos, who had taken power from his own father,
ate his children upon learning that one of
them would eventually overthrow him.
Then there is Ocean, the river that encircled
the Earth, and Tethys, his wife.
Next we have Hyperion, the lord of the sun,
who fathered the sun, moon, and dawn.
We also have Mnemosyne and Themis, memory
and justice respectively.
And finally, we have Iapetus, who fathered the titan
Atlas, who held up the sky, as well as Prometheus,
the savior and benefactor of mankind.
The Titans ruled for a long time, their reign
ending when Zeus caused the overthrow of Cronos,
banishing the other Titans and taking the
throne for himself.
When Zeus took control, he and eleven other
gods became the twelve Olympian gods, named
as such because of their home on Olympus.
Now, this part is likely to be important,
so if you miss anything, be sure to rewind
the video.
When the three brothers went to divide up
the world, they drew lots for three domains,
the Underworld, the Seas, and the Skies.
Zeus became Lord of the Skies.
Armed with the lightning bolt, it seemed that
his power outweighed all the divinities together.
While Zeus is known as the most powerful god,
he is often easily deceived, as shown in the
Iliad by both Hera, his sister, and Poseidon,
his brother.
Zeus is not faithful to his wife, and is
often represented as chasing from woman to
woman, while still trying to hide his infidelity.
However, he is grand, and represents moral
righteousness.
These two contrasting images, the high and
the low of his persona, both coexisted for
a long time.
Some of the symbols of Zeus in mythology include the
Aegis, his shield with Medusa’s head on
it, the Eagle and the Oak Tree.
Poseidon, or in Latin Neptune, was Lord
of the Seas and the Earthshaker.
His wife, Amphitrite, was the daughter of
Ocean.
He is recognized for having made the first horse.
Poseidon was inferior only to Zeus, and while
he had a palace under the sea, he often chose to
inhabit Olympus instead.
Some of the symbols of Poseidon in mythology
include the Bull, the Horse, and the Trident.
Hades was an Olympian and eventual ruler of
the Underworld.
He was Lord of the Dead and God of Wealth
that was beneath the Earth.
He was terrible, but just, not often seen
on Olympus, often preferring the Underworld with
only the company of the dead and his wife, whom he had kidnapped previously,
He had a helm that made the wearer invisible,
and it represented him well: dark, terrible,
and inexorable.
While Hamilton considers Hades to be an Olympian
god, others often replace him with Demeter,
as he doesn't often reside on Olympus.
Hera was the wife and sister of Zeus.
She was raised by Ocean and Tethys and she
was the protector of marriage, and she cared
for married women.
While she is described as pleasant, when details
are provided, she is often petty, vengeful,
and spiteful.
Only in one story is she represented as a
protector of heroes, in the others, she is
unpleasant.
Nevertheless, she was revered in every household
in ancient Greece.
Some of the symbols for Hera in mythology
include the cow, the peacock, and the city of
Argos.
Pallas Athena, or Minerva, was the daughter
of Zeus.
In the Iliad, she is bloodthirsty and warlike.
In other accounts, she is only warlike in
the defense of Greece.
She is the Goddess of the City, the protector
of civilized life, handicraft, and agriculture.
She was Zeus’s favorite child, who carried
his Aegis as her shield, his thunderbolt as
her weapon.
She is the chief of the three virgin goddesses,
and she embodied wisdom and purity.
Some of the symbols for Athena in mythology
include the owl, the olive tree, and the city
of Athens.
Phoebus Apollo is the son of Zeus and Leto.
Known as the "most Greek of all the Gods",
he plays beautiful music on his lyre, shoots
far with his silver bow, and is a teacher
of the healing arts.
He is the God of Light, and no falsehood falls
from his lips.
He is the one who speaks at the Oracle
of Delphi.
Apollo is also called Delian from Delos,
the Lycian, and the Smithian.
There were two conflicting sides in him, one
kind and warm-hearted, the other cruel and
merciless.
Some of the symbols that represent Apollo
are, the dolphin, the crow and the laurel
tree.
Artemis was the twin sister of Apollo, and
one of the maiden goddesses of Olympus.
She was the Lady of the Wild Things, Huntsman-in-chief
and the protector of "dewy youth".
While Phoebus was the sun, she was the moon,
called Selene and Phoebe.
In later stories and poetry, she was Hecate,
having taken three forms: Selene in the sky,
Artemis on the Earth, and Hecate, the Goddess
of the Dark of the Moon.
Some of the symbols for Artmeis in mythology
include the Cypress tree and the Deer.
Aphrodite was the Goddess of Love and Beauty,
who in the Iliad was the daughter of Zeus
and Dione, and in later myths rose from the
sea.
She is weak in battle, but her beauty is
known to ensnare even the wisest of men.
In some myths she is the source of all beauty,
in others, her beauty is a malicious force.
The wife of the ugly god of the forge: Hephaestus.
Some of her symbols include the dove, the myrtle tree,
and the swan.
Hermes was the son of Zeus and Maia.
He is graceful and swift in motion.
He wore winged sandals, and his helmet had
wings too.
His staff, the Caduceus, wore wings as well.
Hermes was the messenger of the gods, and
he flew as fast as thought to do Zeus’s
bidding.
He was also the shrewdest and most cunning
of the gods.
Before one day old, he had already stolen
all of Apollo’s cattle.
He gave Apollo the lyre in apology.
He was also the God of Commerce and the Market
as well as the Herald of the Dead, who led
the dead to their final place.
Ares was the child of Zeus and Hera, and the
god of war.
While he is widely hated, in the Iliad heroes
often embrace the "delight of Ares’s battle".
While he himself is a coward who roars with
pain and runs away whenever he is wounded,
he has multiple followers on the battlefield
who inspire warriors with confidence and strength.
He is accompanied by his sister Eris and her
son Strife.
The goddess of war, in Latin, Bellona walks
beside him and with her are Terror and Trembling
and Panic.
The Romans worshipped and liked Mars far more
than the Greeks did Ares.
To them, he was never the whining, cowardly deity,
but rather magnificent, redoubtable, and invincible.
Some of the symbols for Ares include the vulture
and the dog.
Hephaestus was the God of Fire, sometimes
said to be the child of Zeus and Hera, other times
the child of Hera alone, born from retaliation
against Zeus for having Athena.
Hephaestus was ugly and lame.
Some stories tell of his deformity by saying
that Hera threw him from Olympus upon seeing
his ugliness, other stories saying that Zeus
threw him for defending Hera.
Hephaestus was the God of the Forge, and he made
the god’s weapons and armor.
On Earth he was regarded as one of the patrons
of civilization, along with Athena.
Hestia was the sister of Zeus and the goddess
of the Hearth.
Like Artemis and Athena, she was one of the
virgin goddess of Olympus.
She was well loved on Earth, and she was worshipped
before and after every meal.
It is said that the fire in her temple never
goes out.
And with that we conclude our first installation
in this series.
We hope this helped you out.
See you next time!
