King Midas (L2)

King Midas of Greece was given the choice of any kind of wish from the wine god, Dionysus. King Midas reunited Dionysus with his friend Seilenus and because of this Dionysus would grant any of the king’s wishes. Midas, being extremely self-centered and greedy, wished for everything that he touched would be turned to gold. Dionysus granted his wish. King Midas touched everything around him. He grabbed a piece of corn and every single individual kernel turned into gold. King Midas was ecstatic. He didn’t think any bad thing would result because of this, until he began to eat. This is where King Midas faced his dilemma. When he put any food into his mouth, it would turn into gold. This happened when tried to drink anything too. He was told by a god that to get rid of his wish he would have to go to a river and wash the gold away. Midas eventually gets rid of his gift. This explains why there are gold flecks in the river in which King Midas removed himself of his gift. After this incident, King Midas listened to music by Pan, a half man half goat god of the wild, and the god of music, Apollo. King Midas stupidly tells the god that he thinks Pan is better and he is punished by the musical god. He is given outrageously large ears for his punishment. This myth explained how whispering reeds came to be and how there came to be gold flecks in the river where King Midas bathed.

Input by Mallory Ronan:

Your system has been hacked! BWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA! This is payback for taking over my blog. I hope that this makes you happy because I just added to your word count. The play is awesome because Mallory Ronan. THE END! :) 

Prometheus and Pandora (L1)

            Prometheus is a Titan in Greek mythology. He was the god responsible for creating animals and his most prized creation, humans. When Prometheus created man, he gave the responsibility of the qualities of his creations to his brother, Epimetheus. Epimetheus gave different characteristics to each of his brother’s creations, but he didn’t give man any for survival. Because of this, Prometheus took fire from Zeus for the humans to survive. He also tricked Zeus by showing him rotten food he was going to give to the humans, but the healthy food was underneath. When Zeus found out about Prometheus tricking him, he took the fire from the humans. Zeus was angry with Prometheus because he cared about the humans more than he did about the gods. Prometheus then stole the fire back from Olympus with the help of the Olympians, Hephaestus and Athena. Zeus found out yet again about Prometheus stealing the fire and he had Hephaestus chain him up. Hephaestus didn’t try to defy Zeus because he didn’t want to get thrown off Olympus again for the third time. When Prometheus was tied up, an eagle came to him every day and ate part of his liver every day for the rest of eternity. This was Zeus’s revenge on Prometheus. 

             Pandora was a mortal created by Hephaestus to get revenge on Epimetheus and Prometheus for Zeus. Pandora was created to be given to Epimetheus for his wife. Prometheus told his brother to never accept a gift from a god, but Epimetheus accepted anyways. Pandora was given a jar and was told not to open it when she got down to Earth. Out of curiosity, she opened the jar when she was on Earth and released sorrows and sickness onto the humans. This teaches why there’s evil in the world. This was the punishment for man.

Four Ages of Man 2/2

The third age of man was solely created by Zeus. This age was called The Bronze Age. The people of The Bronze age seemed to appear as if they were bronze. Everything was dependent on bronze during this age, hence the name. These people were incredibly strong and were often violent. Fights broke out on a daily basis. This brought destruction to the age.  Because of this violence, after each person died they were sentenced to an afterlife in the harsh world of Hades. This can be compared to The Golden Age, because in The Golden Age, when the people died, they would instantly become guardian angels. This age was very harsh and violence was the most important thing to the people. 

The next and final age of man is The Iron Age. The Iron Age was created by Zeus and the people of Greece believed that this is the age we live in today. The people of this society praised violence rather than peaceful behavior. The people fought each other with iron weapons, hence The Iron Age.  The people force the earth to provide them with iron and food. The people also worked hard and only had an outcome of little success. These people also encountered troubled dreams. These people were even worse than the people of The Bronze Age. It was hard to trust the people in this age and there were many murders.  In some cases, the hosts of something may murder their guests, and it wouldn’t be frowned upon. Quarrels like this did destroyed relationships though.  All moral behavior disappeared from the personalities of the people of this intense and harsh age. This age is comparably different than the ones that occurred before it. The people only cared about violence. This age also represents today’s way of living.

Four Ages of Man 1/2

The Greeks believed that there were four ages of man. These ages include The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, and The Iron Age. They were created by various gods and goddesses and affected the lives of mortals. 

The first of the four ages of man was The Golden Age. The Golden Age was created by the Titan god, Cronus, before he was destroyed by his Olympian children. It was the most peaceful out of all of the ages. There was no suffering, sadness, war, or pain throughout the time period. The weather was always beautiful and there weren’t ever any harsh storms or weather conditions. Food was abundant. The people of this age didn’t have to put in any work for their food either. When the people of this age died, they were believed to become guardian angels. The people of The Golden Age lived in the most peaceful and most rewarding age of the four.

The next age was after the fall of Cronus. This age was called The Silver Age.  The Silver Age wasn’t as good as The Golden Age. Changes from The Golden Age include the changing of the seasons. Each of these seasons was ¼ of the year, like today. In the winter there were icy snows and in the summer there was blistering heat. The humans were children for about one hundred years and then they became adults. After they became adults, they only lived for a few more years. Unlike the previous age, there was crime. It was very violent and life was difficult. The people of this age had to work hard for food. This was the beginning of farming. This age was created by Zeus and the Olympians, and it was obviously changed from the original age created by Cronus.

Lovers of Zeus 3

 The next of Zeus’s wives was Semele. Semele was a mortal woman and she is the mother of the wone god, Dionysus. Hera with her insane jealousy, tried to prevent the birth of her son with Zeus. gods in Greek mythology aren’t in their divine form. They are anthropomorphic.  Anthropomorphic means that the gods would be seen in human form. If gods were in their divine form around humans they would disintegrate on the spot. When Zeus went to embrace Semele he took his divine form, the fault of Hera, and she burned to death and disintegrated.  She was pregnant with Dionysus at the time. Zeus saved the unborn child by ripping it out of Semele seconds before she disintegrated. Zeus imbedded it into his thigh until it mature enough. Dionysus was the only immortal born like this, but not the only immortal to be born in a nontraditional way (Athena, Minotaur, Aphrodite, Perseus, etc.)

Nemesis was also one of Zeus’s many lovers. Nemesis is the daughter of Nyx, a primeval goddess of the night. Nemesis was the goddess who brought retribution to those who committed crimes. She was like the justice keeper in Greek mythology. Zeus disguised himself as a swan, and Nemesis eventually gave birth to an egg. Aphrodite was responsible for this because she liked to meddle in gods’ lives until she got what she wanted. The love goddess, Aphrodite, pursued Zeus as an eagle. The Hermes, the messenger god, took the egg to Leda who raised the Helen and Polydeuces, who were born from it. Helen is the famous Helen of Troy. She was responsible for the beginning of the Trojan War because she was kidnapped by the opposing side. Leda, with Helen of Troy’s children Helen and Polydeuces, raised her personal children, Clytemnestra and Castor.

Lovers of Zeus 2

The next wife of Zeus was Hera. Zeus continued to be married to Hera, she was his final wife. With her, Zeus had three children. These children were Hebe, Ares, and Eileithya. Hebe is the goddess of youth. She married Hercules after his final labor. Ares is the god of war and was known for his brutality. Eileithya is the goddess of childbirth. 

Zeus continued to associate with other women during his marriage to Hera. He next had a child with Leto, the sky god’s cousin. Hera was very jealous and had Leto pursued by the dragon, Python, to prevent the birth of her children. Poseidon allowed her to stay on the floating island, Delos. This is where Leto had her twin children, Artemis and Apollo. Artemis is the god of art and poetry. Artemis is the goddess of the hunt and is known for her golden bow.

Zeus then had a child with Maia. Maia is the daughter of the Titan, Atlas. Atlas was punished by Zeus after overthrowing his father. He was forced to hold up the sky. Maia and Zeus had the messenger god, Hermes. When Hermes was born, he ended up stealing Apollo’s cattle and inventing the lyre. He built a golden chariot and gave it to Apollo. Apollo thought Hermes was clever so, he forgave him and they swore a sacred oath on the River Styx.

  

Demeter, Zeus’s sister, was also one of Zeus’s lovers. Together they had the goddess of springtime, Persephone. Hades, the god of the underworld, fell in love with their daughter, captured her, and took her down into the underworld. Zeus allowed Hades to take his daughter and Demeter was furious. She traveled the world in search of her daughter until she found her. Persephone is responsible for the different seasons. She could only visit her mother for part of the year, and when she was in the underworld it would be winter.