Artemis (Q2)

Artemis is the Greek goddess of the hunt and the moon. She is also associated with being the protector of young girls, and the bringing and relieving disease in women. Her symbols are the hunting dog, the stag, the moon, and the golden bow and arrow. Artemis is often seen as a woman that holds a bow and arrow. She is the twin sister of Apollo, the Greek god of music and poetry. They are the children of the daughter of the Titans, Coeus and Phoebe, Leto and the ruling god, Zeus. Since Artemis is the daughter of Zeus, she obviously has many brothers and sisters. Some of these siblings are Ares, Athena, Hephaestus, Hermes, Hercules, Apollo, and Perseus.

Zeus was married with Hera during Leto’s pregnancy. Hera found out about Leto and tried to prevent the birth of Artemis and Apollo in every way possible. She had all the lands shun her, so she could have her children. With the help of the messenger god, Hermes, she found an island that was not connected to the ocean floor. This was land that wasn’t shunning her. This island is called the Island of Delos. In different versions of this myth, Hera has the dragon that guards the apple tree that provides Hera with her well known golden apples, set to follow Leto, to prevent Artemis and Apollo from being born.

She is seen in the myth of Hercules when he needs to capture her deer and return it to Eurythesus. The deer was believed to travel very quickly, making it had for Hercules to capture it. He eventually caught the deer, tied it up, and placed it on his shoulders to carry it back to the creator of the labors. He ran into Artemis on the way, who told him that he could take the deer, as long as he didn’t kill or injure it in anyway.

Nemesis (Q1)

Nemesis was the Greek goddess of retribution and justice. In some myths, she is seen as the daughter of Nyx and Erebus, but is also seen as just Nyx’s daughter.

The goddess is mainly known for being involved in the myth of Narcissus and Echo. Narcissus was a hunter. He was the son of the sea nymph, Thespiae. She was told of prophesy that her son would be able to live until an old age I he “does not know himself.”  She interpreted this in a literal way and tried to prevent him from looking at his reflection, to attempt to save his life. As he grew up, he was very arrogant and took pride in his beauty, even though he wasn’t able to look at his reflection. 

Echo was a sea nymph that was helping other sea nymphs escape after being with Zeus. She would talk to Zeus’s extremely jealous wife to prevent her from seeing the other sea nymphs escape from her wrath. Hera eventually figured out was Echo was doing, and was set on inflicting her revenge. She prevented Echo from speaking, only able to repeat words that were already said by someone else. 

Echo was in the woods, hiding from Hera just in case she inflicted any other sort of revenge on her, when she saw Narcissus hunting. Echo fell in love with the hunter. He heard Echo and questioned if someone was there. When Echo came out from hiding, Narcissus said that he would rather die than be with her, breaking her heart.

She then went into a cave and cried. She believed to cry until there was nothing left except for her voice and bones remained. This is where the term echo comes from. It is believed to be the sea nymph’s voice repeating everything that is said.

Nemesis, being the goddess of retribution, avenged Echo. She made Narcissus come across a pond and see himself. He ended up falling in love with himself, and unable to leave his reflection, eventually died there.

Dionysus (P2)

Dionysus was believed to be the god of wine, parties, and festivals.

Dionysus was the son of Zeus and a mortal, Semele. Zeus was cheating on his wife, Hera, (again) when Semele was impregnated. Hera was outraged by this and was determined to get her revenge. Hera tricked Semele into convincing Zeus to swear on the River Styx that he would grant every one of her requests. Zeus, being extremely in love with her and not realizing that this was the plot of Hera, swore on the River Styx. Hera then persuaded Semele to ask Zeus to appear in his divine form in front of her. Zeus begged her not to ask him to do this, because all mortals would disintegrate in the presence of a god in their divine form. Zeus could not refuse because he swore upon the River Styx. If he would not have done this he would have to deal with the heavy consequences. So, Zeus appeared in his divine form in front of the pregnant Semele. She disintegrated instantly, but Zeus took the unborn child and sewed it into his thigh before the child died with her. Dionysus was born this way, and was called “the twice-born.”

There are different interpretations of what actually happened to Dionysus when he was born. In some cases, Zeus gave his son to the way finder, Hermes. Hermes would then give Dionysus to his aunt and uncle, King Athamas and his wife, Queen Ino. In another version, Dionysus was given to the rain nymphs of Nysa. In other stories, Zeus gave his child to Rhea or Persephone, so she would hide him in the underworld with Hades. Dionysus was hidden to keep him safe from Hera’s wrath. She was extremely jealous of the other women Zeus had affairs with, and because of this she would try to kill his children.

Achilles (P1)

Achilles is a Greek hero and demigod. He is the son of a sea nymph, Thetis, and King Peleus of Myrmidons. Zeus and Poseidon were fighting to marry Thetis, until Prometheus, the creator of the humans, told of prophesy that the son Thetis bore would be in greater power than his father. Because of this, Zeus and Poseidon withdrew from competing each other and let her marry King Peleus.

He was a Greek hero in the Trojan War, and was the main character in Homer’s epic poem, Iliad. Achilles is most famous for the killing of Hector, the Trojan hero in Homer’s poem. After fighting Hector, Achilles found out that his friend Patroclus of Antilocus was killed. Achilles was distraught and he held many funeral games in his honor. His mother came to help him through his grieving, and convinced Hephaestus to make him new armor. His old armor was destroyed in the fight against Hector. His new armor included the Shield of Achilles, which is described in Iliad.

Achilles’s mother bathed him in the River of Styx when he was first born. This was to prevent him from dying when he went into battle. To bathe him, she held his heal, and put him into the river. This made every part of him that was exposed to the river water immortal.

During the Trojan War, Paris, the king of Troy, shot and killed Achilles with a bow and arrow. His heal was the only part of him that was mortal because his mother held him by his ankle as she made him immortal in the River of Styx. Achilles ended up dying from bleeding too much from his ankle. Hence, Achilles’s heel or Achilles’s tendon is what someone would call their weak spot, because Achilles’s ankle was the only vulnerable place on his entire body.

Poseidon (O2)

Poseidon, along with his brothers and sisters, is one of the gods of Mount Olympus. Poseidon is the son of Cronus and Rhea. Cronus was the Titan god remembered for swallowing his children after each one was born. He did this because he received prophesy of one of his children taking over his throne. In the majority of Greek myth, Zeus was seen as the child Rhea saved when she gave Cronus a rock to swallow instead of Zeus. In other myths, Poseidon was also seen as one of the two gods who helped to save Olympus. In the types of myths where Poseidon was saved, it was told that Poseidon’s mother, Rhea, gave Cronus a black foal to save her son.

 Poseidon was the brother of his five siblings, Demeter, Zeus, Hades, Hera, and Hestia. His grandparents were Gaea, the earth goddess, and Uranus. Poseidon, Zeus, and Hades took over, Zeus with the sky, Hades with the underworld, and Poseidon with the seas.

Poseidon is the god of, besides the sea, horses and earthquakes. He was believed to have an underwater palace, in which he lived. He was rewarded with being the god of all of the salt and fresh water, horses, and earthquakes after him and his family destroyed Cronus. Zeus was given the heavens and the role as the ruler of all of the Olympians and Hades was given the underworld.

The Greeks believed that Poseidon and the goddess of wisdom, Athena, were competing to be the patron god of Athens. To win against Athena, Poseidon struck the Acropolis with his trident causing spring water to emerge. Athena created an olive tree and the people of Athens thought that this was more useful for the people and declared Athena there patron goddess. The people had to make sure that they honored Poseidon so that he would relinquish his power on Athens.

King Lycaon (O1)

King Lycaon was responsible for the Greek’s understanding of why and how wolves exist.

Zeus went down, from the heavens, to Earth to see how the people are living and if they are grateful for their lives from the gods. Zeus visited King Lycaon. He was disguised as a mortal human being to prevent the humans from dying in his divine presence. King Lycaon was the father of approximately fifty children. When King Lycaon and his family were sitting down for their last meal of the day, Zeus was let into the house, and sat down next to King Lycaon. Zeus told the king that he was the god of the heavens, but King Lycaon did not believe him. King Lycaon took one of his sons and slaughtered him in front of the god of the sky. The king thought that if he killed and served one of his sons to Zeus, than Zeus would prove that he was actually a god, and not just a regular mortal. He also did this to test Zeus’s divinity. King Lycaon put his slaughtered and dismembered son in front of Zeus. Zeus was angered by this action and turned the disrespectful king into a wolf. He did this because if King Lycaon slaughtered an innocent child and showed how much destruction he was capable of, he could do it as a destructive animal. King Lycaon retreated into the woods after Zeus transformed him into an animal. After this event, Zeus returned to his rightful home on Mount Olympus with the other gods and goddesses. Zeus reflected on the brutality of the human beings underneath him on Earth. Because of this event, Zeus decided to flood the earth, restarting the lives of human beings. In the Christian point of view, this would be seen as Noah’s Ark.