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    Greek Myth: The Twelve Main Olympians Are

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    ma. isabella marcos
    Greek mythology developed from oral traditions and was represented through art from the Late Mycenaean period. The myths explained the origins and domains of the major gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus and ruled over human life. Chief among the Olympians were Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Poseidon. The myths also featured many human heroes and monsters. Writers such as Hesiod and later Greek playwrights built upon the oral traditions, compiling and elaborating the myths.

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    Greek Myth: The Twelve Main Olympians Are

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    ma. isabella marcos
    40 views3 pages
    Greek mythology developed from oral traditions and was represented through art from the Late Mycenaean period. The myths explained the origins and domains of the major gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus and ruled over human life. Chief among the Olympians were Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Poseidon. The myths also featured many human heroes and monsters. Writers such as Hesiod and later Greek playwrights built upon the oral traditions, compiling and elaborating the myths.

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    GREEK MYTH

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    GREEK MYTH

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    Greek mythology developed from oral traditions and was represented through art from the Late Mycenaean period. The myths explained the origins and domains of the major gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus and ruled over human life. Chief among the Olympians were Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Poseidon. The myths also featured many human heroes and monsters. Writers such as Hesiod and later Greek playwrights built upon the oral traditions, compiling and elaborating the myths.

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    © All Rights Reserved
    Download as DOCX, PDF, TXT or read online from Scribd
    Download as docx, pdf, or txt
    40 views3 pages

    Greek Myth: The Twelve Main Olympians Are

    Uploaded by

    ma. isabella marcos
    Greek mythology developed from oral traditions and was represented through art from the Late Mycenaean period. The myths explained the origins and domains of the major gods and goddesses who lived on Mount Olympus and ruled over human life. Chief among the Olympians were Zeus, Hera, Aphrodite, Apollo, Ares, Artemis, Athena, Demeter, Dionysus, Hephaestus, Hermes, and Poseidon. The myths also featured many human heroes and monsters. Writers such as Hesiod and later Greek playwrights built upon the oral traditions, compiling and elaborating the myths.

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    © All Rights Reserved
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    GREEK MYTH

    Greek mythology has been represented through art from as early as the late-
    Mycenaean times. The Greeks used their art as a way of honouring their gods. There has been
    imagery of centaurs and sirens and scenes of battles and victories portrayed in these artworks.
    It is also believed that some megalithic sites are directed towards these myths, although there
    are no mythological details to be found. Greek mythology explains the origins of the gods
    and the extent of their divinity. Many gods and goddesses were worshiped by the ancient
    Greeks, each deity with their own personality and domain. Art throughout the Archaic and
    Classical eras illustrated many of the gods’ attributes that were used to identify each deity,
    and art throughout the Hellenistic era used those attributes to create life-like imagery of the
    divine.
    Around 700 BC, the poet Hesiod’s Theogony offered the first written
    cosmogony, or origin story, of Greek mythology. The Theogony tells the story of the
    universe’s journey from nothingness (Chaos, a primeval void) to being, and details an
    elaborate family tree of elements, gods and goddesses who evolved from Chaos and
    descended from Gaia (Earth), Ouranos (Sky), Pontos (Sea) and Tartaros (the
    Underworld).
    Later Greek writers and artists used and elaborated upon these sources in their
    own work. For instance, mythological figures and events appear in the 5th-century
    plays of Aeschylus, Sophocles and Euripides and the lyric poems of Pindar. Writers
    such as the 2nd-century BC Greek mythographer Apollodorus of Athens and the 1st-
    century BC Roman historian Gaius Julius Hyginus compiled the ancient myths and
    legends for contemporary audiences.
    At the center of Greek mythology is the pantheon of deities who were said to
    live on Mount Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. From their perch, they ruled
    every aspect of human life. Olympian gods and goddesses looked like men and women
    (though they could change themselves into animals and other things) and were–as
    many myths recounted–vulnerable to human foibles and passions.
    The twelve main Olympians are:
     Zeus (Jupiter, in Roman mythology): the king of all the gods (and father to
    many) and god of weather, law and fate
     Hera (Juno): the queen of the gods and goddess of women and marriage
     Aphrodite (Venus): goddess of beauty and love
     Apollo (Apollo): god of prophesy, music and poetry and knowledge
     Ares (Mars): god of war
     Artemis (Diana): goddess of hunting, animals and childbirth
     Athena (Minerva): goddess of wisdom and defense
     Demeter (Ceres): goddess of agriculture and grain
     Dionysos (Bacchus): god of wine, pleasure and festivity
     Hephaistos (Vulcan): god of fire, metalworking and sculpture
     Hermes (Mercury): god of travel, hospitality and trade and Zeus’s personal
    messenger
     Poseidon (Neptune): god of the sea
    Other gods and goddesses sometimes included in the roster of Olympians are:
     Hades (Pluto): god of the underworld
     Hestia (Vesta): goddess of home and family
     Eros (Cupid): god of sex and minion to Aphrodite
    Greek mythology does not just tell the stories of gods and goddesses, however.
    Human heroes–such as Heracles, the adventurer who performed 12 impossible labors
    for King Eurystheus (and was subsequently worshipped as a god for his
    accomplishment); Pandora, the first woman, whose curiosity brought evil to mankind;
    Pygmalion, the king who fell in love with an ivory statue; Arachne, the weaver who
    was turned into a spider for her arrogance; handsome Trojan prince Ganymede who
    became the cupbearer for the gods; Midas, the king with the golden touch; and
    Narcissus, the young man who fell in love with his own reflection–are just as
    significant. Monsters and “hybrids” (human-animal forms) also feature prominently in
    the tales: the winged horse Pegasus, the horse-man Centaur, the lion-woman Sphinx
    and the bird-woman Harpies, the one-eyed giant Cyclops, automatons (metal creatures
    given life by Hephaistos), manticores and unicorns, Gorgons, pygmies, minotaurs,
    satyrs and dragons of all sorts. Many of these creatures have become almost as well
    known as the gods, goddesses and heroes who share their stories.
    The Pergamon altar (180-160BC)
    Marble metope from the Partheon (c447-
    438BC)

    The Siren vase (480-470BC)


    Mask of Agamemnon (1550-1500BC)

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