December 25, 2017

In ancient Greek mythology, there were many powerful gods and goddesses, but none was mightier than Zeus, the king of the gods. From his throne on Mount Olympus, Zeus ruled over Earth and sky. Ancient Greeks believed that this supreme god was all knowing and all seeing. They viewed him as a protective father figure. People (and other gods) were careful not to anger Zeus. His rages could produce frightening thunderstorms, and he slayed his enemies with thunderbolts. In art, Zeus is often depicted as a bearded and majestic man holding a thunderbolt.

The statue of Zeus at Olympia, Greece, was probably the most famous statue made by the ancient Greeks. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration by Birney Lettick

Zeus was the son of Cronus and Rhea, members of an earlier race of ruling gods called the Titans. Zeus and his siblings defeated the Titans. Zeus then took Cronus’s place on Mount Olympus. There, he headed a family of 12 major gods and goddesses called the Olympians. Zeus’s brothers were the gods Hades and Poseidon. The goddesses Demeter, Hera, and Hestia were Zeus’s sisters.

Zeus first married Metis, a goddess of intelligence. Zeus was told in a prophecy that Metis would give birth to a daughter as strong as her father and as wise as her mother. The prophecy also warned that if Metis gave birth to a second child, it would be a son who would rule over all gods and humans. Zeus feared being overthrown by Metis’s second child. When Metis became pregnant with their first child, Zeus swallowed Metis whole to escape the prophecy. He soon suffered a terrible headache, and he asked the blacksmith god Hephaestus to split his head open with an ax to ease the pain. Hephaestus obeyed the powerful god’s order. The moment Zeus’ skull cracked open, Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, sprang out of his head fully grown and wearing a suit of armor. Athena became Zeus’s favorite child.

Zeus’ second wife was Hera, the goddess of marriage and childbirth. Ares, a powerful god of war, was born of this union. However, it was a stormy marriage full of jealousy and trickery. Zeus had many secret love affairs. In return, Hera harshly punished him. She killed his mistresses or transformed them into beasts. Sometimes, Zeus would transform his lovers into sacred animals to hide them from his wife’s wrath. In one story, Zeus was courting a band of nymphs. A nymph named Echo saw Hera angrily approaching. Echo distracted Hera with charming chatter while Zeus and the other nymphs made their escape. When Hera realized Echo’s trick, she was enraged. She cursed Echo never to be able to speak again, except to repeat the words of others.

Despite Hera’s jealous rages, Zeus fathered many children with other goddesses and mortal women. His children included the goddess Aphrodite; the gods Apollo, Dionysus, and Hermes; and the mortal heroes Perseus and Heracles (Hercules in Latin).

December 18, 2017

The Titans were the earliest gods in Greek mythology. The Greeks generally believed the Titans were giant in size and immensely strong. The word titanic, meaning huge and enormously powerful, comes from their name.

Atlas, one of the Titans, was forced to support the world on his shoulders forever. Credit: © Shutterstock

According to Greek myths, the universe originally existed in a state of emptiness called Chaos. Gaea, Mother Earth, emerged from Chaos and gave birth to Uranus, the sky. She then married him. Gaea and Uranus had many children, including the Titans. According to the Theogony, a work by the ancient Greek poet Hesiod, there were 12 original Titans. They were the brothers Coeus, Crius, Cronus, Hyperion, Iapetus, and Oceanus and the sisters Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, and Tethys. Other Titans included Atlas and Prometheus.

The youngest and most important Titan was Cronus, who married Rhea, his sister. Under his leadership, the Titans deposed Uranus, and Cronus became king of the gods. Rhea and Cronus had numerous children, but Cronus swallowed them as soon as they were born to prevent one of them from overthrowing him. Rhea was determined to save Zeus, her youngest son. She tricked Cronus into swallowing a stone wrapped in baby clothes believing it was Zeus. She then hid the infant on the island of Crete.

After Zeus grew up, he tricked his father into vomiting up all the Titan offspring he had swallowed. Zeus then led his brothers and sisters in a war against Cronus and overthrew him. Zeus banished Cronus and the Titans who had supported him to an underworld region called Tartarus. The defeat of Cronus established Zeus as the supreme ruler of the universe and thus played an important role in ancient Greek religion.

December 11, 2017

In Greek mythology, Theseus was a young adventurer who became king of Athens. In the most well-known story about Theseus, he slew the fearful Minotaur—a beast with the body of a man and the head of a bull.

Theseus. Credit: © Shutterstock

Theseus was the son of Aegus, the king of Athens. According to legend, Athens had to send seven young men and seven young women to Crete each year in tribute to that island’s King Minos. Minos sent the Athenian youths to their deaths in the Labyrinth, a confusing maze that housed the Minotaur. One year, Theseus was among the young Athenians forced to go to Crete. As Theseus left home, Aegus told him to change the sails of his ship from black to white on his return voyage to indicate that he had survived.

In Crete, King Minos’s daughter Ariadne fell in love with Theseus. She gave him a ball of thread to unwind as he traveled through the Labyrinth so that he could follow it back out again. Theseus explored the Labyrinth and soon located the Minotaur, which he killed. He then led the other Athenians out of the maze, following the thread to freedom.

In his haste to return to Athens, Theseus forgot to change the sails of his ship from black to white. When Aegus saw black sails on Theseus’s ship, the king thought Thesius had died. In sorrow, Aegus killed himself in sorrow. Some accounts say he threw himself from a cliff into the sea, a body of water—the Aegean Sea—named for the unfortunate king. Theseus then became king of Athens.

December 4, 2017

The Sphinx «sfihngks» was a mythical creature with the body of a lion and the head of a human, falcon, or ram. The Sphinx is found in both ancient Egyptian and Greek mythology. In Egyptian myth, the Sphinx was more of a symbol than an individual entity. It was a guardian figure, the protector of the pyramids, and the scourge of the enemies of Re, the sun god. It also represented the pharaoh and the pharaoh’s divine power. Sometimes the face of a carved or painted sphinx was meant to resemble a particular pharaoh.

Sphinxes figure in stories of ancient people from Egypt, Greece, and the Middle East. The Great Sphinx, shown here, is a huge limestone statue created near Giza, Egypt, about 4,500 years ago. Credit: © Dreamstime

In Greek mythology, the Sphinx was a monster. Some accounts note that it had the body and tail of a lion, the face of a woman, and the wings of a bird. It was an offspring of Echidna and Typhon, who also bore such other monsters as the Hydra, the Chimera, the many-headed dog Orthus, and the nasty Gorgons.

In the story of Oedipus, the goddess Hera sent the Sphinx to plague the people of the ancient city of Thebes. This was punishment for an ancient crime, possibly the failure to atone for the crimes of a former king of Thebes. The Sphinx sat perched on a mountain cliff near the ancient city. The creature guarded Thebes with a riddle that she had learned from the Muses. Each time a traveler failed to solve her riddle, she devoured them, effectively preventing anyone from leaving or entering the city.

The riddle? “What being has four legs, then two, and then three?” Some accounts write it, “What has four legs in the morning, two at noon, and three in the evening?” After many people guessed incorrectly and were killed, the king of Thebes announced that he would give the kingdom to anyone who could solve the riddle. The road past Mount Phicion, where the Sphinx awaited her victims, was strewn with the bones of people who had failed to find the right answer. Eventually, Oedipus, fleeing Corinth, solved the riddle. He answered, “Man, who crawls on all fours as a baby, then walks on two legs, and finally needs a cane in old age.” Upon hearing the correct answer, the Sphinx jumped from the cliff to her death. The plague of Thebes was lifted.

November 27, 2017

In Greek mythology, the Sirens were a group of hybrid creatures, part bird and part woman, who inhabited an island called Anthemoëssa off the coast of Italy. They were known for their enchanting but dangerous songs, which lured passing sailors to their deaths.

This statuette depicts a Siren with the legs, tail, and wings of a bird. Credit: National Archaeological Museum of Spain (licensed under CC BY-SA 3.0)

Different accounts describe the Sirens as ranging in number from two to four. Various sources tell that their mother was a Muse, a goddess of the arts and sciences; or one of the Pleiades, seven sister goddesses who became stars in the sky. The Sirens’ father may have been the river god Achelous or the sea god Phorcys. In appearance, the Sirens have been portrayed as having the bodies of birds and the heads of women; or sometimes they have the upper bodies of women, but the legs, tail, and wings of a bird. Sources often describe them as beautiful women or sea nymphs, maiden goddesses who inhabited and guarded nature’s realms. Amid all these variations, the Sirens’ music was always irresistibly alluring and consistently perilous to travelers who ventured near.

Some ancient writers told that the Sirens’ singing lured ships too close to Anthemoëssa’s shore, where they crashed on the rocks. Others told that sailors who visited Anthemoëssa became so enchanted that they eventually wasted away, oblivious to all but the music. Perhaps the best-known stories that include the Sirens are those of the Greek heroes Odysseus and Jason. In the Odyssey, an epic work by the Greek poet Homer, Odysseus was advised to plug his crew’s ears with wax before sailing past the Sirens’ island. However, Odysseus wanted to hear the Sirens’ song, so he had his men tie him to his ship’s mast. He thus escaped being fatally tempted. In another heroic tale, Jason and his nautical comrades—the Argonauts—escaped the Sirens’ pull as their ship passed Anthemoëssa because the hero Orpheus sang or played louder and more beautifully. According to ancient writers, the Sirens were fated to die if any sailor should pass by unharmed.

Some accounts tell that the Sirens once were companions of the goddess Persephone, who was kidnapped by Hades, god of the underworld. As punishment for allowing the abduction, Persephone’s mother, Demeter, imposed the Sirens’ birdlike form on them. In another version of the story, the gods gave the Sirens wings so they could fly over land and sea in search of Persephone. The Sirens sometimes were associated with the cult of the dead and were said to sing songs and prophecies related to Hades. In another story, the Sirens competed musically with the Muses, who then plucked out the Sirens’ feathers to make crowns for themselves.

In the 1890’s, French composer Claude Debussy wrote a piece of music for orchestra and female chorus titled Sirènes. According to Debussy, the piece “depicts the sea and its countless rhythms and presently, among the waves silvered by the moonlight, is heard the mysterious song of the Sirens as they laugh and pass on.”

November 13, 2017

Thor, the powerful god of thunder in Norse mythology, was the mighty defender of gods and goddesses, who were constantly under siege by the forces of chaos. Thor was the most popular god in the Norse pantheon, and his many exploits are recalled in many myths and tales—far more than any other Norse god or goddess. Honorable, loyal, and brave, Thor best represented the values of the warrior class of ancient Germany and Scandinavia.

Thor wields his mighty hammer during Ragnarok, the cataclysmic fight with the Jotun. Credit: Thor’s Fight with the Giants (1872), oil on canvas by Mårten Eskil Winge; Nationalmuseum (Stockholm)

Thor was the oldest and most powerful son of Odin, the ruler of the Norse gods called Aesir. Thor defended their home, called Asgard, from the forces of chaos, represented by the Jotun, a race of giants who were ancient enemies of the Aesir. Thor’s main weapon was his hammer, called Mjollnir (also spelled Mjolnir), which was so heavy that only Thor could lift it. Mjollnir could smash whole mountains and it never missed its mark when thrown. Lightning flashed whenever Thor threw Mjollnir, and thunder rumbled as Thor’s chariot crossed the sky.

Several myths describe Thor’s huge appetite. He once ate an entire ox along with eight salmon and washed it all down with three barrels of mead (an alcoholic honey drink). Another myth tells of a drinking contest in which Thor attempted to drink the sea dry. He failed, but he lowered the level of the sea slightly, creating the first tides. Although Thor was the strongest of the Aesir, he was not the smartest or wisest. Knowing he would react furiously, Jotun giants often taunted Thor to goad him into a fight. Loki, known among the Norse gods as a trickster and mischief maker, was especially fond of teasing Thor. Many Norse myths describe how Loki’s reckless behavior caused problems for the Aesir gods—problems that could be solved only by Thor and his mighty hammer.

Unlike myths from other regions, the gods of Norse mythology were mortal and their deaths were foretold by prophesy. Thor and the other Aesir knew they would one day fight the giants in a great battle called Ragnarok. In this battle, Thor was destined to slay the giant Midgar, a vicious serpent so big that its body coiled around the world. As the creature expired, Thor would be poisoned by its venomous breath. Thor would stagger nine steps backward before collapsing in death. Nearly every god and giant would die during Ragnarok, but all would not be lost. Thor’s sons, Magni and Modi, would be among the survivors who would begin a new race of human beings and a new world cleansed of evil and treachery.

November 6, 2017

Quetzalcoatl, whose name may be translated as feathered (or plumed) serpent or precious twin, was a great Mesoamerican god. He was also a culture hero, a legendary figure who represents the ideals of a cultural group. As a god, Quetzalcoatl «keht SAHL koh AH tuhl» was worshiped by early peoples of pre-Hispanic Mexico and Central America, including the Toltec and the Aztec who succeeded them in central Mexico. Quetzalcoatl was a creator god and a wind god. He also was associated with learning, with the Aztec zodiac, and with fertility, water, and vegetation. As a culture hero, Quetzalcoatl taught humankind how to make arts and crafts and measure time. He was also a Toltec priest-king called Topiltzin Quetzalcoatl—an embodiment of the god.

The great Mesoamerican god Quetzalcoatl. Credit: WORLD BOOK illustration by George Suyeoka

There are various stories and versions of stories about Quetzalcoatl, both the god and the semidivine ruler. Many of these tales place Quetzalcoatl in conflict with his brother Tezcatlipoca «tehs KOT lee POH kuh». For example, one myth describes how Quetzalcoatl and his three brothers, including Tezcatlipoca, were given the task of creating the world. At first, they cooperated, making fire, the heavens, the waters, a great fish whose flesh became Earth, and half a sun. The half-sun did not give enough light, so Tezcatlipoca decided to transform himself into a sun. A long struggle followed, with the brothers knocking each other out of the sky and placing different deities there as the sun. After causing great destruction with fire, floods, rampaging giants, and a tornado—and collapsing the heavens themselves—the brothers finally reconciled, repaired the damage, and created a new sun by sacrificing Quetzalcoatl’s son.

Other stories about Quetzalcoatl tell how Tezcatlipoca corrupted him by giving him an intoxicating drink. In some accounts, a disoriented Quetzalcoatl coupled with his sister Quetzalpetatl «keht SAHL pa TAH tuhl». Out of remorse, Quetzalcoatl set himself on fire. After he had burned up, Quetzalcoatl’s heart rose into the sky to become the planet Venus, called the “morning star” when seen before sunrise. For this reason, Quetzalcoatl sometimes is referred to as “lord of the dawn.” Xolotl «SHOH loht», the Aztec god of the evening star (Venus after sunset), is sometimes referred to as Quetzalcoatl’s twin brother. Some stories tell that Quetzalcoatl descended to the land of the dead, where he obtained bones from which he created human beings. In some versions of the tale, Quetzalcoatl sailed away to the east on a raft and was prophesied to return one day.

When a Spanish expedition led by Hernán Cortés arrived in Mexico in 1519, the Aztec emperor Montezuma II might have associated Cortés with Quetzalcoatl, returned from the east. Montezuma allowed Cortés to enter the Aztec capital of Tenochtitlan <<tay nohch TEE tlahn>> (now Mexico City). The Spaniards eventually took Montezuma prisoner and tried to rule the empire through him. The Aztec people rebelled in 1520. However, Tenochtitlan fell to the Spaniards in 1521, and Spain soon controlled the entire Aztec empire.

The Maya people of Mexico’s Yucatán Peninsula also worshiped a form of Quetzalcoatl called Kukulkan. The famous step pyramid in the ancient Maya city of Chichén Itzá is dedicated to the plumed serpent god.

October 30, 2017

In Greek mythology, the titan Prometheus shaped the first man from mud and clay, and the goddess Athena breathed life into the figure. Prometheus, then, was regarded as the creator of humanity as well as its protector.

This statue of Prometheus stands on the outskirts of Sochi, Russia. Legend says it was there in the Caucasus Mountains, at a place known as Eagle’s Rock, that Zeus bound Prometheus in “unbreakable” chains. Credit: © Shutterstock

Prometheus means forethought in Greek. In a war between his cousin titans and a newer breed of gods known as Olympians (Zeus and the gods of Mount Olympus), Prometheus had the foresight to side with the Olympians. The titans lost, but Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus (afterthought) were spared the other titans’ fate of suffering in Tartarus, a deep pit below the Earth’s surface (a version of hell).

Later, Prometheus (who was a bit of a trickster) presented Zeus with the choice of two offerings: meat disguised in an unappetizing ox stomach; or bones covered in good-looking fat. Zeus chose the one that looked better, and humans got to keep the tasty and nutritious meat for themselves. For this trick, an angry Zeus hid fire from humans. Prometheus, whose loyalties lay with his human creations, crafted a plan to restore fire to the people. Playing on the Olympians’ vanities, he distracted the gods with a prize golden fruit for “the most beautiful goddess.” As the goddesses quarreled over the fruit, Prometheus crept into the workshop of Hephaestus, the god of fire. Prometheus stole fire by hiding it in a fennel stalk. He then gave it to humans and taught them the art of metalwork.

Zeus was not pleased with Prometheus, to say the least. The king of the gods bound the people’s champion with unbreakable chains to a rock in the Caucasus Mountains. That was not punishment enough, however. Every day, an eagle devoured Prometheus’s liver, which grew back every night so the torture could be repeated. After many years, the hero Hercules killed the eagle and broke the chains, freeing Prometheus. Hercules was then rewarded with golden fruit (which did him little good).

Prometheus has been a favorite topic of artists and writers since the days of Aeschylus, a playwright of ancient Greece. Aeschylus is believed to have written a series of plays about the titan’s mischievous actions and noble suffering. The complete text of one of those plays, Prometheus Bound, survives. The ancient Roman poet Ovid included Prometheus in his masterwork, the Metamorphoses. In more recent times, the titan stars in the lyrical drama Prometheus Unbound by Percy Bysshe Shelley and in The Creatures of Prometheus, Ludwig van Beethoven’s only ballet. Shelley’s wife, Mary Wollstonecraft Shelley, gave the titan his most famous mention in the horror classic, Frankenstein, or the Modern Prometheus.

October 23, 2017

Poseidon was the powerful god of the sea, earthquakes, and horses in ancient Greek mythology. The Romans identified him with their god Neptune. Poseidon was the son of Rhea and Cronus, members of an old race of gods called the Titans. The gods Zeus and Hades were his brothers. When the three brothers divided up the universe, Poseidon received the sea as his domain, Zeus the heavens, and Hades the underworld. All three brothers ruled Earth, but Zeus was in charge.

Statues of Poseidon usually include his trademark trident. Credit: © Shutterstock

In art, ancient Greeks depicted Poseidon as a large, strong man with wild hair. He drove a chariot drawn by two golden-maned horses, and his palace beneath the sea was made of gold. Poseidon himself wore golden clothing. He carried a three-pronged spear called a trident, with which he struck the ground to create earthquakes. He was a mighty god with a violent temper.

In one legend, Poseidon and Athena, the goddess of wisdom and warfare, competed with each other for control over a city in the Greek peninsula of Attica. They stood upon a rocky hill called the Acropolis, ready to woo the Atticans and the judging gods with their powers. Poseidon struck the rocky floor of the Acropolis with his trident, and produced a salt spring there. Athena magically produced the first olive tree. The crowds and judges were impressed by Poseidon’s display, but it was Athena’s lovely and useful tree that won them over. The people named their city Athens in honor of their new patron goddess. At first, Poseidon was enraged and flooded Athens. However, the Athenians appeased the angry sea god by worshiping him and honoring the spring at the Acropolis as sacred.

Poseidon chose Amphitrite, a Nereid, as his wife. The Nereids were a race of immortal nymphs who kept watch over the sea. At first, Amphitrite rejected the sea god’s romantic advances. She fled to Atlas, the titan who bore the weight of the sky on his shoulders, asking him to protect her from the powerful god. However, Poseidon sent a dolphin to find her and retrieve her. She returned and the two were married. Poseidon turned the dolphin into the constellation Delphinus as thanks.

Poseidon and Amphitrite had two daughters, Rhode and Benthesicyme, and a son, the sea god Triton. Poseidon also had children from many love affairs. These offspring included the magical horses Pegasus and Arion, the giant Antaeus, and the cyclops (one-eyed giant) Polyphemus. In the epic poem the Odyssey, Poseidon hated the Greek hero Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus. In some myths, Poseidon was also the father of Theseus, a mortal hero and great king of Athens.

October 16, 2017

The Pied Piper of Hamelin is a legendary character in German folklore. According to a folk story, in 1284 the German town of Hamelin (Hameln in German) was suffering from a plague of rats. One day, a mysterious stranger dressed in a pied (many-colored) suit walked into Hamelin and offered to rid the town of the pests for a sum of money. After the mayor agreed, the man drew out a pipe and walked along the streets playing a haunting tune. All the rats came tumbling out of the houses and followed the Piper to the Weser River, where they drowned. When the Piper—known in German as der Rattenfänger (the rat catcher)—came to collect his fee, the mayor refused to pay him. The Piper swore vengeance. Once more he walked along the streets playing his strange melody. This time, the town’s children ran from their homes and followed him to a cave in nearby Koppen Hill. The cave closed upon them, and the children were never seen again.

A bronze statue of the Pied Piper stands in Hameln, Germany. Credit: © Axel Bueckert, Shutterstock

The legend seems to be based at least in part on fact. Old writings on the walls of several houses in Hamelin say that on July 26, 1284, a Piper led 130 children out of town and that they were lost in Koppen Hill. Some believe that the Piper was an agent of the Bishop of Olmutz, who in the late 1200′s took many Hamelin children to Moravia, where they were resettled. Others claim robbers kidnapped the children. It is also possible that the legend came from the disastrous Children’s Crusade of 1212. The story of the Piper was popularized in modern times by a famous poem by the English poet Robert Browning.

The story of the Pied Piper has made the picturesque Hameln a major tourist attraction. Along the cobblestone streets of the Pied Piper Trail, every few feet there is an imprinted white rat in a bronze plate pointing the way to the main attractions of the town. The Pied Piper House (1602) is one of the town’s largest and prettiest buildings. Several times a day, a clockwork display of figures in the Wedding House (1610-1617) appears in a window and acts out the Pied Piper story. Chimes in the building play what is said to be the Piper’s haunting melody. Every Sunday from mid-May to mid-September about 80 actors in historical costumes recreate the story of how the children of the town went missing.