Greek Notes Continued

Poseidon, Ruler of the Sea

Poseidon's Story

Cronos' Sons:
Poseidon- rules the sea
Zeus, rules the sky
Hades, rules the underworld

Poseidon and Athena battle over Attica which Athena won because the Gods ruled her gift to the city (an olive tree as opposed to a salt water spring) superior and the city became Athens.

• Poseidon marries Amphitrite
• Poseidon creates sea creatures (jelly fish, octopus, squids etc.) to scare the nymphs
• creates the dolphin as an apology gift for his wife
• Poseidon pursues Demeter who distracts his attentions by asking him to create a beautiful land creature--he creates the horse (zebra, giraffe, hippo said to be early attempts at the horse)

Demeter & Persephone: The story that explains the seasons.

Persephone is Demeter's (Goddess of the Harvest) daughter-she is the goddess of spring.
• Her job -to name and color flowers and other growing things.
• While painting flowers she is tempted by an unusual bush (Narcissus flower)
• kidnapped by Hades to be his bride.
• Demeter mourns Persephone's absence
• the earth's plants wither and die as Demeter is the Goddess of the Harvest and of growing things (thus seasons of fall and winter)
• Persephone at seeds of a pomegrante while in underworld and Zeus rules she must stay with Hades six months of the year and return to earth to be with her mother the other six months (thus spring and summer seasons)

Hades & The Underworld (Follow the Hades link to the Perseus Project which has translations and texts from Homer and others! Quite interesting and challenging!)

Underworld=Tartarus
• guarded by the three headed dog, Cerebus
• spirits are taken there across the river Styx by Charon who is a miser who charges a fee to take spirits across the river (coins are put under the dead's tongue for Charon--if not paid, the spirit haunts the earth for eternity)

Areas in the Underworld:
1. Elysium- happy place, reserved for "good spirits", always holiday here
2. Field of Asphodel- similar to limbo, spirits spend eternity waiting for nothing
3. Erebos- palace grounds and surrounding fields; deepest section of the underworld

The Furies:
• Live in the underworld and are Older than the Gods
• Flying hags with snake hair, fiery eyes, yellowed teeth
• torture & punish unjust men on earth and drive them to suicide
• spread news and gossip in the underworld

Another link to Hades' stories!

The Birth of the Twins

Zeus - affair with -Leto:

both changed themselves into quail to hide from Hera. Hera's jealous eyes still caught them and she put a curse on Leto saying she would not bear her children in a "sunny place." Leto was pursued by a Python to the island of Delios. Zeus helped her by unmooring the island and freeing her from the python. She bore twins: Artemis and Apollo.

Artemis: Goddess of the Hunt, Goddess of Wild Things, The Maiden Goddess

    -Asked Zeus for her gifts: chastity, silver bow & arrow, hunting hounds (which she got from Pan), many names, mountains, and one city
    -Seen often with silver bow & arrow which was crafted for her under the sea by Hephaestus' Cyclops helpers
    - Attended by ocen and wood nymphs
    -Rides in her silver carriage which is drawn by deer
    -Remains pure and injures or destroys men that pursue her
    -Callisto, one of her nymphs, has an affair with Zeus and is turned into a bear; Zeus rescues her by putting into the sky as stars (in her bear form to hide the truth from Hera)