Cronus was the leader of the titans during the time before the gods. But when he got married, his wife wanted kids. When they had kids he realized that they were powerful so he decided to eat all 4 of them so they wouldn’t overthrow him. But his wife didn’t want him to be a supreme evil ruler forever. So instead of feeding him baby Zeus, she fed him a rock. Then, when baby Zeus grew up, he fed Cronus something to make him throw up the other siblings. Then, he and his siblings defeated Cronus and cut him up with his own scythe and scattered his remains into a big hole. So then, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades drew straws to see who got what part of the world. Poseidon got the ocean, Hades got the underworld, and Zeus got the sky. Then, Zeus married his sister: Hera and they had many, many, children. These were the Gods. The Greeks believed that they controlled the forces of nature.
And don’t blame them for thinking so weird, if you didn’t know about science, you would think the same way.
The Gods and Goddesses
Zeus: The god of the sky (and lighting).He was king of the gods and the ruler of Mount Olympus. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, and bull.
Poseidon: He was the god of the sea (and earthquakes). He created horses from sea foam. Nicknamed ‘Earth Shaker’ and ‘Storm Bringer’. His symbols are horses, sea foam, dolphins, and a trident.
Hades: God of the underworld (and wealth). His symbols are the Helm of Darkness, and the three-headed dog, Cerberus.
Hera: Goddess of marriage and childbirth. Zeus’s wife and sister. And she appears with peacock feathers often. Her symbols are the scepter and peacock.
Aphrodite: Goddess of love and beauty. Married to Hephaestus. Ares loves her. Known as the most beautiful of the Greek goddesses. Her symbols are the scepter and dove.
Apollo: God of light, truth, health, medicine, music, archery, poetry, and prophecies. He is also associated with the sun. Sometimes referred to as the most handsome of the gods. He is Artemis’s twin brother, and son of Zeus. His symbols are the bow and laurel.
Artemis: Goddess of the hunt and wild animals. Protector of the young. She is also associated with the moon. Artemis is a virgin goddess. She is Apollo’s twin sister and daughter of Zeus. Her symbols are the bow, dogs, and deer.
Ares: God of war, murder and bleeding. Brother of Athena, and is the son of Zeus. Loves Aphrodite. His symbols are vultures and a spear.
Athena: Goddess of wisdom, strategy, and reason. Sister of Ares, and is the daughter of Zeus. During a battle, Zeus’s thoughts were so strategic and complex, that she sprung from his head wearing full body armor. She is the wisest of the gods. Her symbols are the owl and olive tree.
Dionysus: God of wine, parties, festivals, craziness and happiness. He represents the intoxicating power of wine, and its social influences. His symbols are the grape vine and the ivy.
Hephaestus: God of fire and metal working with very weak legs. He was thrown off Mount Olympus as a baby by his mother because he was born ugly. He makes armor for the gods and other heroes like Achilles. Zeus and Hera are his parents. Married to Aphrodite, but she does not love him because he is ugly and, as a result, is cheating on him with Ares. (And he loves to embarrass when they are together.) His symbols are an axe, a hammer and a flame.
Hermes: God of travelers, flight, thieves, and mischief. Also makes a living as the messenger of the gods. He shows the way for the dead souls to Hades’s realm. He shows up in more myths than any other god or goddess. He has always loved to trick people and is very inventive. Hermes invented the lyre using a turtle shell and sinew. His symbols are the caduceus and winged boots.
Creatures
Echidna: Echidna was a very ugly snake lady who married a Titan named Typhon who was also ugly. They had triplets after Typhon was imprisoned. Echidna gave birth to Cerberus, The Hydra, and The Chimera. But she did this after Typhon was imprisoned, meaning she did not go back to have the other babies. Also meaning that she had to have had them all at once. I feel sorry for her.
Harpies: Harpies were colorful vultures with the heads of ladies. A Greek hero once found a man living in the mountains that could not eat because every time he laid out some food for dinner, the Harpies would swoop down, scratch at him, steal the food, and then fly away. So, they set a trap for them! They laid out a great feast, and then when the harpies came out to steal it, they shot arrows at them! (They missed a couple of times, but they just chased the harpies down and killed them all) And the man lived happily ever after!
Hydra: The Hydra was a nine headed serpent that spat poisonous acid out of its mouths. It was terrorizing the Argos Marshes so Hercules was sent to kill it as his second task for King Eurystheus. But every time he cut off one of its heads, two more would grow back. So he got a torch and burned each head stump after cutting it off, so no more heads could grow back. So then, he killed it!
Centaurs: Centaurs were half-human half-horse creatures who were actually really nice. They were gifted bowmen and runners. Once, Hercules met one during one of his tasks. The centaur was nice enough to invite him for tea! But the other centaurs were jealous and pelted them with rocks. So Hercules and the centaur had to kill them, adding another creature to the list of things that Hercules killed
Cerberus: Cerberus was Hades’s guard dog. He had 3 heads and he protected the underworld from people trying to bring back the dead. He also prevented the dead from leaving the underworld. One of Hercules’s tasks was to take Cerberus back and show him to the king.
Chimera: The Chimera was a goat with the head of a lion and the tail of a snake head. The snake head spat poison and the lion head spat fire. Hercules killed it. I can imagine that it must have been hard. If you were far away, it would spit poison. If you were close up, it would spit fire. Either way, it would probably kill you.
Medusa: Medusa was an ugly snake lady that could turn you to stone with one look. Her hair was made of snakes. (It added to the ugly effect) She was turned this way by Athena when she found Medusa and Poseidon flirting in one of her temples.
Minotaur: He was a half-bull half-man creature that inhabited the labyrinth. He was killed by a hero named Thesus. And that’s pretty much all you need to know, he is not that complicated.
Polyethimus: Polyethimus was a giant Cyclops who was a son of Poseidon. Odysseys and his men once ran into him, I’ll tell you what he did. When Odysseys and his ship landed on this island they went up to his cave and found his stock of food. But then Polyethimus came home and brought his sheep with him. He talked until he fell asleep, then the men came up with an idea. When he woke up, they jabbed a stick into his one eye and that made him partially blind. So when he opened the door (which was a giant rock, by the way) and the men hid below the sheep. So when Polyethimus felt the sheep he did not know that the men were escaping. Then the men left the island forever.
Heroes
Hercules: Hercules was born to a very large family. His dad was the god named Zeus. When he grew older him and his wife wanted to have children. But Hera was jealous of all of his successes so she made him go insane so he killed his kids and soon felt bad so he went to the temple of the gods to beg for forgiveness they told him to go to this king and do whatever he wants.
The first thing the king told Hercules to was go kill the lion that is torturing the king’s people. When he got to the lion, he fought it for hours and finally strangled it. When he brought it back to the king, he got scared.
The king next told him to go kill the Hydra that lives in the Argos Marshes along with His nephew. When he got there, he immediately started fighting the snake heads, but every time he would cut a head off two more would grow back. So, he got a torch, and when he cut off a head, he would burn the stump so no more heads would grow. When it died, Heracles put the edge of his bow and arrow in the poison the snake had and was going to use it for other tasks.
When he went back to King Eurystheus, he told Hercules that he had to bring him the stag with golden antlers, but he was not allowed to hurt the deer in any way. So for one year he was chasing the deer and could never really catch up to it. Hercules finally saw it standing still on a river bank when he caught up with it. Hercules was standing in a bush very quietly. When it reached down for a drink of water, Hercules put a net over it and tied its legs together. Then suddenly, the goddess Artemis was standing right in front of Hercules and asked him what he was doing with her stag. He told her that he was doing it for one of his tasks so she said as long as you promise to bring him back you can take him. Hercules thanked her and headed back to the king. When he got back to the king, he showed it to him and then safely returned it into the woods.
When he went back to the king, he told Hercules to capture the Wild Boar that lives in Arcadia and bring it back here, ALIVE. The next day, when he was on the way to the Wild Boar, he saw a Centaur. A Centaur has a horse body and a human head. The centaur was happy and invited Hercules to have a meal with him. But the other centaurs were disgusted with the two when they smelled the food since they weren’t invited. So, they started throwing things at them and Hercules got his bow and arrow and started shooting at them. Eventually, they gave up and went away. The next morning, Hercules left and started looking for the boar again. Then, after five days of looking for the Wild Boar, he finally saw tracks from the boar in snow on a mountain. Hercules followed the tracks until he could see the beast. He stood very quietly behind a rock. Then, he jumped out and tied it up in chains and brought it to the king.
Then, King Eurystheus told Hercules to go clean King Augeas stables. After that, the King told him that it is Imperative to have it done in one day. When he got to King Augeas he told him that King Eurystheus told him to come clean them up. King Augeas told him they haven’t been cleaned in years. So Hercules got up the next morning and started walking to the stables. When he got to the stables, he found that there was cow manure all over in the stables. Then, he had an idea! He was going to build a trench for the water from the river to go through the barn so the water could clean out the barn and the water would go out on the other side. When it was done cleaning, all the water went out to sea and Hercules reburied the trench so no more water could get back in. Right before Hercules left, King Augeas thanked him for what he had done. But, when Hercules got back to King Eurystheus was furious when he found out that he finished in one day so he thought of something even more difficult for him to do.
King Eurystheus told Hercules that he had to get rid of the Stymphalian Birds that live in Arcadia. Then, he told him that he has to get rid of them. So he started walking to Arcadia and he finally found where the birds lived. But, he couldn’t think of how to get rid of the birds so he prayed to the goddess Athena. She appeared and gave him a rattle to shake. She said that when he shook it, it would scare the birds and they would fly away. He did what she said and they flew away.
When he went back to the king for another task, he told him to go to the island of Crete and bring back fire breathing bull ALIVE. So he got on a boat and sailed to the island of Crete. When he got to the island, the bull saw Hercules and it charged at him. When the bull hit Hercules, he fell on the bulls back and he landed on its back. The bull tried bucking it off but Hercules was too strong to fall off. Eventually, the bull gave up and Hercules brought it back to the King.
When Hercules got back to the king, the king told him to bring back the flesh eating horses. So he went off on a journey to where the horses lived and when he got there, he was invited in by the owner of the horses. But that night, he told his men that he had heard that the owner fed his guests to the horses. So none of them slept that night out of premonition. The next morning, they snuck out and took the horses. But the other guy’s men were hot on there tails. So he asked one of his men to stay and watch the horses. So Hercules and his men fought and won, but his friend got eaten by the horses.
When Hercules got back to the king, he said that he had to go get the Amazon’s Queen’s Belt. After a long journey to the Amazons they finally made it. When he told her why he had come, she said that she was happy give them the Golden Belt. But one of the men had a false premonition about het, and killed her as she was giving it to Hercules. So there was a big battle and Hercules and his men killed all of the amazonians.
Another one of hercules’s tasks, was to take the cattle of Geryon. Geryon was a three headed ogre who had lots of cattle. So hercules sailed to his island, shot an arrow at him, took the cattle, and went back to the king. (I know, that was pretty short.)
The next task Hercules had to do was getting a Golden Apple and bring it back to the king. So when hercules found the tree, there was a dragon guarding them. So he asked Atlas what to do. Atlas was the person who held the sky up. He said that only he could pick the apples off of the tree. So hercules went and killed the dragon then Atlas had Hercules hold the sky up while Atlas was picking the apples, and when Atlas got back Hercules took the Apples and Atlas held onto the sky again. Then Hercules brought them back to the king.
His final task was to bring back Cerberus for the king to see. So he went to the underworld to ask hades if he could borrow Cerberus. Hades agreed, as long as he remembered to take him back. So Hercules carried Cerberus all of the way back to the king. (Remember, Cerberus was 50 feet tall and weighed more than 3 tons.) Anyway, hercules was done with his tasks so he left the king and lived a happy life.
Perseus: One day, a fisherman found a box floating in the ocean. Inside the box, was a woman and a baby. They had been put there by the woman’s dad. He had heard from a prophecy that he would be killed by his own grandson. But he did not want to kill him, so he just put them in a box in the ocean and hoped they would drown or starve. Anyway, the fisherman took them to king Polydectes, who was very generous. Perceus grew up to be very strong and brave. But he knew that King Polydectes wanted to marry his mother.
One day the king decided to send Perceus on a dangerous quest so that maybe Perceus’s mom would marry him. So he told Perceus to go and kill Medusa. He knew that many brave people had tried to kill her, and none had succeeded. Perceus knew this as well, but he could not refuse a challenge. So he set off for Medusa. Soon, the goddess Athena appeared and gave him a shiny shield. Then, Hermes came and gave him a sickle, winged boots and a bag. So he flew over to the cave/island that Medusa lived in and went inside. He used the shiny shield that Athena gave him to look at her and not be turned to stone. When he got close, he swung the sickle and cut her head off. Then he put it in the bag and flew home.
But on the way, he found a girl chained to a rock. She said that her name was Andromeda, and that her father had put her there as a sacrifice to the gods. A sea monster was scheduled to eat her any minute. Then, suddenly, a gigantic sea serpent rose from the ocean! But Perceus turned it to stone with his Medusa head! Then, he took her home and married her.
Many years later, Perceus was competing in the Olympics. But when he threw his discus, a cross breeze blew it off course and it hit a person in the audience. It was his grandfather! The prophecy had come true! He was killed by his own grandson!
Odysseus: Odysseus was part of the group of people in the Trojan horse. But when they decided to go home, that is when things got weird. Later on, on the way home, they ran out of food. So he had to stop at an island to see if it had food. When they got there, he sent 10 men out to see if anybody lived here. But when they didn’t return, he took 10 more men to go looking for them. They found a house and went inside. But Odysseus suspected something, so when he looked in the window and saw his men being turned into pigs, he just about lost it. There was a woman in there and she had a magic wand. She was using it to turn everyone into pigs! So he went in there and tricked her out of the wand. Then said that he wouldn’t give it back until she fixed his men. So she was forced to fix them. Then, she gave them some food and water and sent them on their way.
Later, they got low on food again. So they stopped on the next island that they saw. You would think that they would learn after the first island… So they got there and decided to go exploring. They found a cave with lots of food. But soon, a Cyclops came home and rolled a big rock across the door to keep his herd of sheep inside. He asked him what his name was so Odysseus said “Nobody”. So they talked for about 5 minutes but then the Cyclops ate one of the men. Then one of the men said that they should just kill the Cyclops. But then a smarter person said that they would never be able to move the rock. So instead, in the morning, they jabbed a stick into his eye, temporarily blinding him. Then, they hid under the sheep, so when he felt the sheep to make sure that they were sheep, not free meals, he never knew that they were escaping. Then they got into their ship and left the island. When he got back, he prayed to the goddess Athena for a disguise. So he became disguised as a poor person. Then, he went up to the palace but found out that his wife was holding a competition to find Odysseus. They had to do challenges so she could find out who was the real Odysseus. So they had to use Odysseus’s bow and arrow and shoot a hole through 12 axes. No one could even bend the bow string. But when Odysseus tried, he did it easily. So then she asked him to go into their room and move the bed. But then he said: I can’t, I built that bed into a tree in the corner of the room. So then she said: You are Odysseus! And his disguise melted away, and they lived happily ever after!
