Greek Myths

1. Theogony: Clash of the Titans

According to Hesiod’s Theogony, in the beginning, there was only Chaos. Dense darkness covered everything until the Earth was born out of Chaos and the mountains, the sea, and then the sky (Uranus) with the sun, the moon and the stars. Then Uranus and Earth came together and gave birth to the Titans. But, Uranus was afraid that one of his children would take his throne. That is why he enclosed every one of them in the depths of the Earth. But his son, Cronus, the strongest of the Titans, defeated him and became world leader. He married Rhea, who gave birth to two gods and three goddesses: Hades, Poseidon, Hera, Hestia and Demeter.But Cronus inherited the fear of his father and believed that one of his offspring would later take his throne. So, when they were born, he swallowed them. However, Rhea was expecting a sixth child and fearing it would share the same fate with her other children, she secretly gave birth on a mountain in Crete and hid the newborn there. She named the child Zeus. She also tricked Cronus into thinking he swallowed this child too, by giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which Cronus swallowed thinking it was his newborn. The Nymphs took care of Zeus and fed the baby with the milk of a goat. When he grew up, Zeus found his father and tricked him into drinking a mixture of wine and mustard, which caused him to disgorge the contents of his stomach. Zeus’ older brothers and sisters came out of Cronus fully grown! This is how the great Titanomachy began, the war between the Titans and the Gods, with Zeus as their leader. This titanic battle lasted for ten years. The gods defeated the Titans and threw them into Tartarus, a dark and gloomy place as far from the earth as earth is from the sky. Then the gods fought with the Giants for the dominance of the world. The Gigantomachy lasted a long time as well. But the gods were again victorious. Thus, Zeus became the ruler of the whole world and he and the other gods settled in Olympus.

2. Prometheus and the Theft of Fire

One day, Zeus distributed gifts to all the gods, but he didn't care much for humans. The Titan Prometheus, however, because he loved and felt sorry for humans, climbed up on Olympus and stole the fire from Hephaestus' workshop, put it in a hollow reed and gifted it to the humans. This way, humans could create fire, warm up and make tools. Zeus became very angry when he heard about this. He took Prometheus to a high mountain, the Caucasus, and chained him on a rock with thick chains made by the smith god, Hephaestus. And every day, Zeus would send an eagle that ate Prometheus’ liver. For thirty years Prometheus remained bound in the Caucasus, until the great hero Hercules, Zeus’ demigod son, released him finally from his torment.

3. Pandora’s Box

After Prometheus gave the fire to humans, Zeus decided to take vengeance. He ordered Hephaestus to create the first human woman out of soil and water. Each god gave the woman a gift: Athena gave her wisdom, Aphrodite beauty, Hermes cunning and so on. The name of the woman was Pandora (meaning “all gifts” in Greek). Zeus gave Pandora a jar, warning her not to open it under any circumstances and sent her to Prometheus’ brother, Epimetheus. Prometheus had warned his brother not to accept any gifts from Zeus. However, Epimetheus accepted Pandora who, although tried hard to resist the temptation, opened the jar and released all evils upon the world. Hatred, war, death, hunger, sickness and all the disasters were immediately released. 

4. The Abduction of Persephone by Hades

Persephone was the daughter of Demeter and Zeus. As Persephone grew, so did her beauty. When Hades, the god of the Underworld, saw her, he immediately fell in love with her and decided to abduct her. According to the Homeric Hymn to Demeter, one sunny day the young Persephone was gathering flowers in a field, accompanied by her close friends, the Ocean Nymphs. The carefree Persephone moved away from her companions in search of the most beautiful flower. When she reached out to pluck a wondrous narcissus, Earth yawned open and Hades appeared in his golden chariot and snatched her away to the Underworld while she was in tears. Demeter was looking in vain for her daughter day and night. The land and crops of the earth began to wither. After a while, the Sun, looking at everything from the sky, felt sorry for the goddess and told her what happened. Demeter went to Zeus and demanded that Persephone be returned, or else she would not let the earth blossom again.

Zeus sent the Messenger God, Hermes, to Hades with the command to release Persephone. Before returning her to Hermes, Hades forced Persephone to eat six pomegranate seeds. Hades knew that if someone ate food in the Underworld, they could never really escape the world of the dead. Persephone was shortly after reunited with her mother. However, Demeter was furious when she heard about the pomegranate seeds. Zeus then proposed a compromise: for every seed Persephone had eaten, she would spend a month with Hades. Demeter accepted Zeus’ proposal. Thus, Persephone would travel to the Underworld every six months during which time Demeter would mourn and the earth with her. But after six months, Persephone would return to her and Demeter would be happy again and the earth would blossom once again!

5. Theseus and the Minotaur

In Greek Mythology, Minos' son, Androgeos, has been “treacherously killed” while he was in Athens. Minos immediately sought revenge from the Athenians and as retribution he had them send to Crete several youths every seven or nine years to be devoured by Minotaur, a terrifying monster, half man half bull. The young Athenians were thrown into a dark maze, full of arcades and dead ends, wandering aimlessly, until the Minotaur would find them. Theseus, the son of the king of Athens Aegeus, did not endure this humiliation and demanded to be among the seven young men that were to be sent for the third time to the labyrinth. So, he arrived in Crete and met Minos' daughter, Ariadne, with whom he fell in love.

Ariadne then gave Theseus a lame spinner (known as Ariadne's thread) and advised him to tie his end to the entrance of the labyrinth and unwrap it so that he could find the exit after killing Minotaur. Theseus entered the dark arcades holding the mite and managed to kill the Minotaur by cutting off his head, thus ending Minos' blood rage. Then he managed to return to the exit, following Ariadne’s thread. Theseus took Ariadne with him on his boat and began the journey to Athens. However, they made a stop on the island of Naxos, where they celebrated their love. While on the island, the god Dionysus appeared in Theseus' dream and told him that he had to leave the island without Ariadne since she was meant to stay there and become Dionysus' wife. Ariadne stayed in Naxos and married Dionysus, while Theseus returned to Athens. The two lovers never met again…

6. Daedalus and Icarus

The labyrinth in King Mino’s palace was designed by a famous inventor and engineer, Daedalus. It is said that Athena herself taught Daedalus. King Minos commissioned to Daedalus and his son Icarus the construction of the labyrinth that would held the monster Minotaur. After finishing their work, King Minos imprisoned father and son inside the labyrinth, in an effort to prevent knowledge of his labyrinth from spreading to the public. Father and son were thinking hard on how to escape until Daedalus came up with an idea. They gathered a lot of feathers from birds and glued them together with wax thus, making four large wings. They tied the wings to each shoulder and fled from the island of Crete. Daedalus had warned Icarus not to fly close to the sun because the wax would melt. After passing the island of Delos, the boy, forgetting himself, flew high towards the sun. The hot sun softened the wax that held the feathers together and Icarus fell in the sea and drowned. Daedalus named the place where his son fell Icaria, in his memory.

7. The 12 Labors of Hercules

Hercules is the most famous hero of Greek Mythology and well-known for his twelve labors. He was a demigod, son of Zeus and Alcmene. Hera, the wife of Zeus, hated Hercules and wanted to kill him. Driven mad by the goddess, Hercules killed his own sons by his wife Megara. After realizing what he did, he traveled to Delphi and asked Apollo how he could atone for his actions. Pythia, the Oracle of Apollo, told him to go to Tiryns and serve his cousin, King Eurystheus, for twelve years. Eurystheus, loathing his cousin, set him to complete twelve impossible labors. He ordered him to: 1) slay the Nemean Lion, 2) slay the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra, 3) capture the Golden Hind of Artemis, 4) capture the Erymanthian Boar, 5) clean the Augean stables in a single day, 6) slay the Stymphalian Birds, 7) capture the Cretan Bull, 8) steal the Mares of Diomedes, 9) obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, 10) obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon, 11) steal the golden apples of the Hesperides, and 12) capture and bring back Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades. Hercules managed to complete all twelve labors and free himself from the service of Eurystheus, having atoned for the killing of his sons. Many more adventures followed until he found a tragic death from his wife, Megara.

8. The Myth of Narcissus and Echo

Echo was a wood Nymph, cursed by Hera to not be able to speak properly, but rather repeat the last words addressed to her. One day, she was wandering around the mountains, until she saw a handsome young man that no one could resist his charm, Narcissus. The Nymph fell in love with the youth, but could not speak to him because of Hera’s curse. So, she was following him from the shadows, silently and in love, waiting patiently for the proper moment. At some point, Narcissus felt her presence and asked “Is anybody here?”, to which Echo replied “here”. A confusing and repetitive conversation followed until Narcissus called her to come out and make love with him. But, as soon as Echo stepped out, Narcissus told her that he’d rather die than give himself to a wood nymph.

Echo, heartbroken, took refuge in a cave and lost her appetite for food or water. After a while, poor Echo started growing skinny from starvation until her body disappeared, living only dust and her voice. Nemesis, the goddess of revenge against those who show hubris, decided to punish Narcissus for the treatment of poor Echo. The goddess made Narcissus fall in love with his own reflection that he saw in a pond near Echo’s cave. Narcissus could not leave his own reflection out of love and starved to death, like Echo. But, before he dies, Narcissus cried out to his reflection “Farewell, dear boy. Beloved in vain.” Echo’s voice repeated his last words from the cave as Narcissus drew his last breath. To this day, Echo still repeats the last words or phrases in caves or labyrinths.

9. King Midas and his Golden Touch

In Greek Mythology, Midas was the king of Phrygia and ruled from his castle and its beautiful garden in which “roses grow of themselves, each bearing sixty blossoms and of surpassing fragrance”, according to Herodotus. One day, some of Midas’ people found a drunken old man near the garden and brought him before the king. Midas recognized the old man, who was god Dionysus’ closest reveler, the satyr Silenus. Instead of punishing him, Midas hosted the satyr for ten days, offering him food, drinks and entertaining him. When he returned him safely to Dionysus, the god felt gratitude and offered Midas to grant him any wish he had. Midas, motivated by his greed, asked that he should be able to turn into gold everything he touched. At first, Midas gained great wealth and power from his unique ability. But he later realized that it was more of a curse than a gift. Even the water and the food that he touched was turning into gold. He could not enjoy even the simplest joys in life anymore. Midas went back to Dionysus and begged him to take back his power.

10. The Myth of Leto

Leto was a female Titan and a favorite lover of Zeus in his early days. While she was pregnant with Zeus’ children, Zeus married goddess Hera. As expected, Hera was furious and very jealous of Leto for bearing her husband’s children. She did everything in her power to make the life of Leto difficult and tried her best not to allow her to give birth to Zeus’ children. She pushed Leto out of Olympus. While Leto was wandering on Earth, no man would open his house for her, fearing the wrath of Hera. On top of that, Hera had the huge serpent Python to chase her. Zeus saved Leto by sending the North Wind, Boreas, to carry her out to the sea. Finally, a desolate, rocky island named Delos accepted her, having nothing to lose. Leto gave birth first to Artemis and nine days later to Apollo. The children would later grow up to become powerful gods and members of the Greek Pantheon. Trained by their mother, they became very skilled archers. However, Hera’s vengeance did not end there. She continued tormenting Leto, having Python chase her everywhere. Finally, only four years old, Apollo killed Python in Delphi.