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How the ancient greeks viewed their gods
Greek mythology gods
Greek and Roman gods
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Growing up, personally I have had to learn about Greek mythology since about 5th grade. We learned all of the main Gods and Goddesses like Zeus, Hera, Athena, and so on, but there is so much more to the Greek Gods than just that. For instance, I vaguely remember learning about the Goddess Gaia. What I remember is that she was the Goddess was Mother Earth, but it turns out there is SO much more to her than meets the 5th grade eye.
Gaia was one of the primordial deities and was the “great mother of all” and the primal Greek Mother Goddess. She is considered the creator and giver of birth to the Earth and all of the universe, the Gods, Titans, and Giants. On her own she gave birth to Uranus, Pontus, and Ourea. With Uranus they conceived the 3 Cyclopses, the Hecatonchires, and the Titans. Pontus and Gaia made the sea-gods; Ceto, Phorcys, Eurybia, Nereus, and Thaumas. Antaeus, Charybdis, and Laistrygon were fathered by Poseidon and Kreousa and Triptolemos were the children of Oceanus with Gaia. It is also presumed that with Tartarus she mothered Typhon, Campe, and Echidna although it is more commonly thought that Echidna was the child of Ceto and Phorcys. Gaia also gave birth to Manes with Zeus and Erichthonius of Athens with Hephaestus. Some say that Uranus was the child of Aether and Gaia, but is better known to be the child of Gaia alone, but did mother Aergia with Aether. Finally Pheme, Cecrops, and Python had either unknown fathers or were born through parthenogenesis.
Most scholars interpret Hesiod’s Theogony to say that Gaia arose after Chaos to be the everlasting seat of the immortals who possess Olympus above, and the depths of Tartarus below. He then says that’s Gaia brought forth her equal Uranus(sky) to “cover her on eve...
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...within him is pitiless as bronze: whomsoever of men he has once seized he holds fast: and he is hateful even to the deathless gods.” In this passage by one of Homer’s writings, Thanatos , the god of death and his brother Hypnos, the god of sleep, are depicted as twins and the sons of Nyx. Although rarely appearing in person and was a minor figure in Greek Mythology, Thanatos was often referred to in stories and Greek life. Like himself, most of his siblings were negative personifications such as Old Age, Suffering, Doom, Deception, Blame, Strife, Retribution, and even the Acherousian/Stygian boatman Charon. Thanatos was loosely associated with the three Moirai, particularly Atropos, who was the goddess of death in her own right. He was usually thought to be the god of a peaceful death rather than the bloodthirsty and more violent Keres who embodies violent death.
She demonstrates common traits of mothers in this text that outline the role of a mother. Primarily Gaia expresses the need to birth children as one of the key roles for a mother in this text. The need to bear children is specifically expressed when Gaia has her children shoved back into her womb by their father Ouranos and groans in pain “Ouranos, with joy in his wicked work, hid it in Gaia’s womb and did not let it return to the light. Huge Gaia groaned within herself” (157-159) The groaning pain described in the text represents the need for a mother to give birth and have children to care for and protect. The pain of the childless mother is seen again when Demeter, the mother of Persephone, looses her daughter to Hades “Against her will he seized her and on his golden chariot carried her away as she wailed; and she raised a shrill cry, calling upon her father Kronides, the highest and the best.” (19-21) In more detail we see how a mother suffers when she is denied her children as Demeter searches for her stolen daughter “For nine
Athena was the goddess of war and wisdom. Daughter of Zeus and Metis, but born from only Zeus. Gaea the Earth goddess told Zeus that his child would u...
Hermes is also known for his many love affairs with numerous mortals, goddesses, and nymphs. In the Odyssey he serves as a messenger and is sent to Kalypso to tell her that she must let Odysseus off her island. The next person, Helios, is actually not a god, but rather a titan. He is the son of Hyperion and Thea and represents the sun, and his sisters Serena and Eos represent the night and the dawn. An easy way to remember him is that “Helios” is a root word from Greek for sun.
Many Greek gods were seen as both benefactors and tormentors, typically it depends on which god or goddess you are researching about. The seemingly contradictory behavior of the gods, acting as both benefactors and tormentors of man, can readily be explained when viewed in light of the prime directive for man, to worship the gods and not “overstep,” and the ensuing “Deus ex Mahina” which served to coerce man to fulfill his destiny as evidenced by the myths: “Pandora,” “Arachne, and “Odysseus.” Humankind and it’s range of vision over the gods beauty and power portrayed them to be benefactors but unseemingly it depicted their affliction towards humans.
In the beginning, it all started with the gods and goddesses Cronus (God of the Sky) and Rhea (Goddess of the Earth). They met and got married. While they were married they produced six offspring. These offspring would turn out to be some of the most famous in mythology. The offspring consisted of Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and of course, the famous Zeus. Poseidon was the oldest son to be born from these two. Unfortunately when the offspring were born Cronus devoured most, even though Rhea tried many times to keep that from happening. Finally when Zeus was born she tricked Cronus into thinking it was his own son, when handed to him, and he eat him like all the others. But after doing so, Rhea told Cronus that she had given him a stone wrapped up in a blanket. Zeus later overthrew his father and released all of his other kin. After overthrowing Cronus, Zeus took over the ruler of the kingdom. With him taking the thrown on Mt. Olympus, he chose Hades to rule the underworld and Poseidon to look after the sea and land. Poseidon was a very powerful god and ruled with fury. He was made the god of waters in general and of the sea in particular (1). He is an equal in dignity to Zeus but not in power. This is important because it does not allow Poseidon to question his br...
When we look at Greek Mythology we often run into the gods of that era. Sometimes they are merely backdrops to the human element of the story but in stories such as The Odyssey the gods play a prominent if not vital role to the central themes of the story.
Her family is very large and some of it is on the wrong side and by wrong I mean the Titans' side. Gaia and Chaos are Nike's grandparents. They are both Titans. Gaia is said to be referred to as Mother Earth. On the other hand, Chaos is the Titan god with no direction or orientation. Her mother's name is Styx. She is the daughter of Ocean. Styx is the eldest of her siblings. The reason why ...
The Greeks believed that the earth was formed before any of the gods appeared. The gods, as the Greeks knew them, all originated with Father Heaven, and Mother Earth. Father Heaven was known as Uranus, and Mother Earth, as Gaea. Uranus and Gaea raised many children. Amoung them were the Cyclopes, the Titans, and the Hecatoncheires, or the
The main controversy lies in the fact that the name Gaia comes from an ancient Greek goddess (Mother Earth). Since Gaia’s origins, it seems as if she was the most venerated among the Greek gods: "Free of birth or destruction, of time or space, form or condition, is the Void. From the eternal Void, Gaia danced forth and rolled herself into a spinning ball. She molded mountains along her spine, valleys in the hollows of her flesh. Unceasingly the Earth Mother manifested gifts on her surface and accepted the death into her body. In return, she was revered by all mortals. From within the darkness of her secrets, Gaia received their gifts" (Spretnak 47-48).
1.Like his father before him, Kronos was the god of the sky, ruler of all. Also like is father, Kronos feared the Hundred-Hand Giants, and Cyclopes. Kronos ignored Gaea's promise, so he through his brothers, Hundred-Hand Giants, and Cyclopes, and imprisoned in Tarturus. Gaea is the goddess of the earth and prophecy. Gaea got upset with Kornos for throwing Hundred-Hand Giants, and Cyclopes in Tarurus, and said someday your son will over
There are many gods and goddesses, but only one can be the queen. Hera, also known as Juno in her Roman form, was the goddess of marriage, women, and birth (Facts, Pg. 2,3). The daughter of Cronus and Rhea, had five siblings: Demeter, Hestia, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus (Facts, Pg. 3 and Olympian Gods, Pg. 2). Hera became the Queen of the Gods after she married her brother, Zeus, who was the ruler of the gods. Together, they had five children: Ares, Eileithyia, Eris, Hebe, and Hephaestus (Hera, Pg. 1,2). Hera’s life was overtaken with her revenge against Zeus and her jealousy towards her husband’s many lovers.
The gods and goddesses were thought to control different parts of the universe. For example, Zeus is the king of the gods, controlled weather. Or like Athena who was the goddess of wisdom. You learn about different gods and goddesses in myths. A myth is a story about a god or goddess. Homer, a blind poet, is famous for telling myths. He told myths because no one could read or write.
The goddesses Played a vital role in Greek society for they were responsible for many aspects of Greek. life, i.e., a life of a child. birth, harvest, etc. Accompanying the 6 major goddesses (Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Hestia, Demeter and Artemis) we have the lesser divinities such as the Muses, the Graces, the Fates, etc. The second level of women used in Greek mythology is that of the human.
In both myths Gods and Goddesses, as well as royalty, were a part of each of the children’s parentage. Romulus and Remus were born to Mars a Roman God, and Princess Rhea Silva (Garcia 1). Aeneas was born to the Goddess Aphrodite and a member of the junior branch
Throughout studying many myths, I came up with many new observations. Many questions came into my mind about these myths. Greek mythology takes us back to a time when people had a connection with nature and when nature played a major role in people’s lives. The religious beliefs of the people who wrote the myths are found in the background of these myths; however, they are not to be read like religious texts. The myths try to offer explanations of “how”, which makes us think deeply about the purpose of these myths and the questions they draw to our minds. According to the myths we studied in class, the world created the gods, not the other way around. The gods were always created in the image of man, which shows how much men were important in their society. Furthermore, many of these Greek myths show us the difference between the views of the Greek then and our view towards many aspects of the society, including nature. Monsters appear in Greek myths and have different representations and roles. Greek mythology reflects a view of the Greeks towards the world and how certain aspects of their lives are similar and different to modern society.