T he d i n mo u n ta i n s a nd o c e a n s. Together, Erebos and Nyx created Aether, or brightness, and Hemera, the day. Finally, Chaos created Erebus, or darkness, and Nyx, the night. Next to appear from Chaos after Gaia was Tartarus, the underworld, and Eros, or love. She also made the god Ouranos, or the heavens, to rest above her. Alone, she created the spiraling mountains where the rest of the gods would eventually live, as well as the sparkling sea, which lay over the land.

The first and most powerful of all the gods to spring from Chaos was Gaia-the Earth. Chaos appeared with a massive yawn, and suddenly everything else came into being. This was the great chasm that was the universe. These are the stories of the very first gods and goddesses, the mystical beings who forged the Earth and set rules for all others to follow. The myths were their way of making sense of the past, even as far back as how the world was created. To the ancient Greeks, myths were the same as history-they believed that all of the fantastical events in them had really happened once upon a time. It was believed that the gods controlled every part of life. The ancient Greeks worshiped lots of gods, many of whom were part of the same family tree. Some city-states were islands, and sailing was the fastest way to trade goods and travel. There are many islands in Greece, and ships were a particularly important mode of transportation for the ancient Greeks. Instead, there were lots of independent city-states- individual cities and areas that were ruled by kings or governments. Many of the myths about the gods happen in the cities and islands of ancient Greece.Īncient Greece was not one big country like it is today. Ancient Greece was not a country, but people were connected by speaking the same language and worshiping the same gods. Their civilization existed from around 1200 bce to 600 ce. The ancient Greeks lived in the area around modernday Greece thousands of years ago. T he n s ha s A f o y t i c T he d e t f i o b r a h n i n e e b s o f ye a r s. By sharing them here, together, we are carrying on that tradition. But luckily for me, and you, the way that the ancient Greeks included myths in every part of their lives ensured that these stories would survive for thousands of years. This was something I found out very quickly when I started learning about ancient Greece. It is impossible to understand the ancient Greeks without understanding their myths and what these stories meant to them. They painted them on tableware, performed them in theatres, and even referenced them in courts of law. Myths were how the ancient Greeks understood the world around them.

The stories about these figures are the Greek myths. The ancient Greek civilization stretched across the Mediterranean, but all parts shared many of the same gods and heroes. Pronunciation guide Glossary Index Acknowledgments Greek storytelling Greek vases Mythical beings Monsters of myth Named for the myths Worshiping the gods Mount Olympus The underworld The Twelve Labors of Heracles Odysseus’s Voyage The Adventures of AtalantaĪBOUT THE MYTHS 138 140 142 144 146 148 150 152 Jason and the Argonauts Theseus and the Minotaur Aphrodite and hephaestus

HEROES 86 88 92 94 96 98 106 112 114 122 132Ĭadmus Builds Thebes Perseus and Medusa The Amazons Bellerophon and Pegasus Apollo AND Artemis Prometheus Makes Man Pandora’s Jar The Flood Dionysus and the Pirates Orpheus and Eurydice Hestia and Hermes The Kidnapping of Persephone hades and dionysus Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon The Sun, the Moon, and the Dawn Zeus AND HeraĪpollo and Artemis The Birth of Athena The Birth of Dionysus Hermes and the Lyre Hephaestus’s Revenge demeter and poseidon The Creation The Fall of Ouranos The Birth of Zeus The War of the Titans

War of the gods heroes charge