Greek primordial deities
Genealogy and nature[edit] The primordial gods are depicted as places or realms. A common example is Tartarus, who is depicted as the Underworld, Hell, and a bottomless abyss. His sibling, Erebus, is also depicted as a place of pitch-black darkness or a vast emptiness of space. Hesiod[edit] According to Hesiod's Theogony (ca. 700 BC): Other sources[edit] Other genealogy structures[edit] Philosophers of Classical Greece also constructed their own metaphysical cosmogonies, with their own primordial deities: Pherecydes of Syros (ca. 600–550 BC) made Chronos (time) the first deity in his Heptamychia.Empedocles (ca. 490–430 BC) wrote that Aphrodite and Ares[citation needed] were the first principles, who wove the universe out of the four elements with their powers of love and strife.Plato (ca. 360 BC) introduced the concept in Timaeus, the demiurge, modeled the universe on the Ideas. See also[edit] References[edit] External links[edit]
Was There a Trojan War?
The Size of Troy Troy appears to have been destroyed around 1180 B.C. (this date corresponds to the end of our excavation of levels Troy VIi or VIIa), probably by a war the city lost. The main argument against associating these ruins with the great city described in the Iliad has been that Troy in the Late Bronze Age was a wholly insignificant town and not a place worth fighting over. It appears that this city was, by the standards of this region at that time, very large indeed, and most certainly of supraregional importance in controlling access from the Mediterranean to the Black Sea and from Asia Minor to southeast Europe and vice versa. A spectacular result of the new excavations has been the verification of the existence of a lower settlement from the seventeenth to the early twelfth centuries B.C. The Setting of the Iliad Homer took for granted that his audience knew a war had been fought for what was alternately called Ilios or Troy. The Hittite Connection Was There A Trojan War?
Oedipus
In the most well-known version of the myth, Oedipus was born to King Laius and Queen Jocasta. Laius wished to thwart a prophecy, so left him to die on a mountainside. However, the baby was found by shepherds and raised by King Polybus and Queen Merope as their own. Oedipus learned from the oracle at Delphi of the prophecy that he would end up killing his father and marrying his mother but, unaware of his true parentage, believed he was fated to murder Polybus and marry Merope, so left for Thebes. Years later, to end a plague on Thebes, Oedipus searched to find who had killed Laius, and discovered that he himself was responsible. The legend of Oedipus has been retold in many versions, and was used by Sigmund Freud to name and give mythic precedent to the Oedipus complex. Basics of the myth[edit] After many years, Oedipus was told by a drunk that he was a "bastard", meaning at that time that he was not of the same blood to them. Events after the revelation depend on the source. Notes[edit]
Theban Cycle
Detail of clay group with mythological scene from the Theban cycle, from the area of temple A at Pyrgi, mid-fifth century BC. The Theban Cycle (Greek: Θηβαϊκὸς Κύκλος) is a collection of four lost epics of ancient Greek literature which related the mythical history of the Boeotian city of Thebes.[1] They were composed in dactylic hexameter verse and were probably written down between 750 and 500 BC. The 9th-century AD scholar and clergyman Photius, in his Bibliotheca, considered the Theban Cycle part of the Epic Cycle; however, modern scholars normally do not. The stories in the Theban Cycle were traditional ones: the two Homeric epics, the Iliad and Odyssey, display knowledge of many of them. The most famous stories in the Cycle were those of Oedipus and of the "Seven against Thebes", both of which were heavily drawn on by later writers of Greek tragedy. The epics of the Theban Cycle were as follows: Select editions and translations[edit] Critical editions[edit] Translations[edit]
Argonauts
Story[edit] After the death of King Cretheus, the Aeolian Pelias usurped the Iolcan throne from his half-brother Aeson and became king of Iolcus in Thessaly (near the modern city of Volos). Because of this unlawful act, an oracle warned him that a descendant of Aeolus would seek revenge. When Jason was 20 years old, an oracle ordered him to dress as a Magnesian and head to the Iolcan court. Another oracle warned Pelias to be on his guard against a man with one shoe. Jason was accompanied by some of the principal heroes of ancient Greece. The crew of the Argo[edit] There is no definite list of the Argonauts. Several more names are discoverable from other sources. Notes to the list[edit] Atalanta is included on the list by Pseudo-Apollodorus, but Apollonius[9] claims that Jason forbade her because she was a woman and could cause strife in the otherwise all-male crew. Adaptations of the myth[edit] Literature[edit] Film and Television[edit] A Soviet cartoon called The Argonauts was made in 1971.
Greek mythology
Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a large collection of narratives, and implicitly in Greek representational arts, such as vase-paintings and votive gifts. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a wide variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines, and mythological creatures. These accounts initially were disseminated in an oral-poetic tradition; today the Greek myths are known primarily from Greek literature. Archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles. Sources Literary sources The poetry of the Hellenistic and Roman ages was primarily composed as a literary rather than cultic exercise. Archaeological sources Survey of mythic history Origins of the world and the gods
