Richard Marcus - Introduction to Greek Mythology for Kids: A Fun Collection of the Best Heroes, Monsters, and Gods in Greek Myth

Introduction to Greek Mythology for Kids

Learn About Zeus Heracles Medusa Aphrodite and More!

A Fun Collection of The Best Heroes, Monsters, and Gods in Greek Myth

Richard Marcus, Natalie Buczynsky, Jonathan Shelnutt

Text 2011, 2021 Richard Marcus, Natalie Buczynsky, and Jonathan Shelnutt. Concept and design 2011, 2021 Ulysses Press and its licensors. All rights reserved. Any unauthorized duplication in whole or in part or dissemination of this edition by any means (including but not limited to photocopying, electronic devices, digital versions, and the internet) will be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.

Published in the United States by:

Ulysses Press

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Berkeley, CA 94703

www.ulyssespress.com

ISBN: 978-1-64604-191-6

ISBN: 978-1-64604-216-6 (ebook)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2021931325

Acquisitions editor: Claire Sielaff

Managing editor: Claire Chun

Editor: Richard Harris

Copyeditor: Bill Cassel

Proofreader: Kathy Kaiser

Production assistant: Yesenia Lopez-Garcia

Cover images: from shutterstock.com Zeus delcarmat; Hera rudall30; ornament Vasilius; background rudall30

Interior images: see

NOTE TO READERS: This book is independently authored and published, and no sponsorship or endorsement of this book by, and no affiliation with, any movies, television shows, characters, or trademarked products mentioned within is claimed or suggested. All movies, television shows, characters, and trademarked products that appear in this book belong to their respective owners and are used here for informational purposes only. The authors and publisher encourage readers to patronize the quality movies, shows, and other products mentioned in this book.

To the one who makes Zeus look like a tiny spark.

J. S. and N. B.

To Eriana Marcus, still the brightest light illuminating my path.

R. M.

A note on spellings and pronunciations in this book: Ancient Greek was written in a different alphabet than we use today, and through the ages and various translations, a number of different spellings have been used for the names of the gods, beasts, and monsters. Weve elected to follow the most common spellings used today.

GRECO-ROMAN GODS and goddesses can do a lot of miraculous things. They can make themselves tiny or huge, transform themselves into any animal imaginable from serpents to swans, hurl lightning bolts, appear and vanish at will, or turn the tides of battles. But theres one thing they cannot do: They cant die. They are immortal.

The origins of the gods are lost in the mists of time, long before the first of the ancient Greeks were born, but date back to earlier civilizations such as the Persians (4000 B.C.), Northern Indians (3100 B.C.), Mesopotamians (3000 B.C.), and Egyptians (2600 B.C.). At least one mythological being common to Egyptian, Greek, and Roman traditions can be traced back to sculptures erected in Turkey around 9500 B.C.

Tales of gods, goddesses, heroes, and monsters were told by firelight in nomads camps, priestly temples, and echoing palaces. But today, most of them are forgotten. For the most part, they were never written down. Priests and itinerant poets memorized the myths word for word during apprenticeship and later were hired to recite them during long nights that were otherwise short on entertainment of any kind. But poets sometimes died without passing their tales on to apprentices, and over centuries many stories were lost along with their tellers.

Amazingly, the oral traditions of antiquity did manage to keep some myths alive over thousands of years and spread them across many lands. These myths were still being told in the warlord-ruled city-states that would later become the Greek Empire. The largest body of Greek mythology was built up around the nine-year-long Trojan War, which probably took place around 1200 B.C. The legends of this war focused on the roles the gods of Olympus played in starting the war and steering its outcome.

Most scholars believe that the stories of the Trojan War were pulled together into two huge epic poems about 500 years later. It is hard to believe that a single poet could memorize and recite either The Iliad or The Odyssey (as the two epics came to be known). Today, translated into English and published in book form, The Iliad runs about 700 pages, and The Odyssey, 500 pages. It takes a long time to read them, never mind memorize them. But maybe the storytellers of that era didnt have to. For at about the same timethe early 8th century B.C.Greek scholars rediscovered tablets containing a Phoenician alphabet that had been lost centuries earlier in the collapse of the Mycenaean civilization, around the same time as the Trojan War. They adapted it to their own language, and for the first time, it became possible to read and write Greek.

Homer

Soon after Greek emerged as a written language, someone known as Homer set about recording The Iliad and later The Odyssey on papyrus scrolls. With that act, the two epic poems became the very first European literary works, and the gods and goddesses of ancient Greece became truly immortal.

Oddly enough, Homer never wrote down anything about himself, and to this day no one knows anything about who he was. He may have been as mythical as the gods and monsters he wrote about. For centuries, educated Greeks referred to the anonymous authors of all long-written poems as Homer, using the name as a synonym for author. Modern scholars argue endlessly about the Homer question, but most now concede that stylistic factors in both The Iliad and The Odyssey show each bookat least in the final versionwas written by a single person, and that person probably wrote both books.

The Greek gods formed the foundation of all religion in ancient Greece. Each of the Olympian gods had his or her own cult of priests, priestesses, and followers who came together to petition for the gods favor with ceremonies and animal sacrifices. Worship took place in temples dedicated to specific gods and goddesses. Some were modest, like roadside shrines to Hermes or forest clearings where early rituals honoring Dionysus were held. Others were the most impressive architectural accomplishments of the era, such as the Parthenon, located in the center of the Greek capital at Athens and dedicated to its patron goddess, Athena. With such tangible evidence of the presence and power of their gods, for centuries it never occurred to most people that the deities they worshipped might be mere campfire legends without physical existence. Unquestionably, in their minds, the Olympians were as real as wheat crops, thunderstorms, and war.

The Parthenon in Athens.

The same was true of the many fearsome monsters that populated