Instructor's Notes for Greek & Roman Mythology 101 at Practical Magicka

Homer
*wrote the Iliad, Odyssey
*Wrote around the same time or slightly before Hesiod in the 8th century BCE, but dealt with oral traditions which seem to capture much of Greek myth in an earlier stage of evolution than the subject matter of Hesiod

Hesiod
*wrote The Theogony, 8th century BCE, after Greeks adopted the Phoenician alphabet and began writing down oral traditions
*wrote around the same time or after Homer

Chaos
*a feminine void (womb) which came into being "at the time of creation (Hesiod)." It's a chasm, not a mass of energies or confusion like our modern meaning.

Gaia (Ge)
*the feminine Earth; first to be born from the void according to Hesiod
*takes over as chief womb from Chaos

Tartara (Tartarus)
*Underworlds or the Underworld; born from Chaos.
*Homer describes the underworld as a vague, formless, dark place where spirits wander hopeless forever
*Hesiod describes Tartara, or Underworld rooms

Oral tradition
*before adoption of the Phoenician alphabet, long and complicated works like the Iliad, Odyssey, and Homeric Hymns were practiced by bards and passed along
*life in the present was important; deeds that earned praise or honor or fame were almost as vital as having a male son to carry on tales of those deeds and the family legacy.
*as written works gain credence and become established, Greek society sees the known world expand and increased interaction with outer societies
*the need for a more 'comprehensive' afterlife grows- as a moral incentive, and as deeds done on earth lose importance as populations and anonymity grow

Aristophanes
*wrote between 300 and 400 years after Hesiod and Homer
*wrote that Nyx (Night, feminine) laid an egg in Erebus (Darkness, masculine), and when the egg hatched, Eros (Sexual Love, masculine) sprang out

Eros
*not romantic love; in early accounts he is simply the personification of sexual force; only much later is he represented as a youthful man, and son of Aphrodite. He is not the baby Cupid.
*enables the continued procreation of the gods and later humans. According to the Greeks, without sexual love, there would be no incentive for reproduction

Personification
*most natural phenomena, emotions, and intellectual concepts are personified (given human appearance and characteristics)

Nyx and Erebus
*give birth to Aether (Upper Air), Hemera (Day)

Gaia
*Gives birth to Ouranos (Sky), Ourea (the Mountains), Pontus (the Sea)

Ouranos and Gaia
*give birth to the Titans and the Hekatonchires

Titans
*by the time of Hesiod are mostly abstract personifications; representative of an earlier collection of gods and goddesses which were supplanted by newer hierarchies as tribes and city-states moved into areas or grew in importance
*never throw away a god you might need: new gods are incorporated as offspring or conquerors of older gods, but the old gods are not abolished, just in case
*Oceanus (masculine), often confused with Pontus, replaces Pontus
*Hyperion (masculine), original sun god
*Iapetus (masculine), Thea (feminine), Rhea (feminine), Themis (feminine), Perses (masculine), Mnemosyne (feminine), Phoebe (feminine), Tethys (feminine), Kronos (masculine)

Tethys
*marries Oceanus and produces thousands of river gods (all male) and Oceanids (all female).
*stories of her changing men into sea birds and other creatures suggests she was somewhere at some point an ancient goddess of the sea, assimilated into another pantheon through marriage

Phoebe
*"The Bright One," "She of the Golden Diadem." Possibly an early moon goddess
*bore Leto and Asteria

Iapetus
*with an Oceanid produces Menoetius ('proud thinking' or 'self-thinking'), Prometheus ('forethought'), and Epimetheus ('afterthought')

Hekatonchires
*the 100-handed ones; had 50 heads on each body
*Ouranos imprisons them inside of Gaia, which is apparently extremely uncomfortable
*Gaia begs her Titan children to help her but only Kronos was willing to stand up to Ouranos

Kronos
*waits until Ouranos comes to make love to Gaia again, then cuts off his genitals with a scythe made by Gaia, and throws the bloody genitals into the sea

Ouranos' genitals
*drops of blood on the Earth become the Erinyes (Furies), the Giants, and the Meliai (Ash tree nymphs)
from the foam around the genitals in the sea comes Aphrodite (aphros=seafoam)

Nyx
*more children now: Moros (Doom), Thanatos (Death), Hypnos (Sleep), the tribe of Dreams, and the Fates
*also gives birth to The Dooms, which are similar to the Erinyes but are never fully distinguished by Hesiod, and to Strife, and Nemesis (divine disapproval of misdeeds)

The Olympians
*Kronos and Rhea marry and give birth to Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, and Zeus
*Kronos is warned that a child of his will overthrow him, so he swallows each as its born, until Rhea gets tired and gives him a rock wrapped in swaddling to swallow instead of Zeus. Zeus is nurtured to adulthood secretly and comes back later to assert his dominance.
*6 children of Kronos and Rhea plus Aphrodite, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hermes, Hephaestus; in a few places Hekate is included, and much later, Dionysus. Also sometimes mentioned as living on Mt. Olympus are Hebe, Eileithyia, Iris
*Demeter is the grain goddess, goddess of the harvest
*"Phoebus" Apollo and Artemis are children of Zeus and Leto, daughter of Iapetus the Titan
*Poseidon is ruler of the waves, earth-shaker
*Ares is the sacker of cities, god of war, and rides into battle accompanied by Terror and Fear and a host of other personifications
*Hebe: cupbearer to the gods (later shared that responsibility with Ganymede)
*Eileithyia: goddess of childbirth; all children are born in her presence
*Athena: Zeus got Metis (Titan) pregnant but was warned that her future children would be more powerful than their father so he swallowed her; later Athena sprang fully formed from his head, armored and armed
*Hephaestus: born from Hera alone in response to Athena; master craftsman
*Hermes: trickster and messenger
*Dionysus: god of wine, harvest god

Hekate
*according to Hesiod, sister of Apollo and Artemis. Not mentioned by Homer.
*Hesiod makes no mention of her as a witch goddess or of any associations with dark, night, or death, but says she is invoked to bless and aid intent of sacrifices, and should be prayed to to benefit supplications, spells, and charms

1. Tripp, Edward, ed. The Meridian Handbook of Classical Mythology. New York: NAL Penguin Inc, 1974.
2. West, M.L., trans. Hesiod: Theogony and Works and Days. New York: Oxford University Press, 1999.