Lesson 4
This lesson, we’ll cover some well-known characters in myth, some minor gods, some titans and some sources of mythology.
Chiron
Chiron with his bow and arrow
Chiron was a centaur. Centaurs are humans from the head to the waist and horses from the waist down. Most are barbaric creatures, who only like to party and get drunk. Chiron, however, was a special case. He was the son of Kronos, making him an immortal centaur. He was also, a great teacher of heroes, training them in the ways of the gods.
He was wise and kind, a great teacher and a great friend. Some of his more famous students were Achilles, Jason and Asclepius.
Satyrs
Satyrs are creatures who are human from the head to the waist and goats from the waist down. They are the companions of the god Dionysus and the Lord of the Wild, Pan. The chief of satyrs was Silenus, an old drunkard!
Pan
Pan in the wild
Pan was the son of Hermes, an immortal satyr, god of the wild, nature, shepherds, hunting, flocks and rustic music. He was the deity of all satyrs, who idolized him. During the Titanomachy (war of the Olympians against the Titans), he uttered a guttural cry, which caused all the monsters fighting for the Titans to flee in panic. The word “panic” comes from the name “Pan”.
He is the only god to have died.
Minor Gods
These were gods that were not Olympians but played some role in mythology as well. Many are personified beings, which represent a certain thing. These are some of the more well know ones.
Hecate
Hecate in Old Crone form
She was the goddess of magic, witchcraft, herbal lore and the moon, daughter of Perses and Asteria. She was also a triadic goddess, which means she was 3 in one. In the morning, she was a maiden, during the day, a mother and at night, an old crone.
Eris
Eris, offering the golden apple of immortality
Eris was the goddess of discord and strife, daughter of Nyx. She plays a most prominent role in the start of the Trojan War, with her coup of forcing a mortal to choose whether to give a golden apple of immortality to Hera, Athena or Aphrodite.
Nemesis
Nemesis
Nemesis was the goddess of revenge and divine retribution. She punishes those who are sinful of Hubris, when a mortal is as proud as a god. She represents justice, by punishing those who need to be punished. She was the daughter of Nyx as well.
In case you haven’t realized yet, most personified deities were children of Nyx and Erebus. All the Titans were children of Gaia and Ouranos and the giants who came after them were children of Gaia by the spirit of Tartarus.
Morpheus
This was the god of dreams, depicted as a daemon with wings. His mother is Nyx, nighttime and his siblings include Thanatos (death), Hypnos (sleep), Eris (discord) and Nemesis (revenge). The drug morphine is named after him.
Titans
There were 2 generations of Titans who ruled during a so-called ‘Golden Age’ before the Olympians overthrew them. The most well-known are those from the first generation
The first generation:
The first generation:
- Oceanus: the ocean
- Hyperion: lord of light, titan of the east
- Coeus: the celestial axis
- Kronos: lord of time and leader of titans
- Crius: he had no specific title or role, grandfather to Hekate
- Iapteus: titan of mortal life
- Mnemosyne: memory, mother of the 9 muses
- Tethys: an aquatic sea goddess
- Theia: titanness of light
- Phoebe: the radiant, bright and prophetic titanness
- Rhea: mother of the Olympians
- Themis: titanness of divine law
Sources of Greek Myth
Most of the knowledge we have about Greek Mythology come from ancient poets and historians. Some of these are:
Homer
Author of the Iliad and the Odyssey. The Iliad is about the Trojan War and the Odyssey is about the travels of Odysseus after the Trojan War.
Hesiod
He wrote the Theogony, a poem describing how the gods came about, their genealogy and their births.
A lot of what we know about Greek myth also comes from Roman poets such as Ovid and Virgil (who wrote about the travels of Aeneas from Troy to found Rome)
A lot of what we know about Greek myth also comes from Roman poets such as Ovid and Virgil (who wrote about the travels of Aeneas from Troy to found Rome)
That was a long lesson! Hope you kept up with me!! Off to you assignment now, folks!