Generations of readers have wondered whether the great Greek myths were based on true stories. One reader who decided to investigate was German archaeologist Heinrich Schliemann. Convinced that the ancient city of Troy mentioned in Homer's Iliad had actually existed, he set out to find it. In the early 1870s, Schliemann began digging at a site in northwestern Turkey that matched Homer's description of Troy. He found the buried remains of a city as well as gold, silver, pottery, and household objects. Later excavations by other researchers revealed that a series of different settlements had risen on the same site over thousands of years. One of these may have been Homer's Troy.
Origins of the Gods and Humans The theme of younger generations overcoming their elders runs through the history of the Greek gods. Creation began with Chaos (pronounced KAY-oss), first imagined as the gap between earth and sky but later as formless confusion. The mother goddess, Gaia (pronounced GAY-uh), the earth, came into being and gave birth to Uranus (pronounced YOOR-uh-nuhs), the sky. Joining with Uranus, she became pregnant with six male and six female Titans. But before these children could be born, Uranus had to be separated from Gaia. Cronus (pronounced KROH-nuhs), the youngest Titan, cut off his father’s sexual organs and threw them into the sea. Aphrodite was born from the foam where they landed.
The twelve Titans mated with each other and with nymphs. Cronus married his sister Rhea (pronounced REE-uh; Roman Cybele). Perhaps remembering what he had done to his own father, Cronus swallowed his children as they were born. When Rhea gave birth to Zeus, however, she tricked Cronus by substituting a stone wrapped in baby clothes for him to swallow. Later, when Zeus had grown up, a female Titan named Metis (pronounced MEE-tis) gave Cronus a drink that made him vomit up Zeus’s brothers and sisters. They helped Zeus defeat the Titans and become the supreme deity. Zeus then married Metis. However, because of a prophecy that her children would be wise and powerful, he swallowed her so that her children could not harm him. Their daughter Athena sprang full-grown from Zeus’s head.
The matings of the gods and goddesses produced the rest of the pantheon. As for human beings, one myth says that they arose out of the
Soil. Another says that Zeus flooded the earth and drowned all human beings because they did not honor the gods. Deucalion (doo-KAY-lee-uhn) and Pyrrha (pronounced PEER-uh), the son and daughter-in-law of Zeus’s brother Prometheus (pronounced pruh-MEE-thee-uhs), survived the flood in a boat. Afterward they created the present human race from stones, which they threw onto the muddy land.
The Ages of the World According to the poet Hesiod, the world had seen four ages and four races of human beings before this time. The Titans created the people of the golden age, who lived in comfort and peace until they died and became good spirits. The Olympian gods created the silver race, a childish people whom Zeus destroyed for failing to honor the gods. Zeus then created the bronze race, brutal and warlike people who destroyed themselves with constant fighting.
Zeus next created a race of heroes nobler than the men of the bronze age (no metal was associated with this age). The Greeks believed that distant but semihistorical events such as the Trojan War had occurred during this fourth age, the age of heroes. Some heroes died, but Zeus took the survivors to the Isles of the Blessed, where they lived in honor. The fifth age, the age of iron, began when Zeus created the present race of humans. It is an age of toil, greed, and strife. When all honor and justice have vanished, Zeus will destroy this race like those before it.
Heroes Many Greek myths focus on the marvelous achievements of heroes who possessed physical strength, sharp wits, virtue, and a sense of honor. These heroes often had a god for a father and a human for a mother. One cycle of myths concerns the hero Heracles (pronounced HAIR-uh-kleez; known as Hercules by the Romans)—Zeus’s son by a mortal princess—renowned for his strength and for completing twelve remarkable feats. Unlike other heroes, who died and were buried, Heracles eventually became immortal (able to live forever) and was worshipped as a god by both Greeks and Romans. Other heroes include Perseus (pronounced PUR-see-uhs), who killed the serpent-haired monster Medusa (pronounced meh-DOO-suh) and rescued a princess from a sea monster; Theseus (pronounced THEE-see-uhs), who defeated the man-eating Minotaur (pronounced MIN-uh-tawr) of Crete; Jason, who led a band of adventurers to capture the Golden Fleece; Achilles (pronounced uh-KILL-eez), a mighty warrior of the Trojan War; and Odysseus (pronounced oh-DIS-ee-uhs), who fought at
Troy and afterward faced many challenges from gods, men, and monsters during his long journey home.
World History
