Contents

• Introduction • Odysseus's Quest • Echo and Narcissus • The Life of Achilles • The Birth of the Gods • The Minotaur • Jason and the Argonauts • Bibliography • Conclusion

Why I Chose This Topic

I chose this topic because Greek Myths are fun to read with all the gods and

heroes. I enjoy the action, the magic and adventure of these ancient stories.

Artemis

Ares

Aphrodite

Hephaestus

Pan

Demeter Dionysus Poseidon

Hermes

Athena

Apollo

Zeus Hera

1: The Cyclops.

“Lets stop here” said Odysseus. There was a large cave with lots of cattle inside but this cave was the dwelling of Polyphemus, a Cyclops (a giant with one eye). The moment they went inside the Cyclops emerged and without a word he grabbed 2 men and swallowed them whole. Thinking quickly, Odysseus got his wine and offered some to Polyphemus. “ Thank you, who are you?” said the Cyclops “My name is Nobody” replied Odysseus. “Give me more wine” said the giant. So when the Cyclops drank all the wine he fell asleep for the wine was very potent. Odysseus seized his staff, lit it with fire and plunged it into Polyphemus’s eye. Odysseus sailed triumphantly away. Meanwhile the Cyclops howled in pain. “Are you hurt” called his brothers. “ Nobody hurt me” Polyphemus roared “Good” said the brothers.

2:The Bag of Winds.

The fleet of ships sailed to an island where a man called “I am the king of winds, come here and rest”. Odysseus and his men moored their boats and climbed on shore. When they left the king said “Take this bag of winds. Boreas, Zephyrus and Eurus are in there. Open it when you get home”. “I will” promised Odysseus. When Odysseus was asleep one of the men was so curious he opened the bag. There was a blast of wind. Boreas, Zephyrus and Eurus blasted the man who was blown high and fell in the sea.

3: Circe the Sorceress.

The winds were so fierce they blew the men to an island. “Are you hungry? Come here and eat” said a voice as sweet as honey. All the men ran to the table and began to eat. Now this woman was a witch called Circe. Circe had poisoned the food and it was working. The men grew pinker, their noses wider until they turned into pigs. Odysseus met a boy when he woke. “Follow me” he said. He led Odysseus to a flower with stark white petals and jet black roots. “ It’s the Moly flower” said Odysseus. “Eat it” said the boy “ It will make you immune to Circe’s magic”. So Odysseus ate the flower and fled to Circe’s home. He ate and drank gratefully and got his sword and Circe’s neck. “Spare me, I’m only a feeble woman” pleaded Circe. “You’re not feeble, return my friends to normal” shouted Odysseus “Very well” scoffed Circe. She took some ointment, rubbed it on the pigs back and they returned.

4: Mysteries and Dangers at Sea.

Odysseus and his men were in sight of home, when beautiful voices reached their ears. These voices belonged to Sirens, who Odysseus had heard of by their luring death song. The men put beeswax in their ears and tied Odysseus to the mast. When the Sirens were out of earshot the beeswax was out and Odysseus was free but then a giant whirlpool named Charybdis came out of nowhere and on the cliff beside them was Scylla a sea monster who had just eaten some men. Odysseus helped row the boats until were back home in Ithaca.

Fun facts about Odysseus

• Odysseus was the main character in Homer’s The Odyssey

• The Odyssey is considered to be one of the oldest and first stories ever written down in western culture.

• He is known in the Roman culture as Ulysses

• “Greeks ‘discover Odysseus’ palace in Ithaca, proving Homer’s hero was real” The Telegraph, August 2010

Echo was a Nymph and a terrible chatterbox. One day she met Hera who was looking for Zeus. When she asked Echo she started babbling away until Hera was so annoyed she cursed Echo to repeat everything people say. The next morning Echo saw a young man called Narcissus. He rather vain and when he said “What do you want” Echo could only say “Want you want you” “Of course you do, I’m Narcissus!” Narcissus was thirsty so he went to a pool where the sun was shining over it.

When he drank, his reflection looked like it was kissing him. He blushed. Narcissus had fallen head over heels with his reflection so badly he could only look. He looked so long he dwindled into nothing. As for Echo, she dissolved until her voice only remained.

Fun facts about Echo and Narcissus

• Echo and Narcissus is from a chapter in Ovid’s Metamorphoses.

• The word Narcissism, which means to be vain, comes from this Greek myth.

• In the Harry Potter saga, Draco Malfoy’s mother is called Narcissa after Narcissus, “her name serves as representative for the attitude of the entire family”. Mythweb.com

The Life of Achilles

When Peleus got married to Thetis the sea goddess they had a baby. They named him Achilles. The next day Peleus woke to an empty bed, so he got up and saw Thetis dangling Achilles over a fire by the heel! “What are you doing?! yelled Peleus. ”I’m making him safe” said Thetis, indignantly “If I burn the human side off Achilles he’ll be just god, but he’s going to have weak heels forever” “You’re burning my side out of our son!” As the years went by Achilles grew into a big, strong teenager. “I’ll arrange old Cheiron to teach you” said his father “Who’s that” asked Achilles “A centaur”. So Achilles went to the woods and at Cheiron’s clearing Achilles met another teenager called Patroclus. “ ‘Allo” said Patroclus “Hello” said Achilles “What are you doing here” asked Patroclus “I’m one of Cheiron’s pupils” replied Achilles “ Come ‘ere” said a deep voice. It was Cheiron.

The kind old centaur taught them to fire arrows, wield swords and shields and more. Meanwhile, man named Paris had stolen Helen of Sparta who became Helen of Troy. The Trojan war began. The Greeks fought bravely with Achilles on their side, but when Nyx drove her night chariot across the sky both sides had a rest. The next day Paris turned up holding Patroclus who was stone dead. In retaliation Achilles killed the Trojan prince Hector. The final day of the Trojan war Achilles met Helen and Paris. “ Is this the little prince who stole Helen of Sparta?” asked Achilles mockingly “ You mean Helen of Troy!” retorted Paris. As he spoke he shot an arrow at Achilles, but it swooped low and rested deep in Achilles' heel. Achilles let out an agonising scream and fell as dead as a doorknob. The war softened a little when Odysseus came up with an idea but that’s another story…

Fun facts about Achilles

• Achilles was the main character in Homer’s Iliad, the very first example of western literature.

• The saying about having an Achilles’ heel means to have one great weakness. This saying originated with this Greek myth.

• The Greeks did win the war but have you wondered who the gods came to be? Wonder no more!

The Birth of the Gods

Once there was nothing {chaos} but then the earth came to existence. The Earth was called Gaia, she had a curved shaped body and a warm heart. A moment later the sky appeared. He was called Uranus, and he was very handsome and loved Gaia so much they had children.

They called their first children Cronus, Rhea, Hyperion, Crius, Coeus, Iapetos, Oceanus, Tethys, Mnemosyne, Themis, Theia, Phoebe, Eos, Selene, Helios, Prometheus, Epimetheus and Atlas . Then Gaia gave birth to three Cyclopes. Then she gave birth to two beasts with fifty heads and one hundred hands. Uranus couldn’t bear the sight of them and pushed them inside Gaia. Gaia wept rivers of tears and Uranus regretted hurting Gaia he cried and cried.

Gaia decided to call the Titans together to rebel against Uranus. Cronus said “ I’ll do it, just tell me how” “ Climb the highest mountain” replied Gaia. When Cronus got to the peak a sickle immediately appeared in his hand. “ It’s made of adamant the hardest part of me” said Gaia “ It is the only thing you could do harm to your father, oh Uranus!”

Cronus hit the sky with all his might. Uranus’ gasp of pain rang through the universe and frightened everything. “ You will soon be deposed too… “ were Uranus’ last words. Cronus married Rhea and had a child but Cronus swallowed it. The same thing happened with the next and the next and the next and so on but not the last child. Rhea cradled him in her arms and replaced he son with a boulder for Cronus to swallow. Rhea called the baby Zeus.

She took him to a cave and told some Oread nymphs to take care of him. Zeus was so powerful his cries shook the the world but the nymphs caught the noise in soft clouds. When Zeus grew up he went to his fathers house. He burst into the home and punched Cronus in the stomach . “ Times up father” he said. Cronus was banished forever and Zeus and Hades{ his brother} freed the Cyclopes and the hundred- handers. The Cyclopes were so grateful he gave Zeus thunderbolts and Hades a helmet of invisibility. The gods ruled.

Fun facts about the Gods

• You can find lots of Greek mythology in the Harry Potter stories for example there are centaurs, many of the teachers are named after Greek/Roman gods for example Sibyll Trelawney (after the oracle), Argus Filch is named after the never-sleeping-hundred-eyed watchman, Minerva McGonagall is named after the Roman version of the war goddess Athena.

The Minotaur

Poseidon was in a playful mood so he bewitched queen Pasiphae of Crete to fall in love with a bull {which is very unusual}. Pasiphae and the bull’s relationship did not work out because their baby was a horror. It was a man-eating monster. It had the body of a man and a head of a bull. King Minos called this beast a minotaur. He asked his inventor Daedelus to build a maze to hide it. “I call it the Labyrinth” said Daedelus proudly. Athenians were fed to the minotaur every year. “Why do our people go to Crete but never return?” asked Theseus {prince of Athens} “A monster eats them” sighed King Aegeus “I’ll kill it” ”Change your sails from black to white so I know you’re alive”.

Theseus went into the maze with the others. He wondered through the maze when he touched a man with red eyes. It wasn’t a man, it was the minotaur. Theseus plunged his sword into the monster’s stomach and blood seeped onto the floor. Ariadne the king’s daughter had given Theseus a ball of string to find his way back and he did. In his rush to get home he forgot to change the sails. King Aegeus was distraught. He flung himself into the sea and drowned. The very sea was named the Aegean sea in his honour.

Fun Facts about the Minotaur

• Strengths: very strong, sharp horns, constantly hungry for human flesh

• Weakness: not very bright, a bit top heavy, angry, might get lost in his own maze.

Jason and the Argonauts

King Pelias felt uneasy as a young man with one sandal stood in front of him. “What are you doing here? Who are you?” spat Pelias. “I have come to claim my throne" replied the youth “YOU! Bring me the golden fleece of Aries and you can take my place!” yelled the king.

This youth was named Jason and he set of to King Colchis’ island. The trip was rough when they got to the Clashing Rocks but calmed down when they reached Harpy island. There was a man on this island weeping. “Who are you?” asked Jason “I’m king Phineus of Thrace” said the blind man. “Come here” said Zetes{ an Argonaut } helping Phineus onto the Argo.

When he got there he met Colchis. “I’ve come to get the golden fleece of Aries” he said. “P-p-plant these teeth” stuttered the king. Jason did so and four soldiers came shooting through the earth. Jason fought bravely and went to bed.

For dinner he had wine and sheep but a girl with long black hair whisked him upstairs. “Do not eat the food" she said “It is poisoned” she added “ Th-thank you um…” Jason faltered. “Medea” said the girl.

The next day Jason {in secret} went to the tree where the fleece was but an awake dragon was guarding it. Medea gave the dragon the wine and it died. Jason grabbed the fleece and bought it to king Pelias.

Fun facts about Jason & the Argonauts

• Jason’s story has been popular, and has been made into many movies and TV series and comic books. Which is one of the reasons I picked this myth.

Bibliography

• Usborne Book of Greek Myths. Author and Editor Anna Milbourne and Louie Stowell, Illustrated by Simona Bursi, Elena Temporin and Petra Brown

• Wikipedia

• The Telegraph, UK

• Mythweb.com

• Stories Don’t Care blog: The use of mythology in Harry Potter

Conclusion

• I learned that the Iliad and the Odyssey were the first two stories ever written down and the Iliad was basically the story of the Trojan War.

• I learned that there is lots of Greek mythology used in Harry Potter.

• I learned how to create arrows and text boxes and make colourful text.