The Age of Fables Study Guide

7/30/2019 The Age of Fables Study Guide

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Chapter 11) Is the ancient Greek religion still alive today?

No, the religions of ancient Greece and Rome are extinct.

2) In the second paragraph, Bullfinch gives two reasons why he is telling us these

ancient stories.a. to entertain the readersb. provide information so the reader is informed and knowledgeable

3) How did the Greeks picture their world? Give details.The earth was a flat circular disk, divided in half, west to east, by the sea.

Around the earth is the River OceanThe Northern portion is inhabited by a happy race named the Hyperboreans.

This is where the cold north wind comes from. This area is inaccessible by land or sea.They have no disease or old age.

The South side, close to the stream of Ocean, are happy and virtuous people

called the Aethiopians. The gods favored them and would visit and feast with themThe Western margin, by the stream of Ocean was a happy place called ElysianPlain. Mortals favored by the gods were transported here and were give immortality.This is also called Fortunate Fields and Isles of the Blessed.The western portion of the sea was filled with giants, monsters and enchantresses.

4) What is another name for Greece?Hellas

5) What are two other names for the Elysian Plain?Fortunate Fields and Isles of the Blessed.

6) Where did the gods live?The summit of Mount Olympus, in Thessaly.

7) What did Vulcan (Hephaestus) do?He as an architect, black smith, armourer, chariot builder and artist. He built the

brass houses for the gods, golden shoes. He could add self-motion in his work so thattables and chairs could move themselves.

8) List the TitansMales: Saturn, Rhea, Oceanus, Hyperion, Iapetus and OphionFemales: Themis, Mnemosyne, Eurynome

9) What is ironic about who Aphrodite married?She was the most beautiful of the goddesses and became the wife of the most ill-

favored of gods. She married Vulcan.


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10) Describe the Muses.The daughters of Jupiter and Mnemosyne (Memory). They presided over song

and promoted the memory. There were 9 of them and they presided over literature, artor science.Calliope = Epic Poetry Polyhymnia = Sacred Poetry

Clio = History Terpsichore = Choral Dance & SongErato = Love Poetry Urania = AstronomyEuterpe = Lyric Poetry Thalia = ComedyMelpomene = Tragedy

11) Describe the Graces.The 3 goddesses presiding over the banquet, dance and all social enjoyments

and elegant arts.Euphrosyne, Aglaia and Thalia

12) Describe the Fates.

The 3 daughters of Themis (Law). Their duty was to spin the thread of humandestiny and had shears so they could cut the thread as they pleased (they could changeyour destiny). Clotho, Lachesis and Atropos.

13) Describe the Furies.Also called Eumenides, 3 goddesses who handed out punishment to those who

broke the law. Their heads were covered with snakes and their appearance was terrificand appalling.

Alecto, Tisiphone and Megaera.

14) Describe the Satyrs.They were the goddesses of the woods and fields. They were covered with

bushy hair, had short horns on their heads and had feet like a goat.

15) Who supposedly fled to Italy and reigned during a Golden Age?Saturn

18) What did the Romans believe about Genius and Juno? Every man had a Genius and every woman had a Juno; a spirit who had given

them life and was their protector. They would make offerings to them on their birthday.


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Chapter 2: Prometheus and Pandora1) According to the Greeks, the world began from what?

Chaos

2) Did the Greeks say which god arranged the earth?

The god who arranged the earth is unknown

3) Who formed man from earth and water?Prometheus made man

4) What qualities did he give to man?Man was made in the image of the gods with an upright stature

5) Who was Prometheus?He was a Titan who made man.

6) What was so significant about the gift of fire?It gave man an advantage over the animals and make weapons and tools.

7) Who was Pandora?She was the first woman. She was made in heaven by all the gods.

8) Why was she made?There are two stories:

a. She was made and sent by Jupiter to punish Prometheus and his brotherEpimetheus for stealing fire from heaven.

b. She was sent by Jupiter in good faith to bless man.

9) List and briefly describe the ages of man.1. Golden Age the age of innocence and happiness, is was spring all year

around and there was nothing bad or evil2. Silver Age inferior to the golden age but better than the brass (Brazen) age.

Jupiter divided the year into seasons so man had to endure hot and cold weather. Andcrops had to be planted and farmed where in the Golden Age they grew naturally.

3. Brazen Age worse than Silver, some fighting began4. Iron Age There was a lot of crime, fraud and violence. The earth began to

become divided for land and wars broke out. Things were so bad all the godsabandoned the earth.

10) What did Jupiter/Zeus do to rid the earth of evil people?He was going to burn the earth but was afraid heaven might also catch on fire.

So instead, with the help of his brother Neptune, he flooded the earth.

11) Which two humans were spared?Deucallion and his wife Pyrrha


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12) How did they repopulate the earth?They covered their faces with veils and unbound their clothes then threw rocks

behind them which grew into people.

13) How was Prometheus ultimately punished by Jupiter/Zeus?

He was chained to a rock on Mount Caucasaus where a vulture ate his liver. Hisliver would instantly regrow and the bird would eat it over and over.

14) What did Prometheus need to do in order to be freed?He had to tell a secrete he knew that involved the stability of Joves throne.

Chapter 3: Apollo and Daphne Pyramus and Thisbe Cephalus and ProcrisApollo and Daphne1) Who was Apollos first love?

Daphne

2) What sort of arrow did Cupid shoot Daphne with? Apollo?Apollo with a gold tip so he would fall in love with Daphne.Daphane with a lead tip so she would not fall in love with anyone

3) When Daphne asked her father for help, what did she become?She was turned into a Laurel tree.

Pyramus and Thisbe

4) Why couldnt Pyramus and Thisbe get married?Their parents forbid it

5) How did they converse?Through a crack in the wall that divided their two houses

6) Where were they going to meet to run away?Outside the city at the Tomb of Ninus by the white mulberry tree

7) What was the misunderstanding at the spring?Pyramus found the veil that Thisbe was wearing and it had blood on it so he

thought she had been killed.

8) What Shakespearean play is this remniscient of?A Midsummers Nights Dream

9) What happened to the white mulberry tree?It produced white berries before but afterwards the berries are purple

representing the blood of Pyramus and Thisbe


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10) What Shakespearean play has a comedic interlude of the story of Pyramusand Thisbe?

A Midsummers Nights Dream

Cephalus and Procris

11) Who were Cephalus and Procris?A young married couple who loved to hunt.

12) What happened to the fox and dog?They were turned to stone

13) What was the misunderstanding that lead to Procris death?She thought Cephalus was having an affair but he was only talking to the breeze.

While she was hiding in the bushes trying to catch him he heard her and thought she

was an animal so he threw his javelin into the bush and killed her by accident.

Chapter 4:Juno wife of Jupiter and her rivals (Jupiters girlfriends)Io- Jupiter was flirting with Io and when his wife Juno came close he disguised her as acow. Juno suspected the cow was actually one of his girlfriends so she asked for thecow as a gift. Jupiter had to give her the cow because if he didnt she would know something as up.Since Juno suspected something was up she asked Argus to watch the cow. He had100 eyes and never slept with more than 2 eyes closed.When Jupiter found out he sent Mercury to kill Argus. Mercury played his Syrinx (a flutemade of reeds of various lengths) and told stories until Argus fell asleep with all eyes.Closed. Then Mercury cut off his head. Juno took all his eyes and placed them on thefeathers of peacocks, where they remain today.Io then wandered around and found her family but they didnt know her since she was acow. She saw her dad and wrote her name in the dirt with her hoof then he knew whoshe was. Jupiter agreed to not see Io anymore if he could turn her back from a cow andJuno agreed.

Callisto another one of Jupiters girlfriends who Juno turned into a bear. Her son washunting one and saw the bear. He did not know it was his mother and was about toshoot her when Jupiter intervened. He could not stand to see the boy kill his ownmother so he place them in the heavens as the Grate and Little Bear (starconstellations). This made Juno mad.

Diana and Actaeon

Diana was a nymph who Actaeon accidently walked in on while she was naked. He wasa hunter and hunted with dogs. She turned him into a beast. His own dogs hunted himdown and killed him


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Chapter 5Phaeton son of Apollo. No one believed he was the son of a god so he went toheaven and asked Apollo for proof. (Phoebus) His father said he would grant him anywish to show he was the son of a god. Phaeton asked to drive the chariot of sun. His

father pleaded with him to choose anything else but he didnt. Since Phaeton was amortal he wasnt able to handle the power of the horses, lost control of the chariot andset the world on fire and dried up most of the water. Jupiter was called on to stop thechariot so he threw a thunderbolt at it and stopped it.

Chapter 6Bacchus his foster father got drunk and wandered off. Midas found him and took careof him and entertained him for 10 days. As a reward Bacchus offered Midas a gift.Midas asked that everything he touched be turned to gold. This was great until he triedto eat and drink but could not since his food and wine turned to gold. He beggedBacchus to take the power away so Bacchus told him to jump in the river Pactolus,

which he did, and the golden touch was removed from him.

After this Midas became a follower of Pan. Pan got into a music contest with Apollo.Apollo won but Midas disagreed. So Apollo gave Midas donkey ears. Midas tried tocover up the ears by wearing a turban.

Midas was the son of Gordius, a poor countryman who was made king by the people inhis land. He dedicated his wagon to the and tied it up in the public square. He used aGordian knot to tie it and anyone who could untie the knot would be made king of Asia.Many tried but no one could untie the knot. Then Alexander the Great tried and couldntuntie it either so he cut it with his sword. After this Alexander the Great ruled over Asia.

Baucis and PhilemonAn old lady and man who were poor. Jupiter and his son Mercury visited their countryas mortals and no one would open their door for them Finally they came to Baucis &Philemons house, they let them in and fed them.As they poured wine the bottle refilleditself every time so the old couple realized their guest were gods. Since they had beennice to the gods they were told to go to the top of a hill which they did. Then the godsflooded the country and killed everyone. The only thing left was the old couple and theirhouse. The gods then turned their house into a great temple. The gods offered the oldcouple anything they wanted and they asked to be the caretakers of the temple and thatwhen the time came they would die at the same time. When it was time for them to diethey turned into trees and stood together.


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Chapter 7: Glaucus and Scylla

1) Who was Glaucus?A fisherman

2) Describe the effect of the herb.It acted like water when the fish were laid on it. When Glaucus tasted it, it madehim crave to be in the water.

3) How was Glaucus changed in both form and mind?His hair turned green and his legs formed a tail. Everything about him that was

mortal was washed away.

4) Who was Scylla? Describe her.The favorite of the water nymphs.

5) What did Scylla do when Glaucus professed his love to her?She ran away

6) What was Circes advice to Glaucus?Stop chasing a woman who does not like you. Go find another women, one you

will like you in return.

7) What did Circe do to Scylla?Poisoned the water and infected Scylla with monsters.

8) What became of Scylla?She remained in the water and turned into a rock.


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Chapter 8

Pygmalion:Was a sculptorFell in love with his ivory statue of a woman

Asked Venus to provide with a wife like his statueVenus brought his statue to life, they got married and had a child-Paphos

Dryope:Picked flowers from a lotus plant that turned out to be the Npmph name Lotus.Because of this she was turned into a tree

Venus:Mother of CupidHad a chariot pulled by swansFell in love with Adonis

Adonis was killed by a wild boar after Venus warned him to stay away from wild animalsVenus sprinkled nectar on his blood and created wild flowers so he would beremembered

Apollo & Hyacinthus:Hyacinthus was a friend of Apollo who he liked a lotThey were playing a game of quoits when the ball struck Hyacinthus in the head andkilled him.

Apollo created a flower out of his blood to memorialize him

Chapter 9:

Ceyx & Halcyone (The Halcyon Birds):Ceyx was the King of Thessaly and the son of Hesperus-the Day StarHalcyone was Ceyxs wifeCeyx had a brother who diedCeryx drowns in a ship wreckHalcyone prays to Juno for her husbands safe return, not knowing hes already dead. Juno sends Iris to talk to Somnus to send Halcyone a dream about her husband soshell know that hes deadMorpheus assumed the form of Ceyx and appeared to HalcyoneHalcyone realized her husband is dead. She goes to the sea where his ship had setsail. She jumps off the barrier and turns into a bird. She finds his body and begins tokiss him with her beak, then the gods turn him into a bird too. They have baby birds andher next sits on the ocean.


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Chapter 10:

Vertumnus & Pomona:

Pomona was a Wood-nymps (Hamadryads)

She took care of an orchardAll the Fauns and Satyrs were in love with Pomona but Vertumnus liked her the most.He would wear disguises to come see her. One day disguised as an old womenconvinced her to like him.

Chapter 11

Cupid and Psyche:

Psyche was a beautiful girl that Venus was jealous of so Venus called her son Cupid tomake Psyche fall in love with a monster, mean king.

Psyche goes to meet her husband. His palace is the largest and most beautiful of all.She has everything she needs but her husband will not show himself to her, he onlyspeak to her.

She is lonely and has her sisters come visit her. They question the fact that she hasnever seen her husband. They advise her to hide a knife and a light and to go see himwhile he is asleep and if hes a monster to cut off his head.

She looks in on him while he is sleeping and finds hes actually very handsome . A dropof oil from her lamp falls on his shoulder and wakes him up. He gets up and flies out thewindow. She followed him and falls out the window. He stops and reveals that he isCupid and since she listens to her sister instead of him he tells her to leave and returnto her sisters. Once this happens the palace and everything vanishes.

Psyche then wandered for some time looking for her husband. Finally she went to seeVenus for help. Venus still disliked her. Venus showed her a large pile of wheat, barley,millet, vetches, beans and lentils that were food for her pigeons. Venus told her toseparate all the gains and have it done by that evening.

Psyche was overwhelmed by this task. Cupid noticed this and called on an ant to helpher. The ant was the leader of the ant hill so he got all the other ants to help separatethe grains. When Venus returned she claimed that Psyche did not do the work, threw apiece of black bread at her for supper and left.

Venus then sends her to collect a sample of wool from each sheep. The river god tellsPsyche to wait until the sun comes up so that the rams that are also there will be asleepin the shade before going to the sheep. This will keep them from killing her with theirhorns and teeth. She does and returns with the wool but Venus again says she had helpand is mad.


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Next Venus tells her to take a box to Proserpine and have her give some of her beauty.Knowing she would be killed during this dangerous journey she decides to kill herself by

jumping off the tower. But before she jumps a voice asks her why she has decided tojump. They tell her a way to bypass the dangerous road, to bypass Cerberus (the 3headed dog) and to get the ferryman to take her across the black river and back. The

voice also tells her that once the beauty is in the box she must not open or look into thebox. She gets the box filled and then her curiosity takes over and she opens it. Theresno beauty in it rather a truly Stygian sleep. She dies on the road.

Cupid goes after her, gathers the sleep from her body and puts it back in the box. Cupidthen goes to Jupiter and gets his help to convince Venus to let them marry. Then hegives Psyche some ambrosia to drink so she will become immortal. She does and theyget married and have a daughter named Pleasure. Psyche is the last one to unite withCupid.

Psyche is the greek name for a butterfly and the same word for the soul.Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by sufferings and misfortunes, and isthus prepared for the enjoyment of true and pure happiness.In works of art Psyche is represented as a maiden with the wings of a butterfly, alongwith Cupid.

Chapter 12

Cadmus The MyrmidonsJupiter disguised himself as a bull and kidnapped Europa, the daughter of kingPhoenicia. The king sent his son Cadmus to look for his sister. Since he could not findher he could not return home so he asked Apollo where he should move to. Apollo toldhim to find a cow in a field and follow it and where ever it stopped build a city and call itThebes.He found a cow and followed it until it stopped on the plain of Panope. He kissed theground and wanted to give a sacrifice to Jupiter so he sent his servants to get purewater. They found a cave that contained pure water but a horrid serpent with a crestedhead and scales that glittered like gold, a triple forked tongue, triple row of teeth andbody swollen with venom was there. When the servants started to fill their vases withwater the serpent killed them all.Cadmus went looking for his men wearing a lions hide and carrying a javelin and alance. He found the bodies of his men and the serpent. He threw a huge stone at thebeast but it did not phase him then threw his javelin. It stuck in the serpent but didnt killhim. The serpent slithered on the ground and went after Cadmus. Cadmus was able tothrust his spear into the serpents head. As the serpent was dying Cadmus hear a voicethat told him to bury the dragons teeth in the earth, which he did.The teeth immediately grew into armed warriors. The warriors began killing each otherand told Cadmus to stay out of their civil war. When there were only 5 men left onethrew down his weapons and said brother, let us live in peace. So they joint Cadmunin building his city named Thebes.


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Cadmus then married Harmonia, daughter of Venus. But the serpent he had killed wassacred to Mars. So his family was unhappy. Cadmus left Thebes, moved to the countryof the Enchelians and was made their king. He exclaimed If a serpents life is so specialto the gods then I wish I was a serpent. When he said this he immediately turned into aserpent. His wife prayed to also be a serpent and she was turned too. They lived in the

woods and never harmed anyone.

The Myrmidons

The Myrmidons were the soldiers of Achilles in the Trojan war.Cephalus went to the island of Aegina to see his old friend Aeacus the King. He noticeda lot of young people on the island but many people he previously knew were not there.

Aeacus told him there was a plague that was sent by Juno that devastated the land.It started with clouds lowering to the ground and trapping in hot air. Then snakes cameand poisoned the water. Then the lower animals, dogs, cattle, sheep and birds began to

die. Then horses etc. The decay of the dead animals spread infection to the people andthe people died.

Aeacus then describes how he prayed to Jupiter to give him back his people. Hedemanded give them back or take me too. He was standing by an oak tree that wassacred to Jupiter. He watched ants carrying grain in a line up the tree trunk. He askedJupiter for people as many as there were ants on the tree trunk. The tree shook and thebranches rustled but there was no wind. He then went to sleep in the temple anddreamed that the ants turned into people. When he woke up his son ran into the templetelling him how there was a multitude of men outside. So his request to Jupiter and hisdream had come true. He called them Myrmidons, since they came from ants(mymrmex).

Chapter 13

Nisus and Scylla

Minos king of Crete, waged war against MegaraNisus King of Megara, daughter was Scylla

The city of Megara could not be conquered as long as a purple lock of hair remained onthe head of King Nisus.Scylla would watch the attaching armys camp from her tower. She could tell who theleaders were and she particularly noticed Minos. She was in love with him and thoughtof giving herself up as hostage to Minos just so she could be with him. She realizes thatthe best way she can end the fighting and be with Minos is to get the purple lock of hairfrom her father.She cuts off the purple lock while her father is sleeping and takes it to Minos and tellshim who she is and offers Minos her father and his kingdom. Minos refused to touch the


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hair and tells her the gods will destroy her, then calls her a disgrace. He then orders hismen to sail away from the island.

As the ships sailed away she dove into the water and held on to the rudder of the shipMinos was in. A sea-eagle was flying over her, which was actually her dad. He pouncedon her and attacked her with his beak and claws. She let go of the ship and would have

drown but some deity had pity on her and turned her into a bird.

Echo and Narissus

Echo was a beautiful nymph and was devoted to woodland sports. Her fault was thatshe loved to talk and always had to have the last word. One day Juno (wife of Jupiter)was looking for her husband, who was once again hanging out and flirting with thenymphs. Echo talked to Juno to distract her until the nymphs could run away. WhenJuno realized what Echo had done she cursed (passed sentence) on Echo saying Youshall forfeit the use of that tongue with which you have cheated me, except for that onepurpose you are so fond of--reply. You shall still have the last word, but no power to

speak first.

Narissus was a beautiful youth how Echo liked. She was waiting for him to speak so shecould answer him. But when he did speak she couldnt reply as she wanted but couldonly repeat what he had said. He tried to get her to talk to him but she couldnt so he gotfrustrated and left. This upset Echo so she ran and hid. From that point forward shelived in caves an among mountain cliffs. Eventually her flesh shrank away and herbones turned into rocks. The only thing left was her voice. She still replies and alwayshas the last word.

Narissus shunned all the rest of the nymphs, same as he had done to Echo. One day amaiden prayed that Narissus would feel what it was like to love someone but not havethem love him in return. The avenging goddess heard and answered the maidensprayer. Narissus went to get a drink of water from a fountain pool. When he looked inthe water he saw his reflection and thought it must be a water-spirit living in the fountainbecause it was so beautiful. He tried to kiss the image but when he touched the water itwent away. He fell in love with himself. He became consumed with looking at his imagehe pined away and died. The nymphs mourned for him, especially the water nymphs.They were going to have a funeral for him but couldnt find his body. Instead there wasa flower, purple in the middle with white leaves where his body had been. The flower iscalled Narissus.

Clytie

Clytiewater nymph who loved Apollo but he didnt love her. For 9 days she didnt eator drink but sat looking at the sun (Apollo) as he rose and sat, constantly turning herface toward him. Her legs rooted to the ground and she became a flower, the Sunflower, which always turns its stem to face the sun.


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Hero and Leander

Leander was in love with a maiden named Hero. They lived on opposite shores soLeander would swim across the channel every night to see Hero. She kept a torch lite ina tower to help guide him. One night the sea was rough and he drowned. In despair

Hero jumped from the tower into the sea and died.

Chapter 14

Minerva

Goddess of wisdom and daughter of Jupiter. It was said he leaped from Jupiters brains,mature and in complete armor.She presided over agriculture & navigation and spinning, weaving & needlework.

Athens was her own city awarded to her as a prize in a contest with Neptune. In thecontest 2 deities competed to see who could provide the most useful gift to mortals.

Neptune gave the horse and Minerva gave the olive. The gods decided the olive wasmore useful so she won the city of Athens.

In another contact a mortal named Arachne challenged Mineva to a weaving andembroidery contest. Arachne was so good at this that even the nymphs would come towatch her work. The challenge made Mineva mad because she was a goddess beingchallenged by a mortal so Mineva disguised herself as an old woman and tried to talk

Arachne out of the contest. Arachne would not change her mind so Mineva revealedherself and the contest was on.Minevas work: in the center inclucded a scene of her contest with Neptune, 12 of theheavenly powers were represented, Jupiter was sitting in the middle and herselfwearing a helmet. The 4 corners had scenes showing times the gods were displeasedwith mortals who had dared to challenge them. These were meant to be warning to

Arachne.

Arachnes work consisted of pictures where the gods had failed or made errors. Oneshowed Leda with a swan, the swan was actually Jupiter in disguise (remember he hada lot of girl friends). Another scene showed Danae in a tower where her father hadimprisoned her.

Arachnes work was so good that Minerva could not stand to look at is any longer so sheripped it up. She touched Arachne on the forehead to make her feel guilt and shame.

Arachne could stand the guilt and shame she felt so she hanged herself. Miverva feltpity for her as she watched her hang and brought her to life, sprinkled her with aconite

juice and turned her into a spider. (spiders weave a web like Arachne would weave).


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NiobeNiobe, the queen of Thebes, was extremely proud of her children. She was jealous ofLatona and her children, Apollo and Diana. There was a celebration every year inThebes where everyone honored Latona, Apollo and Diana. Niobe asked why Latonawas honored but she was not so she told the people to stop the celebration. The people

obeyed.This upset Latona and she told her children they must protect her. Apollo told her to sayno more. They flew through the air hidden in the clouds and started shooting all ofNiobes children with arrows. Her oldest (first born) son was shot while riding his chariot,two of the brothers were standing next to each other and a single arrow killed themboth. The only child that was left, Ilioneus, raised his hands and asked to be spared.

Apollo would have spared him but had already fired his arrow and it was too late.The people were terrified and Niobe found out what had happened. Her husband wasso upset he killed himself. Niobe ran around checking on all 7 of her sons, her husbandand all her daughters. All but the youngest son was dead. She held him and asked thathe be spared. While she was asking for him to be spared he died and Niobe was turned

to stone. Yet tears continued to flow from her eyes. She still remains a mass of rockwith trickling streams that are a tribute of her never-ending grief. (theres a famousstatue in Florence that is a mother holding her terrified child).

Chapter 15

The Graeae and the Gorgons

The Graeae were 3 sisters who were born with gray hair.The Gorgons were monstrous females with huge teeth like those of pigs, with claws &snaky hair.

Perseus and MedusaPerseus son of Jupiter. His grandfather was told by an oracle that his grandson wouldkill him so he locked Perseus and his mother in a chest and set it adrift at sea.The chest was found by some fisherman and they give it to their king, Polydectes.When Perseus grew up Polydectes sent him to kill Medusa, who was a terrible monster.Medusa used to be a beautiful maiden with beautiful hair but the goddess Minerva tookher beauty and changed her hair into hissing serpents. She became such a cruelmonster that anyone who looked at her was turned into stone.Perseus used a shield to look at Medusas reflection while he snuck up on her and cutoff her head. He gave the head to Minerva.

Perseus and AtlasAfter he killed Medusa, Perseus, with Medusas head, flew until he reached the westernedge of the earth where the sun goes down. It was where the kingdom of Atlas was.

Atlass maid pride was his gardens, where the fruit was made of gold and hung fromgolden branched with golden leaves. Perseus told him he was the son of Jupiter, that hehad killed the Gorgon (Medusa) and he needed rest and food. Atlas remembered anancient prophecy that the son of Jove would rob him of his golden apples so he told him


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to get out. This made Perseus so he told Atlas since you dont like me I have a presentfor you, and he held up Medusas head. Atlas was turned into stone. Each part of thisbody grew until it was the size of a mountain and heaven and all its stars were placedupon his shoulders. (famous pictures and statues of Atlas show him with the earth onthis shoulders).

The Sea Monster

Perseus continued his travels. He arrived in the Aethiopians, where Cepheus was king.The kings wife, Cassiopeia was proud of her beauty and compared herself to the seanymphs. This made them mad and they sent a sea monster to ravage the coast. Toappease them Cepheus ordered his daughter be sacrificed to the sea monster. Theychained her to a rock. As Perseus flew over he saw her and thought she was a marblestatue until he noticed her hair moving in the breeze. He hovered over her and askedher name, where she was from and why she was chained to the rock. At first she wasembarrassed but answered his questions. Just then the sea monster appeared. The

virgin screamed when she saw the monster. Her mother and father had arrived to seeher but were unable to help her. Perseus makes a deal with her parents. The deal isthat if he saves her from the sea monster he wants her to be his wife. Obviously theyagree and offer a royal dowry along with their daughter.Perseus fights the sea monster, flying around and stabbing it under its scales all downits back and finally kills it. They all got back and get ready to celebrate.

The Wedding Feast

As they were preparing for the wedding a guy named Phieneus showed up with a biggroup of his friends and demands the virgin for his own. Cepheus tells him if he wantedher he should have gone after her while she was chained to the rock. Phineus throwshis javelin at Perseus and misses the runs and hides. Then all his friends start attachingthe guest.

Perseus and his friends hold them off for a while but are outnumbered and starting toloose. Perseus yells out If you are a friend of mine look away! Then he pulls outMeduesas head and turns everyone into stone. Phineus was still hiding and calls out toall his friends but no one answers because they were all turned into stone & he begs formercy. Perseus goes over to where hes hiding and tells him I promise no weapon willtouch you and you will be preserved in my house as a memorial of these event, thethen holds Medusas head to the side where Phineus is looking and turns him intostone.


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Chapter 16 (XVI)

MonstersMonsters were beings of unnatural proportions, possessing immense strength whichthey used against men. Some were a combination of different animals: the Sphinx &

Chimaera.Giants were different from men only by their size.The Human giants; the Cyclopes, Antaeus and Orion were a few, were proportional tohuman beings.Superhuman giants were vastly larger. The superhuman giant Tityus was said to cover9 acres when stretched out.

At one time the giants scared the gods so much they fled to Egypt and different forms tohide from them. Jupiter was a ram and was worshiped as the god Ammon. Apollo was acrow, Venus a fish, Mercury a bird, Bacchus a goat, Diana a cat and Juno a cow.

At one time the giants tried to climb up into heave but were stopped by thunderbolts thatMinerva invented. Vulcan and his Cyclops made them for Jupiter.

The SphinxLaius, king of Thebes, was warned that his new born son was a danger to his life andhis throne. So he give the child to a herdsman and ordered he kill the boy. Theherdsman didnt want to kill boy nor disobey his king so he hung him in a tree by hisfeet. A peasant found him and give the boy to his master who adopted him and namedhim Oedipus, which means swollen-foot.

Many years later King Laius was on his way to Delphi along with 1 servant. They met ayoung man in a chariot on a narrow road. The young man refused to move over so theservant killed one of his horses. This made the young man mad and he killed theservant and King Laius. The young man was Oedipus. So part of the prophesy wasfilled, Oedipus had killed his father (but he didnt know the king was his father).

After this happened the city of Thebes was cursed by a monster called the Sphinx. Ithad the body of a lion and the upper part of a woman. It would ask all travelers whopassed a riddle. If they got the riddle correct they could pass without harm. If they got itwrong they were killed. So far no one had ever solved the riddle. Oedipus was ask theriddle by the Sphinx What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, atnoon on two and in the evening upon three?. Oedipus answered Man, who inchildhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect and in old age with theaid of a staff. The Sphinx was so upset that he got it right it killed itself.

The people were so grateful to Oedipus they made him their king by giving him theirqueen Jocasta as his wife. Oedipus did not know who his parents were; he had alreadykilled his father, the king, and how he had married his mother. Thebes was then struckwith a famine. They consulted an oracle who revealed the double crime of Oedipus.Jocasta then killed herself and Oedipus went mad, tore out his own eyes and wandereduntil he died.


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Pegasus and the Chimaera

When Perseue cut off Medusaa head the blood that went into the earth produced thewinged horse Pegasus. Minerva caught him, tamed him and gave him to the Muses.

The Chimaera was a fire breather monster. Its body was a combination of a lion and agoat with the hind part of a dragon. Iobates, the king of Lycia was looking for someoneto kill the monster. A young warrior named Bellerophon came to him. He had a letter ofrecommendation from the kings son in law telling him Belleroohon was the right personfor the job but at the end of the letter he told the king to kill Bellerophon. The kings sonin law was jealous of Bellerophon because his wife liked Bellerophon.The term Bellerophonic Letter refers to when someone has news the is negative tohimself.The king sent Bellerophon to fight the Chimaera. Before going Bellerophon consultedwith Polyidus who advised him to take Pegasus with him. Minerva came to him in adream and gave him a golden bridle. Bellerophon rode Pegasus into battle was easily

won.After this the King gave Bellerophon several other difficult tasks and he did them allwell. So the king gave him his daughter and made him successor to the throne.Bellerophon became prideful and the gods got mad at him. He tried to ride Pegasus toheaven but Jupiter sent a fly to sting Pegasus, he threw Bellerophon off and he fell tothe earth and became lame and blind. He wandered around alone until he diedmiserably.

The Centaurs

These monsters were represented as men from the waist up and the remainder was thebody of a horse. The centaurs were permitted to hang out with humans. At a weddingone fo the centaurs got drunk on wine and got violent with the bride. Other did thesame, a fight broke out and several were killed.Not all centaurs were violent drunks. Chiron was taught by Apollo and Diana and hadgreat skills in hunting, medicine, music and prophecy. One of his students, Aesculapiusbecame a doctor and even brought someone back to life after they died. This madePluto mad and Jupiter, at his request, struck him with lightning and killed him. After hisdeath Jupiter placed him in the stars as the constellation Sagittarius.

The PygmiesPygmies were a nation of dwarfs, from the greek word that means cubit or about 13minutes. They lived near the Nile and other lived in India. The pygmies enemies werethe Cranes. When Hercules was asleep the Pygmies was planning to attack him. Hewoke up, laughed and wrapped up some of the pygmies in a lions skin and carried themto Eurystheus.

The GriffinThe Griffin is a monster with the body of a lion, the head and wings of an eagle andback covered with feathers. Its native country is India. It built its next out of gold.


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Chapter 17 (XVII)

The Golden FleeceThe king and queen of Thessaly named Athamas and Nephele, had two children, a boyand a girl. After some time Athamas got tired of his wife and got another one. Nephele

was afraid her children were in danger. Mercury gave her a ram with a golden fleece.She put the children on the ram so he could take them to a safe place. While flyingthrough the air the girl, Helle, fell off and into the sea. The area where she feel wasnamed the Hellespont.The ram landed safely on the eastern shore of the Black Sea. The boy, Phryxus,sacrificed the ram to Jupiter and gave the Golden Fleece to Aeetes who had it guardedby a sleepless dragon.

King Aeson gave his crown to his brother because he was tired of government. Oncehis son, Jason, grew up he demanded the crown from his uncle . His uncle didnt want togive it up so he sent Jason on a quest for the golden fleece. He lied to Jason and told

him it was his birth right. So Jason needed some ships and asked for a canoe thatwould hold 50 men. It was a huge request but it was built and named Argo. Jasonassembled the best men in Greece, including Hercules, Theseus, Orpheus and Nestor.They were called the Argonauts from the name of their boat.

They went out on their quest for the golden fleece. At the entrance of the Euxice Seathere were 2 small rocky islands that floated on the surface and would crash togetherand crush anything in between. When they got there they sent a dove through thepassage between the islands. The bird made it through only losing a few tail feathers.

As the islands were drifting apart Jason ordered the men to row fast and they were ableto get through without being smashed.

Jason let the King know why he was there and the king consented to give Jason thegolden fleece if he would use a plow pulled by 2 fire-breathing bulls and plant the teethof a dragon, which everyone knew would come back out of the ground as warriors andattack Jason. Jason accepted. Before he started planting he talked to the kingsdaughter Medea. He promised to marry her. She was a sorceress and gave him acharm that would protect him from the fire-breathing bulls and the weapons of thewarriors.

When it was time the fire-breathing bulls ran in, burning up everything in their path.Jasons men were terrified but he wasnt scared since he had the charm. He harnessedthe bulls and began to plow. As he planted the dragons teeth the warriors began tospring from the ground and attack him. Jason fought off the warriors for a while but wasout numbered so he used the charm. He threw it at the warriors and they began to killeach other and the bulls until all were dead.

Jason still had to get past the sleepless dragon that guarded the fleece. He used apotion that Medea had given him to make the dragon go to sleep. He grabbed the fleece


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and he, his wife Medea and his men traveled back to Thessaly safely. No one knowswhat happened to the fleece after Jason returned.

Medea and AesonEveryone was celebrating the recovery of the Golden Fleece but Jason was sad

because his dad Aeson was too old to join so he asked his wife to put a spell on him tomake him live longer. She said she would but that it would shorten Jasons life. She thenprepares the potion and sacrifice and makes Aeson young again. [READ THIS FROMTHE BOOK, first 3 paragraphs].She rode a chariot pulled by serpents. Collected what she needed for the potion. Built 2alters, for to Hecate and one to Hebe-goddess of youth.Sacrificed a black sheep.Her potion included: magic herbs, seeds flowers, stones, sand, a owls head and wings,entrails of a wolf, tortoise shells, stag liver, a crows head and beak. She boiled it alltogether, stirring it with an olive branch. When it was ready she cut Aesons throat andlet out all his blood then poured the potion in his mouth. His gray beard turned black and

became 40 years younger.

She had once also used her power for revenge. The daughters of Pelias asked her todo the same for their father and give him youth. She tricked them by performing thesame ceremony but her potion only contained water and herbs. When it was ready shetold the daughters to stab their father, which they did. Medea was able to run awaybefore they realized what she had done. After this Jason decided he didnt want heranymore and got a new wife. She was mad at him for this and gave his new bride apoisoned robe. She then killed her own children and set her palace on fire. She droveher chariot to Athens and married King Aegeus.

Chapter 18 (XVIII)

Meleager and Atalanta

Meleager was a hero and one of the Argonauts. His mother was Althea. She was toldthat the life of her son would end when a brand (piece of wood) that was currentlyburning was all burnt up. So she got the brand out of the fire and put it in a safe placeso her son would live.His father, OEneus forgot to pay honors to Diana so she send a wild boar to tear up hisland. Meleager called his greek hero friends to hunt the boar with him. Along with themwas a girl named Atalanta who wore a gold buckle on her vest and had an ivory quiverof arrows. She was beautiful and he fell in love with her.They went to where the boar was sleeping, stretched nets from tree to tree and turnedtheir dogs loose. The boar heard them and rushed towards them. Several people arekilled by the boar. Jason throws his spear and prays to Diana for it to hit the boar. She


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allows it to hit the boar but takes the spear head off during flight so it doesnt inflict anydamage. Nester hides in a tree. Telamon trips on a root and falls. Atalanta hits the boarwith an arror. This excites Anceus, he rushes the boar but the boar kills him. Theseusthrows his lance but it doesnt do any good. Jason shoots a dart but hits one of the dogsand kills it. Then Meleager drives his spear into the boars side and kills it.

Everyone is excited and congratulating Meleager. He places his foot on the head of theboar and gives Atalanta the head and hide of the boar which are the trophies of thehunt. Plexippus and Toxeus, the brothers of Meleagers mother are made about this sothey take the trophy from Atalanta. This really pisses Meleager off and he kills themboth (his uncles).

Althea is excited about the boar having been killed but is quickly saddened when shefinds out her son killed her brothers. She gets the fatal brand and decided to throw it onthe fire which would end Meleagers life. She struggles with killing her own son andbeing loyal to her brothers who he had killed or being a loyal mother and not killing her

son. In the end she throws the brand on the fire.Meleager felt a sudden pain. He cried out to his father, brothers, sister, wife and motherand then died. His mother was upset with what shed done and began beating herselfand Meleagers sisters cried uncontrollably. Diana had pity on them and turned them allinto birds.Atalanta

Atalanta was beautiful young girl who was told to never marry as it would ruin her. Manymen wanted her so she offered a challenge. Anyone who could beat her in a race couldhave her. But if she won the race they would be killed. Hippomenes would judge therace. As the race was about to start Hipomenes asked How is it possible that someonewould risk their life for a wife? Then Atalanta took off her robe to get ready to run andhe changed his mind and said Pardon me guys, I didnt realize what a prize she is. Hefell completely in love with her and hoped they would all lose. The race was won and

Atalanta won. All the other men were put to death.Then Hippomenes offered himself to Atalanta. She was surprised and asked he didntchallenge her but then her father tells her to accept his challenge. He prays to Venus forhelp and she helps him. Venus gives him 3 golden apples and tells him how to usethem.The race begins and the are running together but Hippomenes is winded and thirsty sohe drops 1 of the apples. Atalanta stops to pick it up and he gets ahead of her. Shecatches up with him and he drops the 2

ndapple. Again she stops to pick it up then

catches up with him but not as quickly as the first time. Then he threw the last apple offto the side. She hesitated to go after it but Venus told her to get it so she did andHippomenes won the race.Both Hippomenes and Atalanta were so happy after the race they forgot to pay honor toVenus which made her mad. She gave them to Cybele for punishment. Cybele turnedthem into lions and harnessed them to pull her chariot.Cybele is the mother of Zeus. Sometimes she wears a veil and is seated on a thronewith lions by her side.


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Chapter 19 (XIX)

Hercules

The son of Jupiter and his mortal girlfriend Alcmena. Juno was always hostile to herhusband other children. She sent 2 serpents to kill Hercules in his cradle but hestrangled them with his own hands.

The 12 Labors of Hercules (only 9 are listed)

The fight with the Nemean lionEurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the skin of the lion. Hercules strangled thelion with his hands.

The slaughter of the Hydra.

The Hydra had 9 heads, the middle 1 was immortal. During a drought he took over theonly water source. Hercuels cut off the heads but the grew back. He then burned themoff and buried the immortal one under a rock.

The cleaning of the Augean stables.The stables held 3,000 oxen and had not been cleaned out in 30 years. Herculesbrought the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to clean them out.

To obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons.The Amazons were a nation of women. The queen was kind to Hercules and offered togive him her girdle. Juno tricked the others into thinking Hercules was going to take thequeen so they came after him. He thought the queen was trying to trick him so he killedher.

To obtain the oxen of Geryon, a monster with three bodiesDuring this task Hercules raised 2 mountains, Calpe and Abyla, creating the Straits ofGibraltar. The oxen was guarded by a two-headed dog. Hercules killed the giant and hisdog and took the oxen.

Getting all the golden apples of the HesperidesHe didnt know where the apples were. They were given to Juno as a wedding gift.Hercules looked several places and ended up at the Mount of Atlas. He held up theworld while Atlas went and got the apples. Then Atlas gave them to him.

The victory of AntaeusAntaeus was a mighty giant and wrestler. Hercules lifted him up from the earth andstrangled him in the air.


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The slaying of CacusCacus was a huge giant. When Hercules was driving home with the oxen of GeryonCacus stole part of it. Hercules killed him.

Bringing Cerberus from the lower worldHercules went into Hades with Mercury and Minerva. He had permission from Pluto toget Cerberus as long as he didnt use any weapons. Hercules grabbed him and carriedhim to Eurystheus then brought him back.

Hercules, in a fit of madness killed his firend Iphitus and was sentenced to be the slaveof Queen Omphale for 3 years. During this time he changed and at times wore awomens dress. After 3 years was up he married Dejanira and lived in peace for 3 years.Once when crossing a river where the Centaur Nessus carried people across for a feeHercules put his wife on the Centaurs back and Nessus tried to run off with her.Hercules shot him with an arrow. Nessus told Dejanira to take some of his blood and

use it as a charm to preserve her husbands love.

In one conquest Hercules took a maiden named Iole as prisoner. Hercules liked her andDejanira was jealous. When Hercules asked for a white robe to wear as he was makinga sacrifice for this victory Dejanira put Nesses blood on it. When Hercules put on therobe the blood was poison and it caused a lot of pain. Hercules threw Lichas into thesea since he had brought him the robe. When he tried to take off the robe it was stuckto his body and he tore off whole pieces of his body. Dejanira saw what happened andhung herself. Hercules then went to the top of Mount Oeta to die. He built a pile of treesand laid on them and commanded they be set on fire. Jupiter proclaimed that only themortal part of Hercules would be burned to death and that his part of his son wasimmortal. Once the mortal part was dead Jupiter took Hercules to heaven on a 4 horsechariot and placed him in the stars.

Hebe and GanymedeHebe, daughter of Juno and goddess of youth was cup-bearer to the gods. Sheresigned to become the wife of Hercules. Theres a 2

ndstory where she was dismissed.

Ganymede, a Trojan boy, was carried off by Jupiter disguised as an eagle and becameher replacement.

Chapter 20 (XX)

Theseus

Theseus Father Aegeus, king of AthensMother Aethra, daughter of king of Troezen.

Grew up in Troezen. His father placed a sword and shoes under a large stone andwhen Theseus was old enough to lift the stone him mother took him to it, he lifted it andwore the shoes and sword.


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After getting the sword he went to visit his father. Along the way he met Periphetes, ason of Vulcon. He carried an iron club. Theseus beat him and took his club.He then met Procrustes or the Stretcher. He had an iron bed where hed tie people upand stretch them. If they were too tall for the bed he chop off body parts to make themfit. Theseus beat him too and stretched him like hed done others.

When he finally got to his fathers, his stepmother was afraid Theseus would gain powerover her so she tricked his father to give Theseus poison (his dad didnt recognize him).

As he was about to give the poison to Theseus he noticed the sword and realizedTheseus was his son. His stepmother was afraid shed be punished so she ran away to

Asia. And Theseus father declared him his successor.

Theseus then learned about the yearly sacrifice they had to pay to Minos, the king ofCrete. 7 boys and 7 girls were sacrificed to the Minotaur. (half bull, half man, lived in thelabyrinth and ate humans). Theseus volunteered to be one of the 7 men so he couldfight the Minotaur. He sat sail with black sails on his ship and told his father hed change

the sails to white on his return to indicate victory.

He became friends with the kings daughter Ariadne and she smuggled him a sword sohed have a chance against the Minotaur. He killed the Minotaur. Took the kingsdaughter and headed back home. On the way home he stopped at Naxos where he left

Ariadne while she slept because Minerva appeared to him and told him to.

As he approached home he had forgotten to change the sails from black to white. Whenhis father saw the black sails he thought Theseus had been killed so he killed himself.Theseus then became king.

Theseus then went to Amazons.He became friends with Pirithous. They went to the underworld to get a girl but Plutopunished them by placing them on an enchanted rock outside his palace gate. Herculesrescued Theseus but left Pirithous.Theseus then married Phaedra. He loved his son Hippolytus but he didnt like her soshe used her influence over her husband to make him jealous of his own son. With thehelp of Neptune a sea monster frightened Hippolytus horses and threw him from hischariot and was killed. But he was brought back to life.Theseus became less popular with his people when he got old. He retired to the court ofLycomedes, the king of Scyros, who later killed him. Thesus body was moved to Athensand placed in a temple called the Theseum.

OlympicsThe Greek games founded by Jupiter. The first Olympics was in the year 776 BC.5 sports: running, leaping, wrestling, throwing the quoit and hurling the javelin or boxing.There were also contest in music, poetry and eloquence.


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DaedalusBuilt the labyrinth where the Minotaur lived. He was placed in a tower by King Minosafter building the labyrinth. The only way to escape from the tower was to fly. He had hisson Icarus gather feathers and he made wings for both of them. The wings were boundwith string and wax. When they were ready to fly away he told his son, Icarus to not fly

too low because the water would make the wings wet and dont fly too high because theheat of the sun would melt the wax. Icarus flew too high, the wax melted, his wings fellapart and crashed and die in the ocean.

Castor and PolluxTwin brothers who were children of Leda and Jupiter (Jupiter was disguised as a swan),they came from a egg. Their sister was Helen of Troy. they rescued Helen.Pollux was a boxerCastor was famous for taming horsesThey were part of the Argonautic expedition.

The patron deities of seamen and voyagers.Castor was later killed. Pollux offed himself to Jupiter for his brothers life.Jupiter placed them in the stars as Gemini, the Twins.

Chapter 21 (XXI)

BacchusKnown as the god of wine. Son of Jupiter and Semele (another of Jupiters girlfriends).Juno (Jupiters wife) was again mad and made a plan to get even with Semele and hadher turned into ashes.Jupiter had Bacchus raised ty the Nysaean nymphs. When he grew up he learned howto make wine. Juno struck him with madness (caused him to go crazy), which causedhim to wander to various parts of the earth. The goddess Rhea cured him. He wentaround teaching people how to make wine.

AriadneWas left behind by Theseus and became very sad. Bacchus found her and married her.He gave her a golden crown covered with jewels. When he died he threw it up and the

jewels became stars.


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Chapter 22 (XXII)

The Rural Dieties

Pan god of the woods, fields, flocks and shepherds. Liked music. Was the symbol of

nature. Danced with the wood nymphs.

Erisichthon despised the gods. He chopped down trees that belonged to Ceres.There a 1 tree in the middle, a huge oak, where people danced. Erisichthon started tochop it down and the tree started to bleed. One of his men tried to stop him butErisichthon hit him with the axe and cut off his head. He cut the tree down and the treespoke to him telling him it was actually a nymph and that hed be punished for cuttin g itdown.Erisichton was then poisoned while he slept. It made him very hungry and the more heeat the hungrier get became. He sold all his property, including his daughter as a slave,to buy food. She escaped so he sold her again. He eventually starting eating his own

limbs until he died.

Rhoecus ordered his men to prop up an oak that was about to fall. The nymph thatwas the tree thanked him for saving her life by granting him a wish. He asked for herlove. She told him shed send a bee as a messenger. He didnt recognize the bee andbrushed it away. This made the nymph mad and she made him blind.

The Water Deities Oceanus and Tethys.

Neptune chief of the water deities, his symbol is the trident, a spear with 3 points.

Amphitrite wife of Neptune

Nereus and Doris the parents of the Nereids, which Amphitrite was one.

Triton and Proteus sons of Neptune

Thetis daughter of Nereus and Doris, so beautiful the Jupiter wanted her but was toldshe would have a son greater than his father he stayed away from her.

The Camenae the Muses

The Winds there were 4 winds, north, west, south and eastBoreaus or Aquilo northZephyrus or Favonius - westNotus or Auster - southEurus - east.


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Chapter 23 (XXIII)

Achelous and HerculesAchelous the river-god was telling a story to Theseus and when he finished said heshould be telling stories about himself instead of others. He went on to say he could

change his appearance, sometimes to a serpent, sometimes a bull with horns or rathera bull with only one horn since had lost one.Theseus asked how he lost a horn so he told him how he and Hercules both liked thesame girl. To make himself look better he was talking bad about Hercules. They got intoa big fight and Hercules was winning so Achelous turned into a snake to get away. ButHercules reminded him that he had killed a bunch of snakes in his crib while he was aninfant and started choking him. So then Achelous turned himself into a bull. Herculesgrabbed him by the neck, threw him down and broke off one of his horns.Naiades took the horn, filled it with flowers and gave it to Plenty who called itCornucopia.

Theres a second account of where the Cornucopia came from. Some say that Jupiter,who was fed by the milk of a goat as an infant, broke off one of the goats horns, gave itto his nurses and empowered with horn to become filled with whatever the personhaving it wanted.

Admetus and AlcestisAesculapius was the son of Apollo and had skills of healing and even brought the deadback to life. This scared Pluto and asked Jupiter to throw thunderbolts at him. Apollowas not pleased and punished the men who made the thunderbolts and shot arrows atthe Cyclopes. Jupiter punished Apollo by making him a slave to Admetus and he had towatch his flocks for 1 years.

Admetus was in love with Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias. She was promised to whoever came for her in a chariot drawn by lions and boars. Admetus pulled this off and got

Alcestis. But Admetus got sick and was near death. Apollo agreed to save his life butsomeone else would have to take his place in death. Admetus thougth it was be easy tofind someone since he had loyal followers but he could not find anyone willing to tradeplaces with him. His solders would die for him in battle but none wanted to lie on adeath bed for him. Then Atcestis offered herself as a trade. Admetus didnt want her todo it but it was too late since she had already offered. He got better and she got sick.

Hercules arrived at the palace and stayed outside the door of Atcestis room. Whendeath came for her he threatened death and death did not take her. She got better wasOK.


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AntigoneThe daughter of Oediput and Jocasta, She was doomed like all their family. She wasthe sister of Polynices. He was killed and his body was left to rot. She was determinedto retrieve his body and properly bury him. She got caught trying to get his body byCreon who gave orders to bury her alive. Her lover, Creons son, tried to prevent her

from being buried alive but couldnt stop it so he killed himself.

Penelope

Was the daughter of Icarius, a Spartan prince. Ulysses wanted to marry her and did. Asshe was about to leave her fathers house to be with her new husband her dad beggedher to stay with him but she left anyway.

After a year of marriage Ulysses went to fight in the Trojan War. After a while it waslikely he had been killed and several men started trying to get Penelope to go out withthem. She wasnt ready and made up an excuse to avoid them. She said she would picka new husband once she finished sowing a funeral robe for her father-in-law. During the

day she would sow on the robe then at night she would undo all the work she that day.This way the robe would never be finished and she would not have to choose a newhusband. This is where the expression Penelopes web comes from, meaning a taskthat constantly worked on but is never finished.

Chapter 24 (XXIV)

Orpheus and EurydiceOrpheus was the son of Apollo and the Muse Calliope. Nothing could withstand thecharm of his music. Mortals, beasts, trees, rocks, everything loved his music.

Orpheus married Eurydice. One day she was hanging out with her nymphs and wasseen by the shepherd Aristaeus. He thought she was beautiful and ran after her. Sheran away from him, through the grass and got bit by a snake on her foot and died.Orpheus was upset over his wife dying and sang sad songs. He went into a cave to getto where the dead where. He begged the gods to give his wife back to him. They agreedto let him take her but said he cannot turn around and look at her until they were out ofthe cave. When they were almost out of the cave he momentarily forgot and lookedbehind him to make sure his wife was still there. She was instantly pulled back to thedepths of the cave and could be heard telling him Farewell.

Orpheus went to get permission to for her release one last time but the ferryman wouldnot let him pass. Seven days Orpheus went without food or drink and sang load insultsand accusing the gods of cruelty. Finally a maiden was tired of listening to him andthrew a javelin at him. At it came close to the sound of his lyre it fell harmless at his feet.The maidens also threw rocks at him but the same thing happened. So they startedscreaming so drown out the music of his lyre and then threw their spears, which killedhim. They tore his body limb from limb, threw his head and lyre into the river Hebrus.Jupiter places his lyre in the stars.


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Aristaeus, the Bee-KeeperAristaeus was the first to teach the management of bees. He was the son of water-nymph Cyrene. His bees died and he went to his mother for help. Her palace was at thebottom of the river. She parted the water so he could come in.She told him: "There is an old prophet named Proteus, who lives in the sea and is a

favorite of Neptune. He knows allthings, past, present, and future. He can tell you whyyour bees died and how to get them back. But he will not do it voluntarily, however youwill have to catch him and chain him up. Then he will answer your questions in order toget released.I will carry you to his cave, when he takes his noon time nap you can catch him easily.But when he finds himself captured, he will change himself into various forms. He willbecome a wild boar or a fierce tiger, a scaly dragon or lion with yellow mane. Or he willmake a noise like the crackling of flames or the rush of water, to trick you into letting goof the chain so he can escape. But dont let go, then he will return to hisown figure and obey your commands."

Aristaeus found him asleep and chained him up. Soon as he did he became fire, thenflood then a wild beast, then he went back to being himself. He asked: Who are youand what do you want from me. Aristaeus said you already know who I am and what Iwant so tell me. He then said: Your actions caused your bees to die. Because youchased Eurydice and she got bit by a snake an died her nymphs friends killed yourbees. You have to appease their anger, Select four bulls, of perfect form and size, andfour cows of equal beauty, build four altars to the nymphs, and sacrifice the animals,leaving their carcasses in the leafy grove. Then pay funeral honor to Orpheus andEurydice. After 9 days, examine the bodies of the cattle and see whats there.

Aristaeus obeyed these directions. He sacrificed the cattle, he left their bodies in thegrove, he offered funeral honors to the shades of Orpheus and Eurydice; then returningon the 9th day he examined the bodies of the animals, and a swarm of bees was in oneof the carcasses as it were a hive.

Amphion was the son of Jupiter and Antiope, queen of Thebes. He had a twin brotherZethus. They didnt know they were sons of gods and grew up as shepherds. Theirmother found a way for them to found out they were part god.

Linus taught Hercules music. Linus was scolding Hercules one day and made him madso Hercules killed him.

Thamyris challenged the Muses, lost the contest and they made him blind.

Marsas found the flute that Minerva threw away. He learned to play it very well. Hechallenged Apollo to a music contest. Apollo won and killed Marsas.


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Melampus was the first mortal prophet. There was a nest of snakes that lived outsidehis house. His servants killed the parent snakes and Melampus fed and took care of thelittle ones. They were thankful and licked his ears while he slept. This gave me thepower to understand what the animals were saying. He was captured and imprisoned.One night he heard the woodworms talking and they said they had almost eaten

through the wood and the roof would cave in. He told his captures this so they all left,the roof fell in and they all were saved. To reward Melampus they let him go.

Chapter 25 (XXV)

Arion - a famous musician in the court of Periander. He went to Sicily for a musiccompetition. He told Periander he was going but Periander told him to stay because hemight lose. Arion went and won the contest. He was on a ship on his way home with themoney he had run and a couple of guys on the ship decided to kill and rob him. Theysaid for him to jump overboard or theyd kill him. He asked if he could play one last

song. He did and his music called dolphins to ship, he jumped overboard and thethieves assumed he was dead but the dolphins carried him to shore.He made his way back to Perianders palace before the ship came into port. He toldPeriander what had happened. When the ship docked he called for the men from theship. They told him Arion stayed behind, then Arion stepped out and they realizedPeriander knew what they had done. Periander let them go but kicked them out of hisland.

Ibycus was a poet. Apollo gave him the gift of song. He was on his way to the chariotraces and saw some cranes in the sky and wished them good luck. As he was travelingthrough the woods he was jumped by 2 thieves. They robbed him and killed him, justbefore he died he looked up and saw the cranes again and told them to be his voice.His body was found by his friend. He wondered who had killed his friend and everyoneat the arena knew and was wondered the same. Then the cranes flew over andsomeone yelled out Look, yonder are the cranes of Ibycus . Everyone one was lookingat the cranes an repeating his words. Then they realized that whoever said that must bethe one who killed him. The people captured the man and he was punished.

Simonides an early poet of Greece. He was at a feast for King Scopas and was torecite a poem honoring the King and afterwards the king would pay him. When herecited the poem about the king he also included a story about Castor and Pollux. Theking didnt like sharing the spotlight with others in the poem so he only pa id Simonidespart of his pay and told him to get the rest from Castor and Pollux.

Sappho was a poetess. She threw herself into the sea because she loved Phaon but hedidnt love her. The believe was that if she was not killed he would fall in love with h er.This is known as a lovers leap.


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Chapter 26 (XXVI)

Diana and Endymion Endymion was a beautiful young Sheppard. Diana was themoon (goddess). She kissed him while he slept.

Orion the son of Neptune, a handsome giant and a great hunter. He was given thepower to wade through the sea or walk on water. Orion loved Merope, the daughter ofking Oenopion. He cleared her island of beast but the king still wouldnt let Orion havehid daughter. Orion tried to use violence to get her so the king make him blind. Helistened to sound of Cyclops hammering to find Vulcan. Vulcan gave him a guide wholet him to the sun-god, who gave him his sight back.

After this he hung out with Diana, which made her brother Apollo mad. One day Orionwas wading through the sea and Apollo told his sister I bet you cant hit that black thingout there in the sea. She accepted the challenge and shot him with an arrow. WhenDiana realized what shed done she cried and placed Orion in the stars. He appears asa giant with a belt, sword and club along with his dog Sirius.

Aurora and TithonusAurora the goddess of the Dawn and sister to the moon. She loved Tithonus. Sheasked Jupiter to give him immortality but forgot to ask him for youth, Tithonus grew veryold and got to where he couldnt walk. She locked him up in a chamber and finallyturned him into a grasshopper.Memnon was the son of Aurora and Tithonus and was a warrior. He was defeated by

Achilies. Aurora still cries at the loss of her son and this can be seen in the morning inthe form of dew-drops on grass.

Acis and GalateaScylla was a favorite of the Sea Nymphs. A lot men wanted her. She was the goddessGalateas hair dresser. Galatea loved Acis.Acis was turned into a river.

Chapter 27 (XXVII)

The Trojan War (the Iliad)

Minerva was the goddess of wisdom but got in a contest with Juno and Venus forbeauty. At the wedding of Peleus and Theitis all gods except of Discord were invited.This made Discord mad and she threw a golden apple among the guest with theinscription for the fairest. Juno, Venus and Minerva each claimed it. Jupiter refused tomake a decision as to who was the fairest so he let his shepherd Paris decide. Hedecided it was Venus, which made the other 2 mad at Venus.Then Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was visited by Paris. Paris with the help of Venustalked her into running off with him. He took her to Troy.Priam was the king of Troy and Paris was his son.

Agamemnon was the commander-in-chief. Achilles was the best warrior, then there wasAjax, Diomede and Ulysses.


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Chapter 28 (XXVIII)

The Fall of TroyTroy didnt fall immediately after Hectors death. Memnon, amount others helped Troy.

Achilles met Polyxena who he liked and agreed to help influence the Greeks to grant

peace to Troy if he could marry her. While negotiating the marriage Paris shot Achilleswith a poison arrow that was guided by Apollo and hit him in the heal. This was the onlypart of Achilles that was vulnerable. When he was an infant his mother dipped in theriver Styx so his whole body was invulnerable except his heals where she was holdinghim.It was then discovered that Troy could only be taken with the help of Hercules arrows.Which Philoctetes had. Paris was the first one killed with one of the arrows.Ulysses and Diomed entered Troy and stole the statue of Minerva called the Palladium.But Troy did not surrender. The Greeks hid some of their ships so Troy would think theywere leaving. Then the built a huge wooden horse. The offered the horse as areplacement for the Palladium. But it was filled with Greek warriors. The remaining ships

sailed away so the Trojans thought the Greeks had gone. They opened the gates to thecity and brought the horse inside. After the Trojans had celebrated and gone to bed theGreek warriors inside the wooden horse were let out by a traitor. They opened the gatesand let the other Greeks in. The city of Troy was set on fire, the people were slain intheir sleep and Troy was conquered.

Menelaus and HelenWhen Troy fell, Menelaus got his wife Helen back.

Agamemnon, Orestes and Electra

Agamemnon was killed by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus.

Orestes was the son of Agamemnon and was also to be killed but his sister Electra senthim to stay with an uncle so he was saved. Later on Orestes found Electra and let herknow he had survived. Then he killed his mother Clytemnestra and Aegistus.

Troyno one knows if it was an actual city of not. Its never been discovered.

Chapter 29 (XXIX)

Return of UlyssesThe Odyssey. The story of the wandering of Ulysses or Odysses in the Green language.Returning from Troy Ulysses first stopped at Ismarus, Ulysses lost 6 men from eachship in a fight here with the locals. He then sailed for 9 days until he reached the countryof the Lotus-eaters. Here his men ate the lotus-plant. It made whoever ate it want tostay in the country. Ulysses had to drag his men back to the ship and tied them underthe benches so they could leave.


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Next he went to the land of the Cyclopes. They were giants with only 1 eye in the middleof their forehead. The Cyclopes live in caves and brought their sheep in the caves,milked them and made cheese. Ulysses landed here with wine. He and his men entereda cave and the Cyclopes asked who they were. Ulysses told them they were Greeksand were on their home from defeating Troy. The Cyclopes grabbed 2 men, smashed

them against the wall and smashed their brains out then ate them. He rolled a hugerock in front of the cave that could not be moved by men. The next morning theCyclopes ate 2 more men. Ulysses made a plan and sharpened a large piece of woodfor a spear. He offered the Cyclopes wine, which he liked and wanted more. Ulyssestold him his name was Norman.While the Cyclopes was asleep Ulysses and his men got the spear hot in the fire thenstabbed the Cyclopes in his eye. The men tied themselves to the bellies of the sheep sothe next day when the Cyclopes let the sheep out of the cave the men could escape.The Cyclopes, being blind now, felt the backs of the sheep as they left the cave butdidnt check their bellies so the men escaped. From the ship Ulysses yelled at theCyclopes and it threw a huge rock at the ship. It missed the ship but the splash threw

the boat on the land. The men finally got it back in the water and Ulysses was about toyell at the Cyclopes again but he men told him to wait, which he did, until they werefurther out to sea then the taunted him again.

The then went to the island of Aeolus. Here Jupiter had placed the winds. WhenUlysses left Jupiter gave him a leather bag with a silver string that contained the winds.For 9 days the ship sped across the water with the wind and Ulysses drove the ship anddidnt sleep. He finally laid down to sleep. His crew took the bag and opened it thinkingit contained treasure. When they did the wind was let out with such force it pushed theships back to the island where they had left 9 days ago. Ulysses was mad at them andmade me row the boat all the back.

The LaestrygoniansUlysses then was in the land of the barbarous tribe of Laestrygonians. All his ships buthis own moored in a cove that look calm. As soon as the Laestrygonians knew the shipswere safe the attached and killed all the men. The only ship left was Ulysses. His shipescaped.He then went to the Aeagean island where Cicre, the daughter of the sun lived. He sentEurylochus and half his crew to check out the island. As they approached the palacethey were surrounded by lions, tigers and wolves. They were all tame because theywere once men but have been changed by Cicre. She invited them in the palace andthey drank and ate. She then touched them with her wand the turned them into pigs.Eurylochus returned to Ulysses and told him what had happened. He went to save hismen. Mercury appeared to him and gave him the sprig of the Moly plant so he couldresist the power of Cicre. When he got there her power had no effect on him and hepulled his sword on her. She begged for mercy and turned his men back intothemselves.Cicre helped them depart and told Ulysses how to get past the Sirens, who would singso beautiful men would crash the ships on the rocks. Ulysses did what she said. All hismen put wax in their ears and tied Ulysses to the mast so he could not leave the ship


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since we would have to listen to the Sirens to know when the music was over. It workedand they passed by the Sirens safely.

Scylla and CharybdisCirce warned Ulysses of the two monsters Scylla and Charybdis. Scylla had a long neck

and 6 heads and would use each head to pick men off ships. Charybdis was a gulf andwould suck ships into a whirlpool.Ulysses approached the whirlpool and was on watch for Scylla as well. She appearedand took 6 men.Circe also warned him that after passing Scylla and Charybdis there was the island ofThrinakia where the cattle of Hyperion were. His men were begging for some rest so hestopped at this island but told the men to not touch the cattle. The weather got bad andthey spent more time on the island than planned and ran out of food so Ulysses killedsome of the cattle. When they set sail again he was punished with a bolt of lighteningthat struck his mast. His last ship was torn apart. He made a raft out of the pieces andwas the only survivor.

Ulysses ended up on the island where Calypso was. She wanted to Ulysses to stay withher but he insisted on returning home to his wife and son. Jupiter commanded her to lethim go so she gave him what he needed to build a raft. The raft broke apart andCalypso helped him swim to shore.

Chapter 30 (XXX)

The PhaeaciansUlysses clung to raft until it fell apart then swam to the shore. He was almost dead bythe time get got to shore and kissed the ground because he happy hed made it. He hadlanded in Scheria, The people there were the Phaeacians. They were originally fromCyclopes but moved to get away from the monsters. They were very rich and had noenemies and no war. Their main employment was navigation. They built ships. Theirking was Alcinous, the son of Nausithous.

Nausicaa, the daughter of the king, was sent a dream by Minerva reminding her that herwedding day was coming up and that shed need to wash all the cloths for her family.She told her parents she needed to wash the clothes. It was a long way to the river soher dad got a wagon and her mother got food and wine to take with her.Her virgins went with her. They got to the river and washed the clothes and laid themout to dry. The bathed, ate and drank. Then they played a game of ball. Minerva causedthe ball to fall into the water and all the girls screamed. This woke Ulysses who waspassed out asleep near by.

He wanted to go see what was going on but he was naked. He could tell by the way thegirls were dressed they must be royalty. So he got a leafy tree branch and approachedthem. The virgins were scared and ran away but Nausicaa approached him. He told her


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he needed food and clothing. She had some of her brothers clothes with her and gavethem to Ulysses to wear.

They decided to go back to the city but she didnt want to be seen with him so whenthey got close he hid until she was in the city then he came in after her.

When he got to the city he ran into Minerva who was in the form of a young women.She lead him to the palace and surrounded him in a cloud so no one would see him.When they got there he was amazed as who nice the palace was, made of gold, silverand the finest textures. There was a garden with all kinds of fruit trees that always hadfruit on them. It was 4 acres in size.

He went inside the palace where the chefs and senators were having a feast. He kneltbefore the queen and asked her to help him get back to his country. The King spoke upand said let him feast with us as our guest.

After all the other guest had left he told the king and queen and what hed been through.The king agreed to give him a ship so he could get home. The next day they had asporting event so all the new crew members of the ship could show what they could do.They all wanted to see what Ulysses could do so he threw a weight heavier and fartherthan anyone else. They were impressed and had respect for him.

The next day Ulysses set sail and arrived at Ithaca, his home island. When the shiparrived Ulysses was asleep so he men unloaded him and his things and sailed awaywithout waking him. This made Neptune mad so he turned the ship into a rock that stillsits at the entrance of the harbor.

Fate of the SuitorsUlysses had been away for 20 years and when he woke up he didnt know where hewas. He again ran into Minerva, this time appearing as a shepherd. Minerva told himwhat had been going on since he had been gone (all the men (suitors) trying to marryhis wife, living in his palace and trying to rule his land). So he could get revenge on thesuitors he did not want to be recognized so Minerva made him look like a beggar.

Ulysses son Telemachus had gone looking for his father but Minerva told him to returnhome. He did and found Eumaeus with a beggar. Mumaeus told Telemachus what washapping with the suitors and they planned to kill him. Eumaeus then went to the palaceto tell Penelope (Thelemachus mom and Ulysses wife) that her son was back. WhileEumaeus was gone Minerva told Ulysses to let his son know how he was. She touchedhim and he was returned to his normal appearance. He son then knew who he was.

Ulysses took on the form of the beggar and met his son at the palace. They didnt wantthe suitors to know it was Ulysses and Telemachus to pretend he didnt know who hewas. When they got to the palace there were lots of suitors there but they didntrecognize Ulysses. But Ulysses old dog was still alive and know who he was.


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Penelope declared that she would marry the man who could shoot an arrow through 12rings. Telemachus went and got Ulysses bow and quiver of arrows. When he tried tostring the bow he couldnt bend it. The others laughed at him then they all tried but nonecould string the bow. So Ulysses, dressed as a beggar asked for try. He easily strungthe bow then shot an arrow through all 12 rings.

As the suitors looked on in amazement the grabbed another arrow and shot one of thesuitors in the neck and killed him. Then Ulysses sons and another man ran to Ulyssesside to fight with him. They were well armed (and had hidden all the other weapons ofthe other men before the contest). The suitors looked for weapons and tried to escapebut Ulysses and his sons killed them all. Ulysses had regained his kingdom and hiswife.

Chapter 31 (XXXI)

Adventures of Aeneas

Aeneas had escaped from Troy with his father and wife. He had to carry his dadbecause he was old and in the confusion got separated from his wife and he lost her.He went to the rendezvous point and met up with many others who had fed the city.They went in search of a new place to live.They first landed in the nearby country of Thrace and were preparing to build a city.

Aeneas was preparing to make a sacrifice and cut some twigs from a bush and thebush dripped blood. A voice cried out spare me, I am your kinsman, Polydore.Polydore was a young prince of Troy. Aeneas figured this land must be cursed so heleft.

He then landed on the island of Delos, which was a floating island until Jupiter chainedit to the bottom of the sea. Aeneas asked Apollo for guidance and determined he mustgo to Crete. He went to Crete and built a city but everyone got sick and their cropsfailed. So they left Crete and headed to Hesperia, now called Italy. They had severaladventures on the way.

First they went to the island of Harpies. There were disgusting birds with heads ofwomen with long claws and pale faces that where hungry. They were sent by Jupiter totake away all food from Phineus. The Argonauts drove the birds away for Phineus andthey landed on this island.When they entered the port they saw cattle roaming all over so they slaughter a bunchof them and prepared a feast. As soon as they started to eat a flock of the Harpies flewin and took the food from them. Aeneas tried to stab the birds but their feathers werelike armor and they were too quick and nimble. The birds asked why they wouldslaughter their cattle and try to killed them? They quickly left the Harpies country andwent to Epirus. Here they found some Trojan prisoners were placed here and were nowruling the country. Helenus and Andromache were the rulers and they welcomed them,treated them nice and gave them gifts when they left.


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Aeneas then followed the coast of Sicily and passed the country of the Cyclopes. Hefound a man here who said he was left behind by Ulysses. They then saw the Cyclopeswho had his eye put out. As the Cyclopes went into the ocean the men began to row theboat to get away of it and it heard the noise of the oars. He yelled for the other Cyclopeswho came to the shore but the Trojans rowed faster and got away.

Helenus had told Aeneas to avoid the strait guarded by the monsters Scylla dnCharybdis so he avoided it and coasted along the island of Sicily.

Juno saw they were on track to get to where they wanted to go and it made her mad,remembering Paris did not award her with the prize of beauty. She called on Aeolus, theruler of the wind. A terrible storm came up and pushed the Trojan ships off course andtowards Africa. The ships were about to be wrecked.Neptune hear the storm and knew he had not created one. He called the winds anddismissed them and soothed the waves and make the water calm and removed theclouds. He used his trident to help some of the ships off the rocks. The Trojans then

went to the nearest shore, which was Carthage.

Dido

Dido was the queen of Carthage, which was a spot on the coast of Africa opposite ofSicily. When Dido and her husband had arrived at Carthage selected a spot to buildtheir new home and asked the locals for only as much land as they could enclose with abulls hide. Here she built a citadel and called it Byrsa (a hide). Carthage was builtaround the fort and became a powerful place.Then the Trojans arrived Dido was friendly and hospitable to them. She threw a feastand they played games. Aeneaus told her of their adventures. She fell in love with himand he seemed content to stay in Carthage but Jupiter sent Mercury to tell him heneeded to move on and resume his voyage.The Aeneas left Di

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The Age of Fables Study Guide