Revision Notes

Zeus * Father Cronus, mother Raya * Has 5 siblings, he is the youngest * Sky god. Symbols – Lightning bolt and eagle * Biggest weakness – Women * Unfaithful to his wife, thought to have had over 100 offspring with both mortal and immortal women.

* Cronus, Zeus’ father is told a prophesy that he will be overthrown by his offspring and so he swallows his children. * When Zeus is born he is hidden in a cave on the island of Crete. When he reaches manhood he poisons his father making him vomit out the other 5 siblings. They form the Olypians. * He frees the Hundred Handers and the Cyclopse from the underworld. The Cyclopse give Zeus the power of the lightning bolt as thanks for liberating them. * The Clash of the Titans begings. This is a fight between the Titans, ruling gods of the universe, and the newly formed Olympians who get help from the Hundred Handers and the Cyclopse. * The Titans get help from Typhon but Zeus beats him with the lightning bolt and banishes him to Mt. Etna. * The Olympians win the fight and the three male gods [Zeus (the youngest), Poesidon (middle), Hades (the eldest)] draw lots to see who will rule. Zeus becomes ruler of the heavens, and king of the gods, Poesdion ruler of the seas and Hades is ruler of the underworld. * Zeus marries Metis (goddess of wisdom), she was the one who gave him advice to poison his father. When she becomes pregnant he gets worried that their offspring will overpower him the way he did to his father. He swallows Metis. * He gains her wisdom and starts to have headaches. Athene is born from the forehead of Zeus reliving him from his headaches. * Zeus marres his sister Hera and they have two sons, Ares and Hephaestus, and one daughter, Hebe. * Hera is jealous of his cheating and attempts an uprising which fails. She is punished by being hanged from the sky in golden chains.

Reason overcomes irrationality.
Labyrinth may represent the human mind.
Minotaur may represent animal nature that compels us to kill.
The Minotaur * Half man, half bull. * Son of human woman, Pasifie and a bull. * Body of a strong man and head of a bull. * Story set on the Island of Crete. * At the time Crete was a very powerful nation with a huge navy and it dominated the area.

* Every year king Minos of Crete would sacrifice his best bull as an offering to the sea god Poseidon. * His herd of cattle produced a calf bull that was perfect and he did not want to sacrifice it so he sacrificed one of lesser beauty. This angered Poseidon. * Poseidon punished King Minos by making his wife lust for the bull. * Queen Pasifie falls in love with the bull and dresses in a cow costume and waits in a field to be mounted by the bull. * When the bull sees her he just can’t resist and they get down to business. * 9 months later the Minotaur is born. * King Minos is a little pissed off so he uses the Minotaur as a weapon against anyone who he feels a threat. He instructs Dedalas to build a maze as a prison with the Minotaur locked inside waiting to devour the prisoners. * King Minos human son, Prince Endrogeous, takes part in the Olympic Games in Athens. * He is the winner of many competitions which pisses of some of the youths in Athens and they get into a fight and Prince Endrogeous gets killed. * .King Minos gave Athens an ultimatum, Sarafice 7 male and 7 female virgins or go to war. * The virgins were sent into the Minotaurs labyrinth to be eaten. The sacrifice happened every nine years, when the full moon fell on the equinox.

**The video we watched says the sacrifice was every 9 years but other accounts say it was annually**

* Theseus is born when the first victims are fed to the Minotaur. He has 2 father; Ageaous, king of Athens and Poseidon. His mother had sex with Ageaous and Poseidon in the same time frame and the egg was fertilized by both fathers sperm. * When Theseus is born Ageaous buries his sword and sandals under a huge rock and tells his mother when the boy is strong enough to move the rock he can come and claim his place as prince of Athens. * When Crete sends for its 3rd batch of virgins Theseaus is strong enough to move the rock and goes to Athens. He vows to kill the Minotaur . * Theseaus goes to Crete with the virgins and his father tells him if he returns he must change the sail from black to white so his father knows he is safe. * When Theseaus arrives in Crete, Princess Areadne (daughter of Minos) spots him and falls for him. * She does not want him to die so she asks Deadaless for help. He gives her a ball of twine and tells her to tie one end to the entrance and unwind it as you go. When you get to the centre, follow the twine back. * She visits Theseaus and offers him help on the condition he will marry he if he survives. He says yes and she gives him the twine. * Theseaus manages to kill the Minotaur. He follows the thread back and leads the survivors out of the labyrinth. * Theseaus, Areadne and the survivors sail of back to Athens. * He forgets to hoist the white sail and so King Ageaos sees a black sail and thinks his son has been eaten by the Minotaur. * The king jumps off the cliff and kills himself. This is why we call the sea the Agean. * Theseaus becomes King of Athens.

Theme; Man V’s nature
Heracles
* A demigod, son of Zeus and mortal mother Alamene. * Hated by Hera (wife of Zeus) * Destined to live a life of suffering.

* Zeus had an affair with Alamene and Herecles was born. * Hera was jealous and hated baby Heracles and when he was 8 months old she tried to kill him with poisonous snakes. The baby crushed them in his fists. * He had a troubled childhood and found it hard to fit in. * He grew up and married King Creon's daughter, Megara and they had 2 children. * Hera cursed him with madness and he killed his wife and children. * When he realised what he had done he sought help from the oracle of Delphe. He did not know Hera had cursed him with madness and also that she was controlling the oracle. * The Oracle, under Hera’s control, told Heracles to go to King Eurystheus, for penance King Eurystheus had become king instead of Heracles and did not like him very much. * King Eutystheus set Herecles 12 impossible labours to complete as penance. * !2 labours were: * Slay the Nemean Lion symbolises mankind’s animal instincts * Slay the nine headed Hydra from lake Lerna represents human lust for pleasure * Capture the Golden Hind of Artemis * Capture the Erymanthian Boar * Clean the Augean stables in a single day symbolises the foul side of human nature * Slay the Stymphalian Birds symbolise mankind’s unreachable goals * Capture the Cretan Bull * Steal the Mares of Diomedes * Obtain the girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons * Obtain the cattle of the monster Geryon * Steal the apples of the Hesperides * Capture and bring back Cerberus

* He completed all 12 tasks and showed intelligence, courage and ingenuity * After completing the labours he still felt great guilt so he built his own funeral pyre. * His mortal body burnt but his divine soul ascended to the heavens where Zeus decided he had suffered enough so invited him to live as a god on Mount Olympus for eternity.

Theme;

Medusa * Was a very attractive woman and many men wanted her * She could not get married because she was a priestess of Athena, goddess of war. She was bound by a vow of chastity. * She started as a symbol of purity. * Poseidon, god of the sea, raped Medusa in the temple of Athena. * He stole her virginity she could no longer serve Athena and also was not suitable for marriage any more. * Athena was well pissed that her temple had been desecrated by the act of intercourse. However she was not pissed at Poseidon she got pissed at Medusa and punished her. * Athena punishes Medusa by transforming her into a Gorgan. * Athena punished her without warning. Her hair becomes a mass of poisonous snakes. * She can no longer have interaction with anyone else as anyone who looks at her will turn to stone. * She is banished to an island to live out her punishment for eternity. * Gorgans represent the physical embodiment of death. * Her head will turn people to stone even after it has been severed from the body, many men try to kill Medusa to claim this power for themselves, but they all fail. * The king of Argos, Acreseus, believes that his daughters child will attempt to kill him so he locks his daughter in a tower in hope she will starve to death. * Instead she gets impregnated by Zeus while she is locked away in confinement. * She gives birth to Perceus while she is in the tower. * Perceus is born a demigod * The king puts mother and child in a boat and sets them a sail with no help. * They wash up on an Island called Serafos where the king of the island wants to marry his mother . The king wants to get rid of Perseus but Perseus tells the king he will bring him the head of medusa. * Perseus manages to cut off Medusa’s head and takes it back to the king who turns to stone along with his evil grandfather when they look at it and then his mother is free. * He gives the head as a tribute to Athena.

Hades * God of the underworld. * He was the oldest sibling of Zeus and Poseidon * He took a liking to Persephani and drangged her to the underworld to be his queen. * Persephani was the daughter of Demeter, goddess of the Harvest.

* The underworld has three levels which are the equivalent of Heaven, Hell and Limbo * Most of the dead descend to the fields of Asphodel, (LIMBO) Dark grey morbid. * 40,000 miles deep surrounded by a flaming river is Tartarus (HELL) where the souls of the very bad would go especially those who have angered the God’s. * The islands of the blessed (HEAVEN) no work, eat all you want, streams and paradise like. * Demeter is responsible for the changing of the seasons. When Persephonie went missing Demeter forgot to give fertility to the land and plants died and humans did not give birth. This was the beginning of winter. * The other gods order Hades to return Persephoni but he tricks her into eating food from the underworld which means she has to spend some time there every year. 3 months a year in the underworld, one month for every pomegranit seed she ate. * When she is in the underworld her mother is upset and we have winter, when she returns her mother rejoices and we have spring. * Dead souls who were denied access to The underworld would return to haunt the living as ghosts * Serbarus is a three headed guard dog that guards the entrance to the underworld. * The Hundred handers are prison guards * The ferryman Carren that patrols the River Styx. He takes the dead across from the world of the living to the underworld. * You have to pay Carren a coin as passage but if you don’t have a coin your soul will stay on the banks of the River Styx . * You could not escape the underworld and if you tried Hades would punish you severely. * Punishment of Sysiphus. Wife did not bury him so he did not pass over completely. He asked Persephoni for permission to leave and scold his wife. She grants permission and tricks death. Hades is well pissed off and dragged Sysiphus back to the underworld. Hades sends Sysiphus to Tartarus where he has to push a huge boulder up a hill only for it to fall down the other side. He has to push it up the hill for eternity.
Theme; Intelligence over strength

Odysseus * The story of the Odyssey was wrote by Homer (not Bart’s dad) * Odysseus is a thinking man’s hero who relies on his intellect rather that strength. * He is 100% mortal * The central focus of the story is his struggle to get home on time * The story is about a person facing a lot of obstacles * Odysseus represented the modern explorer of the time * Odysseus is the ruler of a mythical Greek Island called Ithaca * He was a happy successful king * Helen, Queen of Sparta does one with the Prince of Troy * And Ithaca joins Sparta to bring Helen back home * He sail 12 ships to Tray but they come up against the great walls of Troy * Odysseus uses his great intelligence and the Trojan Horse plan is hatched. * After defeating the Trojans he sets sail home where his Queen, Penelope waits. * Many men are lining up to take the queen * He had spent 10 years fighting the Trojan War * They stop for supplies but get trapped by a Cyclops but manage to blind it. * The Cyclops is Poseidon’s son and so Poseidon makes his journey home extremely difficult and they get blown of course * They take refuge and discover the palace of the sorceress Cersey who invites them to stay for a feast of food and flesh. This represents men getting led astray by sex * As the men overindulge the sorceress turns them into pigs but one man escapes and warns Odysseus who has stayed behind with the ships. Odysseus goes to confront the sorceress and on the way bumps into Hermes. Hermes give Odysseus a drug so he cannot be affected by Cerseys power. * Odysseus ends up in bed with Cerseys and stays there for a year. *

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