1、11 The Olympian GodsBetween Macedon and Thessaly of eastern Greece there stood a high mountainIts cloudy top rushed into the very heavensOn the top of the mountain， the home of the gods was bathed in brightness At Olympus Zeus ruled as the father of gods and men Zeus was not a crude ruler by any sta
2、ndardsAll the gods listened to his final words，it was trueBut Zeus made them all sit on a committee of twelve members，including six gods and six goddesses The first in the Olympian crowd sat Zeus himself He was the overlord of gods and men and the operator of the thunderbolt Next to him was Hera，his
3、 proud and green-eyed queenPoseidon was ruler of the sea，And Hades，king of the lower world，had no seat in the committeeApollo was the god of the sun，music and poetry，while his twin sister Artemis was the goddess of the moon and the chase Athena was the goddess of wisdom and patroness of house hold a
4、rtsHestin ，the goddess of the family，represented home life and family happinessThe frightening Ares was the god of war，and the charming Aphrodite the goddess of love and beautyThe god of fire，Hephaestus ，was the forger of the thunderbolts of Zeus The wing footed messenger Hermes was the god of inven
5、tion and commerce；and the goddess of grains and harvests，Demeter ，looked after agriculture and stood for mother of civilization All the chief gods mentioned above took human forms of incomparable beauty and grace Often moved by human feelings and desires，they frequently gave way to anger and jealous
6、yThey became involved in ceaseless battles with the world of man Among themselves at Olympus they plotted and struggled for powerIn the human world they experienced competitions and difficultiesThey enjoyed earthly friendships and lovesA crowd of everlasting gods looked and acted in a perfectly huma
7、n fashion that is what all gods at Olympus actually were2 PandoraAfter the stealing of fire，Zeus became increasingly unkind to menOne day he ordered his son Hephaestus to build an image of a beautiful maiden out of clayHe then asked the gods and goddesses to award her with different kinds of giftsAm
8、ong others，Athena clothed her in an attractive coat and Hermes gave her the power of telling liesA charming young lady，she was the first woman that ever livedZeus called her PandoraBecause she had received from each of the gods and goddesses a giftThe gift was harmful to menZeus decided to send her
9、down to men as a presentSo Hermes them essenger brought her to Epimetheus，brother of PrometheusThe greatness of her beauty touched the hearts of all who looked upon her，and Epimetheus happily received her into his houseHe had quite forgotten Pometheus warning：never to accept anything from ZeusThe co
10、uple lived a happy life for some timeThen trouble came on to the human worldWhen he was busy with teaching men the art of living，Prometheus had left a big cask in the care of EpimetheusHe had warned his brother not to open the lidPandora was a curious womanShe had been feeling very disappointed that
11、 her husband did not allow her to take a look at the contents of the caskOne day，when Epimetheus was out，she lifted the lid and out it came unrest and war，Plague and sickness，theft and violence， grief sorrow，and all the other evilsThe human world was hence to experience these evilsOnly hope stayed w
12、ithin the mouth of the jar and never flew outSo men always have hope within their hearts3 ApolloAmong the crowd of Olympian gods the one most widely admired was ApolloHe was the son of Zeus and Let toAccording to Greek mythology，Leto was driven by Hera from land to land at last Poseidon took Pity on
13、 her and brought the island of Delos out of water for her to live onThere she gave birth to the twins ，Apollo and ArtemisApollo was me sun-godHe wore a purple robeHe usually sat in his bright eastern palace early in the morning and made ready to start his daily journey across the skyDuring the day h
14、ed rove his carriage of gold and ivory ， and brought light， life and love to the great world below Iate in the afternoon he came to the end of his journey in the far western sea and got on his golden boat to return to his eastern homeApollo was the god of music and poetryHe could stir up all feeling
15、sThese feelings are expressed in lofty songsWith his lyre of gold and the sweet accents of his godlike voice heled the choir of the Muses at OlympusThe 2pleasant music from his lyre was so exciting that stones marched into their places in rhythmic time and of their own will when he helped Poseidon b
16、uild up the walls of TroyOn one occasion，invited to a contest by the human musician Marsyas，he won and then flayed him to death for his prideOn another occasion，he lost out to Pan at a musical contest and turned the ears of the judge，King Midas，into those of an ass His son，Orpheus，took over such ski
17、ll from the father that his lyre moved man and animals alikeApollo stood for youthful and manly beautyHis golden hair，stately manner and air all combined to make him the admiration of the worldA beautiful girl，by the name of Clytle，was so fond of his beauty and glory that from dawn to dusk she knelt
18、 on the ground，her hands outstretched towards the sun god，and her eyes looked at his golden wheeled carriage racing across the blue skyThough her love was not returned，she had never changed her mind about ApolloThe gods were moved at the sad sight，and changed her into a sunflower 4 Prometheus Promet
19、heus was a Titan In the war between Zeus the giants he had stood on the side of the new Olympian godsOut of the clay he made the first man，to whom Athena gave soul and holy breathPrometheus spent a lot of time and energy in creating the gift of fireAnd fire raised man above all animals Later，there h
20、eld a joint meeting of gods and menThe meeting was to decide what part of burnt animals should be given to gods and what to menPrometheus cut up an ox and divided it into two parts：under the skin he placed the fresh，and under the fat he put the bones，for he knew the selfish Zeus loved fat Zeus saw t
21、hrough the trick and felt displeased at the Prometheus favor towards menSo in a masterful way he took away the gift of fire from mankindHowever，Prometheus managed to steal fire from heaven and secretly brought it down to menFlying into an anger at this unjustified act of rebellion，Zeus let the other
22、 gods chain Prometheus to a rock on Mountain Caucasus，where a hungry eagle ever tore at his liver which ever grew againHis period of pain was to be thirty-thousand yearsPrometheus faced his bitter fate firmly and never lost courage before ZeusAt last Heracles made Prometheus and Zeus restore to frie
23、nd ship，when Heracles came over in search of the golden apple and killed the eagle and set the friend of mankind free5 Nereus and Proteus Of all the small sea divinities Nereus and Proteus stood out as Peculiar sea-godsNereus，known as“the Old Man of the sea”，represented the pleasant aspect of ocean
24、watersHe lived beneath the sea with his fifty lovely daughters，of whom the most famous were Amphritrite，Thetis，Galate a and PanopeIt was Nereus who advised Heracles to seek Prometheus in the heros search of the golden applesProteus was Poseidons herdsman. He was well known for two qualities：the gift
25、 of prophecy and the power to take various formsAt one time he was a lion with a curly wavy hairs；at another he appeared in the shape of a wild boar；and still another he stood a stately tree covered with rich leavesWhen，after all these and many other changes，he failed to get rid of his questioner， t
26、he god offered detailed answers6 Eros（Cupid ） Eros was the god of love，better known by his Latin name CupidSon of Aphrodite by Ares ，he took his place among the small gods of OlympusHe was represented as a little naked boy，with sparkling wings，and he carried his bow and arrows wherever he wanderedSh
27、ooting his thrilling arrows in evils，he inspired the passion of love and provided all nature with life and power of reproductionThe lovely，naughty god had two kinds of arrows：the gold tipped arrows used to quicken the pulse of love and the lead tipped ones to palsy it Besides，he had a torch to light
28、 hearts withThough sometimes he was blindfolded ，no man nor god，Zeus himself included，was safe from his evilsAt one time the little naughty god was wounded by his own arrows and such burning love was awakened in him for the human maiden Psyche that he disregarded the constant interference of his mot
29、her and plucked up his courage to beg Zeus for justiceAnother famous story where Eros played an important part was the Argonautic expeditionMedea，daughter 3of king Aeetes，was wounded by Eros arrows，took Jasons part in recovering the golden fleece and eventually became the heros wife7 Ares Son of Zeu
30、s and Hera，Ares was appointed god of warHewas terrible and majestic ，and his march shook the worldOf all the major gods at Olympus，he was the most hateful，loving struggle and war and ever thirsty for blood On the other hand he signified courage and victory in battle，and was devoutly worshipped by so
31、ldiers going to warPrayers were addressed to him before the war and spoils presented at his altar after itHe was the one god who ever had to submit to the power of his inferiors At one time lack of tact and good udgement led to his shameHe was fighting with two giants，and finding himself no match fo
32、r the two monstrous creatures，laid down his arms and was imprisoned in chains He was set free in the end by the artful Hermes，but not before he had suffered all the humiliations .He was as thoughtless as he was unkind A son of Poseidons，attempting to kidnap his daughter，made the war-god unhappy，so t
33、hat he killed the youth Without he sitation. In retaliation ，Poseidon dragged him before a group of Athenian judges for trialThe court was held on a hill outside AthensAres presented his case and was declared innocent. The hill was ever after called Areopagus， “the hill of Ares”，and the judges recei
34、ved the names of Areopagitae8 Dionysus Dionysus was the god of wineHe was the son of Zeus by Semele When his mother was burnt to death in the glory of Zeus He was still a helpless infantHis father trusted his upbringing to some mountain fairy maidens They took the greatest care of him Under the tuto
35、rship of Silennus，the Satyr， he was introduced to all the secrets of nature and the culture of the wine He travelled far and wide in his carriage drawn by wild beasts He was said to have been to India and Ethiopia Wherever he went， there was music and song and revellingHis attendants，known as the Ba
36、cchantes， were noted for their noise and disorderA most wild，noisy crow，they drank，danced and sang in a careless wayThe women Bacchantes were infamous for their excessive immodesty and disgraceful excitement In their madness and intoxication they committed cruel violence. They tore Orpheus，the gifte
37、d musician，limb from limbKing Pentheus of Thebes，for frowning on the worship of Bacchus in his kingdom， suffered the same treatment at the hands of a band of these fanatical women，of whom his own mother was the leader9 Philomela King Pandion of Athens had two daughters，Procne and PhilomelaWhen Athen
38、s was threatened by the wild men，King Tereus of Thrace came to its helpOut of gratitude King Pandion offered Tereus either of his daughters in marriage and the Thracian king chose Procne as wife For years they lived in Thrace and had one son，Itylus by nameThen Procne became homesick and longed to se
39、e her dear sister PhilomelaAt her repeated requests Tereus sailed to Athens to fetch PhilomelaOn the way back his evil heart took flame at the sight of Philomela who was then in her beauty of maidenhoodHe seized and carried her away by force，cut out her tongue and imprisoned her in a lonely hut in t
40、he woodsTo Procne he lied，saying that Philomela was deadPhilomela stayed in prison for year，where she had woven her painful story into the web of a robe Then she managed to send the robe to her sister As soon as she received the web Procne came over to the woods and to reher sister away from the kee
41、persBack at the palace, the two women，hot for paying back ，killed little Itylus and served him up to his father When Tereus learned of the terrible truth he grasped his sword and chased the sisters into the woods There the gods turned Procne into a swallow，Philomela a nightingale and Tereus a hoopoe
42、 10 Palladium 4When Ilus had first built his new seat，the city of Troy， he prayed Zeus to show some sign of blessing for it His prayer was heard，and a wooden image of Pallas- Athena fell from heaven to within the walls of the city Known as the Palladium， the statue afforded the city safety and prote
43、ction At religious meetings of the goddess it was carried through the city streets amid joys and songs of praiseAfter the flames of war had spread for ten years before the walls of Troy， a prophet foretold that Troy could never be expected to fall as long as the Palladium was treasured by its people
44、 In order to steal it out，Odysseus and Diomedes slipped into the capital one night in disguise ， known to none but HellenThe bad woman took out them to He cuba， the queen of Troy， at whose feet Odysseus immediately bowed down and asked for mercyThe queen granted their request，and with the help of He
45、len，they successfully brought the image back to the Greek camp at dawnLater it was said that Aeneas got hold of it and carried it with him to his new land，where it was Preserved together with the goddess fire11 The Flood Towards the end of the Age of Bronze the human world became very cruelMen grew
46、hungry，impolite and ungodlyNeither rightn or law was respected any longer，and the rule of hospitality was forgottenDressed up in human form，Zeus visited Arcadia and Thessaly，and disliked the deadly wrongs of men He decided to clear the earth of them allWithout hesitation he released the rainy south
47、wind and called upon the heartless Poseidon to helpSoon the whole world sank in a vast ocean， and the entire human race disappeared in the unheard of flood，all but two poor Thessalians These were an old childless couple，kind and faithful and contented with lifeThe man was called Deucalion and his wi
48、fe PyrrhaSon of Prometheus，Deucalion had been warned beforehand by his father of the coming flood and made himself a huge chestWhen the roaring flood came the couple hid themselves init and floated for nine days until it touched land again on Mt ParnassusThe once active world presented a frightening
49、 sightIt was all death and ruinFeeling lonely and unsafe，the old couple prayed to the gods for helpA sage instructed them to cast the bones of their mother about The son of the wise Titan， having guessed the true meaning of the mysterious command， started throwing stones behind him A miracle occurred The stones that the man cast became men；
