Read ancient myths and legends. Legends and myths of ancient Greece
“Myths about the gods and their struggle with giants and titans are set out mainly based on Hesiod’s poem “Theogony” (Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey” and the poem of the Roman poet Ovid “Metamorphoses” (Transformations) .
In the beginning there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. It contained the source of life in the world. Everything arose from boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. The goddess Earth, Gaia, also came from Chaos. It spreads wide, powerful, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is far from us, in immeasurable depths, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, was born the mighty force that animates everything, Love - Eros. The world began to be created. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other..."
Nikolay Kun
Legends and myths of Ancient Greece
Part one. Gods and heroes
Myths about the gods and their struggle with giants and titans are presented mainly based on Hesiod’s poem “Theogony” (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey” and the poem “Metamorphoses” (Transformations) by the Roman poet Ovid.
In the beginning there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. It contained the source of life in the world. Everything arose from boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. The goddess Earth, Gaia, also came from Chaos. It spreads wide, powerful, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is far from us, in immeasurable depths, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, was born the mighty force that animates everything, Love - Eros. The world began to be created. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.
The mighty, fertile Earth gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, and the Sky spread over the Earth. The high Mountains born of the Earth rose proudly towards him, and the ever-noisy Sea spread widely.
Mother Earth gave birth to the Sky, Mountains and Sea, and they have no father.
Uranus - Heaven - reigned in the world. He took the fertile Earth as his wife. Uranus and Gaia had six sons and six daughters - powerful, formidable titans. Their son, the Titan Ocean, flowing around the entire earth like a boundless river, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and the sea goddesses - the Oceanids. Titan Hipperion and Theia gave the world children: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selene and the ruddy Dawn - pink-fingered Eos (Aurora). From Astraeus and Eos came all the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and all the winds: the stormy northern wind Boreas, the eastern Eurus, the humid southern Notus and the gentle western wind Zephyr, carrying clouds heavy with rain.
In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - cyclops with one eye in the forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-armed (hecatoncheires), so named because each of them had a hundred hands. Nothing can resist their terrible power; their elemental power knows no bounds.
Uranus hated his giant children; he imprisoned them in deep darkness in the bowels of the Earth goddess and did not allow them to come into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was oppressed by this terrible burden contained in her depths. She summoned her children, the Titans, and convinced them to rebel against their father Uranus, but they were afraid to raise their hands against their father. Only the youngest of them, the treacherous Kron, overthrew his father by cunning and took away his power.
As punishment for Kron, the Goddess Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible substances: Tanata - death, Eris - discord, Apata - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes - and many others. Horror, strife, deception, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.
Gods
The picture of the life of the gods on Olympus is given from the works of Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey, which glorify the tribal aristocracy and the basileus leading it as the best people, standing much higher than the rest of the population. The gods of Olympus differ from aristocrats and basileus only in that they are immortal, powerful and can work miracles.
Zeus
Birth of Zeus
Kron was not sure that power would remain in his hands forever. He was afraid that his children would rebel against him and would subject him to the same fate to which he doomed his father Uranus. He was afraid of his children. And Kron ordered his wife Rhea to bring him the children that were born and mercilessly swallowed them. Rhea was horrified when she saw the fate of her children. Cronus has already swallowed five: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades (Hades) and Poseidon.
Rhea did not want to lose her last child. On the advice of her parents, Uranus-Heaven and Gaia-Earth, she retired to the island of Crete, and there, in a deep cave, her youngest son Zeus was born. In this cave, Rhea hid her son from her cruel father, and instead of her son she gave him a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow. Krohn had no idea that he had been deceived by his wife.
Meanwhile, Zeus grew up in Crete. The nymphs Adrastea and Idea cherished little Zeus; they fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea. The bees brought honey to little Zeus from the slopes of the high mountain Dikta. At the entrance to the cave, the young Kuretes struck their shields with their swords every time little Zeus cried, so that Kronus would not hear him cry and Zeus would not suffer the fate of his brothers and sisters.
Zeus overthrows Cronus. The fight of the Olympian gods with the titans
The beautiful and powerful god Zeus grew up and matured. He rebelled against his father and forced him to bring back into the world the children he had absorbed. One after another, Kron spewed out his children-gods, beautiful and bright, from the mouth. They began to fight with Kron and the Titans for power over the world.
This struggle was terrible and stubborn. The children of Kron established themselves on high Olympus. Some of the titans also took their side, and the first were the titan Ocean and his daughter Styx and their children Zeal, Power and Victory. This struggle was dangerous for the Olympian gods. Their opponents, the Titans, were powerful and formidable. But the Cyclopes came to the aid of Zeus. They forged thunder and lightning for him, Zeus threw them at the titans. The struggle had already lasted ten years, but victory did not lean on either side. Finally, Zeus decided to free the hundred-armed giants Hecatoncheires from the bowels of the earth; he called them to help. Terrible, huge as mountains, they emerged from the bowels of the earth and rushed into battle. They tore entire rocks from the mountains and threw them at the titans. Hundreds of rocks flew towards the titans when they approached Olympus. The earth groaned, a roar filled the air, everything around was shaking. Even Tartarus shuddered from this struggle.
Zeus threw fiery lightning and deafeningly roaring thunder one after another. Fire engulfed the entire earth, the seas boiled, smoke and stench covered everything with a thick veil.
Finally, the mighty titans wavered. Their strength was broken, they were defeated. The Olympians chained them and cast them into gloomy Tartarus, into eternal darkness. At the copper indestructible gates of Tartarus, the hundred-armed hecatoncheires stood guard, and they guard so that the mighty titans do not break free from Tartarus again. The power of the titans in the world has passed.
Nikolay Kun
Legends and myths of Ancient Greece
Part one. Gods and heroes
Myths about the gods and their struggle with giants and titans are set out mainly based on Hesiod’s poem “Theogony” (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey” and the poem “Metamorphoses” (Transformations) by the Roman poet Ovid.
In the beginning there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. It contained the source of life in the world. Everything arose from boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. The goddess Earth, Gaia, also came from Chaos. It spreads wide, powerful, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is far from us, in immeasurable depths, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, was born the mighty force that animates everything, Love - Eros. The world began to be created. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.
The mighty, fertile Earth gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, and the Sky spread over the Earth. The high Mountains born of the Earth rose proudly towards him, and the ever-noisy Sea spread widely.
Mother Earth gave birth to the Sky, Mountains and Sea, and they have no father.
Uranus - Heaven - reigned in the world. He took the fertile Earth as his wife. Uranus and Gaia had six sons and six daughters - powerful, formidable titans. Their son, the Titan Ocean, flowing around the entire earth like a boundless river, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and the sea goddesses - the Oceanids. Titan Hipperion and Theia gave the world children: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selene and the ruddy Dawn - pink-fingered Eos (Aurora). From Astraeus and Eos came all the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and all the winds: the stormy northern wind Boreas, the eastern Eurus, the humid southern Notus and the gentle western wind Zephyr, carrying clouds heavy with rain.
In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - cyclops with one eye in the forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-armed (hecatoncheires), so named because each of them had a hundred hands. Nothing can resist their terrible power; their elemental power knows no bounds.
Uranus hated his giant children; he imprisoned them in deep darkness in the bowels of the Earth goddess and did not allow them to come into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was oppressed by this terrible burden contained in her depths. She summoned her children, the Titans, and convinced them to rebel against their father Uranus, but they were afraid to raise their hands against their father. Only the youngest of them, the treacherous Kron, overthrew his father by cunning and took away his power.
As punishment for Kron, the Goddess Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible substances: Tanata - death, Eris - discord, Apata - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes - and many others. Horror, strife, deception, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.
The picture of the life of the gods on Olympus is given from the works of Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey, which glorify the tribal aristocracy and the basileus leading it as the best people, standing much higher than the rest of the population. The gods of Olympus differ from aristocrats and basileus only in that they are immortal, powerful and can work miracles.
Birth of Zeus
Kron was not sure that power would remain in his hands forever. He was afraid that his children would rebel against him and would subject him to the same fate to which he doomed his father Uranus. He was afraid of his children. And Kron ordered his wife Rhea to bring him the children that were born and mercilessly swallowed them. Rhea was horrified when she saw the fate of her children. Cronus has already swallowed five: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades (Hades) and Poseidon.
Rhea did not want to lose her last child. On the advice of her parents, Uranus-Heaven and Gaia-Earth, she retired to the island of Crete, and there, in a deep cave, her youngest son Zeus was born. In this cave, Rhea hid her son from her cruel father, and instead of her son she gave him a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow. Krohn had no idea that he had been deceived by his wife.
Meanwhile, Zeus grew up in Crete. The nymphs Adrastea and Idea cherished little Zeus; they fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea. The bees brought honey to little Zeus from the slopes of the high mountain Dikta. At the entrance to the cave, the young Kuretes struck their shields with their swords every time little Zeus cried, so that Kronus would not hear him cry and Zeus would not suffer the fate of his brothers and sisters.
Zeus overthrows Cronus. The fight of the Olympian gods with the titans
The beautiful and powerful god Zeus grew up and matured. He rebelled against his father and forced him to bring back into the world the children he had absorbed. One after another, Kron spewed out his children-gods, beautiful and bright, from the mouth. They began to fight with Kron and the Titans for power over the world.
This struggle was terrible and stubborn. The children of Kron established themselves on high Olympus. Some of the titans also took their side, and the first were the titan Ocean and his daughter Styx and their children Zeal, Power and Victory. This struggle was dangerous for the Olympian gods. Their opponents, the Titans, were powerful and formidable. But the Cyclopes came to the aid of Zeus. They forged thunder and lightning for him, Zeus threw them at the titans. The struggle had already lasted ten years, but victory did not lean on either side. Finally, Zeus decided to free the hundred-armed giants Hecatoncheires from the bowels of the earth; he called them to help. Terrible, huge as mountains, they emerged from the bowels of the earth and rushed into battle. They tore entire rocks from the mountains and threw them at the titans. Hundreds of rocks flew towards the titans when they approached Olympus. The earth groaned, a roar filled the air, everything around was shaking. Even Tartarus shuddered from this struggle.
Zeus threw fiery lightning and deafeningly roaring thunder one after another. Fire engulfed the entire earth, the seas boiled, smoke and stench covered everything with a thick veil.
Finally, the mighty titans wavered. Their strength was broken, they were defeated. The Olympians chained them and cast them into gloomy Tartarus, into eternal darkness. At the copper indestructible gates of Tartarus, the hundred-armed hecatoncheires stood guard, and they guard so that the mighty titans do not break free from Tartarus again. The power of the titans in the world has passed.
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Part one
Olympian gods and legendary heroes
Origin of the world and gods
Myths about the gods and their struggle with giants and titans are set out mainly based on Hesiod’s poem “Theogony” (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from Homer's poems « Iliad» And « Odyssey» and poems by the Roman poet Ovid « Metamorphoses» (Transformations).
In the beginning there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. It contained the source of life in the world. Everything arose from boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. The goddess Earth, Gaia, also came from Chaos. It spreads wide, powerful, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is far from us, in immeasurable depths, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, was born the mighty force that animates everything, Love - Eros. The world began to be created. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.
The mighty, fertile Earth gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, and the Sky spread over the Earth. The high Mountains born of the Earth rose proudly towards him, and the ever-noisy Sea spread widely.
Mother Earth gave birth to the Sky, Mountains and Sea, and they have no father.
Uranus - Heaven - reigned in the world. He took the fertile Earth as his wife. Uranus and Gaia had six sons and six daughters - powerful, formidable titans. Their son, the Titan Ocean, flowing around the entire earth like a boundless river, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and the sea goddesses - the Oceanids. Titan Hipperion and Theia gave the world children: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selene and the ruddy Dawn - pink-fingered Eos (Aurora). From Astraeus and Eos came all the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and all the winds: the stormy northern wind Boreas, the eastern Eurus, the humid southern Notus and the gentle western wind Zephyr, carrying clouds heavy with rain.
In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - cyclops with one eye in the forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-armed (hecatoncheires), so named because each of them had a hundred hands. Nothing can resist their terrible power; their elemental power knows no bounds.
Uranus hated his giant children; he imprisoned them in deep darkness in the bowels of the Earth goddess and did not allow them to come into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was oppressed by this terrible burden contained in her depths. She summoned her children, the Titans, and convinced them to rebel against their father Uranus, but they were afraid to raise their hands against their father. Only the youngest of them, the treacherous Kron 1
Cron– all-consuming time (chronos – time).
By cunning he overthrew his father and took away his power.
As punishment for Kron, the Goddess Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible deities: Tanata - death, Eris - discord, Apata - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark, heavy visions, the merciless Nemesis - revenge for crimes - and many others.
Horror, strife, deception, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.
Olympian gods
Zeus
Kron was not sure that power would remain in his hands forever. He was afraid that his children would rebel against him and doom him to the same fate to which he doomed his father Uranus. He was afraid of his children. And Kron ordered his wife Rhea to bring him the children that were born and mercilessly swallowed them. Rhea was horrified when she saw the fate of her children. Cronus has already swallowed five: Hestia 2
Hestia- goddess of sacrificial fire and hearth fire, patroness of cities and the state.
Demeter 3
Demeter- the great goddess of the fertility of the earth, giving growth to everything that grows on the earth, giving fertility to the fields, blessing the work of the farmer.
Hera, Hades (Hades) and Poseidon.
Rhea did not want to lose her last child. On the advice of her parents, Uranus-Heaven and Gaia-Earth, she retired to the island of Crete, and there, in a deep cave, her youngest son Zeus was born. In this cave, Rhea hid her son from her cruel father, and instead of her son she gave him a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow. Krohn had no idea that he had been deceived by his wife.
Meanwhile, Zeus grew up in Crete. The nymphs Adrastea and Idea cherished little Zeus; they fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea. The bees brought honey to little Zeus from the slopes of the high mountain Dikta. At the entrance to the cave there are young Kuretes 4
Kurets- demigods, guardians and defenders of Zeus. Later, the priests of Zeus and Rhea were called curetes in Crete.
They struck the shields with swords every time little Zeus cried, so that Kronos would not hear him cry and Zeus would not suffer the fate of his brothers and sisters.
The beautiful and powerful god Zeus grew up and matured. He rebelled against his father and forced him to bring back into the world the children he had absorbed. One after another, Kron spewed out his children-gods, beautiful and bright, from the mouth. They began to fight with Kron and the Titans for power over the world.
This struggle was terrible and stubborn. The children of Kron established themselves on high Olympus. Some of the titans also took their side, and the first were the titan Ocean and his daughter Styx with their children Zeal, Power and Victory. This struggle was dangerous for the Olympian gods. Their opponents, the Titans, were powerful and formidable. But the Cyclopes came to the aid of Zeus. They forged thunder and lightning for him, Zeus threw them at the titans. The struggle had already lasted ten years, but victory did not lean on either side. Finally, Zeus decided to free the hundred-armed giants Hecatoncheires from the bowels of the earth; he called them to help. Terrible, huge as mountains, they emerged from the bowels of the earth and rushed into battle. They tore entire rocks from the mountains and threw them at the titans. Hundreds of rocks flew towards the titans when they approached Olympus. The earth groaned, a roar filled the air, everything around was shaking. Even Tartarus shuddered from this struggle. Zeus threw fiery lightning and deafeningly roaring thunder one after another. Fire engulfed the entire earth, the seas boiled, smoke and stench covered everything with a thick veil.
Finally, the mighty titans wavered. Their strength was broken, they were defeated. The Olympians chained them and cast them into gloomy Tartarus, into eternal darkness. At the copper indestructible gates of Tartarus, the hundred-armed hecatoncheires stood guard, and they guard so that the mighty titans do not break free from Tartarus again. The power of the titans in the world has passed.
But the struggle did not end there. Gaia-Earth was angry with the Olympian Zeus for treating her defeated titan children so harshly. She married the gloomy Tartarus and gave birth to the terrible hundred-headed monster Typhon. Huge, with a hundred dragon heads, Typhon rose from the bowels of the earth. He shook the air with a wild howl. The barking of dogs, human voices, the roar of an angry bull, the roar of a lion were heard in this howl. Turbulent flames swirled around Typhon, and the earth shook under his heavy steps. The gods shuddered in horror. But Zeus the Thunderer boldly rushed at him, and the battle broke out. Lightning flashed again in the hands of Zeus, and thunder rumbled. The earth and the firmament were shaken to the core. The earth flared up again with a bright flame, just as during the fight with the titans. The seas were boiling at the mere approach of Typhon. Hundreds of fiery lightning arrows rained down from the thunderer Zeus; it seemed as if their fire was making the very air burn and the dark thunderclouds were burning. Zeus incinerated all of Typhon's hundred heads. Typhon collapsed to the ground; such heat emanated from his body that everything around him melted. Zeus raised Typhon's body and threw it into the gloomy Tartarus, which gave birth to him. But even in Tartarus, Typhon also threatens the gods and all living things. It causes storms and eruptions; he gave birth to Echidna, half-woman, half-snake, the terrible two-headed dog Orph, the hellish dog Kerberus, the Lernaean Hydra and the Chimera; Typhon often shakes the earth.
The Olympian gods defeated their enemies. No one could resist their power anymore. They could now calmly rule the world. The most powerful of them, the thunderer Zeus, took the sky for himself, Poseidon took the sea, and Hades took the underground kingdom of the souls of the dead. The land remained in common possession. Although the sons of Kron divided the power over the world among themselves, the lord of the sky, Zeus, still reigns over them all; he rules people and gods, he knows everything in the world.
Zeus reigns high on bright Olympus, surrounded by a host of gods. Here are his wife Hera, and golden-haired Apollo with his sister Artemis, and golden Aphrodite, and the mighty daughter of Zeus Athena, and many other gods. Three beautiful Oras guard the entrance to high Olympus and raise a thick cloud covering the gates when the gods descend to earth or ascend to the bright halls of Zeus. High above Olympus, the blue, bottomless sky stretches wide, and golden light pours from it. There is no rain or snow in the kingdom of Zeus; There is always a bright, joyful summer there. And the clouds swirl below, sometimes covering the distant land. There, on earth, spring and summer are replaced by autumn and winter, joy and fun are replaced by misfortune and grief. True, even the gods know sorrows, but they soon pass, and joy reigns again on Olympus.
The gods feast in their golden palaces, built by the son of Zeus Hephaestus. King Zeus sits on a high golden throne. The courageous, divinely beautiful face of Zeus breathes with greatness and a proudly calm consciousness of power and might. At his throne are the goddess of peace Eirene and the constant companion of Zeus, the winged goddess of victory Nike. Here comes the beautiful, majestic goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus honors his wife: all the gods of Olympus surround Hera, the patroness of marriage, with honor. When, shining with her beauty, in a magnificent outfit, the great Hera enters the banquet hall, all the gods stand up and bow before the wife of the thunderer Zeus. And she, proud of her power, goes to the golden throne and sits next to the king of gods and people - Zeus. Near the throne of Hera stands her messenger, the goddess of the rainbow, the light-winged Iris, always ready to quickly fly on rainbow wings to carry out the commands of Hera to the farthest ends of the earth.
The gods are feasting. The daughter of Zeus, young Hebe, and the son of the king of Troy, Ganymede, the favorite of Zeus, who received immortality from him, offer them ambrosia and nectar - the food and drink of the gods. Beautiful harites and muses delight them with singing and dancing. Holding hands, they dance in circles, and the gods admire their light movements and wondrous, eternally youthful beauty. The feast of the Olympians becomes more fun. At these feasts the gods decide all matters; at them they determine the fate of the world and people.
From Olympus, Zeus sends his gifts to people and establishes order and laws on earth. The fate of people is in the hands of Zeus; happiness and unhappiness, good and evil, life and death - everything is in his hands. Two large vessels stand at the gates of Zeus's palace. In one vessel there are gifts of good, in the other - evil. Zeus draws good and evil from them and sends them to people. Woe to the man to whom the Thunderer draws gifts only from a vessel of evil. Woe to those who violate the order established by Zeus on earth and do not comply with his laws. The son of Kron will move his thick eyebrows menacingly, then black clouds will cloud the sky. The great Zeus will be angry, and the hair on his head will rise terribly, his eyes will light up with an unbearable brilliance; he will wave his right hand - thunderclaps will roll across the entire sky, fiery lightning will flash, and high Olympus will shake.
Zeus is not the only one who keeps the laws. At his throne stands the goddess Themis, who preserves the laws. She convenes, at the command of the Thunderer, meetings of the gods on bright Olympus and popular meetings on earth, ensuring that order and law are not violated. On Olympus is also the daughter of Zeus, the goddess Dike, who oversees justice. Zeus severely punishes unrighteous judges when Dike informs him that they do not comply with the laws given by Zeus. Goddess Dike is the defender of truth and the enemy of deception.
Zeus maintains order and truth in the world and sends happiness and sorrow to people. But although Zeus sends happiness and misfortune to people, the fate of people is still determined by the inexorable goddesses of fate - the Moirai, who live on bright Olympus. The fate of Zeus himself is in their hands. Fate rules over mortals and gods. No one can escape the dictates of inexorable fate. There is no such force, such power that could change at least something in what is intended for gods and mortals. You can only humbly bow before fate and submit to it. Some Moirai know the dictates of fate. Moira Kyoto spins a person's life thread, determining his lifespan. The thread will break and life will end. Moira Lachesis takes out, without looking, the lot that falls to a person in life. No one is able to change the fate determined by the moiras, since the third moira, Atropos, puts everything that her sisters have assigned in a person’s life into a long scroll, and what is included in the scroll of fate is inevitable. The great, harsh moiras are inexorable.
There is also a goddess of fate on Olympus - this is the goddess Tyukhe, the goddess of happiness and prosperity. From the cornucopia, the horn of the divine goat Amalthea, whose milk Zeus himself was fed, she pours gifts to people, and happy is the person who meets the goddess of happiness Tyukhe on his life’s path; but how rarely does this happen, and how unhappy is the person from whom the goddess Tyukhe, who has just given him her gifts, turns away!
Thus, surrounded by a host of bright gods, the great king of people and gods, Zeus, reigns on Olympus, protecting order and truth throughout the world.
Poseidon and the deities of the sea
Deep in the depths of the sea stands the wonderful palace of the great brother of the thunderer Zeus, the earth shaker Poseidon. Poseidon rules over the seas, and the waves of the sea are obedient to the slightest movement of his hand, armed with a formidable trident. There, in the depths of the sea, lives with Poseidon and his beautiful wife Amphitrite, the daughter of the prophetic sea elder Nereus, who was kidnapped by the great ruler of the sea depths Poseidon from her father. He once saw how she led a round dance with her Nereid sisters on the shore of the island of Naxos. The god of the sea was captivated by the beautiful Amphitrite and wanted to take her away in his chariot. But Amphitrite took refuge with the titan Atlas, who holds the vault of heaven on his mighty shoulders. For a long time Poseidon could not find the beautiful daughter of Nereus. Finally, a dolphin opened her hiding place to him; For this service, Poseidon placed the dolphin among the celestial constellations. Poseidon stole the beautiful daughter Nereus from Atlas and married her.
Since then, Amphitrite has lived with her husband Poseidon in an underwater palace. Sea waves roar high above the palace. A host of sea deities surround Poseidon, obedient to his will. Among them is Poseidon's son Triton, who with the thunderous sound of his shell trumpet causes menacing storms. Among the deities are Amphitrite’s beautiful sisters, the Nereids. Poseidon rules over the sea. When he rushes across the sea in his chariot drawn by wondrous horses, then the ever-noisy waves part and make way for the ruler Poseidon. Equal in beauty to Zeus himself, he quickly rushes across the boundless sea, and dolphins play around him, fish swim out of the depths of the sea and crowd around his chariot. When Poseidon waves his formidable trident, then sea waves, covered with white crests of foam, rise like mountains, and a fierce storm rages on the sea. Then the sea waves crash noisily against the coastal rocks and shake the earth. But Poseidon extends his trident over the waves, and they calm down. The storm subsides, the sea is calm again, smooth as a mirror, and barely audibly splashes along the shore - blue, boundless.
Many deities surround Zeus's great brother, Poseidon; among them is the prophetic sea elder, Nereus, who knows all the innermost secrets of the future. Nereus is alien to lies and deception; He reveals only the truth to gods and mortals. The advice given by the prophetic elder is wise. Nereus has fifty beautiful daughters. Young Nereids splash merrily in the waves of the sea, sparkling among them with their divine beauty. Holding hands, a line of them swim out of the depths of the sea and dance in a circle on the shore under the gentle splash of the waves of the calm sea quietly rushing onto the shore. The echo of the coastal rocks then repeats the sounds of their gentle singing, like the quiet roar of the sea. The Nereids patronize the sailor and give him a happy voyage.
Among the deities of the sea is the old man Proteus, who, like the sea, changes his image and turns, at will, into various animals and monsters. He is also a prophetic god, you just need to be able to catch him unexpectedly, master him and force him to reveal the secret of the future. Among the companions of the earth shaker Poseidon is the god Glaucus, the patron saint of sailors and fishermen, and he has the gift of divination. Often, emerging from the depths of the sea, he revealed the future and gave wise advice to mortals. The gods of the sea are mighty, their power is great, but the great brother of Zeus, Poseidon, rules over them all.
All seas and all lands flow around the gray Ocean 5
The Greeks claimed that a stream flows around the entire earth, rolling its waters in an eternal whirlpool.
- a titan god, equal to Zeus himself in honor and glory. He lives far on the borders of the world, and the affairs of the earth do not disturb his heart. Three thousand sons - river gods and three thousand daughters - Oceanids, goddesses of streams and springs, near the Ocean. The sons and daughters of the great god Ocean give prosperity and joy to mortals with their ever-rolling life-giving water; they water the whole earth and all living things with it.
Kingdom of Dark Hades
Deep underground reigns the inexorable, gloomy brother of Zeus, Hades. 6
The ancient Greeks imagined the kingdom of Hades, the kingdom of the souls of the dead, as gloomy and terrible, and the “afterlife” as misfortune.
His kingdom is full of darkness and horror. The joyful rays of the bright sun never penetrate there. Bottomless abysses lead from the surface of the earth to the sad kingdom of Hades. Dark rivers flow through it. The chilling sacred river Styx flows there, the gods themselves swear by its waters.
Cocytus and Acheron roll their waves there; the souls of the dead resound with their groaning, full of sadness, on their gloomy shores. In the underground kingdom the waters of the spring of Lethe flow and give oblivion to all earthly things. 7
Hence the expression: “sank into oblivion,” that is, forgotten forever.
Through the gloomy fields of the kingdom of Hades, overgrown with pale asphodel flowers 8
Asphodel- wild tulip.
The ethereal light shadows of the dead float about. They complain about their joyless life without light and without desires. Their moans are heard quietly, barely perceptible, like the rustling of withered leaves driven by the autumn wind. There is no return for anyone from this kingdom of sadness. Three-headed hellhound Kerberos 9
Otherwise - Cerberus.
On whose neck snakes move with a menacing hiss, guard the exit. The stern, old Charon, the carrier of the souls of the dead, will not carry a single soul through the gloomy waters of Acheron back to where the sun of life shines brightly. The souls of the dead in the dark kingdom of Hades are doomed to an eternal, joyless existence.
In this kingdom, to which neither the light, nor the joy, nor the sorrows of earthly life reach, Zeus’s brother, Hades, rules. He sits on a golden throne with his wife Persephone. He is served by the inexorable goddesses of vengeance, Erinyes. Menacing, with whips and snakes, they pursue the criminal; they do not give him a minute of peace and torment him with remorse; You can’t hide from them anywhere, they find their prey everywhere. The judges of the kingdom of the dead, Minos and Rhadamanthus, sit at the throne of Hades. Here, at the throne, is the god of death Tanat with a sword in his hands, in a black cloak, with huge black wings. These wings blow with grave cold when Tanat flies to the bed of a dying man to cut off a strand of hair from his head with her sword and tear out his soul. Next to Tanat are the gloomy Kera. On their wings they rush, frantic, across the battlefield. The Kers rejoice as they see the slain heroes fall one after another; With their blood-red lips they fall to the wounds, greedily drink the hot blood of the slain and tear out their souls from the body.
Here, at the throne of Hades, is the beautiful, young god of sleep Hypnos. He silently flies on his wings above the ground with poppy heads in his hands and pours a sleeping pill from the horn. He gently touches people's eyes with his wonderful rod, quietly closes his eyelids and plunges mortals into a sweet sleep. The god Hypnos is powerful, neither mortals, nor gods, nor even the thunderer Zeus himself can resist him: and Hypnos closes his menacing eyes and plunges him into deep sleep.
The gods of dreams also rush about in the dark kingdom of Hades. Among them there are gods who give prophetic and joyful dreams, but there are also gods who give terrible, depressing dreams that frighten and torment people. There are gods of false dreams, they mislead a person and often lead him to death.
The kingdom of the inexorable Hades is full of darkness and horror. There the terrible ghost of Epmus with donkey legs wanders in the darkness; it, having lured people into a secluded place in the darkness of the night by cunning, drinks all the blood and devours their still trembling bodies. The monstrous Lamia also wanders there; she sneaks into the bedrooms of happy mothers at night and steals their children to drink their blood. The great goddess Hecate rules over all ghosts and monsters. She has three bodies and three heads. On a moonless night she wanders in deep darkness along the roads and at the graves with all her terrible retinue, surrounded by Stygian dogs 10
Stygian dogs- monstrous dogs of the underground kingdom of Hades, from the banks of the underground river Styx.
She sends horrors and painful dreams to the earth and destroys people. Hecate is called upon as an assistant in witchcraft, but she is also the only assistant against witchcraft for those who honor her and sacrifice dogs to her at the crossroads, where three roads diverge.
The kingdom of Hades is terrible, and people hate it.
© LLC “Philological Society “WORD””, 2009
© Astrel Publishing House LLC, 2009
The beginning of the world
Once upon a time, there was nothing in the Universe but dark and gloomy Chaos. And then the Earth appeared from Chaos - the goddess Gaia, powerful and beautiful. She gave life to everything that lives and grows on her. And everyone has since called her their mother.
The Great Chaos also gave birth to the gloomy Darkness - Erebus and the black Night - Nyukta and ordered them to guard the Earth. It was dark and gloomy on Earth at that time. This was until Erebus and Nyukta got tired of their hard, constant work. Then they gave birth to the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful shining Day - Hemera.
And so it went from then on. Night guards peace on Earth. As soon as she lowers her black covers, everything plunges into darkness and silence. And then it is replaced by a cheerful, shining Day, and everything around becomes light and joyful.
Deep under the Earth, as deep as one can imagine, the terrible Tartarus was formed. Tartarus was as far from the Earth as the sky, only on the opposite side. Eternal darkness and silence reigned there...
And above, high above the Earth, lies the endless Sky - Uranus. The god Uranus began to reign over the whole world. He took as his wife the beautiful goddess Gaia - the Earth.
Gaia and Uranus had six daughters, beautiful and wise, and six sons, powerful and formidable titans, and among them the majestic Titan Ocean and the youngest, the cunning Cronus.
And then six terrible giants were born to Mother Earth at once. Three giants - Cyclopes with one eye in their forehead - could frighten anyone who just looked at them. But the other three giants, real monsters, looked even more terrible. Each of them had 50 heads and 100 arms. And they were so terrible to look at, these hundred-armed giants, the Hecatonchires, that even their father himself, the mighty Uranus, feared and hated them. So he decided to get rid of his children. He imprisoned the giants deep in the bowels of their mother Earth and did not allow them to emerge into the light.
The giants rushed about in the deep darkness, wanting to break out, but did not dare to disobey the order of their father. It was also hard for their mother Earth, she suffered greatly from such an unbearable burden and pain. Then she called her titan children and asked them to help her.
“Rise up against your cruel father,” she persuaded them, “if you don’t take away his power over the world now, he will destroy us all.”
But no matter how much Gaia tried to persuade her children, they did not agree to raise a hand against their father. Only the youngest of them, the ruthless Cronus, supported his mother, and they decided that Uranus should no longer reign in the world.
And then one day Kron attacked his father, wounded him with a sickle and took away his power over the world. Drops of the blood of Uranus that fell to the ground turned into monstrous giants with snake tails instead of legs and vile, disgusting Erinyes, who had snakes writhing on their heads instead of hair, and in their hands they held lit torches.
These were terrible deities of death, discord, revenge and deception.
Now the powerful, inexorable Kron, the god of Time, has reigned in the world. He took the goddess Rhea as his wife.
But there was no peace and harmony in his kingdom either. The gods quarreled among themselves and deceived each other.
Gods war
For a long time, the great and powerful Cronus, the god of Time, reigned in the world, and people called his kingdom the Golden Age. The first people were just born on Earth then, and they lived without any worries. The Fertile Land itself fed them. She gave abundant harvests. Bread grew spontaneously in the fields, wonderful fruits ripened in the gardens. People just had to collect them, and they worked as much as they could and wanted.
But Kron himself was not calm. Long ago, when he was just beginning to reign, his mother, the goddess Gaia, predicted to him that he, too, would lose power. And one of his sons will take it away from Cronus. So Kron was worried. After all, everyone who has power wants to reign as long as possible.
Kron also did not want to lose power over the world. And he commanded his wife, the goddess Rhea, to bring him her children as soon as they were born. And the father mercilessly swallowed them. Rhea's heart was torn with grief and suffering, but she could not do anything. It was impossible to persuade Kron. So he has already swallowed five of his children. Another child was soon to be born, and the goddess Rhea turned in desperation to her parents, Gaia and Uranus.
“Help me save my last baby,” she begged them with tears. “You are wise and all-powerful, tell me what to do, where to hide my dear son so that he can grow up and take revenge for such a crime.”
The immortal gods took pity on their beloved daughter and taught her what to do. And so Rhea brings her husband, the ruthless Cronus, a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.
“Here is your son Zeus,” she told him sadly. - He was just born. Do whatever you want with it.
Kron grabbed the package and, without unwrapping it, swallowed it. Meanwhile, the overjoyed Rhea took her little son, made her way to Dikta in the dead of night and hid him in an inaccessible cave on a wooded Aegean mountain.
There, on the island of Crete, he grew up surrounded by kind and cheerful Kurete demons. They played with little Zeus and brought him milk from the sacred goat Amalthea. And when he cried, the demons began to rattle their spears against their shields, danced and drowned out his crying with loud cries. They were very afraid that the cruel Cronus would hear the child’s cry and realize that he had been deceived. And then no one will be able to save Zeus.
But Zeus grew very quickly, his muscles filled with extraordinary strength, and soon the time came when he, powerful and omnipotent, decided to enter into a fight with his father and take away his power over the world. Zeus turned to the Titans and invited them to fight with him against Cronus.
And a great dispute broke out among the titans. Some decided to stay with Cronus, others sided with Zeus. Filled with courage, they were eager to fight. But Zeus stopped them. At first he wanted to free his brothers and sisters from his father’s womb, so that he could fight with them against Cronus. But how can you get Kron to let his children go? Zeus understood that he could not defeat the powerful god by force alone. We need to come up with something to outsmart him.
Then the great titan Ocean, who was on the side of Zeus in this fight, came to his aid. His daughter, the wise goddess Thetis, prepared a magic potion and brought it to Zeus.
“O mighty and omnipotent Zeus,” she told him, “this miraculous nectar will help you free your brothers and sisters.” Just make Kron drink it.
Cunning Zeus figured out how to do this. He sent Cronus a luxurious amphora with nectar as a gift, and Cronus, suspecting nothing, accepted this insidious gift. He drank the magic nectar with pleasure and immediately vomited out first a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, and then all his children. One after another they came into the world, and his daughters, the beautiful goddesses Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and his sons Hades and Poseidon. During the time they were sitting in their father's womb, they became quite adults.
All the children of Cronus united, and a long and terrible war began between them and their father Cronus for power over all people and gods. New gods established themselves on Olympus. From here they waged their great battle.
The young gods were omnipotent and formidable; the mighty titans supported them in this struggle. The Cyclopes forged for Zeus menacing roaring thunder and fiery lightning. But on the other side there were powerful opponents. The powerful Kron had no intention of giving up his power to the young gods and also gathered formidable titans around him.
This terrible and cruel battle of the gods lasted for ten years. No one could win, but no one wanted to give up. Then Zeus decided to call to his aid the mighty hundred-armed giants, who were still sitting in a deep and dark dungeon. Huge, scary giants came to the surface of the Earth and rushed into battle. They tore entire rocks from mountain ranges and threw them at the titans besieging Olympus. The air was torn apart by a wild roar, the Earth groaned in pain, and even distant Tartarus shook from what was happening above. From the heights of Olympus, Zeus threw down fiery lightning, and everything around was blazing with a terrible flame, the water in the rivers and seas was boiling from the heat.
Finally the titans wavered and retreated. The Olympians shackled them and threw them into gloomy Tartarus, into the deep, eternal darkness. And at the gates of Tartarus, formidable hundred-armed giants stood guard so that the mighty titans could never break free from their terrible captivity.
But the young gods did not have to celebrate their victory. The goddess Gaia was angry with Zeus for treating her titan sons so cruelly. To punish him, she gave birth to the terrible monster Typhon and sent him to Zeus.
The Earth itself shook, and huge mountains rose up when the huge Typhon emerged into the light. All his hundred dragon heads howled, roared, barked, and screamed in different voices. Even the gods shuddered in horror when they saw such a monster. Only Zeus was not at a loss. He waved his mighty right hand - and hundreds of fiery lightning rained down on Typhon. Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed with unbearable brilliance, water boiled in the seas - real hell was happening on Earth at that time.
But then the lightning sent by Zeus reached its target, and one after another the head of Typhon burst into flames. He fell heavily onto the wounded Earth. Zeus picked up a huge monster and threw it into Tartarus. But even there Typhon did not calm down. From time to time he begins to go on a rampage in his terrible dungeon, and then terrible earthquakes occur, cities collapse, mountains split, and fierce storms sweep away all life from the face of the earth. True, now Typhon’s rampage is short-lived, he will throw out his wild forces and calm down for a while, and again everything on earth and in heaven goes on as usual.
This is how the great battle of the gods ended, after which new gods reigned in the world.
Poseidon, lord of the seas
Deep at the very bottom of the sea, the brother of the mighty Zeus, Poseidon, now lives in his luxurious palace. After that great battle, when the young gods defeated the old, the sons of Cronus cast lots, and Poseidon got power over all the sea elements. He descended to the bottom of the sea, and remained there to live forever. But every day Poseidon rises to the surface of the sea to travel around his endless possessions.
Majestic and beautiful, he rushes on his mighty green-maned horses, and the obedient waves part before his master. Poseidon is not inferior to Zeus himself in power. Still would! After all, as soon as he waves his formidable trident, a furious storm rises on the sea, huge waves rise to the very sky and, with a deafening roar, fall down into the very abyss.
The mighty Poseidon is terrible in his anger, and woe to anyone who finds himself at sea at such a time. Like weightless splinters, huge ships rush along the raging waves until, completely broken and twisted, they collapse into the depths of the sea. Even marine inhabitants - fish and dolphins - try to climb deeper into the sea in order to wait out the wrath of Poseidon there in safety.
But now his anger passes, he majestically raises his sparkling trident, and the sea calms down. Unprecedented fish rise from the depths of the sea, attach themselves to the back of the chariot of the great god, and cheerful dolphins rush after them. They tumble in the sea waves, entertaining their mighty master. The beautiful daughters of the sea elder Nereus splash in the coastal waves in cheerful flocks.
One day, Poseidon, as always, was racing across the sea in his fast-flying chariot and on the shore of the island of Naxos he saw a beautiful goddess. It was Amphitrite, the daughter of the sea elder Nereus, who knows all the secrets of the future and gives wise advice. Together with her Nereid sisters, she was relaxing in a green meadow. They ran and frolicked, holding hands, and led merry round dances.
Poseidon immediately fell in love with the beautiful Amphitrite. He had already sent his mighty horses to the shore and wanted to take her away in his chariot. But Amphitrite was frightened by the frantic Poseidon and escaped from him. She slowly made her way to the Titan Atlas, who holds the vault of heaven on his powerful shoulders, and asked him to hide her somewhere. Atlas took pity on the beautiful Amphitrite and hid her in a deep cave at the bottom of the Ocean.
Poseidon searched for Amphitrite for a long time and could not find her. Like a fiery tornado he rushed across the expanses of the sea; All this time the fierce storm did not subside at sea. All the inhabitants of the sea: fish, dolphins, and all the underwater monsters - went in search of the beautiful Amphitrite to calm their raging master.
Finally, the dolphin managed to find her in one of the remote caves. He swam quickly to Poseidon and showed him Amphitrite’s refuge. Poseidon rushed to the cave and took his beloved with him. He did not forget to thank the dolphin who helped him. He placed it among the constellations in the sky. Since then, the dolphin has lived there, and everyone knows that there is a constellation in the sky called Dolphin, but not everyone knows how it got there.
And the beautiful Amphitrite became the wife of the powerful Poseidon and lived happily with him in his luxurious underwater castle. Since then, fierce storms have rarely happened at sea, because the gentle Amphitrite knows very well how to tame the anger of her powerful husband.
The time has come, and the divine beauty Amphitrite and the ruler of the seas Poseidon had a son - the handsome Triton. As handsome as the son of the ruler of the seas is, he is also playful. As soon as he blows into the conch shell, the sea will immediately become agitated, the waves will rustle, and a menacing storm will fall on the unlucky sailors. But Poseidon, seeing his son’s pranks, immediately raises his trident, and the waves, as if by magic, calm down and, whispering gently, serenely splash, caressing the transparent, clean sea sand on the shore.
The old man of the sea Nereus often visits his daughter, and her cheerful sisters also sail to her. Sometimes Amphitrite goes with them to play on the seashore, and Poseidon no longer worries. He knows that she will no longer hide from him and will definitely return to their wonderful underwater palace.
Gloomy Kingdom
The third brother of the great Zeus, the stern Hades, lives and reigns deep underground. He was given the underworld by lot, and since then he has been the sovereign master there.
It is dark and gloomy in the kingdom of Hades, not a single ray of sunlight breaks through the thickness there. Not a single living voice disturbs the sad silence of this gloomy kingdom, only the plaintive groans of the dead fill the entire dungeon with a quiet, indistinct rustle. There are already more dead here than living on earth. And they keep coming and coming.
The sacred river Styx flows on the borders of the underworld, and the souls of the dead fly to its banks after death. They patiently and resignedly wait for the carrier Charon to sail for them. He loads his boat with silent shadows and takes them to the other shore. He only takes everyone in one direction; his boat always sails back empty.
And there, at the entrance to the kingdom of the dead, sits a formidable guard - the three-headed dog Kerber, the son of the terrible Typhon, with evil snakes hissing and writhing on his neck. Only he guards the exit more than the entrance. Without delay, he allows the souls of the dead to pass through, but not one of them comes back out.
And then their path lies to the throne of Hades. In the middle of his underground kingdom, he sits on a golden throne with his wife Persephone. One day he kidnapped her from the earth, and since then Persephone has lived here, in this luxurious, but gloomy and joyless underground palace.
Every now and then Charon brings new souls. Frightened and trembling, they flock together in front of the formidable ruler. Persephone feels sorry for them, she is ready to help them all, calm them down and console them. But no, she can’t do that! The inexorable judges Minos and Rhadamanthus sit nearby. They weigh the unfortunate souls on their terrible scales, and it immediately becomes clear how much a person has sinned in his life and what fate awaits him here. It’s bad for sinners, and especially for those who themselves did not spare anyone during their lives, robbed and killed, and mocked the defenseless. Now the inexorable goddess of vengeance, Erinyes, will not give them a moment of peace. They rush throughout the dungeon after criminal souls, chasing them, waving menacing whips, disgusting snakes writhing on their heads. There is nowhere for sinners to hide from them. How they would like, at least for a second, to find themselves on earth and say to their loved ones: “Be kinder to each other. Don't repeat our mistakes. A terrible reckoning awaits everyone after death.” But from here there is no way to earth. There are only here from the ground.
Leaning on his formidable striking sword, in a wide black cloak, the terrible god of death Tanat stands near the throne. As soon as Hades waves his hand, Tanat takes off from his place and flies on his huge black wings to the bed of the dying man for a new victim.
But it was as if a bright ray swept through the gloomy dungeon. This is the beautiful young Hypnos, the god who brings sleep. He came down here to greet Hades, his lord. And then he will again rush to the ground, where people are waiting for him. It will be bad for them if Hypnos lingers somewhere.
He flies above the ground on his light, lacy wings and pours sleeping pills from his horn. He gently touches his eyelashes with his magic wand, and everything falls into a sweet sleep. Neither people nor immortal gods can resist the will of Hypnos - he is so powerful and omnipotent. Even the great Zeus obediently closes his menacing eyes when he waves the beautiful Hypnos with his wonderful rod.
The gods of dreams often accompany Hypnos on flights. They are very different, these gods, just like people. There are kind and cheerful ones, and there are gloomy and unfriendly ones. And so it turns out: to whom which god flies, the person will see such a dream. Some people will have a joyful and happy dream, while others will have an anxious, joyless dream.
Also roaming the underworld are the terrible ghost Empusa with donkey legs and the monstrous Lamia, who loves to sneak into children’s bedrooms at night and drag away little children. The terrible goddess Hecate rules over all these monsters and ghosts. As soon as night falls, this whole creepy company comes out onto the ground, and God forbid anyone meets them at this time. But at dawn they again hide in their gloomy dungeon and sit there until dark.
This is what it is like – the kingdom of Hades, terrible and joyless.
Olympians
The most powerful of all the sons of Cronus - Zeus - remained on Olympus, he was given the sky by lot, and from here he began to reign over the whole world.
Below, on Earth, hurricanes and wars are raging, people are aging and dying, but here, on Olympus, peace and tranquility reigns. There is never winter or frost here, it never rains or the winds blow. A golden glow spreads around day and night. Immortal gods live here in the luxurious golden palaces that Master Hephaestus built for them. They feast and have fun in their golden palaces. But they don’t forget about business, because each of them has their own responsibilities. And now Themis, the goddess of law, called everyone to the council of the gods. Zeus wanted to discuss how best to control people.
The great Zeus sits on a golden throne, and in front of him in a spacious hall are all the other gods. Near his throne, as always, is the goddess of peace Eirene and the constant companion of Zeus, the winged Nike, the goddess of victory. Here are the fleet-footed Hermes, the messenger of Zeus, and the great warrior goddess Pallas Athena. Beautiful Aphrodite shines with her heavenly beauty.
The always busy Apollo is late. But now he flies up to Olympus. Three beautiful Oras, who guard the entrance to high Olympus, have already opened a thick cloud in front of him to clear his way. And he, shining with beauty, strong and mighty, throwing his silver bow over his shoulders, enters the hall. His sister, the beautiful goddess Artemis, a tireless hunter, joyfully rises to meet him.
And then the majestic Hera, in luxurious clothes, a beautiful, fair-haired goddess, the wife of Zeus, enters the hall. All the gods rise and respectfully greet the great Hera. She sits down next to Zeus on her luxurious golden throne and listens to what the immortal gods are talking about. She also has her own constant companion. This is the light-winged Iris, the goddess of the rainbow. At the first word of her mistress, Iris is ready to fly to the most remote corners of the Earth to fulfill any of her instructions.
Today Zeus is calm and peaceful. The rest of the gods are also calm. This means that everything is in order on Olympus, and things are going well on Earth. Therefore, today the immortals have no sorrows. They joke and have fun. But it also happens differently. If the mighty Zeus gets angry, he will wave his formidable right hand, and immediately a deafening thunder will shake the entire Earth. One after another he throws dazzling fiery lightning. Things go badly for those who somehow displease the great Zeus. It happens that even an innocent person at such moments becomes an involuntary victim of the uncontrollable anger of the ruler. But there’s nothing you can do about it!
And there are also two mysterious vessels standing at the gates of his golden palace. In one vessel lies good, and in the other - evil. Zeus scoops up from one vessel, then from another and throws handfuls onto the Earth. All people should receive an equal share of good and evil. But it also happens that someone gets more good, while someone gets only evil. But no matter how much Zeus sends good and evil from his vessels to the Earth, he is still unable to influence the fate of people. This is done by the goddesses of fate - the Moiras, who also live on Olympus. The great Zeus himself depends on them and does not know his fate.
Part one.
Gods and heroes
Myths about the gods and their struggle with giants and titans are set out mainly based on Hesiod’s poem “Theogony” (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from Homer’s poems “Iliad” and “Odyssey” and the poem “Metamorphoses” (Transformations) by the Roman poet Ovid.
In the beginning there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. It contained the source of life in the world. Everything arose from boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. The goddess Earth, Gaia, also came from Chaos. It spreads wide, powerful, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is far from us, in immeasurable depths, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, was born the mighty force that animates everything, Love - Eros. The world began to be created. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.
The mighty, fertile Earth gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, and the Sky spread over the Earth. The high Mountains born of the Earth rose proudly towards him, and the ever-noisy Sea spread widely.
Mother Earth gave birth to the Sky, Mountains and Sea, and they have no father.
Uranus - Heaven - reigned in the world. He took the fertile Earth as his wife. Uranus and Gaia had six sons and six daughters - powerful, formidable titans. Their son, the Titan Ocean, flowing around the entire earth like a boundless river, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and the sea goddesses - the Oceanids. Titan Hipperion and Theia gave the world children: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selene and the ruddy Dawn - pink-fingered Eos (Aurora). From Astraeus and Eos came all the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and all the winds: the stormy northern wind Boreas, the eastern Eurus, the humid southern Notus and the gentle western wind Zephyr, carrying clouds heavy with rain.
In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - cyclops with one eye in the forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-armed (hecatoncheires), so named because each of them had a hundred hands. Nothing can resist their terrible power; their elemental power knows no bounds.
Uranus hated his giant children; he imprisoned them in deep darkness in the bowels of the Earth goddess and did not allow them to come into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was oppressed by this terrible burden contained in her depths. She summoned her children, the Titans, and convinced them to rebel against their father Uranus, but they were afraid to raise their hands against their father. Only the youngest of them, the treacherous Kron, overthrew his father by cunning and took away his power.
As punishment for Kron, the Goddess Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible substances: Tanata - death, Eris - discord, Apata - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes - and many others. Horror, strife, deception, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.
Gods
The picture of the life of the gods on Olympus is given from the works of Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey, which glorify the tribal aristocracy and the basileus leading it as the best people, standing much higher than the rest of the population. The gods of Olympus differ from aristocrats and basileus only in that they are immortal, powerful and can work miracles.
Zeus
Deep underground reigns the inexorable, gloomy brother of Zeus, Hades. His kingdom is full of darkness and horror. The joyful rays of the bright sun never penetrate there. Bottomless abysses lead from the surface of the earth to the sad kingdom of Hades. Dark rivers flow through it. The chilling sacred river Styx flows there, the gods themselves swear by its waters.
Cocytus and Acheron roll their waves there; the souls of the dead resound with their groaning, full of sadness, on their gloomy shores. In the underground kingdom the waters of the Lethe spring flow and give oblivion to all earthly things. Across the gloomy fields of the kingdom of Hades, overgrown with pale asphodel flowers, ethereal light shadows of the dead rush. They complain about their joyless life without light and without desires. Their moans are heard quietly, barely perceptible, like the rustling of withered leaves driven by the autumn wind. There is no return for anyone from this kingdom of sadness. The three-headed hellish dog Kerber, on whose neck snakes move with a menacing hiss, guards the exit. The stern, old Charon, the carrier of the souls of the dead, will not carry a single soul through the gloomy waters of Acheron back to where the sun of life shines brightly. The souls of the dead in the dark kingdom of Hades are doomed to an eternal, joyless existence.
In this kingdom, to which neither the light, nor the joy, nor the sorrows of earthly life reach, Zeus’s brother, Hades, rules. He sits on a golden throne with his wife Persephone. He is served by the inexorable goddesses of vengeance, Erinyes. Formidable, with whips and snakes, they pursue the criminal; they do not give him a minute of peace and torment him with remorse; You can’t hide from them anywhere, they find their prey everywhere. The judges of the kingdom of the dead, Minos and Rhadamanthus, sit at the throne of Hades. Here, at the throne, is the god of death Tanat with a sword in his hands, in a black cloak, with huge black wings. These wings blow with grave cold when Tanat flies to the bed of a dying man to cut off a strand of hair from his head with her sword and tear out his soul. Next to Tanat are the gloomy Kera. On their wings they rush, frantic, across the battlefield. The Kers rejoice as they see the slain heroes fall one after another; With their blood-red lips they fall to the wounds, greedily drink the hot blood of the slain and tear out their souls from the body.
Here, at the throne of Hades, is the beautiful, young god of sleep Hypnos. He silently flies on his wings above the ground with poppy heads in his hands and pours a sleeping pill from the horn. He gently touches people's eyes with his wonderful rod, quietly closes his eyelids and plunges mortals into a sweet sleep. The god Hypnos is powerful, neither mortals, nor gods, nor even the thunderer Zeus himself can resist him: and Hypnos closes his menacing eyes and plunges him into deep sleep.
The gods of dreams also rush about in the dark kingdom of Hades. Among them there are gods who give prophetic and joyful dreams, but there are also gods who give terrible, depressing dreams that frighten and torment people. There are gods of false dreams, they mislead a person and often lead him to death.
The kingdom of the inexorable Hades is full of darkness and horror. There the terrible ghost of Empus with donkey legs wanders in the darkness; it, having lured people into a secluded place in the darkness of the night by cunning, drinks all the blood and devours their still trembling bodies. The monstrous Lamia also wanders there; she sneaks into the bedrooms of happy mothers at night and steals their children to drink their blood. The great goddess Hecate rules over all ghosts and monsters. She has three bodies and three heads. On a moonless night she wanders in deep darkness along the roads and at the graves with all her terrible retinue, surrounded by Stygian dogs. She sends horrors and painful dreams to the earth and destroys people. Hecate is called upon as an assistant in witchcraft, but she is also the only assistant against witchcraft for those who honor her and sacrifice dogs to her at the crossroads, where three roads diverge.
The great goddess Hera, the wife of the aegis-power Zeus, patronizes marriage and protects the holiness and inviolability of marriage unions. She sends the spouses numerous offspring and blesses the mother during the birth of the child.
The great goddess Hera, after she and her brothers and sisters were spewed out of her mouth by the defeated Zeus, was carried by her mother Rhea to the ends of the earth to the gray Ocean; Hera was raised there by Thetis. Hera lived for a long time away from Olympus, in peace and quiet. The great thunderer Zeus saw her, fell in love and kidnapped her from Thetis. The gods celebrated the wedding of Zeus and Hera magnificently. Iris and the Charites clothed Hera in luxurious clothes, and she shone with her youthful, majestic beauty among the host of gods of Olympus, sitting on a golden throne next to the great king of gods and people, Zeus. All the gods presented gifts to the queen Hera, and the goddess Earth-Gaia grew from her bowels a wondrous apple tree with golden fruits as a gift to Hera. Everything in nature glorified Queen Hera and King Zeus.
Hera reigns on high Olympus. She, like her husband Zeus, commands thunder and lightning, at her word the sky is covered with dark rain clouds, and with a wave of her hand she raises menacing storms.
The great Hera is beautiful, hair-eyed, lily-armed, from under her crown a wave of wondrous curls fall, her eyes glow with power and calm majesty. The gods honor Hera, and her husband, the cloud suppressor Zeus, honors her, and often consults with her. But quarrels between Zeus and Hera are also common. Hera often objects to Zeus and argues with him at the councils of the gods. Then the Thunderer gets angry and threatens his wife with punishment. Then Hera falls silent and restrains her anger. She remembers how Zeus subjected her to scourging, how he bound her with golden chains and hung her between the earth and the sky, tying two heavy anvils to her feet.
Hera is powerful, there is no goddess equal to her in power. Majestic, in long luxurious clothes woven by Athena herself, in a chariot drawn by two immortal horses, she rides down from Olympus. The chariot is all made of silver, the wheels are made of pure gold, and their spokes sparkle with copper. Fragrance spreads across the ground where Hera passes. All living things bow before her, the great queen of Olympus.
