Kun heroes of ancient Greece. Nikolai 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 in Hesiod's poem "Theogony" (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from the poems of Homer "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and the poem of the Roman poet Ovid "Metamorphoses" (Transformations).
In the beginning, there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. In it was the source of the life of the world. Everything arose from the boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. From Chaos came the goddess Earth - Gaia. It spread wide, mighty, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is from us, in the immeasurable depth, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss, full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, a mighty force was born, all animating Love - Eros. The world began to form. 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. Light spread over 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, proudly rose to him, and the eternally noisy Sea spread wide.
Mother Earth gave birth to Heaven, Mountains and the Sea, and they have no father.
Uranus - Sky - reigned in the world. He took the blessed Earth as his wife. Six sons and six daughters - mighty, formidable titans - were Uranus and Gaia. Their son, the titan Ocean, flowing around like a boundless river, the whole earth, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and sea goddesses - oceanides. Titan Gipperion and Theia gave children to the world: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selena and the ruddy Dawn - pink-fingered Eos (Aurora). From Astrea and Eos came all the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and all the winds: the stormy north wind Boreas, the eastern Eurus, the humid southern Noth and the gentle western wind Zephyr, carrying clouds abundant with rain.
In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - Cyclopes with one eye in the forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-armed (hekatoncheirs), so named because each of them had one hundred hands. Nothing can stand against their terrible strength, their elemental strength knows no limit.
Uranus hated his giant children, he imprisoned them in deep darkness in the bowels of the goddess Earth and did not allow them to come out into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was crushed by this terrible burden, enclosed in her depths. She called her children, the titans, and urged 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 Kronos, overthrew his father by cunning and took power away from him.
The Goddess Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible substances as punishment for Kron: Tanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apatu - deceit, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of gloomy, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes - and many others. Horror, strife, deceit, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world, where Kron reigned on the throne of his father.

Gods

The picture of the life of the gods on Olympus is given according to the works of Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey, glorifying 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 Zeus' unforgiving, grim brother, Hades. His kingdom is full of darkness and horrors. 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 in it. There flows the ever-chilling sacred river Styx, by whose waters the gods themselves swear.
Cocytus and Acheron roll their waves there; the souls of the dead resound with their groaning, full of sorrow, their gloomy shores. In the underworld, the source of Lethe also flows, giving oblivion to all earthly water. Through the gloomy fields of the kingdom of Hades, overgrown with pale flowers of asphodel, ethereal light shadows of the dead are worn. They complain about their joyless life without light and without desires. Their moans are quietly heard, barely perceptible, like the rustle of withered leaves driven by the autumn wind. There is no return to anyone from this realm of sorrow. The three-headed hellish dog Kerberos, on whose neck snakes move with a formidable hiss, guards the exit. The stern, old Charon, the carrier of the souls of the dead, will not be lucky through the gloomy waters of Acheron not a single soul back to where the sun of life shines brightly. The souls of the dead in the gloomy kingdom of Hades are doomed to an eternal joyless existence.
In this kingdom, to which neither light, nor joy, nor sorrows of earthly life reach, the brother of Zeus, Hades, rules. He sits on a golden throne with his wife Persephone. He is served by the implacable goddesses of vengeance Erinyes. Terrible, with scourges and snakes, they pursue the criminal; do not give him a moment's rest and torment him with remorse; nowhere can you hide from them, everywhere they find their prey. At the throne of Hades sit the judges of the kingdom of the dead - Minos and Rhadamanthus. Here, at the throne, 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 in order to cut a strand of hair from his head with his sword and tear out his soul. Next to Tanat and gloomy Kera. On their wings they rush, furious, across the battlefield. The Keres rejoice as they see the slain heroes fall one by one; 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 rushes on his wings above the ground with poppy heads in his hands and pours sleeping pills from his horn. He gently touches the eyes of people with his wonderful wand, quietly closes his eyelids and plunges mortals into a sweet dream. The god Hypnos is mighty, neither mortals, nor gods, nor even the Thunderer Zeus himself can resist him: and Hypnos closes his menacing eyes and plunges him into a deep sleep.
Worn in the gloomy kingdom of Hades and the gods of dreams. Among them there are gods who give prophetic and joyful dreams, but there are also gods of terrible, oppressive dreams that frighten and torment people. There are gods and false dreams, they mislead a person and often lead him to death.
The kingdom of the inexorable Hades is full of darkness and horrors. There roams in the darkness the terrible ghost of Empusa with donkey's feet; it, having lured people into a secluded place in the darkness of the night, drinks all the blood and devours their still trembling bodies. The monstrous Lamia also roams there; she sneaks into the bedroom 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 heavy dreams to the earth and destroys people. Hekate is invoked as an assistant in witchcraft, but she is also the only helper against witchcraft for those who honor her and bring her at the crossroads, where three roads diverge, as a sacrifice of dogs.

The great goddess Hera, the wife of the auspicious Zeus, patronizes marriage and protects the sanctity and inviolability of marriage unions. She sends numerous offspring to the spouses and blesses the mother at the time of the birth of the child.
The great goddess Hera, after she and her brothers and sisters were vomited out of their mouths by the defeated Zeus Krov, her mother Rhea carried to the ends of the earth to the gray Ocean; There she raised Hera Thetis. Hera lived for a long time away from Olympus, in peace and quiet. The great Thunderer Zeus saw her, fell in love with her and stole her from Thetis. The gods magnificently celebrated the wedding of Zeus and Hera. Irida and the Charites dressed Hera in luxurious clothes, and she shone with her young, majestic beauty among the host of the gods of Olympus, sitting on a golden throne next to the great king of gods and people, Zeus. All the gods brought gifts to the sovereign Hera, and the goddess Earth-Gaia grew from her depths a marvelous 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 commands, like her husband Zeus, thunder and lightning, at the word of her dark rain clouds cover the sky, with a wave of her hand she raises terrible storms.
The great Hera is beautiful, hairy, lily-armed, from under her crown marvelous curls fall in a wave, her eyes burn with power and calm majesty. The gods honor Hera, and her husband, the cloud-breaker Zeus, also honors her, and often consults with her. But quarrels between Zeus and Hera are not uncommon. Hera often objects to Zeus and argues with him on the advice of the gods. Then the thunderer becomes angry and threatens his wife with punishments. 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 earth and sky, tying two heavy anvils to her feet.
Mighty is Hera, there is no goddess equal to her in power. Majestic, in long luxurious clothes woven by Athena herself, in a chariot harnessed by two immortal horses, she leaves Olympus. The chariot is all of silver, the wheels are of pure gold, and their spokes sparkle with copper. The fragrance spreads on the ground where Hera passes. All living things bow before her, the great queen of Olympus.

Nikolai Albertovich Kun

Legends and myths of Ancient Greece and Ancient Rome

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Nikolai Albertovich Kun (1877–1940) -

Russian historian, writer, teacher, famous researcher of antiquity, author of numerous scientific and popular science works, the most famous of which is the book Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece (1922), which has gone through many editions in the languages of the peoples of the former USSR and the main European languages.

It was N.A. Kun made the world of gods and heroes familiar and close to us. He was the first to try to simplify Greek myths in his own language and made a lot of efforts so that as many different people as possible got acquainted with this important aspect of Greek culture.

Foreword

For each generation of reading people, there are certain “significant books”, symbols of normal childhood and natural entry into the world of spiritual culture. I think that I will not be mistaken if I name for Russia the 20th century. one of these publications is the book by N.A. Kuhn, Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece. Some incredible charm emanated for everyone who began to read it, from the stories about the deeds of the ancient Greeks, from the fabulous world of the Olympic gods and Greek heroes. Children and adolescents who were lucky enough to discover and love this book in a timely manner did not think that through myths they penetrate into the world of one of the brightest pages of the "childhood of mankind", at least the European one.

The remarkable insight of Professor N.A. Kuna was that his retelling of ancient Greek mythology allowed and allows children to join the origins of the unfading ancient culture through fantastic images of myths and tales about heroes, perceived by the children's consciousness as a fairy tale.

It so happened that the Southern Mediterranean and, first of all, the island of Crete, Greece and the islands of the Aegean Sea became the place of a very early flowering of civilization that originated at the turn of the 3rd-2nd millennium BC. e., that is, about four thousand years ago, and reached at the zenith of what can be safely called perfection.

The well-known Swiss cultural historian A. Bonnard gave, for example, the following assessment of the “golden age of Greek culture” (5th century BC): “Greek civilization in its midday time is precisely a cry of joy to the light of ingenious creations. Having achieved a lot in various areas of life - navigation and trade, medicine and philosophy, mathematics and architecture - the ancient Greeks were absolutely inimitable and unsurpassed in the field of literary and visual creativity, which grew precisely on the cultural soil of mythology.

Among many generations of people who have been reading N.A. Kuna, very few people know anything about its author. Personally, I remember only the mysterious-sounding word "Kun" as a child. Behind this unusual name, in my mind, as well as in the minds of the vast majority of readers, the real image of Nikolai Albertovich Kuhn, an excellent scientist, an excellent expert on antiquity with a “pre-revolutionary education” and a difficult fate in the turbulent 20th century, did not arise at all.

Readers of the book, which is preceded by this introduction, have the opportunity to imagine the appearance of the author of "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece." A brief story about his name, which I offer to readers, is based on materials from several prefaces written by different authors to previous editions of the book by N.A. Kuhn, as well as on documents kindly provided to me by his family.

ON THE. Kuhn was born on May 21, 1877 into a noble family. His father, Albert Frantsevich Kun, was not limited to the affairs and concerns of his own estate. Among his descendants, a rumor remained that he organized a kind of partnership that promoted the introduction of the use of electricity in Russian theaters. The mother of Nikolai Albertovich, Antonina Nikolaevna, nee Ignatieva, came from a count's family and was a pianist who studied with A.G. Rubinstein and P.I. Tchaikovsky. She did not perform concert activities due to health reasons.

In 1903, Nikolai Albertovich Kun graduated from the Faculty of History and Philology of Moscow State University. Already in his student years, Nikolai Albertovich showed an inclination to study antiquity and outstanding knowledge in the history of Ancient Greece. As a student, in 1901 he gave a report on the oligarchy of four hundred in Athens in 411 BC. e. Judging by the surviving newspaper clippings, this speech was associated with a rather important event for the university - the opening of the Historical and Philological Student Society. As the newspapers reported, the meeting took place "in a large auditorium of the new building of Moscow University." Professor V.O. Klyuchevsky, “the post of section chairman will be considered vacant until Professor P.G. Vinogradov, who will be invited to take this position at the unanimous desire of the members of the society.

As we can see, the students of Moscow University, fascinated by history, firmly connected their scientific activity with the names of the luminaries of the then Russian historical science. These were Vasily Osipovich Klyuchevsky and Pavel Gavrilovich Vinogradov. It is indicative that the activity of the Student Scientific Society in the history section was opened by the report of the 4th year student N.A. Kuna. The theses of this scientific work were preserved in the family of Nikolai Albertovich. Written in the exemplary handwriting of an intelligent person of the early 20th century, they begin with a description of the sources. The author writes about Thucydides and Aristotle, reproducing the title of Aristotle's work "Athenian polity" in ancient Greek. This is followed by eleven theses, which analyze the event - the oligarchic coup in Athens in 411 BC. e. The content of the theses testifies to the excellent knowledge of ancient history by student N.A. Kuhn.

The family of Professor Kuhn preserved a detailed questionnaire compiled and signed by him with a detailed description of his scientific activities. In the first paragraph of this most interesting document, Nikolai Albertovich announced that he had received the A.I. Sadikova, "usually issued to privatdocents." Among university teachers N.A. Kuna were such prominent historians as V.O. Klyuchevsky and V.I. Guerrier, better known as a specialist in the history of modern times, he also studied ancient history. With a brilliant linguist academician F.E. Korshem Nikolai Albertovich maintained good relations even after Korsh's departure in 1900 from the Department of Classical Philology of Moscow University.

It seemed that by the time he graduated from the university in 1903, a direct road to great science was open to the talented young man. However, his path to his beloved antiquity turned out to be quite long and ornate.

Graduate of Moscow University N.A. Kuhn was introduced by the faculty to leave at the university, which provided excellent opportunities for an academic career. However, this proposal was not approved by the trustee of the Moscow educational district, apparently due to some kind of participation of N.A. Kuhn in student unrest at the turn of the century. The path to academic science turned out to be closed for him virtually forever. Nikolai Albertovich had to prove himself a lot in other areas: in the field of teaching, education, organization of educational institutions and, most importantly, the popularization of scientific knowledge, primarily in the field of ancient culture.

In 1903–1905 ON THE. Kun taught in Tver at the women's teacher's school Maksimovich. An old postcard from the early 20th century has been preserved. with a photograph of the building of this Tver school and an inscription on the back, made by N.A. Kuhn: “In this school, I began teaching in 1903. In it, I also read the first lecture on the history of Ancient Greece for teachers in 1904.” Again Ancient Greece, the image of which, as we see, has not left the consciousness of its connoisseur and admirer.

Meanwhile, in modern young N.A. The kun of Russia was approaching a terrible revolutionary storm long overdue. ON THE. Kuhn did not stand aside from the coming historical events. In 1904, he began lecturing in working classrooms, was one of the organizers of the Sunday school for workers, which in the same 1904 was closed by order of the Tver governor. The “unreliability” that the Moscow authorities saw in Kun was fully confirmed by the behavior of this enlightener-intellectual, and in early December 1905 (in the most terrible revolutionary time) he was expelled from Tver by order of the governor. Considering how close this city was to Moscow, the center of events of the first Russian revolution, the authorities “offered” N.A. Kun to go abroad.

The Stymphalian birds were the last offspring of monsters in the Peloponnese, and since the power of Eurystheus did not extend beyond the Peloponnese, Hercules decided that his service to the king was over.

But the mighty strength of Hercules did not allow him to live in idleness. He longed for exploits and even rejoiced when Koprey appeared to him.

"Eurystheus," said the herald, "orders you to clear the stables of the king of Elis, Avgius, from manure in one day."

King Perseus and Queen Andromeda ruled the golden Mycenae for a long time and gloriously, and the gods sent them many children. The eldest of the sons was named Electrion. Electrion was no longer young when he had to take the throne of his father. The gods did not offend Electrion with their offspring: Electrion had many sons, one better than the other, and only one daughter - the beautiful Alcmene.

It seemed that there was no kingdom in all Hellas more prosperous than the kingdom of Mycenae. But once the country was attacked by the Tafians - ferocious sea robbers who lived on the islands at the very entrance to the Gulf of Corinth, where the Aheloy River flows into the sea.

This new sea, unknown to the Greeks, breathed into their faces with a wide-noisy rumble. It stretched out like a blue desert before them, mysterious and formidable, deserted and stern.

They knew: somewhere out there, on the other side of its seething abyss, lie mysterious lands inhabited by wild peoples; their customs are cruel, their appearance is terrible. There, somewhere along the banks of the full-flowing Istra, terrible people with dog-like muzzles are barking - cynocephals, dog-headed. There, beautiful and ferocious Amazon warriors rush along the free steppes. There, eternal darkness thickens further, and in it, like wild animals, inhabitants of the night and cold - Hyperboreans roam. But where is it all?

Many misadventures awaited brave travelers on the road, but they were destined to come out with glory from all of them.

In Bithynia, the country of the Bebriks, their invincible fist fighter, King Amik, a terrible murderer, detained them; without pity and shame, he threw every foreigner to the ground with a blow of his fist. He also challenged these new aliens to battle, but the young Polideuces, brother of Castor, son of Leda, defeated the mighty one, breaking his temple in a fair fight.

Moving away from the familiar shores, the ship "Argo" for many days cut the waves of the calm Propontis, that sea, which people now call the Sea of Marmara.

The new moon had already come, and the nights turned black, like pitch, with which the ship's sides would be pitched, when the vigilant Linkei was the first to point out to his comrades the mountain towering ahead. Soon a low shore glimmered in the fog, fishing nets appeared on the shore, a town at the entrance to the bay. Deciding to rest on the way, Typhius sent the ship to the city, and a little later the Argonauts stood on solid ground.

A well-deserved rest awaited the Argonauts on this island. The Argo entered the harbor of Theakia. Tall ships stood in countless rows everywhere. Dropping anchor at the pier, the heroes went to the palace to Alcinous.

Looking at the Argonauts, at their heavy helmets, at the strong leg muscles in shiny greaves, and at the tanned brown faces, the peace-loving Phaeacians whispered to each other:

It must be Ares with his militant retinue marching to the house of Alcinous.

The sons of the great hero Pelops were Atreus and Thyestes. Pelops was once cursed by the charioteer of King Oenomaus Myrtilus, who was treacherously killed by Pelops, and doomed the whole family of Pelops with his curse to great atrocities and death. The curse of Myrtilus also weighed on Atreus and Fiesta. They have committed a number of evil deeds. Atreus and Thyestes killed Chrysippus, the son of the nymph Axion and their father Pelops. It was the mother of Atreus and Fiesta Hippodamia who persuaded Chrysippus to kill. Having committed this atrocity, they fled from the kingdom of their father, fearing his wrath, and took refuge with the king of Mycenae Sthenelus, the son of Perseus, who was married to their sister Nikippe. When Sthenelus died and his son Eurystheus, captured by Iolaus, died at the hands of the mother of Hercules Alcmene, he began to rule over the Mycenaean kingdom of Atreus, since Eurystheus left no heirs. Atreus was jealous of his brother Fiesta and decided to take away power from him by any means.

Sisyphus had a son, the hero Glaucus, who ruled in Corinth after his father's death. Glaucus also had a son, Bellerophon, one of the great heroes of Greece. Beautiful as a god was Bellerophon and courage equal to the immortal gods. Bellerophon, when he was still a youth, suffered a misfortune: he accidentally killed a citizen of Corinth and had to flee from his native city. He fled to the king of Tiryns, Proyt. With great honor, the king of Tiryns accepted the hero and cleansed him of the filth of the blood shed by him. Bellerophon did not stay long in Tiryns. Captivated by his beauty, the wife of Proyta, the goddess Anteia. But Bellerophon rejected her love. Then Queen Anteia flared up with hatred for Bellerophon and decided to destroy him. She went to her husband and said to him:

Oh king! Bellerophon heavily offends you. You must kill him. He haunts me, your wife, with his love. That's how he thanked you for your hospitality!

Grozen Borey, god of the indomitable, stormy north wind. He frantically rushes over the lands and seas, causing with his flight all-destroying storms. Once Boreas, flying over Attica, saw the daughter of Erechtheus Orithyia and fell in love with her. Boreas begged Orithyia to become his wife and allow him to take her with him to his kingdom in the far north. Orithia did not agree, she was afraid of a formidable, stern god. Denied Boreas and Orithyia's father, Erechtheus. No requests, no pleas from Boreas helped. The terrible god was angry and exclaimed:

I deserve such humiliation myself! I forgot about my formidable, violent power! Is it proper for me to humbly beg anyone? Only force should I act! I drive thunderclouds across the sky, I raise waves on the sea like mountains, I uproot, like dry blades of grass, centuries-old oaks, I scourge the earth with hail and turn water into ice, hard as a stone - and I pray, as if powerless mortal. When I fly in a furious flight above the earth, the whole earth trembles and trembles even the underworld of Hades. And I pray to Erechtheus as if I were his servant. I must not beg to give me Orithia as a wife, but take her away by force!

Freed from the service of King Eurystheus, Hercules returned to Thebes. Here he gave his wife Megara to his faithful friend Iolaus, explaining his act by saying that his marriage to Megara was accompanied by unfavorable omens. In fact, the reason that prompted Hercules to part with Megara was different: between the spouses were the shadows of their common children, whom Hercules killed many years ago in a fit of insanity.

In the hope of finding family happiness, Hercules began to look for a new wife. He heard that Eurytus, the same one who taught the young Hercules the art of owning a bow, offers his daughter Iola as a wife to someone who will surpass him in accuracy.

Hercules went to Eurytus and easily defeated him in the competition. This outcome annoyed Evrit immensely. Having drunk a fair amount of wine for greater confidence, he said to Hercules: “I won’t trust my daughter to such a villain as you. Or didn’t you kill your children from Megara? In addition, you are a slave of Eurystheus and deserve only beatings from a free man.”

Works are divided into pages

Ancient myths and legends of Ancient Greece

They were created more than two thousand centuries ago and the famous scientist Nikolai Kuhn adapted them at the beginning of the 20th century, but the attention of young readers from all over the world does not fade away even now. And it doesn’t matter in the 4th, 5th or 6th grade they study the myths of ancient Greece - these works of ancient folklore are considered the cultural heritage of the whole world. The moralizing and vivid stories about the ancient Greek gods have been studied far and wide. And now we read online to our children about who the heroes of the legends and myths of Ancient Greece were and we try to express in brief the meaning of their actions.

This fantastic world is surprising in that, despite the horror of an ordinary mortal in front of the gods of Mount Olympus, sometimes ordinary inhabitants of Greece could enter into an argument or even fight with them. Sometimes short and simple myths express a very deep meaning and can easily explain the rules of life to a child.

Nikolai Kun

Legends and myths of Ancient Greece

Part one. gods and heroes

In the beginning, there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. In it was the source of the life of the world. Everything arose from the boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. From Chaos came the goddess Earth - Gaia. It spread wide, mighty, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is from us, in the immeasurable depth, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss, full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, a mighty force was born, all animating Love - Eros. The world began to form. 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. Light spread over 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, proudly rose to him, and the eternally noisy Sea spread wide.

Mother Earth gave birth to Heaven, Mountains and the Sea, and they have no father.

Uranus - Sky - reigned in the world. He took the blessed Earth as his wife. Six sons and six daughters - mighty, formidable titans - were Uranus and Gaia. Their son, the titan Ocean, flowing around like a boundless river, the whole earth, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and sea goddesses - oceanides. Titan Gipperion and Theia gave children to the world: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selena and the ruddy Dawn - pink-fingered Eos (Aurora). From Astrea and Eos came all the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and all the winds: the stormy north wind Boreas, the eastern Eurus, the humid southern Noth and the gentle western wind Zephyr, carrying clouds abundant with rain.

In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - Cyclopes with one eye in the forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-armed (hekatoncheirs), so named because each of them had one hundred hands. Nothing can stand against their terrible strength, their elemental strength knows no limit.

Uranus hated his giant children, he imprisoned them in deep darkness in the bowels of the goddess Earth and did not allow them to come out into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was crushed by this terrible burden, enclosed in her depths. She called her children, the titans, and urged 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 Kronos, overthrew his father by cunning and took power away from him.

The Goddess Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible substances as punishment for Kron: Tanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apatu - deceit, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of gloomy, heavy visions, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes - and many others. Horror, strife, deceit, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world, where Kron reigned on the throne of his father.

Birth of Zeus

Kron was not sure that power would forever remain in his hands. He was afraid that the children would rise up against him and find him the same fate that he condemned his father Uranus to. He was afraid of his children. And Kron ordered his wife Rhea to bring him newborn children and mercilessly swallowed them. Rhea was horrified when she saw the fate of her children. Cron 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 a cruel father, and gave him a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow instead of his son. Kron did not suspect that he was deceived by his wife.

Meanwhile, Zeus grew up in Crete. The nymphs Adrastea and Idea cherished the little Zeus, they fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalthea. Bees carried honey to little Zeus from the slopes of the high mountain Dikty. At the entrance to the cave, young Kuretes struck shields with swords whenever little Zeus cried, so that Kron would not hear his cry and Zeus would not suffer the fate of his brothers and sisters.

Zeus overthrows Kron. The struggle of the Olympian gods with the titans

The beautiful and mighty god Zeus grew up and matured. He rebelled against his father and forced him to bring back the children he had devoured into the world. One by one, the monster from the mouth of Kron spewed his children-gods, beautiful and bright. 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 the 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. Mighty and formidable were their opponents the titans. But Zeus came to the aid of the Cyclopes. They forged thunder and lightning for him, Zeus threw them into the titans. The struggle had been going on for ten years, but the victory did not lean to either side. Finally, Zeus decided to free the hundred-armed hecatoncheir giants from the bowels of the earth; he called them for help. Terrible, huge as mountains, they came out of the bowels of the earth and rushed into battle. They tore off 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 shook around. Even Tartarus shuddered from this struggle.

Zeus threw one fiery lightning after another and deafening roaring thunders. Fire engulfed the whole earth, the seas boiled, smoke and stench shrouded everything in a thick veil.

Finally, the mighty titans faltered. Their strength was broken, they were defeated. The Olympians bound them and cast them into the gloomy Tartarus, into eternal darkness. At the indestructible copper gates of Tartarus, hundred-armed hecatoncheirs stood guard, and they guard so that the mighty titans do not break free again from Tartarus. The power of the titans in the world has passed.

Zeus fighting Typhon

But the fight didn't end there. Gaia-Earth was angry with the Olympian Zeus because he acted so harshly with her defeated children-titans. 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. With a wild howl he shook the air. The barking of dogs, human voices, the roar of an angry bull, the roar of a lion were heard in this howl. Stormy 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 caught fire. Again, lightning flashed in the hands of Zeus, thunder rumbled. The earth and the vault of heaven shook to their foundations. The earth flared up again with a bright flame, as it had during the struggle with the titans. The seas boiled at the mere approach of Typhon. Hundreds of fiery arrows-lightnings of the Thunderer Zeus rained down; it seemed that from their fire the very air was burning and dark thunderclouds were burning. Zeus burned all of Typhon's hundred heads to ashes. Typhon collapsed to the ground; such heat emanated from his body that everything around him melted. Zeus raised the body of Typhon and cast it into the gloomy Tartarus, which gave birth to him. But even in Tartarus, Typhon threatens the gods and all living things. He causes storms and eruptions; he gave birth with Echidna, a half-woman half-snake, the terrible two-headed dog Orff, the hellish dog Cerberus, the Lernean hydra and the Chimera; Typhon often shakes the earth.

The Olympian gods defeated their enemies. No one else could resist their power. They could now safely rule the world. The most powerful of them, the Thunderer Zeus, took the sky, Poseidon - the sea, and Hades - the underworld of the souls of the dead. The land remained in common ownership. Although the sons of Kron divided power over the world among themselves, Zeus, the ruler of the sky, reigns over all of them; he rules over people and gods, he knows everything in the world.

Zeus reigns high on the bright Olympus, surrounded by a host of gods. Here is his wife Hera, and the golden-haired Apollo with his sister Artemis, and the golden Aphrodite, and the mighty daughter of Zeus Athena, and many other gods. Three beautiful Horas guard the entrance to the high Olympus and raise a thick cloud that closes the gate when the gods descend to earth or ascend to the bright halls of Zeus. High above Olympus, the blue, bottomless sky spreads wide, and golden light pours from it. Neither rain nor snow occurs in the kingdom of Zeus; always there is a bright, joyful summer. And clouds swirl below, sometimes they close 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, the gods also know sorrows, but they soon pass, and joy is again established on Olympus.