Kun myths to read. Nikolai Albertovich kun legends and myths of ancient greece and ancient rome

* PART ONE. GODS AND HEROES *

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 the world children: 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 Kron, overthrew his father by cunning and took away his power.

The Goddess Night gave birth to a host of terrible substances as punishment to Kron: Tanata - death, Eris - 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.

THE 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. Kronos 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 instead of her son she gave him a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow. 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.

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 FIGHTS WITH 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.

By all logic, it was necessary to finish it to the end. However, firstly, this was not done. And secondly, all seismic and volcanic influences are dumped on Typhon. So it is quite possible that there is no real historical basis behind the battle of Zeus with Typhon.

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.

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.

Here comes the beautiful, majestic goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus. Zeus honors his wife: Hera, the patroness of marriage, is honored by all the gods of Olympus. 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 the gods and people - Zeus.

Near the throne of Hera stands her messenger, the goddess of the rainbow, the light-winged Irida, always ready to quickly rush on rainbow wings to fulfill Hera's orders to the farthest reaches of the earth.

The gods feast. The daughter of Zeus, the 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 charites and muses delight them with singing and dancing. Holding hands, they dance, and the gods admire their light movements and marvelous, eternally young 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.

Like the Sumerians - all after a good cup ...

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 the palace of Zeus. In one vessel are gifts of good, in the other - of evil. Zeus draws good and evil from them and sends them to people. Woe to that person to whom the thunderer draws gifts only from a vessel with evil. Woe to the one who violates the order established by Zeus on earth and does not comply with his laws. The son of Kronos will menacingly move his thick eyebrows, 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 - thunder will roll across the sky, fiery lightning will flash, and the high Olympus will shake.

Not only Zeus keeps the laws. At his throne stands the goddess Themis, who keeps the laws. She convenes, at the command of the thunderer, meetings of the gods on the bright Olympus, popular assemblies on earth, observing that order and law are not violated. On Olympus and the daughter of Zeus, the goddess Dike, who watches over 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 protector of truth and the enemy of deceit.

Zeus keeps order and truth in the world and sends people happiness and sorrow. But although Zeus sends happiness and misfortune to people, the fate of people is still determined by the inexorable goddesses of fate - Moira, who live on the bright Olympus. The fate of Zeus himself is in their hands. Doom rules over mortals and over the gods. No one can escape the dictates of inexorable fate. There is no such force, no such power that could change at least something in what is destined for the gods and mortals. You can only humbly bow before fate and submit to it. Some moira know the dictates of fate. Moira Klotho spins the life thread of a person, determining the duration of his life. The thread will break, and life will end. Moira Lachesis draws, without looking, the lot that falls to a person in life. No one is able to change the fate determined by moira, since the third moira, Atropos, puts everything that her sister’s person was assigned in life to a long scroll, and what is listed in the scroll of fate is inevitable. Great, severe moira 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 will send gifts to people, and happy is the person who meets on his life path the goddess of happiness Tyukhe; but how rarely does this happen, and how unfortunate is the person from whom the goddess Tyuhe, who has just given him her gifts, will turn away!

POSEIDON AND THE DEITIES OF THE SEA

He saw one day how she led a round dance with her Nereid sisters on the coast 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. At last the dolphin opened her hiding place to him; for this service, Poseidon placed the dolphin among the celestial constellations. Poseidon stole the beautiful daughter of Nereus from Atlas and married her. Since then, Amphitrite lives with her husband Poseidon in an underwater palace.

High above the palace, the waves of the sea roar. A host of sea deities surrounds Poseidon, obedient to his will. Among them is the son of Poseidon, Triton, who causes terrible storms with the thunderous sound of his pipe from the shell. Among the deities are the beautiful sisters of Amphitrite, the Nereids.

Nereus has fifty beautiful daughters. Young Nereids splash merrily in the waves of the sea, sparkling among them with their divine beauty. Holding hands, they swim out of the depths of the sea in a string and dance on the shore to the gentle splash of the waves of a calm sea quietly running ashore. The echo of the coastal rocks then repeats the sounds of their gentle singing, like the quiet roar of the sea. Nereids patronize the sailor and give him a happy voyage.

Among the satellites of the oscillator of the earth 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 opened the future and gave wise advice to mortals.

KINGDOM OF DARK HADES (PLUTO)

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. In the gloomy fields of the kingdom of Hades, overgrown with pale flowers of asphodel (wild tulip), 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 Kerber, 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.

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.

Some vampires...

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.

In fact, in the text, death is associated with sleep.

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. Rules over all ghosts and monsters great goddess Hecate. 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, her husband, Zeus the cloudmaker, 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.

The god of light, the golden-haired Apollo, was born on the island of Delos. His mother Latona, driven by the wrath of the goddess Hera, could not find shelter anywhere. Pursued by the dragon Python sent by the Hero, she wandered all over the world and finally took refuge on Delos, which at that time was rushing along the waves of a stormy sea. As soon as Latona entered Delos, huge pillars rose from the depths of the sea and stopped this deserted island. He stood firm in the place where he still stands today. All around Delos the sea roared. The cliffs of Delos rose despondently, bare without the slightest vegetation. Only sea gulls found shelter on these rocks and announced them with their sad cry. But then the god of light, Apollo, was born, and streams of bright light spilled everywhere. Like gold, they poured the rocks of Delos. Everything around bloomed, sparkled: the coastal cliffs, and Mount Kint, and the valley, and the sea. The goddesses gathered on Delos loudly praised the born god, offering him ambrosia and nectar. All nature around rejoiced along with the goddesses.

Apollo quickly reached the gloomy gorge, the dwelling of Python. Rocks rose all around, reaching high into the sky. Darkness reigned in the gorge. A mountain stream, gray with foam, was swiftly rushing along its bottom, and mists swirled above the stream. The terrible Python crawled out of its lair. Its huge body, covered with scales, twisted between the rocks in countless rings. Rocks and mountains trembled from the weight of his body and moved. Furious Python betrayed everything, he spread death all around. Nymphs and all living things fled in horror.

Python rose, mighty, furious, opened his terrible mouth and was ready to devour the golden-haired Apollo. Then there was a ringing of the bowstring of a silver bow, as a spark flashed in the air, a golden arrow that did not know a miss, followed by another, a third; arrows rained down on Python, and he fell lifeless to the ground. The triumphant victorious song of the golden-haired Apollo, the conqueror of Python, sounded loudly, and the golden strings of the cithara of the god echoed it. Apollo buried the body of Python in the ground where sacred Delphi stands, and founded a sanctuary and an oracle in Delphi in order to prophesy to people the will of his father Zeus.

Apollo had to be cleansed from the sin of the spilled blood of Python. After all, he himself cleanses the people who committed the murder. By the decision of Zeus, he retired to Thessaly to the beautiful and noble king Admet. There he pastured the flocks of the king, and by this service atoned for his sin.

In spring and summer, on the slopes of the wooded Helikon, where the sacred waters of the Hippocrene spring mysteriously murmur, and on high Parnassus, near the clear waters of the Kastalsky spring, Apollo leads a round dance with nine muses. The young, beautiful Muses, the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, are the constant companions of Apollo. He leads the choir of muses and accompanies their singing by playing on his golden cithara. Apollo walks majestically ahead of the chorus of muses, crowned with a laurel wreath, followed by all nine muses: Calliope - the muse of epic poetry, Euterpe - the muse of lyrics, Erato - the muse of love songs, Melpomene - the muse of tragedy, Thalia - the muse of comedy, Terpsichore - the muse of dancing, Clio is the muse of history, Urania is the muse of astronomy and Polyhymnia is the muse of sacred hymns. Their choir thunders solemnly, and all nature, as if enchanted, listens to their divine singing.

When Apollo, accompanied by the Muses, appears in the host of the gods on the bright Olympus and the sounds of his kithara and the singing of the Muses are heard, then everything on Olympus falls silent. Ares forgets about the noise of bloody battles, lightning does not flash in the hands of Zeus, the cloudmaker, the gods forget strife, peace and silence reign on Olympus. Even the eagle of Zeus lowers its mighty wings and closes its keen eyes, its menacing scream is not heard, it quietly slumbers on the rod of Zeus. In complete silence, the strings of the cithara of Apollo solemnly sound. When Apollo cheerfully strikes the golden strings of the cithara, then a bright, shining round dance moves in the banquet hall of the gods. The Muses, Charites, the eternally young Aphrodite, Ares and Hermes - all participate in a merry round dance, and the majestic maiden, the sister of Apollo, the beautiful Artemis, walks ahead of everyone. Filled with streams of golden light, the young gods dance to the sounds of Apollo's kithara.

But Apollo is not only an avenger, not only does he send death with his golden arrows; he heals diseases. The son of Apollo, Asclepius, is the god of doctors and medical art. The wise centaur Chiron raised Asclepius on the slopes of Pelion. Under his guidance, Asclepius became such a skilled physician that he surpassed even his teacher Chiron.

Asclepius not only healed all diseases, but even brought the dead back to life. By this he angered the ruler of the kingdom of the dead Hades and the Thunderer Zeus, as he violated the law and order established by Zeus on earth. Enraged, Zeus threw his lightning bolt and struck Asclepius. But people deified the son of Apollo as a god of healing. They erected many sanctuaries for him, among them the famous sanctuary of Asclepius at Epidaurus.

And what was it to deify if he was already the son of a god and even the grandson of Zeus himself? ..

ARTEMIS

The eternally young, beautiful goddess was born on Delos at the same time as her brother, the golden-haired Apollo. They are twins. The most sincere love, the closest friendship unites brother and sister. They also deeply love their mother Latona.

Artemis gives life to everyone. She takes care of everything that lives on earth and grows in the forest and in the field. She takes care of wild animals, herds of livestock and people. She causes the growth of herbs, flowers and trees, she blesses birth, marriage and marriage. Rich sacrifices are made by Greek women to the glorious daughter of Zeus Artemis, who blesses and gives happiness in marriage, heals and sends diseases.

Forever young, beautiful as a clear day, the goddess Artemis, with a bow and quiver over her shoulders, with a hunter's spear in her hands, hunts merrily in shady forests and sun-drenched fields. A noisy crowd of nymphs accompanies her, and she, majestic, in a short clothes of a hunter, reaching only to her knees, quickly rushes along the wooded slopes of the mountains. Neither a shy deer, nor a timid doe, nor an angry boar hiding in the thickets of reeds can escape from her arrows that do not miss. Artemis is followed by her nymph companions. Cheerful laughter, screams, barking of a pack of dogs are heard far away in the mountains, and a loud mountain echo answers them.

When the goddess gets tired of hunting, she hurries with the nymphs to the sacred Delphi, to her beloved brother, the archer Apollo. She rests there. To the divine sounds of the golden cithara of Apollo, she leads round dances with the muses and nymphs. Ahead of all goes Artemis in a round dance, slender, beautiful; she is more beautiful than all the nymphs and muses and taller than them by a whole head.

PALLAS ATHENA

The goddess Pallas Athena was born by Zeus himself. Zeus the Thunderer knew that the goddess of reason, Metis, would have two children: a daughter, Athena, and a son of extraordinary intelligence and strength. Moira, the goddess of fate, revealed to Zeus the secret that the son of the goddess Metis would overthrow him from the throne and take away his power over the world. The great Zeus was afraid. To avoid the formidable fate that the moiras promised him, he, having put the goddess Metis to sleep with affectionate speeches, swallowed her before her daughter, the goddess Athena, was born.

It turns out, firstly, that Zeus had the full opportunity to still influence his own destiny, which already contradicts the previous statements. And secondly, moira generally missed even with the sex of the child.

After a while, Zeus felt terrible headache. Then he called on his son Hephaestus and ordered to cut his head to get rid of the unbearable pain and noise in his head. Hephaestus waved an ax, with a powerful blow he split the skull of Zeus without damaging it, and a mighty warrior, the goddess Pallas Athena, came out of the head of the Thunderer. In full armor, in a brilliant helmet, with a spear and a shield, she appeared before the astonished eyes of the Olympian gods. She shook her gleaming spear menacingly. Her war cry resounded far across the sky, and bright Olympus shook to its very foundation. Beautiful, majestic, she stood before the gods. Athena's blue eyes burned with divine wisdom, all of her shone with marvelous, heavenly, powerful beauty. The gods praised his beloved daughter born from the head of Zeus, the protector of cities, the goddess of wisdom and knowledge, the invincible warrior Pallas Athena.

Still, fantasy prevails. Here the goddess does not even have a childhood like other gods.

Athena patronizes the heroes of Greece, gives them her advice full of wisdom and helps them, invincible, in time of danger. She keeps cities, fortresses and their walls. She gives wisdom and knowledge, teaches people the arts and crafts. And the girls of Greece honor Athena because she teaches them needlework. None of the mortals and goddesses can surpass Athena in the art of weaving.

In the grotto of Mount Kyllene in Arcadia, the son of Zeus and Maya, the god Hermes, the messenger of the gods, was born. With the speed of thought, he is transported from Olympus to the farthest corner of the world in his winged sandals, with a caduceus wand in his hands.

Hermes guards the paths, and herms dedicated to him [stone pillars on top of which the head of Hermes was carved] can be seen placed along roads, at crossroads and at the entrances to houses throughout ancient Greece. He patronizes travelers on a journey during his lifetime, he also leads the souls of the dead on their last journey - to the sad kingdom of Hades. With his magic wand, he closes the eyes of people and plunges them into a dream. Hermes is the patron god of paths and travelers and the god of trade and trade. He gives profit in trade and sends wealth to people. Hermes invented both measures, and numbers, and the alphabet, he taught people all this.

He is also the god of eloquence, at the same time - resourcefulness and deceit. No one can surpass him in dexterity, cunning, and even in theft, as he is an unusually clever thief. It was he who once stole as a joke from Zeus his scepter, from Poseidon his trident, from Apollo his golden arrows and bow, and from Ares his sword.

The god of war, the frantic Ares, is the son of the Thunderer Zeus and Hera. Zeus does not like him. He often tells his son that he is the most hated by him among the gods of Olympus. Zeus does not love his son for his bloodthirstiness. If Ares were not his son, he would have cast him long ago into the gloomy Tartarus, where the titans languish. The heart of the ferocious Ares pleases only fierce battles. Furious, he rushes amid the roar of weapons, screams and groans of battle between the combatants, in sparkling weapons, with a huge shield. Behind him are his sons, Deimos and Phobos - horror and fear, and next to them are the goddess of discord Eris and the goddess Enyuo, who sows murder.

Boils, battle rumbles; Ares rejoices; warriors fall with a groan. Ares triumphs when he slays a warrior with his terrible sword and hot blood rushes to the ground. Indiscriminately he strikes both to the right and to the left; a pile of bodies around a cruel god.

Ferocious, violent, formidable Ares, but victory does not always accompany him. Ares often has to give way on the battlefield to the militant daughter of Zeus, Pallas Athena. She defeats Ares with wisdom and a calm consciousness of strength. Often, even mortal heroes defeat Ares, especially if they are helped by the bright-eyed Pallas Athena.

Even if the wife of Ares, the most beautiful of the goddesses Aphrodite, comes to the aid of her husband when he meets Athena in the heat of battle, and then the beloved daughter of the Thunderer Zeus emerges victorious. The warrior Athena with one blow throws the beautiful goddess of love Aphrodite to the ground. With tears, the eternally young, wonderfully beautiful Aphrodite ascends to Olympus, and after her triumphant laughter is heard and Athena's ridicule rushes.

APHRODITE

Not the pampered, windy goddess Aphrodite to interfere in bloody battles. She awakens love in the hearts of gods and mortals. Thanks to this power, she reigns over the whole world.

No one can escape her power, not even the gods. Only the warrior Athena, Hestia and Artemis are not subject to her power. Tall, slender, with delicate features, with a soft wave of golden hair, like a crown lying on her beautiful head, Aphrodite is the personification of divine beauty and unfading youth.

Near the island of Cythera, Aphrodite, the daughter of Uranus, was born from the snow-white foam of the sea waves. A light, caressing breeze brought her to the island of Cyprus. There, the young Ores surrounded the goddess of love, who emerged from the sea waves. They dressed her in golden robes and crowned her with a wreath of fragrant flowers. Wherever Aphrodite stepped, flowers flourished there. The whole air was full of fragrance. Eros and Gimerot led the wondrous goddess to Olympus. The gods greeted her loudly. Since then, the golden Aphrodite has always lived among the gods of Olympus, forever young, the most beautiful of the goddesses.

Beautiful Aphrodite reigns over the world. She, like Zeus the Thunderer, has a messenger: through him she fulfills her will. This messenger of Aphrodite is her son Eros, a cheerful, playful, treacherous, and sometimes cruel boy.

Eros flies on his shining golden wings over the lands and seas, fast and light, like a breath of breeze. In his hands is a small golden bow, behind his shoulders is a quiver with arrows. No one is safe from these golden

arrows Eros hits without a miss; he, as a shooter, is not inferior to the golden-haired Apollo himself. When Eros hits the target, his eyes glow with joy, he triumphantly throws his curly head high and laughs out loud. .

The arrows of Eros bring joy and happiness, but often they bring suffering, the anguish of love, and even death. These arrows caused a lot of suffering to the golden-haired Apollo, the cloud-burner Zeus himself.

Zeus knew how much grief and evil the son of golden Aphrodite would bring to the world. He wanted to be killed at birth. But how could mother allow this! She hid Eros in an impenetrable forest, and there, in the wilds of the forest, two ferocious lionesses fed baby Eros with their milk. Eros grew up, and now he rushes around the world, young, beautiful, and sows with his arrows in the world either happiness, or sorrow, or good, or evil.

Aphrodite has another assistant and companion - this is the young god of marriage, Hymen. He flies on his snow-white wings ahead of the wedding processions. The flame of his marriage torch burns brightly. Choirs of girls are calling in time

Hymen's wedding, begging him to bless the marriage of the young and send joy into their lives.

Hephaestus, the son of Zeus and Hera, the god of fire, the blacksmith god, with whom no one can compare in the art of forging, was born on the bright Olympus as a weak and lame child. The great Hera became angry when they showed her an ugly, frail son. She grabbed him and threw him from Olympus down to a distant land.

For a long time the unfortunate child rushed through the air and finally fell into the waves of the boundless sea. The sea goddesses took pity on him - Eurynome, the daughter of the great Ocean, and Thetis, the daughter of the prophetic sea elder Nereus. They raised little Hephaestus, who had fallen into the sea, and carried him away with them deep under the waters of the gray Ocean. There, in the azure grotto, they raised Hephaestus. The god Hephaestus grew up ugly, lame, but with powerful arms, a broad chest and a muscular neck. What a marvelous artist he was in his blacksmithing trade! He forged many magnificent ornaments of gold and silver for his tutors Eurynome and Thetis.

For a long time he harbored anger at his mother, the goddess Hera, in his heart, and finally decided to take revenge on her for throwing him off Olympus. He forged a golden chair of extraordinary beauty and sent it to Olympus as a gift to his mother. The wife of the Thunderer Zeus was delighted when she saw a wonderful gift. Indeed, only the queen of gods and men could sit on a chair of such extraordinary beauty. But - oh, the horror! As soon as Hera sat down in a chair, as indestructible fetters wrapped around her, and Hera found herself chained to the chair. The gods rushed to her aid. In vain, none of them was able to free Queen Hera. The gods realized that only Hephaestus, who forged the chair, could free his great mother.

Immediately they sent the god Hermes, the messenger of the gods, for the blacksmith god. Hermes rushed like a whirlwind to the ends of the world to the shores of the Ocean. In the twinkling of an eye, he swept over the earth and the sea and appeared in the grotto where Hephaestus worked. For a long time he asked Hephaestus to go with him to the high Olympus - to free Queen Hera, but the blacksmith god flatly refused: he remembered the evil that his mother had done to him. Neither the requests nor the pleas of Hermes helped. Dionysus, the cheerful god of wine, came to his aid. With a loud laugh, he offered Hephaestus a cup of fragrant wine, followed by another, and after it another and another. Hephaestus was drunk, now it was possible to do everything with him - to lead anywhere. Dionysus, the god of wine, defeated Hephaestus. Hermes and Dionysus put Hephaestus on a donkey and took him to Olympus. Hephaestus rode swaying. Around Hephaestus, maenads entwined with ivy with thyrsus in their hands rushed in a cheerful dance. Intoxicated satyrs jumped clumsily. Torches smoked, tambourines rang out loudly, laughter, tambourines rattled. And ahead was the great god Dionysus in a wreath of grapes and thyrsus. The procession moved merrily. At last they came to Olympus. Hephaestus released his mother in an instant, now he no longer remembered the offense.

Hephaestus remained to live on Olympus. He built majestic golden palaces for the gods and built himself a palace of gold, silver and bronze. In it he lives with his wife, the beautiful, friendly Harita, the goddess of grace and beauty.

The forge of Hephaestus is also located in the same palace. Hephaestus spends most of his time in his forge full of wonders. In the middle stands a huge anvil, in the corner - a forge with blazing fire and bellows. Marvelous these bellows - they do not need to be set in motion by hands, they obey the word of Hephaestus. He will say - and the bellows work, fanning the fire in the forge into a brightly blazing flame. Covered with sweat, all black from dust and soot, the blacksmith god works in his forge. What wondrous works Hephaestus forges in it: indestructible weapons, jewelry made of gold and silver, bowls for goblets, tripods that roll themselves on golden wheels as if alive.

Having finished the work, having washed sweat and soot in a fragrant bath, Hephaestus goes, limping and staggering on his weak legs, to the feast of the gods, to his father, Zeus the Thunderer. Affable, good-natured, he often stops the quarrel between Zeus and Hera that is ready to flare up. Without laughter, the gods cannot see how the lame Hephaestus hobbles around the banquet table, spilling fragrant nectar to the gods. Laughter makes the gods forget quarrels.

But the god Hephaestus can also be formidable. Many experienced the power of his fire, and the terrible, mighty blows of his huge hammer. Even the waves of the raging rivers of Xanthus and Simois humbled under the fire of Troy Hephaestus. Terrible, he struck with his hammer and mighty giants.

Powerful is the great goddess Demeter. She gives fertility to the earth, and without her beneficial power, nothing grows either in shady forests, or in meadows, or in rich arable lands.

The great goddess Demeter had a young beautiful daughter, Persephone. The father of Persephone was the great son of Cronus himself, the Thunderer Zeus. Once the beautiful Persephone, along with her friends, the Oceanids, carelessly frolicked in the flowering Nisei Valley ...

Hades saw Persephone frolicking in the Nisean Valley, and decided to immediately kidnap her. He begged the goddess of the Earth, Gaia, to grow a flower of unusual beauty. The goddess Gaia agreed, and a marvelous flower grew in the Nisei Valley; its heady aroma spread far and wide in all directions. Persephone saw a flower; now she stretched out her hand and grabbed him by the stalk, now the flower has already been plucked. Suddenly the earth opened up, and on black horses appeared from the earth in a golden chariot, the lord of the kingdom of the shadows of the dead, gloomy Hades. He grabbed the young Persephone, lifted her onto his chariot, and in the blink of an eye disappeared on his fast horses into the bowels of the earth. Only Persephone managed to scream. Far away was the cry of terror from the young daughter of Demeter; he reached both the depths of the sea and the high, bright Olympus. No one saw how the gloomy Hades kidnapped Persephone, only his god Helios-Sun saw.

... the goddess Demeter was saddened. She was angry with the Thunderer Zeus because he gave Persephone as his wife to Hades without her consent. She left the gods, left the bright Olympus, took the form of a mere mortal and, putting on dark clothes, long wandered among mortals, shedding bitter tears.

All growth on earth ceased. The leaves on the trees withered and flew around. The forests were bare. The grass has faded; the flowers lowered their colorful corollas and withered. There were no fruits in the orchards, the green vineyards dried up, heavy juicy bunches did not ripen in them. Formerly fertile fields were empty, not a blade of grass grew on them. Frozen life on earth. Hunger reigned everywhere: crying and groans were heard everywhere. Death threatened the entire human race. But Demeter did not see or hear anything, immersed in sadness for her dearly beloved daughter.

The famine was getting stronger, as not a single grass sprouted on the fields of the farmers. In vain the bulls of the farmer dragged the heavy plow across the arable land - their work was fruitless. Entire tribes perished. The cries of the hungry rushed to heaven, but Demeter did not heed them. At last the sacrifices to the immortal gods ceased to smoke on earth. Death threatened all living things. The great cloud-chamber Zeus did not want the death of mortals. He sent to Demeter the messenger of the gods I will come. She quickly rushed on her rainbow wings to Eleusis to the temple of Demeter, called her, begged her to return to the bright Olympus in the host of the gods. Demeter did not heed her pleas. The great Zeus also sent other gods to Demeter, but the goddess did not want to return to Olympus before Hades returned her daughter Persephone to her.

Then the great Zeus sent Hermes, quick as a thought, to his gloomy brother Hades. Hermes descended into the kingdom of Hades, full of horrors, appeared before the lord of the souls of the dead sitting on a golden throne and told him the will of Zeus.

Hades agreed to let Persephone go to her mother, but first gave her a pomegranate seed, a symbol of marriage, to swallow. Persephone ascended the golden chariot of her husband with Hermes; the immortal horses of Hades rushed, no obstacles were terrible to them, and in the twinkling of an eye they reached Eleusis.

Forgetting everything with joy, Demeter rushed to meet her daughter and wrapped her in her arms. Her beloved daughter Persephone was with her again. Demeter returned with her to Olympus. Then the great Zeus decided that he would live with his mother Persephone for two thirds of the year, and return to his husband Hades for one third.

Great Demeter returned fertility to the earth, and again everything blossomed, turned green. Forests were covered with delicate spring foliage; flowers dazzled on the emerald ant of the meadows. Soon the grain-growing fields began to sprout; gardens blossomed and fragrant; the greenery of the vineyards sparkled in the sun. All nature woke up, All living things rejoiced and glorified the great goddess Demeter and her daughter Persephone.

But every year Persephone leaves her mother, and each time Demeter plunges into sadness and again puts on dark clothes. And all nature mourns for the departed. The leaves turn yellow on the trees, and the autumn wind rips them off; flowers fade, fields empty, winter comes. Nature sleeps to wake up in the joyful splendor of spring when Persephone returns to her mother from the joyless kingdom of Hades. When her daughter returns to Dimeter, then the great goddess of fertility pours her gifts to people with a generous hand and blesses the work of the farmer with a rich harvest.

Modification of the widespread motif of myths about the return from the world of the dead ...

The great goddess Demeter, who gives fertility to the earth, herself taught people how to cultivate grain fields.

Dionysus (among the Romans, Bacchus) is the god of winemaking, the god of wine, in Greece an “alien” god brought from Thrace. The festivities in honor of Dionysus were important because they served as the beginning of theatrical performances in Athens. During the festivities in Athens (the great Dionysia), choirs of singers dressed in goat skins performed and sang special hymns - dithyrambs; they began to sing, and the choir answered him; singing was accompanied by dancing. Tragedy was created from these dithyrambs (the word itself can be explained as “the song of the goats”). At rural festivities in honor of Dionysus (rural Dionysia), comic songs were sung, which she also began to sing; they, too, were accompanied by dancing; comedy came out of them.

Zeus the Thunderer loved the beautiful Semele, daughter of the Theban king Cadmus. Once he promised her to fulfill any of her requests, no matter what it was, and swore to her this by an unbreakable oath of the gods, by the sacred waters of the underground river Styx. But the great goddess Hera hated Semele and wanted to destroy her. She told Semele:

- Ask Zeus to appear to you in all the glory of the god of thunder, the king of Olympus. If he really loves you, he will not refuse this request.

Hera convinced Semele, and she asked Zeus to fulfill exactly this request. Zeus, however, could not refuse anything to Semele, because he swore by the waters of the Styx. The Thunderer appeared to her in all the grandeur of the king of gods and people, in all the splendor of his glory. Bright lightning flashed in the hands of Zeus; thunderclaps shook the palace of Cadmus. Everything around flashed from the lightning of Zeus. The fire engulfed the palace, everything around shook and collapsed. In horror, Semele fell to the ground, the flames burned her. She saw that there was no salvation for her, that her request, inspired by the Hera, ruined her.

And the son of Dionysus was born to the dying Semele, weak, unable to live

child. It seemed that he, too, was doomed to perish in the fire. But how could the son of the great Zeus die. From the ground on all sides, as if by a wave of a magic wand, thick green ivy grew. He covered the unfortunate child from the fire with his greenery and saved him from death.

Zeus took the saved son, and since he was still so small and weak that he could not live, Zeus sewed him into his thigh. In the body of his father, Zeus, Dionysus got stronger, and, having got stronger, was born a second time from the thigh of the Thunderer Zeus.

In general, whatever one may say, Dionysus does not pull on a full-fledged god ...

Among the retinue of Dionysus one could often see the god Pan. When the great Pan was born, his mother, the nymph Dryope, looking at her son, fled in horror. He was born with goat legs and horns and a long beard. But his father, Hermes, rejoiced at the birth of his son, he took him in his arms and carried him to the bright Olympus to the gods. All the gods rejoiced loudly at the birth of Pan and laughed as they looked at him.

God Pan did not stay with the gods on Olympus. He went into the shady forests, into the mountains. There he grazes herds, playing the sonorous flute. As soon as the nymphs hear the wonderful sounds of Pan's flute, they rush to him in crowds, surround him, and soon a cheerful round dance moves along the green secluded valley, to the sounds of Pan's music. Pan himself likes to take part in the dances of the nymphs. When Pan is merry, then a cheerful noise rises in the forests on the slopes of the mountains. Nymphs and satyrs frolic merrily along with the noisy goat-footed Pan. When the hot afternoon comes, Pan retires to a dense thicket of the forest or to a cool grotto and rests there. It is dangerous to disturb Pan then; he is quick-tempered, he can send a heavy oppressive dream in anger, he can, unexpectedly appearing, frighten the traveler who has disturbed him. Finally, it can also send panicky fear, such horror when a person rushes headlong to run, without looking at the road, through forests, over mountains, along the edge of abysses, not noticing that flight every minute threatens him with death. It happened that Pan inspired a similar fear in an entire army, and it turned into an unstoppable flight. Pan should not be annoyed - when he flares up, he is formidable. But if Pan is not angry, then he is merciful and good-natured. He sends many blessings to the shepherds. Protects and cherishes the herds of the Greeks the great Pan, a cheerful participant in the dances of frantic maenads, a frequent companion of the god of wine Dionysus.

FIVE CENTURIES

The immortal gods living on the bright Olympus created the first human race happy; it was a golden age. God Kron ruled then in the sky. Like blessed gods, people lived in those days, knowing neither care, nor labor, nor sorrow. Nor did they know feeble old age; their legs and arms were always strong and strong. Painless me happy life theirs was an eternal feast. Death, which came after their long life, was like a calm, quiet sleep. They had everything in abundance during their lifetime. The land itself gave them rich fruits, and they did not have to spend labor on cultivating fields and gardens. Their flocks were numerous, and they grazed quietly on rich pastures. The people of the golden age lived serenely. The gods themselves came to consult them. But the golden age on earth ended, and none of the people of this generation remained. After death, people of the golden age became spirits, patrons of people of new generations. Shrouded in mist, they rush all over the earth, defending the truth and punishing evil. So Zeus rewarded them after their death.

An obvious exaggeration...

The second human race and the second age were no longer as happy as the first. It was the silver age. The people of the Silver Age were not equal either in strength or intellect to the people of the Golden Age. For a hundred years they grew up foolish in the houses of their mothers, only when they grew up did they leave them. Their life was short in adulthood, and since they were unreasonable, they saw many misfortunes and grief in life. The people of the Silver Age were rebellious. They did not obey the immortal gods and did not want to burn their victims on the altars. The great son of Cronus Zeus destroyed their family on earth. He was angry with them because they did not obey the gods living on the bright Olympus. Zeus settled them in the underground gloomy kingdom. There they live, knowing neither joy nor sorrow; they, too, are honored by the people.

Father Zeus created the third generation and the third age - the age of copper. It doesn't look like silver. From the shaft of a spear, Zeus created people - terrible and powerful. The people of the copper age loved pride and war, plentiful with groans. They did not know agriculture and did not eat the fruits of the earth, which give gardens and arable land. Zeus gave them enormous growth and indestructible strength. Indomitable, courageous was their heart and irresistible their hands. Their weapons were forged from copper, their houses were made of copper, they worked with copper tools. They did not know even in those days of dark iron. With their own hands, people of the copper age destroyed each other. They quickly descended into the gloomy realm of the terrible Hades. No matter how strong they were, yet the black death stole them, and they left the clear light of the sun.

As soon as this race descended into the kingdom of shadows, immediately the great Zeus created the fourth century on the earth that feeds everyone and a new race of people, a nobler, more just, equal to the gods race of demigods-heroes. And they all died in evil wars and terrible bloody battles. Some died at the seven gates of Thebes, in the country of Cadmus, fighting for the legacy of Oedipus. Others fell near Troy, where they came for the beautifully curly Helen, sailed across the wide sea on ships. When all of them were kidnapped by death, Zeus the Thunderer settled them on the edge of the earth, away from living people. The demigod-heroes live a happy, carefree life on the islands of the blessed by the stormy waters of the Ocean. There, the fertile land gives them fruits as sweet as honey three times a year.

The last, fifth century and the human race is iron. It continues to this day on earth. Night and day, without ceasing, sadness and exhausting work destroy people. The gods send people heavy worries. True, the gods and good are mixed with evil, but still there is more evil, it reigns everywhere. Children do not honor their parents; a friend is not faithful to a friend; the guest does not find hospitality; there is no love between brothers. People do not keep this oath, they do not appreciate the truth and kindness. Each other's cities are being destroyed. Violence reigns everywhere. Only pride and strength are valued. Goddesses Conscience and Justice left people. In their white clothes, they flew up to the high Olympus to the immortal gods, and only serious troubles remained for people, and they have no protection from evil.

Linear degradation, however, is also not visible. The fourth period (the time of the demigod-heroes) falls out of a single dependence! ..

Deucalion and Pyrrha (the Flood)

Many crimes were committed by people of the copper age. Arrogant and impious, they did not obey the Olympian gods. The Thunderer Zeus was angry with them; Zeus was especially angered by the king of Lycosura in Arcadia, Lycaon. Once Zeus, under the guise of a mere mortal, came to Lycosur. So that the inhabitants knew that he was a god, Zeus gave them a sign, and all the inhabitants fell on their faces before him and honored him as a god. Only Lycaon did not want to give divine honors to Zeus and mocked everyone who honored Zeus. Lycaon decided to test whether Zeus is a god. He killed a hostage who was in his palace, boiled part of his body, fried part and offered it as a meal to the great thunderer. Zeus was terribly angry. With a lightning strike, he destroyed Lycaon's palace, and turned him into a bloodthirsty wolf himself.

All the wicked people became, and the great cloudmaker, the auspicious Zeus decided to destroy the entire human race. He decided to send such a heavy downpour to the earth that everything would be flooded. Zeus forbade all winds to blow, only the humid south wind Noth drove dark rain clouds across the sky. The rain poured onto the ground. The water in the seas and rivers rose higher and higher, flooding everything around. The cities with their walls, houses and temples disappeared under the water, and the towers that rose high on the city walls were no longer visible. Gradually, the water covered everything - both the forested hills and high mountains. All of Greece was hidden under the raging waves of the sea. The peak of the two-headed Parnassus rose lonely among the waves. Where the peasant used to cultivate his field and where the vineyards rich in ripe clusters were green, fish swam, and herds of dolphins frolicked in the forests covered with water.

Thus perished the human race of the Copper Age. Only two escaped amid this general destruction - Deucalion, the son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha. On the advice of his father Prometheus, Deucalion built a huge box, put food in it, and entered it with his wife. For nine days and nights, the box of Deucalion was carried along the waves of the sea, which covered the whole land. Finally, the waves drove him to the two-headed peak of Parnassus. The downpour sent by Zeus stopped. Deucalion and Pyrrha came out of the box and made a sacrifice of thanksgiving to Zeus, who kept them amid the stormy waves. The water subsided, and again the land appeared from under the waves, devastated, like a desert.

Then the aegis-powerful Zeus sent a messenger of the gods Hermes to Deucalion. The messenger of the gods quickly rushed over the deserted earth, appeared before Deucalion and said to him:

- The ruler of the gods and people, Zeus, knowing your piety, ordered you to choose a reward; say Your wish, and his son Krop will perform.

Deucalion replied to Hermes:

- Oh, great Hermes, I only pray to Zeus, let him again populate the earth with people.

Fast Hermes rushed back to the bright Olympus and conveyed to Zeus the prayer of Deucalion. Great Zeus ordered Deucalion and Pyrrha to pick up stones and throw them without looking over their heads. Deucalion fulfilled the command of the mighty thunderer, and men were created from the stones that he threw, and women were created from the stones thrown by his wife Pyrrha. So the earth received a population again after the flood. It was inhabited by a new kind of people who came from stone.

A clear and direct contradiction to the fact that the era that came after this (according to the five-step division) was the era of demigods-heroes. They were by no means made of stones ...

Header photo: LAH Research Center expedition archive

If you find an error, please highlight a piece of text and click Ctrl+Enter.

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.

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

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 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.

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.

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

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.

Zeus fighting Typhon

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.

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 in Hesiod's poem "Theogony" (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from the poems of Homer « Iliad» And « Odyssey» and poems by the Roman poet Ovid « Metamorphoses» (Transformations).

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

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 insidious Kron 1
Cron- all-consuming time (chronos - time).

By cunning he overthrew his father and took away his power.

The Goddess Night gave birth to a host of terrible deities as punishment for Kron: Tanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apatu - deceit, 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, deceit, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world, where Kron reigned on the throne of his father.

Olympic gods

Zeus

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 condemn him to 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. Already swallowed five Kronos: Hestia 2
Hestia- the goddess of sacrificial fire and the fire of the hearth, the 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.

Heru, Hades (Hades) and Poseidon.

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 are young curets 4
Kurety- demigods, guardians and defenders of Zeus. Later, the priests of Zeus and Rhea were called curetes in Crete.

They hit the 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

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 with 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 wavered. 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.

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 proudly calm consciousness of power and might. At his throne is 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: Hera, the patroness of marriage, is honored by all the gods of Olympus. 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 the gods and people - Zeus. Near the throne of Hera stands her messenger, the goddess of the rainbow, the light-winged Irida, always ready to quickly rush on rainbow wings to fulfill Hera's orders to the farthest reaches of the earth.

Not only Zeus keeps the laws. At his throne stands the goddess Themis, who keeps the laws. She convenes, at the command of the Thunderer, meetings of the gods on the bright Olympus and people's meetings on earth, observing that order and law are not violated. On Olympus and the daughter of Zeus, the goddess Dike, who watches over 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 protector of truth and the enemy of deceit.

Zeus keeps order and truth in the world and sends people happiness and sorrow. But although Zeus sends happiness and misfortune to people, the fate of people is still determined by the inexorable goddesses of fate - Moira, who live on the bright Olympus. The fate of Zeus himself is in their hands. Doom rules over mortals and over the gods. No one can escape the dictates of inexorable fate. There is no such force, no such power that could change at least something in what is destined for the gods and mortals. You can only humbly bow before fate and submit to it. Some moira know the dictates of fate. Moira Kyoto spins the life thread of a person, determining the duration of his life. The thread will break, and life will end. Moira Lachesis draws, without looking, the lot that falls to a person in life. No one is able to change the fate determined by moira, since the third moira, Atropos, puts everything that her sister’s person was assigned in life to a long scroll, and what is listed in the scroll of fate is inevitable. Great, severe moira 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 path; but how rarely does this happen, and how unfortunate is the person from whom the goddess Tyuhe, who has just given him her gifts, will turn away!

So reigns, surrounded by a host of bright gods on Olympus, the great king of people and gods Zeus, guarding order and truth throughout the world.

Poseidon and the gods of the sea

Deep in the abyss of the sea stands the wonderful palace of the great brother of the Thunderer Zeus, the shaker of the earth 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 sea prophetic elder Nereus, who was kidnapped by the great ruler of the sea depths Poseidon from her father. He saw one day how she led a round dance with her Nereid sisters on the coast 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. At last the dolphin opened her hiding place to him; for this service, Poseidon placed the dolphin among the celestial constellations. Poseidon stole the beautiful daughter of Nereus from Atlas and married her.

Since then, Amphitrite lives with her husband Poseidon in an underwater palace. High above the palace, the waves of the sea roar. A host of sea deities surrounds Poseidon, obedient to his will. Among them is the son of Poseidon, Triton, who causes terrible storms with the thunderous sound of his pipe from the shell. Among the deities are the beautiful sisters of Amphitrite, the Nereids. Poseidon rules over the sea. When he rushes across the sea in his chariot drawn by marvelous horses, then the ever-noisy waves part and give way to the lord 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, like mountains, the sea waves rise, covered with white ridges of foam, and a fierce storm rages on the sea. Then the sea waves beat with noise against the coastal rocks and shake the earth. But Poseidon stretches his trident over the waves, and they calm down. The storm subsides, the sea is calm again, exactly like a mirror, and splashes a little audibly near the shore - blue, boundless.

Many deities surround the great brother of Zeus, Poseidon; among them is the prophetic sea elder, Nereus, who knows all the innermost secrets of the future. Nereus is alien to lies and deceit; only the truth he reveals to the gods and mortals. Wise advice given by the prophetic elder. Nereus has fifty beautiful daughters. Young Nereids splash merrily in the waves of the sea, sparkling among them with their divine beauty. Holding hands, they swim out of the depths of the sea in a string and dance on the shore to the gentle splash of the waves of a calm sea quietly running ashore. The echo of the coastal rocks then repeats the sounds of their gentle singing, like the quiet roar of the sea. Nereids patronize the sailor and give him a happy voyage.

Among the deities of the sea is the elder 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, take possession of him and force him to reveal the secret of the future. Among the satellites of the oscillator of the earth 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 opened 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 all of them.

All seas and all lands flow around the gray ocean 5
The Greeks claimed that a stream flows around the whole 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 sources, near the Ocean. The sons and daughters of the great god of the Ocean give prosperity and joy to mortals with their ever-rolling living water, they water the whole earth and all living things with it.

Kingdom of dark Hades

Deep underground reigns Zeus' unforgiving, grim brother, Hades 6
The ancient Greeks imagined the kingdom of Hades, the kingdom of the souls of the dead, gloomy and terrible, and the "afterlife" - misfortune.

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 Lethes also flows, giving oblivion to all earthly water. 7
Hence the expression: “sunk 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 disembodied light shadows of the dead are carried. 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. Three-Headed Hellhound Kerberus 9
Otherwise, Cerberus.

On the neck of which snakes move with a menacing 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 whips 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.

The kingdom of the inexorable Hades is full of darkness and horrors. There roams in the darkness the terrible ghost of Epmus with donkey legs; 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. 10
Stygian dogs- monstrous dogs of the underworld of Hades, from the banks of the underground river Styx.

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.

Terrible is the kingdom of Hades, and it is hateful to people.

October 16, 2015

The Greek gods and goddesses, Greek heroes, myths and legends about them served as the basis, source of inspiration for European poets, playwrights and artists. Therefore, it is important to know their summary. The legends and myths of Ancient Greece, the entire Greek culture, especially of the late time, when both philosophy and democracy were developed, had a strong influence on the formation of the entire European civilization as a whole. Mythology has evolved over time. Tales, legends became known, because reciters wandered along the paths and roads of Hellas. They carried more or less long stories about a heroic past. Some gave only a summary.

The legends and myths of Ancient Greece gradually became familiar and beloved, and what Homer created was customary for an educated person to know by heart and be able to quote from anywhere. Greek scholars, seeking to streamline everything, began to work on the classification of myths, and turned the scattered stories into a harmonious series.

Major Greek gods

The very first myths are devoted to the struggle of various gods among themselves. Some of them did not have human features - these are the offspring of the goddess Gaia-Earth and Uranus-Heaven - twelve titans and six more monsters that terrified their father, and he plunged them into the abyss - Tartarus. But Gaia persuaded the remaining titans to overthrow her father. This was done by the insidious Kronos - Time. But, having married his sister, he was afraid of children being born and swallowed them immediately after birth: Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Hades. Having given birth to the last child - Zeus, the wife deceived Kronos, and he could not swallow the baby. And Zeus was safely hidden in Crete. This is just a summary. The legends and myths of ancient Greece scary describe the events taking place.

Zeus' war for power

Zeus grew up, matured and forced Kronos to return his swallowed sisters and brothers to the white world. He called them to fight the cruel father. In addition, part of the titans, giants and cyclops took part in the struggle. The struggle has been going on for ten years. The fire raged, the seas boiled, nothing could be seen from the smoke. But the victory went to Zeus. Enemies were overthrown in Tartarus and taken into custody.

Gods on Olympus

Zeus, whom the Cyclopes forged with lightning, became the supreme god, Poseidon obeyed all the waters on earth, Hades - the underworld of the dead. This was already the third generation of gods, from which all the other gods and heroes originated, about whom stories and legends will begin to tell. The ancients refer to the cycle of Dionysus, the god of wine and winemaking, fertility, the patron of the night mysteries, which were held in the darkest places. The mysteries were terrible and mysterious. So the struggle of the dark gods with the light ones began to take shape. There were no real wars, but the dark gods began to gradually give way to the bright sun god Phoebus with his rational principle, with his cult of reason, science and art.
And the irrational, the ecstatic, the sensuous receded. But these are two sides of the same phenomenon. And one was impossible without the other. The goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus, patronized the family. Ares - war, Athena - wisdom, Artemis - the moon and hunting, Demeter - agriculture, Hermes - trade, Aphrodite - love and beauty.
Hephaestus - artisans. Their relationship between themselves and people are the legends of the Hellenes. They were fully studied in pre-revolutionary gymnasiums in Russia. Only now, when people are mostly concerned with earthly concerns, do they, if necessary, pay attention to their summary. The legends and myths of Ancient Greece are becoming more and more a thing of the past.

Who was patronized by the gods

They don't like people very much. Often they envied them or lusted after women, they were jealous, they were greedy for praise and honors. That is, they were very similar to mortals, if we take their description. Tales (summary), legends and myths of Ancient Greece (Kun) describe their gods in a very contradictory way. “Nothing pleases the gods so much as the collapse of human hopes,” said Euripides. And Sophocles echoed him: "The gods most willingly help a man when he goes towards his death."

All the gods obeyed Zeus, but for people he mattered as a guarantor of justice. It was when the judge judged unrighteously that a person turned to Zeus for help. In matters of war, only Mars dominated. Wise Athena patronized Attica. To Poseidon, all the sailors, going to sea, made sacrifices. In Delphi, one could ask for mercy from Phoebus and Artemis.

Myths about heroes

One of the favorite myths was about Theseus, the son of the king of Athens, Aegeus. He was born and raised in the royal family in Troezen. When he grew up and was able to get his father's sword, he went to meet him. Along the way, he destroyed the robber Procrustes, who did not allow people to pass through his territory. When he got to his father, he learned that Athens paid tribute in girls and boys to Crete. Together with another batch of slaves, under mourning sails, he went to the island to King Minos to kill the monstrous Minotaur. Princess Ariadne helped Theseus through the labyrinth in which the Minotaur was located. Theseus fought the monster and destroyed it. The Greeks joyfully, freed forever from tribute, returned to their homeland. But they forgot to change the black sails. Aegeus, who did not take his eyes off the sea, saw that his son was dead, and out of unbearable grief threw himself into the depths of the waters over which his palace stood. The Athenians rejoiced that they were forever freed from tribute, but also wept when they learned of the tragic death of Aegeus. The myth of Theseus is long and colorful. This is his summary. The legends and myths of Ancient Greece (Kun) will give an exhaustive description of him.

Epic - the second part of the book by Nikolai Albertovich Kuhn

The legends of the Argonauts, the Trojan War, the travels of Odysseus, the revenge of Orestes for the death of his father, and the misadventures of Oedipus in the Theban cycle make up the second half of the book that Kuhn wrote, Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece. A summary of the chapters is given above.

Returning from Troy to his native Ithaca, Odysseus spent many long years in dangerous wanderings. It was difficult for him to get home on the stormy sea. God Poseidon could not forgive Odysseus that, saving his life and the lives of his friends, he blinded the Cyclops, the son of Poseidon, and sent unheard-of storms. On the way, they died from the sirens, who carried away with their unearthly voices and sweet-sounding singing. All his companions perished in their voyages across the seas. All were destroyed by an evil fate. In captivity at the nymph Calypso, Odysseus languished for many years. He begged to let him go home, but the beautiful nymph refused. Only the requests of the goddess Athena softened the heart of Zeus, he took pity on Odysseus and returned him to his family.

The legends of the Trojan cycle and the campaigns of Odysseus were created in his poems by Homer - the Iliad and the Odyssey, the myths about the campaign for the Golden Fleece to the shores of the Pontus Eusinsky are described in the poem of Apollonius of Rhodes. Sophocles wrote the tragedy "Oedipus the King", the tragedy of the Arrest - the playwright Aeschylus. They are given by a summary of "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece" (Nikolai Kun).

Myths and legends about gods, titans, numerous heroes disturb the imagination of artists of the word, brush and cinematography of our days. Standing in a museum near a picture painted on a mythological theme, or hearing the name of the beautiful Helen, it would be nice to have at least a little idea of \u200b\u200bwhat is behind this name (a huge war), and to know the details of the plot depicted on the canvas. This can be helped by "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece." The summary of the book will reveal the meaning of what he saw and heard.

Part one. gods and heroes

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

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.

Gods

Zeus

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.

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

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.

Zeus fighting Typhon

Olympus

Not only Zeus keeps the laws. At his throne stands the goddess Themis, who keeps the laws. She convenes, at the command of the Thunderer, meetings of the gods on the bright Olympus, people's meetings on earth, observing that order and law are not violated. On Olympus and the daughter of Zeus, the goddess Dike, who watches over 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 protector of truth and the enemy of deceit.

Zeus keeps order and truth in the world and sends people happiness and sorrow. But although Zeus sends happiness and misfortune to people, nevertheless the fate of people is determined by the inexorable goddesses of fate - moira, living on the bright Olympus. The fate of Zeus himself is in their hands. Doom rules over mortals and over the gods. No one can escape the dictates of inexorable fate. There is no such force, no such power that could change at least something in what is destined for the gods and mortals. You can only humbly bow before fate and submit to it. Some moira know the dictates of fate. Moira Klotho spins the life thread of a person, determining the duration of his life. The thread will break, and life will end. Moira Lachesis draws, without looking, the lot that falls to a person in life. No one is able to change the fate determined by moira, since the third moira, Atropos, puts everything that her sister’s person was assigned in life to a long scroll, and what is listed in the scroll of fate is inevitable. Great, severe moira are inexorable.

There is also a goddess of fate on Olympus - this is the goddess Tyukhe, the goddess of happiness and prosperity. From the horn of plenty, the horn of the divine goat Amalthea, whose milk Zeus himself was fed, she will send gifts to people, and happy is the person who meets the goddess of happiness Tyukhe on his life path; but how rarely does this happen, and how unfortunate is the person from whom the goddess Tyuhe, who has just given him her gifts, will turn away!

So reigns, surrounded by a host of bright gods on Olympus, the great king of people and gods Zeus, guarding order and truth throughout the world.

Poseidon and the gods of the sea

All the seas and all the lands flow around the gray Ocean - the god-titan, 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 sources, near the Ocean. The sons and daughters of the great god of the Ocean give prosperity and joy to mortals with their ever-rolling living water, they water the whole earth and all living things with it.

The kingdom of gloomy Hades (Pluto)

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.

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.

Kun myths to read. Nikolai Albertovich kun legends and myths of ancient greece and ancient rome

Part one Olympian gods and legendary heroes

Origin of the world and gods

Olympic gods

Zeus

Poseidon and the gods of the sea

Kingdom of dark Hades

Major Greek gods

Zeus' war for power

Related videos

Gods on Olympus

Who was patronized by the gods

Myths about heroes

Epic - the second part of the book by Nikolai Albertovich Kuhn

Part one. gods and heroes

Gods

Zeus

Birth of Zeus

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

Zeus fighting Typhon

Olympus

Poseidon and the gods of the sea

The kingdom of gloomy Hades (Pluto)

Part one
Olympian gods and legendary heroes