Mythology and legends of ancient Greece. Ancient myths and legends of Greece. Myths about the ancient gods of Greece

Nikolai Kun

Legends and myths of Ancient Greece

Part one. gods and heroes

Myths about the gods and their struggle with giants and titans are set out mainly in Hesiod's poem "Theogony" (The Origin of the Gods). Some legends are also borrowed from the poems of Homer "Iliad" and "Odyssey" and the poem of the Roman poet Ovid "Metamorphoses" (Transformations).

In the beginning, there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. In it was the source of the life of the world. Everything arose from the boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. From Chaos came the goddess Earth - Gaia. It spread wide, mighty, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far under the Earth, as far as the vast, bright sky is from us, in the immeasurable depth, the gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss, full of eternal darkness. From Chaos, the source of life, a mighty force was born, all animating Love - Eros. The world began to form. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. Light spread over the world, and night and day began to replace each other.

The mighty, fertile Earth gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, and the Sky spread over the Earth. The high Mountains, born of the Earth, proudly rose to him, and the eternally noisy Sea spread wide.

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

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

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

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

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

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 who lead 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.

Rhea did not want to lose her last child. On the advice of her parents, Uranus-Heaven and Gaia-Earth, she retired to the island of Crete, and there, in a deep cave, her youngest son Zeus was born. In this cave, Rhea hid her son from a cruel father, and gave him a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow instead of his son. Kron did not suspect that he was deceived by his wife.

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

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

The beautiful and mighty god Zeus grew up and matured. He rebelled against his father and forced him to bring back the children he had devoured into the world. One by one, the monster from the mouth of Kron spewed his children-gods, beautiful and bright. They began to fight with Kron and the titans for power over the world.

This struggle was terrible and stubborn. The children of Kron established themselves on the high Olympus. Some of the titans also took their side, and the first were the titan Ocean and his daughter Styx and their children Zeal, Power and Victory. This struggle was dangerous for the Olympian gods. Mighty and formidable were their opponents the titans. But Zeus came to the aid of the Cyclopes. They forged thunder and lightning for him, Zeus threw them into the titans. The struggle had been going on for ten years, but the victory did not lean to either side. Finally, Zeus decided to free the hundred-armed hecatoncheir giants from the bowels of the earth; he called them for help. Terrible, huge as mountains, they came out of the bowels of the earth and rushed into battle. They tore off entire rocks from the mountains and threw them at the titans. Hundreds of rocks flew towards the titans when they approached Olympus. The earth groaned, a roar filled the air, everything shook around. Even Tartarus shuddered from this struggle.

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

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

Famous and interesting ancient Greek myths and legends. All the labors of Hercules. History of the Gods of Ancient Greece.

Agamemnon, saddened by the victory of the Trojans, sent heralds to convene a council of leaders. The leaders gathered, and Agamemnon began to say sadly that he now had to flee from Troad to Greece, since this, apparently, pleased Zeus. But Diomedes angrily objected to Agamemnon that he could alone, if he so desired, leave the Troad, while the other leaders would remain and fight until Troy was taken. Nestor did not advise to run either. The elder advised Agamemnon to arrange a feast and discuss what to do at it, and to set up guards to protect the camp.

The myth of Adonis and Aphrodite was borrowed by the Greeks from the Phoenicians. The name Adonis is not Greek, but Phoenician and means "lord." The Phoenicians borrowed this myth from the Babylonians.

But the goddess of love, who so punished Narcissus, knew the torments of love herself, and she had to mourn her beloved Adonis. She loved the son of the king of Cyprus, Adonis. None of the mortals was equal to him in beauty, he was even more beautiful than the Olympian gods. Forgotten for him Aphrodite and Patmos, and blooming Cythera.

Once Actaeon was hunting with his comrades in the forests of Cithaeron. It's a hot afternoon. The tired hunters settled down to rest in the shade of a dense forest, and the young Actaeon, having separated from them, went to look for coolness in the valleys of Cithaeron. He went out to the green, flowering valley of Gargafia, dedicated to the goddess Artemis. Sycamores, myrtle and firs grew luxuriantly in the valley; like dark arrows, slender cypresses rose on it, and the green grass was full of flowers.

Returning from a campaign against Thebes, Alcmaeon fulfilled the will of his father Amphiaraus and avenged his mother for the death of his father. Alcmeon killed his mother with his own hand. Dying, she cursed the mother of her murderer son and cursed the country that would give him shelter.

The avenging goddess Erinia was angry with Alcmaeon and pursued him wherever he tried to hide. The unfortunate Alcmaeon wandered for a long time, trying everywhere to find shelter and purification from the filth of spilled blood. Finally, he came to the city of Psophida, in Arcadia. There, King Fegey cleansed him of the filth of murder. Alcmaeon married Arsinoe, the daughter of Thegeus, and thought to live in peace in Psophida. But fate did not promise him this. The curse of his mother haunted him. Terrible famine and pestilence spread in Psophis. Death reigned everywhere. Alcmeon turned to the Delphic oracle, and the soothsayer Pythia answered him that he should leave Psophida and go to the god of the river, Aheloy; there only he will be cleansed from the murder of his mother and find peace in a country that did not yet exist when his mother cursed him. Leaving the house of Fegeus, his wife Arsinoe and son Clytius, Alcmaeon went to Achelous. On the way, he visited Oinea in Calydon, who hospitably received him.

After the victory over the Argos, the Thebans arranged a luxurious funeral for Eteocles and all the fallen soldiers, and Polynices decided to deprive Creon and the Thebans of the burial as having led a foreign army against Thebes. His corpse lay near the city walls in a field, left to be torn to pieces by predatory animals and birds. The soul of Polynices was doomed to eternal wandering, she could not find peace in the kingdom of the souls of the dead.

The noble daughter of Oedipus, Antigone, who was ready for any self-sacrifice, suffered, seeing the dishonor to which her brother was doomed. In spite of everything, she herself decided to bury the body of Polynices. The death that Creon threatened to anyone who dares to bury Polynices, having performed all the funeral rites, did not frighten her. Antigone called her sister Ismene to go with her, but the timid sister did not dare to help her sister, fearing the wrath of Creon. She even tried to persuade Antigone not to go against the will of the king of Thebes, she reminded her of the fate that befell their mother and brothers. Does Antigone want to destroy herself and her? Ismena Antigonus did not obey: she is ready to fulfill her duty to her brother alone, ready to meekly endure everything, so long as Polynices does not remain unburied. And Antigone fulfilled her decision.

Persecuted by the vengeful Erinyes, exhausted by wanderings and grief, Orestes finally came to sacred Delphi and sat there in the temple of Apollo near the omphalos. Terrible goddesses followed him even to the temple of Apollo, but there the arrow god put them to sleep, and their terrible eyes closed in sleep.

Apollo, secretly from Erinyes, appeared to Orestes and ordered him to go to Athens and there pray for protection from the ancient image of the goddess Pallas Athena. God promised his help to the unfortunate Orestes, and gave him his brother, the god Hermes, as guides. Orestes got up, quietly left the temple and went with Hermes to Athens.

He had just left when the shadow of Clytemnestra rose from the earth in the temple of Apollo. Seeing the sleeping Erinyes, she began to wake them up and reproach them for the fact that they had ceased to pursue the murderer who had shed the blood of their mother. She hurried them to chase the hidden Orestes as soon as possible and not give him a moment's rest. But the Erinyes slept in a sound, heavy sleep, in their sleep they moaned, at times screaming, as if pursuing a murderer fleeing from them. Finally, with great difficulty, one of the Erinyes woke up and woke the others. The Erinyes were furious when they saw that Orestes had disappeared. They began to reproach Apollo for wresting the murderer from their hands, but Apollo, threatening with his bow, drove them out of his temple. Full of furious anger, the goddesses rushed in a discordant crowd in the footsteps of Orestes.

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 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. When Apollo played in the middle of the pasture on a reed flute or on a golden cithara, wild animals came out of the forest thicket, enchanted by his game. Panthers and ferocious lions walked peacefully among the herds. Deer and chamois ran to the sound of the flute.

Arachne was famous throughout Lydia for her art. Nymphs often gathered from the slopes of Tmol and from the banks of the gold-bearing Paktol to admire her work. Arachne spun from threads like fog, fabrics as transparent as air. She was proud that she had no equal in the world in the art of weaving. One day she exclaimed:

“Let Pallas Athena herself come to compete with me!” Do not defeat me; I'm not afraid of this.

The next morning, the Argonauts landed on the coast of Bithynia. They were not met there as hospitably as in Cyzicus. In Bithynia, the Bebriki lived on the seashore, ruled by King Amik. He was proud of his gigantic strength and fame as an invincible fist fighter. The cruel king forced all strangers to fight with himself and mercilessly killed them with a mighty blow of his fist. Amik met the Argonauts with mockery, he called the great heroes vagabonds and challenged the strongest of them to battle, if only one of them dared to measure his strength with him. The heroes are angry. From their midst came the young son of Zeus and Leda, Polydeuces.

An amazing people - the Hellenes (as they called themselves), came to the Peloponnese peninsula and settled it. In ancient times, all people tried to live near the river-breadwinner. There were no large rivers in Greece. So the Greeks became a seaside people - they were fed by the sea. Courageous, inquisitive, they built ships and sailed the stormy Mediterranean Sea, trading and creating settlements on its shores and islands. They were also pirates, and they profited not only from trade, but also from robbery. These people traveled a lot, saw the life of other nations, and they created myths and legends about gods and heroes. A short ancient Greek myth has become a national tradition of folklore. He usually told about some events that happened to those who behaved incorrectly, deviating from generally accepted norms. And usually such a story was very instructive.

Are the heroes still alive?

Yes and no. No one worships them, no one makes sacrifices, no one comes to their sanctuaries, asking for advice. But each short ancient Greek myth saved the life of both the gods and the heroes. In these stories, time is frozen and does not move, but the heroes are fighting, actively acting, hunting, fighting, trying to deceive the gods and talking among themselves. They live. The Greeks immediately began to represent the gods in the form of people, only more beautiful, more skillful and endowed with incredible qualities.

For example, a short ancient Greek for the most important deity can tell us how high on the bright Olympus, surrounded by his wayward, disobedient family, Zeus sits on a high golden throne and establishes order and his harsh laws on earth. While everything is calm, the gods feast. young Hebe, brings them ambrosia and nectar. Laughing, joking, offering food to the eagle, she can shed nectar on the ground, and then it will pour out in a short warm summer rain.

But suddenly Zeus got angry, frowned his thick eyebrows, and gray ones covered the clear sky. Thunder rumbled, fiery lightning flashed. Not only the earth is shaking, but also Olympus.

Zeus sends happiness and unhappiness to people, drawing them from two different jugs. His daughter Dike helps him. She watches over justice, defends the truth and does not tolerate deceit. Zeus is the guarantor of a fair trial. He is the last one to whom both gods and people go for justice. And Zeus never interferes in the affairs of war - there is no and cannot be justice in battles and bloodshed. But there is a goddess of a happy fate on Olympus - Tyukhe. From the goat Amalthea, which Zeus was fed, she pours gifts of happiness to people. But how rarely does that happen!

So, keeping order throughout the Greek world, ruling over evil and good, Zeus reigns forever. Is he alive? A short ancient Greek myth claims to be alive.

What does self-love lead to?

Modern man will never get bored of studying ancient Greek myths. Reading short stories, wondering what a deep meaning lies in them, is simply interesting and exciting. Let's move on to the next myth.

The handsome Narcissus considered only himself worthy of love. He paid no attention to anyone, only admired and admired himself. But is this the valor and virtue of man? His life should bring joy, not grief to many. And Narcissus cannot help but look at his reflection: a destructive passion for himself consumes him.

He does not notice the beauty of the world: the dew on the flowers, the hot rays of the sun, the beautiful nymphs yearning for friendship with him. The narcissist stops eating and drinking, and feels the approach of death. But he, so young and beautiful, is not afraid, but is waiting for her. And, leaning on the emerald carpet of grass, quietly dies. This is how Narcissus punished. According to the Greeks, the gods are most willing to help a person when he goes towards his death. Why should Narcissus live? He is not happy with anyone, he has done nothing good to anyone. But on the bank of the stream, where the selfish handsome man admired himself, a beautiful spring flower has grown, which gives happiness to all people.

About love conquering stone

Our life is made up of love and mercy. Another short Greek myth tells the story of the brilliant sculptor Pygmalion, who carved a beautiful girl out of white ivory. She was so beautiful, so superior to the beauty of human daughters, that the creator admired her every minute and dreamed that she would become warm, alive from a cold stone.

Pygmalion wanted the girl to be able to talk to him. Oh, how long they would sit, bowing their heads to each other and confiding secrets. But the girl was cold. Then, at the feast of Aphrodite, Pygmalion decided to pray for mercy. And when he returned home, he saw that the blood flowed through the veins of the dead statue and life and kindness lit up in the eyes. So happiness entered the house of the creator. This short story says that true love overcomes all obstacles.

The dream of immortality, or how the deception ends

Myths and Greek legends begin to be studied already in elementary school. Interesting and exciting ancient Greek myths. Grade 3 should read short and entertaining, tragic and instructive stories according to the school curriculum. These are myths about the proud Niobe, about the disobedient Icarus, about the unfortunate Adonis and about the deceiver Sisyphus.

All heroes yearn for immortality. But only the gods can give it, if they themselves want it. The gods are capricious and malevolent - every Greek knows this. And Sisyphus, the king of Corinth, was very rich and cunning. He guessed that the deity of death would soon come for him, and ordered to seize him and put him in chains. The gods freed their messenger, and Sisyphus had to die. But he cheated: he did not order himself to be buried and to bring funeral sacrifices to the gods. His cunning soul asked for the wide world in order to persuade the living to make rich sacrifices. Sisyphus was believed again and released, but of his own free will he did not return to the underworld.

In the end, the gods became very angry and assigned him a special punishment: in order to show the futility of all human efforts, he had to roll a huge stone up the mountain, and then this boulder rolled down the other side. This is repeated from day to day, for millennia and still today: no one can cope with divine institutions. And cheating is just not good.

About excessive curiosity

About disobedience and curiosity, ancient Greek myths are short for children and adults.

Zeus got angry with the people and decided to “bestow” them with evil. To do this, he ordered the craftsman-Hephaestus to create the most beautiful girl in the world. Aphrodite gave her an inexpressible charm, Hermes - a subtle dodgy mind. The gods revived her and called her Pandora, which translates as "endowed with all gifts." They gave her in marriage to a calm, worthy man. He had a tightly closed vessel in his house. Everyone knew that it was filled with sorrows and troubles. But Pandora didn't mind.

Slowly, when no one was looking, she removed the lid from it! And all the misfortunes of the world instantly flew out of it: diseases, poverty, stupidity, discord, unrest, wars. When Pandora saw what she had done, she was terribly frightened and waited in a daze until all the troubles were released. And then, as if in a fever, she slammed the lid shut. And what is left at the bottom? The last one is hope. This is exactly what Pandora deprived people of. Therefore, the human race has nothing to hope for. We just need to act and fight for good.

Myths and modernity

If anyone is well known to modern man, then these are the gods and heroes of Greece. The heritage of this people is multifaceted. One of the masterpieces is ancient Greek myths, short ones. The author Nikolay Albertovich Kun is a historian, professor, teacher, but how much he knew and loved Hellas! How many myths with all the details conveyed to our times! That's why we read a lot of Kuhn today. Greek myths are a source of inspiration for all generations of artists and creators.

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

Birth of Zeus

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

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.

Greece and myths- the concept is inseparable. It seems that everything in this country - every plant, river or mountain - has its own fairy tale story, passed down from generation to generation. And this is no coincidence, since the myths in allegorical form reflect the whole structure of the world and the philosophy of life of the ancient Greeks.

And the name Hellas () itself also has a mythological origin, because. the progenitor of all Hellenes (Greeks) is considered the mythical patriarch Hellenes. The names of the mountain ranges that cross Greece, the seas washing its shores, the islands scattered in these seas, lakes and rivers are associated with myths. As well as the names of regions, cities and villages. About some stories that I really want to believe, I will tell you. It should be added that there are so many myths that even for the same toponym there are several versions. Since myths are oral art, they have come down to us already recorded by ancient writers and historians, the most famous of which is Homer. I'll start with the name Balkan Peninsula on which Greece is located. The current "Balkans" is of Turkish origin, meaning simply "mountain range". But earlier the peninsula was named after Aemos, the son of the god Boreas and the nymph Orithinas. The sister and at the same time the wife of Amos was called Rhodope. Their love was so strong that they addressed each other by the names of the supreme gods, Zeus and Hera. For their insolence, they were punished by turning into mountains.

The history of the origin of the toponym Peloponnese, a peninsula on a peninsula, no less brutal. According to legend, the ruler of this part of Greece was Pelops, the son of Tantalus, who in his youth was offered by his bloodthirsty father as a supper to the gods. But the gods did not begin to eat his body, and, having resurrected the young man, they left him on Olympus. And Tantalus was doomed to eternal (tantalic) torment. Further, Pelops himself descends to live with people, or is forced to flee, but later becomes the king of Olympia, Arcadia and the entire peninsula, which was named after him. By the way, his descendant was the famous Homeric king Agamemnon, the leader of the troops that besieged Troy.

One of the most beautiful islands in Greece Kerkyra(or Corfu) has a romantic story of the origin of its name: Poseidon, the god of the seas, fell in love with the young beauty Korkyra, the daughter of Asop and the nymph Metope, kidnapped her and hid her on a hitherto unknown island, which he named after her. Korkyra eventually turned into Kerkyra. Another story about lovers remained in the myths of the island Rhodes. This name was borne by the daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite (or Aphrodite), who was the beloved of the sun god Helios. It was on this newly born island of foam that the nymph Rhodes was married to her beloved.

origin of name the Aegean sea many people know thanks to a good Soviet cartoon. The story is this: Theseus, the son of the Athenian king Aegeus, went to Crete to fight the monster there - the Minotaur. In case of victory, he promised his father to raise white sails on his ship, and in case of defeat, black ones. With the help of the Cretan princess, he slew the Minotaur, and went home, forgetting to change the sails. Seeing his son's mourning ship in the distance, Aegeus, out of grief, threw himself off a cliff into the sea, which was named after him.

ionian sea bears the name of the princess and at the same time the priestess Io, who was seduced by the supreme god Zeus. However, his wife Hera decided to take revenge on the girl by turning her into a white cow and then killing her with the hands of the giant Argos. With the help of the god Hermes, Io managed to escape. She found refuge and human form in Egypt, for which she had to cross the sea, which is called the Ionian.

Myths of Ancient Greece they also tell about the origin of the universe, the attitude to the divine and human passions. For us, they are of interest, primarily because they give us an understanding of how European culture was formed.