Birthplace: Delos
Parents: Zeus and Leto
Greek Name: ARES
Roman Name: Mars
Title: God of War
Generation: Olympian
Symbols: spear and sword
Birthplace: unknown
Parents: Zeus and Hera
Greek Name: ARTEMIS
Roman Name: Diana
Title: Goddess of the Hunt
Generation: Olympian
Symbols: bow and arrow, deer, wild goat, boar, quail
Birthplace: Ortygia
Parents: Zeus and Leto
Greek Name: ATHENA
Roman Name: Minerva
Title: Goddess of Wisdom
Generation: Olympian
Symbols: olive tree, aegis, owl, snake, distaff
Birthplace: unknown
Parents: Zeus and Metis
Greek Name: CRONUS
Roman Name: Saturn
Title: Titan King
Generation: Titan
Symbol: none
Birthplace: from Gaia
Married to: Rhea
Parents: Uranus and Gaia
Greek Name: DEMETER
Roman Name: Ceres
Title: Goddess of the Harvest
Generation: Olympian
Symbols: wheat sheaf, torch, sacrificial bowl
Birthplace: unknown
Parents: Cronus and Rhea
Greek Name: DIONYSUS
Roman Name: Bacchus
Title: God of Wine
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: grape vines, bull, ivy
Birthplace: unknown
Married to: many wives
Parents: Zeus and Semele
Greek Name: GAIA
Roman Name: Gaia
Title: Mother Earth
Generation: Primordial
Symbol: cow
Birthplace: the void
Married to: Uranus
Parents: appeared out of Chaos
Greek Name: HADES
Roman Name: Pluto
Title: God of the Underworld
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: cap of darkness, chariot and horses, scepter
Birthplace: unknown
Married to: Persephone
Parents: Cronus and Rhea
Greek Name: HELIOS
Roman Name: Sol
Title: Sun God
Generation: Titan
Symbol: chariot
Birthplace: unknown
Parents: Hyperion and Theia
Greek Name: HEPHAESTUS
Roman Name: Vulcan
Title: God of Metalworking
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: fire, hammer, anvil, forge, bellows
Birthplace: unknown
Married to: Aphrodite
Parents: Hera
Greek Name: HERA
Roman Name: Juno
Title: Goddess of Marriage
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: peacocks, wedding veil, cuckoo
Birthplace: unknown
Married to: Zeus
Parents: Cronus and Rhea
Greek Name: HERMES
Roman Name: Mercury
Title: Messenger of the Gods
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: winged sandals, broad-brimmed hat, ram, tortoiseshell lyre
Birthplace: Cyllene cave
Parents: Zeus and Maia
Greek Name: HESTIA
Roman Name: Vesta
Title: Goddess of the Hearth
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: the hearth
Birthplace: unknown
Parents: Cronus and Rhea
Greek Name: POSEIDON
Roman Name: Neptune
Title: God of the Seas
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: trident, horse, bull
Birthplace: unknown
Married to: Medusa, then Euryale
Parents: Cronus and Rhea
Greek Name: SELENE
Roman Name: Luna
Title: Goddess of the Moon
Generation: Titan
Birthplace: the sky
Married to: Endymion
Parents: Hyperion and Theia
Greek Name: URANUS
Roman Name: Uranus
Title: Father Heaven
Generation: Primordial
Symbol: none
Birthplace: everywhere; he appeared before there were fixed places in the world
Married to: Gaia
Parents: Gaia
Greek Name: ZEUS
Roman Name: Jupiter
Title: King of the Gods
Generation: Olympian
Symbol: thunderbolt, scepter, scales, aegis, eagle, lion, throne
Birthplace: Olympus
Married to: Hera was his queen, but he married many goddesses and mortals
Parents: Cronus and Rhea
HEROES & MORTALS
Greek Name: HELEN
Title: The Lethal Beauty
Birthplace: Sparta
Married to: Menelaus
Parents: Zeus and Leda
Greek Name: HERACLES
Roman Name: Hercules
Title: The Hero Who Became Immortal
Birthplace: Troezen
Married to: Megara, then Deianeira
Parents: Zeus and Alcmene
Greek Name: JASON
Title: Wanderer of the Seas
Birthplace: Iolcus
Married to: Medea, then Clauce
Parents: Aeson and Alcimede
Greek Name: ORION
Title: The Hunter
Birthplace: unknown
Married to: unmarried
Parents: Poseidon and Euryale
Greek Name: PERSEUS
Title: The Ill-fated Hero
Birthplace: Argos
Married to: Andromeda
Parents: Zeus and Danaë
Greek Name: THESEUS
Title: The King of Athens
Birthplace: Troezen
Married to: Ariadne, then an Amazon wife
Parents: Aegeus and Aethra
The major sources influencing the stories here are the poems of the ancient Greek named Hesiod, and the poems and hymns of his contemporary, Homer. R. M. Frazer’s translation, The Poems of Hesiod, includes Theogony and Works and Days, with helpful comments. Apostolos N. Athanassakis’s translation, The Homeric Hymns, also has wonderful notes. If neither Hesiod nor Homer wrote about a particular mythological event I wanted to handle, I turned next to the Library of Greek Mythology by scholar Apollodorus, who lived in the second century B.C. Robin Hard’s translation and notes for this great work were invaluable. At times I also turned to the works of the Roman poet Ovid, mostly for the beauty of the language. Two translations of the poem Metamorphoses, as well as the original, influenced me most: those of Charles Martin, in poetry, and of Michael Simpson, in prose. And when choosing which tales to include, I often went back to the book I’ve owned and loved since I took my first Latin course in ninth grade, that of Edith Hamilton. Whenever other sources disagreed with Hesiod and Homer, the ancient Greeks won, since this book is a treasury of Greek mythology. Whenever Hesiod and Homer disagreed with each other, Hesiod won, because his Theogony, in particular, felt so authoritative to me.
Checking my work, feeding me resources, offering advice and encouragement at every step of the way was my dear friend Rosaria Munson, to whom I am forever grateful.
Apollodorus. 1997. The Library of Greek Mythology. Translated with an introduction and notes by Robin Hard. Oxford: Oxford University Press.
Athanassakis, Apostolos N. 1976. The Homeric Hymns. Baltimore, MD: Johns Hopkins University Press.
Frazer, R. M. 1983. The Poems of Hesiod. Norman, OK: University of Oklahoma Press.
Hamilton, Edith. 1940. Mythology. New York: The New American Library of World Literature, Inc.
Ovid. 2004. Metamorphoses. Translated and with notes by Charles Martin. New York: W.W. Norton & Company.
Simpson, Michael. 2001. The Metamorphoses of Ovid. Amherst, MA: University of Massachusetts Press.
BOOKS
Amery, Heather. Greek Myths for Young Children. London: Usborne, 1999.
Coats, Lucy, and Anthony Lewis. Atticus the Storyteller’s 100 Greek Myths. London: Orion, 2003.
D’Aulaire, Ingri, and Edgar Parin. The D’Aulaires’ Book of Greek Myths. New York: Random House, 1992.
Roberts, Jennifer T., and Tracy Barrett. The Ancient Greek World. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 2004.
Sutcliff, Rosemary. Black Ships Before Troy: The Story of the Iliad. London: Laurel Leaf, 2005.
———. The Wanderings of Odysseus: The Story of The Odyssey. London: Laurel Leaf, 2002.
TELEVISION
Jim Henson’s The Storyteller: Greek Myths. Television series available on DVD, written and directed by Anthony Minghella. The Jim Henson Company, 1987.
WEB SITES
Starfall’s I’m Reading: Greek Myths. http://www.starfall.com/n/level-c/index/play.htm?f.
Mythological map of Greece. http://www.sigmabooks.gr/maps_en_enGreece.html.
Mythweb Encyclopedia Mythica. http://www.mythweb.com.
Greek Mythology Link. http://www.maicar.com/GML.
Illustrations are indicated by boldface. If illustrations are included within a page span, the entire span is boldface.
A
Achilles 25.1–25.2, 25.3
Acrisius, King (Argos) 20.1, 20.2
Aeaea (island)
Aegeus, King (Athens) 23.1, 24.1, 24.2, 24.3
Aegis
Aeneas
Aeschylus
Aeson
Aethra
Aetna
Afterlife
Agamemnon, King (Mycenae) 25.1, 25.2
Aietes, King (Colchis) 23.1, 23.2, 23.3
Alcimede
Alcmena 22.1, 22.2
Amazons 11.1, 11.2, 24.1–24.2, 24.3
Amphion
Amphitryon, King (Troezen) 22.1, 22.2
Andromeda 20.1–20.2, 132–133
Aphrodite (goddess of love & beauty) 8–9, 14.1
and Ares 16.1–16.2, 16.3, 16.4
birth 3.1, 14.1
children
and Eros
feminine wiles 14.1, 17.1
and Hephaestus 14.1–14.2, 16.1–16.2, 16.3
in most-beautiful contest 25.1–25.2
Apollo (god of music) 8–9, 10.1
and Artemis 11.1–11.2, 11.3, 21.1
birth 68
cattle 15.1, 15.2
Greece-Troy war
haughtiness
and Hermes 15.1–15.2, 16.1
Muses 10.1, 10.2
and Niobe’s sons
Apsyrtus
Ares (god of war) 8–9, 16.1, 23.1
Argives
Argo (ship) 152–159
Argonauts 23.1–23.2
Argos (shipbuilder)
Argus (giant)
Ariadne 24.1, 24.2, 24.3
Artemis (goddess of the hunt) 8–9, 70–75
and Apollo 11.1–11.2, 11.3, 21.1
birth 10.1–10.2
and Candaon 21.1–21.2
Cerynitian hind
control of winds
hunting 72–73
and Niobe
and nymphs
and Orion 21.1–21.2, 21.3
and Zeus
Astraios
Astrology
Athena (goddess of wisdom) 8–9, 46–51
aiding Perseus
birth 7.1, 7.2, 7.3, 12.1–12.2
and Hephaestus 86–87
in most-beautiful contest
obsession with war
shield
teaching women to weave
Athens, Greece 49, 7.1, 23.1, 24.1
Atlas 8.1, 8.2–8.3, 12.1
Augeias
B
Beauty goddess see Aphrodite
Bebryces 23.1–23.2
Binary stars
Black Sea
Boreas
C
Cabeiro
Cadmus, King of Thebes
Calliope (Muse)
Calydon
Candaon (nasty man) 21.1–21.2
Candaon (Orion) 21.1–21.2
Cassandra
Cassiopeia
Castor
Cepheus, King 20.1–20.2, 20.3
Cerberus 22.1, 22.2
Cercyon 24.1–24.2
Cerynitian hind 22.1, 22.2
Ceto (sea goddess)
Chalcotaurus bulls 23.1–23.2
Chaos 1.1, 1.2
Charon 56, 8.1–8.2
Childbearing 7.1, 11.1, 12.1
Chios (island) 21.1–21.2
Chiron
Christianity, creation story
Chrysaor 20.1, 21.1
Circe
Cius
Clio (Muse)
Clytemnestra 25.1, 25.2
Colchis 23.1, 23.2
Confucianism
Constellations 18.1, 20.1, 127, 21.1, 137, 21.2
Corinth
Coyote (Native American magical figure)
Creation stories 1.1, 17.1
Crete (island) 3.1, 4.1, 5.1, 11.1, 22.1, 24.1
Cronus (Titan king) 8–9, 3.1
battle with Zeus 4.1–4.2
childhood
fears
injuring Uranus
marriage to Rhea 3.1–3.2
swallowing his children 3.1–3.2, 27, 4.1, 5.1, 6.1, 8.1
usurping childbearing from women
Cyclopes 2.1, 20, 3.1, 4.1, 8.1, 23.1
Cynthian Hill, Delos
Cyprus (island) 14.1, 16.1
Cythera (island)
D
Daedalus
Danaë 20.1, 20.2, 20.3
Day, birth of
Deianeira 22.1–22.2
Centaurs 22.1–22.2, 23.1, 24.1
Deimos
Delos, Isle of 10.1, 10.2, 21.1
Delphi oracle 20.1, 20.2, 22.1
Demeter (goddess of the harvest) 8–9, 9.1
birth
children 9.1–9.2
and Cronus 4.1–4.2, 5.1
generosity
and Persephone 9.1, 9.2
and Zeus 4.1–4.2, 9.1, 12.1
Democracy 7.1, 24.1
Differences, scorn for 13.1–13.2
Diomedes, King (Thrace)
Dionysus (god of wine) 8–9, 19.1, 21.1, 24.1
Discord, goddess of see Eris
Doliones
Doris
Double stars
E
Earth
beginnings 1.1, 1.2
beginnings of life
seasons
Endymion 18.1–18.2, 116–117
Eos (dawn) 17.1, 18.1, 21.1
Erato (Muse)
Erebus
Erginus, King (Minyans)
Erinyes
Eris (goddess of discord)
Eros (god of love) 1.1, 1.2, 2.1, 14.1
Erymanthian boar 22.1, 22.2–22.3
Erytheia
Euripides
Euryale (Gorgon)
Eurynome
Eurystheus, King (Tiryns) 22.1, 22.2, 22.3, 22.4
Euterpe (Muse)
Evening Star
F
Family life 5.1, 5.2–5.3
Femmes fatales
Fire, invention of
Friendly Black Sea
G
Gadflies
Gaia (Mother Earth) 8–9, 1.1
assisting Rhea
children 2.1–2.2, 2.3–2.4, 3.1, 4.1
emergence 1.1, 1.2
marriage to Uranus 1.1, 2.1, 3.1
and Pontus
prophesy about Cronus 3.1, 7.1
in Titan-Olympian war 4.1, 4.2, 4.3
and Zeus 3.1, 4.1, 7.1, 9.1
Genesis (Bible book)
Geryon 22.1�
��22.2
Glauce
Golden Age
Golden apples
Golden Fleece 23.1, 23.2, 156–157
Gorgons 6.1, 20.1 see also Medusa
Gortyn, codes of
Graces
Graeae 20.1, 128–129, 20.2
Grapes , 121
Greece
climate
family life
war with Troy 4.1, 25.1–25.2
H
Hades (god of the Underworld) 8–9, 52–57
birth
helmet of invisibility 4.1, 8.1
and Persephone 9.1–9.2, 9.3
rulership of the Underworld 4.1, 5.1, 8.1
swallowed by his father
Titan-Olympian war 4.1–4.2, 4.3, 4.4, 8.1
trapped in Cronus’ belly
visiting Night
Harpies
Harvest goddess see Demeter
Hearth goddess see Hestia
Hecate
Hector 25.1, 25.2
Hecuba
Helen (lethal beauty) 24.1, 170–25.1
Helios (sun god) 8–9, 17.1
and Apollo
children
constancy 17.1–17.2
creating rainbows
creation of humans from clay 17.1–17.2, 17.3
friendship with Hephaestus
golden chariot
Hephaestus (god of metalworking) 8–9, 13.1
and Aphrodite 14.1–14.2, 16.1
and Ares 16.1, 16.2
and Athena
birth 12.1, 13.1
creating women
gift of Chalcotaurus bulls to King
Aietes
helpers
inventiveness 13.1, 13.2
metalworking 85, 13.1, 16.1, 16.2, 17.1
shriveled foot 13.1–13.2
wives and children
Hera (goddess of marriage) 8–9, 76–81
alignment with Zeus against Cronus 4.1–4.2
birth
giving birth to Hephaestus, 12.1, 13.1
and Hercules 22.1–22.2, 22.3, 22.4, 22.5
jealousy 10.1, 12.1, 12.2, 15.1, 19.1, 21.1, 22.1
marriage to Zeus 10.1, 12.1, 79, 16.1
in most-beautiful contest
taking Leto to Mount Olympus
trapped in Cronus’ belly
vengefulness 12.1, 12.2
Hercules (hero who became a god) 22.1–22.2
on Argo (ship) 23.1
battling Amazons 168–169
birth
children
death 22.1, 22.2
and Hera 22.1–22.2, 22.3, 22.4, 22.5
as immortal
infancy 22.1–22.2