Artemis (aka Diana) and ActaeonArtemis (my cat): goddess of the hunt and protector of children; a very free-spirited goddess. source
The story goes that one day, as Artemis bathed in a stream, a young hunter named Actaeon saw her and stared at her in awe. She was quite beautiful...possibly the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. This voyeurism got Actaeon in trouble, however. Artemis spotted Actaeon and turned him into a stag so that he would never tell anyone what he had just seen. Poor Actaeon...upon being turned into a stag, his 50 hunting hounds attacked and killed him.
Who is your favorite character in Greek mythology? Do you have a favorite myth? Tell me about who or what that would be and why.
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18 comments:
I remember this story. I'm a big fan of the Greek mythology. I don't really have a favorite but I enjoy the stories of Zeus sneaking off with some human maden and then he turned one of them into a horse or something because his wife was coming or something and then eventually she found out and did something to the girl. :o) A lot of Zeus women end up dead or turned into something. I would not want to even been seen with him. :o) But I really like the Trojan war myths(hector, paris, helen, & ajax) and heros such as Achilles. But I can go for anything. :o)Odysseus was a pretty cool story too....Ok I'll stop there! :o)But I like all these stories because for one they are just a good read and you also learn something from these tales. Such as Helen- don't take another mans woman out of the country unless you get permission first...and then fight later! :o)
Not to be original but my favorite goddess is Aphrodite, the Goddess of love and beauty. The name Aphrodite Acidalia was added to her name after the spring that she used to bathe in Boeotia. She also had the names Kypris and Cytherea after her alleged birth places in Cyprus and Cythera. Aphrodite had a festival of her own, the Aphrodisiac which was celebrated in Greece. She was also associated with the sea, dolphins,swans, apples, clams and pearls. Her name as Aphrodite represents the love of body and soul, while Aphrodite Pandemos is associated with physical love. She is considered two goddesses to Plato, one older and one younger, Pandemos being her younger name which is the common Aphrodite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aphrodite
I'm with livefish on this one and for 2 reasons. 1 he's an old school player getting all the ladies(go zeus) and 2 he's the god of gods. Being the head honcho this guy had it all so i say hes my dude.
I just looked up greek mythology and decided that my favorite story is the story of Perseus and Andromeda. This is one of the few greek mythology tales that actually ends nice. The story starts out with two people(girl-Danae and baby boy-Perseus being locked in a trunk and thrown into the ocean. They wash up on shore after a new kingdom has come into existance. They end up living there and the king of this new place wants to marry Danae. Danae doesn't want to mary him at all. The king sends Perseus away to kill Medusa, and hopes to marry Danae while Persus is away. Perseus is victorious and ends up meeting a girl on his way home named Andromeda. she is about to be killed by a monster and he saves her by turning the monster into stone w/the ugly head of Medusa. They return to the kingdom together and Perseus ends up using Medusa's head to turn the annoying king into stone so that Danae doesn't have to marry him. Happy ending. :)
http://www.historyforkids.org/learn/greeks/religion/myths/perseus.htm
Here is the website I used.
I would have to say that my favorite story about ancient Greece is the story about how Leonidas and 300 of his soldiers held back the Persian army long enough for the rest of greece and the greek navy to defeat the persians and make them retreat back to asia. Even though the movie is somewhat "farfetched" the story is true for the most part. The 300 soldiers had help from others, but the army that they were up against was still much larger, and the Persians losses were very disproportionate to those of the Greeks. This story is one of my favorite because it shows how a small number of free men can overcome something much larger and more powerful than themselves.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Battle_of_Thermopylae
I've always been a huge fan of The Iliad and the Odyssey, ever since reading it in high school I've always loved it. Mainly because it's an adventure of gigantic proportions and covers so many years. The story covers the life of Achilles from when he leaves Ithaca and when he comes back to take over the island again. Theres so much in those to stories to satisfy the most hardcore adventurers appetite.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Odyssey
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iliad
As for me, I'm a fan of Hera. She doesn't take shit off anybody. You've got to respect her for that. Come on, she's married to a guy who cheats on her all the time. What's a girl supposed to do? She doesn't sit back and let it happen. She goes for blood. I admire that quality in a goddess. My favorite myth is the story of Hera and Echo. So, whenever Zues was having an affair, Echo was given the job of distracting Hera. She would lead her way from the action. She would compliment her, too. "Oh, Hera, I love that toga. Is it new?" "Look at you. Have you lost weight?" You get the picture. Well, Hera was pretty pissed about all this when she discovered the truth. What did she do? I'm glad you asked. She cured Echo to repeat the words of everyone else. She could never speak for herself again.
When you're trapped in a loveless marriage to your brother who screws around on you all the time, you can get a little vengeful. Peronsally, I think Hera is a good gal. She's handy to have on your side...and you certainly don't want to cross her.
http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/7/76/Hera_Campana_Louvre_Ma2283.jpg
I would have to say that my favorite myth comes from the Odyssey, involving Odysseus and Calypso. Basically Odysseus gets shipwrecked on her island and she keeps him for 7 years. He was happy to be with her for those years, but dearly wanted to get back to his wife. Needless to say, Hermes delivers the message to Calypso from Zeus telling her she must let Odysseus go. Finally she caves in and gives him the materials to build another boat and sail home. I think that this myth kind of prooves that no matter how happy you may seem, your heart knows what's best, which is what Odysseus did when he went back to his wife Penelope. The movie of the Odyssey isn't spectacular, but it's pretty good if you ever get the chance to watch it, or read the book.
http://www.pantheon.org/articles/c/calypso.html
wow, hard question. I'm like others here a big fan of mythologies, Norse, Aztecs, Africans, and specially Greeks since are the first that I start to read, well my favorite has to be Persephone's myth, I read it when I was 10 years old and still read it sometimes, I like the fact of the abduction of Hades and how he fall in love with her, making her the queen of the underworld, it also explains why the earth is bountiful just in certain times of the year, like 4 or 6 months, in the myth explains it later
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Persephone
is basically a story of love and how a mother has to give up to the company of her daughter in order for her to be happy, sadly in this myth as the mother is a goddess show her wrath after the abduction of her daughter with the mortals, I also recall it was made in a child program named "Tales from around the world", this was made 3 or 4 years ago I think, is sometimes showed in HBO programs
Mine is Hercules, just cause its what i know most about and duh its a disney movie. he defeats the god of the underworld and slices the heads off the heads that grow heads...and he saves the dansel in distress, i think. is hercules even a true story?
My favorite myth is of Prometheus. He is a champion of the mortals for helping them against the gods. First, he tricks the gods into taking animal bones for sacrifice instead of the meat. As punishment for this deception Zeus withholds fire from mankind. Prometheus then steals fire from the gods and gives it to mortals, but this incurs the wrath of Zeus who has him chained to the side of a mountain. Every day an eagle would eat his liver, but because he is immortal it would regenerate to be eaten the next day. It's a rather unique story of one of the gods trying to help mankind, rather than subjugate them.
My favorite Greek Goddess is Hera.
She is the goddess of marriage, motherhood, and family. I picked her because I feel strongly about all 3. She didnt neccessarily support ALL marriage, family, and mother, just her own. Reminds me a little bit of myself! : ) She could be really jealous at times, and a little crazy. I used http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hera
I can't say that I've ever really been into the whole greek mythology thing, but if I had to choose I would say that Aphrodite would be my favorite.
"As the Greek goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite holds great power over both mortals and immortals. Therefore, it should come as no surprise that she is featured in numerous myths, poems, and plays; likewise, there are many representations of Aphrodite in Greek sculpture and vase painting. While several legends of Aphrodite emphasize themes of love and desire, some of most compelling myths deal with the consequences that the goddess herself suffers as a result of being the victim of love. The story of Aphrodite and her interlude with the human Adonis makes for an interesting study of the double edged sword that passion can be. In this myth, the vulnerability of the goddess is poignant. This vulnerability points to the fact that in Greek mythology even the gods could suffer, and were certainly not immune to the pains and passions that we, as humans, experience."
http://www.loggia.com/myth/aphrodite.html
Not only was Aphrodite the Goddess of love and beauty, she had power over the mortals and immortals and basically controlled the whole circle of love. What I really like about the myths of Aprodite, is that although she had the powers of love and beauty, she herself suffered from "the double edged sword that passion can be."
"Dionysus was the god of wine. Dionysus was the son of Zeus and the mortal heroine Semele."
- Source: http://www.mythweb.com/gods/Dionysus.html
He probably my favorite god because he's the god of wine, sweet sweet wine and because of how he gave Midas his "touch".
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Athena is my favorite goddess. Not only is she the goddess of intelligence, she is also the goddess of war (but "the more disciplined side). I really like her because of the fact that they recognized that intelligence was such an important part of life that they dedicated a goddess of it. I also find it's interesting that one of the things associated with her is the owl, which is still representative of wisdom today. I found a really nice sculpture representing her birth at this website: http://homepage.mac.com/cparada/GML/000Free/000Athena/source/19.html
source of info: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Athena
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