The Theban Saga (Ch17)

Overview: Focuses on Bronze Age Thebes in Boetia, Central Greece.
Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis, Sophocles' Oedipus Tyrannus
Claim to Fame: Double foundation myth

Founding Myth I

Cadmus, in a desperate search for his abducted sister Europa, consults the oracle at Delphi who ignores his requests and commands him to follow a cow and build a city at that location. Cadmus abandons his search for his sister, and follows a cow to a spring occupied by Ares' serpent, where it the cow is sacrificed. The site becomes the citadel "Cadmeia", the acropolis of a new city.
Athena advises him to slay the serpent as well, then sow its teeth, of which spartoi ("armed men") spring from the ground and battle each other. The five surviving become the five head families that become the nobility of Thebes.

In penance for slaying the serpent, Cadmus serves as slave to Ares for one year, for which he is rewarded with the hand of Harmonia (daughter of Ares and Aphrodite). All gods attend the wedding, whereby Harmonia receives a necklace fashioned by Hephaestus as a bridal gift. They have two daughters, Semele (mother of Dionysus) and Agave (mother of Pentheus), and live out their days until they are transformed into serpents in death.

Founding Myth II

Antiope is raped by Zeus, and bears twin sons Amphion and Zethus who are abandoned on Mt. Cithaeron and raised by a shepard. The boys grow old and talented, Amphion a musician ("dreamer") and Zethus a shepard ("pragmatist"), then return to Cadmeia to avenge their mother and gain rule. Amphion's music assembles surrounding stones into the walls of the city with 7 gates, while Zethus renames the city after his wife Thebe (except the acropolis, forever known as Cadmeia).

The Theban Saga then continues into the rule of Oedipus.

Orpheus (Ch 16)

Etymology: N/a
Geographic Association: Withdraws to Thrace after the loss of Eurydice.
Origin: Apollo + Calliope (muse of Music)/Oeagrus (Thracian River God) + Calliope
Claim to Fame: Beautiful voice and lyre-playing, can soothe the beastliest of beasts, can make the inanimate animate. Tragic love story. Archetype of poet/musician.
Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis, Vergil's Georgics,

Underworld Myth

Orpheus is married to Eurydice, a dryad (wood-nymph), but on their wedding night Eurydice dies from a snake bite. Orpheus is determined to bring her back, so he descends to the underworld, using his musical skill to charm the gatekeepers into letting him in. He performs for Hades and Persephone who allow him to take Eurydice home on the condition that he does not look back. Overcome with yearning, he glances back once and she is taken from him forever.
Inconsolable, Orpheus retreats to Thrace with only music as his solace (chooses music over women, ie. Apollo, in the land of Dionysus). When he rejects the Maenads, they slaughter him, consume his flesh, and scatter his remains in the Hebrus River. It is said that his head kept singing and prophetizing, and his  lyre kept playing, while he was united in spirit with his beloved in death.

Orphism (6th C. BCE)

Claimed as a prophet and a religious teacher, a hero-cult is established by his son Musaeus based on music, magic, and prophecy - worshipping both Apollo and Dionysus. In 5th C. BCE, Orphism becomes accepted as a mystery religion.

Hermes (Ch 12)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Hermes, from Herma "stone heap", original I.E. apotropeic trail markers
     (l.) Mercury
     Hermes Psychopompus ("soul guide") conveys souls on their final journey to Hades.
     Hermes Argeiphontes ("slayer of Argus")
Domain: Arcadia, mainly the Peloponnesus,
Genealogy: Zeus + Maia, pleiade (daughter of Atlas + Pleione)
Claim to Fame: God of mischief, thieves, merchants, night time travellers, heralds and messengers.
      Trickster god, resourceful rascal. Inventor of the lyre. Deliverer of Dionysus.
Iconography: Petasus ("travellers hat"), Talaria ("[winged] sandals"), Caduceus ("[snaky] staff"")
Literature: Homeric Hymn to Hermes, Homer's Odyssey, Homer's Iliad, Ovid's Metamorphosis,  
      Aechyslus' Prometheus Bound

Myth

I. Theft of Apollo's Cattle - Hermes steals 50 head of Apollo's finest cattle by reversing their tracks in the sand, but he is tracked down by the testimony of the only witness, an old man. Hermes takes refuge in the cave of Zeus and Maia and pretends to be an innocent babe, denying all knowledge of the theft and preventing Apollo from "god-handling" him by letting go an omen ("burp/fart").
Apollo demands justice from Zeus, while Hermes lies charmingly, offering an exchange for a new instrument he invented: the lyre. Not only is her absolved from his crime of theft he is given the responsibility of guide to the gods (perhaps to keep him busy and out of trouble?)

II. Hermaphroditus - Hermes and Aphrodite have a son who has the misfortune of being lusted after by Salmacis,  a naiad ("water nymph"). While he is bathing in her spring unaware, she pounces and clings to his back, praying to the gods they'll never be seperated. The gods answer her prayers and the first hermaphrodite is created.  The pool itself becomes fabled for its emasculation of all male bathers.

III. Slayer of Argus - Io is lusted after by Zeus, but a scornful Hera transformed her into a heifer and set Argus ("one hundred eyes") to watch her. Zeus sends Hermes, who lulls Argus to sleep before killing him, and Io is set free. Hera takes the eyes of Argus and puts them on her favourite bird, the peacock, and sends a Gadfly to plague Io so she must wander the earth in search of relief.

Apollo (Ch 11)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Apollo
     (l.) Apollo, Phoebus ("bright/shining"), Loxius ("crooked/devious")
Domain: Ambiguous non-hellenic origin (Lycia, Hyperborea). Came to occupy Delphi.
Genealogy: Zeus + Leto. Brother to Artemis. Father of Asclepius (father of medicine).
Claim to Fame: God of poetry, prophecy, medicine, sailors, colonization, archery. Installer of the oracle
     at Delphi. Conqueror of land but not of love.
Iconography: Sun, lyre, raven, swan, laurel wreath, dolphin
Literature: Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Ovid's Metamorphosis

Myth

I. Delian Apollo - On the island of Delos, Leto finds refuge from the wrath of Hera, who is trying to prevent the birth of her children. In exchange for sanctuary, the lonely island is promised wealth, civilization, populace and fame. After 9 days of labour, Eilethya (goddess of childbirth) is sent to assist her, as conjured by Iris (goddess of the rainbow). Artemis is born first and it is either her or Eilethya that assists Leto with the birth of Apollo. From then on, the island is used as a treasury for the Athenians.

II. Pythian Apollo - Prophetized before birth that he is destined to seek a location for an oracle, Apolo comes to Crisa, at the foot of Mt. Parnassus. After slaying the dragon residing there (symbol of I.E. domination over autochthonous cultures), he leaves it there to rot and it becomes known as Pytho[n] ("to rot"). In punishment for slaying Ge & Themis' dragon, Apollo is exiled to Thessaly for 9 years (roots for the purification Festival of Stepteria, which occurs every 9 years).
Upon his return, Zeus sends his two eagles around the earth, and drops the Omphalus ("navel", Zeus stand-in that tricked Cronus) where they meet, which becomes the city to be known as Delphi.

III. Apollo Delphinius - After transforming himself into a dolphin (delphis), Apollo commandeers a Cretan ship and enlists the sailors as attendants for his oracle (symbol of minoan cultures being 'commandeered' by I.E. forces). Delphi becomes the sanctuary name, becomes an athletic/academic hub as well as a treasury of the rich and powerful.
Apollo installs Pythia, the prophetess of Apollo, upon a tripod (symbol of divine power) to relay oracles to the priest of Apollo for interpretation. Generally an asexual, postmenopausal mortal speaking in tongues. Believed to be possessed by Apollo, whereas it's more likely she was hallucinating from breathing in fumes from a nearby chasm or chewing copious amounts of laurels and vegetation. Also created and forwarded the maxims "know thyself" and "nothing too much" to warn humankind against our own hubris.

IV. Olympian Idol
1. Pan (Goat god, associate of Dionysus) criticizes the music of Apollo, boasting he can pipe better than Apollo can play his lyre. King Tymolus and King Midas are consulted as judges for the competition, and when Midas hubristically spites Apollo by siding with pan, he sprouts donkeys ears that from that day on must be wrapped in a turban. Pan is spared, only because of his divine company.
2. Marsyas (satyr) and his flute challenges Apollo to a musical contest, whereby the victor can do anything to the vanquished. Marsyas is easily defeated by Apollo and his lyre, and as a result is flayed alive.

V. Labours of Love - Apollo met and transcended a series of lovers, seemingly cursed to never find companionship.
1. Cassandra (daughter of Priam, King of Troy): offered the gift of prophecy in exchange for sexual favours. When she renegs on her end of the deal, she is cursed: always prophesies the truth, but never believed.
2. Cumaen Sibyl: Offered as many years of life as the grains of sand in her hands in exchange for sexual favours. She also renegs on the deal, she is cursed with a long life without lasting youth. Reduced in stature to the extent she becomes only a voice eternally wishes for death instead of obscurity.
3. Marpessa (lover of mortal argonaut Idas): Zeus intervenes with her abduction, giving her a choice of lovers. Apollo is rejected because she is afraid of abandonment once in her old age.
4. Daphne ("laurel", daughter of River Peneus) - Eros strikes Apollo with a golden arrow and Daphne with a leaden one so she will reject his advances. She flees and calls upon her father's help to escape Apollo's grasp, and is thus transformed into the laurel tree that is foreverore sacred to Apollo.
5. Hyacinthus (Spartan inamorato of Apollo ): killed by an errant discus, sent by a jealous Zephyrus (west wind). Apollo causes Hyacinth flower to sprout from the blood, the petals inscribed "ai, ai...", the cry of lament from Apollo. Worshipped annually him at the Hyacinthia (Spartan tomb).
6. Coronis (legitimate wife): pregnant with Apollo's child Asclepius, Coronis has an affair with another mortal, which is witnessed by Apollo's raven. Out of rage, Apollo blackens the feathers of his raven, and mortally wounds his wife. Filled with regret, he sets up her funeral pyre, but manages to salvage his  unborn son out of the flames. Asclepius is handed over to Chiron, the wise centaur, to be tutored in the healing arts. Asclepius matures to become known as the father of medicine, symbolized by his medical staff coiled with a single serpent, and sets up temple complex Epidaurus in the Peloponnesus to serve as a healing sanctuary honouring the gods.

Eros (Ch 9)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.)Eros, root of "erotic", "erotica, etc.
     (l.) Cupid
Domain: Athens.
Genealogy: Considered either a conceptual element to procreation, or the illegitimate love child of Ares and Aphrodite.
Claim to Fame: God of raw sexual energy, desire, and passion. Later became known as the god of homosexuality.
Iconography: Cupid's Bow, winged figures, arrows.
Literature: Hesiod's Theogony, Plato's Symposium, Speech of Socrates, Ovid's Metamorphosis

Myth

I. Birth: two traditions of his birth.
     1. Hesiod's Theogony: born from Chaos, one of the original elements to create life is lust.
     2. Eventually became known as the son of Aphrodite and Ares

II. Speech of Aristophanes (comedian): At Plato's Symposium, Aristophanes theorized there was originally 3 genders of humans (male, female, androgynous), and all were round in figure (ie. four hands, four legs, attached at the spine, etc.). The species grew so strong that they hubristically began to challenge the gods, so to weaken them Zeus cut them in two. From that day forward, each half-human walked the earth, longing for their other half. Those of androgynous sex became heterosexual, and those of a bisected same-sex became homosexual

III. Speech of Socrates: Socrates quotes a wise woman from Mantinea named Diotema, who claims that Eros, though he is not beautiful himself, is resourceful enough to obtain what he longs for but doesn't possess (ie. beauty, wisdom, goodness). He is an intermediary between human and divine, and though remarkably unremarkable, his pursuit of conceptual merit is what adds an intellectual aspect to love.
It is this example that inspires individuals to move beyond the appreciation of the physical realm of beauty, and more towards the beautiful soul, or beautiful concept, behind the outward representation.
Called "Platonic Love", this attraction may have its roots in sexuality, but is perpetuated by the desires of the mind and the soul to enrich the spirit.

IV. Psyche ("soul"): Once upon a time, Venus became envious of a Greek princess, named Psyche, and ordered Cupid to make her fall in love with the vilest of creatures. When he went to do his bidding, Cupid himself fell in love with her (ironic?). He abducted her and placed her in his palace, where the lovers visited each night but he departed before sunrise each morning. When her sisters came to visit, they tricked Psyche into thinking she was sleeping with a monster, so one fateful night she took a knife to bed along with her anonymous lover.
Before she was to slay the monster, Psyche lit a lamp to take one look at her lovers face. Upon realizing that it was Cupid Psyche starts, and a drop of wax spills on the sleeping God, waking him up.
Enraged, he takes flight, but not before Psyche grabs hold of his ankle. She ends up plummeting to the earth. In short, the only way Psyche could win back Cupid's love was to complete 4 impossible tasks set forth by Aphrodite, which she manages to complete with divine assistance.

Artemis (Ch 10)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Artemis
     (l.) Diana
     Potnia Theron, "mistress of the animals"
     Kourotrophos, "protector/destroyer of the young" (See Niobe)
     Phoebe, "bright", "shining" (alike to Phoebus, her brother)
     Identified with Selene ("cold/white/chaste") Hecate (Chthonian deity of crossroads, ghosts,
     and black magic) and the Magna Mater fertility goddess.
Domain: Ambiguous non-hellenic origin with significant Asia Minor connections to fertility deity.  
     Temple of Artemis at Ephesus once one of seven wonders of the world.
Genealogy: Zeus + Leto. Sister to Apollo.
Claim to Fame: Goddess of nature, animals, hunting, eternal virginity, childbirth, chase. Parthanos.
     Original femme fatal: hunts and destroys, then returns home to dance and flirt with the nymphs.
Iconography: the moon, small woodland animals, newborns, archers bow, constellations
Literature: Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Ovid's Metamorphosis, Euripedes' Hippolytus

Myth

I. Birth: Born on Ortygia/Delos "Quail Island" on Mt. Cynthia, then assists with the birth of her brother.
II. Tears of Niobe: Niobe, Queen of Thebes, boasts she is more deserving of honor than Leto because she has given birth to 14 Niobids (7 sons, 7 daughters). Leto hears this slander, and Zeus invokes the wrath of Apollo and Artemis who slay all 14 niobids mercilessly. Zeus manages to save Niobe, and transforms her into a rocky crag in Phrygia known for its streaming of tears down the rock face.
III. Actaeon: A wandering hunter, Actaeon, stumbles upon a glade on Mt. Cithaeron where Diana and her attendants are bathing unaware. Artemis transforms the peeping-tom into a stag and sics his own hounds on him, which tear him apart limb from limb.
III. Callisto: One of Diana's favourite attendents Callisto (from Calliste, "most beautiful") is seduced and impregnated by Jupiter. As a result she is exiled along with her newborn child, Arcas, but transformed into constellations: Callisto into a Ursa Major (bear), and Arcas/Arctophylax/Arcturus/Bootes into Ursa Minor.
IV. Orion (Sirius, "dog"): A hunter and worshipper of Artemis from the island of Chios, Orion persues Merope (daughter of Oenopion, King of Chios). Her father gets Orion drunk and blinds him when he is passed out, forcing him to wander East where Helius restores his site. He then tries to rape Artemis, who sics a scorpion (Scorpius) on him and stings him to death. The two are preserved as constellations in the heavens.
V. Hippolytus (chaste devotee of Artemis): Aphrodite causes his step mother, Phaedra, to fall in love with him. She reveals her secret only to a nurse, who forces her to come clean with her son-in-law. Hippolytus haughtily rejects Phaedra, who is so hurt she commits suicide and leaves a note falsely accusing Hippolytus of rape (Potiphar's Wife motif). His father, Theseus calls down a curse, whereby his son will be killed by a "bull from the sea". In his dying hour, Artemis appears to Hippolytus and promises a cult in his honor, whereby virgins will cut their hair and lament his death, then enact vengeance on Aphrodite's favourites.

Aphrodite (Ch 9)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Aphrodite
     (l.) Venus, ie. Venereal
     Cytherea (Island of Cythera), Cyprogenes (Island of Cyprus)
     Philommedes ("laughter loving") or Philomeides ("genital loving")
     Associated with Magna Mater (eastern fertility goddess), ie. Innana, Ishtar, Astarte, Cybele
Domain: See Epithets. Cyprus, Cythera, Near East
Genealogy:
     Aphrodite Urania ("celestial") Castration of Uranus by Cronos, genitals falling into the sea.
     Aphrodite Pendemos ("common"/"profane") Child of Zeus and Dione ("she-zeus")
Claim to Fame: Goddess of lust, romance, procreation of mammals, beauty and passion.
     A female Ares, passion without the bloodshed.
Iconography: Earliest depictions of her are of a polished cone. Attendants are Eros ("erotic"), the 3
     Gratiae/charites ("graces") personifications of femininity, and the 3 Horai ("hours"/"seasons")
     daughters of Zeus and Themis.
Literature: Hesiod's Theogony, Homer's Iliad, Ovid's Metamorphosis, Homeric Hymn to Aphrodite.

Myth

I. Priapus (bastard child of Aphrodite): A fertility daimon (demon, lesser god), Priapus is most often depicted as a small hunchbacked, ithyphallic ("erect penis") gnomelike figure. Used as an apotropaic bringer of luck commonly featured in gardens.

II. Pygmalion (King of Cyprus): Because the Cyprian women refuse to acknowledge her divnity, Venus drives them all to prostitution. Disgusted by their behaviour, Pygmalion carves an ivory statue of a nude women and subsequently falls in love with it. His prayer for it to become his wife is granted by Aphrodite, and the statue becomes flesh and blood (later versions named Galatea).

III. Myrrha: Child of Cinyras, the grandson of Pygmalion and Galatea, Myrrha is punished for her mothers hubristic claim that she is more beautiful than Venus, and falls in love with her own father. Suicidal, Myrrha's nurse arranges a secret meeting between father and child. Naturally, their identities are revealed to one another, and Cinyras attempts to strangle his own daughter, Myrrha is spared by the gods by being transformed into a Myrrh tree, whose resinous tears are collected as precious material.

IV. Adonis (adon, "lord"): The epitome of masculinity, symbol of a dying vegetative beloved.
      1. The incestuous child of Myrrha and her father, Adonis is stolen by Aphrodite at birth and given
      to Persephone to rear. When Persephone refuses to return him, Zeus interferes and arbitrates that
      Adonis shall receive 1/3 of the year with each goddess, and the last third wherever he wants.
      He decides to spend 2/3 of the year above ground, with 1/3 with Persephone, symbolic of the
      portion of the vegetative cycle reserved for fallow. He is later killed by a boar.
      2. Adonis is just another paramour of Aphrodite, who falls in love with him at first sight while he
      is out hunting. He chooses to ignore her warnings of injury, and he is gored in the groin by a wild
      boar. From the blood that drips on the earth, an Anemone ("wind" flower) sprouts, symbolizing
      the fragile beauty of moral human life.
Scenes of Adonis are often depicted on Sarcophagi, representing the idea of a rebirth within death and giving meaning to burial. The Ritual of Adonia honours the fertility goddess and a dying vegetation god through ritual wailing and singing, and effigies of dead youth, mourning those who die too young. The Gardens of Adonis, seeds planted in shallow soil that spring up quickly and die also carry this sentiment.

V. Anchises: Zeus attempts to shorten Aphrodite's leash by claiming that "no man can sleep with the divine and retain their manhood", so Aphrodite must disguise herself as a mortal to seduce her prey. Anchises unwittingly sleeps with her, only to wake up and realize his emasculation.
The Trojan hero and founder of Rome, Aeneas, is the result of their tryst.

Athena (Ch 8)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Athena
     (l.) Minerva, mens "mind"
     Tritogeneia ("daughter of Triton"), possibly a reference to Triton, god of River of Lake, birthplace?
     Panoply ("all armed")
     Glaukopis, "grey eyed"/"owl eyed"
     Pallas, "weapon brandishing" (See Myth.II)
     Parthanos, "virgin"/"maiden" (See Myth. III)
Domain: Athens. Panhellenic status.
Genealogy: Zeus + Metis. Delivered through Zeus' cracked skull.
Claim to Fame: Goddess of wisdom, strategic warfare, craftsmenship, spinning and weaving, protectorate of cities and heros. Symbolic of a union between indigenous matriarchal cultures and the import of an indo-european sky god (snaky, but born from Zeus. An androgynous figure = warrior princess).
Iconography: Snake, aegis, helmet, owl, olive sprig
Literature: Homeric Hymn to Athena, Hesiod's Theogony, Linear B, Ovid's Metamorphosis

Myth

I. Birth: Zeus impregnates Metis ("wisdom") and swallows her in fear that her son will overthrow him. Instead a daughter is born from his splitting headache (either fights her way out, with a mighty war cry, or is freed by the hammer of Hephestus). Depicted on the East Pediment of the Parthanon.
II. Pallas: Athena's childhood friend, Pallas (daughter of Triton), is accidentally killed as they are at play. In remorse, a wooden statue is fashioned in her honor, adorned with the aegis. Zeus abducts the Palladium and places it in Troy, where it becomes on of the preconditions of Trojan defeat later on.
III. Parthanon ("house of the virgin"): Rested atop the acropolis ("high city") in Athens, the Parthanon was built in mid 5th century BCE under Pericles. It was said that Athena and Poseidon battled for patronage of the city, with the citizens as the jury. While Poseidon produces an immense salt spring/stampede of horses (variant), Athena touches the earth with her spear and the first olive tree sprouts. While her birth is depicted on the East Pediment, her victory over Poseidon is depicted on the west.
IV. Arachne: A mortal spinster by the name of Arachne boasts that she is better than Minerva at weaving. Upon hearing this hubris, Minerva appears under the guise of an old woman, and warns Arachne of her arrogance and to "know thyself". Arachne pays no heed to this warning, and is thus challenged to a weaving contest which she is defeated. Not only does Minerva smash Arachne's own loop over her head, she prevents her from completing suicide by transforming her into a spider

Sea Monsters (Ch 7)

Origin

Pontus (element), son of Gaia, fathered hundreds of monsterous deities with his own mother, most of them a mixture of human and animal.

I. Nereus: The archetypal "wise old man" from the sea, Nereus is a shape-shifting seer who aided Heracles in finding the Hespereiades to complete his 11th labour. He fathers 50 Nereids with Doris that bear significant offspring in their days.

     - Thetis, wife of Peleus (who had to wrestle her to win her), mother of Achilles

     - Galatea, wife of Acis, object of desire of Polyphemus (unrequited love results in wrath 

       of Polyphemus, deification of Acis)

     - Amphitrite, wife of Poseidon

Often compared to/synonymous with Proteus ("variable", "taking on different forms") which accounts for the unpredictability of their natures.

II. Thaumas: Manages to father three supernatural daughters.

     - Iris, Goddess of the Rainbow, messenger of Hera

     - Harpy ("snatcher"/"strong winds"), half women half bird vermin

     - Sphinx ("strangler"), the part woman/lion/bird riddler thwarted by Oedipus

III. Phorcys: Mated with his sister Ceto to have a bunch of monsterous kids daughters.

     - 3 Graeae, the "gray ones" from birth, personifications of old age, share 1 eye 1 tooth, thwarted 

       by Perseus on his quest for the head of Medusa, their sister.

     - Gorgans, two immortal, one mortal (Medusa). Said to turn people to stone with one glance.

     - Scylla, once the object of Poseidon's affection, forevermore a sailor's affliction.

Oceanus (titan), son of Uranus and Gaia, fathered over 3000 oceanids with his sister Tethys (One of them Doris, mother of the Nereids)

Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis, Hesiod's Theogony

Poseidon (Ch 7)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Poseidon, Posis "husband" + don... da "of Da" (ie. Consort of Earth mother), or Posis "to drink"
     (l.) Neptune
     "Earth Shaker", "Earth Holder"
     Potamos ("river"), associated with the I.E. God of Freshwater, who attains domain over salt water
     as they migrated to the coast.
     Hippios, "horsey" another I.E. association with riding-cultures. Horses drowned in his honor.
Domain: The sea. Tectonic plates.
Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea. Brother of Zeus.
Claim to Fame: God of the sea, horse riding, earthquakes, irregular temperaments.
Iconography: trident, waves, fish, horses, ships
Literature: Ovid's Metamorphosis

Myth

I. Poseidon Erechtheum ("original soil"): Despite losing the contest for patronage for Athens (See Athena), Poseidon is appeased by the citizens (in fear or appreciation, we'll never know) and a temple is built in his honor on the grounds of the Parthanon. The Erechtheum is characterized by its Carytid statues, beautiful women holding various items of symbolic significance, which serve the same function as columns.

II. Hippios and Demeter: In Arcadia it was rumored that Poseidon pursued his own sister, Demeter, who sought to escape him by disguising herself as a mare. Poseidon transformed into a stallion, and the magical steed Arion is born.
Similar origins for the mythological creature Pegasus as well, as Poseidon entered another tryst with Medusa to the same outcome.

III. Amphitrite: Poseidon took Amphitrite as his wife and had a son Triton. While daddy acts up to bring storms to sink ships, Triton blows his conch shell to calm the seas.
Amphitrite herself works hard to keep her marriage monogamous, and Poseidon is kept on a short leash.
Scylla (daughter of Phorcys), an object of Poseidon's desire is transformed into a monster whose lower half is ringed by dogs. She flees to the straits of Messina, where her and Charybdis (daughter of Poseidon and Gaia), a vicious whirlpool that spews three times a day, work to make sailors lives miserable.

IV. Odysseus: See Odysseus for details on Poseidon's pursuit of this wily hero.

Prometheus

Etymology and Epithets: Prometheus, Pro "before" + Metheus "thought"
Genealogy: Iapetus (titan) + Themis. Brother to Atlas and Epimetheus.
Claim to Fame: Trickster figure. Greek Culture Hero responsible for theomorphism of humans, religious sacrifice, and deliverance of technology and innovation to mankind.
Literature: Aeschylus' Prometheus Bound. Ovid's Metamorphosis.

Myth

I. Anthropogonal: The birth of humankind is rumoured to have been Prometheus' doing, who fashioned our form out of clay and bestowed within all of us a divine spark.
II. Religious Sacrifice: Prometheus, with sympathy for starving humankind at odds with the Gods, sacrificed an ox and portioned the animal evenly. To Zeus he offered the first choice of portions, either the bones,  cleverly and appealingly disguised by the dripping fat and gristle, or the meat, unappealingly disguised and reduced in ration. Zeus foolishly chooses the fat, leaving the sustaining portion to be consumed by humankind.
Etiologically, burnt sacrifice to the gods now holds only bones and fat, the meat and innards we consume ourselves first.

III. Gifts/Curses: Unfortunately Zeus, a young and wrathful god at the time, punishes mortals by removing fire and direct contact with the gods. Prometheus recovers the flame by hiding it in a fennel stalk, the first incidence of technology for humans to develop upon.
A prophecy bestows Prometheus with the knowledge of Zeus' future usurper, but refuses to reveal the information to the sky god. For this, he is shackled by Kratos ("strength") and Bia ("force") to the cliffs of Mt. Caucasus, gorged upon daily by Zeus' eagle, only to have his innards grow back nightly.
Zeus also gives the gift/curse of women in the form of Pandora to Epimetheus, Prometheus' brother, and once her box is opened humankind is faced with infinite scourge.

Works & Days, Hesiod

I. Origin of Women, Marriage, and Suffering: The gift/curse of Pandora (pan "all" + dor "gift"), the first woman, to mankind was a group project from Olympus sent to "punish" mankind for Prometheus' wiles. Haephaestas mixed together clay, water, and voice to give form, while Athena made her skillful, Aphrodite made her alluring and Hermes topped her off with the "soul of a bitch". She was delivered to Epimetheus with a Pyxis, an ornamental casing she was warned not to open. Of course, her curiosity gets the best of her (or, to some, she intentionally opens it) and she unleashes a plethora of scourges upon mankind. She is able to capture hope as is it is about to escape by shutting the jar tight, posing the idea that we need disillusion for a meaning in life.
The idea of a beautiful exterior, rank interior is recompensed by Prometheus's sacrificial gift.

II. Ages of Mankind:
1. Gold: Created by the Olympians, to live under Cronus' rule. Humankind was almost immortal, and lived to experience a painless death, whereby they became holy spirits that wandered the earth.
2. Silver: Again, created by Olympians, living under Zeus' rule. This prototype lived until 100, most of which in immaturity. Their prime was short and violent, and they refused to honor the gods, so in death they were only "blessed".
3a. Bronze: Created by Zeus from ash trees, this race was inherently violent and fashioned Bronze weapons to main and kill each other with. They often met mutual annihilation over political and cultural strife. In death they were sent to Hades to pay their dues in proportion to the good and evil they enacted.
3b. Heroes: Created by Zeus, these creatures were created in the image of the Gods (godlike demi heros) and lived out short but glorious lives. Most experienced death, but many legends were privileged to occupy the Isles of the Blessed (Elysium) in Hades.
4. Iron: Created by Deucalon and Pyrrha, this race experiences endless labour and strife, and only meet some good with much evil. We live under the threat of total destruction, and live out our short and numbered days awaiting a painful death. It is the iron age that adopted the adage "the best fate of all is to never have been born", as promoted by Arisophanes.

Zeus (Ch 5)

Etymology and Epithets:
     (g.) Zeus
     (l.) Jupiter, Ju "sky" + piter/pater "father"
     Dios, Di "bright"
     Imported sky-god with the the migration of patriarchal Indo -European cultures
Domain:
     Dodona, sanctuary worshipped of Dios and Dione (not Hera). Zeus' oracle interpreted the rustling
     of oak tree leaves, burnt offerings, and the cooing of doves to prophecy.
     Peloponnesus, worshipped at the Temple of Zeus in Olympia (Est. 5th c BC), the original site of
     the a sanctuary and temple complex that was the original site of the Olympic games in 776 BCE.
Genealogy: Cronus + Rhea. Husband of Hera, cuckold of many - mortal and immortal.
Claim to Fame: God of all, weather, storms, oaths, xenia ("guest/host relationship"), suppliants.
Iconography: Eagle, sceptre, crown, aegis
Literature: Hesiod's Theogony

Myth

I. Birth: Cronus swallowed each of his six children of Cronus and Rhea (Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus), paranoid that the prophecy of Uranus would continue. Rhea and Zeus conspire and substitute a swaddled stone when Zeus is "born" (came to be known as the omphalus, "navel"). While Cronus continues to rule unaware, Zeus is reared in Crete on Mt. Dicte by Amalthea ("goat") and Melissa ("bee"). His cries are hidden from Cronus by the clamouring of the Curetes ("young men"), devotees of the Mother Goddess who wield cymbals and drums. He subsists on the bounty of nature, a cornucopia ("horn of plenty"), until he is of age to overthrow his father.
Zeus symbolizes a fusion of Minoan and Mycenaean Cultures in that he integrates the existing earth religions with the dominant iIndo-European belief system. With his import follow a series of myths that replace indigenous social beliefs of matriarchy, polygamy, and transpomorphism, with patriarchy, monogamy, and anthropomorphism.

II. Coming of Age: Zeus returns to Mt. Othrys and rescues his siblings (and the omphalus) from his father Cronus, then seeks to establish his new rule.
     - Titanomachy: The Olympians, Themis (and her son Prometheus), the Cyclopes, and 100-handers,
        of Mt. Olympus, engage the Titans in a 10 year battle that results in their defeat. They are
        locked away in Tartarus for their misdeeds. Atlas (titan) is punished for his misalliance by the
        penalty of having to physically separate earth and sky, preventing the procreation of any more
        earthy beasts.
     - Gigantomachy: The Gegeneis ("earth born", "giants"), born from the spilled blood of Uranus, sent
       by the titans, and are defeated handily by the Olympians with the help of Heracles.
     - Typhonomachy: Zeus battles Typhon (a.k.a. Typhoeus, Typhaon, son of Gaia and Tartarus), a
       snaky, fire breathing, 100 head (subsequently 100 voices), that set the world aflame. He is
       defeated with some difficulty and is hurled beneath Mt. Etna to Tartarus.
With his nemesis' defeated, Zeus attains the throne on Mt. Olympus and ascends his new rule.

III. Affairs:
     - Metis ("wisdom"), swallowed by Zeus = Athena
     - Mnemosyne (titan, "memory") = Muses, the patron Goddesses of the Arts
     - Themis ("law") = 3 Fates: Clotho ("spinner"), Lachesis ("apportioner"), Atropos ("inflexible")
                                = 3 Horae: Eunomia ("good order"), Dike ("justice"), Eirene ("peace")
     - Eurynome ("wide dominion") = 3 Charites/Gratiae ("Graces"), associated with Aphrodite
     ... And much, much more.

IV. Zeus and Lycaon: Disguised as a mortal to calibrate the moral fibre of mankind, Zeus feasted at the castle of Lycaon, King of Arcadia. To test his divinity, Lycaon serves Zeus human flesh, which evokes the wrath of Zeus to destroy all of mankind. Lycaon is transformed into a wolf (Lykos "wolf"), and Zeus threatens to ignite the world. The Gods, fearful of their own annihilation, suggest he flood the earth instead, of which only the two mortals Deucalon (son of Prometheus) and Pyrrha (daughter of Epimetheus) are the sole survivors.
Wracked with guilt, Zeus looks to repopulate the earth. The couple visit the Oracle of Themis, who order them to cover their head, loosen garments, and "toss the bones of the earth over their shoulder". Wily Deucalon reasons that stones are the bones of the earth, so he and Pyrrha obey and form the iron age(his becomes man, hers become women).
The couple has a son, Hellen, who is the eponymous founder of the Hellenes (Greeks).

The Beginning of Time (Ch 3)

According to Hesiod's Theogony (theos "god" + gon "birth") and Works & Days, the cosmos ("order/arrangment") was spontaneously created out of Chaos ("chasm"), a conceptual entity with no order to lend itself to human understanding.
Out of Chaos came Gaia/Ge ("earth"), Erebus ("gloom"), Tartarus ("hell"), Eros ("sexual passion") and Night, the precedents of the foundations for the universe. Gaia's procreates with her children Pontus ("Sea") and Uranus ("Sky") in Hieros Gamos, or holy matrimony.
     + Pontus
     + Uranus = 12 titans, Oceanus-Tethys, Iapetus-Themis, Cronus-Rhea, Mnemosyne, Coeus-Phoebe,
                        Hyperion-Theia, Crius.
                     = 3 Cyclopes ("orb-eye"), Thunder, Lighting, and Shining.
                     = 3 Hecatonchires ("100-Handers" with 50 heads each)

Hyperion + Theia = Helius/Sol ("sun"), Selene/Luna ("moon"), Eos/Aurora ("dawn")
     - Phaethon, son of Helius and Clymene, questions his patronage. To affirm his son, Helius grants
       him one wish, in which Phaethon demands to drive Daddy's chariot. Helius abides, bound by oath,
       and Phaethon naturally loses control of the chariot, scorching the earth. Jupiter intervenes, and
       Phaethon is struck from the chariot and hurls to his death below. The Heliades, daughters of Helius,
       bury him, weeping, and are transformed into Poplar trees with tears of amber.
     - Selene falls in love with the handsome shepherd Endymion, bearing 50 daughters. In order to
       preserve him, she asks Zeus to grant him Eternal Sleep as well as Eternal Youth, and he is rests
       forevermore, beautiful in death. Now, he is a motif frequently found on sarcophagi as a symbol
       of the timelessness of youth in memory.
     - Eos, not as clever as her sister, asks for a similar gift for her Trojan prince Tithonus, but forgets
       to mention eternal youth along with his eternal life. His gift becomes a curse, as he becomes
       undesirable to the goddess and shrivels away to a Cicada.
Uranus + Gaia = 12 titans.
     - Uranus inseminates Gaia each night, but prevents her from giving birth. Gaia and Cronus conspire
       and Cronus emerges from the womb to castrate his father.
       From his spilled blood, that drips on Gaia, the Erinyes ("Furies"), Gigantes ("giants", "earth born")
       and the Ash-Tree Nymphs are born. From his severed genitals that are cast into the sea, the
       Goddess Aphrodite emerges from the foam
     - The prophecy repeats itself with the birth of Zeus from Cronus and Rhea, see Zeus.