Classical Mythology & More: A Reader Workbook

473 Pages·2007·18.41 MB·English

by  Marianthe Colakis

C L A SSICA L
M Y T HOLO G Y
& M or e
A R E A D E R W O R K B O O K
Marianthe Colakis and Mary Joan Masello
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.
Wauconda, Illinois USA
General Editor
Vicki Wine
Contributing Editors
LeaAnn A. Osburn
Laurie Haight Keenan
Cover Design
Adam Phillip Velez
Cartography
The Ohio University Cartographic Center
Classical Mythology and More
A Reader Workbook
Marianthe Colakis and Mary Joan Masello
© 2007 Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.
All rights reserved.
Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers, Inc.
1000 Brown Street
Wauconda, IL 60084 USA
www.bolchazy.com
Printed in the United States of America
2007
by United Graphics
ISBN 978-0-86516-573-1
Contents
Publisher’s Preface. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .vii
Preface . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . ix
Acknowledgements . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . xi
1. Th e Muses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 1
2. Th e Creation of the World and the Earliest Deities . . . . . . . . . . . . 9
3. Th e Olympian Deities, Part I: Th e Children of Cronus and Rhea . . . . . . .19
Zeus (Jupiter or Jove), Hera (Juno), Poseidon (Neptune), Demeter
(Ceres) and Persephone (Proserpina), Hades (Pluto), Hestia (Vesta)
4. Th e Olympian Deities, Part II: Th e Children of Zeus . . . . . . . . . . .39
Athena (Minerva), Apollo (Apollo, Phoebus Apollo) and Artemis
(Diana), Aphrodite (Venus), Hermes (Mercury), Ares (Mars),
Hephaestus (Vulcan), Dionysus (Bacchus, Liber)
5. Other Deities. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .69
Asclepius (Aesculapius), Eileithyia, Eos, Eris, Ganymede, Hebe,
Hecate, Helius, Hypnos, Janus, Nemesis, Nike, Pan, Selene
6. Th e Gods in Love . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . .83
Zeus and Io, Eros (Cupid) and Psyche, Apollo and Daphne, Zeus
and Callisto, Aphrodite and Adonis, Aphrodite and Anchises,
Zeus and Europa
7. Daring Adventurers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 107
Phaethon, Bellerophon, Daedalus and Icarus
8. Perseus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 123
9. Heracles (Hercules) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 135
Birth and early life; Th e twelve labors; Heracles’ deeds after his
labors, his death, and his apotheosis
10. Jason and the Argonauts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 153
11. Th eseus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 171
12. Victims of Olympian Wrath . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 189
Prometheus, Arachne, Niobe, Meleager, Actaeon, Erysichthon
–iii–
iv Classical Mythology and More
13. Th e House of Atreus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 207
14. Th ebes and Oedipus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 229
15. Mortal Love and Metamorphosis . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 249
Narcissus and Echo; Pyramus and Th isbe; Tereus, Procne,
and Philomela; Philemon and Baucis; Orpheus and Eurydice;
Pygmalion and his statue; Atalanta and Hippomenes; Ceyx
and Alcyone
16. Th e House of Troy and the Trojan War . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 277
17. Odysseus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 309
Telemachus’ search for information and Odysseus’ arrival at
Phaeacia, Th e travels of Odysseus, Odysseus’ return to Ithaca
and revenge on the suitors, Odysseus’ later history
18. Aeneas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 343
19. Th e Kings of Rome. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 377
Appendix A: Deities Chart . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 403
Appendix B: Genealogical Charts . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
1. Th e Muses (Ancestry of Orpheus). . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
2. Descendants of Chaos . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 405
3. Descendants of Uranus and Gaea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
4. Descendants of Cronus and Rhea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 406
5. Wives and Descendants of Zeus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 407
6. Ancestry and Select Descendants of Apollo . . . . . . . . . . 408
7. Descendants of Nyx (Night). . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 408
8. Descendants of Gaea and Pontus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 409
9. Descendants of Hyperion the Titan . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
10. Ancestry of Phaethon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 410
11. Descendants of Agenor of Sidon . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 411
12. Descendants of Zeus and Danae . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
13. Family of Jason . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 412
14. Family of Th eseus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
15. Minoan Descendants of Europa . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 413
16. House of Atreus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
17. Descendants of Cadmus, House of Th ebes, and
Descendants of Oedipus . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 415
Contents v
18. House of Troy: Descendants of Priam . . . . . . . . . . . . 414
19. Family of Achilles . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 416
20. Family of Odysseus (Ulysses) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
21. Family of Heracles (Hercules) . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 417
22. Ancestry and Family of Romulus; Kings of Rome . . . . . . . . 418
23. Sabine, Latin, and Etruscan Kings of Rome and
the First Consuls. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 419
Appendix C: Chapter-by-Chapter Glossary of Names and Pronunciation Guide . . 421
Bibliography . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 433
Credits . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 439
Index . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 441
vi Classical Mythology and More
List of Maps
A Possible Route for the Voyage of Jason and the Argonauts. . . . . . . . . . 154
A Possible Route for the Voyage of Odysseus from Troy to Ithaca . . . . . . . . 310
A Possible Route of Aeneas . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 344
Italy in the Time of the Kings . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 378
Rome: the Seven Hills and the Tiber River . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 380
Publisher’s Preface
As a former teacher of mythology at the university level and one who discovered relatively late in
life how powerful and life-enhancing myths can be, I am pleased to be able to off er Classical
Mythology and More as a starting point for the study of mythology for middle- and high-school stu-
dents and their teachers. I know from my own experience how myths can enlighten at the same time
that they entertain, can lead to a fruitful and humanizing questioning of our learned or preconceived
notions and fondly held beliefs.
Myths are more than just delightful and provocative stories. Myths speak the truth through their
fantastic plot details, and (to paraphrase John 8:32) this truth can make us more free. Pondering the
myths of the Greeks and Romans found in this book, and later perhaps going beyond the Western tradi-
tion and delving into the study of comparative mythology, can lead to the liberation of “demythologiza-
tion.” We will fi nd ourselves reconsidering, perhaps even reformulating, our beliefs and values in light
of the beliefs and values of other cultures. Myths of diff erent cultures can further help us recognize and
develop a greater appreciation for what unites us despite our varying beliefs and values: the signifi cant
truths about the human psyche.
Plato’s Socrates said it best, “Th e unexamined life is not worth living.” Myth is, I believe, one of
many portals into an examined—and more worthwhile—life.
Ladislaus J. Bolchazy
–vii–

Preface
On August 24, 2006, a headline, quite literally of astronomical proportions, spun across television
screens and web-news sites world-wide: the former ninth planet, Pluto, had been demoted to the
status of a “dwarf planet” by a vote of an international assembly of astronomers meeting in Prague.
Th en came the news that there were several other heavenly bodies waiting in the wings that, by the
new defi nition of “dwarf planet,” would now fall into this new celestial category: Ceres, Charon, UB313
(nicknamed “Xena” for the pseudo-mythological, eponymous TV character)—these would be joining
Pluto as “dwarfs.”
Alas, poor Pluto, we knew you well—like your namesake Olympian of old, cast down from lofty
Olympus to lowly Hades, now banished from the solar system to “dwarfdom”! To hear these Greco-
Roman mythological names tripping off the tongues of anchorpersons, consultants, and other “talking
heads” on the morning talk shows reassured us mortals once again, that yes, the Olympians really still
do rule heaven and earth! Most assuredly, as well, bad things can happen to good gods, good mortals,
and good planets whenever mortals dare, or Olympians deign, to “mess with” one another.
We set out to write a mythology workbook that would help middle school, junior high, and early
high school students and their Language Arts, English, or Classics teachers discover the excitement
and modern relevance of the mythological world of the ancient Greeks and Romans. Our vision was
to provide in each chapter of Classical Mythology and More a fresh retelling of selected myths fol-
lowed by activities that would provide many opportunities for creativity and further refl ection; these
are the “More” of the book’s title: review sections that reinforce the learning of key names, places, and
concepts; “Words” sections to serve for English vocabulary enrichment; “Musings” sections to suggest
ideas for refl ection, research, writing, and class activities; and “How ’Bout Th at?” sections designed to
link mythology with contemporary issues, science, trivia, recipes, and popular culture—music, art,
poetry, drama, and sports.
We began by using the primary ancient mythological sources: Homer, Hesiod, Homeric Hymns,
Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides, Apollonius of Rhodes, Apollodorus, Vergil, Ovid, and a few
others. Our fi rst goal was to retain the dynamism of the stories in the original Greek and Latin texts
and make them more accessible by paraphrasing them in modern English, in as colloquial and infor-
mal a style as possible, while still keeping them appropriate for classroom use. We have kept our own
embellishments and editorial comments on the tales to a minimum. At the same time, we hope that we
have succeeded in showing how and why these tales continue to be infl uential in Western culture. Th e
ancient sources for each myth have been referenced alongside chapter and section titles for those want-
ing to consult the stories in the original languages.
It must be acknowledged here that, although many of the Greco-Roman myths are a delight and a
joy to read and ponder, there are several that contain very diffi cult subject matter, especially where a
younger readership is concerned. Should these pivotal stories have been glossed over or omitted for an
audience of this age? (In earlier generations, authors tended to excise or euphemize sections of texts
deemed too grisly or salacious, sometimes leaving students confused and scratching their heads over
exactly what was going on in that story!) In the end, we have tried to choose a middle way for this
–ix–