From opening Pandora’s Box to killing Medusa, here are the top 6 stories from Greek mythology….
6 . Pandora’s Box
Everyone knows you shouldn’t open Pandora’s box!
But do you know exactly why??
Who is Pandora?
And where’d she get the box in the first place??
The story of Pandora begins with a feud between the gods.
Zeus had given Prometheus and Epimetheus the job of creating all life on earth.
Kind of a big responsibility!!
And they had to be pretty creative!!!
While Epimetheus focused on the animals, Prometheus opted to focus all of his attention on humans.
By the time he had finished creating humans, Prometheus wanted to give them something for
protection, and asked Zeus if he could give them fire.
Zeus refused, as fire was only for the gods, but Prometheus went behind his back and gave
it to us anyway!
Thank goodness.
As punishment for this betrayal, Prometheus was sentenced to everlasting torture.
Since the humans had accepted fire, they were given a woman named Pandora.
She looked like the goddess Aphrodite, and received the gifts of wisdom, beauty, kindness,
peace, generosity, and health.
She was to marry Epimetheus, who did a great job making all the animals and didn’t get
into trouble!!
As a wedding present, Zeus gave her a box that she was warned never to open.
Oh oh!
What kind of a gift is that??
You know we can’t resist the call of the mystery box!!!!
As is human nature, Pandora kept looking at the beautiful box and thought that it couldn’t
hurt to peek inside.
When she opened the box,, she released all of life’s miseries out into the world- greed,
envy, pain, hatred, disease, hunger, war and death.
In a last ditch attempt, she slammed the lid back down.
As she did so, only one thing remained in the box for humans to control, and that was
hope.
From then onwards, we would be able to harness the power of hope to overcome all of the suffering
that had already been released into the world.
You just had to open it, didn’t you Pandora….
5.
Odysseus and the Cyclops
After spending 9 years at the battle of Troy, the triumphant Odysseus and his men set sail
for home, but on their way, they were blown of course.
It would take them years and many obstacles before they could get back.
At one point, they came across an island, and looking for some respite from their journey,
they decided to make landfall.
Little did they know, this island was the home to the Cyclops people; giants who had
one eye in the middle of their forehead who loved to eat humans.
The sailors found a cave full of food and drink, and proceeded to help themselves.
After falling asleep, they were awoken by the return of the Cyclops, Polyphemus, who
led his flock of sheep into the cave, and rolled a massive boulder across the entrance.
Upon finding the humans, the Cyclops angrily smashed two of them against a rock before
eating them, and then fell asleep.
Terrified, the sailors tried to leave, but there was no way out.
The next morning the Cyclops woke up, ate another two of Odysseus’ men, and then took
his sheep out, again closing the cave behind him.
At this point Odysseus devised a plan.
He and his men found a large log and sharpened it at one end, then hid it.
When the Cyclops returned that evening, he again eat two more men, but this time Odysseus
spoke up and offered him some wine.
Polyphemus had never drunk wine before, and was soon stumbling around.
He thanked Odysseus and asked his name, to which he replied “No man”.
Drunk and happy, the Cyclops fell asleep.
Odysseus and his men immediately set to work.
They heated the spike in the fire until it was glowing red, and then drove it into the
eye of the Cyclops.
He screamed, and as the other Cyclops of the island came to help, they asked what had happened.
He said “No Man has done this to me!!”, at which point the others laughed and left.
The next morning the Cyclops opened his cave, and felt each of his sheep as they left with
him.
Except, this time, Odysseus and his men were clinging underneath them, and managed to get
away.
They ran back to their ship and set sail once more, taunting the Cyclops as they left, and
letting him know that it was, in fact, Odysseus that had orchestrated the whole thing.
4.
Perseus and Medusa
Perseus was the son of the god Zeus, and the human woman Princess Danae.
An Oracle had told her father that her son (his grandson) would kill him so he locked
her away in a tower.
Zeus discovered her and paid her a visit because of course she was quite beautiful, and Perseus
was born.
Later, the evil King Polydectes wanted to marry Danae, but feared Perseus would get
in his way, so he sent him on a mission; to retrieve the head of the gorgon Medusa.
Medusa was one of the three Gorgon sisters, and the only mortal one.
She was a priestess of Athena, and devoted to a life of celibacy.
Unfortunately she was seduced by Poseidon and in revenge, Athena punished her and turned
her into a monster with live snakes covering her head.
Anyone who dared to look at her face would be turned to stone.
This was clearly quite a task that Perseus had been set, so he sought the help of Athena
and Hermes.
They gave him winged sandals to allow him to travel to the end of the world where the
gorgons lived, a cap of invisibility, an enchanted sword and a mirrored shield.
Upon arriving to their lair, Perseus made his way past the statues of previous adventurers
who had suffered the fate of Medusa’s gaze.
The shield was his saving grace, though, as it allowed him to see her reflection, without
looking directly at her.
He was able to sneak up to her and, in one swipe, cleanly cut off her head!
He put her head in a bag and left quickly to avoid the wrath of her sisters, and began
his return home.
When he arrived home, he found that his mother had been mistreated by King Polydectes.
He entered the throne room where the king accused him of failing his task.
So Perseus pulled the head from the bag, and the king, and all his cohorts, were immediately
turned to stone.
3.
King Midas
King Midas had it all.
He ruled over the country of Phrygia and had everything a King could ever want.
But beyond the luxurious castle, extravagant food, and a beautiful daughter that would
one day rule, the only thing he truly cared about was his gold.
He would spend most of his days counting his gold, and covering himself in it and bathing
in it.
He was pretty obsessed!
One day, a friend of Dionysus, the god of wine and revelry, found himself stuck in the
kingdom, and Midas, immediately recognising him, offered him a welcome place to stay for
a few days before returning home.
Dionysus was extremely grateful for the way his friend had been treated, and promised
to grant the king one wish.
The king said ‘I wish that everything I touch turns to gold’.
Midas was warned to think carefully about his wish, but he was adamant.
Dionysus reluctantly agreed, and the next day, everything Midas touched would turn to
gold.
Waking up in the morning, Midas was excited to test out his new power.
He touched a table that immediately turned to gold, then a chair, his door and his bathtub.
He was elated.
He ran through his castle turning everything to gold until he became hungry and sat down
to eat.
He tried to eat a grape, but it, too, turned to gold.
The same with a slice of bread.
It was at this point he realised the mistake he had made.
He began crying, and his daughter came to see what was wrong.
He hugged her, and she turned into a golden statue.
He cried out to Dionysus, who took pity on the poor king.
He told him to wash his hands in the Pactolus river.
He did this, and saw gold flowing from his hands as the waters passed.
When he returned home, everything had turned back to normal and he was relieved.
From that point on, Midas decided to share his fortunes with his people.
He became a kind and generous king, and became grateful for all he had in his life.
2.
Theseus and the Minotaur
King Minos of Crete had a problem.
His wife, Pasiphae, had cheated on him- sleeping with a bull that had been sent by Zeus.
She became pregnant, and gave birth to the Minotaur, a half man, half bull monster.
Embarrassed by the affair, but unwilling to kill the Minotaur, King Minos decided to hide
it in the Labyrinth underneath the Palace of Knossos.
He would throw his enemies into the Labyrinth for the minotaur to eat, and since the labyrinth
was impossible to escape, it was a good way to deal with all those who opposed him.
Not really a fatherly thing to do but you know...
A few years later, Minos’ son, Androgeus, was killed during a marathon in Athens by
the same bull that had fathered the minotaur.
So angry was the king, that he insisted that the king of Athens, Aegeus, would send seven
men and seven women every year to the Labyrinth as punishment for what happened.
On the third year, Aegeus’ son, Theseus, volunteered to be one of the seven men sent,
and promised to slay the minotaur.
Theseus told this to King Minos before entering his Labyrinth, but the king wasn’t worried.
Even if he did manage to kill the minotaur, he would never be able to find his way out.
At the same time Theseus met Minos’ daughter, princess Ariadne, and they fell in love.
She gave him a ball of yarn to unravel as he journeyed through the Labyrinth so he could
find his way back out.
He followed her advice, and after finding and killing the minotaur he was able to easily
find his way back out, and return to Crete with his new love.
There was, of course, a sad ending to this story.
Theseus had agreed with his father that on his return he would change the colour of the
sails of his ship to show that he was still alive.
The night before returning, he, his crew, and Ariadne celebrated with a wild feast.
She overslept the next morning and didn’t make it back to the boat before they left.
Theseus only realised this once it was too late, and in his misery forgot to change the
sails.
His father, upon seeing the return of the ship but thinking that his son had died, jumped
to his death from the cliffs into what is now known as the Aegean sea.
1.
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Jason was the rightful heir to the kingdom of Iolcus, but his uncle Pelias had stolen
the throne from his father.
Fearful that he would lose grip on power, Pelias had Jason’s father locked up and,
to save his life, Jason’s mother smuggled him out of the city where he was raised by
a centaur.
When he was old enough, Jason set out to regain what was rightfully his.
At the same time, a plan was being hatched by Hera, the wife of Zeus.
She hated King Pelias, as he had honoured all of the gods, except for her.
She decided to take the throne away from him, but to do this she needed a hero.
Jason was the obvious choice, but she first needed to test him to ensure he was up to
the task.
What followed were a series of trials for Jason, who lived up to expectations at every
turn.
His Uncle realized what a threat Jason was.
He asked him over dinner, “how would you go about getting rid of someone who was giving
you difficulties?”.
Jason replied, “Send him after the Golden Fleece”.
So Uncle Pelias did just that.
Jason gathered a crew, known as the Argonauts, and set sail in search of the fleece.
It proved to be a long journey, full of trials and troubles along the way.
Jason lost most of his crew, but eventually found himself in Colchis, the land of the
Golden Fleece.
The king of Colchis, Aeetes, said he could have the fleece, but only if he completed
three tasks.
The first was to rake a field using fire breathing oxen.
He was then to sow dragon’s teeth into the soil and defeat the magical warriors that
would sprout.
Then all he would need to do was defeat the dragon that guarded the fleece.
The gods, wanting Jason to succeed, made Aeetes’ daughter, Medea, fall in love with him, and
she helped him with each of the trials.
He completed them in no time and, after spraying a sleeping potion in the dragon's face, managed
to get the fleece and escape.
Following further difficulties on their way home, including the mythical sirens and a
giant bronze man, Jason and his remaining crew finally made it back to Greece.
He held the fleece high, and entered the city to take the throne from Pelias.
Of course, his Uncle wasn’t willing to hand over control to Jason, so it was left to his
now wife Medea to cast a spell on Pelias’ daughters that would make them attack him,
before she dealt the fatal blow that killed him.
Jason finally took his rightful place as king.