by Jared Garrett

Created on: October 05, 2009   Last Updated: March 13, 2010

Greek mythology is one of the many colorful mythologies of the Western world. Angry and jealous gods and goddesses spent most of their time bickering and seeking gains in power and status. Greeks believed that the gods were very much like people, so in their art they made the gods look like beautiful or handsome humans.

These gods had great power, so while they had similar emotions to humans, they could do all kinds of different things. For example, Athena, who was the goddess of wisdom and was the daughter of Zeus, was believed to have been born from Zeus's forehead. The story of her birth says that Zeus had a headache for a long time until suddenly, one day, Athena jumped out.

His headache was gone. No need for Tylenol.

Mythology, especially in ancient Greece, was often used to explain much of what happened in the world of humans. The sun rising and setting was believed to be the action of a god. In the same way, ancient Greeks created a story that explained why we have seasons the way that we do. The story of Persephone's abduction is used to explain winter.

Persephone was the beautiful daughter of Demeter, the goddess of the earth and all that grows on the earth. It was Demeter who made the grain grow so it could be gathered. Demeter also colored the earth green, and made colorful flowers blossom. She loved her daughter, the sweet and innocent Persephone, very much. Demeter kept her daughter close and always tried to protect her from the other Greek gods.

Despite all of Demeter's protection, Hades, the terrible god of death and the world of the dead, fell in love with young Persephone. On one morning, he suddenly burst through a crack in the earth, took Persephone, and dragged her down with him into the world of the dead to live with him and the spirits of the dead. Demeter's sad cry when she discovered that her daughter was missing was heard in all of the earth and on Mount Olympus, where the Greek gods lived. Demeter searched everywhere for her child, crying until tears covered her face. Finally, Helios, the sun-god, told her what had happened to Persephone. He knew, because the sun-god sees everything.

At first Zeus, the king of the gods, did not care. He told Demeter that her daughter was now the queen of the underworld, and so she did not need to be mourned. Demeter, however, did not accept this. Her heart broke and she went away and hid in a deep, dark cave. She spent a long time there, feeling only sadness. Because of this, the earth became cold

• 1
• 2
• Next Page >>