Greek Legends and Myths

 Professional storytellers called bards traveled from town to town, telling stories and singing songs about Greek gods, goddesses, and heroes.

 These stories were entertaining, but they also taught about Greek ideas, values, and beliefs.

 Legends are stories handed down from earlier times that explain the past. Some legends may have been based on actual events.

 In 1200 B.C., the Mycenaeans conquered a city called Troy in the Trojan War. In the 700’s B.C., a Greek bard named Homer collected these stories and composed two epics, or long poems, that would later be written down.

 The Illiad describes the attacks on Troy.

 The Odyssey follows the hero Odysseus on his 10 year journey to return home from the Trojan War.

 Stories about the actions of gods and goddesses affecting the lives of people are called myths.

 Greek mythology includes all such stories and was passed down from generation to generation.

 Myths offered an explanation of how things in nature or human events came to be. They also described the personalities and roles of the many gods and goddesses that the Greeks believed in.

 Each Greek god and goddess possessed a special power or controlled a specific part of human life. For example, Zeus was the god of thunder and lightning. Hera was the goddess of marriage and childbirth.

 Together, they ruled as king and queen over all the Greek gods from their home atop Mount Olympus in northern Greece.

 One famous myth tells how Athena, the goddess of wisdom, competed with Poseidon, the god of the sea, to win over the people of Athens, a Greek city. Posiedon threw a spear into the ground, giving rise to a spring. However, Athena won the contest by giving the people of Athens the olive tree.