Ancient Greek Myths – Jen Green

of a goat, the tail of a dragon, and the head of a lion. It also spat deadly flames. Dangers at Sea and on Land The Greeks believed that storms were raised by Zeus, and that wild seas were the work of the sea god, Poseidon, one of Zeus’s brothers. Sailors always prayed to Poseidon before they left port. Many stretches of water had their own perils—narrow channels with rip tides, whirlpools, and submerged reefs.

One particularly dangerous seaway lay near the island of Sicily. The ancient Greeks believed that the place was haunted by a six-headed monster called Scylla and a whirlpool known as Charybdis. The epic poem the Odyssey, by Homer (see page 13), described how the hero Odysseus steered a careful course between Scylla and Charybdis on his way back from the Trojan War. Geographers today know that Greece is located on a fault line that runs beneath the Mediterranean Sea. For this reason, the country suffers many earthquakes.

The ancient Greeks believed that such catastrophes were the work of the gods. When Poseidon got angry, he would strike his forked trident on the ground, causing an earthquake. Erupting volcanoes were believed to be the work of the blacksmith god, Hephaestus. His forge lay beneath the island of Lemnos. When a volcano rumbled and spat flames, Hephaestus was at his forge, hammering on his anvil and making sparks fly.

Ancient Greek Myths Apollo, Helios, and Phaeton Apollo was one of the most important gods on Mdunt Olympus. He was the god of light but not of the sun itself. The sun god was Helios, whose child was Phaeton. Apollo was the son of Zeus and Leto, who was the daughter of a Titan. When Hera, Zeus’s queen, found out that Leto was pregnant with Zeus’s child, she sent Python, a giant she-dragon, to attack her.

Leto took refuge on the island of Ortygia, where Poseidon hid her from Python. There she gave birth to twins, Apollo and his sister, Artemis. The twins grew up to be tall, beautiful, and strong. Apollo was given a golden bow and arrows, and he became an expert archer. He was also a skilled musician, whose favorite instrument was a small harp called a lyre. His companions were nine lesser goddesses, called the Muses, who inspired Greek artists and writers.

Once he had grown up, Apollo decided to kill the she-dragon that had tormented his mother. He tracked Python to her lair at Delphi in central Greece and killed her with a volley of arrows. From then on, Delphi became the shrine of Apollo, who built a magnificent temple there. The shrine was run by a priestess, called the Pythia, to whom Apollo gave the gift of foretelling the future.

Please visit our Web site www.garethstevens.com. For a free color catalog of all our high-quality books, call toll free 1-800-542-2595 or fax 1-877-542-2596. Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data Green,Jen. Ancient Greek myths / Jen Green. p. cm. – (Myths from around the world) Includes index. ISBN 978-1-4339-3524-4 (library binding) – ISBN 978-1-4339-3525-1 (pbk.) ISBN 978-1 -4339-3526-8 (6-pack) 1.

Mythology, Greek-Juvenile literature. I. Title. BL783.G74 2010 292.1’3-dc22 2009038714 Published in 2010 by Gareth Stevens Publishing 111 East 14th Street, Suite 349 v New York, NY 10003 © 2010 The Brown Reference Group Ltd. For Gareth Stevens Publishing: Art Direction: Haley Harasymiw Editorial Direction: Kerri O’Donnell For The Brown Reference Group Ltd: Editorial Director: Lindsey Lowe Managing Editor: Tim Cooke Editor: Henry Russell Children’s Publisher: Anne O’Daly Picture Manager: Sophie Mortimer Design Manager: David Poole Designers: Tim Mayer and John Walker Production Director: Alastair Gourlay Picture Credits: Front Cover: iStock: Marutsen b; Shutterstock: Andrei Jitkov br: Andreas G.

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R0430270A25 ajBlS – . c ‘■ jSj Contents Introduction The Story of Creation* . .

This is a short excerpt from the opening of “” by Unknown, quoted for review and introduction purposes. All rights belong to the copyright holders.

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