Titans Gods Monsters and Heroes The Titans Titans

Titans, Gods, Monsters, and Heroes

The Titans • Titans are the beings that came before the gods in Greek mythology, but the one that most people know about is Kronos (Saturn), the king of the Titans and father of Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera. • Kronos wasn’t the only Titan though, there were twelve 1 st generation Titans and six 2 nd generation Titans. • The 1 st generation Titans were split into two groups six males, Coeus, Kronos, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Oceanus, and six females, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis and Tethys. • The 2 nd generation Titans were Atlas, Eos, Epimetheus, Helios, Leto, and Prometheus.

King of the Underworld, Hades • One of the 12 Olympian Gods Hades (Pluto) controlled the land of the dead and all things under the earth. According to the more popular Greek myths he gained control over this realm after he and his two brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, drew lots to see who would rule over what. Zeus got the cosmos, Poseidon got the sea, and Hades the underworld. • After he had gained his domain though, he wanted a bride. He asked Zeus for one of his daughters and Persephone was chosen. Unfortunately, Zeus knew she would object and allowed his brother to abduct her. Her mother however was the goddess of the earth and harvest, and through her sorrow and anger cursed the land to be barren. It only got worse after she found out Zeus and Hades were to blame, she refused to lift the curse until she could see her daughter again! Eventually Zeus sent Hermes to talk to Hades. They managed to work something out, but Hades tricked Persephone into eating a pomegranate seed, after she had eaten it she became bound to the underworld.

Sirens and Nymphs • Sirens were beautiful creatures that lured men to their deaths. They were formerly servants of the goddess Persephone, but after she was taken by Hades Demeter cursed them with the bodies of birds (another story says they were given wings to help search for her but eventually gave up and settled on some island). Jason and the Argonauts and Odysseus met them on their adventures. Fortunately they managed to avoid their bewitching song and survived. • Nymphs were minor goddesses that presided over nature. They were often depicted as beautiful woman who loved to dance and sing. Nymphs were often tied to a specific area were they took care of the wildlife and plants there. They could reside in many different domains such as water, sea, clouds, meadows, trees, breezes, and mountains

Jason and the Argonauts • Jason was a mortal prince who was the son of Aeson and Alcimede. Unfortunately, his uncle Pelias usurped the thrown from Jason's father and Alcimedes died, but not before hiding Jason in the mountains where he was raised by the centaur Chiron. • He was known for his adventures on his ship the Argo. His crew was known as the Argonauts. • One of his many adventures was sailing to find the Golden Fleece. During this adventures he and the crew fought many monsters and people, such as the fire breathing bulls.