Hades and the Underworld

Hades was the ruler of the underworld, which he ruled with his bride Persephone, Demeter's daughter. Guarded by Cerberus, a three-headed dog, the underworld was separated from the land of the living by five rivers. One of these was the Styx, across which the dead were ferried. Three judges decided the fate of souls: heroes went to the Elysian Fields, evildoers to Tartarus. The Underworld itself was sometimes called Hades, and it still is today. 

Hades was one of the children of Cronus and Rhea, and was swallowed by Cronus when he learned one of his children would usurp him. When Zeus tricked Cronus into expelling Hades from his body, Zeus and Hades joined with the other children to overthrow Cronus. 

Hades was assigned the Underworld after the division of power among himself, Zeus, and Poseidon. Since Hades was always in the Underworld, he did not sit with the other gods in Olympus. In fact, Hades was not allowed to visit Olympus.

Activities

1- Do this Quiz about the text below. 

The Odyssey: Circe the beautiful witch

Listen carefully to the story and write a brief summary.

The Odyssey: In the Cyclops Cave

Listen carefully to the story and write a brief summary.

The Odyssey

Another Greek hero was King Odysseus. The stories of brave Odysseus and his loyal band of men were told over and over by traveling storytellers during the dark ages of ancient Greece. 

A man named Homer lived right at the end of dark ages, in the 8^th century BCE. Homer took all the stories about King Odysseus and put this collection of stories together in one book, which he named The Odyssey.

Heracles and the 12 labors

THE LIFE AND TIMES

There are as many different versions of Hercules' life story as there are storytellers.
Zeus fell in love with a beautiful Greek woman named Alcmene. When Alcmene's husband, Amphitryon, was away, Zeus made her pregnant. This made Hera so angry that she tried to prevent the baby from being born. When Alcmene gave birth to the baby anyway, she named him Herakles. The name Herakles means "glorious gift of Hera" in Greek, and that got Hera angrier still. Then she tried to kill the baby by sending snakes into his crib. But little Hercules was one strong baby, and he strangled the snakes, one in each hand, before they could bite him.
Hera remained angry. Hera decided to pay Zeus back for his infidelity by making the rest of Herakles' life as miserable as she could.

Louvre G 192, Attic red figure stamnos, c. 480-470 B.C.
The baby Hercules wrestles with the snakes Hera has sent to his crib.
Photograph by Maria Daniels, courtesy of the Musée du Louvre

When Herakles became a great warrior, he married Megara. They had two children. Herakles and Megara were very happy, but Hera sent a fit of madness to Herakles that put him into so great a rage, he murdered Megara and the children.

When Herakles regained his senses and saw the horrible thing that he had done, he asked the god Apollo to rid him of this pollution. Apollo commanded the hero to do certain tasks as a punishment for his wrongs. Apollo declared that he had to go to the city of Tiryns. The king of Tiryns was Eurystheus. He had a reputation for being mean, and Herakles knew that the king would give him a tough time. The hero had to serve Eurystheus for twelve years while he performed the Labors. There was some good news, though. When the tasks were completed, Apollo said, Herakles would become immortal.

Aerial view of the fortress-palace at Tiryns.
The citadel's impressively thick fortress walls have stood for over thirty centuries.
Photograph by Raymond V. Schoder, S.J., courtesy of Bolchazy-Carducci Publishers

THE LABORS

Ref: http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/Herakles/labors.html

Zeus and his consorts

He had numerous lovers in mythology. He had divine consorts, Nymphs and mortal women.

Look for information of each couple and explain it.

• Zeus and Demeter
• Zeus and Eurynome
• Zeus and Hera
• Zeus and Leto
• Zeus and Metis
• Zeus and Mnemosyne
• Zeus and Maia
• Zeus and Alkmene
• Zeus and Europa
• Zeus and Kallisto
• Zeus and Semele

Zeus

He is the most important Olympian god. He divided the world between him, Poseidon (sea) and Hades (underworld). He was the lord of the sky. His parents were Cronus and Rhea, two of the titans. He is the little brother of some other important gods: Hestia, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter and Hera.
He controlled lightning and thunder, whic are their elements and weapons. He was married to Hera, his sister, despite he mated with other women.