22 May 2008

THURSDAY THIRTEEN - GREEK GODS

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Quilly's Alphabet is here. Today letter V = Vacation

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13 Gods of Olympia

On my recent trip to Greece I also visited Olympia the place where the Greek gods used to live.


1. Athena was the goddess of wisdom. She also was the goddess of handicrafts and strategy. She did not like to fight, but when forced to, she always won. She hated Ares and took pleasure in thwarting him on the battle field.

2. Zeus was the king of the gods. He had affairs with 8 goddesses other than his wife, Hera. He also had affairs with countless mortals and nymphs. Therefore, he is the cause of many myths. Zeus was also the god of the sky. His weapon was the thunderbolt. Still another job of Zeus's was the god of hospitality.

3. Hera was the queen of the gods. She was very jealous, but with a husband like Zeus, who was with other women six days a week, who could blame her? She was also the goddess of married women.

4. Aphrodite was the goddess of love and beauty. Most stories involving her are about two people getting married. She was very jealous, and anyone who thought and announced that they were more beautiful then her often felt her anger.

5. Apollo was the god of light and music. He also drove Helios' sun chariot across the sky. He had an even temper. He preached moderation in all things and owned an oracle at Delphi.

6. Hermes was one of the messengers of the gods, the other being Iris. Hermes also had a number of other jobs, which were god of travelers, shepherds, thieves, and merchant. He also conducted dead souls to Hades in the Underworld. He wore a winged cap and sandles, which enabled him to fly. In addition, he was very clever and invented cards, card games, the lyre, and the alphabet.

7. Poseidon was the god of the sea. He had an extremely irritable temper and was known for creating the horse. Being the god of the sea, he also controlled storms. His weapon was a trident.

8. Cronus was the king of the gods before Zeus took over. He was a cruel father and swallowed five of his children because he was afraid that the prophecy would come true that he would be de-throned the same way he de-throned his father

9. Rhea was the mother of six of the more recent gods. Her only true role was to be the wife of Cronus. When five of her children were swallowed, she saved Zeus and helped him to de-throne Cronus.

10. Psyche is the goddess of love and goddess of the soul. She has a very interesting relationship with Eros.

11. Eros was the god of love. Unlike Aphrodite, he was the god of pure love. He has made his way into modern day Valentine's Day celebrations. Eros had arrows which could infect anyone pierced by them with love.

12. Hephaestus was the god of the forge. This means that he was a blacksmith. He was the only god that was "ugly". He was crippled at birth, when Hera threw him off Mount Olympus because she was appalled at his ugliness.

13. Nike was the Greek goddess of victory. Little is known about Nike. In fact, there are very few stories about her, and the ones that do exist are often about the Greek word "nike", meaning victory. But Nike nonetheless survived and found her way into modern-day life. A certain shoe company happens to be named after the Greek goddess of victory. Hmmm...

19 comments:

  1. Yay, firsties! LOL

    Love your list...reminds of my Mythology class...Happy Thursday Gattina!

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  2. Hoping that Hermes and Co will help me to keep all my energy with pupils when I went to bed at 2 o'clock in the night!
    Bonne journée!

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  3. I love mythology and this is a great list, Gattina!
    Much better than my perspective of wearing my Nike shoes and dreaming about a Hermes bag and a date with Eros Ramazzotti... :)
    Happy Thursday !!

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  4. Great list....nice catch for TT! Hope you'll visit my TT post too.

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  5. The Zeus entry made me laugh. The father of many children by many women being the source of many myths. I wonder if he had to come up with these stories himself so his wife wouldn't finish him off!

    Thanks for these, Gattina.

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  6. I love myths. This was a rewarding read. Thanks.

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  7. LOL! Boy! Those were the days, weren't they? Can you IMAGINE having all those gods battling it out for who was top dog?

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  8. Interesting Gattina!! VERY interesting. I knew 'em all, but didn't know what they had done...or at least a few of them.


    Mine's shared...C U THERE!!

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  9. This is a great list. Happy T13!

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  10. very nice list! Im off to Greece for the first time this summer and I can not wait!!!

    :-)

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  11. HA Shows how much mythology I remember! Thanks !

    Come see our wedding photos 9 years ago today!

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  12. This was interesting to read. I knew some of them but not all. Great Thursday Thirteen!!!

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  13. Which one ate the pomegranate? I think it was Psyche.

    You have Zeus and I have Dr. Seuss.

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  14. I very much enjoy reading Greek mythology - so I loved your TT! Have a great weekend!

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  15. Did you ever watch the Zena -- or was it Hercules? -- episode where Nike showed off her new fashion design -- tennis shoes? She was told they'd never catch on ....

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  16. I used to really like Greek Mythology and loved it when our teacher used to read to us some stories. If I remember it correctly- Hermes is Mercury and Eros is Cupid.

    Great list Gattina..

    hAPPY thirteening!

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  17. Those were fun...I'd forgotten the details of Zeus...lovely bunch, those Greek gods!

    Happy T-13!

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  18. Our 10 year old son loves Greek mythology and Greek history. He would really love your Thursday 13.

    We love kitties too and miss our Siamese. This seems to be such a nice, cozy blog. It's my first time here.

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