Greek+Mythology+Places

Andi English 9 7 December 2011 Greek Mythology Places Within the places that are being addressed in this composition they refer back to the golden age times all the way though to 1821. I chose to research Greek mythology places because I find all the stories of each place so intriguing. At first I was going to research just about Tartarus. However, there was not enough information to make a whole paper about it. I altered my topic and I am glad I did because this way I learned so much more about several different places. There are so much more Greek mythology places then just five. Other places that are interesting are Troy, Sparta, Asia Minor, Attica, Oracles, just to name a few. Each one has its own history and stories to follow. The interesting places that I have chosen was the Underworld, Mount Olympus, Athens, the Labyrinth of Crete and Ithaca

The Underworld is located under the ground, away from the living. @Hades was the ruler of the great Underworld, which was a realm for the dead. It had many rivers that acted as paths Acheron, Coctus, Phlegethon, Styx and Lethe were the rivers that ran through the Underworld. After a person died they were buried with a coin that was placed on their lips. Then your soul was lead to the Underworld by Hermes, one of the Olympian gods. After the soul enters the Underworld they had to cross the Acheron River, which was driven by Charon. Charon charged a coin for every soul. If you did not pay Charon he would not give you passage on the ferry and you would be trapped between two realms. After riding across the river the souls came to the gates that were the entrance of Hades kingdom. Cerberus, the three headed hound, guarded the gates to the kingdom. Cerberus allowed all the soul to enter but he would not let anyone to leave. Once Cerberus then the souls would come before three judges Rhandamanthus, Minos and Aeacus, who determined where each soul’s place was in the Underworld. All good souls went to Elysian Fields and the others received their punishment. ( The Underworld.) Tartarus, the deepest and darkest region of the Underworld, was where you endure eternal torture. ( Tartarus .) Deep in Tartarus was a man named Tantalus, who had a very intriguing story of how he got banished to Tartarus. Tantalus was very well liked within the Olympian gods and goddesses. One day he invited them all over to his place for a party. However, he was very worried about giving the gods a great delicious meal, so he made a stew made of his only son, Pelops. Demeter was the first to try the stew and he automatically realized that it was a human stew. The gods were outraged with Tantalus. Zeus brought Pelops back to life and filled in the missing part of his shoulder with ivory. As for Tantalus, he was banished to Tartarus when he died. In Tartarus his punishment was that he had to become extremely hungry and thirsty, and then he had to stand neck deep in water. When he would reach up to grab fruit from the tree’s branch, the branch would swing away and once we cupped his hands to drink water it would disappear. ( Prisoners of Tartarus .) Tantalus’s story was only one story of banishment to Tartarus. The Underworld was a very large and powerful realm that was unavoidable.

The most worshiped and tallest mountain in Greece is known as Mount Olympus, which was surrounded by heaven. The tallest point was called Mytika or Pantheon. On Mount Olympus it had great weather it would not rain or be windy but sometimes there would be a few rain clouds that would give water to the world below. Mount Olympus does not have a specific ruler. However, when all the Olympian gods and goddesses met for a meeting they would go to the main palace, which is Zeus’s palace, since he is the god of all gods. ( Archaeological Sites of Greece .) Mount Olympus is home to the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses Apollo, Ares, Dionysus, Hermes, Hephaestus, Poseidon, Zeus, Aphrodite, Athena, Artemis, Demeter and Hera. ( 12 Olympians .) They lived similar lives to mortals and every Olympian had their own palace. Just like the mortals did, they followed rules, customs, gathered for meetings, which was when they made decisions about the world and mortals. The service the Olympian gods and goddesses had was doctors, servants, preachers, doorkeepers, the Horae, who had permission to open and close the gates to the outside world. ( Archaeological Sites of Greece.) Mount Olympus was one of the most important places in Greek mythology.

Athens was one of the most important states in Greece right next to @Sparta. Athens was ruled just like a democracy were the citizens of Athens, who lived below the Acropolis, voted on the laws, rulers and government officials. However, women, slaves and foreigners could not vote since they could not become a citizen, which means only the men of Athens could vote. Poseidon and Athena had a competition of who would be the protector of the island. Poseidon hit the Acropolis rock and gave them a fresh water spring. On the other hand Athena presented the Athenians with an olive tree, which was much more favored. The olive tree branch was the islands symbol, which represents good will and noble rivalry. Therefore the island was named Athens after their protector, Athena. ( Ancient Greece for Kids - Athens .) As years went on for Athens they produced a great military. The Persians invaded Athens twice and lost both times to the powerful military of Athens that occurred in the fifth century BC. The Persian War untied the Greek states to work together against an enemy. Since the Athens victory over the Persians it made Athens position much stronger and in the end Athens grew to be the leading state in Greece. In this era Athens was known as an “intellectual and artistic center of Greece” it was the “first democracy and the greatest of all states” to come up with the outstanding thoughts and values, this era was known as the Golden Age of Athens. (History of Athens Greece.) Another interesting era is called the Macedonia era, which was not that successful. When Sparta declared war on Athens, the Athenians lost after many years of fighting. The war between Athens and Sparta weakened majority of Greece and was known as the Peloponnesian War. Later, Alexander the Great combined the Greek states and conquered regions in Africa and the East, where he spread the Greek language and culture. Throughout Alexander’s time in power, Athens stayed an intellectual center as it did in the Golden Age. (History of Athens Greece.)There’s much more interesting history behind the Athens. However, another Greek mythology place that is so fascinating is the Labyrinth.

The Labyrinth was a very complex maze that entrapped a vicious monstrous Minotaur. The Labyrinth is located on the island of Crete. Minos, Zeus’s most favored child out of the triplet he fathered.Zeus took Europe to Gortys in Crete in a shape of a bull.There Zeus and Europe conceived triplets Minos, Radamanthis and Sarpidon. Zeus then planned for Europe to get married to the Cretan King Asterion, who selected Zeus’s sons his heirs.Nevertheless, when the time came Minos banished his brothers Radamanthis and Sarpidon. Radamanthis was banished to Cyclades and as for Sarpidon his banishment lead him to the Asia Minor.Minos, Zeus’s favorite child out of the three of them, became the monarch of Crete.Since Zeus favored Minos, the gods gave him everything he wanted.He received a wife whose name is Pasiphae, which it the daughter of the sun, the sorceresses Kalypos, Aete and aunt of Mideia.Minos was going to make a sacrifice in honor of Poseidon so he asked Poseidon to send him the best bull he could find from the ocean. When he received the bull it was so precious Minos did not sacrifice it as he promised, so Poseidon got revenge.His revenge was turning the bull to be vicious and very dangerous.However, when Pasiphae saw the bull she fell in love with it.She was able to unite with the bull with the help from Daedalus since “he could create a wooden bull that Pasiphae hid in.” ( The Labyrinth of Crete.) They created a monster that was a human with a bull’s head, that’s known as a Minotaur, which Minos kept trapped in the Labyrinth. When Minos fought the Athenians, the fight went on for a long while so he asked his father, Zeus, for help which made the Athenians to surrender and follow the authority of Minos.The worst deed he made them do is feeding the Minotaur.They would have to send seven young men and seven women as food for the monster.When the Athenians sent the required amount of human bait in the Labyrinth, Princess Theseus fell in love with Ariadne, who was going to be food for the Minotaur.Princess Theseus helped Ariadne by giving him a ball of string that he would unravel as he went through the Labyrinth.He killed the Minotaur and was able to find his way back by following the string he unraveled before. ( The Labyrinth of Crete.) Labyrinth is a well built maze that was able to entrap the Minotaur.

Ithaca was an island located in Greece waters. Ithacos, the son of Cephalonian King, settled on Ithaca with his brothers and supplied the island with water. Ithaca was named after Ithacos. Since the Cephalonian king was the father of Ithacos the island of Ithaca became the capital of Cephalonia around 1500 BC. Ithaca was well known to be the home of Odysseus and if Odysseus truly did exist then he would have been the ruler around 1500 BC, which was known as the Mycenaen period. In the second century BC Ithaca was occupied with the Romans, constant attacks from pirates. At this time it also became part of the Byzantium Empire. However, in the twelfth and thirteenth century the Normand and the Franks engaged in Ithaca. After thirty years Ithaca fell into the power of the Venetians. However, after many years of Ithaca being taken over, it finally got freed in 1821 when the Independence War aroused. ( Ithaca Greece.) Ithaca and its history are very fascinating as it is along with the other places in Greek mythology. Although there were many Greek mythology places I could have researched I chose the five most remarkable places of them all. Those places were the Underworld, Mount Olympus, Athens, the Labyrinth of Crete and Ithaca. In conclusion the Underworld was a great big realm for the diseased that in unavoidable since everyone must die in the end. Mount Olympus was a very well worshiped mountain that was home to the twelve Olympian gods and goddesses. Athens was an island that Poseidon and Athena competed over to be the protector of the island. Athens was named after their protector Athena since she won the title of being the protector of the island. Athens had a lot of war history but in the end it subsisted and remained an intellectual center. The Labyrinth of Crete was one gigantic maze that was home to a nasty vicious Minotaur. Later in the story of the Labyrinth a young man named Ariadne killed the Minotaur. Ithaca that was known as the home of Odysseus also endured some war, not as much as Athens, but Ithaca had its fair share. In the end of its history Ithaca became an Independent island due to the Independence War the aroused. If there was one place that I would visit it would be Mount Olympus because it seems like the most luxurious place out of them all. It would be the coolest thing to be surrounded by the heavens where it was the best weather.

Works Cited

"Poseidon's Greek Mythology Page - Places of Myth." //Create a Website | Tripod Web Hosting//. N.p., n.d. Web. 05 Dec. 2011. .

"The Underworld." //Greek Mythology//. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. .

"Tartarus." //Roman Colosseum//. Web. 07 Dec. 2011. .

"Prisoners of Tartarus." //Oracle Think Quest//. Web. 7 Dec. 2011. .

"Archaeological Sites of Greece » Mount Olympus." //Greek-Gods.info: Gods & Goddessesof Ancient Greece//. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. .

"12 Olympians - The 12 Olympians of Greek Mythology." //Ancient / Classical History - Ancient Greece & Rome & Classics Research Guide//. Web. 08 Dec. 2011. .

"Ancient Greece for Kids - Athens." //Primary Homework Help for Kids//. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. .

"History of Athens Greece, Culture, Greek Mythology Information Attica Greece." //Athens Hotels Guide Greece - Athens Hotels Directory - Hotels in Athens City, Hotels Athens Greece//. Web. 06 Dec. 2011. .

"The Labyrinth of Crete, the Myth of the Minotaur." //Explore Crete, Guide for Real Crete//. Web. 09 Dec. 2011. .

"Ithaca Greece ,information and History of Ithaca Island." //In2Greece.com - Travel Guide to Greece Greek Islands History Mythology and Maps//. Web. 11 Dec. 2011. [|http://www.in2greece.com/english/places/summer/islands/ithaca.htm#history].

Napoli, Donna Jo, and Christina Balit. //Treasury of Greek Mythology: Classic Stories of Gods, Goddesses, Heroes & Monsters//. Washington, D.C.: National Geographic Society, 2011. Print.

Apollodorus, and Robin Hard. //The Library of Greek Mythology//. Oxford: Oxford UP, 2008. Print.