Sriram Vasireddy

Ms. Villasenor

English 1 Honors Period 5

18 January 2018

Mythology Presentation Notes

Tiresias and the Oracle at Delphi

● Tiresias was blind and received a prophecy and ability to understand birds

● Tiresias saw Athena bathing and she blinded him

● Tiresias told Zeus and Hera that men enjoyed love more.

● Hera blinded him and Zeus gave him the gift of prophesy

● The oracle was another seer that gives prophecies

Dionysus, Bacchae, and the Theater

● Dionysus is the god of wine and is the son of Zeus and Semele

● Hera had him killed but Rhea gave him godship

● Bacchae is a play where Dionysus goes to Thebes and punishes everyone who did not worship

him.

● Puts a trance on all the women and the king to get revenge

Ajax the Great

● Ajax was the son of King Telamon

● Ajax was fighting against Hector, the prince of Troy

● The fight lasted all day

● Odysseus outsmarted Ajax and received the deceased Achilles armor

● Achilles fell on his own sword and killed himself due to Odysseus

Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

 ● Agamemnon comes back from the Trojan War

● Cassandra speaks of a prophecy

● Shows how gods are omnipotent

● Agamemnon fell in love with Clytemnestra but she killed him

Agamemnon and Iphigenia

● Agamemnon was the son of Atreus

● Atreus was killed by thyrestes

● Iphigenia was the daughter of Agamemnon

● Iphigenia gets killed by Agamemnon because he upset Artemis

Orestes

● Orestes is the son of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra

● Agamemnon was killed by Clytemnestra and Aegisthus

● When becoming an adult, Orestes killed his mother and her lover.

● Matricide was illegal so the furies hunted him.

● In different ways, he got them to stop

Achilles and the Trojan Horse

● Achilles was put in the river Styx which made him invincible except for his heel

● Achilles was undefeated in 9 out of 10 years

● Achilles chased and killed Hector

● Paris shot an arrow and Apollo deflected it, hitting his heel

Odysseus and the Trojan Horse

● Paris had to determine whether Hera, Aphrodite, or Athena was the fairest

● Paris gave it to Aphrodite

● Helen was abducted by Aphrodite and was given to Paris

 ● Odysseus came up with the idea of the Trojan Horse

● Odysseus was famous for courage, and leadership

● The Trojan horse was hollow and big

● Sinon persuaded the Trojans that the Trojan horse was a gift

● Inside the horse, there was a Greek army which, when Troy slept, burnt Troy to the ground

Cassandra and Athena

● Cassandra predicted the outcome of the Trojan War but nobody believed her

● Athena was a protector of Athens

● Priam locked Cassandra in a prison

● Priam betrothed Cassandra to his son Eurypylus

● Agamemnon got Cassandra

● Ajax raped Cassandra

● Cassandra bore him twins

The sirens

● Sirens lure sailors in but then they kill them

● The sirens represent destruction and desire

● The sirens represent self-restraint

● The sirens committed suicide when Odysseus passed them without batting an eye

Scylla and Charybdis

● Charybdis is a sea monster that lived next to Scylla

● They created whirlpools

● Drowned ships

● Scylla is a crab like creature

● Odysseus went closer to Scylla and only lost a few men

 ● Odysseus later went closer to Charybdis and lost all of his men

Aphrodite, Hephaestus, and Ares

● Aphrodite is the Ancient Greek Goddess of Love and beauty

● Hephaestus is the god of fire and metalworking he was crippled and ugly

● Ares is the god of war and was good-looking and the son of Hera and Zeus

● Helios is the god of the sun

● Aphrodite started having an affair with Ares and Hephaestus caught them

● Hephaestus trapped Hera and so he became Aphrodite’s wife

● Aphrodite and Ares got caught and ridiculed by the other gods

Presented Prometheus and Christ

Pandora and Eve

● Pandora was the first mortal woman

● Has no parents

● Prometheus’ humans could not protect themselves against Epimetheus’ animals

● Pandora opened a box that carried misery

● Hebrew god created by Eve

● Eve and Adam was given a beautiful garden to give

● They ate from a tree and were banished

● Both told not to do things but they did anyway

Tantalus and the House of Atreus

● Tantalus was the son of Zeus and Pluto

● Niobe was cursed by Leto

● Broteas was killed in a fire

● Pelops was killed by Tantalus and cooked into a meal

● Tantalus made poor decisions and shared personal secrets

● Was sent to Tartarus

● Offered something he could never have

● Atreus is the son of Pelops and Hippodamia

● Pelops cheated in a race

● Thyestes ate his children