Myths help us to study the history of Ancient Greece. These myths are stories about heroes and gods.

The adventures in the myths never took place. Their heroes, who all had very great strength, were the fruits of people's imagination. However, they give an idea of the Greeks' efforts to conquer nature, their occupations, tools, customs, their gods and the countries they visited.

The myths about the deeds of a great hero named Hercules were very popular.

Hercules was given 12 tasks to perform. One was to catch the sacred stag belonging to Artemis, the goddess of the hunt. He did so by running after it day and night for a whole year. Another was to kill the seven-headed Hydra, a huge snake that crept out of the marshes to kill cattle.

One of the myths tells of a huge lion. This lion attacked people and animals. Its skin was so thick that not even a bronze-tipped arrow could pass through it.

Hercules decided to kill the lion. He felled an oak and made a cudgel from it. The cudgel was so heavy that even twenty men could not lift it. He bravely entered the lion's cave. The beast attacked him, but the hero struck him down with a powerful blow and killed him with his bare hands.

King Augeas had five thousand bulls. No one ever cleaned his stables, and they were filled with manure. Hercules promised the king to clean his stables in one day. While Augeas was having dinner with his guests, Hercules blocked two nearby rivers. They overflowed and the powerful stream of water washed the manure away.

One day Hercules started out on a long journey to look for the golden apples which grew in the garden belonging to Atlas. It was situated on the shore of an ocean, very far from Greece, in the West.

The Greeks believed that the blue sky was a huge canopy covering the earth. The earth and the sky met on the shores of an ocean. They thought that the canopy rested on the shoulders of a very strong giant named Atlas. Atlas was a legendary hero, and today the Atlantic Ocean is named after him.

While Atlas was picking apples for him, Hercules held up the canopy. It was so heavy that he sank knee-deep into the ground and his bones cracked.

Many other heroic deeds were accomplished by Hercules in the myths. People in Ancient Greece admired him greatly.

Long ago near the beginning of things, and old Greek story goes, there was only one woman on the earth. Her name was Pandora. The gods had sent her down to earth from Mount Olympus, their home. She became the wife of Epimetheus. As she was leaving Mount Olympus, Zeus, the king of the gods, had given her a golden casket and told her never to open it.

Soon Pandora became so curious that she decided to take just one look. As she lifted the lid, a lot of horrid little creatures escaped. They flew about stinging people and making them cry with anger and pain. No one could catch them to put them back in the box. Up to that time there had been no sickness or sorrow on the earth. Pandora then heard a tiny voice coming from the casket. She looked in again and saw a beautiful little creature. It was Hope.

There are many other Greek myths. The Greeks made them up to explain things they could not understand. They told the story of Pandora to explain why there are sicknesses and sorrows and why there is always hope that things will be better.

The myths of the Greeks were closely tied up with their religion. In most of them their gods and goddesses play an important part.

With the help of the goddess Athena, the young man Bellerophon caught Pegasus, the winged horse of the Muses, goddesses of the arts. Together Bellerophon and Pegasus performed heroic deeds. But when Bellerophon tried to ride Pegasus up to Mount Olympus, he was thrown off. Pegasus returned alone to his home on Olympus.

Daedalus, a wonderfully clever Athenian, had taken refuge in Crete after killing his nephew in a surge of anger. Later he wished to leave Crete, but the king would not let him do so. To escape, Daedalus built wings for himself and his son Icarus. He warned Icarus not to fly too close to the sun. But Icarus was too eager to fly to listen to the warning. The wax in his wings melted, and he fell into the sea.

Every year, the story of Theseus tells, Athens had to send seven youths and seven maidens to Crete. There they were thrown to a monster called the Minotaur. Theseus asked to be sent as one of the youths. He had decided that the Minotaur must be killed. With the help of the daughter of the king of Crete Theseus killed the monster and saved the prisoners.

The Gordon Medusa had snakes for hair. She was so ugly that the sight of her turned a person to stone. Perseus, with the help of a helmet that made him invisible, was able to come close to her. By using his shield as a mirror, he cut off her head without looking directly at her. Another thing this hero did was to rescue the beautiful princess Andromeda. Andromeda had been chained to a cliff as a sacrifice to a sea monster.

Pygmalion, a sculptor, fell in love with Galatea, a statue he had made. In answer to his prayers the goddess of love brought the statute to life.

The gods gave Atlanta the gift of fleetness. She promised to marry any young man who could run faster than she. But anyone who tried and failed was killed. The goddess of love gave Hippomenes three golden apples. During the race he flung them, one at a time, ahead of Atlanta. She stooped to pick them up and lost the race.

Many Greek myths are nature myths. They explain such things as what holds up the earth, why the seasons change, and how the different groups of stars came to be in the sky. Such nature myths can be called the forerunners of science.

Sean Townes

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