Origin Stories Flashcards
Primordial
first created or developed, existing in or persisting from the beginning
anthropomorphic
having human characteristics
Hecatoncheires
hundred handed and fifty headed monsters
The Five Ages of Man
The Golden Age, The Silver Age, The Bronze Age, The Age of Heroes, The Iron Age
The Golden Age
The first period of man. Cronus was in charge after overtaking his father. Mortals lived like gods and never knew pain or sorrow.
The Iron Age
The age in which we live now on earth. These are evil times, and each generation grows greedier.
Who are the original primordial deities?
Chaos, Gaia, Eros, Tartarus
The Titans
The second generation of Greek gods who are led by Cronus.
Theogony
Written by Hesiod in 8th century BCE to explain the origins of the universe and the genealogy of the gods.
Titanomachy
The ten-year war between the Titans and Olympians.
Zeus wins with the help of the Hecatoncheires and the Cylopes. All who fight against him or didn’t help him are sent to Tartaros.
hmm… what else was a ten-year war?
Prometheus
Translates to forethought.
He is damned by Zeus to be tied to a rock and have his liver pecked out each day by an eagle.
Epimetheus
afterthought. He is forgetful and lacks reasoning.
He is sent Pandora.
Pandora
The first woman. She is the cause of all despair in the world because she opened the jar/box
Charon
The Ferryman of the River Styx. He requires a coin to grant passage to Hades. Greeks were sometimes buried with a coin in their mouth for him.
Cerberus
The Three-Headed guardian of the underworld. He is often depicted as a dog
Hecate
Goddess of witchcraft and necromancy
Styx
The main boundary between Earth and the Underworld
The Erinyes
Known as the Three Furies - Alecto, Megaera, Tisiphone. Goddesses of vengeance and retribution who punished men for crimes against the natural order.
Elysian Fields
Where those chosen by the gods, the righteous, and the heroic go. Heroes may stay here or be reborn three times more to reach the Isle of the Blessed.
Fields of Asphodel
Where ordinary people go when they die. A majority of souls go here.
Isle of the Blessed
A soul which had won passage three times to Elysium would, with their fourth death, be transferred to the Islands of the Blessed to dwell with the heroes of myth for all eternity.
Tartarus
The resting place of the damned; those who sinned directly against the gods. They are continuously tortured.
Omnipotent
having unlimited power; able to do anything
Atlas
Leader of the Titan rebellion against Zeus. Sentenced to hold up the sky
Hesiod
wrote the Theogony
