002 - The Greek Genesis

In this episode, we take a look at Creation, according to the Greeks; the Titanomachy, the Gigantomachy, and the ascendancy of the Olympian Gods; the creation of the first humans; the story of Prometheus and the first woman, Pandora; Deucalion and the great flood; and the progenitors of the various Greek tribes

Mythic Characters, Places, and Events: Chaos, Gaia, Erebos, Nyx, Tartaros, Aether, Hemera, Ouranos, Pontos, the three Cyclopes, the Hecatoncheires (the hundred-handed ones), the twelve Titans (Koios, Kronos, Krios, Hyperion, Iapetus, Oceanus, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Rhea, Theia, Themis, Tethys), Aphrodite, the Erinyes (the Furies), Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, Poseidon, Zeus, Amalthea, the Kouretes, Metis, the Titanomachy, Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Ares, Hephaestus, Hermes, Dionysos, the Gigantes, the Gigantomachy, Typhon, Prometheus, Io, Argus, Pandora, Epimetheus, Deucalion, Pyrrha, Hellene, Aeolus, Dorus, Xuthus, Achaeus, Ion



Supplementary Resources (Videos, Photos, Other Podcasts)

Video/What Is Myth? - "We will learn about the world by looking at the foundational stories of a bunch of different cultural traditions. We will look at the ways that people’s stories define them, and the ways they shape their culture. We will learn about gods, goddesses, heroes, and tricksters, and a lot more. We will walk the blurry line between myth and religion, and we will like it."

The Heritage Podcast Episode 07 Mythistory & Comparative Mythology - "We develop a lens for analyzing the many myths, religious texts, and creation stories that we are going to encounter in the ancient world. Beginning with Carl Jung and his theory of archetypes and the collective unconscious, we then discuss Joseph Campbell’s theories of comparative mythology, and note their relevance for today. Finally we examine a few last-minute theories regarding the origins of prehistoric religious thought."

The Heritage Podcast Episode 21 Greek Mythology and The Odyssey - "We'll see how from Chaos came Darkness, from Darkness came Love, and from Love came Light and Day. Before long, the universe had created the gods! Still, the universe was not ready for Greek Civilization. The barbaric world of primordial violence had to be tamed by the anthropomorphic order of the Olympians. From this Age of Olympians, we’ll eventually get to the mythic period after the Trojan War. It’s in this setting that Homer relates to us the story of Odysseus and the decade-long road trip that will take him all over the Aegean!"

Video/Creation from the Void - "We focus on the creation of the universe out of nothing, or Ex Nihlio creation. Basically, a god decides to make a universe out of nothing. We’ll look at the Genesis story (which has nothing to do with Peter Gabriel or Phil Collins), a Mayan creation tale, a Kono story of the beginning, and we’ll even look at the Big Bang."

Video/Chaos in Greek Cosmogony - "In Hesiod's poetic account of the origin of the universe, we are told that 'first and foremost,' 'Chaos came into being.' Fair enough! But what is this mysterious cosmic entity, that has baffled scholars for well over two millennia? A terrifying void that appears in various locations throughout Hesiod's poem, it seems every added detail about Chaos simply generates more questions. Thus, rather like the apeiron of Anaximander, even the basic material and location of this mysterious entity has been disputed over by scholars. But as Dr. Foxwede discusses in this video, we have a decent guess from modern scholarship that could reveal the true nature and function of Chaos within the context of early Greek cosmology. It's quite an exciting find!"




Video/Greek Mythology Family Tree (Primordials, Titans, & Olympians) - "This video goes through the Greeks gods family tree starting with the primordial gods and continuing through the Titans and the Olympian gods."



Charts/Greek Myth Family Trees

Photo/Greek Gods Family Tree

MythTake Episode 10 Uranus/Ouranos - "This week we discuss the story of Ouranos, an early sky god in Greek mythology. Darrin ties it in to Frankenstein and Alison offers some summer reading recommendations for those wanting to geek out on history of astronomy."



Video/Cosmic Sexy Time, Eggs, Seeds, and Water - "We talk about universal creation stories from Egypt, West Africa, Greece, China, and Persia that have a lot in common with human sexual reproduction. We've got your cosmic eggs, right here!"

Video/Earth Mothers and Rebellious Sons - "So, we’re still talking about sex, but we’re talking about Earth Mothers and their children. We'll start with Gaia, and her son Kronos, who had a classic childhood rebellion, and castrated his father. We'll also get into Kronos’s son Zeus, who would go on to dethrone his father. We’ll talk about Norse mythology, too, and look at the family that created the world, and worked together to make people."

MythTake Episode 09 Saturn/Kronos - "As we travel outwards in the solar system, we travel back in mythological time to learn about Jupiter/Zeus’ father, Saturn/Kronos. The Greek and Roman depictions of him are quite different: Roman mythology emphasizes his agricultural connections and associates him with a Golden Age of mankind, whereas the Greek poet Hesiod depicts him as a tyrant."

Video/Prometheus - Origins - "Let's start at the primordial beginning. The first "peoples" on the earth were Cyclops and Titans. Prometheus was one of these titans, and in fact just one of two remaining after an unfortunate conflict with, you guessed it, Zeus..."




Myths and Legends Episode 92 Greek Myths: Gigantic - "There is someone that isn't happy that the family of Zeus and Hera is sitting on Olympus. Well, there are many people that aren't happy about it. Actually most people except for Zeus and his family aren't thrilled about it. Even then, they all kind of hate each other. Regardless, someone from their past finally comes along to do something about Zeus and his ilk, and she's coming with an army that has the ability to put an end to the Olympians once and for all."

Video/Pantheons of the Ancient Mediterranean - "We begin our unit on pantheons, which are families of gods, and talk about why they're important. Then, we discuss pantheons from the myths of the ancient Mediterranean, starting with ancient Sumer in Mesopotamia. The Egyptian pantheon brings us the story of Osiris and his envious brother Seth. We learn what these two pantheons suggest about the cultures where they originated."

Video/Ancient Egyptian Gods Family Tree - "This video explains the main gods of Ancient Egyptian mythology and how they are connected."



Video/The Greeks and Romans - Pantheons - "We dig deep into the gods of the ancient Greeks. We're talking Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Artemis, Hephaestos, Ares, and Apollo. We're also talking Jupiter, Juno, Neptune, Pluto, Diana, Vulcan, Mars, and...Apollo. Similar gods, different names. We start with their origin stories, talk about their family relationships, and what exactly their specialties are."

Photo/Olympic Gods Family Tree

Myths and Legends Episode 131A Greek Myths: Sudden but Inevitable Betrayal - "The origin stories of the Olympian deities."

Myths and Legends Episode 131B Greek Myths: All in the Family - "Hera is pregnant, and we learn who the father isn’t, and see the births of two more important figures from Greek myth Also, if you’re going for the whole totalitarian dictator thing, make sure you don’t take your wine naps right next to all the people that hate you. Just saying."

Video/The myth of Prometheus - "Before the creation of humanity, the Greek gods won a great battle against the Titans. Most Titans were destroyed or driven to the eternal hell of Tartarus. But the Titan Prometheus, whose name means foresight, persuaded his brother Epimetheus to fight with him on the side of the Gods."

Video/Prometheus - The Making of Man - "As the age of heroes faded and monsters were cast from the world, Zeus brought a task to the wisest of titans, Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus. They were to create the animals and form man to populate the upcoming age--which also lead to the creation of Pandora (and her box of sorrows)."



Myths and Legends Episode 28 Prometheus: Adamantine - "The much-requested story of Prometheus, a Titan who was cursed by Zeus to have his liver pecked out every day for defying the Olympian and bringing fire to the earth. We'll also talk about the Titanomachy, the very literal clash of the Titans at the very beginning of Greek mythology, where Zeus comes to power and we all learn that any policy that involves crazy paranoia is basically the only one a Greek god considers."

Video/Social Orders and Creation Stories - "In which we sit you down for a little talk about myth as a way to construct or reinforce social orders. Specifically, we’re going to look today at stories from around the world that establish or amplify the idea that the errors of women have brought bad things into the world. We’re talking about the idea that death and disease and pain came into the world as a result of human (specifically woman human) action, and that men should therefore be considered superior to women. This idea, which on its face may sound a little out there to our modern ears, is persistent and pernicious. We’re interested in looking at the ways that stories make social orders. We’ll look at Abrahamic, Greek, and Japanese creation stories that have, over the millennia, served to push something of a social order agenda."



Video/The myth of Pandora’s box - "Pandora was the first mortal woman, breathed into being by Hephaestus. The gods gave her gifts of language, craftsmanship and emotion. From Zeus she received two gifts: the trait of curiosity and a heavy box screwed tightly shut -- never to be opened. But what treasure couldn't be seen by human eyes, and why was it in her care?"




Video/Humans and Nature and Creation - "We are talking about human beings and their relationship to the natural world. It turns out foundational stories have a lot to teach us about the ways in which people relate to the physical world around them, and the other organisms that inhabit that world. We'll talk about the Biblical idea that humans have dominion over animals, and we'll talk about Native American stories in which people and nature collaborate to create the world."




Video/Floods in the Ancient Near East - "We are talking to you about floods. You may have heard the story of Noah and the Ark from the Bible, but that is not the only flood story humans tell. Turns out, it's a common thing across cultures`. You could say the study of mythology is...flooded with them. Sorry. We'll be looking at floods from Mesopotamia from the Epic of Gilgamesh, and a flood story from the Zoroastrian tradition. And we'll look at a Roman flood story from Ovid's metamorphosis. It's a deluge of flood stories!"