Greek mythology summary

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Below is the article summary. For the full article, see Greek mythology.

Greek mythology, Oral and literary traditions of the ancient Greeks concerning their gods and heroes and the nature and history of the cosmos. The Greek myths and legends are known today primarily from Greek literature, including such classic works as Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey, Hesiod’s Works and Days and Theogony, Ovid’s Metamorphoses, and the dramas of Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides. The myths deal with the creation of the gods and the world, the struggle among the gods for supremacy and the triumph of Zeus, the love affairs and quarrels of the gods, and the effects of their adventures and powers on the mortal world, including their link with natural phenomena such as thunderstorms or the seasons and their connection with cultic sites or rituals. Among the great stories of Greek mythology and legend are those of the Trojan War, the voyage of Odysseus, Jason’s search for the Golden Fleece, the exploits of Heracles, the adventures of Theseus, and the tragedy of Oedipus. See also Greek religion.

Ariadne Summary

Ariadne, in Greek mythology, daughter of Pasiphae and the Cretan king Minos. She fell in love with the Athenian hero Theseus and, with a thread or glittering jewels, helped him escape the Labyrinth after he slew the Minotaur, a beast half bull and half man that Minos kept in the Labyrinth. Here the

Atreus Summary

Atreus, in Greek legend, the son of Pelops of Mycenae and his wife, Hippodamia. Atreus was the elder brother of Thyestes and was the king of Mycenae. The story of his family—the House of Atreus—is virtually unrivaled in antiquity for complexity and corruption. There are several different accounts

Ares Summary

Ares, in Greek religion, god of war or, more properly, the spirit of battle. Unlike his Roman counterpart, Mars, he was never very popular, and his worship was not extensive in Greece. He represented the distasteful aspects of brutal warfare and slaughter. From at least the time of Homer—who

Amazon Summary

Amazon, in Greek mythology, member of a race of women warriors. The story of the Amazons probably originated as a variant of a tale recurrent in many cultures, that of a distant land organized oppositely from one’s own. The ascribed habitat of the Amazons necessarily became more remote as Greek