N.

-1-2

GROUP WORK

STUDENT’S NAMES: DATE: CLASS:

READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING GEREEK MYTH AND COMPLETE THE CHART.

USE YOUR DICTIONARIES.

TOPIC

MAIN CHARACTERS

DESCRIBE MAIN CHARACTERS

SETTING

CONFLICT

CONCLUSION or RESOLUTION
N.-1-2

ZEUS, HERA, AND LITTLE IO

Once upon a time, a long time ago ... Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades were the three sons of Cronos. When Cronos retired,
the boys divided the world up between them. Zeus took the sky, Poseidon took the sea, and Hades ruled under the
earth, the home of the dead. At first, it was great fun. But things had been just a bit slow lately.

Zeus thought about what he could do. He could turn himself into an octopus and visit his brother Poseidon under the sea, but he didn't
feel much like a swim. He could visit Hades under the earth, but Hades was such a gloomy fellow.

He could hurl thunderbolts, but it wasn't much fun without a target. He could hunt up one of the other gods. But the truth was, all the other
gods were terrified of Zeus. He did have a terrible temper, but only when someone lied to him. Since the gods often lied, they mostly
avoided Zeus.

He could call for his wife, Hera. But the truth was, Zeus was a little frightened of his wife, Hera. He could find a beautiful woman. But he
couldn't let Hera catch him. His wife Hera was very jealous.

Zeus flew down to earth and looked around for something to do. He spotted two men walking along a lane. Zeus cast his voice to make it
sound like somebody else was speaking. He was very good at that.

"Hey stupid," Zeus cast his voice loudly, hoping to start a fight.

One man turned to the other angrily. "What did you say?" And before you could say Zeus, fists were flying. Zeus found that very funny.

A glint on the river caught his eye. It was Io, a lovely river nymph.

"What a lovely young woman," Zeus said. He promptly fell in love.

Hoping to hide himself from the eagle eye of his jealous wife, Zeus covered the world with some really thick clouds. Then he flew down to
Io. But Hera was not stupid. The thick coat of clouds made her suspicious immediately.

Zeus looked up. "It's Hera!" he gulped.

Quickly, Zeus changed Io into a cow. When Hera landed, all she found was an innocent looking Zeus standing next to a little white cow.
"This little cow appeared out of nowhere," he told his wife, acting surprised.

Hera was not fooled. "What a beautiful cow," she gushed admiringly. "May I have it as a present?"

Not knowing what else to do, Zeus had to agree. Hera sent the cow away under guard. Zeus arranged for Io to be rescued and set free.
He sent his son Apollo to sing the guard asleep. When the guard closed his eyes, Io ran away.

When Hera heard about it, she sent a gadfly after Io. A gadfly is a fly that bites. "Moo moo," Io screamed, when the gadfly found her.

Io swam across a sea, hoping the gadfly would drown on the trip. No such luck, although Hera did name the sea between Greece and
Rome after Io. Perhaps you've heard of it - the Ionian Sea? No matter.

Feeling very sorry for herself, a dispirited Io traveled next to Egypt.

It was then that Hera decided that Io had suffered enough. First, she made Zeus promise that he would never see Io again. Then she
changed Io back into human form, and left her in Egypt.

Egypt was a dismal place for a river nymph. There are crocodiles in the Nile.

Back in Greece, Zeus gave a big sigh. Surely there was something he could do ....
N.-3-4

GROUP WORK

STUDENT’S NAMES: DATE: CLASS:

READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING GEREEK MYTH AND COMPLETE THE CHART.

USE YOUR DICTIONARIES.

TOPIC

MAIN CHARACTERS

DESCRIBE MAIN CHARACTERS

SETTING

CONFLICT

CONCLUSION or RESOLUTION
N.-3-4

THE 12 LABORS OF HERACLES

Hercules was half man and half god. His mother was a mortal. But his father was a king - a very special king, the king of all the gods, the
mighty Zeus. But Hercules did not know he was part god until he had grown into a man.

Right from the beginning, Hera, Zeus' wife, was very jealous of Hercules. She tried all kinds of ways to kill him, including sending a couple
of big snakes into his crib. Hercules crushed those snakes in a flash! Hercules was incredibly strong, even as a baby!

Zeus loved his little son. He figured that sooner or later Hera might actually find a way to kill little Hercules. To keep his small son safe
from attack, Zeus sent him to live with a mortal family on earth. Hercules grew up loved and noble. But he didn't fit in on earth. He was too
big and too strong. One day, his earth father told him he was a god, well, part god anyway.

The rest of the story of Hercules is a bunch of little stories that together tell the tale of how Hercules earned his way into the heavens, to
take his place with the gods.

As the story goes.....

Hercules had a cousin named Eurystheus (Eury for short). Eury was the king of a little village in the city-state of Argos. Eury was an evil
man. He thought everyone wanted to steal his crown, especially Hercules. One day, when Hera and Eury were chatting about their mutual
hatred for Hercules, Hera came up with a plan - a plan to kill Hercules!

Hera helped Eury design 12 Labors (missions or tasks) that Hercules had to complete. Supposedly, when Hercules had completed the 12
Labors, he would earn his immortality, or so Hera promised. But really, Hera and Eury were certain that one of their "labors" would surely
kill Hercules, probably the very first one.

Hercules was no fool. He asked the Oracle at Delphi if this was a smart thing to do. The oracle agreed that it was. Actually, the oracle had
said, "If you complete 12 Labors, immorality will be yours." Being an oracle, she never explained what she meant by "immortality" - would
he live forever in legend or for real? Hercules never asked. (She would not have told him anyway.)

Hercules not only lived, he had great adventures, discovered true friends, and rid the world of some really nasty critters.
N.5-6

GROUP WORK

STUDENT’S NAMES: DATE: CLASS:

READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING GEREEK MYTH AND COMPLETE THE CHART.

USE YOUR DICTIONARIES.

TOPIC

MAIN CHARACTERS

DESCRIBE MAIN CHARACTERS

SETTING

CONFLICT

CONCLUSION or RESOLUTION
 N.-5-6

APOLLO & CASSANDRA

Each temple in ancient Greece was dedicated to only one god. Because the Greeks worshiped many gods, there were a great many
temples in ancient Greece. Every town had several temples.

The most famous temple dedicated to Apollo was the temple at Delphi. That temple was the home of Apollo's special oracle, a young
woman Apollo had gifted with the ability to see the future. Apollo could do things like that.

Apollo enjoyed visiting the temple at Delphi. He enjoyed visiting all the temples that had been built in his honor.
One day, he heard about an especially splendid temple that had been built in the city-state of Troy. Apollo heard
great things about the temple in Troy that had been built in his honor. The most interesting thing about this temple
to Apollo was that the city-state of Troy was not located on the Greek peninsula. Troy started as an ancient Greek
colony. Troy was on a different peninsula entirely.

Being a curious god, one day Apollo decided to swing by and take a look at the temple at Troy for himself.

As the story goes ...

Cassandra was not an oracle. She could not see into the future. She was a beautiful young priestess, with great ambition.

When Apollo swung by personally to take a look at his temple, all Cassandra saw was his beauty and his power. She gave him a saucy
grin.

Apollo was delighted. Like all the gods, Apollo was very fond of making deals. He offered a deal to Cassandra. If she would give a kiss,
he would give her the gift of prophecy so she could see into the future.

Cassandra did not hesitate. She took the deal. As soon as Apollo gave her the gift of prophecy, she looked eagerly into the future. What
she saw made her gasp. She saw Apollo helping to destroy her beloved city of Troy. She spit in his face.

Apollo was angry of course. But could not take away his gift. He could only add to it. That's how his power worked. That's exactly what he
did. He added something to his gift. From that time on, Cassandra could see the future, but no one believed a thing she said. That's what
Apollo had added.

Some time later, Cassandra warned her people that the huge wooden Trojan horse the Greeks had given Troy was hollow - full of Greek
warriors, hidden inside - warriors who would destroy the city! The people of Troy did not believe her. They did not even look. They were
far too busy celebrating the "defeat" of the Greeks, who had left the horse as a token of defeat (or so they believed.) But the horse was
full of Greek warriors. That night, they crept out of the hollow horse and opened the city gates to let the Greek army in. That was the end
of Troy.
N.7-8

GROUP WORK

STUDENT’S NAMES: DATE: CLASS:

TOPIC

MAIN CHARACTERS

DESCRIBE MAIN CHARACTERS

SETTING

CONFLICT
CONCLUSION or RESOLUTION
 READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING GEREEK MYTH AND COMPLETE THE CHART.

USE YOUR DICTIONARIES.

N.-7-8

KING MIDAS
THE DONKEY EARS

Once upon a time, a long time ago, Pan, the god of shepherds, challenged Apollo to a musical duel. Pan insisted his flute
of reeds could produce a more beautiful melody than Apollo's silly harp. The two agreed on a contest with judges. One of
the judges was King Midas.

After hearing the two melodies, all but one of the judges chose Apollo as the winner. But one judge, King Midas, preferred
Pan's tune.

Furious that anyone could prefer a reedy pipe to his musical lyre, Apollo cooed, "I see the problem. It's your ears. They are
too small to hear properly. Let me fix that for you."

King Midas felt his ears quiver. His ears sprang out, and out, and turned into the large furry ears of an ass. King Midas was
horrified. He grabbed his ears. "Pan, help me!" he cried. But Pan, with a quick nervous glance at Apollo, turned his back.

King Midas tried to hide his ears from his subjects by wearing a variety of huge hats, heavy helmets, and bulky scarves.
The only person who saw his ears was his barber. King Midas made his barber promise he would never tell a soul.

His barber kept his word. But keeping such a huge secret to himself was driving him crazy. Finally, the barber went up a
mountain and almost to the edge of a cliff. He dug a hole in the midst of some reeds. He looked about, to make sure no
one was near. Then, he whispered into the hole, "King Midas has the ears of an ass. King's aaaass ears! King's aaaass
ears!" Having gotten his secret off his chest, he felt much better. He returned home, sure that he had kept his word.

Unfortunately for King Midas, the barber had dug right into a piece of Echo. You've heard of Echo, right? Pieces of Echo
were scattered all over the mountainous kingdom. In fact, pieces of Echo were scattered all over the world.
Although I suppose some people might think it was only the sound of the wind in the reeds, it was really a piece of Echo,
whispering over and over, "King's aaaass ears, king's aaaass ears".

Sound travels well in the mountains, even whispers. It was not long before the entire kingdom knew the king's secret.

N.9-10

GROUP WORK

STUDENT’S NAMES: DATE: CLASS:

READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING GEREEK MYTH AND COMPLETE THE CHART.

USE YOUR DICTIONARIES.

TOPIC

MAIN CHARACTERS

DESCRIBE MAIN CHARACTERS

SETTING
 CONFLICT

CONCLUSION or RESOLUTION

N.-9-10

THE STORY OF PANDORA

Once up a time, a long time ago, there were two brothers named Epimetheus and Prometheus. They were good gods.
They had good hearts. They were good friends.

One day, Prometheus got in trouble with Zeus. Angry over something or other, Zeus had declared that man did not deserve
fire. Because he had a kind heart, and he knew how much man needed fire for food and warmth, Prometheus gave man
the secret of fire even though Zeus had told all the gods not to do that. Zeus was furious that his order had been ignored.
As punishment, Zeus chained Prometheus to a rock for many years.

But that was not enough punishment, not for Zeus. Once Prometheus was chained to a rock, Zeus went after Prometheus'
brother, the gentle, kind-hearted Epimetheus. Zeus did not chain Epimetheus to a rock. Zeus had a more sneaky
punishment in mind.

First, Zeus ordered the gods' handyman, the maker of things - Hephaestus - to make Zeus a daughter. Hephaestus made
a woman out of clay, a beautiful woman. He brought her to life, and then brought her to Zeus. Zeus named his lovely new
daughter Pandora.

Zeus knew that Epimetheus was lonely. Zeus told Epimetheus that his brother, Hephaestus, had to be punished and that's
why he was chained to a rock, but he felt sorry that this punishment left Epimetheus without the company of his brother.
That's why Zeus had decided to give Pandora in marriage to Epimetheus. It was not the truth of course, but then nearly
everyone in the ancient Greek world knew better than to believe the mighty Zeus.

Epimetheus was kind-hearted and gentle and thoughtful, but he was no fool. He knew Zeus was up to something. But he
loved Pandora at first sight.
Zeus gave the newlyweds a gift. Some say it was a jar. Some say it was a box. Whatever it was, it was locked. It came
with a note. The note said: "DO NOT OPEN." Attached to the note was a key. It was all very curious.

You can guess what happened next. It was Pandora whose curiosity got the better of her. One day, she used the key to
open the box. As she raised the lid, out flew all the bad things in the world today - envy, sickness, hate, disease. Pandora
slammed the lid closed, but it was too late.

Epimetheus heard her weeping. He came running. Pandora opened the lid to show him it was empty. Quickly, before she
could slam the lid shut, one tiny bug flew out. He gave Pandora a big buggy smile in thanks for his freedom and flew away.
That tiny bug was named Hope. And Hope made all the difference in the world.

N.-11-12

GROUP WORK

TOPIC

MAIN CHARACTERS

DESCRIBE MAIN CHARACTERS

SETTING
 CONFLICT

CONCLUSION or RESOLUTION

STUDENT’S NAMES: DATE: CLASS:

READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING GEREEK MYTH AND COMPLETE THE CHART.

USE YOUR DICTIONARIES.

N.-11-12
THE TROUBLE WITH ORACLES

The ancient Greeks built many, many temples. They believed each temple they built should honor only one god, no matter
how big or elaborate the temple. Some cities built more than one temple to honor the same god.

Apollo enjoyed having temples built in his honor. He liked the gifts. He liked the attention. Everyone knew that Apollo was
the god of music. He also brought out the sun each day. He had other special powers. Apollo could see the future, not
always, but sometimes. Everyone wanted to know the future. So Apollo's temples were busy places, full of people full of
questions about their future. His temples were so busy, in fact, that the stream of visitors asking him questions wore him
out.

As the story goes ....

Apollo decided he needed an assistant, a wise woman, an oracle. An oracle, in ancient Greece, was someone who could
see the future. But Apollo did not want any old oracle to speak for him. He wanted a real one. But there weren't any real
ones, not really. The oracles he had met always had vague answers.

For example, if you asked an oracle if you should plant your garden tomorrow, they might say "the frost will be gone if the
gods will it." Not really helpful.

Apollo had the power to magically make someone truly see the future, just as he could. But Apollo didn't want to take the
fun out of things. So Apollo set some ground rules for his oracle. He would use his magic to allow her to truly see the future.
Apollo's rules stated that she had to tell the truth, but she could not be too specific. That would allow the possibility of
misunderstanding. That would made it fun!
Apollo magically turned a young priestess into a real oracle. He magically built a special temple for her home. He magically
told a few people here and there about his wonderful oracle.

It did not take long for the word to spread. People came from all over to ask Apollo's oracle a question. People had heard
she could really see the future and could only tell the truth.

One day, a weary king came to the temple. He asked Apollo's oracle if he would win the battle. She smiled and told him a
great king would win the battle. That was exactly what he had wanted to hear. He went away happy, leaving many gifts for
the oracle behind him.

When he led his men into battle, they lost. The king was killed. But people still flocked to Apollo's oracle. They knew she
had told the truth. She had to tell the truth. What a pity the king had not listened.

N.-13-14

GROUP WORK

TOPIC

MAIN CHARACTERS
DESCRIBE MAIN CHARACTERS
 SETTING

CONFLICT

CONCLUSION or RESOLUTION

STUDENT’S NAMES: DATE: CLASS:

READ CAREFULLY THE FOLLOWING GEREEK MYTH AND COMPLETE THE CHART.

USE YOUR DICTIONARIES.

N.-13-14

ATHENA & POSEIDON

Athena was the goddess of wisdom. She could get angry, but more typically, she was wise, and
kind, and understanding. Athena was born very oddly. Her father was the mighty Zeus. But she
did not have a mother. Instead, as the myth goes, she was born directly out of Zeus' brain. Zeus
loved all his children. But one of his favorites was Athena.

Athena held a powerful position in the ancient Greek god world. She was an Olympian, one of the council of
12, who held a seat on Mount Olympus. She also had a home there.

Here is a myth about Athena that shows how clever and practical she was.

As the story goes ... The Competition, Athena & Poseidon

Nearly every town in ancient Greece had a god that looked after the townspeople. Towns rarely had more
than one god to keep an eye on their best interests. Most gods did not share well. So usually, it was one
town and if the town was lucky, one god to watch over it.

Poseidon loved watching over towns. He usually picked coastal towns since he was the Lord of the Sea.
Poseidon was a very powerful god. His brothers were Zeus and Hades. Poseidon was a moody fellow, but
he loved his wife and children and he loved attention. He liked having people build temples in his honor and
bring him gifts. They were not very useful gifts for a god, but he enjoyed getting them anyway. As Greece
grew and developed, new towns sprang up all the time. Poseidon was always on the lookout for new coastal
towns.

He was not the only god who loved to be in charge. Athena, along with other gods, enjoyed that role as well.
One day, both Athena and Poseidon claimed a new village.

Most of the time, humans were grateful when they were selected to be under the care of a god. But two
gods? That was one too many. Poseidon wanted them to chose which god they wanted. But the people did
not want to choose. They could see only trouble ahead if they did.

Athena, goddess of wisdom, daughter of Zeus, understood their worry. She challenged her uncle Poseidon
to a contest. Both gods would give the town a gift. The townspeople could decide which gift was the more
useful.

Poseidon slapped his specter against the side of the mountain. A stream appeared. The people were
excited. A source of fresh water was so important! But when they tried to drink the water, they discovered it
was not fresh at all. It was salt water!

Athena waved her arm and an olive tree appeared. The people nibbled at the olives. They were delicious!
The people were excited. The olive tree would provide wood for building homes. Branches would provide
kindling for kitchen stoves and fireplaces. The olives could be used for food. The fruit could pressed to
release cooking oil. It was wonderful.

But theirs was a coastal village. The people could not risk angering the Lord of the Sea, the mighty
Poseidon. As it turned out, they did not have to choose. Poseidon chose for them. He laughed his mighty
laugh, sending waves crashing against the shoreline. Poseidon proclaimed his niece the winner!

That's how a small village gained a most powerful and wise guardian, the goddess Athena, a guardian who
helped them rise to fame. In her honor, they named their village Athens.