Greek Gods, Heroes, and Mythology

Greek Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 3 — When Minos saw the amazing bull he couldn’t bring himself to kill it Instead he hid the bull to keep for himself Minos sacrificed an ordinary bull for CRETE Today the island of Crete is part of Greece Long ago there was another culture on Crete This culture was the Minoan civilization It was named for King Minos Crete was the location of another important event in Greek mythology The god Zeus was born on Crete Zeus later became the king of all the gods Poseidon But Poseidon was a god He noticed the difference Poseidon was angry at Minos’s disrespect Aphrodite the goddess of love was angry too Together the two gods planned revenge Aphrodite put a spell on Pasiphae Minos’s wife Soon the queen had a child The baby had a human body and a bull’s head He became known as the Minotaur and as he grew he began to eat people 6

Greek Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 4 — THE MINOTAUR AND THE LABYRINTH King Minos was horrified He had a complicated maze built inside his kingdom He sent the Minotaur to live in the maze alone This lonely puzzle of a home was called the Labyrinth King Minos used the Labyrinth for his own revenge He was angry with the city of Athens so he demanded a sacrifice from the city Every nine years Athens had to send him seven young men and seven young women He sent these unlucky people to the Labyrinth They met the Minotaur there and never came back This terrible tradition continued until the famous hero Theseus came to Crete Heroes are the children of gods or kings They go on adventures to achieve some special task On the way they face obstacles such as monsters and evil kings Theseus entered the Labyrinth and killed the Minotaur One of Minos’s daughters the clever Ariadne helped him The princess helped Theseus solve the puzzle of the maze She gave him a 7

Greek Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 5 — Ancient artwork depicts the story of Theseus killing the Minotaur ball of string Theseus unspooled the string behind him so he never lost his place inside the Labyrinth ANCIENT GREEK MYTHS The story of the Minotaur comes from the tradition of Greek mythology The ancient Greeks were people who 8

Greek Gods, Heroes, and Mythology — page 6 — lived in what are now Greece Turkey and islands in the Mediterranean Sea They lived in many different small cities that were separate kingdoms Powerful Greek kingdoms also conquered land in Eastern Europe Italy Spain and France They spread their culture there These people were connected by their language ancient Greek They also shared a common religion and culture Ancient Greek culture flourished from around 1400 BCE to about 300 CE Greek religion was polytheistic This means that the Greeks worshipped many gods They built temples dedicated to their gods They also worshipped them with rituals and sacrifices The Greeks told stories about their gods These stories helped explain who the gods were They showed how gods and goddesses related to human beings The Greeks also told stories about magical animals that lived in nature Greek stories were full of tales about famous heroes Their adventures were full of war romance 9

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