ENGLISH 10 Timeline of events

*Chaos everywhere
I. Greek Mythology * deities (primordial gods) start showing up creating
*Theogony – most complete record of the stories stuff
surrounding the Greek gods and creation (8th to 7th * Gaia and Uranus has a bunch of monsters, then
century B.C.) Cyclopes, then Titans (2nd gen gods) for children
* Hesiod – Greek poet who wrote Theogony 500 *Uranus shoves the children back up into Gaia
years after events unfolded; work is claimed to have * Gaia gets mad so she asks for help from her
been heavily embellished children
* Cronos cuts off Uranus’ genitals and throws it in the
Primordial Gods: sea, forming the Giants, the Furies; sea foam creates
1. Chaos (Air) Aphrodite
2. Gaia (Earth) * Cronos marries Rhea, swallows every child she
3. Tartarus (the Pit) bears for fear of being dethroned
4. Eros (Procreation) * Rhea gets mad, smuggles away the 6th child, Zeus
5. Chronos (Time) to Crete
6. Ananke (Compulsion) * Nymphs and Curetes raise Zeus with milk from
7. Hydros (Fresh Water) Amalthea
8. Thesis (Creation) * Gaia and Zeus team up to make Cronos throw up
9. Physis (Nature) his children
10. Uranus (Sky) * Zeus cuts off Cronos’ genitals and bounds Titans in
Tartarus, sentencing Atlas to hold up the sky
Titans (children of Gaea and Uranus): * Giants rebel against Zeus but, with the help of his
1. Oceanus siblings and Heracles (Hercules), defeats them
2. Thetis * Zeus marries Metis (goddess of Cunning
3. Hyperion Intelligence
4. Theia * Zeus swallows hish wife for fear of being dethroned
5. Themis * Metis still gives birth to a daughter, Athena, who split
6/. Rhea open her father’s forehead to come out
7. Mnemosyne
8. Iapetus II. Trojan War
9. Coeus *most famous account is the epic “The Iliad” by
10. Phoebe Homer
11. Crius Thetis – beautiful sea nymph who Zeus and Poseidon
12. Cronos fell in love with; married to King Peleus
Peleus – the most pious man living on Iolcus
Olympian Gods (children of Cronos and Rhea): Zeus – organized Peleus and Thetis wedding, invited
1. Zeus (sky, thunder) everyone except the goddess of discord
2. Hera (women, marriage, childbirth) Eris – goddess of discord; got mad for not being
3. Poseidon (sea, earthquakes, horses) invited; made an apple of discord
4. Hades (underworld) Apple of Discord – bears the inscription “for the
5. Hestia (hearth, family, home, state) fairest”
6. Demeter (agriculture, fertility, harvest) Hera, Athena, Aphrodite – quarreled over the apple
Paris – the man with the fairest judgment; asked by
Other Gods: Zeus to settle dispute over the apple
1. Aphrodite (love, beauty) Offers to Paris
2. Athena (wisdom) a. Hera – political power and control over Asia
3. Persephone (vegetation, grain) b. Athena – wisdom and excellent battle skills
4. Artemis (wild animals, hunt) c. Aphrodite – most beautiful woman in the world
5. Apollo (music, poetry, light, medicine) PARIS CHOSE APHRODITE
7. Ares (war) Sparta – place where the most beautiful woman lives
8. Dionysus (wine, theater) Helen – most beautiful woman in the world
9. Hermes (trade, wealth, luck, travel) Menelaus – king of Sparta, husband of Helen
Eros – shot Helen with one of his love arrows so she
welcomed Paris and eloped with him to Troy
Agamemnon – Menelaus’ brother who helped him King Alcinous and Queen Arete – rulers of the
gather the Achaean leaders and get Helen back Phaeacians who welcomed the shipwrecked
Some Greek Heroes gathered (45 in all): Odysseus
a. Ajax and Teucer – Salamis Phaeacians – people who helped Odysseus get to
b. Ajax – Locris Ithaca
c. Idomeneus – Crete Archery competition – arranged for Penelope’s suitors
d. Diomedes – Argos with the help of Athena; easily won by Odysseus who
e. Elephenor – Euboea slaughters all of them
f. Philoctetes – Meliboea Laertes – Odysseus father
g. Protiselaus - Philace

Odysseus – wise warrior who joined the Achaean

army despite a prophecy he will have a hard time
heading back
Achilles – enlisted by Odysseus to join the Trojan
expedition

III. The Odyssey

* second extant work of Western literature
* composed near the end of 8th century BCE as
sequel to “The Iliad”

Odysseus – one of the Greek heroes who fought in

the Trojan War; struggled for 10 years to get home
Ithaca – Odysseus’ home
Odysseus’ 10-year journey brought him through
a. Ionian Islands
b. Peloponnese
c. Egypt
d. North Africa
e. western Mediterranean

Penelope – Odysseus’ wife; woed by many suitors

who convince her that Odysseus is dead
Telemachus – Odysseus’ son; spurred by Athena to
look for his father
12 – number of ships Odysseus had at the start of his
journey home to Troy
Obstacles encountered by Odysseus:
a. Storms driving Odysseus off-course
b. Lotus-Eaters with their memory-erasing food
c. Polyphemus – one-eyed cyclops son of Poseidon
d. Laestrygones the cannibal
e. Circe the witch-goddess (turned half of his men to
swine)
f. Scylla, the many-headed monster
g. whirlpool Charybdis

Helios – the sun god whose cattle Odysseus and his

men hunted; they were punished with a shipwreck
where all but Odysseus drowned
Calypso – owner of the island on which Odysseus
was washed ashore
Hermes and Zeus – persuaded Calypso to release
Odysseus