Orpheus and Eurydice
The tale of Orpheus and Eurydice is perhaps one of the most well-known Greek tragedies. Orpheus, son of the Muse, Calliope, and Oeagrus, the King of Thrace, had unnatural musical abilities. When he played, it was said that the very Earth danced with him, that the sun enveloped him in a loving light of thanks. His parentage is debated, on whether his father was truly the King of Thrace, or the God Apollo. However, it is widely accepted that the King was his father.
Eurydice was the daughter of Apollo, and a Wood Nymph, also known as a Dryad. In some accounts, she is referenced as a mortal, but in most she is a Dryad. Upon Orpheus’ return from the expedition of the Argonauts, the young couple fell in love, and were set to be wed. However, when they beseeched Hymen, the God of marriage, to bless their union, the God instead predicted that the marriage wouldn’t last.
Some time later, Eurydice was in the company of the other Dryads when she caught the eye of Aristaeus. It was in her fleeing his advances that she stepped on a snake and suffered a fatal bite.
In his grief, Orpheus lamented, deciding to travel to Hades with the intention of returning with his bride, alive. His music charmed Charon, the Ferryman of the River Styx, and Cerberus. His lamenting, his grief, so moved Hades, the God of the dead, that he agreed to bargain for Eurydice’s release. The King of Underworld told Orpheus that he could return to the land of the living with Eurydice on one condition: upon leaving Hades, both Orpheus and Eurydice were forbidden to look back. One glance, and she would be doomed.
They climbed the mountainous stairs back to the land of the living, and when Orpheus saw the sun, felt the rays on his skin, he turned back to assure himself that she was behind him. In that moment, she disappeared. Orpheus had completed the ascent into the land of the living, however Eurydice remained in the stairwell, still firmly within the land of the dead. And as the bargain with Hades said, her soul was returned to the God. Orpheus, under uncertain circumstances, was later killed by the women of Thrace; and was reunited with his love, once more.
The Fates
The sisters of Fate, also known as the Moirae, infamous as they are, are not often mentioned by name. Their contribution to Olympus and the Underworld is noted, feared amongst Gods and mortals alike, but they remain unrecognized. Anonymity may be paramount to their line of work, but fear is far more potent when the Gods and mortals know who holds their life in their hands.
The eldest of the three sisters is Atropos, who was responsible for cutting the thread of life. Lachesis, the second eldest, dispensed life’s thread. And Clotho, the youngest, determined its length. There are many different iterations of the Fates in various stories and mythologies, with varying depictions. Some, like myself, describe them as being young and beautiful. But in other stories, the Fates were described as decrepit, hunchbacked, old women. One consistency throughout the tales, however, is that the sisters share one eye.
The sisters are known for being infallible, and unflinching. To the point that Zeus, himself, was terrified of them. They are not to be crossed, and should one dare to test their generosity, they often found themselves in Hades’ clutches.
Zeus, and the fall of Cronus
Zeus is the most prominent figure in Greek Mythology. King of the Gods, the first of the Olympians. He was respected and feared in equal measure, adored by the mortals that graced his temples. He was one of what is fondly called “the Big Three” in reference to him and his brothers: Hades and Poseidon. Zeus is also the father to most of the Olympians, and MANY demigods and creatures. He is often synonymous with thunder and lightning. His traditional weapon, crafted by the God Hephaestus, is the striking thunderbolt.
Zeus and his siblings were begotten unto Cronus, the King of Titans, and Rhea. As most Kings were, mythical or not, Cronus was paranoid; a trait Zeus inherited. There was a prophecy stating that one of Cronus’ children were fated to dethrone him. So, feeling as if it was the only way to ward off his ill fate, the Titan swallowed his children one by one, the moment they were born. However, Rhea saved the infant Zeus and hid him in a cave on Crete. Cronus instead swallowed a swaddled stone, and was none the wiser.
Zeus grew in the cave, cared for by the nymph Amalthaea, and kept hidden by the intentional clash of young soldiers’ swords to disguise his cries. When he’d grown into a man, Zeus, aided by his brothers Poseidon and Hades, overthrew Cronus and divided the dominion of the world between them. Ushering in the reign of the Olympians.
Charybdis and Scylla
There are many monsters in Greek Mythology, some born of trials and tribulations, and others the products of divine conception. Yet, one of my personal favorites is the immortal pair of Charybdis and Scylla. They are most known for their appearance in the Odyssey. They live on either side of a narrow strait in the Mediterranean Sea, through which Odysseus had to sail.
Scylla was a monster of the former creation. She was once beautiful, woman-like in appearance. However, her jealousy was the downfall of her visage. Transformed by Circe’s witchcraft, Scylla became a fearful monster, half of a formidable duo. She had twelve feet in total, and six heads with razor sharp teeth on serpentine necks, all of which connected to the string of baying hounds that lined her abdomen. She mercilessly devoured those who ventured too close to her lair.
Charybdis was a monster of the latter. The daughter of divine conception, of Poseidon and Gaia, she was the personification of a whirlpool. She lived on the opposite side of the strait to her immortal pair, drinking down the sea and the ships that braved the deadly waters three times a day. In some stories, such as mine, she appears with rows of jagged, rock-like teeth to break apart that which she devoured.
The duo of Charybdis and Scylla posed a threat to those who ventured through the strait. Too close to either side, to either monster, and there would be no survivors from the voyage.
Athena
Athena is the Goddess of Wisdom, Warfare, and Handicraft, and the patron God of the Grecian city, Athens. First born to the King of the Gods, Athena has a rather unusual appearance into Greek Mythology. There are two schools of thought as to her conception. The first is that she was conceived by Zeus and Metis, the Goddess of Counsel. As his father had done to his siblings before him when an ill-fated prophecy was set forth, Zeus decided to eat his offspring, but took it one step further. Zeus’ mother Rhea spared him the fate of his siblings, and to avoid that complication, Zeus consumed Metis while pregnant with Athena. But, like the second theory of her conception, she emerged the same way.
The second school of thought, not uncommon amongst the Gods, is that Athena was born from Zeus without a mother, erupting, full-grown, from his forehead. Zeus, either after consuming a pregnant Metis or not, began to experience horrendous headaches, to the point where the God Hephaestus struck him in the head with an axe to relieve the pain. And out came Athena.
She is the counterpart to Ares, the God of War. While he symbolizes brute strength and vigor, she symbolizes justice and strategy. The Goddess of War and Wisdom never wed, and never bore any children. She, like her sister Artemis, is also referred to as the virgin Goddess. She was not a slave to her emotions, spare one, nor swayed by love. However, like her contemporaries, Athena was a victim of pride. She was more level-headed than the other Olympians, but when the cards were on the table, she could be as cruel and unforgiving as them all.
Arachne
Arachne was once a mortal woman, a shepherd’s daughter adept at weaving. She boasted in her village about her skill. Which wouldn’t have been a problem, aside from the fact that she said she was more talented than the Goddess of Handicraft, herself, Athena. The Goddess was enraged, appearing to the woman in her village and ordering her to a challenge.
In the duration of the challenge, Athena wove four tapestries portraying the punishments of those who defied the Gods; who dared to think themselves equal. While Arachne wove what she knew to be true. Her tapestries portrayed vengeful and abusive Gods, torturing the humans.
Unfortunately for her, Arachne’s work was deemed superior. As her prize for defeating Athena, the Goddess threw a potion brewed by Hecate- a Titan, and the Goddess of Witchcraft- on the woman, turning her into a spider. Her punishment, like many Sisyphean tasks the Gods doled out in their rage, was to weave for all eternity.
Hecate
Aside from the Olympians, there are many minor Gods and Goddesses. One that I feel is most often misrepresented is Hecate. In popular thought, she is known only as the Goddess of Witchcraft, which is true. However, Hecate is much more than a mere Goddess. She is a Titan. Daughter of the Titan Perses and the nymph Asteria, Hecate appears in many Greek Mythology retellings; specifically, those centered around Hades and Persephone.
Hecate preceded the Olympians, and seemed to be highly worshipped in Thrace. Originally, Hecate was portrayed as a single figure, but in later depictions became a being of three merged into one. Three faces, and three bodies combined.
It is believed that she originated not in Greek Mythology but was adopted by the Greeks during the Archaic Period from Caria Asia Minor (800-480 BC).
Icarus
Greek Mythology is comprised of numerous tales and creatures. Yet, like myself, people tend to gravitate toward the tragedies.
Icarus was the son of the inventor Daedalus, expert craftsman for King Minos of Crete. Daedalus was tasked with building a labyrinth for King Minos to entrap his wife Pasiphae’s son, the Minotaur.
Theseus came in search of the creature, sailing from Athens to kill it with the help of Ariadne, using a claw Daedalus had given her. As punishment for helping Theseus escape from the labyrinth, Daedalus and his son, Icarus, were imprisoned below the King’s castle.
They both grew restless in the prison, and Daedalus devised a plan for their escape. He fashioned wings for him and Icarus out of feathers glued together with wax. Daedalus taught his son how to fly and instructed him that the best way for them to escape King Minos was to fly over his castle.
Icarus was warned not to fly too close to the sun, lest the wax melt. Or too low, where the feathers would be drenched in the ocean. When at last they flew, Icarus forgot his father’s warnings, and began flying higher. It wasn’t long until the sun melted the wax on his wings, and he plummeted into the ocean, never to be seen again.
Nyx
Nyx was the Primordial Goddess of the Night. She predated the Olympians, and the Titans. Born from the void of Chaos, Nyx was the sibling of Erebus (Darkness), Gaea (Earth), and Tartarus (The Abyss). She parented many Gods and Goddesses in Greek Mythology, though the status of their paternity is often a subject of debate.
Many sources state that Nyx parented the Gods and Goddesses alone. While others maintained she procreated with Chaos, Erebus, and of course herself.
The most notable of her children were Hypnos (The God of Sleep), Eris (The Goddess of Strife), Nemesis (The Goddess of Retribution), Thanatos (The Personification of Death), Geras (The Personification of Old Age), Moros (The Personification of Doom), and Charon (The Ferryman to the Underworld). Though she was credited with mothering entities such as The Moirae (The Fates), The Oneiroi, The Hesperides, and The Keres.
She was a Goddess of immense power and destruction, rousing fear in those who were seemingly infallible. Such as Zeus, King of the Gods.
The Oneiroi
The Oneiroi were children of Nyx. And as many of her children were, they are best categorized as the personification of an element of the night. Dreams. In mythology, they are attributed with the delivery of dreams to mortals. The winged creatures traveled through two gates. One of ivory and one of horns. Dreams passing through the former carried great meaning, those of the latter were false; often referred to as nightmares.
The “leader” of the Oneiroi was said to be Morpheus, the God of Dreams. The Oneiroi were said to reside in Erebos, a land of eternal darkness. They had many siblings by their mother, Nyx. The most notable being: Hypnos (The God of Sleep), Moros (The Personification of Doom), Eris (The Goddess of Strife), Thanatos (The Personification of Death), Charon (The Ferryman to The Underworld), Nemesis (The Goddess of Retribution), and Geras (The Personification of Old Age).