At first there was only Chaos. Then Gea or Mother Earth begat by herself Uranus, or the Starry Firmament.
Gea joined Uranus and had several children.
First, six male Titans were born: Ocean, Ceo, Chum, Hyperion, Japetus and Crono, who was very perverse, and six female Titanids: Aunt, Rea, Themis, Mnemosine, Phoebe and Tetis.
Then Gea and Uranus had other children, the Cyclops. Arges, Estéropes and Brontes.
And later they were also fathers of the Hecatonchiros, three giant monsters with one hundred arms and fifty heads each.
Uranus was evil and every time Gea was to give birth, he kept them in Gea's womb, not allowing them to be born.
Gea tired of suffering, as she felt she was about to explode, she devised an evil plan. He gave birth to a bright steel sickle and sought the help of Crono, the most perverse of his sons to cut off his genitals while he slept.
Crono waited crouching for Uranus to snore placiously and with the sickle provided by his mother, Gea, castrated him by throwing his organs into the sea.
Crono kept all the monsters in chains in the depths of the earth.
The blood spilled again fertilized the earth. From there were the Erinias, spirits avenging the crimes of blood, the Giants and the Nymphs Meliades or the ash trees. From the organ that fell into the sea was born the goddess Aphrodite, which they found floating in a seashell.
Crono joined Rea, but also had a bad habit of eating his children, so the younger, Zeus, dethroned him and conquered the rule of the world.
The Titans who were confined to the depths, disagreed and revolted shaking the earth, shaking the mountains and causing all kinds of earthquakes and tidal waves.
Zeus thought that if he let them go, they would calm down, but as soon as he freed them from his prison, they began to throw rocks at him and pile mountains. This disaster lasted ten years.
Zeus wanted to put order once and for all, then went down to the Tartar where the Cyclops and the Hundred Arm Giants were chained and asked them for help to end the scourge of the Titans.
They willingly agreed, and when they finally saw the sunlight again, they were filled with energy and went into battle with all their might. The earth trembled and the sky shook until the Titans were buried under a mountain of rocks thrown by 100-armed monsters. Those who survived were thrown into Tartar and never left again.
Daedalus was a native of Athens.
He was a great builder. He was recognized as the first sculptor to work marble making beautiful statues. He was also an architect. Very skilled in the use of tools. But Daedalus was very jealous.
Together with Daedalus, his nephew Talo, a very ingenious young man, worked. Talo one day found a snake jaw in the field and was inspired to invent the saw, forging in the iron a series of teeth similar to those of the serpent. When Daedalus saw the invention, he caught a fit of jealousy and threw Talo off a cliff.
As they could not charge him for lack of evidence, they sentenced him to banishment. So he had to leave Athens.
Daedalus then departed for the Island of Crete, where he was very well received by King Minos. At that time, architects and sculptors were scarce on the island and he took it at his service.
There Daedalus dedicated himself to creating splendid works of art.
At that time, the island of Crete was ravaged by a terrible monster, with the body of man and the head of a bull named Minotaur, who spread terror throughout the island.
King Minos commissioned Daedalus an underground construction to lock him up. Daedalus, who was very ingenious, then built a maze. This construction had so many passageways, rodeos that led nowhere, turns and sinuous that once someone entered it became impossible to find the exit.
The Minotaur was locked in the middle of the labyrinth, thus returning tranquility to Crete.
King Minos entrusted him with more work every day and Daedalus was tired and wanted to leave Crete but King Minos did not allow it.
When King Minos refused to allow Daedalus to leave Crete, Daedalus began to plot the way to escape.
As Crete was an island it was practically impossible to escape by sea. King Minos had a large fleet and would capture him.
Daedalus had a son with a slave in Crete, her name was Icarus. Then he decided he'd run away with his son by air.
Inspired by the flight of birds, he then built two pairs of wings. Some for Icaro and some for him. He collected a lot of feathers that he fixed to the structure with beeswax and then adapted them with a harness to his back and arms.
When everything was ready he said to his son: - Icaro, if you want to run away with me from this island, pay attention to me and follow my advice. You need to fly in half the atmosphere. If you fly too low the humidity and the steam of the water will soak up the feathers, these will be very heavy and you will fall into the sea. And if you fly too high, the heat of the sun will melt the wax, the feathers will come off, and you will also fall into the sea.
Once he finished giving all the explanations, Daedalus threw himself into space. Icaro followed him like a pigeon coming out of the nest for the first time. But Icaro soon gave himself to the pleasure of the flight with enthusiasm. The view was wonderful and began to fly higher and higher, dangerously approaching the sun. So the feathers began to peel off the structure until Icaro fell fatally, drowning in the sea.
King Minos had locked the fearsome monster Minotaur in the maze.
In turn, Minos had imposed a terrible tribute on the city of Athens: Every nine years they had to send seven boys and seven girls to feed the terrible monster.
Athens had already sent two groups of young people to feed him. This would be the third consignment of young envoys. One of the seven young people was called Theseus.
Before entering the maze he met Ariadne, a daughter of Minos who fell in love with him and decided to help him.
The problem was not only to kill the Minotaur without weapons, as they were not allowed to enter the labyrinth armed, but to be able to find their way out in such intricate corridors.
Ariadne then, without anyone warning him, gave Theseus a spool of thread. Thanks to this, Theseus was able to find the way out of the maze after punching the Minotaur.
Theseus thus saved the whole group and escaped carrying Ariadne with him.
Jorge Luis Borges in his story The House of Asterion shows us another facet of this fearsome monster.
He was a poor peasant.
One day he saw that an eagle had landed on the rod of his ox chariot. As the eagle remained installed on the rod, without immuting, then Gordio decided to go to Telmiso in Phrygia, because there was a reliable oracle there to ask him what this could mean.
Before crossing the gateway to the city, he found a beautiful young woman who possessed the gift of profession. As soon as he saw the carriage with the eagle, he told Gordio that he should go directly to offer sacrifices to Zeus and asked him to let her go with him.
“First we have to offer sacrifices,” she said.
Then they headed for the city.
They did not know that the king of Phrygia had died subtly and since he had no children the successor was not known.
But an oracle predicted: -! His new king approaches with his future wife in a cart pulled by oxen! - Yeah. They entered the square with the cart and immediately all eyes lay on them and on the eagle that was still standing on the rod of the wagon.
They immediately proclaimed — Here is our new King!
In gratitude he dedicated the cart and the oxen to Zeus.
Gordio had hooked the cart to the rod with a very particular knot.
An oracle predicted: “The man who can untie the knot would become the owner and lord of Asia. The cart was then left in the Acropolis for centuries under the watchful watch of the priests of Zeus.
In 333 BC, Alexander of Macedonia, also known as Alexander the Great, passed through the city and cut the knot with his sword in an act of pride.
Midas was the king of Macedonia. He was the first man to plant a rose garden.
He liked to enjoy the good life, parties, listen to music and have a good time.
One morning a gardener said to him, “There is a completely drunk Satyr lying in your rose garden.
The satyr turned out to be Silenio.
Silenio had traveled with Dionysius to India and had many interesting anecdotes to tell. Midas was entertained for five days listening attentively to the stories of that distant continent, its cities, its ships and its people.
When he finished, without any punishment for crushing his roses, he sent him safely and safely with Dionysus.
Dionysius, grateful, said to Midas, “Ask me what you want, and I will grant it to you.” Midas, he chose to have the power to turn everything he touched into gold. And so it was granted.
At first it was very fun to make roses or golden birds. But by mistake he turned his own daughter into a golden statue.
And later despair seized him when he was hungry and his food turned into gold or when he was thirsty and wine turned into gold.
Weeping he asked Dionysus for help: - Please, Dionysus, release me from this punishment. My own daughter is a golden statue and I can't drink or eat. I'm dying of hunger and thirst. Help me!
Dionysius laughed and ordered him to wash his hands to remove the magic touch from a Phrygian river called Pactolus, whose sands are still golden. And he brought his daughter back to life.
The goddess Athena had invented the double flute. When I blew it, I managed to rip off beautiful melodies.
One night, when Athena was playing the flute at a banquet, Hera and Aphrodite began to laugh secretly.
Athena wondered why. Then she sat down on the bank of a stream to play, and when she saw her ridiculous appearance, with her cheeks swollen as she blew the flute, she threw her into the stream with a curse for him to find it.
Later, Marsias found the flute in the stream and managed to rip out delicious melodies. So much that he decided to compete with the god Apollo.
Apollo called the Muses and King Midas who so appreciated the music to act as a jury. Marsias would play the flute and Apollo would play the lyre.
The two played their instruments but the jury couldn't agree because they both gave a splendid concert.
Then Apollo said, “I challenge you to play your instrument backwards as I do.” Apollo turned the lyre and kept playing.
“Then Apollo wins, “said the Muses.
“That is very unfair,” said King Midas-His instrument does not allow him.
Since the muses were nine, and Midas only one, they won.
Apollo then said to Marsias, “You must die, to challenge the same god of music to a competition!” And saying this killed him.
Then Midas called him donkey and touched his ears that began to grow instantly, becoming donkey ears.
King Midas, ashamed, ran to cover his ears with a Phrygian hat. I didn't want anyone to know about his misfortune.
But his hairdresser had no choice but to find out when he went to visit him to cut his hair. Midas threatened him with death if he told a living creature the secret of his ears.
The secret burned in the chest of the hairdresser, he desperately needed to repeat it.
When he saw that there was no one around him, he dug a hole by the banks of the river Pactolus, crouched and whispered into the hole, “King Midas has donkey ears. “
He covered the hole with sand, making sure his secret was well buried and was relieved.
But a cane began to sprout and whispered to the other herbs:
Just passing by the place a man named Melampo, who understood the language of birds. Melampo told his friends and then went before King Midas and said:
King Midas, surprised, first cut off the hairdresser's head and later killed himself out of shame.
Once upon a time there was a goddess named Demeter who had a beautiful daughter named Persephone. The young woman had big green eyes and a hair of golden loops. She lived with her mother in a palace apartment on Mount Olympus and occasionally went down to the meadows to collect flowers in the company of her friends.
One day, the god of the dead, Hades, who lived in the center of the earth, surrounded by darkness, fell deeply in love with Persephone.
As Hades was very cunning he did not dare to approach without first asking permission from Zeus, the most important of all the gods of Olympus. Zeus, he didn't answer him or not, but he winked at him. Then Hades, he drew up a plan to fulfill his wish.
One day Persephone, was quietly collecting flowers with her friends, walked away distracted from the group to pick up a daffodil. At that moment the earth opened and from there arose the god of the dead in a black carriage. He kidnapped her and took her with him without leaving any trace. The friends had not seen Persephone disappear without a trace. So there was nothing they could tell Demeter, the mother, that she suffered from the disappearance of her daughter.
Demeter, desperate began looking for her. She disguised herself as an old woman and began touring all over Greece looking for some clues about her daughter. For nine days he neither ate nor drank.
When the kings of Eleusis saw her, they offered her to stay with them in the palace to take care of her children.
One day, the eldest son of the kings said to him:
Goddess Demeter, I have some bad news. A pastor told me that he saw a sinister carriage, led by a king wearing black armor, took away a young woman screaming in fear. The earth opened up and they both disappeared into their bowels. I think it might be your daughter Persephone.
Demeter, recognized Hades from the pastor's description, thought Zeus had something to do with this matter and decided to take revenge.
As Demeter was the goddess of agriculture, she toured Greece forbidding trees to bear fruit, grasses to grow and seeds to germinate. Soon the cattle had no way to feed and began to die. If this continued, men would soon die from lack of food too.
Zeus was frightened and tried to convince her by sending her great gifts, jewelry and gold, but Demeter did not accept them. - I don't want your presents. I just want my daughter Persephone back in my house.
Zeus, seeing that it was impossible to convince Demeter, called Hermes and sent him to the Tatar to give a message to the god Hades.
Hades replied:
Persephone was so sad that he had refused to taste a bite since the day of his abduction.
Then Hades said to him,
Beautiful Persephone, you seem to be unhappy by my side. You haven't had a bite since the day you arrived. You're thinner every day, and if you keep on like this, you'll soon die. You better get back home. But a gardener who heard the conversation said:
What do you mean, you haven't had a bite? I saw her eat grenades from your garden this morning.
Hades smiled satisfied. He took her into a carriage and took her to his mother, who as soon as he saw her, embraced her crying with happiness.
But Hades said to him:
Goddess Demeter, your daughter Persephone has eaten seven grenades from my garden, so she must return to Tartar with me.
Demeter, furious replied:
If that happens, I will never lift the curse that weighs upon the earth. All men and animals will die.
Zeus, frightened by Demeter's response, sent his wife Hera to negotiate with the gods.
Finally Demeter accepted that the prince of darkness should marry Persephone. His daughter had to spend seven months a year with Hades, one month for every grenade she ate and five months with Demeter, her mother.
That is why the earth blooms and fructifies in spring and summer, when Persephone visits her mother and the earth is sad and dry in autumn and winter, when Persephone is next to Hades.
Once upon a time there was a Muse called Calliope. She had a son named Orpheus.
Orpheus, besides being a great poet, played the lyre very well, delighted all who listened to it. Both men and animals were ecstatic with their music. Even the trees and rocks moved and changed places just to hear their sweet melodies.
Orpheus was married to Eurydice, his beautiful wife, of whom he was greatly in love.
One day as they walked through the forest holding hands, Eurydice, inadvertently, stepped on a poisonous serpent that was asleep. The serpent, furious that she was awakened so abruptly, bit her ankle and Eurydice died poisoned within a few minutes.
Orpheus, desperate to get his wife back, decided to go down to Tartar to find her and bring her back to life.
Orpheus took the lyre, and as he played, he loved everyone who crossed his path. Even the can Cerbero, the three-headed dog custodian of Tartarus, followed him like a meek puppy.
Orpheus continued his long journey, enchanting with his melody one after another until he reached the very throne of Hades, the King of the Dead, who fascinated by the soft chords of the lyre, asked him, “What are you looking for here, Orpheus? “
I want my wife Eurydice back with me. Orpheus replied.
Oh! - Oh! Listen to me. Said Hades-I will allow Eurydice to return with you on one condition: “You must walk without looking back until you reach full sunlight. Eurydice will follow you while you touch the lyre and you will not suffer any harm.
Orpheus, happy began to sing the sweetest of melodies while Eurydice followed him in the distance. But Orpheus was so eager to see her again, that he soon forgot the condition imposed by Hades and when it was only a minute to come out, he turned his head to look at her and lost Eurydice forever.
One day, the supreme god of Olympus, Zeus said: “My son Dionysius, also known as Bacchus, deserves to be named god for having invented wine. And raised him to the rank of god.
Orpheus refused to worship him as a god saying:
When Dionysius heard the comment, he became so angry that he sent a group of Ménades, intoxicated women all the time, to pursue him.
When the Ménades found him, Orpheus was placiously asleep next to his lyre. If he'd been awake playing his lyre, they would have been enchanted by his music.
Then the Menades cut off her head and threw her into a nearby river. Then they cut the rest of the body into little pieces.
The Muses found the pieces of Orpheus and grieved by the sad disappearance of the musician, buried them at the foot of Mount Olympus, where the nightingales sang from there in sweetest songs.
Orpheus's head floated downstream to the sea, where a fishing boat caught her in her nets and buried her.
Zeus allowed the Lyre of Orpheus to be placed in the sky, forming the constellation called “The Lyre”
Legend has it that there was a beautiful young woman named Aracne. She was very skilled in the art of weaving wool, and for that talent she was recognized.
The Nymphs often descended to their abode to admire their work and were enchanted by their magnificent embroidery.
They once asked her if the goddess Athena had taught her how to work wool, but Aracne defended herself as if she had been insulted: “No one has taught me the trade!” If Athena wants to come and compete with me, let him come!
Athena heard her. Then she disguised herself as an old woman to approach without arousing suspicion and gently said to her, “Accept the advice of this old woman. You can achieve glory with your craft, but you can never overshadow an immortal goddess like Athena.
Aracne became even more obfuscated: - Let him come and tile! We'll see who wins!
Then Athena took off the old lady costume, sat next to her and started knitting. For hours and relentlessly they devoted themselves to drawing intricate and beautiful embroidery.
Athena did a magnificent job, but nothing could say about the wonderful embroidery of Aracne.
The goddess, disgraced, shattered the work of her competitor to a thousand pieces, and she, unable to bear that humiliation, tried to hang herself.
Athena felt sorry for the young woman and saved her from death, but then she said, “You are a wretch! You're not going to die, but from now on, your life will always hang by a thread!
Aracne, was turned into a spider and since then does not cease to knit hung on a thread.
Legend has it, that when Peleo and Tetis got married, they sent invitations to the party to all the gods. Since they didn't want to have problems on such a special day, they decided that it would be best not to invite Eris, known as Discord.
Eris got so angry that she showed up at the wedding banquet anyway. Furious went to the table where the most beautiful goddesses were: Hera, Athena and Aphrodite and threw a huge apple with a carved inscription saying: “For the Most Beautiful”.
Hera said: It must be for me. But instantly Athena and Aphrodite also claimed the apple and put Zeus as referee.
Zeus, did not want to take part in any of the goddesses because he knew that at least two of them would end up making claims for his intervention or worse, enmated with him and decided to get the problem out of him.
He couldn't think of anything better than sending the three goddesses before the beautiful young Paris to make his decision.
One by one the goddesses paraded before him, covering him with promises.
“I promise to give you power and wealth if you choose me, “said Hera.
Athena promised her, “If you say that I am the most beautiful, I will give you glory in wars and fame everywhere.”
But, the sensual Aphrodite, who was very cunning, offered him the most beautiful woman for wife and this convinced him definitely.
Aphrodite obtained the golden apple and from there on more Hera and Athena became their worst enemies.
Aphrodite, faithful to his promise, helped Paris get the love of Helena, who would become the reason for the famous war of Troy.
Echo was a nymph who lived in the forest next to other nymphs friends and liked to hunt, so she was a favorite of the goddess Artemis.
But Echo had a serious flaw: she was very conversational. And besides, in any conversation or discussion, I always wanted to have the last word.
One day, the goddess Hera went out in search of her husband Zeus, who liked to have fun among the nymphs. When Hera arrived in the forest of the nymphs, Echo entertained her with her conversation as the nymphs fled the place.
When Hera discovered his trap, he condemned her, saying: “For deceiving me, from this moment on you will have to use your tongue. And since you like having the last word so much, you can only answer with the last word you hear. You'll never be able to talk in the first place again.
Echo, with his curse on his back, he devoted himself to hunting through mountains and forests. One day he saw a beautiful young man named Narcissus and fell madly in love with him. He wished fervently to be able to talk to him, but he had no word. Then he started chasing him waiting for Narcissus to talk to him at some point.
At one point, when Narcissus was alone in the woods and heard a crunch of branches behind his back and shouted, “Is anyone here?”
Echo replied, “Here.
As Narcissus saw no one again shouted: -Come
And Echo said, “Come on.
As no one approached, Narcissus said, “Why are you running away from me?” Let's get together
The nymphs, crazy with love, threw herself in her arms, saying, “Let's join together.”
Narcissus jumped back saying: - Get away from me! I'd rather die than belong to you!
Echo replied, “To belong to you.”
Faced with the strong rejection of Narcissus, Echo felt such a shame that crying he confined himself to the caves and the peaks of the mountains. Sadness consumed his body until it was sprayed. Only his voice remained to answer with the last word to anyone who speaks to him.
Narcissus not only rejected Echo, but his cruelty also manifested itself among other nymphs who fell in love with him. One of those nymphs, who had tried to win her love without succeeding, begged the goddess Hera that Narcissus might one day feel what it was like to love unrequited and the goddess responded favorably to her plea.
Hidden in the forest, there was a fountain of crystal clear water. So clear and meek was the fountain that looked like a mirror. One day Narcissus came to drink and when he saw his own image reflected, he thought it was a spirit of water inhabiting that place. He was ecstatic to see that perfect face. The blond hair wavy, the deep blue of his eyes and fell madly in love with that image.
He wished to move away, but the attraction he exerted on him was so strong that he could not separate. Quite the contrary he wished to kiss him and embrace him with all his might. He had fallen in love with himself.
Desperate, Narcissus began to speak to him, “Why are you fleeing from me, beautiful spirit of the waters? “ If I smile, you smile. If I stretch my arms towards you, you stretch them too. I don't understand.
All the nymphs love me, but you don't want to come near. - As I spoke, a tear fell from her eyes. The reflected image clouded and Narcissus begged: “I beg you to stay with me.” Since I find it impossible to touch you, let me contemplate you.
Narcissus continued to take on himself. He neither ate nor drank for not leaving the image that fell in love with him until he ended up eating up and died.
The nymphs wanted to bury him, but they didn't find the body anywhere. In its place appeared a beautiful flower of white leaves that to preserve its memory bears the name of Narcissus.
When Perseus killed the Gorgon, he took his head with him and flew away to the land where King Atlas lived.
Atlas was a man of enormous size. His greatest pride was his garden, as his trees bore fruit of gold.
Perseus appeared saying that he was visiting as a guest, but Atlas, distrustful, fearing that he wanted to steal his golden fruits, threw him out.
Atlas was a giant and Perseus did not dare to face it. Then he offered him the box that hid the head of the Gorgon.
Perseus opened the box as he turned away his eyes and raised the head of the Gorgon.
Atlas was instantly turned to stone. Her body grew in size to become a mountain.
After turning the giant Atlas into stone, Perseus flew to the country of the Ethiopians whose king Eracefeo. The queen of the Ethiopians, Cassiopeia in a boast of pride for her beauty compared to the Sea Nymphs. These in retaliation sent a sea monster to devastate the coast.
Worried King Cepheus consulted the oracle and ordered him to sacrifice his beautiful daughter Andromeda to the monster to appease him.
Then the king commanded his daughter to be chained to a rock by the sea to be devoured by the beast of the sea.
Perseus, when he approached the coast on his flight saw the beautiful maiden chained in front of the sea and, without giving credit to his eyes, approached her to ask her the reason for her sad fate.
Andromeda, weeping mournfully confessed to him that his destiny was to be the victim who would calm the fury of the attacks of the sea monster.
As they were conversing, the sea monster was approaching the coast. King Cephaeus and Queen Cassiopeia were unfortunate witnesses of their daughter's tragic end, as they could do nothing for her.
Perseus, seeing the beauty of Andromeda and the desperation of his parents presented himself and offered to exterminate the monster, asking at the same time as a reward to his daughter in marriage.
The parents gladly accepted and promised him a royal wedding.
Perseus without hesitation launched himself in fierce fight against the sea beast. He nailed his sword, the monster twisted and returned the attack with uncontrolled fury. Perseus, with his wings, dodged the collets and stabbed his sword in every free place he found.
Little by little he led the fury of the monster to the coast as his wings were wet and when he had him close he broke a rock between his eyes and the monster pouring water and blood through his nose, he died after a thunderous howl.
The king of the Ethiopians and his wife chained the maiden of the rock. Happy and grateful to Perseus, they offered him his daughter's hand.