Ten Greek Myths ll

Orpheus and Eurydice:
   Orpheus was a musician who married a nymph called Eurydice. She trod on a poisonous snake, died, and went to the underworld. Orpheus was so sad that he visited the underworld and begged for her return. Orpheus charmed the souls of Hades with his lyre until Pluto, god of the underworld, relented. Eurydice was allowed to follow Orpheus out of Hades, so long as he didn't turn around to check if she was there. They almost reached safety when  Orpheus looked back and Eurydice was drawn back to Hades. His lack of trust lost her forever.

Pandora's Box:
   Pandora was the first mortal woman, created out of clay by Hephaestus. Athena breathed life into her, Aphrodite made her beautiful, and Hermes taught her to be beguiling. Zeus then sent her as a gift to Prometheus's brother, Epimetheus, in revenge for being tricked earlier by Prometheus. Epimetheus fell in love with her, and when they married, Zeus gave Pandora a wedding gift of a beautiful box, which he instructed her never to open. Pandora succumbed to curiosity and peeked inside, releasing disease, greed, old age, death, cruelty, war, and other types of suffering into the world. Only hope remained in the now empty box.
Perseus and the Medusa:
   Perseus lived with his mother, Danae, on the island of Seriphus. The tyrant king, Polydectes, wanted to marry Danae, but she refused. In revenge, the king sent Perseus to kill Medusa, knowing he wouldn't return alive, since all who looked on her and her hair made of snakes were turned to stone. However, the gods helped Perseus in his quest; Athena gave him a shiny shield and Hermes gave him a sharp sword. Perseus then visited the Graiae, three hags who shared one tooth and one eye. He stole the eye and made the hags tell him where to find the Medusa. On his way, he passed through the land of Nymphs and was given a cap of invisibility, a shoe of swiftness to escape, and a special bag for the Medusa's head. Using the shield to view the Medusa's reflection, Perseus beheaded her. He took the head back to Seriphus and rescued his mother by showing the Medusa's head to everyone in the king's court, thus turning them to stone.
Theseus and the Minotaur:
   During a power struggle with his brothers for the throne of Crete, Minos prayed to Poseidon to send him a magnificent white bull as a sign of approval. He promised to sacrifice the bull, but when he saw it, he kept it for himself and sacrificed the best of his own herd. When Poseidon found out, he made Minos's wife Pasiphae fall in love with the bull and the resulting offspring was the Minotaur, a monster with a head and tail of a bull and the body of a man. Minos imprisoned the Minotaur in a gigantic labyrinth, and each year for nine years, seven young men and women were sent from Athens as food. Theseus volunteered to be one of the human sacrifices, but when he arrived at Crete, Minos's daughter, Ariadne, fell in love with him. She gave him a ball of thread, which he fastened to the entrance of the maze then unravelled as he journeyed into the center, where he found and killed the Minotaur. Then Theseus retraced his steps back to his love by following the thread.
The Trojan Horse:
   The Trojan War was caused when Prince Paris abducted beautiful Helen, queen of Sparta. The Greek warriors set sail for Troy to bring her back and the war waged for 10 years, with heavy losses on both sides. Finally, Athena, the goddess of war, gave Odysseus a plan. The Greeks built a huge wooden horse and left it in their camp, then pretended to sail away. The Trojans discovered their abandoned camp and the wooden horse. After much debate they dragged it into the city of Troy and had a big party to celebrate the end of the war. That night, Greek warriors, who had been hiding in the hollow  horse, climbed out of a trap door and slaughtered the Trojan troops while they slept. They rescued beautiful Helen and sailed home.

Ten Greek Myths l

Daedalus and Icarus:
   Daedalus fled from Athens with his son, Icarus, after killing his nephew, Talos. The duo traveled to Crete, where they were welcomed by King Minos. Daedalus built the labyrinth for the Minotaur (see "Theseus and the Minotaur" below), but Minos imprisoned them because they knew its secret. They planned their escape by building wings, but Daedalus warned his son not to fly too close to the sun. Icarus ignored his father's advice, the sun's heat melted the wax that held the feathers in place, and he plunged to his death in a part of the Aegean Sea that is known as the Icarian Sea.

Jason and the Golden Fleece:
   Phrixus and Helle were the children of the King of Iolcus. Their wicked stepmother plotted against them and duped the king into thinking the Oracle had instructed him to sacrifice his children to end a long drought. Upset but resolved, the king led Phrixus and Helle to the sacrificial altar, but at the last minute a flying golden ram (a gift from Hermes) rescued them. the children climbed onto the ram's back and flew far away. Helle became so exhausted that she fell to her death (in the sea now called the Hellespont), so only Phrixus survived. After delivering him safely to Colchis, the ram died and the people honored the beast by stripping its fleece and hanging it on a tree, guarded by a dragon. Meanwhile, Jason, rightful prince of Iolcus, was sent by his uncle, who had stolen Jason's throne, on an apparently impossible quest to get the fleece. With the help of the gods, his ship the Argo, and his crew of Argonauts, Jason succeeded and returned home to claim his throne.

The Labors of Heracles (Hercules):
   Heracles was a mortal, the son of a mortal woman named Alcmene, and Zeus, who gave him supernatural strength. Zeus's jealous wife, Hera, sent two snakes to kill the baby Heracles but he strangled them in his cot. When he was a grown man, Hera plotted against him again by sending him into a fit of madness, during which he killed his wife and three children. The devastated Heracles visited the Oracle at Delphi and was assigned twelve labors of atonement. He killed the lion of Nemea, caught the Golden Hind of Ceryneia, killed the nine-headed Hydra, captured the wold boar of Mount Erymanthus, killed the Stymphalian man-eating birds, cleaned King Augeas' revolting stables, captured the wild bull of Crete, tamed the flesh-eating mares of Diomedes, brought back the golden girdle of Hippolyta, Queen of the Amazons, brought back the chestnut cattle from the giant Geryon, fetched the golden apples of Hesperides, and finally, captured Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded Hades. After completing his labors, Heracles had many other adventures, and at his death, he became an immortal on Mount Olympus.

Midas and the Golden Touch:
   King Midas of Lydia loved collecting gold. As a reward for his hospitality to a friend, Dionysus granted him a wish. Midas asked for the golden touch. Dionysus granted the wish but warned him against greed. At first Midas was very happy, but soon everything he touched turned to gold-even his servants, his food, and his children. Midas realized his folly and begged Dionysus to retract the wish. Dionysus told him to bathe in the river Pactolus, after which Midas took a jug of water back to his palace and washed everything back to normal.

Narcissus:
   Narcissus was a beautiful young man with whom many young women fell in love, including a nymph called Echo. As punishment for upsetting Hera, the queen of the gods, Echo could only repeat the last three words of whomever she was talking to. So she was unable to tell Narcissus of her love. When she spoke, he teased her until she ran away crying. Echo withered away into just a voice, and Aphrodite punished Narcissus by allowing him to fall in love with his own reflection in a pool of water. He didn't know he was bewitched by his own reflection, and every time he touched the water, the image disappeared. He pined away for his "lost love," his looks deteriorated, and he died. The gods made a flower-the narcissus-grow in his place.