Mythology

Shiva had several squabbles with his wife, Parvati. On one occasion, Parvati playfully snuck up behind Shiva and covered his eyes with her hands. Suddenly, the world was covered in darkness. Enraged, Shiva created a third eye in his forehead. In the Shaiva tradition of Hinduism, Shiva is seen as the Supreme God. In the […]

The Hindus believe that the earth is born, exists, and is then destroyed in an endless cycle. Brahma gives birth to the world, Vishnu protects it, and Shiva destroys it. When it is time for the world to come to an end, a one hundred year drought will kill many of the world’s creatures. Vishnu […]

The leader of the ancient Vedic gods, Indra rode across the sky in a golden chariot and threw thunderbolts with deadly accuracy. A priest, Tvashtri, hated Indra, and he created a three headed son to seize Indra’s throne. When Tvashtri’s son challenged Indra, Indra killed him with a thunderbolt and cut off his three heads. […]

Indian mythology comes from a complex mix of stories and religion that originated thousands of years ago. The first Indian myths describe the Vedic gods. These gods usually represent the forces of nature, fire, wind, and rain. Their champion was Indra. Over time, Indra and the Vedic gods were transformed or replaced by gods of […]

The Hindu gods replaced the Vedic gods in India. Today, Hinduism is one of the most prominent religions in the world, with more than 700 million followers. The three great gods of Hinduism, Brahma, Vishnu, and Shiva, are called the Trimurti. Brahma is the personified form of Brahman as a male god. Brahman can be […]

A wise man called Gautama lived alone in the forest. One day, he discovered a baby elephant wandering alone. Gautama took the elephant into his home and protected it. Over the years, Gautama cherished the elephant as it grew strong and powerful. The handsome animal drew the attention of a king. He came to Gautama […]

One day, a hungry hawk chased a pigeon through the air. A ruler called King Vrishadarbha noticed the poor pigeon and offered it protection in his palace. The hawk followed the pigeon and landed next to the king. The hawk explained to the king that he was hungry and needed to eat the pigeon to […]

As the protector of the world in Hindu mythology, Vishnu has appeared nine times, so far, to save humankind from evil and disaster. These appearances on earth in human form are called avatars. Vishnu first appeared as the fish Matsya to rescue the first man, Manu. Matsya warned Manu that a giant flood would cover […]

The Hindus believe that the universe creates and destroys itself in an endless cycle. In the beginning of the creation cycle, the god Brahma contains all things within himself. First, he creates the elements, water, fire, wind, sky, and earth. Upon the earth, Brahma brings forth rocks, mountains, and oceans. He organizes time and fashions […]

Rama was one of the most famous avatars of Vishnu in Hindu mythology. His story is told in the massive Indian epic Ramayana. The son of a king, Rama grew into a handsome and powerful young warrior. He proved his strength in the foreign court of King Janaka. The king owned a bow once used […]

Bhrigu, an Indian wise man, wondered which god, Brahma, Shiva, or Vishnu, was greatest. To find out, he visited Brahma and did not pay proper respect. Brahma bristled with anger but accepted Bhrigu’s apologies. Next, Bhrigu visited Shiva and snubbed him. Shiva rose up in rage and prepared to destroy Bhrigu. He only calmed down […]

Rama, Sita, and Rama’s brother, Lakshman, wandered into the jungle, which was filled with treacherous magicians called Rakshas. A Raksha woman fell in love with Rama, but Rama rejected her advances, and the woman attacked Sita in rage. Lakshman knocked the woman to the ground and cut off her nose. Howling with pain and humiliation, […]

The goddess Parvati was sad because she had no children. When she asked her husband, Shiva, for a child, he refused. The response only made Parvati more lonesome and depressed. When Shiva observed her sadness, he bound together cloth from a dress and handed it to Parvati. Parvati looked down at the bundle and saw […]

When Sita was freed at last, Rama coldly ignored her because he suspected her virtue was tainted. In despair at the rejection, Sita built a funeral pyre and stepped into the roaring flames. The flames, however, did not harm her flesh or burn her clothes, proving her purity. At this sign of his wife’s virtue, […]

While Rama and Lakshman desperately searched for Sita, they met a monkey king. Weeping, the monkey king told them that his evil brother had wrongfully seized his throne. He promised to help Rama and Lakshman find Sita if they helped him recover his kingdom. Agreeing to the plan, Rama and Lakshman killed the evil brother. […]

On one occasion, the gods of India gathered to make sacrifices, but one god was left out, Shiva. Encouraged by his wife, Shiva became furious for being uninvited. He descended upon the other gods in a terrifying roar. Shiva’s rage focused into a single drop of sweat on his forehead, which fell to the earth […]

A king named Oenomaus had a beautiful daughter, Hippodamia, who attracted the attention of many suitors. But the king jealously guarded his daughter, and he challenged each suitor to a chariot race. If the suitor won, Hippodamia would become his wife. If he lost, the young man sacrificed his life. Oenomaus, however, had a special […]

Achilles was the greatest Greek warrior to fight at Troy in Greek mythology. When Achilles was an infant, his mother held him by the ankle and dipped him into the River Styx, a river that separated the world of the living from the underworld. The magical water made him invulnerable except for the one part […]

The Trojan War began when the goddess of discord, Eris, was not invited to a wedding. Furious at being snubbed, she cast a golden apple among the wedding guests that bore the words “To the Fairest.” The goddesses Aphrodite, Hera, and Athena all wished to have the apple for themselves. Zeus, wanting to avoid this […]

For the Greeks, the Trojan War was a hollow victory. The gods grew angry with the Greeks for destroying holy temples while sacking Troy. Few of the Greek warriors survived the journey home, and those who did found their kingdoms changed and overrun with revolt, treachery, and general disorder. King Menelaus forgave Helen and took […]

By the time of Achilles’ death, the Trojan War had lasted more than ten years, and the weary Greeks were eager to go home. The Greek warrior Odysseus devised one last scheme to enter and defeat Troy. As a trick, the Greeks boarded their ships and sailed away, leaving a giant wooden horse on the […]

According to legend, the city of Rome was founded in 753 B.C. Through the next several centuries, the Romans expanded their power by conquering neighboring cities and territories. By the second century A.D., the Romans had created one of the greatest empires the world had ever seen, stretching from Egypt to the hills of Scotland. […]

In Greek mythology, Pygmalion was a young and handsome sculptor who despised women. One day, Pygmalion began carving a beautiful woman from a block of stone. He labored for days on the statue, delicately chipping away stone and brushing away dust. The statue appeared so lovely that no woman alive could rival its beauty. Pygmalion […]

Two great myths explain the founding of ancient Rome. The first myth explains how Aeneas founded the Roman civilization. Aeneas, the greatest of Roman heroes, originally fought the Greeks at the city of Troy. When the Greeks ravaged Troy, Aeneas was guided by his mother, the goddess Venus, and escaped with a small band of […]

Compared to the mythology created by the rich imagination of the Greeks, the Roman myths can appear dull. The Romans themselves recognized this. After conquering Greece in 133 B.C., the Romans adopted many of the Greek gods and their stories and changed the Greek names into Roman ones. For example, Poseidon, the Greek god of […]

The adventures of Aeneas are told by the Roman poet Virgil in his epic, The Aeneid. Virgil borrowed elements of his tale from the Greek epics The Iliad and The Odyssey. The story begins with the fall of Troy, when Aeneas and his comrades fled the burning city in their ships. The god Apollo sent […]

Psyche was a princess in Greek mythology who was so beautiful that people began to honor her instead of Venus. Furious at the young princess, Venus told her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest creature on earth. But when Cupid glimpsed Psyche, he himself fell in love. While Venus waited […]

Shattered by her loss, Psyche was determined to recover her husband’s love. After prayer, she realized that she would have to humbly serve Venus, the goddess who had hated her so passionately. First, Venus taunted Psyche and ordered her to complete an impossible task. Venus piled together millions of various types of tiny seeds and […]

A brilliant craftsman and designer, Daedalus designed the intricate Labyrinth that held the Minotaur. After Theseus killed the Minotaur, King Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son, Icarus, because he suspected that Daedalus had revealed the secret of the Labyrinth to Ariadne. To escape, Daedalus fashioned two sets of wings out of wax and feathers. Just […]

Echo was a nymph in Greek mythology who delighted in conversation. One day, Hera suspected that Zeus had fallen in love with a nymph. She approached a group of nymphs, determined to discover which one was guilty of attracting Zeus. As she drew near, Echo suddenly spoke to the goddess, amusing her with her chatter […]

Except for the gods, no one played music as skillfully or beautifully as Orpheus. His singing made the trees bend closer and the stones gather around to listen. Orpheus fell in love with Eurydice, a nymph he wooed with his songs. But on the day of their wedding, Eurydice was bit by a poisonous snake […]

Oedipus is one of the most tragic figures in Greek mythology. Oedipus’s parents, King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, learned from the Delphic oracle that their next son would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Terrified by the prophecy, King Laius pierced the infant’s ankles and left him to die […]

On a road outside the city of Thebes, the Sphinx sat on a rock and watched for travelers, who she challenged with this riddle. “What has four legs in the morning, two legs at midday, and three legs in the evening?” The correct answer is: a person. A person crawls on all fours as a […]

King Midas was ruler of Phrygia, a land covered with roses. One day, King Midas’s servants discovered the satyr Silenus, a creature that was half man, half goat, in a drunken slumber in the king’s favorite flower bed. Instead of punishing Silenus, Midas entertained him with food and wine for ten days. The god Dionysus, […]

After several years of Oedipus’s rule, famine and plague devastated the city of Thebes. The people consulted oracles to find out why and were instructed to find the murderer of King Laius. Determined to save his city, Oedipus relentlessly pursued the identity of the murderer, finally discovering that he himself had killed Laius and that […]

When Adonis was born, he was so beautiful that Aphrodite herself felt the sting of love for him. Determined to keep Adonis for herself, Aphrodite gave the young boy to Persephone to raise away from the world. But Persephone also fell in love with Adonis, and she refused Aphrodite’s demands for his return. To make […]

Daphne, a nymph and daughter of the river god Peneus, loved to hunt in the deep thickets of the forest. She preferred to be alone, and she rejected the offers of love and marriage she received from many young men. One day, the god Apollo noticed Daphne hunting and immediately fell in love. But as […]

The Adventures of Odysseus The story of Odysseus was told by the ancient poet, Homer. His epic poem The Odyssey is one of the most important literary works in history. At the end of the Trojan War, Odysseus and his crew sailed from Troy with the rest of the Greek fleet. According to the story, […]

A young woman named Arachne became known throughout Greece for her skillful weaving and embroidering of cloth. As she sat at her loom, she bragged that she had taught herself and owed her talent to no one, not even Athena, goddess of spinners and embroiderers. Suddenly, an old woman appeared at the door and urged […]

Like Sisyphus, Tantalus drew the wrath of the gods and was punished with perpetual torment. A mortal son of Zeus, Tantalus dined regularly with the gods on Mount Olympus. One day, Tantalus invited the gods to a feast of his own. To test their omniscience, Tantalus decided to kill his own son, Pelops and make […]

Sisyphus was a brilliant and clever king in Greek mythology whose deceptive ways fooled the gods themselves. When Sisyphus angered Zeus, Zeus sent the spirit of death, Thanatos, to bring Sisyphus to the underworld. But Sisyphus had no intention of dying, and he used his trickery to bind Thanatos in chains. Without Thanatos, dead souls […]

Niobe was Tantalus’s daughter, and she suffered a punishment even more terrible than her father’s. Married to a son of Zeus, Niobe enjoyed wealth and power as queen of the city of Thebes. More than her wealth, she cherished her seven daughters and seven sons, all of them handsome and blessed with intelligence. But because […]

The son of Zeus and a mortal woman, Herakles, also known as Hercules, was the strongest man in ancient Greece. The goddess Hera, always jealous of Zeus’s love affairs, learned about the child and sent two giant snakes to kill him as he lay in his crib at night. When the snakes appeared, Herakies grasped […]

The Gorgons in Greek mythology were hideous snake haired female monsters. Their necks were covered with the scales of a dragon, they bristled with sharp tusks, and they had hands of bronze and wings of gold. A glance from any of the three Gorgons turned the viewer to stone. Only three Gorgons lived in the […]

Perseus was the son of Zeus and a mortal woman. As a young man, he attended a king’s banquet where the king requested a gift from each of his guests. Each of the other guests offered a horse. But Perseus, who was broke, could only offer his services. The king demanded that Perseus bring him […]

Luckily for Perseus, many gods hated the Gorgons and helped Perseus in his quest. The goddess Athena told Perseus to visit the Graeae to find out where the Gorgons lived. The Graeae were three old women who shared one eye and one tooth among them. Perseus made the unwilling witches help him on his quest […]

Heroes thrill us with their daring, strength, and courage. They also teach and inspire us to accomplish what others consider impossible. Cultures around the world tell of the exploits of heroes. The Greeks shared stories of Herakles, Theseus, and Jason. The Babylonians idolized Gilgamesh. In India, the hero Rama battled and defeated forces of evil.

The Golden Fleece was a coat of fur from a sacred bull that had been sent by Zeus to rescue a child about to be sacrificed by his father. The bull swooped down to the altar, placed the boy on his back, and escaped. The bull carried the boy to Colchis, a kingdom ruled by […]

Jason was a hero in ancient Greek mythology whose travels took him to the ends of the earth. When Jason was a young man, he agreed to carry an old woman across a river. The old woman was the goddess Hera in disguise, and Jason enjoyed Hera’s gratitude and protection for the rest of his […]

Before Theseus was born, his father, King Aegeus of Athens, traveled to the Delphic oracle. The oracle warned Aegeus not to open his wine flask before he returned home. Not understanding the message, Aegeus got drunk on his way back to Athens and slept with a woman named Aethra. When Aegeus realized she was pregnant, […]

Jason and his comrades, called the Argonauts, built a mighty ship, the Argo, to carry them safely through the long journey. They sailed through many adventures before arriving in Colchis and appearing before King Aeetes. King Aeetes despised Greeks, and he told Jason that he would slaughter all of them. Calmly, Jason told the king […]

When Theseus arrived in Crete, Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, fell in love with the hero. She gave Theseus a sword and a ball of thread, which he tied to a stone at the Labyrinth’s entrance before he wandered inside in search of the monster. Theseus found the Minotaur and killed him. With the […]

The ancient Greeks believed that the universe began as a confusing, dark, and formless chaos. Nothing existed. Out of this chaos emerged the being from which all life began, Mother Earth, called Gaea. Gaea gave birth to the stunning blue vault of heaven sprinkled with stars. The heaven was called Uranus. Uranus and Gaea had […]

Zeus punished some of the Titans severely. One Titan, called Atlas, was forced to bear the crushing weight of the earth and heavens upon his shoulders forever. Other Titans were flung into a dark region beneath the earth called Tartarus. Zeus had children with Mnemosyne, the Titaness of memory. The children were nine daughters called […]

The Titans were twelve children born to Gaea and Uranus. Six were male and six were female, the women were called Titanesses. They were powerful creatures that stood as tall as mountains. When Gaea asked the Titans for help against Uranus, only one was bold enough, Cronus. Wielding a sickle shaped sword, Cronus attacked his […]

The Titan Prometheus fashioned the first men out of clay and water. Prometheus allowed his brother Epimetheus to give qualities to animals and man. Dull and stupid, Epimetheus gave speed, strength, courage, and many other characteristics to the animals and left nothing to man. Prometheus was very upset, and he gave mankind one redeeming quality, […]

The Olympians are the twelve gods in Greek mythology that ruled the universe after the Titans were defeated in battle. They lived in luxury in a splendid palace atop Mount Olympus, a mountain that towered over the world and where no snow or rain ever fell. Within the halls of the palace, the gods feasted, […]

Zeus was furious when he saw men with fire and vowed revenge. This time, Zeus ordered Hephaistos to create a person who would use deceit and trickery to disrupt the society of men, a woman. Hephaistos mixed clay and water and carefully molded a female figure. When he was finished, the goddesses of Mount Olympus […]

Prometheus took delight in his creation, and he sought to shelter man against the wrath of Zeus. Prometheus saw that men had to sacrifice food to the gods, sometimes so much that they had none left over for themselves. Prometheus decided to help man by making Zeus choose between two animal sacrifices. He took the […]

Zeus wanted some information from Prometheus. Prometheus could see into the future, and he knew which of Zeus’s sons would rise up and defeat him. But Prometheus refused to tell Zeus. In a fury, Zeus chained Prometheus to a mountain and sent a giant eagle to tear Prometheus’s liver from his body. Because he was […]