Metic

Theseus and the Minotaur

The Minotaur Table of Contents The Minotaur was a terrible monster with the body of a man, and the head of a bull, born from the union of Pasiphae and the bull offered as a gift to Minos by Poseidon. …
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Themis

Goddess of Justice, Law, and Order Table of Contents Themis was the goddess of Justice, Law, and Order. Themis, who has already been alluded to as the wife of Zeus, was the daughter of Cronus and Rhea, and personified those…
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Triton

Triton and the Tritons. Triton was the only son of Poseidon and Amphitrite, but he possessed little influence, being altogether a minor divinity. He is usually represented as preceding his father and acting as his trumpeter, using a conch-shell for…
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Tyche

Table of Contents Tyche personified that peculiar combination of circumstances which we call luck or fortune, and was considered to be the source of all unexpected events in human life, whether good or evil. If a person succeeded in all…
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Uranus and Gea

Chaos Table of Contents The ancient Greeks had several different theories with regard to the origin of the world, but the generally accepted notion was that before this world came into existence, there was in its place a confused mass…
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Winds

Aeolus Table of Contents According to the oldest accounts, Æolus was a king of the Æolian Islands, to whom Zeus gave the command of the winds, which he kept shut up in a deep cave, and which he freed at…
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Zeus

Ruler of Heaven and Earth Table of Contents Zeus, (Jupiter, Ζεύς, Δίας) the great presiding deity of the universe, the ruler of heaven and earth, was regarded by the Greeks, first, as the god of all aërial phenomena; secondly, as…
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History of Minoan Crete

The Minoans (c. 3500-1100 BCE) had developed significant naval power and for many centuries lived in contact with all the major civilizations of the time. With their powerful navy they flourished in the island of Crete and in several other…
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Olympic Games History

For the ancient Greeks, the Olympic games existed since mythical times, but no definitive time of their inauguration can be identified with any certainty. The first Olympiad was held in 776 BCE, and this is the year that provides the…
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History of Ancient Olympia

The sanctuary at Olympia (Ολυμπία) is positioned in a serene and fertile valley between the Alpheios and the Kladeos rivers in western Peloponnese, in Elis. In antiquity it was the host of the Olympic games for a thousand years, and…
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