How the world originated in Greek mythology. Myths and legends about the creation of the world. Matriarchal and patriarchal versions of the emergence of the world

In ancient times, humanity developed by civilizations. These were isolated nationalities that were formed under the influence of certain factors and had their own culture, technique and were distinguished by a certain individuality. Due to the fact that they were not technically advanced in the same way as modern mankind, ancient people largely depended on the vagaries of nature. Then lightning, rain, earthquakes and others natural phenomena seemed to be a manifestation of divine powers. These forces, as it seemed then, could determine the fate and personal qualities of a person. This is how the very first mythology was born.

What is a myth?

According to the modern cultural definition, this is a story that reproduces the beliefs of ancient people about the structure of the world, about higher powers, about man, the biography of great heroes and gods in verbal form. In a way, they also reflected the then level of human knowledge. These legends were recorded and passed down from generation to generation, thanks to which we can today find out how our ancestors thought. That is, then mythology was a form and also one of the ways of understanding natural and social reality, which reflected the views of a person at a certain stage of development.

Among the many questions that worried mankind in those distant times, the problem of the appearance of the world and man in it was especially urgent. Because of their curiosity, people tried to explain and understand how they appeared, who created them. It was then that a separate myth about the origin of people appeared.

Due to the fact that humanity, as already mentioned, developed in large isolated groups, the legends of each nationality were in some way unique, since they reflected not only the worldview of the people at that time, but were also an imprint of cultural, social development, and also carried information about the land where the people lived. In this sense, myths have some historical value, since they allow one to build some logical judgments about a particular people. In addition, they were a bridge between the past and the future, a link between generations, passing on the knowledge that was accumulated in stories from the old clan to the new, thus teaching it.

Anthropogonic myths

Regardless of civilization, all ancient people had their own ideas about how man appeared in this world. They have some common features, but they also have significant differences, which are due to the peculiarities of the life and development of a particular civilization. All myths about the origin of man are called anthropogonic. This word comes from the Greek "anthropos", which means - a person. Such a concept as the myth of the origin of people exists among absolutely all ancient peoples. The only difference is in their perception of the world.

For comparison, we can consider separately taken myths about the origin of man and the world of two great nations, which significantly influenced the development of mankind in their time. This is civilization Ancient Greece and Ancient China.

Chinese view of the creation of the world

The Chinese imagined our Universe in the form of a huge egg, which was filled with a certain matter - Chaos. From this Chaos was born the ancestor of all mankind - Pangu. He used his ax to break the egg in which he was born. When he broke the egg, Chaos burst out and began to change. The sky (Yin) was formed - which is associated with the light beginning, and the Earth (Yang) - the dark beginning. Thus, the world was formed in the beliefs of the Chinese. After that, Pangu put his hands to the sky, and his feet to the ground and began to grow. It grew continuously until the sky separated from the earth and became what we see it today. Pangu, when he grew up, fell into many parts, which became the basis of our world. His body became mountains and plains, his flesh became earth, his breath became air and wind, his blood became water, and his skin became vegetation.

Chinese mythology

As the Chinese myth about the origin of man says, a world was formed that was inhabited by animals, fish and birds, but people still believed that the great female spirit - Nuiva - was the creator of humanity. The ancient Chinese revered her as the organizer of the world, she was portrayed as a woman with a human body, the legs of a bird and the tail of a snake, who holds in her hand a lunar disk (the Yin symbol) and a measuring square.

Nuiva began to sculpt human figures from clay, which came to life and turned into people. She worked for a long time and realized that her strength was not enough to create people who could populate the whole earth. Then Nuiva took a rope and passed it through the liquid clay, and then shook it. Where the lumps of wet clay fell, people appeared. Still, they weren't as good as the hand-molded ones. This was how the existence of the nobility, which Nuiva blinded with her own hands, and the people of the lower classes, created with the help of a rope, was justified. The goddess gave her creations the opportunity to reproduce independently, and also introduced the concept of marriage, which was very strictly observed in ancient China. Therefore, Nuiva can also be considered the patroness of marriage.

This is the Chinese myth of the origin of man. As you can see, it reflects not only traditional Chinese beliefs, but also some of the features and rules that guided the ancient Chinese in their lives.

Greek mythology about the appearance of man

The Greek myth of the origin of man tells how the titan Prometheus created people from clay. But the first people were very defenseless and could not do anything. For this act, the Greek gods became angry with Prometheus and decided to destroy the human race. However, Prometheus saved his children by stealing fire from Olympus and bringing it to a man in an empty cane stalk. For this, Zeus imprisoned Prometheus in chains in the Caucasus, where the eagle was supposed to peck at his liver.

In general, any myth about the origin of people does not give specific information about the appearance of humanity, more concentrating on subsequent events. Perhaps this is due to the fact that the Greeks considered man insignificant against the background of the omnipotent gods, thus emphasizing their importance for the entire people. Indeed, almost all Greek legends are directly or indirectly connected precisely with the gods, who guide heroes from the human race, such as Odysseus or Jason, and help them.

Features of mythology

What are the features of mythological thinking?

As you can see above, myths and legends interpret and describe the origin of man in completely different ways. You need to understand that the need for them arose at an early age. They arose from a person's need to explain the origin of man, nature, and the structure of the world. Of course, the way of explanation used by mythology is rather primitive; it differs significantly from the interpretation of the world order that science supports. In myths, everything is quite concrete and detached, there are no abstract concepts in them. Man, society and nature merge into one. The main type of mythological thinking is figurative. Every person, hero or god has a concept or phenomenon that follows him necessarily. This one denies any logical reasoning based on faith rather than knowledge. It is unable to generate questions that are not creative.

In addition, mythology also has specific literary techniques that allow you to emphasize the significance of certain events. These are hyperboles that exaggerate, for example, strength or other important characteristics heroes (Pangu, who was able to lift the sky), metaphors that attribute certain characteristics to things or creatures that do not actually possess them.

Common features and impact on world culture

In general, some regularity can be traced in how exactly myths explain the origin of man different nations... In almost all versions, there is a certain divine essence that breathes life into lifeless matter, thus creating and shaping a person in this way. This influence of ancient pagan beliefs can be traced in later religions, for example, in Christianity, where God creates man in his own image and likeness. However, if it is not entirely clear how Adam appeared, then God creates Eve from a rib, which only confirms this influence of ancient legends. This influence of mythology can be traced in almost any culture that existed later.

Ancient Turkic mythology about how man appeared

The ancient Turkic myth about the origin of man as the progenitor of the human race, as well as the creator of the earth, calls the goddess Umai. She, in the form of a white swan, flew over the water, which has always existed, and looked for land, but did not find it. She laid the egg right into the water, but the egg immediately drowned. Then the goddess decided to make a nest on the water, but the feathers from which she made it turned out to be fragile, and the waves broke the nest. The goddess held her breath and dived to the very bottom. She carried out a piece of earth in her beak. Then the god Tengri saw her suffering and sent Umai three fish made of iron. She put the earth on the back of one of the fish, and it began to grow until all the earth's land was formed. After that, the goddess laid an egg, from which the entire human race, birds, animals, trees and everything else appeared.

What can be determined by reading this Turkic myth about the origin of man? There is a general similarity with the legends of Ancient Greece and China already known to us. A certain divine power creates people, namely from an egg, which is very similar to the Chinese legend about Pangu. Thus, it is clear that initially people associated the creation of themselves by analogy with the living things that they could observe. There is also an incredible reverence for the mother, women as a lifespan.

What can a child learn from these legends? What new he learns, reading the myths of peoples about the origin of man?

First of all, this will allow him to get acquainted with the culture and life of the people that existed in prehistoric times. Since the figurative type of thinking is characteristic of the myth, the child will quite easily perceive it and will be able to assimilate the necessary information. For children, these are the same fairy tales, and like fairy tales, they are filled with the same morality and information. When reading them, the child will learn to develop the processes of his thinking, learn to benefit from reading and draw conclusions.

The myth of the origin of people will give the child the answer to the exciting question - where did I come from? Of course, the answer will not be correct, but children take everything for granted, and therefore it will satisfy the child's interest. By reading the above Greek myth about the origin of man, the child will also be able to understand why fire is so important to humanity and how it was discovered. This will be useful in the subsequent education of the child in primary school.

Variety and benefits for the child

Indeed, if you take examples of myths about the origin of man (and not only them) from Greek mythology, you will notice that the brilliance of the characters and their number are very large and interesting not only for young readers, but even for adults. However, you need to help the child with all this to figure it out, otherwise he will simply get confused in the events, their causes. It is necessary to explain to the child why God loves or dislikes this or that hero, why he helps him. Thus, the child will learn to build logical chains and compare facts, drawing certain conclusions from them.

Creation myths

Mythology is a science that studies ancient myths or traditions associated with the religious beliefs of people of antiquity, and includes, in addition to a detailed story about the origin of the gods, a theory that explains how the world was created.

Of all the peoples scattered across the face of the earth, only the Jews learned about the origin of the world directly from God, who not only told them in detail how the earth and all living things on it were created, but also granted a set of laws governing their behavior. They received comprehensive answers to all the questions they might have, leaving no room for speculation.

It was different for all other peoples. The Greeks and Romans, for example, who did not have the knowledge that Scripture gives us, but who wanted to know where the world came from, had to create their own theories. Looking around in search of a basis on which to build this theory, they could not help but notice the wonders of nature and admire them. Change of day and night, summer and winter, rain and dry weather; the fact that even tall trees grow from tiny seeds, the greatest rivers grow from small streams, and the most beautiful flowers and delicate fruits from small green buds - all this, apparently, told them that there is a supreme being who created everything this is for a specific purpose.

Soon, ancient people came to the conclusion that the almighty hand that created all these wonders of nature could create the very Earth on which they live. This thought gave rise to others, assumptions grew into confidence, and soon the following myth or tradition appeared, which began to be passed down from generation to generation:

There was no sea, no land, and no open sky above everything, -

The face of nature was one throughout the breadth of the universe, -

They called him Chaos. An undivided and rough bulk,

He was an inert burden - and only - where were they collected

Loosely connected things are spreading seeds together.

There was no earth yet. Land, sea and air were so mixed that the earth was not solid, the sea was liquid, and the air was transparent.

At that time, no Titan gave the world any light,

And she didn’t grow the horns of the newly minted Phoebus,

And the earth did not hang, streamlined by an air current,

Having lost its own weight, and along the long earthly tides

At that time Amphitrite had not yet stretched out her hands.

Where land was, there were both sea and air.

And it was impossible to swim neither on land, nor on the waters ...

The air was devoid of light, and nothing kept forms.

It was still in the struggle, then that in the mass a single

Cold fought with heat, fought dryness with moisture,

The battle with the weighty was led by the weightless, the hard with the soft.

And over this formless mass reigned a careless deity named Chaos, and no one knew what it looked like, since there was no light yet. Chaos shared the throne with his wife, a dark goddess of the night named Nyx, or Nikta, whose black robes and even blacker appearance could not dispel the surrounding darkness.

Time passed, and the couple got tired of power and called on the son of Erebus (Darkness) to help them. The first thing he did was to overthrow his father and take his throne, and then, deciding that he needed a companion, married his mother Nyx. Of course from the point of view modern views they committed a mortal sin, but the ancients, who did not yet have written laws, did not at all consider such a marriage to be sinful and without any embarrassment tell us how Erebus and Nyx ruled together until their wonderful children Ether (Light) and Hemera (Day) , having united, did not overthrow them and did not take over the power over the world.

And then, for the first time, the illuminated Chaos revealed its entire unsightly essence. Ether and Gemera carefully examined the disorder that reigned everywhere and, seeing the possibilities inherent in it, decided to turn it into a beautiful thing. However, they well understood the enormity of the task set before themselves and felt that they could not cope alone, and therefore called to their help Eros (Cupid, or Love), their own child. Together, they created Pontus (sea) and Gaia (Ge, Tellus, or Terra), as the land was then called.

At the beginning of its existence, the Earth was not at all as beautiful as it is now. On the hills, trees covered with dense foliage did not sway with branches, flowers did not grow in the valleys, there was no grass in the meadows, and birds did not flutter in the air. The ground was bare; silence and peace reigned everywhere. Eros was the first to notice this and, seizing his life-giving arrows, he sent them into the cold chest of the earth. And then its brown surface was covered with luxurious greenery, colorful birds fluttered out of the foliage of trees that had grown right in front of our eyes, a wide variety of animals appeared on the dense meadows, and fast fish flashed in the clear waters of the streams. Life, joy and movement reigned everywhere.

Gaia, awakening from a dream, admired everything that Eros did to decorate her, and, deciding to complete and crown his labors, created Uranus (Heaven).

This version of the creation of the world, one of many prevalent in Greece and Rome, was the most popular.

Gaia, first of all, gave birth to her own kind

Uranus, shining with stars, so that he would cover her everywhere.

Hesiod (translated by G. Vlastov)

Another common version was that Erebus and Nyx created a giant egg, from which Eros, the god of Love, emerged and created the Earth.

In the terrible chaos of Erebus' house

There was a small closed nook,

There the goddess of the night secretly put

An egg to keep in the dark

And at the right time from this egg

Happy Love has hatched.

Aristophanes

The ancients believed that the earth has the shape of a disk, not a sphere, as scientists later proved. The Greeks thought that their country was located in the very center of the Earth, and exactly in the center of Greece is the high Mount Olympus, the mythical abode of the gods. The land is divided into two equal halves by the Pontus (the sea, by which, obviously, the Mediterranean and Black Seas were meant), and around them the great Ocean River flows with a "constant, even stream", on which there are never storms. All rivers flow from it, and the sea itself feeds on its waters.

The Greeks also believed that the territories north of their country were inhabited by the happy people of the Hyperboreans, who lived in constant joy and enjoyed the eternal spring. The Greeks believed that they could not be reached either by land or by sea. They knew neither disease, nor old age, nor death, and were so virtuous that the gods often visited them and even took part in their festivals and games. The people, endowed with the mercies of the gods, could not help but be happy, and their sunny country was praised by many poets.

South of Greece, also near the great Ocean River, lived another people, just as happy and virtuous as the Hyperboreans - the Ethiopians. They, too, often received the gods, who with great pleasure shared their innocent amusements with them.

And far, far away, near the banks of the same wonderful river, according to some myths, there were the beautiful islands of Blest, where mortals, who lived their lives sinlessly and deserved the grace of the gods, were transferred without feeling the touch of death, and enjoyed eternal bliss there. These islands had their own luminary, the cold winter winds from the north did not reach them.

On a land called Blest,

What lies behind the glorious west,

All year round, day and night around

Eternal peace reigns.

There is not a pale moon in the sky,

No distant twinkling stars.

The sun shines forever - night and day

Illuminating the world of the chosen souls.

They don't need to sow, they don't need to reap,

They don't have to work, oh no!

They do not know tears and do not know worries,

Only happiness awaits them in the future!

Ether and Hemera took power from Erebus and Nyx, but they did not have to enjoy it for long, since Uranus and Gaia, who were superior in power to their parents, soon drove them out and began to rule independently. But before they had time to settle on the top of Olympus, they had twelve giant children, titans, who possessed the same strength as their father, Uranus, who was mortally afraid of them. Fearing that they would not use her to overthrow him, immediately after birth, he grabbed his children and threw them to the bottom of a dark abyss called Tartarus, where he was tightly chained.

This abyss was located deep underground, and Uranus knew that his six sons (Ocean, Coy, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus and Cronus), as well as six Titanid daughters (Elijah, Rhea, Themis, Tethys, Mnemosyne and Phoebe) could not get out of this cave and out. The Titans did not remain the only inhabitants of Tartarus for long, for once its bronze doors opened again to receive the Cyclops - Brontë (Thunder), Sterop (Lightning) and Arg (Zarnitsa) - the three children of Uranus and Gaia, who were born later. The Cyclops, along with the Titans, turned Tartarus into hell with their endless demands to be released. After a while, their number increased again - Uranus threw three terrible Sentiman (hundred-handed monsters) into Tartarus, who shared the fate of their older brothers.

Gaea, terribly upset at her husband's treatment of the children, protested fervently, but it was all in vain. Uranus did not agree to free the giants in any way, and when their cries reached his ears, he trembled for his life. Furious with anger, Gaia vowed revenge and went down to Tartarus, where she began to persuade the titans to plot against her father and wrest power from his hands.

All of them listened carefully to the words of their mother, but no one had the courage to take on this task, except Cronus, the youngest of the titans, who is more often called Saturn or Time. He suffered the most from imprisonment and chains and hated his father for his cruelty. Gaea eventually managed to convince him to overthrow his father, and, freeing him from the fetters, she handed him the scythe she brought with her and wished him courage and a victorious return.

Armed and encouraged by his mother, Cronus attacked his unsuspecting father, defeated him with his miraculous weapon and, tying him tightly, took the vacated throne, intending to become the eternal ruler of the universe. The enraged Uranus cursed his son and predicted to him that the day would come when he would be overthrown by his children as punishment for raising his hand against his father.

Cronus did not pay any attention to this, freed the titans from Tartarus, his brothers and sisters, who, in gratitude for the fact that he pulled them out of their terrible captivity, agreed to recognize him as their ruler. Their joy knew no bounds when he took his own sister Rhea (Cybele, Ops) as his wife, and distributed different kingdoms of the Universe to everyone else, so that they ruled them as they pleased. He gave the ocean and Tethys, for example, the ocean and all the rivers on earth, and commissioned Hyperion and Phoebe to control the sun and moon, which, as the ancients believed, daily ride across the sky in shining golden chariots.

Peace and tranquility reigned on Mount Olympus and in its vicinity, and a satisfied Cronus congratulated himself on the victorious completion of his enterprise. But one fine morning his peace was disturbed by the message that he had a son. And then he suddenly remembered the curse of his father. Fearing the loss of power, he hurried to his wife, intending to swallow the newborn child in order to avoid future troubles. Unsuspecting Rhea heard his request to show her son. She happily put the child in her husband's outstretched arms, but what was her amazement and horror when she saw that he had swallowed the child.

Time passed, Gaia gave birth to another baby, but he also suffered the same fate. One by one, the newborn babies disappeared into the huge jaws of the insatiable Crohn, who personified the time that it creates only to destroy. The mother, distraught with grief, tried in vain to save at least one baby - the selfish, cruel-hearted Kron did not want to heed her pleas. Desperate to pity him, Rhea finally decided by cunning to get what she could not achieve through entreaties, and as soon as her youngest son, Jupiter (Job, Zeus) was born, hid him.

Cronus, having learned about the birth of his son, came to Rhea in order to treat him as with other children. Rhea begged not to ruin her son, but, having failed, she pretended to be resigned. Quickly wrapping a large stone in diapers, she handed it to Cron, depicting inconsolable grief on her face.

Cronus, obviously, was not very intelligent, for he swallowed the package without even asking about its contents.

Then she, having wrapped a huge stone, handed

Son of Uranus, great ruler, former king of the gods,

Who, seizing him in his hands, lowered him into the womb -

Mad, not understanding in spirit that he is in the future

Behind (this) stone his son is undefeated

and safe from him

He remained, who will soon overcome him by strength and hand,

He will deprive him of his honors and he himself will reign over the immortals.

Hesiod (translated by G. Vlastov)

Unaware of the deception, Kron left, and the happy mother pressed the saved treasure to her chest. However, saving little Jupiter from inevitable death was not all - it was necessary that his father did not guess about his existence.

Rhea entrusted her baby to the tender cares of the Melian nymphs, who carried him to a cave on Mount Ida. Little Zeus was fed by the goat Amalfea, who cared for him so selflessly that after death she was ascended to heaven and placed in the constellation - so Rhea thanked her for her kindness. And so that the cry of Jupiter was not heard on Olympus, the kuretes (koribants), the priests of Rhea, screamed wildly, shook their weapons, danced and sang war songs.

Krohn could not understand why such a fuss was raised. Taking a break from his many labors, he congratulated himself on how cleverly he managed to avoid the troubles that his father foreshadowed for him. But one day he learned that his wife had passed him and Jupiter was alive, and all his worries and fears revived with renewed vigor. Cronus immediately began to puzzle over how to get rid of his son, but did not have time to come up with anything, since Jupiter himself attacked him and, after a short but fierce battle, overthrew him from the throne.

Jupiter, rejoicing that he managed to defeat his father so quickly, seized the supreme power and, on the advice of Rhea, who gave him a magic potion prepared by Metis, the daughter of Ocean, made Cronus expel the children he had swallowed - Neptune, Pluto, Vesta, Ceres and Juno.

Following the example of his father, Jupiter divided his kingdom between brothers and sisters. The smartest of the titans - Mnemosyne, Themis, Ocean and Hyperion - unquestioningly obeyed the new ruler of the world, but others did not want to recognize him as their master, which led to a bloody battle between the gods and titans.

And semester

MYTH AND LITERATURE

LESSON number 6

Theme. Ancient Greek creation myth

Purpose: to inform about the pantheon of the gods of Ancient Greece, to acquaint with the ancient Greek myth about the creation of the world and people, to develop attention, logical thinking, to foster interest in ancient Greek mythology.

Equipment: images of ancient Greek gods; texts of ancient Greek myths; the "Creation of the world" scheme.

By choosing the gods, we are choosing our destiny.

"Who are they?"

Brahma - ... (the creator of the universe).

Varuna - ... (god of the ocean).

Vivasvat - ... (sun god).

Vishnu - ... (guardian of the Universe).

Asuras - ... (elder brothers of the gods).

Adit - ... (mother of the gods).

Yama - ... (ruler of the kingdom of the dead).

Manu - ... (mortal from whom people were born after the flood).

2. Exhibition of illustrations to read works

II. Motivation for learning activities

Teacher's story

About Ancient Greece

Many centuries ago, a people settled on the Balkan Peninsula, which later came to be called Greeks. Unlike modern Greeks, we call the people the ancient Greeks, or Hellenes, and their country - Hellas.

It is difficult to name another nation in history who, in such a short period of time, presented the world with so many wonderful samples. high art and no less imbued with ideas of valor and honor, like the Greeks. The life of this people was not easy, but the ancient Greeks were one of the most cheerful and life-loving peoples in history. It was a working people, a fighter people who brought the ideas of patriotism to mankind and gave examples of civic valor. It was a sage people, thinking about the structure of the Universe, thinking about what matter and spirit, space and time, what is good and what is evil.

The Hellenes left the peoples of the world with a rich legacy: magnificent buildings that are considered the most beautiful in the world, beautiful marble and bronze statues and outstanding literary works which people still read now, although they are written in a language that no one speaks on earth for a long time. Some of the most famous are Homer's heroic poems "Iliad" and "Odyssey", which talk about how the Greeks besieged the city of Troy, and about the adventures and misadventures of one of the participants in this war - Odysseus.

Impossible to imagine today world literature, painting, sculpture without images borrowed from ancient Greek myths that remained from the Hellenes.

III. Learning new material

1. Preparation for the perception of the work

Features of ancient Greek mythology

Ancient Greek mythology is considered one of the most famous that have survived to our times. She became the basis for the emergence antique literature(the literature of the ancient Greeks and Romans), which is rightly considered the cradle of European literature.

The immortal inhabitants of Olympus

In the view of the ancient Greeks, the gods were very similar to people, and the relationship between them resembled the relationship between people. They were both noble and vindictive, kind and cruel, passionate and jealous, while their fate depended on the lot of the Moir, just as the life of people depended on the will of the gods. The Greek gods quarreled and reconciled, constantly intervening in the lives of people who took part in wars. Each of the gods went about their own business, "in charge" of a certain "economy" in the world. The Greeks endowed their gods with human characters and inclinations. From people - "mortals" - they differed only in immortality.

The Greeks created gods "in their own image and likeness" and, apparently, therefore, unlike other peoples, they did not feel fear of their gods.

What are the myths?

The following main cycles of ancient Greek myths are known:

About the gods;

About heroes;

About the Argonauts;

Trojan;

Thebes.

Why didn't the ancient Greeks have fairy tales?

Indeed, the ancient Greeks almost did not have fairy tales that were formed for the sake of entertainment and instruction and did not raise doubts about the fiction of events. They were replaced with great success by myths, which contained miracles and adventures, victories and defeats of real heroes and gave answers to the most important questions for ancient man: about the origin of the world, man, natural phenomena.

2. Reading a myth based on the book by J. Parandovsky "Mythology"

The emergence of the world

First there was Chaos. Who can say exactly what Chaos is? Some considered him to be a kind of divine being, but without a specific form. Others - and there were most of them - asserted that it was a great abyss, filled with creative power and a divine family, like a single, disordered mass, heavy and dark, a mixture of earth, water, fire and air. From that filled abyss that concealed within itself all the embryos of the future world, two powerful deities emerged - the first royal consort of the gods: Uranus - Heaven and Gaia - Earth. They gave rise to many generations of gods.

From their conjugal relationship came a large clan of titans, the oldest among whom was the Ocean, the god of the mighty river, which encircled the whole earth with a wide blue ring. The younger brothers of the Titans were the Cyclops and Hecatoncheires - the hundred-handed. The Cyclops, wild, terrible in growth, had only one eye in the middle of the forehead, and the Hecatoncheira of a hundred hands had irresistible strength. Uranium did not like such descendants, which were either ugly or cruel. All of them aroused fear and disgust in him. Not hoping for either gratitude or respect for his parental authority from them, he threw them into the bottomless abyss of Tartarus.

There was no return from there. Tartarus stretched as deep underground as the sky stretched above it. A bronze anvil thrown from the sky would fly for nine days and nine nights until it reached the surface of the earth. *

For just as long, and perhaps longer, the anvil would fall into the depths of Tartarus, where the triple night reigns. Anyone who got there would not have been able to reach the edge of this immense darkness in a whole year. He would wander all the time, caught up in a powerful underground hurricane. They say that somewhere in the middle of that terrible darkness there is a sad abode of Night, surrounded by impenetrable clouds.

Gaia heard the moan of the titans, coming from the bottomless bowels of the earth. She hated her criminal father and conspired against his harsh power. The youngest of the titans, Kronos, who was still at large, obeyed Namovlyan's mother. Armed with an iron sickle, he lay in wait for Uranus, attacked him, disgracefully crippled him and threw him from the shining heavenly throne. From the blood that flowed from the wound of the defeated god, three terrible goddesses of revenge arose - Erinias with snakes on their heads instead of hair. Uranus, hiding in the blue of heaven, descended from the stage of divine history.

The world was born with the gods. A young sun was shining over the land, which was a solid dry land out of chaos, and heavy rains fell from the clouds. The first forests rose, and a large, noisy forest covered the ground. In some unknown hills, animals roamed here and there. Gradually, everything began to take on a familiar look. The streams have found their grottoes, and the lakes are comfortable basins; the snowy ridges of the mountains loomed against the clear sky. The stars screamed in the dark night space, and when they turned pale, the birds called their first congratulatory dawn song.

The world was ruled by Kronos along with his wife Rhea. It was a gloomy and suspicious owner. He left most of his enslaved brothers in the abyss of Tartarus. He always remembered the curse of his father, who, having moved, that his son would take power from him too. Therefore, every child that Rhea gave birth to, Kronos immediately swallowed. Already five children were in a terrible titanium womb. When the sixth child was born, Rhea gave Kronosov a stone wrapped in diapers. He swallowed the stone, wondering that he was swallowing his son.

And Rhea at this time descended to the ground. She wanted to wash the baby, but she could not find the keys anywhere. She prayed to Gaia and struck the rock with the rod. A clear stream of water leaks from a solid stone. Having bought up the baby, she named him Zeus. Then she went to Crete and laid him in a golden cradle in the Idaisky grotto, the entrance to which was obscured by a dense forest, and the walls were surrounded by shiny ivy. Zeus grew up under the care of mountain nymphs, they fed him the milk of the goat Amalthea. The child was very fond of the goat. When Amalthea broke one horn for herself, Zeus took it into his divine hands and blessed it, and since then this horn has always been filled with everything that its owner desired. This is how the cornucopia appeared, also called the horn of Amalthea.

The new god in a golden cradle was surrounded by the love of all nature. Doves from the shores of the ocean brought him ambrosia, and every evening an eagle flew in, carrying a glass of nectar in its claws. The bees collected the sweetest honey for him. One of the nymphs made a wonderful toy. It was a transparent ball of gold rings with ivy curling between them. When, thrown up, she fell, a light streak remained behind her. So that the crying and screeching of little Zeus did not reach the ears of the sensitive Kronos, the priests of Rhea performed noisy military dances near his cradle to the sounds of tambourines, horns and squeaks.

Zeus grew up and left the vault - now he had to fight his father. First of all, he advised his mother to imperceptibly give Kronosov vomit. And Kronos, in terrible agony, vomited the swallowed descendants. It was a whole detachment of young beautiful gods: sons - Hades and Poseidon and three daughters - Hera, Demeter and Hestia. It was at this time that the good goat Amalthea died. And even after her death, she still served her pet: from her skin Zeus made himself a shield that no weapon could pierce. So aegis arose - a wonderful shield that Zeus always took with him into battle. His first battle was with his father. The battlefield was the plains of Thessaly.

Kronos with the titans settled in the mountains of Othrys, and Zeus and his allies settled on the snowy peaks of Olympus. For ten years the war went on without visible consequences, and then Zeus decided to replenish his troops with new forces. He freed the Cyclops and three giants from Tartarus, each of whom had one hundred arms and fifty heads. And on the same day, a fierce battle began. The terrible roar of the sea mingled with the groan of earth and sky. Olympus trembled under the feet of the immortals, and that movement could be heard even in the farthest depths of Tartarus. There was an incredible noise from both sides. The stars were falling from the firmament.

From the top of Olympus, Zeus continuously threw lightning bolts that were forged by the Cyclops day and night. Thunder roared through the mountains, and sacred fire poured down the plains. The earth cracked in flames, the forests flared up like torches. The seas and rivers were seething. A fiery haze surrounded the titans, their eyes glistening with an unbearable glint. Gusty winds raised clouds of dust, and it seemed as if they were carrying thunder and lightning in the black clouds. When the clouds parted for a moment, three hundred-handed giants could be seen in the front ranks of the warriors, who together threw three hundred rocks at the titans and showered them with a hail of stones. And yet it was not as terrible as lightning to Zeus, before which the titans stopped shocked, because none of them had ever seen such a terrible fiery weapon. From time to time, one of them, having lost consciousness, fell helplessly in a stream of red light, amid the terrifying rumble of thunder. Then the hundred-armed giants (hecatoncheires) seized their huge bodies, which seemed to be already lifeless, and threw them into the abyss of Tartarus, between extinct and fire-breathing craters, fetid swamps and icy mountains, where they remained forever under the rule of impenetrable darkness and endless night.

As the once-worthy Uranus, so now Kronos has sunk into oblivion, from where only vague rumors reached about him. The people did not speak badly about him. In his honor, they organized the ancient holiday of Kronia, during which they had fun, remembering the golden age that supposedly reigned on earth in his time. Kronos had neither temples nor altars. In Olympia there was a hill named after him, and nearby stood the respected Metroon, the temple of Rhea, the "mother of the gods." Statues of Kronos are very rare. He was portrayed as a venerable elderly man with a beard, who covers his head with a cloak. His wife Rhea was identified by the Greeks with the Asian goddess Kibelia. They portrayed her as a dangerous woman riding a chariot drawn by lions, holding a branch or an oak wreath and a key; on her head she wears a diadem of fortress towers and bastions.

The new generation of gods did not enjoy the consequences of victory for long. A clan of giants, the sons of the Earth, rebelled against them. Some of them looked like people, although they were huge in stature, others had ugly bodies that ended in tangle of snakes. They turned mountains and made barricades out of them to get to Olympus. The gods were seized with anxiety when they heard the screams that came from below, and saw brave invaders on the slopes of their sacred mountain. Only Zeus remained calm and fearless, he assigned each of the gods a fighting post, and he himself began to beat the enemy with lightning. The giants did not retreat. The rocks that they threw fell like hail, and, falling into the sea, turned among its waves to the islands. Lightning did not harm the giants. After looking at the Book of Destiny, Zeus learned that only mortal man can defeat giants. Then Athena brought Hercules.

The last day of the battle has come. All gods and goddesses rallied around Hercules. The hero every second took a new arrow and shot into a dense crowd of enemies. Suddenly an unexpected ally came to his aid. Dionysus rode up with a detachment of his satyrs riding on donkeys. Struck by the roar of the battle and the wild appearance of the giants, the lop-eared ones began to roar so that the enemies, seized with insane terror, rushed in all directions. Then they were already easy to finish off. There was only one giant left - the beautiful Alkyoneus. This firstborn son of the Earth scoffed from all the blows, because it was enough for him to touch the place on earth where he was born, as the wounds immediately grieved and fresh forces returned to him. Hercules grabbed him, carried him far beyond the borders of his homeland and killed him there.

The struggle of the gods against giants has been an inexhaustible source of inspiration for Greek art throughout the centuries. The triumph of perfection, nobility, intelligence over the coarse, ugly animal power was sung in the poems of poets, glorified in temple bas-reliefs, paintings and drawings on Greek vases. After the Persian Wars, the Greeks willingly saw in the scenes of the war with the giants a symbolic representation of their own struggle against barbarian Asia.

The giants were the children of Gaia. The old goddess could not forgive the gods that they so brutally exterminated her descendants. Imbued with a thirst for revenge, she gave birth to a terrifying monster, which the world has not yet seen. His name was Typhon. From head to hips he had a huge human body, and instead of legs wriggling balls of snakes. His whole body was overgrown with feathers, only on his head and beard were coarse hair. Typhon was higher than the highest mountains, reached the stars. When he spread his arms, the fingers of his left hand touched the place from which the sun rises, and the right plunged into darkness in the far west. He threw the very rocks like balls. He flew through the air, filling him with screams and hiss. Boiling resin flowed from his mouth, and fire exploded from his eyes.

When the gods saw this monster at the heavenly gates, fear seized them. They fled to Egypt and turned around on the animals so that He would not recognize them. Only one Zeus entered the fight with Typhon, armed with an iron sickle - a cruel weapon with which Kronos once crippled his father Uranus. Wounded He was bleeding so badly that the Thracian mountains turned red, and since that time they are called Gemos - the Bloody Mountains. Finally he was completely exhausted, and Zeus brought him down with the island of Sicily. Every time He tries to free himself from that imprisonment, the Sicilian land trembles, and fire thumps through the crater of Etna, which escapes from the jaws of the defeated monster.

The Greek people still keep the memory of those battles, although so many centuries have passed and so many changes have taken place on ancient land Hellenes. However, in the view of the modern Greek peasant, the figures of titans, cyclops and giants merged into one whole. In the villages, they tell about some giants, called giants, of superhuman growth and incredible strength, in which there is only one shiny, like fire, an eye in the middle of the forehead and very long beards. Their father was some kind of devil, and their mother was a sorceress. They live in the depths of the earth, where they erect huge buildings, laying rock on rock. When the earthquake starts, the peasants say: "Probably, some building of giants is falling down again." God imprisoned them underground because they once rebelled against him.

When Zeus ascended the heavenly throne, there were already people on earth, and before their frightened eyes, battles of the gods for domination of the world took place. There were various legends about the origin of the human race: supposedly he just came out of the womb of the earth, the common mother of all things; as if forests and mountains created people, like trees and rocks; as if people descended from the gods - this view was held, in particular, by the kings and the nobility. But most willingly they perceived the legend of the four centuries of mankind.

At first there was, of course, the golden age. Then Kronos reigned. Rivers of milk flowed, sweet honey oozed from the trees, and the earth gave birth to everything by itself, even without being whipped up to it by the labor of the farmer. People lived like celestials - without worries, without work, without sadness, their bodies never got old, and life passed in endless feasts and entertainments. After the fall of Kronos, the golden age ended, and then people turned into charitable spirits.

The next century was silver, therefore, much worse. People developed very slowly. Their childhood period lasted a hundred years, and when they reached adulthood, their life was short and full of hardships. They were angry and arrogant, did not want to honor, as it was supposed, the gods and bring them sacrifices. Zeus destroyed all of them to the last, only in human memory they remained as blessed souls.

In the Bronze Age, there lived a rough tribe, kohalos in wars. People had the power of giants, and their hearts were as hard as stone. They did not know iron. Everything was made of bronze: the city walls, houses, utensils, and weapons. It was a heroic period. At that time, the great Hercules and the brave Theseus, the heroes of Thebes and Troy, lived. They performed such unusual feats that were not repeated at the next age, Jelly, which continues to this day.

Other legends told that man was created by one of the titans - Prometheus, sculpted from clay mixed with tears. And he gave her a soul from heavenly fire, stealing several sparks from a solar chariot. Not far from the city of Panopey, they showed a brick house, where Prometheus of his time did this work. Lumps of clay soil lay around, and they smelled like a human body. It was like the remnants of used material. Even now, the red land of Beotiyska reminds of a fairy tale, which tells about the creator of the human race.

Prometheus awakened the spirit in man and gave her the power to rule over the world.

Left without the wise Promethean guidance, people tormented by suffering, full of lust that they could not satisfy, became angry and lustful. When the gods descended to earth, they met with ridicule and insults. On Olympus, they said that the criminal blood of giants was to blame for this, which pervaded the earth, from which Prometheus sculpted people. And when even Zeus was mortally offended - King Lycaon treated him to human meat during dinner - the heavenly council decided to destroy the human race with a flood.

They sent the winds to send clouds from everywhere. With the first thunder, great showers came pouring in. Seas and rivers overflowed their banks. The tallest houses disappeared under water. The border between land and sea has disappeared. People sailed on ships in the fields, where they recently went for a plow. Surprised and shocked, the Nereids swam through the streets of the flooded cities. All living things were saved by randomly fleeing. The light-red manes of lions flashed from the white waves, and the wolf drove the flock of sheep to the non-existent pier. Tired birds, not finding anywhere a place where they could sit and rest, fell into the abyss. The ground became quiet and empty. The gods at the top of Olympus heard only the rumble of the boundless sea.

The highest mountains have disappeared. Only the peak of Parnassus in Bestia rose above the waves. In the endless ocean a light shuttle swayed, and in it two old men, Deucalion and Pyrrha, trembled with fear. Their weak eyesight could not grasp the whole infinity of the terrible disaster. After nine days and nine nights of travel, their boat landed at the top of Parnassus. The water began to subside. Mountains slowly appeared, behind them - higher hills, at last appeared lowlands, covered with silt, in which the corpses of people and animals lay.

Pious old women went to the Delphic grotto to find out what to do. They wanted to repopulate the earth somehow. A voice came from the upper cave: "Go, covering your face with a veil, and throw your mother's bones behind you." Pyrrha, who was the daughter of Epimethea and Pandora, was outraged, saying that it was not necessary to scatter the sacred remains of her parents. But Deucalion, the son of the wise Prometheus, realized that the deity could not advise bad things, and this is how he interpreted it: the common mother of all living things is the earth, and the bones of the earth are stones.

Then they went out into an open field, covered their faces with blankets, decided to wear belts and, walking step by step, threw stones behind them. And the stones, losing their usual shape and hardness, turned into people. Men emerged from the stones thrown by Deucalion's hand, and women emerged from the pieces of rock thrown by Pyrrha. After darkening, the old ones sat down to rest. The world was reviving around. Plants, birds and animals emerged from the soil fertilized by large rains. An immense green thicket covered the ground, over which larks sang, storks and swallows flew by. Only after that the first houses were slowly erected here and there. They were built by a tribe born of stones, and therefore more viable, more enduring in suffering and labor. Deucalion, as a patriarch, walked among his children, taught them everything that is necessary in life, taught them to honor the gods and build temples.

From the windows of the Olympic Palace, Zeus saw how the world was reborn before a new appointment. Soon he became convinced that people forgot about the punishment that overtook their predecessors, and did not get any better, but he no longer sent them a flood.

3. Drawing up a scheme "Creation of the world"

World of gods

Why did Uranus decide to destroy the Cyclops and Hecatoncheires? (Uranus did not like the ugly cruel descendants, and caused him fear and disgust.)

What goddesses were formed from the blood of Uranus? (Three goddesses of vengeance, Erinias, with snakes on their heads instead of hair.)

Why did Kronos swallow his children? (I was afraid that the prophecy of Uranus, who predicted death from his own son to Kronos, would come true.)

Tell us about the origin of the cornucopia. (When Rhea had a baby, she gave Uranus instead of a child a stone in diapers, which he swallowed. At that time, Zeus grew up on the island of Crete, where the goat Amalthea fed him his milk. When one horn of the goat broke, Zeus took him in his hands, blessed, and since that time this horn has always been filled with everything that its owner desired.Thus, there was a cornucopia, also called the horn of Amalthea.)

World of people

Retell the legend of the four centuries of humanity (gold, silver, bronze, iron).

How, according to ancient Greek legends, did people appear on earth?

(1. Man came out of the womb of the earth, the common mother of all things.

2. Forests and mountains created people like trees and rocks.

3. People descended from the gods.

4. Prometheus created man by sculpting him from clay mixed with tears. And he gave her soul from heavenly fire, stealing several sparks from the sun chariot.)

How and for what did the gods punish people? (People became angry, lustful and greedy, so the gods decided to punish them by sending the Great Flood.)

Who Escaped During the Flood? (To old Devkalion and Pyrrha)

How did Deucalion and Pyrrha restore the human race? (By the order of the deity, they went out into the field, covered their faces with veils and left, throwing stones behind them. The stones rotated on the people. From the stones thrown by the hand of Deucalion, men appeared, and from the pieces of rock thrown by Pyrrha, women.)

What did Deucalion teach the people? (He taught people everything they need in life, as well as pay tribute to the gods and build temples.)

Was the new generation of people better than the previous one? (No, but Zeus no longer sent them a flood.)

Prove that the work you read is a myth. (The work read is a myth, because it tells about the origin of the world and all life on earth, the heroes are gods of different generations.)

IV. conclusions

The ancient Greek myth of the creation of the world is original and does not resemble other myths that we got acquainted with in the lessons. It contains many different events, a ramified system of images characteristic only of ancient Greek mythology. A common point, which unites the myths we have already read, is the existence of chaos, and then the formation of heaven and earth from it, all life on it.

V. Homework

Prepare a retelling of the ancient Greek myth about the creation of the world according to the scheme.

* This distance is easy to calculate. It turns out that in our understanding, the Greek sky was not very high. The path of that anvil would be only one and a half distance from the Moon to the Earth.

The interest of many people around the world in ancient Greek mythology does not diminish, and after millennia, on the contrary, from time to time, even bursts of it are observed. Some are interested in them from a scientific point of view, others simply enjoy immersion in the unique world of heroes and gods, but there are practically no people indifferent to Greek mythology. Among the multitude various myths one can be distinguished, which is of paramount importance, this is the myth of the creation of the whole world and the story of how the ancient Greeks imagined this process.

This is an ancient legend about the immense Chaos that has always existed outside of time and space. Once an unknown and powerful force acted on him, under the influence of which he began to deform and change, which ultimately led to the creation of the Universe. Thus, Chaos became the progenitor of the world that surrounds modern people... His first creation was Time, associated with the great ancient god Chronos. Also, soon after him, new creatures arose from Chaos: Gaia - Earth and Tartarus, who is the personification of the Incomprehensible Abyss. Another creation of Chaos was Eros - the indefinable force of attraction, the only force to which the very creation of the primordial Universe was subordinated, after that, the god of love was also named with the same name.

The famous expression "Light from darkness" also comes from those distant times when Chaos gave birth to Erebus and Nikta, who became the embodiment of darkness and impenetrable night, respectively. Their union had a very strange result, which can only be called a paradox, since it resulted in the appearance of Ether and Hemera, who personified the Eternal Light and the Shining Day. Gaia, upon her awakening, contributed to the emergence of Uranus and Heaven, which was destined to become a permanent home and residence for the assembled pantheon of immortal cults.

Then Gaia was created and - Pontus, he, together with Uranus, was her husband. The union of Gaia and her first husband Uranus gave birth to powerful titans, cyclops and giants with a hundred arms, whose strength was so great that his own father began to fear them. Fearing that the children would eventually revolt and take away his power, he sent them to the Inscrutable Abyss, but Gaia raised her children to rebellion, as a result of which Kronos became the ruler of the world. This son of Uranus was the progenitor of all the famous Olympic gods, which are described in various ancient Greek myths.

However, the described legend is only one of the myths of Ancient Greece about the creation of the world; there is also another version of the creation of the Universe, which has been known since pre-Hellenic times. According to him, Eurynome, the oldest goddess of all that exists, rose from Chaos and found that she was in empty space, where there was nothing and nothing to rely on. Then she began the process of creation, dividing the sky and the sea, in the waves of which she danced, creating the wind. In order to keep warm amid the gusts of the cold north wind, naked Eurynome danced faster and more openly, which awakened desire in the giant snake Ophion. He wrapped himself around the goddess, and they conceived the child through the penetration of the north wind.

After the fertilization process, Eurynome turned into a dove that laid the World Egg, which was hatched by the great serpent. From this Egg, the planets, the earth, as well as all living creatures and everything around them in this world appeared. Ophion and Eurynome settled on Olympus, but soon a quarrel broke out between them, and the serpent was expelled by the goddess into the underworld. Eurynome continued the process of creation, creating the planetary forces and their patron titans, and from the teeth that she knocked out of Ophion, the first people arose.

In the sixth grade, from the first lessons of literature, we begin acquaintance with the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods and heroes of ancient times. But the myths of any country and nationality have their own interpretation of the origin of the world and humanity. Some talk about a flat plate that replaced the globe, others about three elephants that held the earth's surface. And there are many controversial questions about the origin of the first man. But how did the ancient Greeks look at it? How do they explain the origin of the world and humanity on earth. ? This is what I decided to do in my research.

From Greek mythology, I learned that in the beginning there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos. It was the source of life. Everything arose out of boundless Chaos - the whole world and the immortal gods. Goddess Earth - Gaia also originated from Chaos. It is spread wide, powerful, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it. Far below the Earth, as far away as the immense light sky is far from us, in the immeasurable depth was born the gloomy Tartarus - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness. From Chaos was born a mighty force that revives everything Love - Eros. Boundless Chaos gave birth to the eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nyukta. And from the Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera. Light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.

The mighty, blessed Earth gave birth to the endless blue Sky - Uranus, and the Sky stretched over the Earth. The high Mountains, born of the Earth, proudly ascended to him, and the eternally rustling Sea spread wide. Uranus - Heaven - reigned in the world. He took a blessed land for himself. Uranus and Gaia had six sons and six daughters - powerful, formidable titans. Their son, the titan Ocean, flowing around the whole earth, and the goddess Fedita gave birth to all the rivers that roll their waves to the sea, and the sea goddesses - oceanids. Titan Hiperion and Theia gave the world children: the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selena and the ruddy Dawn - rosy-toed Eos (Aurora). From Astraeus and Eos came the stars that burn in the dark night sky, and the winds: the stormy north wind Boreas, the eastern Evrus, the humid southern Note and the gentle western wind Zephyr, carrying heavy rain clouds.

In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three cyclops giants with one eye in their forehead - and three huge, like mountains, fifty-headed giants - hundred-handed (hecatoncheirs), so named because each of them had a hundred hands. Nothing can resist their terrible power, she knows no limit.

Uranus hated his children - giants, in the bowels of the goddess of the Earth he imprisoned them in deep darkness and did not allow them to come out into the light. Their mother Earth suffered. She was crushed by a terrible burden enclosed in her bowels. She summoned her children, the titans, and persuaded them to rebel against the father of Uranus, but they were afraid to raise a hand against their father. Only the youngest of them, the insidious Cronus, cunningly overthrew his father and took power from him.

The Goddess of the Night gave birth to a whole host of terrible deities as punishment for Cronus: Thanata - death, Eridu - discord, Apatu - deception, Kerra - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with a swarm of dark heavy knowledge, Nemesis who knows no mercy - revenge for crimes, and many others. Horror, strife, deceit, struggle and misfortune brought these gods into the world, where Cronus reigned on the throne of his father.

Krohn was not sure that power would forever remain in his hands. He was afraid that children would rise up against him and doom him to the same fate that he had doomed his father Uranus to. And Cronus commanded his wife Rhea to bring him the children who were born and mercilessly swallowed them. Already five were swallowed by Cronus: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon. Rhea did not want to lose her last child.

On the advice of her mother Earth, Rhea wrapped a stone in infant shroud, and Cronus swallowed this stone instead of the newborn Zeus, who was secretly brought up in a refuge on the island of Crete.

Meanwhile, Zeus grew up in Crete in a deep cave hidden from view on the slopes of the wooded Ida. The nymphs Adrastea and Idea cherished little Zeus. They fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalfea. And the young men of the kureta, guarding the cave, hid the cry of Zeus with blows of copper shields and the rattling of weapons.

Let the singer share your fleeting century!

Is it the Promethean scream or the scolding of the air camps?

Where I am! Around the clouds there is a fire - the darkness of the abyss - and the snow of the wings

And proud muscles that strained the might of the titans

Viach. Ivanov

Having matured, Zeus became stronger than his father, and not by cunning, like Cronus, but by force overcame him and forced his father to vomit the swallowed stone, thus freeing the rest of the children.

The end of the era of the Titans was approaching, which by this time had filled the heavenly and earthly expanses with several of their generations. The era of the gods was beginning, but they still had to defeat their powerful predecessors.

Sons and daughters had already managed to be born and matured to the gods, when finally the time for the decisive battle came. Equal were the rage and strength of the gods and titans marching against each other, and there was no end in sight to their battle, until Zeus knew that only by freeing the Hundred-handed people hidden in the bowels of the earth from captivity, the gods would win. The Cyclops and some of the Titans also joined the gods.

The Titans were defeated and thrown into Tartarus. The time of Cronus is over. And although after that there were other uprisings - for example, the monster Typhon, Zeus suppresses them all.

Zeus reigns high on the bright Olympus, surrounded by a host of gods. Here are his wife Hera, and the golden-haired Apollo with his sister Artemis, and the golden Aphrodite, and the mighty daughter of Zeus Athena, and many other gods. Three beautiful Orrs guard the entrance to high Olympus and raise a thick cloud that closes the gates when the gods descend to earth or ascend to the light halls of Zeus. High above Olympus is a deep blue sky, and golden light pours from it. There is no rain or snow in the kingdom of Zeus; there is always a bright, joyful summer. Deep in the depths of the sea stands the wonderful palace of the brother of the Thunderer Zeus. Poseidon rules over the seas, and the waves of the sea are obedient to the slightest movement of his hand, armed with a formidable trident. And deep underground reigns the inexorable, gloomy brother of Zeus, Hades. The rays of the bright sun never penetrate there. Abyss leads from the surface of the earth to the sad kingdom of Hades. Gloomy rivers flow in it. The sacred river Styx flows there, the waters of which the gods themselves swear.

There are many wondrous forces in nature,

But there is no stronger man

There was a place in this world for humanity. The Greeks had only one ancient myth about the origin of man: the story of how after the great flood sent by Zeus, only Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha (daughter of Prometheus) survived. All people descended from them or emerged from stones that spouses threw behind their backs. It is possible that in the oldest version of the myth, the creator of people was Prometheus himself (as in later legends), since this would explain the close connection between his actions and the fate of mankind. At the same time, some Greek tribes considered themselves "autochthonous" who arose from the land. In particular, the Thebans thought that they came from the teeth of the dragon killed by the Phoenician Cadmus, which he sowed into the ground. The most ancient idea of ​​the origin of man is evidenced by the title of Zeus - "the father of gods and people."

Created primarily a generation of people golden

Ever-living gods, owners of Olympic dwellings

The first human race was created happy, it was the golden age. As blessed gods, people lived in those days, knowing no care, no work, no sorrow. They did not know weak old age, their legs and arms were always strong and strong. Their painless and happy life was an eternal feast. The death that followed a long life was like a calm, quiet sleep. The gods themselves came to them for advice. But the golden age on earth ended, and no one was left of the people of this generation. After death, people of the golden age became spirits, patrons of people of new generations. Shrouded in mist, they rush across the earth, defending the truth and punishing evil. So Zeus rewarded them after their death.

The second human generation, called the silver generation, lived much worse than the first. But it did not know about it, for the gods did not give it reason. For a hundred years people grew up unintelligent in the homes of their mothers and amused themselves with childish amusements. Barely reaching maturity and gaining some intelligence, they soon died, never having time to enjoy a fulfilling life. Not seeing any benefit from this generation, Zeus hid it deep underground.

Zeus created the third genus and the third century - the copper age. It does not look like silver. From the shaft of a spear, Zeus created people - terrible and powerful. People from childhood were armed with spears with copper tips, wore copper armor, lived in houses with copper roofs and impenetrable copper walls. The people of the copper age loved pride and war and destroyed each other. They quickly descended into the dark kingdom of the terrible Hades. No matter how strong they were, the black death took them away, and they left the clear light of the sun.

As soon as this family descended into the kingdom of shadows, Zeus immediately created on earth the fourth century and a new human race, a more noble, fairer, equal to the gods race of demigods - heroes. Many heroes died in battles near the walls of Thebes or Troy, killing each other, or died on their return to their homeland. The survivors Zeus resettled to the islands washed by the Ocean, and gave them the blissful life of the people of the Golden Age.

The last, fifth century and the human race is iron. It continues to this day on earth. Night and day, without ceasing, people are ruined by sadness and exhausting work. The gods send people heavy worries. True, gods and good are mixed with evil, but everything is even greater than evil, it reigns everywhere. Children do not honor their parents, a friend is not faithful to a friend, a guest does not find hospitality, there is no love between brothers. People do not observe this oath, do not value truth and goodness. Each other's cities are being destroyed. Violence reigns everywhere. Only pride and strength are valued.

Goddesses Conscience and Justice left people. In their white clothes, they flew up to the high Olympus to the immortal gods, and they left people only grave troubles, and they have no protection from evil. The troubles of the people of the Iron Age are also spoken of in the future time, which will come if people do not stop in their atrocities and the lost veneration of parents by children, comradeship, brotherhood is not restored:

Children with fathers, with children - their fathers will not be able to come to terms.

The comrade will become alien to the comrade, the guest - the host.

There will be no more love between brothers, as it once happened.

The fist will replace the truth. Cities will be plundered

The shame will disappear. To man good people thin

The deceitful will harm by showing, falsely swearing

Mournfully from the wide-road land to the many-headed Olympus,

Tightly wrapped a beautiful body in a snow-white cloak,

Then they will ascend to the eternal gods, flying away from mortals,

Conscience and shame. Only the most severe grave troubles

Will remain for people

So the Olympian gods entered modern world and continue to live in it, in no way hindering people and enriching them with beauty, valor, spiritual breadth, love of life.

So my research is over. I learned a lot of new and interesting things. Thanks to this work, I plunged deeply into secrets. the ancient world... Myths captured the history of the emergence of the world, human development environment and knowing his place in it. Myths reflect not only a person's understanding of the power of these forces, but also false ideas about the possibility of somehow protecting oneself from them. With the help of myth, man soared over wingless reality, sought justice, defeated the strongest opponents, penetrated into the most remote corners of the earth and the universe. This provided the myth with the love of all human generations.

I really wanted to know more about him, about the gods and heroes of Ancient Greece. In my next work I will try to highlight the Pantheon of the gods of Ancient Greece.