1.Achilles' heel
Origin:
In Greek mythology , when Achilles was a baby, it was foretold that he would die young. To prevent his death, his mother Thetis took Achllies to the River Styx, which was supposed to offer powers of invulnerability, and dipped his body into the water. But as Thetis held Achilles by the heel, his heel was not washed over by the water of the magical river. Achilles grew up to be a man of war who survived many great battles. But one day, a poisonous arrow shot at him was lodged in his heel, killing him shortly after.
The death of Achilles was not mentioned in Homor's lliad, but appeared in later Greek and Roman poetry and drama concerning events after the Iliad, later in the Trojan War. In the myths surrounding the war, Achilles was said to have died from a heel wound which was the result of an arrow—possibly poisoned—shot by Paris.
Classical myths attribute Achilles' invulnerability to his mother Thetis having treated him with ambrosia and burned away his mortality in the hearth fire except on the heel, by which she held him. Peleus, his father, discovered the treatment and was alarmed to see Thetis holding the baby in the flames, which offended her and made her leave the treatment incomplete. According to a myth arising later, his mother had dipped the infant Achilles in the River Styx, holding onto him by his heel, and he became invulnerable where the waters touched him—that is, everywhere except the areas of his heel that were covered by her thumb and forefinger.
Words:
1. ambrosia: the food eaten by Green and Roman gods.
2.Peleus and Thetis
Origin:
It could tells form their wedding.
In Greek myth, Peleus' life is marked by war and tragedy. When he murders his half-brother, his father exiles him to Pithia where he is purified for the murder and marries the daughter of a king. Peleus eventually becomes King of Pithia.
Later, during a boar hunt, he accidentally kills someone of importance and is banished again. In this new land, he rejects the advances of a married woman, Asytrdameia; she sends a letter to his wife in Pithia and tells her that Peleus is in love with another woman. Heartbroken, Peleus' wife hangs herself.
Zeus intervenes in the life of Peleus and arranges the wedding of Peleus to Thetis, the lovely sea-goddess. Zeus loves this goddess himself, but fears the prophecy that a son born from a marriage to Thetis would be more powerful than he is (the secret of Thetis which Prometheus knows). The marriage of Thetis to a mortal man assures that the son would be mortal, and therefore of no threat to Zeus' sovereignty.
The son of Peleus and Thetis is Achilles.
Zeus doesn't want anything to go wrong during the marriage ceremony; therefore, he refuses to invite Eris--the personification of strife and dissonance--to the wedding. She of course shows up anyway, according to her nature, and rolls an apple, "the apple of discord," into the wedding party. Three goddesses--Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite--see the words "for the fairest" inscribed on the apple skin. These divine women each desire this prize; Zeus throws the apple out of Olympus and Paris, wandering on the plains of Troy, picks it up. When he reads the words "for the fairest," the three goddesses appear. Paris must choose one of the three and his judgment leads to the Trojan War--Aphrodite wins the contest and in exchange Paris gets the love of Helen, the most beautiful woman in the world, wife to Greek King Menelaus, brother of Agamemnon. When Paris takes Helen to the citadel of his father Priam, the Sons of Atreus--Agamemnon and Menelaus--rally the Greeks to war and launch a thousand ships on the Aegean Sea to get Helen back.
Words:
1.exile (n.) expulsion from one's native land by authoritative decree.
2.banish (v.)
to expel from or relegate to a country or place by authoritative decree; condemn to exile (Synonyms of exile)
3.intervene (v.) to come between disputing people, groups, etc.; intercede; mediate
4.citadel (n.)
a fortress that commands a city and is used in the control of the inhabitants and in defense during attack or siege.
3.Eris (goddess of discord)
Origin:
Eris is the Greek goddess of chaos, strife, and discord. Her name is the equivalent of Latin Discordia, which means "discord". Eris' Greek opposite is Harmonia, whose Latin counterpart is Concordia. Homor equated her with the war-goddess Enyo, whose Roman counterpart is Bellona. The drawf pianet Eris is named after the goddess, as is the religion Discordianism.
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| Eris(The drawf planet) |
4.Three gods who have related to Zeus
(1) Athena (or Athene)
Introduction:
Athena is the goddess of wisdom, courage, inspiration, civilization, law and justice, mathematics, strength, war strategy, the arts, crafts, and skill in ancient Greek religion and mythology. Minerva is the Roman goddess identified with Athena.
Athena is portrayed as a shrewd companion of heros and is the patron goddess of heroic endeavour. She is the virgin patroness of Athens. The Athenians founded the Parthenon on the Acropolis of her namesake city, Athens (Athena Parthenos), in her honour.
Veneration of Athena was so persistent that archaic myths about her were recast to adapt to cultural changes. In her role as a protector of the city (polis), many people throughout the Greek world worshipped Athena as Athena Polias (Athena of the city). While the city of Athens and the goddess Athena essentially bear the same name (Athena the goddess, Athenai the city), it is not known which of the two words is derived from the other.
(2) Hera
Introduction:
Hera is the wife and one of three sisters of Zeus in the Olympian pantheon of Greek mythology and religion. Her chief function was as the goddess of women and marriage. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno. The cow, lion and the peacock were considered sacred to her. Hera's mother is Rhea and her father Cronus.
Portrayed as majestic and solemn, often enthroned, and crowned with the polos (a high cylindrical crown worn by several of the Great Goddesses), Hera may bear a pomegranate in her hand, emblem of fertile blood and death and a substitute for the narcotic capsule of the opium poppy. Scholar of Greek mythology Walter Burkert writes in Greek Religion, "Nevertheless, there are memories of an earlier aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos and as a plank in Samos."
Hera was known for her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeus's lovers and offspring, but also against mortals who crossed her, such as Pelias. Paris also earned Hera's hatred by choosing Aphrodite as the most beautiful goddess.
(3) Venus(Aphrodite)
Introduction:
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. Her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus. She is identified with the planet Venus.
As with many ancient Greek deities, there is more than one story about her origins. According to Hesiod's Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranus's genitals and threw them into the sea, and she arose from the sea foam (aphros). According to Homer's Iliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. According to Plato (Symposium, 180e), these two origins were of entirely separate entities: Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos.
Because of her beauty, other gods feared that their rivalry over her would interrupt the peace among them and lead to war, so Zeus married her to Hephaestus, who, because of his ugliness and deformity, was not seen as a threat. Aphrodite had many lovers—both gods, such as Ares, and men, such as Anchises. She played a role in the Eros and Psyche legend, and later was both Adonis's lover and his surrogate mother. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite.
Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea (Lady of Cythera) and Cypris (Lady of Cyprus) after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth. Myrtle, doves, sparrows, horses, and swans were said to be sacred to her. The ancient Greeks identified her with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor.
Aphrodite had many other names, such as Acidalia, Cytherea, and Cerigo, each used by a different local cult of the goddess in Greece. The Greeks recognized all of these names as referring to the single goddess Aphrodite, despite the slight differences in what these local cults believed the goddess demanded of them. The Attic philosophers of the 4th century, however, drew a distinction between a celestial Aphrodite (Aphrodite Urania) of transcendent principles, and a separate, "common" Aphrodite who was the goddess of the people (Aphrodite Pandemos).
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Also, the professor said that ancient Greeks likes to rationalnize all the phonomemons they see. Here is a video which explain the season changing.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i4mAt4NnZs8&list=PLpmlgCHHfNRD2uMsJJGoKzR7wgO_WxPYo
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Last, the professor analized the construction of a story.
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Today's words:
1.heifer (n.) a young cow over one year old that has not produced a calf.
2.pomegranate (n.) /ˈpɒmˌgræn ɪt, ˈpɒm ɪ-, ˈpʌm-/
a chambered, many-seeded, globose fruit, having a tough, usually red rind and surmounted by a crown of calyx lobes, the edible portion consisting of pleasantly acid flesh developed from the outer seed coat.
3.4:
fate:can't control
destiny:can control
