As near as anyone can calculate, Hercules became a god in 1226 B.C. He wasn't supposed to. His original destiny was to simply become king of Mycenae. But a series of behind-the-scenes treacheries put his evil twin, Eurystheus, on the throne. Worse yet, this bad brother-king required Hercules to perform a series of seemingly impossible tasks.Greek mythology has a way of righting injustices, though, and the very labors meant to destroy Hercules served to make him a hero instead: The name of Hercules became synonymous with strength and daring. Nobody ever heard of Eury-something-us.As for Mycenae, it remains, equal parts myth and stone, on ahilltop in Greece's Peloponnesian Peninsula.
It's one of three essential stops on a circuit of classical Greece archaeological sites beyond Athens.
Olympia
gets more coverage, especially during an Olympic Games year. And Delphi
inspires more curiosity because of its oracle. Both of those places
attract bigger crowds. But at Mycenae, the course of Western
civilization shifted to embrace the heroic.
Between the mysterious
doings of the Minoan culture of Crete, which ruled the Aegean before,
and the hyper-logical mind-set of the Athenians afterward, Mycenae held
sway. To pass through its much-photographed Lion Gate is to enter an
age of giants.
Mycenae
The ruins of Mycenae
(pronounced my-see-nee) sit on a hill that today faces a wide, flat
valley ofcitrus and olive groves: the plain of Argolis. Its back is
protected by a low mountain range in the eastern reaches of the
Peloponnesian Peninsula. Getting here from Athens means crossing the
Corinth Canal, the digging of which technically turned the peninsula
into an island.
There's an eerie quality
about Mycenae. Guides who elsewhere bellow for the attention of their
followers speak more softly here. Tourists tread lighter on the
walkways and whisper among themselves rather than prattle out loud. The
midafternoon sun doesn't burn as hot as on other hillsides, for a stiff
wind carries its heat away.
For a long time, the
experts were sure Mycenae was just so much storytelling on the part of
Homer. To accept it as historic fact also would have required at least
entertaining the possibility that it was populated with
larger-than-lifecharacters.......
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Apollo drew his bow and fired arrow after arrow into the deadly pythondragon guarding the sacred ground of Ge, the goddess of the earth. With his victory, Apollo gained the right to call the slopes of Delphi his earthly sanctuary. It is a beautiful myth. Out of it grew the story of the Oracle of Delphi, a soothsayer who inhaled the breath of Apollo. The Pythia, the priestess who sat on a tripod inhaling fumes from the bowels of the earth, went into trances and muttered incomprehensible phrases, ...Legend of Perseus
By
Farid Alakbarli
Legends about the Amazons - a
warlike tribe of women warriors - have existed in various cultures throughout
the world. Not many people realize, however, that Amazons are closely associated
with Azerbaijan. Yes, ancient Greeks believed that Caucasian Albania was the
native land of the Amazons. Perhaps, much of what has been written about Amazons
is only a legend; however, it is true that many Albanian women really did serve
in the armies of Caucasian Albania wh...Ancient Greek Religion, Gods, & Oracles
Archaeologists have discovered the place where Aeneas is believed to have first set foot in Italy. It is the closest point on the Italian peninsula to Albania and, until efforts by the coastguard some years ago, was the destination of choice for Albanians fleeing poverty for the glamour and prosperity of their wealthy neighbour. But suddenly, the little town of Castro in the province of Lecce has something much more exciting to shout about. Archaeologists at the University of Lecce have discover...Pandoras Box
At first the life of man on earth was happier
than it is now, and then miseries and discontents gradually crept in. Prometheus
and Epimetheus created men only, not women.
When Zeus was angry with mankind, he devised
the worst punishment he could think of, and invented Woman. Hephaestus, the
smith of the gods, was instructed to form her from the earth and make her
irresistibly beautiful. Each of the gods gave her his own special gift of skill,
and from this she was called Pandora, ...Ancient Greek Gods
...In the
beginning, Hesiod says, there was Chaos, vast and dark. Then appeared Gaea,
the dep-breasted earth, and finally Eros, ' the love which softens hearts ',
whose fructifying influence would thenceforth preside over the formation of
beings anthings. . From Chaos were born Erebus and Night who, uniting, gave
birth in their turn to Ether and Hemera, the day. On her part Gaea first
bore Uranus, the sky crowned with stars, ' whom she made her equal in
...Evidence of pre-Zeus deity found
Submitted by Da Verminator: Before Zeus hurled his first thunderbolt from Olympus, the pre-Greek people occupying the land presumably paid homage and offered sacrifices to their own gods and goddesses, whose nature and identities are unknown to scholars today. But archaeologists say they have now found the ashes, bones and other evidence of animal sacrifices to some pre-Zeus deity on the summit of Mount Lykaion, in the region of Greece known as Arcadia. The remains were uncovered last summer at ...
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Scienctists turns to Greek mythology
Legend of Perseus
Oriclae of Delphi
Legend of Hercules
Amazons - The Mythical Race of Warrior Women
Ancient Greek Religion, Gods, & Oracles
Following in the steps of a Trojan hero
Pandoras Box
Ancient Greek Gods
Evidence of pre-Zeus deity found
