Every Greeking Out Minute Myths natgeokids

Heroes, sorcerers, and monsters. This is mythology in minute sized morsels. ♪It's Greeking Out♪ Welcome to "Greeking Out." Today we're "Greeking Out" about Zeus, the king of the gods, the head man, the top dog, the little brother. Yeah, it's true. Zeus is actually the youngest of all of the OG Olympian gods, including Poseidon, Demeter, Hades, Hera, Hestia. He was the baby of the family. And he was raised by goat. Like an actual goat. But more on that in second. You see, Zeus' father was titan named Kronos who was terrified that one of his kids was going to overthrow him and take control of the throne. There was this whole prophecy about exactly that, and the ancient Greek gods were really really into their prophecies. Now, Kronos, problem solver, figured he couldn't be overthrown by his children if he swallowed them whole right after they were born. But since the children were gods, they didn't digest or anything, they actually just continued to grow in his tummy. And as you might expect, Zeus' mom was little freaked out by this whole deal. So when baby Zeus was born, she swapped him for an infant-sized rock and Kronos swallowed it right down. Didn't even double check, just swallowed it. Could have been anything. So to keep little baby Zeus safe, his mother sent him to the island of Crete to grow up in secret and there he was raised by mother goat. Really. Her name was Amalthea and she was really good nanny. Or naaa-nny. Get it? Well, anyway, years later, Zeus rescued his siblings from their tummy trap and eventually wound up becoming boss of all of the Olympians and what we generally think of as king of the Greek gods, which is real glow up for youngest sibling. Speaking of siblings, there's Zeus' brother, Poseidon. God of the sea, bringer of storms, the earth shaker. Now of all the gods, Poseidon was the one you really didn't want to anger. If you offended him, he was not gonna just let it go. Just ask Odysseus. It should have only taken him few weeks to get back home after the Trojan War, but since Poseidon was angry with him, it took ten years. Now when you think of Poseidon, you probably think of the ocean, but he's also the Greek god of earthquakes and horses. And he also really wanted to be the patron god of the city of Athens. The town was originally called Cecropia, and both Poseidon and Athena were very attached to it. Zeus decided to let the citizens decide. Whichever god gave them the best gift would become the patron of the city. Well, Poseidon immediately struck the ground with his trident and water rushed forth in the form of spring. Everyone in the town rejoiced, but they quickly realized that this was salt water, and while it was pretty to look at, you couldn't drink it or water your crops with it. Athena, meanwhile, gifted the town with the olive tree, gift that would provide food, shade, and resources to build bigger city. In the end, they voted for her, and that's why that town is now known as Athens. Otherwise, the capital of Greece might be Poseidaho. While we're on the subject of Athens, let's talk about Athena, goddess of wisdom, intelligence, war, household crafts, and she has thing for owls. Now we know that Zeus is Athena's father, but she actually claimed she didn't have mother, which is not strictly true. As the story goes, Zeus had been trying to woo titan goddess named Metis who was known for her wisdom, and when he found out she was pregnant, he may or may not have swallowed her whole, which is not an appropriate reaction to learning you're going to be dad. But for the next few days, Zeus had terrible headache. Fortunately, the very clever Hermes put two and two together to save Athena. He got Hephaestus, the blacksmith of the gods, to come up with hammer and chisel and actually make crack in Zeus' skull to free her. Don't worry, he lived. And wouldn't you know, Athena popped right out, fully dressed in suit of armor, carrying spear and shield and ready to dispense wisdom and battle advice. Athena is the goddess of warfare, unlike her brother Ares, the god of war and combat. She oversees battle strategy, clever thinking, and she's pretty great at weaving and crafts. There's lot to Athena. And now we're Greeking Out about Hades, one of the six original Olympian siblings and the Greek god of the underworld and the dead. He's sometimes called the host of many, because everyone in the ancient Greek world went to the underworld when they died. Now Hades is not actually the god of death specifically, that's Thanatos, but Thanatos brings the souls of the newly departed to Hades down in the underworld, which is probably the most visited off-limits place in all of Greek mythology. They always say that only the dead can enter the underworld, but Greek mythology is full of mortals and demigods who somehow found way in. Like the time when Theseus and Pirithous snuck into the underworld and actually tried to kidnap Hades' wife, Persephone. Hades invited them to sit down with him and then trapped them in magical mind-erasing stone chairs where Theseus would have just sat forever if Heracles hadn't come along. Zeus, Hades, and Poseidon actually drew straws to see who would rule what. Obviously, Zeus got to be king of the gods, Poseidon ruled the seas, and Hades drew the short straw when he was given the underworld to rule. On the plus side, Hades has really great dog with three heads. Good boy, good boy, and good boy! You can't talk about Hades without talking about Persephone, queen of the underworld and wife, reluctantly, to Hades. say reluctantly because Hades basically kidnapped her and tricked her into becoming his queen. Her mother Demeter is the goddess of the harvest, so when Persephone is away, the crops wither. But when she returns to the mortal world on the surface, flowers begin to bloom and the temperature gets warm. This is how the ancient Greeks explained the change of seasons. Persephone also shows up in the Odyssey during Odysseus' journey to the edge of the underworld. Odysseus wants to talk to dead seer, but he ends up having to talk to bunch of dead people that are mad at him first. Odysseus thinks that it's Persephone who brought them by just to torment him. Sisyphus also asks Persephone to release him from the underworld because he says he wants to haunt his wife for not burying him properly. Now of course, Sisyphus was lying. He just wanted to get back to his body and live longer. He eventually returned to the underworld and was punished in most bizarre way. He had to roll boulder all the way up giant hill, only to watch it roll all the way down again and have to roll it back up again for all eternity. So yeah, don't get on Persephone's bad side. So now we are Greeking Out about Heracles. Not Hercules, that's the Roman version. Heracles was how the Greeks said his name. Heracles was demigod known for his amazing skill in battle, his incredible strength, and his stamina. He was kind of like Superman with club, but he wasn't nearly as nice as Superman. Heracles was hero, sure, but he also did some bad stuff every once in while. Even the heroes make bad choices sometimes. To atone for Heracles' bad deeds, Hera demanded mortal king give him 12 labors to perform that involved epic quests. He had to fight the multi-headed Hydra, had to hunt down the mythically-sized boar, had to sneak into the underworld, and shovel poop. That's right, Heracles had to clean out some stables where thousands of farm animals lived. They belonged to King Augeus, who was famous for his massive animal collection. Heracles realized that even with his god-like strength, this was way too much to shovel. So instead, he dug giant trench and diverted water from nearby river, washing away all the stinky poo, and leaving the stables fresh and clean. Sometimes, even the greatest heroes have to do the dirty work. It's not always about work. One Olympian who knows how to play is Dionysus, the Greek god of wine, festivities, agriculture, theater, and big cats. Basically he was Mount Olympus's resident party animal. Now of all the gods, Dionysus is probably the one who seemed to like people the best. It's possible that worship of Dionysus started before Ancient Greece as we know it really got going. His worshippers weren't always welcome in the cities of Ancient Greece either. There are tons of stories about the followers of Dionysus coming to new city and being banned or kicked out for being bad influence on the locals. There are lot of different stories about Dionysus' birth. One version that's not often told says that when he was baby, jealous Hera had him torn apart and eaten by Titans, leaving only his little tiny heart intact. Zeus made the heart into drink for mortal woman named Semele. (Yeah, super normal thing to do, right?) So that Semele could give birth to Dionysus again. As for the Titans who killed baby Dionysus? Zeus blasted them with lightning bolts and from their ashes, he made us humans. Who knew we all had little tiny Titan in us? Next up is truly beloved deity, Aphrodite. She was the goddess of love and beauty and even though she's an Olympian, she wasn't really related to the other gods. Aphrodite actually rose up out of the sea on the island of Cyprus, fully grown. One of her first major appearances in Greek mythology was when she played huge role in kicking off the Trojan War. Yes, it was Aphrodite who caused Helen to fall in love with Paris, prince from Troy. Now obviously Aphrodite was working for the Trojan side during the war, and not just because she'd started it, but also because her son Aeneas was another Trojan prince. She had at least 18 children and loved them all. Aeneas, whose descendants go on to actually found the city of Rome, is probably the most famous, but her favorite was definitely Eros. He's the one with the love arrows that make people fall in love and creates havoc. Yeah, the Romans called him Cupid. Well, you can bet that when Eros himself fell in love, Aphrodite was not excited about her new daughter. It might have been the one time Aphrodite was not on the side of true love. So now we're greeking out about Odysseus. That's right, the guy they named the Odyssey after. He's big hero in Greek mythology, some would say the most epic. And he's frequently celebrated for being, quote, "the cleverest of all the Greeks." Some of these major clever accomplishments include framing somebody he hated for espionage, tricking cyclops into believing his name was nobody, and yeah, he made all of Helen's suitors promise to go to war if anything happened to her. But probably his most famous moment was after 10 years of besieging the city of Troy, Odysseus came up with plan to finally get inside the famously impenetrable walls. He had the Greek army pretend to leave, constructing giant wooden horse to leave on the beach in their former camp. The Trojans thought it was peace offering to the goddess Athena for safe trip home for the Greeks, so instead of destroying it, the Trojans decided to bring it inside the city walls. But of course, inside the giant wooden horse, the Greek army waited to spring out and end the war. And all that is before the Odyssey even starts. Last, but certainly not least, is Circe. Or "Kirky" as it's sometimes pronounced. She is sort of the unofficial goddess of sorcery and she's pretty multi-talented. Circe could grant you immortality or turn you into pig. It could go either way. Now most stories say that Circe is the daughter of Helios, the sun god, and sea nymph named Perseis. She's probably most famous for helping Odysseus and his crew during the Odyssey. But it's worth pointing out that one of the most famous monsters that appears in Greek mythology was actually created by Circe years earlier. You see, when she was younger, Circe fell in love with mortal-turned-sea god named Glaucus. Unfortunately, Glaucus already had crush on another nymph named Scylla. Circe didn't take that very well. In fact, she got so upset about the whole thing that she turned Scylla into horrible six-headed sea monster with twelve dangling feet and voice like yelping dogs. So, if you meet Circe, try to get on her good side. And for more Greek mythology, have your kids check out the new season of the Greeking Out podcast, now available on Nat Geo Kids YouTube!