CKLA Grade 2 Domain 4 Lesson 2 Prometheus and Pandora

the Greek myth that we are going to read today is called Prometheus and Pandora myths are fictional stories that try to explain events or things in nature they teach moral lessons and entertain listeners Greek myths have many characters both mortal and Immortal the word immortal refers to living creatures that never die and the word mortal refers to living creatures that will eventually die what kinds of immortal characters might be found in myths remember gods and goddesses were often the main characters in Greek myths and were believed to be immortal what kinds of mortal characters might be found in myths today's Greek myths is story that tries to explain how the first mortal creatures were created remember the myths that we will hear over the next several lessons originated in or were first told in ancient Greece do you remember which continent Greece is located Greece is located in Europe in the red right here in this circle if we zoom in we can see present day Greece in pink in today's read aloud Prometheus and Pandora you will hear more about the Greek gods in today's myth you will hear about two brothers whose Long names have special meanings that are related to what happened in the story their names are Prometheus and Epimetheus want you to think about whether Prometheus and Epimetheus were mortal or Immortal as you listen to the story what do you notice about this picture want you to listen carefully to the myth to hear if Pandora is Mortal or Immortal here are some vocabulary words in our read aloud today the first word is amusing pleasantly funny the next word is ridiculous laughable and silly unreasonable and the last word is terrifying frightening full of Terror want you to listen carefully to find out who made the first mortal creatures according to Greek mythology and also think about whether each character in the story is Mortal or Immortal let's begin long long ago there were two brothers named Prometheus and Epimetheus their names fit them perfectly Prometheus means foresight or thinking ahead in Greek and Epimetheus means hindsight or thinking afterward Prometheus was quite clever and was always planning ahead in an effort to make things better for himself and for those around him on the other hand his brother Epimetheus was always doing foolish things without thinking the ancient Greeks believed that it was Prometheus who first created human beings and that it was his brother who made all the other creatures Zeus gave the two brothers gifts to give the living things so while Prometheus scooped up some River clay and began to make human beings in the likeness of the Gods his brother Epimetheus made all sorts of animals and gave them all the good gifts the animals could see smell and hear better than humans and they had fur to keep them warm unlike man who shivered in the cold Zeus King of the Gods noticed all of these new animal creatures hopping swimming flying growing and walking on the earth Zeus told Epimetheus these toys of yours are quite amusing some of them make me laugh like that what did you call it elephant what an imagination you have others are quite beautiful in their own way this morning was watching your dolphins sleep and play in the water they are very graceful to Prometheus he said but these humans of your what good are they the other creatures are bigger faster or stronger humans just sit around think you should get rid of them and try something else Prometheus however had something in mind when he created humans he suggested please be patient great Zeus think you will be surprised and pleased at how quickly humans can learn and how useful they can be why plan to teach them to pray to you wouldn't you like that Zeus agreed that this sounded like fine idea very well then will give humans time to prove they are worthy if they do not do so however you will have to get rid of them Prometheus felt sorry for the humans though they had no fur to keep them warm nothing to light the darkness and nothing with which to cook their food humans needed fire especially if they were to prove themselves he asked Zeus for this gift for the humans but Zeus refused fire he said is just for the gods Prometheus knew the humans needed fire with fire he thought to himself they can soften metal and bend it into shapes to make tools with these tools they could plow Fields fish and hunt for food cook that food and build shelters in which to live with fire humans can also honor the god with sacrifices human beings need fire but getting it for them will be very dangerous Prometheus knew that up Mount Olympus where most of the Gods lived there was one carefully guarded fire the gods and goddesses used this fire to cook their food from the same fire however came the dangerous lightning bolts that Zeus would fling through the sky in fact all fire came from this one source Zeus had said fire is too dangerous for these ridiculous humans to use wisely only weak gods and goddesses shall have it yet Prometheus was determined to bring fire to humans even if it meant disobeying the king of the Gods Prometheus picked stock of fennel and carried it up to Mount Olympus when no one was looking he dropped burning coal from the fire into the plant's hollow center where no one could see it then he carried the plant with the fire hidden inside down to the Earth not long after that Zeus noticed smoke rising from the earth gazing down in amazement he saw that humans were now doing all sorts of wonderful new things Zeus thought it seems human beings really are worth keeping around at the same time however he was Furious when he found out that humans possessed fire when he had himself had forbidden this guessing at once who was responsible Zeus promised will teach Prometheus and these human beings of his that they must obey me and know exactly how to do it soon after this Zeus ordered Prometheus chain to the side of mountain every day an eagle would come and Peck away at prometheus's liver but because he was Immortal he never died and every night his liver grew back again now Zeus was still angry that humans had fire but he decided to let them keep it and instead punish man in another way to punish man will use another human very special human Zeus ordered one of the Gods to make the first woman he then asked each of the goddesses and gods for some wonderful quality or talent for this new human explaining want someone who possesses all of of the most wonderful characteristics shall name her Pandora the name Pandora means all gifts the gods gave her the gifts of beauty persuasion intelligence and curiosity when Zeus finally sent pandora down to the Earth as gift to Epimetheus he sent her with closed box and warned her to never open it Pandora however desired to know what was in the Box she fought against her curiosity but day after day night after night the question nibbled away at her Pandora would often sit and look at the Box wondering wanting to open it but always stopping herself one day when none of the housekeepers or servants were around Pandora went to gaze at the Box finally she thought surely one little Peak cannot hurt she stood up and studied the closed box one last time before she took deep breath and opened the lid out of the box burst all the frightening saddening anger causing terrifying evils and Sorrows greed hate anger pain disease disaster and death swarmed from the box and around Pandora she tried to shove them back inside but she was too late out they flew in all directions by the time Pandora was able to replace the lid back on the box only one thing remained hope let's take look at some characteristics that were in this Greek myth that we just heard today does this Greek myth try to explain something in nature or teach lesson yeah it tells how humans and animals were created and also how humans got fire and how evil and sorrow came into the world does this Greek myth have mythical creatures no this Greek myth does not have any mythical creatures does it have any Greek gods and goddesses in the story yes Zeus is mentioned in this story take moment to discuss any insights into ancient Greek culture that were explained in this Greek myth here are some discussion questions feel free to pause the video in order to allow time to think and discuss myths often try to explain how things came to be in the world what does this myth attempt to explain according to Greek mythology who made the first mortal creatures which name means foresight which name means hindsight what kinds of creatures do they make what are other characters in today's read aloud which of these characters is an immortal Greek god which is not why do you think Zeus finds Epimetheus Creations amusing why doesn't Zeus like prometheus's human Creations even calling them ridiculous why does Prometheus steal fire for the humans where does Prometheus have to go to steal the fire how does Zeus punish Prometheus for stealing the fire who else does Zeus want to punish who does Zeus used to punish man Zeus sends pandora down to earth with closed box and strict instructions not to open it does Pandora follow Zeus uses instructions what happens when she opens the Box what is the one thing left inside the box there is an expression that warns people against opening Pandora's Box what do you think that expression means how is it related to this myth