Signs as Greek myths pt. 1
Meleager was the son of King Oeneus of Calydon and Althaea. Seven days after he was born Fates came to predict his future. They said that he shall live until one of the fire woods, currently in the family Hearth, burned completely. His mother snatched the piece of wood right away and hid it in a safe place. Years after Calydonian boar started roaming the area. He was sent by angered Artemis because Oeneus omitted her in one of the festivals. Meleager was chosen as a leader of the quest to kill the boar and he started gathering his crew right away. After assembling all the local heroes and the royal guard he decided they needed one more member in the team to ensure them victory, Atalanta. She was a huntress that lived alone in the woods, raised by bears. The rest of Meleager’s entourage wasn’t thrilled about having a women, let alone someone who was raised in the wilderness. Meleager didn’t mind since he knew how good a fighter Atalanta is, and she was definitely better than half of his men. At the beginning of the hunt Meleager promised to give the hide to the first person that draws blood from the beast. In the end Atalanta succeeded first and as promised she got the hide. Everyone was outraged that a woman got the war prize but no one acted on it except Meleager’s brother and uncle. They attacked Atalanta, hoping to kill her and get the prize for themselves. But Meleager got in the way and killed them both in order to protect her. As soon as Althea saw that he killed her brother and other son she took out the half burnt piece of wood she safely kept all these years and threw it right back in the fire, killing Meleager.
Midas was the king of Phrygia. One day, Silenus, Dionysus’ teacher wandered off and stumbled upon Phrygia. After drinking too much wine he passed out in king Midas’ garden. After the king found him he realized who he is and welcomed him. He treated him as the guest of highest honor. Upon returning him to Dionysus’, the God promised to grant Midas one wish as a thank you for his hospitality. Midas chose the gift of golden touch. Anything he touched would be turned to gold instantly. At first Midas loved his gift and started turning everything in the castle gold. But when it was time for dinner and he sat down to eat he realized that even his food and drinks became the strong yellow metal as soon as he touched them. He became aware of the fact that if continued like this he would die from starvation soon. Moments later his daughter showed up, Complaining about her roses, since her father turned them to gold. Wanting to comfort his daughter Midas went to hug her but as soon as his hand touched her she turned to gold completely. Right after he realized that his gift was actually a curse he went straight to Dionysus and begged him to take his powers away. The God felt sorry for the king and instructed him to go to river Pactolus and bathe in it. As soon as he did his powers washed away from him.
Prometheus was the son of the Titan Iapetus by Oceanid Clymene. He was one of the rare, if not the only one who would always oppose Zeus and trick him. One day Gods were supposed to decide what will people sacrifice to them and Zeus put Prometheus in charge to present them with choices. Prometheus decided to trick Gods, to see how shallow they really are. The first thing was beef hidden inside an ox's stomach (It represented something good, grand, but hidden inside of something unpleasant), second was bull’s bones wrapped only in fat. (It was something poor but hidden inside something pleasing). Relying only on his sight, Zeus chose the latter and when he found out that Prometheus tricked him, and people will only be sacrificing fat to him, and keeping meat for themselves, he was outraged. As punishment he took fire from people. Prometheus was disgusted by Zeus’ action, punishing humans for his own ignorance, so he stole fire and gave it back to the humans. This only angered Zeus more so he chained Prometheus to a rock in the Caucasus. He was to stay there for eternity and every day an eagle, representing Zeus, would eat his liver, which would regenerate during the night, allowing the process to go without end. He will later be freed by the hero Hercules
Coronis was the lover of Apollo. She died very young, either by the hand of Apollo for being unfaithful or in labor. As a result Apollo had to cut out their child from her womb. He named their son Asclepius. Right after he took him to centaur Chiron to raise him. Chiron taught Asclepius in the art and medicine. One day Asclepius showed kindness to one of the snakes passing by and as a reward, the snake taught him the secret knowledge of healing. Soon Asclepius became better healer than Chiron and after that even better than Apollo himself. His skill was so high that he could even resurrect the dead. Once he realized that, he started bringing people back from the Underworld. One time he even took money for it. This enraged Zeus and Hades, Zeus was worried because balance of the world was being shaken and Hades was just pissed that someone was taking souls from his world. So one day Zeus struck Asclepius with a thunderbolt and killed him immediately. Angry at Zeus for killing his son, Apollo went and killed the Cyclopes that made Zeus’ bolts. As a punishment Zeus banned Apollo from Olympus and cast him to the earth where he will have to serve Admetus, king of Thessaly for a year. After a year has passed, Zeus returned Apollo back, revived the Cyclopes and decided to do something for Asclepius too. Some myths say that he put him in the sky and turned him into constellation known as Ophiuchus, and the others say that Zeus turned him into a God but forbid him to resurrect people without his consent.
Narcissus was a hunter from Thespiae that was known in the world for his extreme beauty. One day while he was walking through the forest he was noticed by a dryad Echo, a tree nymph. She was momentarily mesmerized by his beauty and fell in love. She tried talking to him but he wouldn’t even pay her a second glance. Sorrow washed over her completely that nothing but her echo was left of her. Gods got angry at Narcissus and his attitude so they decided to punish him. Goddess Nemesis took that upon herself. She led Narcissus to a lake and showed him his reflection. When he was born, the blind seer Tiresias told his mother, nymph Liriope, that Narcissus will have a long and happy life as long as he never recognized himself. Nemesis counted on that and that’s why she brought him to the lake. As soon as he saw himself he fell in love immediately. Realizing that he could never have himself he jumped in the lake and took his own life. In other myths he turned into a tree. At the end, on the spot where he met his end a flower grow that had his name, narcissus.
When Persephone was taken by Hades, Demeter went searching for her all over the world. On one occasion she got to Eleusis in Attica, she took form of an old women named Doso and sought shelter. The King Celeus and Queen Metanira gave her a warm welcome, they even offered her a job to take care of their two sons, Demophon and Triptolemus. She was deeply touched by the couples’ hospitality so she decided to give back. She wanted to turn their son Dempohon into a God. She would do it by coating him in ambrosia and then holding him above open fire, burning all of his mortality. She would do it every night, in the family hearth, without knowledge of his parents. Unfortunately she was unable to finish her ritual because one night Metanira walked in just as Demeter was holding him above fire. She screamed and snatched Demophon back. Demeter was angry and couldn’t understand how the humans didn’t realize she was only trying to help them. She gave up on helping Demophon but decided that she would do something for Triptolemus instead. She chose to teach Triptolemus the art of agriculture and he would go on to teach all of Greece. He was driving a chariot drawn by dragon while Persephone and Demeter were at the back, helping him educate the people.
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