Hermes And Argus (Down)

Hermes thought there could be no better fun． He laid asidehis winged cap and his winged shoes ，and dressed like the shepherds in that country，He carried his golden stick in his hand，and as he walked along，played carelessly on a shepherd's pipe；then，finding a few goats feeding at the side of the road，hedrove them slowly before him．

Argus found his watch rather dull，and was glad enough to talk to any one who happened to pass by． He was very glad when he saw Hermes coming with the goats，and he invited the pretended shepherd to come and sit by him，under the trees in the shade，and play on his pipe and tell stories．

Hermes sat down on a stone by the side of Argus，and began to play very softly，so softly that the music was like the sighing of the wind through the branches of the trees． The day was warm， and it was quiet．Two of Argus's eyes soon closed．The others might have remained open if there had not been asleepy magic...

Hermes And Argus (Up)

Argus was a watchman with a hundred eyes，set in a circleall around his head．When he slept，he closed only two eyes at a time；the other ninetyeight were always wideopen．So it could not have been easy to steal away anything that Argus was watching．

Now it happened that Hera，the wife of Zeus，was very jealous of a beautiful rivernymph，called Io．Zeus，in order to saveIo from the jealous anger of Hera，changed her into a whiteheifer ．Hera，suspecting that the white heifer was really Io，setArgus with his hundred eyes to watch her．

Poor Io was very unhappy．Her father， the rivergod，did not know her，neither did her sisternymphs；but they used topat the white heifer and give it grass from their hands． At last Iowrote her name with her hoof in the sands of the river bank，and then her father and sisters knew that the pretty white heifer was their own Io．

She had no sooner revealed herself to her family in this way than Argus drove...

Theseus (Down)

Theseus' friendship with Pirithous，king of the Lapithae，grew from a dramatic beginning．Pirithous was invading Attica and The seus was marching his men out to meet him． In the first personal encounter between the two heroes each was so filled with admiration for the other that they both laid down their weapons and became faithful friends．

At the wedding of Pirithous，to which Theseus and Heracleswere invited，a number of horsemen present were angry with the shining beauty of the bride，so that they attempted to take herby force．Both The seus and Heracles were enraged at their wildbehaviour ．In what was known as the coldblooded fight between the horsemen and the Lapithae they beat the horsemen and saved the bride．But she did not have long to live．

Both The seus and Pirithous were full of the ambition of marrying a lady of holy birth．At one time they got Helen by force，she was the beautiful daughter of Zeus，but as she was not yet of m...

Theseus (Up)

Just as Heracles was the chief hero of Peloponnesus，soTheseus was the most famous halfgod of Attlca．His father was king Aegeus of Athens and his mother a princessof Troezen．When he was still an infant his father left him in thecare of his mother and went back to his own kingdom．Before he left，Aegeus buried his sword and sandals under a hugestone，and told his mother to direct him to Athens as soon as he was big enough to lift the rock and take the hidden gifts with him. At the age of sixteen he became a strong young man，intelligent and with lots of nerve．Taking the sword from under the rock，he joyfully set out to look for his father．It was a journey of adventures．But he cleared the roads of various monsters hemet and appeared harmless in his father's palace at Athens．Little did he suspect that here would be an attempt on his life there．

King Aegeus had recently married Medea，a bad woman．She was anxious to have the Athenian throne for her own chil...

Helen

Helen was the most beautiful woman of the world．She was an infamous lady．She lighted the flames of the Trojan war and brought extreme destruction on the city ofTroy．Helen was the daughter of Zeus．Helen's matchless beauty and charms drew towards her many heroes from all parts of Greece.

When still small she was carried off by Theseus，who wished to have a divine wife ．But she was rescued later by her brother Castor，and brought back to her native land．Her stepfather married her to Menelaus，king of Sparta．

Nothing of importance had happened to her married life until Paris came to visit Sparta．Helen was attracted by Paris' lovelyface．They stole one another's love in the absence of Menelausand then eloped on board a ship to Troy．Helen left her young daughter behind．To get Helen back，the Greek army sailedacross and laid a long siege to the city of Troy ．

Helen was quietly weaving her story into a web of goldencarpet one day when she was called up t...

Niobe

Niobe，the queen of Thebes，had indeed good reason to beproud of her herself ．Both her father and mother were gods．Her husband was a capable and outstanding musician．And she was both wealthy and powerful．But what madeher the happiest lady in the world was her fourteen children，seven manly sons and seven beautiful daughters．They were allso strong and fair that the whole world looked upon them with admiration．

It happened at the time that every spring the Theban womengathered at the temple of Leto to offer flowers at the altars of the great mother．She had given birth to two grand children，Apollo and Artemis．Her women showed a great deal of loyaltyand respect to her．This made Niobe jealous and angry．Whenthe nuns of Leto called the women again to the sacred place ofthe mistress of Zeus one spring，Niobe decided to put an end to the foolish act forever．In her pretty flowing robe she came to the women and blamed the crowd for their mad ...

Marpessa

Marpessa was the only daughter of King Evenus．She was noble and graceful．From her childhood she was trained by her father like a young hero and was not allowed tohave any thought of love and marriage．To deal with the crowdof men who now rushed into his palace，the king proposed that aman have to beat him in a carriage race to win his daughter. Death would be the penalty for the loser ． The king was sure of his victory，for his horses came from Ares' stables ． Manyyoung princes lost their lives．

Last came Idas，prince of Messenia. He was not discouragedby the fate of those men，because he had Poseidon on his side．Granting his prayers，the seagod had given him two fleet horses and advised him to take his reward as soon as he won therace and flee from the king's attack . He did as he had been told，and King Evenus，lost his own daughter，his only hope inlife，drowned himself in a river．

Idas and Marpessa presently arrived at a riverside，where ldas put d...

Athena

On one occasion Zeus suffered a bad headache．All the gods，including Apollo，the god of medicine ，had trieduselessly to offer an effective treatment ．Then the father of gods and men asked Hephaestus to open his head．This the god of the fire did．To the wonder of all the Olympians，agoddess，well-grown and full-armed，came out of Zeus' head．The goddess was giving off light and splendor. She was Athena，goddess of wisdom and knowledge and patroness of Athens ．

The story of Athena becoming patron goddess of Athensconcerns the struggle between the goddess and Poseidon．When the city of Athens was first built by a Phoenician ，both Poseidon and Athena competed for the honour of naming it．It wasthen agreed that whoever offered the most useful object for men would become the patron of the city．Poseidon struck the ground with his trident and produced a horse，whereas Athena had an olive tree to present，a symbol of peace and plenty．As the horse was regarded as stru...

Tithonus

Every day，when Helios drove his wonderful horses andhis fiery carriage across the sky，it was Aurora who opened the gates of pearl and drew back the dark curtains of the night；for Aurora was the goddess of the dawn .She was so beautiful that the whole sky became pink with pleasure when she appeared in the east．

On the earth lived a man called Tithonus，who loved Aurora so well that he never failed to leave his bed while it was still dark，to watch for her coming．Aurora loved Tithonus too，and one day she flew to the king of the gods，and begged of him that Tithonus might be given a cup of magic liquid ，and so becomeliving forever．

Zeus allowed this request， and Aurora took Tithonus up to Mount Olympus to live in her golden house.

The goddess had forgotten to ask that Tithonus might never grow old．Therefore，the time came when gray hairs could beseen among his golden curls . Aurora was kind to him in spite of this，and continued to give him beauti...

Pan

Pan's Parentage was a problem Of Iong argument.BUtmost writers of Greek mythology agree that he was theson of Hermes by the lovely fairy maiden Penelope．Hewas a cold，hairy country monster， with the upper part of a manand the body and legs of a goat．Wandering about in the mountains and woods with other wood gods and cheerful fairy maidens. Pan led a perfectly carefree life．He was admired as the godof woods and pastures ， with prophetic powers．He represented nature and country Iife．In old times he Was honoured as a godwho was good，just and holy．

Pan had a strong desire for women．At one time he loved acharming maiden，Syrinx，but to his disappointment his love was not returned．One day Syrinx left Pan with a fearful step ，which lighted Pan's love all the more．He ran after her and was almost overtaking her when she was turned，at her own request，into a clump of reeds by Mother Earth ．Pan wept bitterly at the change．Sadly he picked some pieces...