Greek mythology: 5 Things You Should Know

Question: Before Zeus ruled from Mount Olympus, his father Kronos ruled the Titans. Why did Kronos swallow each of his children at birth?

Answer: Kronos feared the same fate he had dealt his own father, so he swallowed his children, but his wife Rhea hid baby Zeus and fed Kronos a stone wrapped in cloth. Zeus grew up, freed his siblings, and led the Olympians to victory over the Titans.

Question: Zeus chained the Titan Prometheus to a rock, where an eagle ate his liver every day. Why did Zeus punish Prometheus so harshly?

Answer: Fire let humans cook, forge tools, and build civilization, which made them less dependent on the gods. Prometheus became a symbol of rebellion and sacrifice for the sake of human progress.

Question: Each year, Persephone spends months in the Underworld with Hades. How did the Greeks use her story to explain nature?

Answer: Demeter, goddess of the harvest, lets nothing grow while her daughter is gone, and spring returns when Persephone comes home. Myths like this gave the Greeks a way to explain the natural world around them.

Question: The Trojan War began when Paris of Troy took Helen from Sparta. Why had the goddess Aphrodite helped Paris win Helen?

Answer: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite each offered Paris a bribe, and he chose Aphrodite’s promise of the most beautiful woman in the world. His choice sparked a ten-year war that inspired Homer’s Iliad and Odyssey.

Question: Achilles was the greatest Greek warrior at Troy, yet an arrow to his heel killed him. Why was his heel his only weak spot?

Answer: The sea nymph Thetis tried to make her son invincible, but the heel she held never touched the water. Today, an “Achilles’ heel” means a small weakness that can bring down someone strong.