Pu blished in the 2002 Elfin Diary
THE GREEKS
Aeschylus(c.525-455BC) A writer of around 90 tragic plays, seven of which survive. He was the first writer to use more than one actor, making dialogue and action on stage possible.
Anaxagoras (c.500BC-428bc) An Athenian philosopher who wrote a book called ‘On Nature’ in which he tried to explain how the universe worked. He worked out that the Sun was a mass of flaming material and that the Moon reflected its light. He was the first person to explain a solar eclipse.
Archimedes (c.287-212BC.) A mathematician, astronomer and inventor. He built a planetarium, invented the pulley and the winch and discovered that a body displaces its own volume of water, an important law of physics.
Aristotle (384-322BC) A philosopher who studied with Plato in Athens from the age of 17 until Plato’s death 20 years later. He then travelled around, spending three years as tutor to Alexander the Great, who always sent him specimens of the plants and animals he was encountering on his conquests. Aristotle set up a school, the Lyceum, and died at 62 of a stomach illness. His most famous works are Poetics, Politica and Metaphysica. His writing cover many different subjects and various philosophical theories.
Aeschylus (c.525-455BC) A writer of around 90 tragic plays, seven of which survive. He was the first writer to use more than one actor, making dialogue and action on stage possible.
Euclid (c.300BC) A mathematician whose most famous book, Elements, which consisted of thirteen volumes, in part sums up the teachings of all the mathematicians that worked before him. Several of his theories remain in use today.
Herodotus (c.484BC-420BC) A historian and geographer, born in Ionia. He visited Egypt, lived in Athens and settled in southern Italy. Known as the Father of History because he was one of the first writers to compare historical facts and see them as asequence of linked events. His work ‘Histories’ is divided into nine books, each bearing the name of a Muse. They tell of the clash of the Greeks and Barbarians in the Persian wars and the causes of the wars.
Hippocrates (c.460BC-377BC) The most famous of Greek physicians who lived on the island of Kos, where he founded a medical school. His teachings became the basis of medical practice throughout the ancient world. He based his work on close observation of people rather than religious rituals. His writings cover many aspects of medical practice, including the effect of the environment on illness and disease and the way a doctor should behave.
Homer (8 century BC) A poet about whom little is really known. For many years his work was passed down by word of mouth and eventually fragments of it were written down by other poets and historians centuries after his death. The poems accredited to him include The Iliad and The Odyssey, which are accounts of the Trojan War. It is said that he was blind; the Greeks attributed supernatural powers to blindness, believing that the blind could foretell the future and see the invisible.
Plato (c.518BC-347BC). An Athenian philosopher and pupil of Socrates. After Socrates’ death Plato travelled to Egypt and southern Italy and on his return he bought the park called the Academus and set up a school for philosophical, scientific and political investigation, calling it the Academy. It continued for centuries after his death and was closed in AD529 by the Roman Emperor Justinian, who thought it was politically dangerous. Plato’s ideas have remained influential to this day, his ideas for the running of an ideal state were set out in his books The Republic’ and The Laws (which remains unfinished). His work consists of philosophical dialogue. He opens with a specific question and suggests a broad view of the problem; it is often left to the reader to come to his own conclusions.
Pythagoras (c580BC-late 6 century BC) A philosopher and mathematician who founded a school in southern Italy; it was a religious association that believed in reincarnation of the soul in the bodies of men, animals and plants. He was reputed to have been able to recall his previous lives. He developed many geometrical theories, and practised a severe discipline at his school which included respect for the authority of the master, secrecy, ritual purifications, memory exercises, examinations of conscience and various taboos concerning food.
Socrates (c580BC-399BC) An Athenian philosopher who wrote no books, but taught by word of mouth, discussing points of philosophy and questioning accepted opinions. He liked to point out the weak points in people’s beliefs and in the government, which made him very unpopular. He died by drinking hemlock after his enemies convened a tribunal that found him guilty of not believing in the Gods or the state and of corrupting the youth of the city. Socrates always feigned ignorance by saying the only thing he knew was that he knew nothing. Many of his listeners went on to found schools of their own after he died.
THE GODS
According to legend, Mother Earth (Gaea), rose out of chaos and gave birth to a son, Uranos (The Sky), who became her husband. They had lots of children, the most important being fourteen Titans. One Titan, Cronos, led his brothers and sisters in a rebellion against his father and deposed him. He married his sister Rhea; their youngest son Zeus led his brothers and sisters against the Titans, deposing Cronos and becoming the leader of the new gods that lived on Mount Olympus.
APHRODITE. The Goddess of Love and Beauty. Born out of the sea spray, she was a daughter of Zeus. Her son with Hermes was Eros, the God of Love. She was married to Hephaestos, a smith whose forge was under Mount Etna in Sicily, were he made Zeus’ golden throne and his shield that caused storms and thunder when shaken. She rode the sea in a scallop shell, her symbols are dolphins, doves, roses, rams and sparrows.
APOLLO. The twin brother of Artemis. He was the God of Prophecy and Divination, the Arts and the Sun. He was a son of Zeus. At Delphi he killed the serpent, Python (his mother’s enemy) and took its place as the oracle there. His symbol was the laurel tree.
ARES. The God of War. The only son of Zeus and Hera, he was bad tempered and only happy in battle. He was Aphrodite’s lover, but Helios the Sun God spied on them and told her husband, Hephaestos, who trapped them both by throwing a net over them whilst they were together. All the Gods came to laugh at them until Poseidon came and persuaded him to let them go if Ares paid a fine, which he did. Symbols: Vultures, spear, dog and burning torch.
ATHENE. The Goddess of Wisdom. A daughter of Zeus and the Titaness Metis. Zeus swallowed Metis because of a prophecy that if she had a son, it would depose its father. One day Zeus had a headache and so he ordered Hephaestos to crack open his skull; out sprang Athene in full armour. Symbols: the olive tree and the owl.
ARTEMIS. The Moon Goddess and Goddess of the Hunt. She used silver arrows to bring plague and death, but she could also heal. She protected pregnant women and young girls and was the mistress of all wild animals. Symbols: Cypress tree, dogs and deer.
DEMETER The Earth-goddess, Goddess of Agriculture and all plants. When her daughter Persephone was kidnapped by Hades, she neglected her duties and this caused winter. Demeter eventually regained her daughter, but only for half the year; the other half Persephone had to spend with her husband Hades in the underworld. Each time she was returned to her mother, she brought spring and summer. Secret rites were performed to her, especially at Eleusis (the Eleusian Mysteries) signifying that life is eternal and always repeating itself. Her symbol is a sheaf of wheat or barley.
DIOYNSUS (Bacchus) The God of Wine and Liberation. The youngest of the Gods, he wandered the world teaching people how to make wine, and was usually accompanied by Satyrs who protected fertility. His followers were mainly women who dressed in fawn skins, danced wildly and carried Thyrsoi – staffs wrapped in grape vines and crowned with pine cones – which is his symbol. He became one of the twelve main gods when Hestia resigned.
HERA. Queen of the Heavens, she was the wife and sister of Zeus, protector of women and marriage. She was very proud , hated Zeus’ many affairs and often persecuted his lovers and their children. Zeus once suspended her by her wrists with her feet weighed down by anvils because of her persecution of Heracles. Her symbols are the Peacock and Pomegranate.
HERMES. The messenger of The Gods. He guided the shades of the dead to Hades’ house in the underworld. He was a protector of travellers and bringer of luck. Son of Zeus, he was a precocious and naughty child often stealing cattle. He invented the Lyre on the day he was born by killing a tortoise and using its shell, and was depicted as having wings on his heels and carrying a caduceus. Herms – piles of stones – were monuments erected to him along roads as he was also the God of Travellers. Symbol: the Caduceus.
HESTIA. The Goddess of Hearth and Home. A daughter of Cronos and Rhea, she never married and consequently her priestesses were called the Vestal Virgins. Gentle and pure, she was aloof from the constant quarrels of the other gods, eventually resigning her throne knowing she would receive a welcome wherever she went.
PLUTO. (Hades) The God of the Dead and Lord of the Underworld, a kingdom were the shades of dead humans and some mythological creatures were confined, guarded by jealously by Pluto who rarely let them return to Earth. He owned all the precious metals and gems of the Earth, and was more often referred to as Pluto – meaning the wealthy one – rather than by the dreaded name of Hades. No one expected anything from him and no temples were dedicated to him. He kidnapped Persephone, made her his wife and tricked her into eating something from his kingdom (some pomegranate seeds) so that she would always have to remain with him for six months of every year.
POSEIDON. Ruler of the Seas and Oceans and brother of Zeus. He was armed with a trident which he stirred up the oceans with to cause earthquakes. He lived with his wife in an underwater palace where he kept his gold chariot and white horses. His affairs with goddesses and mortals were short lived and produced strange beings such as the Cyclops and Pegasus. He was honoured by sailors who also dreaded him because of his persecution of Ulysses on his return journey to Ithaca from the Trojan Wars. Symbols: Trident, Dolphins and Horses.
ZEUS. Ruler of the Gods and King of Heaven. He sat on a throne above the clouds on Mount Olympus armed with a lightening bolt, surrounded by other divinities who were mostly his own children. He was raised secretly in a grotto in Crete by nymphs, after his mother Rhea saved him from being eaten by his father. He was married to his sister Hera but had many couplings with mortal women, appearing to them in different guises such as a bull, a shower of gold or a swan.