🌎 Ancient Greece: Trading card

Create a trading card or trading cards about a god/ goddess or monster.

 Guidelines

Create a picture(s) of your god or goddess on your template page.  Include information about your god or goddess on the back.

Research your god or goddess or monster on day#1.  Transfer to cards on day #2

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Learning Objective

I will learn about the religious beliefs of Ancient Greece.

 Assignment Instructions

Mythology Video Links to an external site.

What gods and goddesses were worshiped by the Ancient Greeks?

In ancient Greece, stories about gods and goddesses and heroes and monsters were an important part of everyday life. They explained everything from religious rituals to the weather, and they gave meaning to the world people saw around them.

In Greek mythology, there is no single original text like the Christian Bible that introduces all of the myths’ characters and stories. Instead, the earliest Greek myths were told by storytellers who each told the stories in their own way, but whatever power and personality a god had was consistent from story to story. For example, Zeus was the king of all the gods, and only Zeus could throw lightning bolts.

At the center of Greek mythology was the group of Gods who lived on Olympus, the highest mountain in Greece. According to the ancient Greeks, the gate to Olympus was made of clouds and it was guarded by four goddesses, the Seasons. Each god had his or her own dwelling place, but Olympus was home base.  From their perch, they ruled every aspect of human life. Olympian gods and goddesses looked like men and women (though they could change themselves into animals and other things) and were–as many myths recounted–vulnerable to human foibles and passions.  The magical world of the ancient Greek gods was a world full of bickering and fights and wars and compromise and fear and fun and punishment and love. Many myths were based on the fact that gods, like mortal men, could be punished or rewarded for their actions.

The fourteen main Olympian Gods are:

• Zeus: the king of all the gods
• Hera: the queen of the gods and goddess of women and marriage
• Aphrodite: goddess of beauty and love
• Apollo: god of prophesy, music and poetry and knowledge
• Ares: god of war
• Artemis: goddess of hunting, animals and childbirth
• Athena: goddess of wisdom and defense
• Demeter: goddess of agriculture and grain
• Dionysus: god of wine, pleasure and festivity
• Hephaestus: god of fire, metalworking and sculpture
• Hermes: god of travel, hospitality and Zeus’s personal messenger
• Poseidon: god of the sea
• Hades: god of the underworld
• Hestia: goddess of home and family

The Greeks thought these gods had control over every part of people's lives. The Ancient Greeks believed that they had to pray to the gods for help and protection, because if the gods were unhappy with someone, then they would punish them. They made special places in their homes and temples where they could pray to statues of the gods and leave presents for them

Greek mythology does not just tell the stories of gods and goddesses, however. Human heroes–such as Heracles, the adventurer who performed 12 impossible labors for King Eurystheus (and was subsequently worshipped as a god for his accomplishment); Pandora, the first woman, whose curiosity brought evil to mankind; Arachne, the weaver who was turned into a spider for her arrogance; Midas, the king with the golden touch; and Narcissus, the young man who fell in love with his own reflection–are just as significant. Monsters and “hybrids” (human-animal forms) also feature prominently in the tales: the winged horse Pegasus, the horse-man Centaur, the lion-woman Sphinx and the bird-woman Harpies, the one-eyed giant Cyclops, Gorgons, minotaurs, and satyrs. Many of these creatures have become almost as well known as the gods, goddesses and heroes who share their stories.

Although when we think of mythology we think of a collection of stories, there is a beginning to them. The Greeks believed that, in the beginning, the universe was without form. It was not nothing; there was matter, but it was unorganized, shapeless, mixed up and dark. This was called Chaos.  Gaia, the Earth, and Uranus, the sky, were born out of this Chaos.  Gaia and Uranus together had children. First their children were monsters including the Cyclops, and then they created the Titans.  Their Titan son Cronus, helped by his mother, overthrew his father Uranus.  Cronus married his sister Rhea, but a prophecy stated that one of his sons would dethrone him, so every time his wife, Rhea, had a baby, he swallowed it. Rhea got a little sick of seeing all of her children swallowed alive, so she tricked Cronus when her sixth child, Zeus, was born; she wrapped up a rock to look like a baby and had Cronus swallow that instead. Zeus safely grew up out of sight of his father.  He eventually rescued his previously swallowed siblings and defeated his father to become the ruler of all the Gods of Olympus.

Adapted from the websites:

https://www.history.com/topics/ancient-history/greek-mythology

https://www.mensaforkids.org/teach/lesson-plans/an-introduction-to-greek-mythology

https://greece.mrdonn.org/greekgods

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You will now focus on one specific Olympic God or Goddess.  Using the websites listed below, research the God/Goddess of your choice.  You have TWO options for this assignment.  You may fill out the chart online OR print out the body template and follow the directions to create a small poster.  You can then upload a picture of your poster.

Greek God Poster Assignment

RESEARCH LINKS:

176 Greek God Goddess Names.docx Links to an external site.

The Olympians--Click on individual images in the picture to learn more Links to an external site.

Ancient Greek Gods for Kids Links to an external site.

https://www.kidslovegreece.com/en/greece_online/greek-mythology-for-kids-greek-gods-their-symbols-and-temples-in-greece Links to an external site. 

Greek gods list Links to an external site.

List Links to an external site.

https://www.twinkl.com/teaching-wiki/greek-gods-and-goddesses Links to an external site.