Thanks and Appreciation 

This site is dedicated with love and thanks to my mentor, Dr. Chris Downing, who led me and the rest of our group on this magical journey and spent hours each day sharing her scholar's knowledge.

Thanks also to Gabby for nominating this page as Lens of the Day last May.

The Summons 

"So, are you coming to Greece with us?" my friend Lisa asked over lunch in February.

Greece? A few doubletakes later, I found myself sitting crosslegged on the floor of a lecture room at Pacifica, shakily holding a flyer for Greece with Chris Downing. Chris Downing, professor of Greek and Roman myth, author of a more than a dozen books including The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine. Chris Downing, who had taught with Z. Budapest and Carol Christ. A crone with a sparkle in her eye and a passion for literature and the soul, who at 74 thinks nothing of walking thirteen miles a day. The trip's suggested reading list included Mary Renault and Euripides and Aristopanes.

The itinerary was a hit parade of many of the places I've studied or helped catalog for the Perseus library: Athens, Eleusis, Delphi, Mycenae, Epidauros, Delos, Naxos, and... last but not least, Santorini. Thera, its proper name. A speck on the map in the middle of the Aegean Sea. It was that name that made me sit on the floor and shake.

Google Maps: My Tour of Greece 

Interactive satellite and road map of Greece

Odysseus' overseas jaunt took ten years -- twenty if you count his stopover at Troy. Mine was just two weeks, but I had better accommodations.

Overview of My Greece Trip's Itinerary

Follow me around Greece! I've marked all the sites that we visited and the routes we took on a Google map. Scroll, zoom in and out, or jump to my lenses focusing on different parts of my trip by clicking the colored markers.

Echoes of Atlantis 

Thera. How long has that island held me in its spell? I remember stumbling across its legend as a child. Before the Trojan war, before Greece was Greek, a thriving people we call Minoans lived on the big island of Crete. They plied the seas with ships, trading with Egypt and Babylon and the Bronze Age peoples living where Greece would one day arise from marble-bedded hills. Minoan art abounded with flowers, colorfully-dressed courtiers, leaping bulls and dolphins, royal gryphons, and the double-bladed axe that was their chief symbol.

Santorini, ancient Thera, was a smaller island north of Crete where the Minoans had settled, mixed with other seafarers, and built a city that seemed to blend the best of many of the oldest civilizations in the world. Their furniture was ornate, their pottery beautiful, and the rooms of their homes were painted with charming vignettes of fishing and sailing and boys' sports and maidens picking flowers. They were a prosperous and flourishing people.

Then, sometime in the 15th century BCE, the island awoke, like Vesuvius looming over Pompeii. Stairs cracked and walls fell. The people struggled to stay, but their rich fertile soil was a volcano's gift-- or rather, a loan. When the caldera gave way, seawater rushed in, met with molten rock and exloded, blowing out the entire middle of the island and leaving only a ragged circle of land which had formerly been shore. It was much like Krakatoa, that awesome cataclysm that robbed the world of one summer in 1883, save for one thing-- Thera's magma chamber was four times larger. Or at least that was the tale told in Atlantis: the Biography of a Legend, an early book on the discovery and excavation of Thera's ruined city.

More recent scientific studies have downgraded the severity of the disaster, but as a child I was gripped by the tale's power. I wrote stories and poems about the lost island that fell into the sea. For surely, garbled as it was, this was the root of the Atlantis legend Plato retold a thousand years later.

When you receive a summons like this, you had better answer. It's like the poet's Muse.

Book Recommendations 

These books are a little out of date, but enjoyable. They explore the fascinating searches people have made to locate Atlantis, ending with Thera/Santorini as the most likely candidate for the origin of this popular legend.

Atlantis: The Biography of a Legend

by: Marjorie Braymer

Written for teens but fun for all ages. Great photos of Santorini and the city buried by the volcanic eruption.

Amazon Price: (as of 12/05/2008)
Used Price: $0.01

Voyage to Atlantis: The Discovery of a Legendary Land

by: Jr., James W. Mavor

Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution takes readers on a worldwide expedition searching for Atlantis and revealing how natural disasters leave their mark in myth.

Amazon Price: $16.95 (as of 12/05/2008)
Used Price: $2.64

Travel Diary: Arrival in Greece 

Nighttime, 30 April 2005, Kentral Hotel, Athens

For Further Reading... 

Recommended Links on the Acropolis of Athens

As I share my experiences about my trip, I'll point you to good websites I've found related to that place, myth, or god/dess. I'll list the web pages geared toward the general public first, then the more scholarly and academic ones.

Lens: Acropolis of Athens

Easy-to-read guide to the Athenian Acropolis including photos and descriptions of monuments, ground plans, and history.

Dr. J's Illustrated Acropolis

Photo gallery and lecture notes on several monuments by a professor of classics.

Hellenic Ministry of Culture: Acropolis Guide

Official guide to Acropolis, including pages on individual monuments and visitors' information.

Acropolis 360 Panoramic Views

Great website with 360-degree Quicktime panoramas of and information about the Acropolis and surrounding hills/monuments. Includes audio commentary (can be disabled).

Travel Diary: Arrival in Athens 

Written the afternoon of Sunday May 1st

So how was the journey here? Long and far. It began at 3:45 AM two days ago with an hour-long shuttle ride to Los Angeles, then a six-hour flight to New York, which wasted so much time fussing on the runway that I nearly got to reenact Ariadne's least favorite moment. I barely caught the flight to Athens.

Overseas flights are so long. Somehow the night seems darker with deep ocean below rather than solid ground. In the morning, we flew down the coast of Italy. I could clearly make out the long rectangular strips of the iugera, Roman fields kept cultivated to this day. The port of Brundisium settled by ancient Greeks was nestled where it should be upon the heel. There was lingering snow on the Appenines, and more in the rugged heights of Greece when we crossed over the short strait of sea to the other side. Somehow I had not grasped how sharp, how rugged were its mountains.

Customs was easy-- waiting for the bags, not so easy! In the airport I caught up with some ladies of my tour group. One had booked a ride online with George's Famous Taxi, and he was more prompt than my LA shuttle had been! We decanted at the Central Hotel on Apollonos (Apollo) Street, after a bewildering ride through many narrow alleys. After unwinding in my room, I came down to find Chris Downing welcoming arrivals on a balcony above the lobby. She recommended that I set out and begin my explorations at once.

So, armed with a detailed map, I ambled out into tiny streets, most paved with flagstones and flanked by shops and friendly people. There was an amazing (well, not really) amount of replica Greek art: statues and red-figure vases, even Cycladic figurines, most of which I was more used to seeing from the opposite end of a slide projector.

For Further Reading... 

Recommended Links on Dr. Chris Downing and Ariadne (what a pair!)

Dr. Christine Downing's Faculty Page

Photo, quick bio, curriculum vitae, syllabi, workshops and lectures, and mini-reviews of the published works of this remarkable lady.

Myth of Ariadne

Brief and easy-to-read summary of the story of Ariadne.

Ariadne entry, Encyclopedia Mythica

More complete information on Ariadne, including variants of the myth and her pre-classical status as a goddess.

Ariadne's Lament

Excerpt from Ovid's Heroides by A.S. Kline on his free Poetry in Translation site.

Travel Diary: First Day in Athens (Stoa of Attalos) 

Written the following afternoon, Sunday May 1st

Two Recommended Books by Dr. Chris Downing 

It's hard to pick just two!

Dr. Downing blends rigorous scholarship with wise and lively insights into how the ancient Greeks viewed their gods and goddesses -- and how the same archetypes are alive in our own lives! It's rare to find an academic with a sense of humor and an earthy understanding of life's passions, joys and pitfalls.

The Goddess: Mythological Images of the Feminine

by: Christine Downing

One of her earliest books, it was a groundbreaking work on Greek goddesses including Athena, Aphrodite, Hera and Artemis that inspired many feminists and pagans, and it's still a great read.

Amazon Price: $20.95 (as of 12/05/2008)
List Price: $20.95
Used Price: $13.16

Gods in Our Midst: Mythological Images of the Masculine--A Woman's View (Electra)

by: Christine Downing

The guys don't get left out! However, Dr. Downing's slant is to consider how women did (and do) relate to the Greek gods, a useful perspective in a field traditionally rooted in studies of and by dead white men!

Amazon Price: $20.00 (as of 12/05/2008)
List Price: $20.00
Used Price: $20.00

Travel Diary: First Evening in Athens (Easter) 

Written the following afternoon, Sunday May 1st

The sunset behind the Acropolis was a stunning backdrop for dinner, although the evening air was biting cold. Some of the group went out into the city to attend late Easter services and drink in the pageantry and the singing. They participated in the local custom of breaking eggs dyed a deep dark red, a tradition to honor rebirth and spring that probably predates the name they called out while doing it: Christos aneste! I had wondered why our hotel had left us two eggs in a basket!

I was cold and tired and wary of walking city streets at night, but there on the rooftop we had a view of the whole city laid out before us. Athens is no more level than Rome, so up and down the hills we could see many people processing or holding candles. The soaring choruses of hundreds of voices singing from cathedral and church and square made the city resonate. Chilled and wondering, we stood entranced.

Around midnight, bright fireworks and gunshots went up all over the city, and the many layers of bells ringing and interweaving from all directions brought tears to our eyes. The sound echoed off the cliffs of the Acropolis. There alone, an island of silence in a sea of music and thunder, the shrines and monuments of a different world stood stoically abandoned, their marble columns bathed in golden light from many spotlights that illumined them all night long.

Google Maps: Follow My Footsteps! 

MAP: Athenian Landmarks I Visited

Here is a Google satellite and street map of Athens. I've marked our route and all the monuments mentioned on this page to show you where we went!

Travel Diary: Second Day in Athens (Agora, Propylaia) 

Written Sunday afternoon, May 1st

On Sunday we slept in, then set out from the Central Hotel to see what the city might show us. Squares were filled with people breaking their Easter fast on roast lamb spitted over open coals just as Homer described. There was music and dancing everywhere. At length we came to the Stoa of Attalos, by now an old friend, but the gates to the Agora were again closed. So we ambled beside its ruins sunk below street level, great open expanses of blocks and marble overgrown by tall grass and flowers and bushes, submerged islands of the past lying tantalizingly on the far side of fences and locked gates. Over the Agora in the distance the Acropolis loomed. When we came far enough around to look up at its western face, I had a surprise-- empty scaffolding enclosing the spot where the pretty little Temple of Athena Nike usually stands, perched on a high bastion on the righthand side of the great entrance to the Acropolis, the Propylaia.

Well, I knew what should be there, so only a little disappointed we kept edging around the Agora until we'd climbed the long Pnyx hill, past the wonderfully-preserved Temple of Hephaistos, past the grotto where Pan, they say, used to pipe to the nymphs, past the Kallirhoe spring and up to the olive-clad foot of the Acropolis, the Propylaia just above us.

Propylaia, the gateway to the Acropolis

Turning back to face the city and the Agora, we climbed out onto a knee of the Acropolis that has its own famous name, the Areopagus (Mars Hill). There, long before democracy, the Athenian elders met to discuss city affairs. Centuries later, Paul preached his sermons there to dubious merchants from the Agora below. I shed my shoes and we climbed up onto Athenian limestone polished by thousands of years of passage. Below the city spread out before us. Dancing swallows rode the blustery fresh wind, and we drank in the pure Greek sun and sky. Chris was up there too with her granddaughter. We shared the view and some talk, but I was off in my own world watching swooping swallows and thinking of Thera's flaking plaster walls.

Gifts from my "It's All Greek to Me!" Online Shop 

Help support this page (and keep food in my cat's dish)!

I have products for sale featuring some of my best photos. Images are available on a range of products from t-shirts to mugs, blank cards to wall clocks. Click on my storefront's logo to go there for many more goodies!

Greek Temple Women's Dark T-Shirt

Beautiful photo of the Temple of Hephaistos in Athens. Design availalable on many other items!

Price: 22.99

Parthenon Journal

Stunning vertical shot of the Parthenon captures the color of the Greek flag. Unlined spiral-bound notebook works as a diary, sketchpad, or journal to record your own odysseys!

Price: 11.99

"It's All Greek to Me!" Dark T-Shirt

My store logo in an eye-catching circular design, with the words "It's All Greek to Me!" ringing the head of an ancient Greek statue.

Price: 20.99

Travel Diary: Second Day in Athens (Agora, Taos Indians) 

Sunday afternoon, May 1st

Panorama of Agora and Athens from Areopagus Hill
Temple of Hephaistos, left; Stoa of Attalos, Right
Distant left: Marble Quarry for Parthenon, still in use

Descending the heights, we cut through the edge of the Agora, where a few ruins were still open to visitors, including the foundations of a temple to Hekate. There I got my first taste of what was to become a familiar sight of which I never tired: red, red poppies overrunning the old stones, wild barley grasses rustling in the wind. Just past the temple was an orange grove fragrant with hanging jasmine, a feast for the nose.

Agora / Temple of Hecate foundations

Past that came an unlikely feast for the ears. Coming down to the ruins of a Roman forum, we were drawn by the sound of pipes, flutes and drums, which in fact we had been hearing here and there all afternoon. Now we discovered the source. Native American musicians from Taos, not far from Raquel's home, were giving an impromptu outdoor concert before the ancient Roman library of the emperor Hadrian, a grecophile who would probably have appreciated their music! Greeks danced to the unlikely music of a continent away. Old and new, far and near were blended together by Andean pan-pipes.

Native American musicians in front of Library of Hadrian.

For a late lunch we had Greek salad at an outdoor cafe and that ubiquitous iced chocolate drink that became a staple of my daily wanderings.

Finally we returned to the hotel, where I had a chance to bring my diary up-to-date.

In the evening, Chris gave us the second of her many brilliant 2-hour lectures. See below for my lecture notes!

Recommended Books: Great Resources For Greek Mythology 

I use these as excellent references sources.

The Genealogy of Greek Mythology: An Illustrated Family Tree of Greek Myth from the First Gods to the Founders of R

by: Vanessa James

Family tree of every god, goddess, and hero, with tons of handy charts and lists (participants in Trojan War, the 12 labors of Hercules, Roman names of Greek gods, etc).

Amazon Price: $16.50 (as of 12/05/2008)

Usually ships in 24 hours

Art and Myth in Ancient Greece: A Handbook (World of Art)

by: Thomas H. Carpenter

Topical and diachronic survey of how classical vases and sculpture depict Greek gods, goddesses, and individual myths.

Amazon Price: $11.53 (as of 12/05/2008)

Usually ships in 24 hours

Early Greek Myth: A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Vol. 1

by: Timothy Gantz

Detailed, two-volume resource on Greek mythology. Invaluable for the serious student/scholar.

Amazon Price: $22.50 (as of 12/05/2008)

Usually ships in 24 hours

Lecture Notes: Roots and Origins of Greek Religion 

Excerpts from my notes on Dr. Chris Downing's talk, 1st May 2005

Note: I've inserted some explanatory notes in italics.



Greek religion began with rituals -- of purification, of protection, etc. It was animist.

Jane Ellen Harrison said: in the beginning, there were no gods and goddesses.

There were ghosts, angry spirits with humanlike will. There were nymphs, daimones in every rock and stream. They were sources of fertility, disease, death, the weather.

Human's relationship to them consisted of fear, awe, gratitude.

Even later in antiquity the rituals were to prevent/dispel disease, plague, drought, famine, etc. Many spirits were of those killed in battle or unburied. The Furies -- the Erinyes (female spirits of vengeance) -- were fearful and baleful.

There were rituals at the tombs of dead heroes to seek comfort and aid.

There were incubation rituals (sleeping in a sacred space) to deal with physical or internal crises. The suppliant would purify him/herself, bathe, sacrifice, spend the night at a tomb, often in an animal skin.

Most heroes (think Hercules, Theseus, Perseus) were said to be descended from a nymph or local female spirit of a stream, tree, etc.

(Heroes were semi-divine ancestral figures worshipped in local cults, more than what we think of as "hero".)

Gradually spirits anthropomorphized, especially through stories. They were named and concretely imagined. Yet names were more like titles that one might find in fairy tales. For example, in the Homeric Hymns, we find Kore ("maiden"), Dione ("goddess") and Despoina ("the mistress"). Other prominent early goddesses include Gaia/Ge (Mother Earth) and Hestia, hearthfire.

In early Greek religion, female figures were very local (Helen of Troy was originally a tree-divinity in Sparta). The diet was mostly vegetarian.

Then came a gradual infiltration of northern nomadic peoples with a more astral (sky) based religion. They swept over all Greece and integrated local spirits into gods/goddesses, nymphs, heroines. E.g. Ariadne, Helen.

(The "Dorian invasion" is still debated by archaeologists)

For Further Reading 

Four Recommended Links on Ancient Greece, Greek History and Mythology

Greece Timeline

Easy-to-read timeline of early and pre-Greek history from Ancient-Greece.org.

Theoi Project

Excellent guide to Greek divinities (gods and daimones) including regional variants, cults and translations of ancient sources describing them.

An Overview of Classical Greek History

Free e-text version of classicist Tom Martin's Overview of Classical Greek History, which I helped edit/hyperlink in the early days of the web.

Romanus_Too's Flickr Gallery

This isn't actually recommended for reading, just browsing. Here are some really beautiful photos of Athens by someone who had a better camera and more photographic skill than I!

Lecture Notes: Roots and Origins of Greek Religion Cont'd 

Excerpts from my notes on Chris Downing's talk, 1st May 2005

Greek deities began as epithets (nicknames, titles). E.G. Kourotrophos, "nurturer".

In the historical period, the gods were very differentiated in myth, but more similar in cult. (For example, Apollo and Dionysos are very different in myth, but shared Apollo's temple at Delphi.)

Sacrifices were always given to one particular facet of a deity. Never to "Athena", but to "Athene Polias" (Athena of the city), for example.

By the time the gods are named, they're mythical and fully human. Stories add in human frailty. They lose their connection with the natural world.

Linear B tablets (from earlier Mycenaean period) have some of the gods' names already: Artemis, Hera, Dionysos. Notice there are some gods, not just goddesses, contrary to theories of purely-matriarchal religion prior to the Dorian invasion.

No Greek god says "worship only me", but "worship me". -- Chris Downing

In the myths, the gods are involved in process -- they are not static! For example, Hestia yields her place in Olympus to Dionysos.

The Jungian/archetypal view of particular gods as embodiments of some eternal force (Hermes the trickster, Apollo standing for clarity, Athene for wisdom, Demeter for motherhood) doesn't work for Greece.

Recommended Books on Greek Religion, Gods, and Mythology 

Greek Religion

by: Walter Burkert

Definitive study by well-respected modern classicist.

Avg. Customer Rating:

Amazon Price: $24.30 (as of 12/05/2008)

Usually ships in 24 hours

Prolegomena to the Study of Greek Religion (Mythos Books)

by: Jane Ellen Harrison

Groundbreaking study by Jane Ellen Harrison in the early 1900s, now considered dated, but still a must-read for the student of Greek religion.

Avg. Customer Rating:

Amazon Price: $34.96 (as of 12/05/2008)

Usually ships in 24 hours

Lost Goddesses of Early Greece: A Collection of Pre-Hellenic Myths

by: Charlene Spretnak

Feminist scholarship on early Greek goddesses. Somewhat controversial.

Avg. Customer Rating:

Amazon Price: $15.30 (as of 12/05/2008)

Usually ships in 24 hours

Lecture Notes: Athena and the Acropolis 

My notes from Dr. Chris Downing's talk, 1st May 2005

The Acropolis is Athena's, but also shared. Most of the restored Acropolis is hers, but there were also altars, statues, shrines, temples to Pytho (Persuasion), Artemis, and Poseidon.

It was settled in the second millennium BCE, the site of a Bronze Age palace.

It was considered sacred from the 8th century onwards. Before the Persians burned it (480 BCE) -- including a wooden temple of Athena -- the priestess of Athene Polias reported that her sacred serpent had refused its offering of honeycake, meaning the goddess had left. So the people fled the Acropolis and left it to destruction, but in the final battle burned the Persians' ships.

All current buildings are from a 5th century BCE reconstruction project by the leader Pericles. Athens exacted tribute from the Delian League, a federation of Greek city-states. The money was supposed to pay for military defense following Athens' defeat of the Persians, but Pericles sank it into rebuilding the Acropolis.

Temples were not places of worship, but houses of the gods.

The Parthenon housed Pheidias' giant gold-and ivory statue of Athena. The back room was filled with offerings to the goddess. Rituals were held outdoors partly because they were animal sacrifices. No rituals were held within the Parthenon in the classical period. Muslims and Christians later used it as a church.

The sculptures on the pediment are stories. They depict the birth of Athena, the contest of Poseidon and Athena, the Gigantomachy battle of gods vs. Titans, the Trojan War, the Centauromachy (battle of Greeks vs. Centaurs) and the Amazonomachy (mythical battle of Greek vs. Amazons). All represent mythologizing of the Persian wars in which the Greeks defeated a foreign, powerful, barbaric (to the Greeks) eastern foe.

For Further Reading... 

Recommended Links Related to the Parthenon

Dr. J's Illustrated Persian Wars

Lively account of the Persian Wars, including the Battle of Marathon.

Ancient-Greece.org's Parthenon Page

Excellent history, photos, and description of the Parthenon.

Parthenon at Nashville

Astounding full-sized reconstruction of the Parthenon, including painted reliefs and 41-foot-tall statue of Athena.

Lecture Notes: The Goddess Athena 

My notes from Dr. Chris Downing's talk, 1st May 2005

To know Athena...

Think of individual statues, epithets, cults, rituals. [Again, Chris emphasizing particularity of the goddess... Athena as seen in specific local festivals, rituals, stories, shrines.]

Attributes...
Owl: not only wisdom, but dark, bird of prey
Snakes: creatures of underworld
Olive Tree: her gift to humankind
Head of Medusa on her breastplate

Common epithet (nickname): Parthenos, the maiden. She embodies female self-sufficiency.

Athena's virginity reminds us of her close involvement with both males, females not contaminated by passion. She can use her energy in a sublimated form (arts, crafts, strategy).

The famous relief of the "Mourning Athena" shows her grieving at not being able to protect her community from -- and by -- war.

She is competent, creative, and intelligent.

She also stands for the patriarchy! (See her speech in Aeschylos' Eumenides, which of course is written by a male playwright to endorse Athens' male-only democracy)

She is an ambivalent goddess, but this is true of all: they have a bright and dark side.

Her most important ritual in Athens was the Arrephoria. Two girls aged 7-12 lived on the Acropolis for a year and wove the Peplos, the gown for her old, pre-Persian Wars wooden statue. It was a nighttime ritual. They were given a basket into which they may not look. They went down through the rock of the Acropolis from the precinct of Athena to the temple of Aphrodite. The priestess there took something out, and put something else back in. Snakes? A phallic symbol? As with many Greek mysteries, we are tantalized by hints but have few details. The girls carried the basket back to Athena. The wellbeing of the entire city depended on these two girls. In the second part of the ritual, they bathed and reclothed the wooden statue. (In the myths of Aphrodite, water is important, and in some myths she renews her virginity by bathing in the sea.) We read that the gown's decorations depicted the Gigantomachy.

Athena From My "It's All Greek to Me!" Online Shop 

Please help Support My Site!

For these designs on other kinds of gifts, click the logo to go to my storefront!

Archaic Athena Women's T-Shirt

Show off your inner goddess with this incredible Athene shirt. Photograph of a 6th-century BC archaic statue in Athens makes for an eye-catching design on this women's T-shirt.

Price: 16.99

Athena Art Journal

Unique gift from ancient Greece for the art lover, student, teacher, or history buff! Athena, Greek goddess of wisdom, leans on her spear. Original art based on the 5th-century BC "Mourning Athena".

Price: 11.99

Parthenon Tote Bag

One side has a fine art photo of the Parthenon, Athena's temple on the Acropolis in Athens, Greece. On the other is an original drawing of the goddess based on an ancient sculpture.

Price: 14.99

Lecture Notes: Myths of Athena 

From my notes on Chris Downing's talk, 1st May 2005

Finally, we know about Athena through stories. Here are some of the famous Greek myths about her:

• The birth of Athena from Zeus' skull after he swallows Metis, the goddess of wisdom and watery, creative intuition. He did this after hearing that a son born of him and Metis would overthrow him. Chris suggests that Athena's relation to women, like Metis herself, is hidden (by the patriarchy?)
• In one myth, Hera gives birth to the god Hephaistos parthenogenically in envy of Athena's birth.
• Athena and Poseidon had a contest to see who was to be the patron deity of Athens. Poseidon created a saltwater spring on the Acropolis, Athena an olive tree. The Athenians voted for Athena. Both (supposedly) were contained within the sacred grounds of the Erechtheion temple.
• King Erectheus, the mythical first king of Athens, was said to be born from the seed that the ground after Athena wiped off her leg in disgust when Hephaistos tried and failed to seduce her.
• Medusa was a beautiful human girl ravished by Poseidon in a temple of Athena. The goddess, furious, cursed Medusa, changing her into a hideous monster with snaky hair whose gaze turned people to stone. After Perseus slew Medusa, Athena placed the head on her breastplate (aegis) to strike terror into foes.
• Late myths have Athena as the lover of the nymph Chariklo.

Blogfeed: The Latest from Mythphile 

Fetching RSS feed... please stand by

The Journey Continues... 

Sneak Preview of Things To Come 

Navigation of This Site 

There's much, much more to explore!

Ancient Greece Odyssey: Part One

Back to top of this page!

Ancient Greece Odyssey: Part Two

Third day in Athens, including Acropolis and National Museum.

Ancient Greece Odyssey: Part Three

The sanctuary of Eleusis and the myths of Demeter and Persephone.

Ancient Greece Odyssey: Part Four

Delphi and the Oracle of Apollo.

Ancient Greece Odyssey: Part Five

Mycenae, Tiryns, and the modern city of Nauplion.

Ancient Greece Odyssey Updates Blog

Livejournal blog where I post links to the newest sections whenever I add more content to this site. RSS available!

Guestbook for Fellow Travellers 

Leave a friendly note if you enjoyed this lens. Or click here to email a friend about it!