Notes on Greek Mythology

In the Waldorf scope & sequence, children learn Greek Mythology in grade 5 (often culminating in an Olympics) and Greek & Roman History in grade 6 as a prequel to the Middle Ages. The last time I taught Greek Myths we had a shortened month so our block needed to proceed quickly. We used Famous Myths of the Golden Age retold by Beatrice Alexander (1947) for our MLB.

The Flame-Giver

Pandora's Box

The Gorgon's Head

The Story of King Midas

The Sun-God and the Mortal

How Phaeton Drove the Horses of the Sun

The Golden Fleece

Cupid and Psyche

The Labors of Hercules

The Six Pomegranate Seeds

The Wanderings of Ulysses

I loved her retellings; the biggest downside to her book is that she refers to the Greek characters by their Roman names and my students found that very confusing. The next month, while we were writing and putting on our Three Vignettes from Greek Mythology Class Play, we then read The Odyssey for Boys and Girls retold by A.J. Church (1936) as our lunchtime read aloud (available here as a FREE PDF).

This time around I have the luxury of taking my time, working remotely on Zoom with a student who wants to go through the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths slowly. So here is the table of contents with some notes.

In Olden Times

image of map

modern word Olympics

Gaea, Mother Earth

Uranus, name of a planet

modern word uranium

The Titans

the Hecatoncheires (meaning "hundred-handed ones") were named Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges

Titan is a moon of Saturn

modern word Titanic

modern word titanium

modern word rhea

ZEUS and His Family

Roman equivalent Jupiter, name of a planet

modern word iris

find "Childhood home of Zeus here" on map

Hera

Roman equivalent Juno

Io is a moon of Jupiter

this is a great time to go see peacocks at the zoo or Cabin on the Hill!

Hephaestus

Roman equivalent Vulcan

modern word volcano

find "Hephaestus' forge here" on map

Aphrodite

Roman equivalent Venus, name of a planet

the Roman equivalent of Eros is Cupid

Eros is an asteroid in the Asteroid Belt

find "Aphrodite landed here" on map

The Birth of Venus
Sandro Botticelli
1483 - 1485

Venus de Milo
Alexandros of Antioch
Hellenistic period

Ares

Roman equivalent Mars, name of a planet and a month

also, the two horses that pulled his chariot (Phobos "fear" and Deimos "terror") are the names of the two moons of Mars

Eris is a dwarf planet in the Kuiper Belt

modern word phobia

Athena

Roman equivalent Minerva

modern word arachnid

this is a great time to taste different types of olives or make Super Lemony Olive Oil Cake (our kitchen spoon is made of olive wood!)

Poseidon

Roman equivalent Neptune, name of a planet

Triton is a moon of Neptune

find "Poseidon's palace here" on map

find "Delos" on map

Apollo

find "Parnassas Mt" and "Oracle of Delphi" on map

Artemis

Roman equivalent Diana

constellations: Orion and scorpion

find "Orion was blinded here" on map

Hermes

Roman equivalent Mercury, name of a planet

find "Birthplace of Hermes" on map

Hades

Roman equivalent Pluto, name of a dwarf planet

Persephone and Demeter

the Roman equivalent of Persephone is Proserpina

the Roman equivalent of Demeter is Ceres

modern word cereal

find "Persephone kidnapped here" on map

this is a great time to open and eat a pomegranate!


Persephone
retold by Sally Pomme Clayton

Dionysus

Roman equivalent Bacchus

Ganymede is a moon of Jupiter

MINOR GODS, Nymphs, Satyrs, and Centaurs

modern word atrophy

modern word nemesis

Prometheus

Pandora

Pandora's Box (English and Arabic Edition)
retold by Henriette Barkow

Pandora's Box retold by Lisl Weil

to help with the MLB illustration of the sealed jar, we used the "Ancient Greek Art & Architecture" lessons from Art History Kids (pp.17, 18, 19)

Deucalion

modern word zephyr

modern word boreal


The Boreal Forest: A Year in the World's Largest Land Biome
by L. E. Carmichael

Eos

modern word Eocene

Helios and Phaëthon

Selene

Pan

Echo

Syrinx

The Wild and Vulgar Centaurs

Asclepius

The Nine Muses

Orpheus

MORTAL DESCENDENTS OF ZEUS

Europa and Cadmus

Tantalus and Pelops

Danaüs, Perseus, and the Gorgon

Clever and Vainglorious Kings

King Midas

Sisyphus

Bellerophon

Melampus

Heracles

Theseus

Oedipus

The Golden Fleece

The Calydonian Boar Hunt

The Apples of Love and the Apple of Discord

Everything Must Come to an End

It's really helpful to have pictures handy of the different celestial bodies that have been named based on Greek mythology. I love The Photographic Card Deck of the Solar System by Marcus Chown (with 158 amazing images).

If you're also a part of Art History Kids, Lotus Stewart is doing Ancient Greek Art & Architecture as her August 2023 topic. That's a great resource as well!

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