Things to learn about the Greek Mythos (Packet 1 of 12)

1. Titans

The second order of deities in Greek Mythos, preceding the Olympians. The first twelve were the sons and daughters of Uranus (Father Sky) and Gaea (Mother Earth). They overthrew their parents and were in turn overthrown by their children. They lived on Mt. Othrys instead of Mt. Olympus. Some of the more famous of them include Cronus, the father of Zeus and Poseidon, Mnemosyne, the personification of memory and the mother of the muses, Hyperion, the father of the sun (Helios), the moon (Selene) and the dawn (Eos), Atlas, who held the sky on his shoulders and Prometheus, who sided with the Olympians in the great war, created mankind and gave mankind fire against Zeus’ will. Zeus punished him for giving fire to mankind by having him eternally chained to a rock where an eagle at his liver every day.

2. Cronus

The leader of the Titans and the youngest of the first twelve Titans, all children of Uranus (the sky) and Gaea (the Earth). He is often pictured with a sickle, associated with his chosen method of deposing of his father Uranus. He is also often associated with the harvest, and his Roman counterpart is Saturn. Some tales indicate that Aphrodite was created out of this destruction of Uranus. In order to try and avoid the same fate, he attempted to swallow each of his children whole after their birth so none could supplant him. However, his wife and sister, Rhea, gave him a stone when their sixth child, Zeus, was born instead of the baby. Zeus grew up to overtake him and cut his five siblings, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hestia and Hera free. The period of time when he ruled the heavens is often referred to as the Golden Age as no laws or rules were needed and everyone did the right thing.

3. Zeus

The ruler of the gods of Olympus and the most important deity in the Greek Mythos. He is the god of lightning and thunder. He is the youngest child of Cronus and Rhea. All of his older siblings were swallowed whole by his father upon birth, but his mother fooled Cronus when he was born and gave Cronus a stone instead. He grew up to supplant Cronus and free his brothers and sisters, taking one of them, Hera, as his bride. He is the God of thunder and lightning, and known for fathering many other gods and heroes, both by his wife Hera and various other gods and women. His Roman counterpart is Jupiter.

4. Poseidon

Known primarily as the god of the sea, he is the older brother of Zeus and the younger brother of Hades, one of five children swallowed whole by their father Cronus before being freed by Zeus. He is also the cause of earthquakes and thus sometimes referred to as the Earthshaker. His main domain is the ocean, but he is one of the twelve gods of Mt. Olympus. His is also often associated with the famed sunken city of Atlantis. Though he sides with the Greeks in the Trojan War, he is also the foil for the hero Odysseus in the Odyssey, as Odysseus blinds his son Polyphemus early in his journey home. He is also instrumental in the creation of the minotaur thanks to his displeasure with the Cretan king Minos. His Roman counterpart is Neptune.

5. Hades

The Greek god of the underworld and wealth, he is the eldest male child of the titans Cronus and Rhea. Like four of his siblings, he was swallowed whole by his father before being freed by his youngest sibling Zeus. After defeating his father with his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, he drew lots for his section of the universe, and drew poorly, resulting in his underworld kingdom. He usually is not considered one of the gods of Olympus because he rarely left his underworld kingdom. Since he always wanted to increase his kingdom’s size, he supported anything that caused people to die and had a particular fondness for the furies. He is not the actual god of death, that role going to Thanatos. Later his name became another name for the entire underworld. His Roman name is Pluto, which actually derives from the Greek word Plouton, which means wealth. His association with wealth comes from the gold and other precious metals found inside the earth.

6. Hera

The queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage and women. She married her brother Zeus, but there were some questions as to the reasons for this marriage. In any case, the two rarely got along, and though she could not topple his strength, she often managed to outwit him. Many of the myths surrounding her had to do with her jealousy over Zeus’ many affairs. She was particularly harsh in her treatment of any children borne of those affairs. The most famed of these being her constant battles with Heracles. Her Roman counterpart is Juno.

7. Hestia

The virgin goddess of the hearth and architecture. She is the sibling of Zeus and Hera and one of the 12 gods of Mt. Olympus. She received the first offering at every sacrifice in Greek homes. Her Roman counterpart is Vesta. There are far fewer tales about her than many of the other gods, likely because she tended to get in less trouble than her counterparts. She is the eldest of all of the children of Cronus and Rhea, which made her the first to be swallowed and the last to be regurgitated by force.

8. Demeter

The goddess of the harvest in Greek mythology and one of the three sisters of Zeus, Poseidon and Hades. She had children with both Zeus and Poseidon, and the daughter she shared with her brother Zeus, Persephone, would go on to marry her brother Hades. She is one of the 12 gods of Mt. Olympus and her story is intertwined with the Greek explanation of the seasons. Her Roman counterpart is Ceres.

9. Persephone

The daughter of Zeus and his sister Demeter, she is the goddess of the underworld. In the most famous myth about her, she is kidnaped by her Uncle Hades, the god of the underworld, with Zeus’s knowledge. When Demeter finds out about it, she refuses to let anything on the Earth grow until her daughter is returned. Zeus forces Hades to release her, but before Hades does, he feeds her pomegranate seeds, the food of the underworld. Because she eats these, she is forced to return to Hades as the queen of the underworld each year for either a third or half of the year, depending on which myth you read. The months that she is away from Demeter typically correspond with the winter months on earth. Her Roman counterpart in Proserpine.

10. Mt. Olympus

The highest mountain in Greece and the second highest mountain in the Balkans after Mt. Musala in Bulgaria. Because no one had scaled it in ancient times, it became known as the home of the Greek gods. The highest peak was first scaled in 1913 by Swiss Frederic Boissonnas and Daniel Baud-Bovy with a guide, Christos Kakalos. Until his death in 1976, Kakalos became the official guide to the mountain’s peaks

11. Ares

The Greek god of war and one of the few Olympians that is the son of both Zeus and Hera. He typically represents the brutality and physical force of war as opposed to his half-sister Athena, who represents intelligence and military strategy. His sons are Phobos (Fear) and Deimos (Terror). He backs the losing side in the Trojan war and is most known for oft being embarrassed in Greek myth. He famously is the lover of Aphrodite, though she is married to Hephaestus. His Roman counterpart is Mars, but Mars is given a much more important and dignified place in the Roman pantheon of gods as the Romans valued sheer brutality much more than the Greeks. The moons of his namesake planet are Phobos and Deimos. He is one of the 12 gods of Mt. Olympus.

12. Aphrodite

The Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure and procreation. She sprung forth from the foam of the sea (a foam that was created at the defeat of Uranus by Cronus). Because of her great beauty, the gods feared that rivalry over her would lead to chaos, so Zeus had her marry Hephaestus, the ugliest of the gods, because he was seen as no threat. Despite this, she is known to sleep with many gods and men that aren’t her husband, especially Ares. She has no childhood, springing from the foam as an irresistible adult, and she is usually pictured nude. She is also vain, ill-tempered and easily offended. She is one of the 12 gods of Mt. Olympus. Her Roman counterpart is Venus.

13. Hephaestus

The Greek god of blacksmiths, craftsmen, artisans, sculptors, metallurgy, fire and volcanoes. In all myths he is the son of Hera, though there is a debate as to whether he is also Zeus’s son. In any case, Hera rejected him and cast him aside because of his ugliness. It was that same ugliness that had Zeus marry off Aphrodite to him since no one would be jealous of him. He is one of the 12 gods of Olympus, and the only god to return to Olympus after being cast out. As the god of the forge, he made all the weapons for the gods. His Roman counterpart is Vulcan.

14. Hermes

The messenger god and the god of transitions and boundaries, he is known for his great cunning. One of the 12 Olympians, he is also known for his quickness and is the patron of both wit and thieves. Known as a bit of a trickster god, he is prone to mischief, and often outwits the other gods for the sake of mankind or his own amusement. He is also is the chief go between for the other gods and mankind. He is the conductor of souls to the afterlife. The Roman god Mercury is very similar to him, though Mercury was handed down to the Romans by the Etruscans.

15. Apollo

One of the most important of the 12 Olympic gods, he is the god of music, poetry, the sun, light, knowledge, medicine, oracles and archery. He is the son of Zeus and the mysterious Titan Leto, who is rarely mentioned other than as the mother of him and his twin sister Artemis. He is oft closely associated with the Titan Helios as they both were in charge of the sun at varying times in Greek myth. He also spoke through the Oracle at Delphi to give prophecy to men. He is known for playing the lyre, an instrument created for him by Hermes. He is one of the few Greek gods to have the same name in Roman myth as well.

16. Artemis
The goddess of the hunt, forests, hills, the moon and archery and one of the 12 Olympian gods. She is the twin sister of Apollo by Zeus and the mysterious Titan Leto. One of the few chaste Greek gods, she is also the goddess of virginity and the protector of young girls. One of the most famous tales about her involves a great human hunter Actaeon, who often went hunting with her. Upon seeing her naked at her sacred spring, however, he tries to force himself on her, so she turns him into a stag and has him devoured by his own dogs. She is the guardian of the city of Ephesus, and one of the seven wonders of the ancient world was built to honor her there. Her Roman counterpart is Diana.

17. Athena

The goddess of war, wisdom, civilization and skill, and one of the 12 Olympians. She is the flip side of Ares in that she is the goddess of intelligence and strong tactics in war rather than brute force. She is also the virgin patron of Athens and the Parthenon was built in her honor. Her father is Zeus, who after sleeping with the goddess Metis, remembered a prophesy that her children would be more powerful than their father, even if the father were Zeus himself. To try to avoid this, Zeus swallowed Metis whole after sleeping with her. Not long after that, Zeus got a massive headache, his skull split open and this goddess sprung fully formed from his head in full battle gear. In some accounts, Hera is so annoyed by this that she bears Hephaestus by herself for revenge. She is often associated with the Greek hero Odysseus. Her Roman counterpart is Minerva.

18. Dionysus
The god of the theater, wine, fertility, ritual madness and religious ecstasy. Despite being the son of Zeus and the mortal Semele, he still is given full status of a god. Sometimes he even replaces Hestia as one of the 12 gods of Mt. Olympus, and to give him greater status it is sometimes said that he is the son of Zeus and Demeter or Zeus and Persephone. His most frequent companion in Greek myth is a drunken satyr name Silenus, who is also his tutor. The festival dedicated to him full of drunken revelry, also features a presentation of great Greek tragedies and comedies. The first performance of a tragedy at his festival was legendarily the playwright and actor Thespis. His Roman counterpart was Bacchus, whose festivals could get even more wild.

19. Heracles

A hero and demi-god of Greek myth whose Roman name is so popular, he is rarely mentioned by his Greek name at all. The son of Zeus and Alcmene, he was hated by Zeus’s wife Hera more than any other living being. In order to sleep with Alcmene, Zeus disguised himself as her husband, home from the war. That same night, her husband did return from the war, also sleeping with her. She ended up bearing twins, one being this hero, the son of Zeus and one being Iphicles, the son of her husband. Hera reveled in trying to cause him pain, even driving him crazy enough to kill his own children. As penance for this, he had to do a series of 10 Labors for his rival Eurysteus. The original 10 labors consisted of slaying the Nemean Lion, slaying the nine-headed Lernaean Hydra, capturing the Golden Hind of Artemis, capturing the Erymanthian Boar, cleaning the Augean stables in a single day, slaying the Stymphalian Birds, capturing the Cretan Bull, stealing the mares of Diomedes, obtaining the girdle of Hippolyta and obtaining the cattle of the monster Geyron. Eurysteus rejected his work on two of these, so he was forced to do two more – stealing the apples of the Hesperides and capturing and bringing back Cerberus – which brought the final total to 12. Upon his death, Zeus lifted him up to Olympus, the only mortal to not descend into Hades

20. Perseus

The son of Zeus and Danae. Zeus transformed himself into a Golden Rain so he could reach Danae, who had locked away by her father to keep her from having any children because it had been prophesied that her child would kill him. His exploits include him killing the only mortal gorgon Medusa and defeating the sea monster Cetus in order to save and marry Andromeda. His exploits are told exceptionally inaccurately in the original Clash of the Titans movie and even worse in the remake. He is the great-grandfather of Heracles, and also his half brother, since Zeus is the father of both men.

21. Theseus

The mythical founder of Athens. He was the son of Aethra as well as both Aegeus and the god Poseidon. He is most famed for volunteering as one of the seven youths to be sacrificed to the minotaur, only to manipulate Ariadne into helping him kill the beast, who lived in the labyrinth, instead. Upon his return home, he forgot to fly the correct flag to signify he was successful, causing his father to toss himself into the sea, thinking Theseus to be dead. The Aegean Sea was thus named for his father.

22. Daedalus

A great craftsman and artisan most known for his work in the court of King Minos of Crete. He created a contraption that allowed Minos’ wife Pasiphae to sleep with a Great White Bull. He also built a labyrinth to hide the result of that tryst, the Minotaur. He was then locked in a tower with his son Icarus by Minos to keep the secrets of the labyrinth a secret. He invented wings fastened with wax so they could fly away, but Icarus flew too close to the sun, the wax melted and Icarus fell to his death as a result.

23. Jason

A mythical hero of ancient Greece, most known as the leader of the Argonauts in their search for the Golden Fleece. One of the few heroes who is not associated with divine parents. In order to get the Fleece, he had to accomplish several impossible tasks for the current owner Aeetes. He was able to do this with the help of Aeetes’s daughter, a sorceress named Medea, who Aphrodite made fall in love with him. He had two children with Medea, but later decided to marry another woman, Creusa instead. Medea gave Creusa a magic wedding dress that killed her. Medea then killed her own children that she had by him before fleeing successfully.

24. Bellerophon

A hero most known for taming the winged horse Pegasus and using the horse to slay the chimera, a monster with a lion’s head, a goat’s body and a serpent’s tail. He later became full of hubris and tried to fly Pegasus all the way to Mt. Olympus. This annoyed Zeus, who had Pegasus stung with a gadfly. Pegasus, bucked him off as a result, and he fell all the way back to Earth, landing in a thorn bush. He lived out his days as a blinded, crippled hermit, while Zeus converted Pegasus into a pack horse for his thunderbolts.

25. The Seven Wonders of the Ancient World

Remarkable constructions that were listed in Hellenic guidebooks in the classic age of Greece. Though one list of seven has been accepted throughout time, there were actually many competing lists at the time. The most accepted list was composed by Antipater of Sidon, it included the Great Pyramid of Giza, the Hanging Gardens of Babylon, the Statue of Zeus at Olympus, the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, the Lighthouse of Alexandria and the Colossus of Rhodes. Those seven structures were never standing at the same time unless you count the rebuilding of the Temple of Artemis after it burned down. If you count that as the same, then only during the brief 60-year lifespan of the Colossus were they all standing. The list is also fairly Hellecentric, with things like Stonehenge and the Great Wall of China outside of the Greek sphere of knowledge. People continued to make lists through the Middle Ages and into modern times. In 2000, a project called New7Wonders went about selecting a current seven wonders of the world that is more reflective of our more global existence.

26. Great Pyramid of Giza

The first constructed of the seven wonders of the ancient world, by more than 1000 years, and the only one still standing. For the majority of its existence, it was covered in casing stones to give it a smooth appearance, After an earthquake in 1303, many of its casing stones were loosened and then carted away for use in constructions of mosques in nearby Cairo. The wonder was constructed as the final resting place of the 4th dynasty pharaoh Khufu. It stood as the tallest structure in the world for more than 3800 years. The structure has more than 2.3 million blocks, each weighing multiple tons. It is speculated that it was built over a 20-year period. If that is true, then the workers would have had to put an average of 2.18 of those massive stones in place every minute of every hour of every day for that entire 20 year period.

27. The Sphinx

A monster with the head of a human, the body of a lion and often the wings of an eagle from some stories in Greek myth, most famously the story of Oedipus, where the monster held Thebes hostage until Oedipus answered its riddle. The most famous artistic rendering of the monster is situated on the plains of Giza next to the three great pyramids. This version does not have wings currently, and there is no sign that it ever did. It is also missing its nose. There is debate over who built the one in Giza, with the most popular conclusion being that it was constructed by Khafra, who also built the second largest pyramid at the site. The face is also believed to be the face of Khafra.

28. Tutankhamun

A mostly insignificant Egyptian pharaoh of the 18th dynasty, who ruled for just 10 years from 1332-1323 BCE, which started when he was nine. He most notable achievement was the redirection of the state away from his father Akhenaten’s new religion worshiping Aten, and a return back to the more traditional deities. He likely died suddenly, as he is buried in a tomb unbefitting his royal stature. Ironically, it is likely because of this that he is famous today unlike other minor pharaohs from the New Kingdom. His tomb was lost and forgotten in antiquity and then rediscovered in the Valley of Kings in 1922 by a team led by English archaeologist Howard Carter, mostly in tact. This discovery sparked a renewed interest in ancient Egypt, a movement oft symbolized by his death mask, and has made him likely one of the two most famous ancient Egyptians along with Cleopatra.

29. Nile River

Generally accepted as the longest river in the world, it flows north for 4258 miles through 11 African countries before emptying in the Mediterranean Sea. It’s river valley helped foster one of the strongest early civilizations in Ancient Egypt. It’s source is Lake Victoria, though some would dispute this and say the large rivers feeding Lake Victoria would be the source. It is known for consistent flooding that its people could rely on for crops, which puts it in stark contrast with other rivers of the time period.

30. The Hanging Gardens of Babylon

Probably the most debated and questionable of the seven wonders of the ancient world. No one in its native city every wrote about it, and its descriptions come from Greek travelers who were told about it but had never seen it. The traditional narrative states that King Nebuchadnezzar II built it for his wife Queen Amytis, who was from a more lush area of the world than Mesopotamia. He wanted to construct something that would remind her of the abundant vegetation of home. It would have required pumping massive amounts of water out of the nearby Euphrates River. Because of complete lack of evidence, many believe that this wonder actually never existed. More recently, however, scholars have begun to believe that the ancient wonder was actually the well documented one created by Assyrian king Sennacherib in the city of Nineveh on the banks of the Tigris river. Unlike with the Babylonian version, the garden of Sennacherib was well documented in the writings of the time. Sennacherib and his forces, ironically, destroyed the original city of Babylon in 689 BCE.

31. Tigris and Euphrates

Two rivers that flow out of the Taurus mountains of Eastern Turkey and create the cradle of early civilization. The ancient area of Mesopotamia (literally land between the rivers) came sprung up from between them. If the Hanging Gardens ever existed, they were likely on one of these two rivers, either along the Euphrates in Babylon or along the Tigris in Nineveh. They are known for their haphazard and inconsistent flooding, and many of the cultures that sprouted along them believe that their deities are equally as capricious.

32. Ninevah

The oldest and most populous city of the ancient Assyrian Empire. It lay at the banks of the Tigris River near the tributary Khawsar River. Likely there were people living in the same area as the city as early as 7000 BCE. It’s most glorious run came under the emperor Sennacherib (705-681 BCE), who laid out fresh streets and squares and built a fabled “palace without a rival”, comprised of at least 80 rooms, many lined with sculpture. It may have housed what later mistakenly became known as the Hanging Gardens of Babylon as well. The biblical book of Jonah is also largely concerned with this city, as Jonah is commanded by the God of the Israelites to go there and prophesy against their wickedness about 100 years before the reign of Sennacherib. According to the story, he tries to flee across the sea to avoid this, is swallowed by a great fish, is spit up and decides to follow God’s direction. In the end, the city repents and is spared by God, much to the consternation of Jonah.

33. The Temple of Artemis at Ephesus

Often referred to as the most beautiful building in the history of the world, it was constructed the first time by the architect Chersiphron at the command of Croesus of Lydia, a king known for his vast wealth. Its ruins are located near the Turkish city of Selcuk, but it was built on a site of an Amazonian temple dedicated to the goddess. It was burned to the ground in an act of arson in 356 BCE, traditionally on the same day that Alexander the Great was born, which by legend kept the patron goddess distracted. It was rebuilt on an even bigger scale, and that incarnation lasted 600 years before being damaged by the Goths in 268 CE.

34. Herostratus

The arsonist who burned down the Temple of Artemis at Ephesus, purely with the intention of becoming famous. He set fire to the wooden beams at the top of the structure in 356 BCE. The Ephesians not only executed him, they also declared it an act punishable by death to even mention his name to try and prevent his name from being remembered. This was thwarted by Theopompus, a Greek historian of the time period who recorded his name anyway. His name has become associated with anyone who tries to achieve fame through criminal activity.

35. Statue of Zeus at Olympia

A massive seated statue, created by the sculptor Phidias around 450 BCE in a rather mundane Doric temple. Even seated, the statue stood 43 feet high. The geographer Strabo noted that were it to stand up, it would take the roof off the temple. The Roman emperor Caligula ordered that it be moved to Rome so he could have the god’s head removed and his own put in its place, but he was assassinated in 41 CE before this could happen. How it was actually destroyed is not recorded, but most believe that it was moved to Constantinople at some point where it was destroyed in the great fire of the Lauseion in 475 CE.

36. Olympic Games

A series of competitions held every four years in ancient Greek city-states in honor of the god Zeus. Traditionally, the games were said to have begun in 776 BCE. During the games, a truce was enacted so that athletes good travel safely from their home city-states to the site of the games. The games were always held in the same place and were only for freeborn Greek men. Even under Roman rule, the games continued until Emperor Theodosius I suppressed them in 394 CE after Christianity was declared the state religion of the Roman Empire. They lay dormant until 1896 when they were restarted in Athens. They still occur every four years, but unlike the ancient games, the modern ones go to different world cities each time instead of remaining in one location. The next one will be held in Rio de Janeiro in Brazil, amid worries that the water is so polluted it could seriously harm any participants in outdoor water sports.

37. Doric architecture

One of three orders of ancient Greek architecture, and by far the simplest. The three styles are most simple told apart by their columns. This style had vertical shafts with 20 concave grooves in them. The time period when this was the most popular lasted from 750-480 BCE. The most famous example is the Parthenon.

38. Ionic architecture

The second of the three orders of ancient Greek architecture (though there are actually five if you include the lesser orders of Tuscan and Composite). The columns in this form typically stand on a base which separates the shaft of the column from the platform. The major recognizable component of this style is the scroll-like, spiral ornament called a volute on the capital. Much like the Doric style, it saw its heyday during the archaic period from 750-480 BCE. The best known example of this style was the Temple of Artemis of Ephesus, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

39. Corinthian architecture

One of three orders of Greek architecture and easily the most ornate and decorative. It is characterized by slender fluted columns and elaborate capitals decorated with acanthus leaves and scrolls. The Romans preferred this style and used it fairly regularly. The best preserved example of this maybe the Maison Carree (French for square house), which was constructed in ancient Gaul and still stands in modern France. The original Greek style of this started in the late classical period from 430-323 BCE.

40. Phidias
Generally considered as one of the best sculptors of ancient Greece, though he was also a painter and architect. He lived from around 480-430 BCE. He designed the State of Zeus at Olympia, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. He also designed many of the statues of Athena of the Athenian Acropolis. His downfall came when the enemies of leader of Athens, Pericles, who was friends with the sculptor, accused him of stealing gold intended for the statue of Athena in the Parthenon and impiously depicting himself and Pericles on her shield. He was able to disprove the first accusation, but was sent to prison for the second, where he died. His workshop at Olympia, where he worked on the Statue of Zeus, was uncovered in 1958.

41. Mausoleum of Halicarnassus  

A tomb built between 353 and 350 BCE near present Bodrum, Turkey and one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient world. The tomb gets its name from the satrap that is buried there with his wife Artemesia II, who is also his sister. However, because it is so famous, it has become a generic term for an above-ground tomb itself. The city where it was located was a capital city chosen and constructed during the reign of Artemesia and her husband, and it was easily defensible. Artemesia hired the best sculptors of the time to build the tomb, and four different sculptors – Lechares, Bryaxis, Scopas of Paros and Timotheus – each provided a relief on a different side of the building. At some point it was felled by an earthquake, but it lay there in ruins for centuries before many of its blocks were used by the Knights of St. John to fortify a castle in Bodrum in 1402.

42. Artemesia II

The wife and sister of Mausolus, a Persian satrap and ruler in what is now Turkey. She ruled after his death, and is known for her extravagant and downright bizarre grief at the death of her husband. Part of this grief fueled the building of the Mausoleum of Halicarnassus, where both were buried. She also induced Greek speakers to proclaim his praise to perpetuate his memory and even used to mix his ashes into her drink each morning. She died just two years after him.

43. Taj Mahal
        
A mausoleum commissioned in 1632 CE by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan to house the tomb of his favorite of his three wives, Mumtaz Mahal. It took 11 years to complete and essentially cost the equivalent of $827 million dollars to build, employing 20,000 artisans. The domed marble tomb is part of a large complex consisting of gardens and two red-sandstone buildings. It is located in Agra, India and is considered the jewel of Indian art. It is often compared to the original Mausoleum, which was one of the seven wonders of the ancient world. It became a World Heritage Site in 1983. On July 7, 2007 it added another comparison with the ancient mausoleum when it was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the world.  

44. The Colossus of Rhodes

A statue of the Greek titan of the sun Helios that stood in the harbor on its namesake island. It was constructed to celebrate a victory of the island over nearby Cyprus. Despite popular misconception, it did not stand with one leg on either side of the entrance to the harbor, but rather on a more classic podium. At 98 feet high, it was one of the tallest statues of the ancient world. It stood for just 64 years from 280-226 BCE before being felled by an earthquake. The ruins lay on the ground for more than 800 years and were so impressive that they still attracted tourists. Eventually, when the island was capture by early Muslim forces in 653 CE, the statues was melted and probably sold.  

45. Statue of Liberty

A copper statue designed by French sculptor Frederic Auguste Bartholdi and built by Gustave Eiffel. It was a gift from France to the United States and was dedicated on October 28, 1886. It is a female robed figure representing the Roman goddess Libertas. She is holding a torch and a slate with the date July 4, 1776. A broken chain lies at her feet. Seen as a new version of the ancient Colossus of Rhodes, but it stands 151 feet, more than 50 feet higher than the ancient statue. It has become one of the main symbols of the United States, and after standing 129 years, it has been in place for more than twice as long as its ancient counterpart. Over three million visitors come to see it every year, and in 1984 it was declared a World Heritage site. It was in the running for the New Seven Wonders of the world but was not chosen.

46. Emma Lazarus

An American poet who lived from 1849-1887 who is best known for her sonnet “The New Colossus” written in 1883 as part of funding campaign to raise money to complete what would become the Statue of Liberty. The poems most famous lines are 10th and 11th, which include, “Give me your tired, your poor, your huddled masses yearning to breathe free.” The poem was placed on a bronze plague in the pedestal of the Statue of Liberty in 1903. The poem at once both ties to the ancient wonder of the world and marks the statues role as the official greeter of immigrants to the United States.

47. The Lighthouse of Alexandria

Built on the small island of Pharos off the coast of the Nile Delta’s western edge. It stood 450 feet high and was one of the Seven Wonders of the Ancient World. Construction on it began in 280 BCE, but it wasn’t completed until 247 BCE., meaning that at most, all seven wonders of the ancient world stood for just 21 years before the collapse of the Colossus of Rhodes, assuming the Hanging Gardens even existed. Constructed at the command of Ptolemy Soter, one of Alexander the Great’s generals who took over Egypt after Alexander’s death by fever. After standing for more than 1000 years, it was damaged by three earthquakes between 956 and 1323 CE, basically turning it into an abandoned ruin. In 1480, the last of its stones were used to build the Citadel of Qaitbay on the site.

48. Ptolemy I Soter

A Macedonian general under Alexander the Great and one of three generals who split up Alexander’s kingdom upon his death. He is the founder of the dynasty in Egypt that would spawn the famous Cleopatra and ordered the construction of the Lighthouse of Alexandria, one of the seven wonders of the ancient world.

49. Homer

Known as the father of epic poetry, he is the first and greatest of the epic poets in ancient Greece and known as the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey. By tradition, he was a blind poet and never wrote anything down, so his two great works were told orally and passed from generation to generation before finally being committed to text. Because of this, there is some question as to whether he ever lived, as some suspect that he is an amalgamation of many storytellers or even just a flight of fancy by someone along the way. If he did exist, there is a wide spectrum between the different times it could have been, ranging from as early as 1102 BCE and as late as 850 BCE.

50. The Iliad

A classic epic poem attributed to Homer about a conflict between a group of Greek city states and the city of Troy. The name references the Greek word for Troy, Ilium. The setting of the poem is not the entirety of the war but just a few weeks in the final year of the war, most of them taking place during a huge quarrel between the Greek King Agamemnon, who was in charge of all the Greek forces, and the greatest hero of the Trojan War, Achilles, though it alludes to the beginning and end of the war, which would be common knowledge to the Greek audience. The central struggle between the two men is a fight over two captured daughters of a priest of a Apollo, Chryseis and Briseis. The priest appeals to Apollo to get his elder daughter Chryseis, taken by Agamemnon. He refuses, but Apollo causes a plague on all the Greek forces, basically forcing Agamemnon to give her back. Since he lost Chryseis, Agamemnon takes Briseis from Achilles, at which point, Achilles and his men refuse to continue fighting under Agamemnon’s command.

51. Achilles

One of the greatest heroes of the Trojan War on the side of the Greeks and the central character in Homer’s Iliad. He is the son of the nymph Thetis and the king of the Myrmidons, Peleus. When he was a baby, his mother dipped him in the river Styx surrounding Hades in an attempt to make him immortal. However, when she dipped him in, she held him by his heel, making that spot on his body invulnerable. It was foretold the he would be killed in the Trojan War, so his mother tried to hide him in a foreign court as a girl. However, it had also been foretold that the Greeks could not win the Trojan War without him, so they went looking and Odysseus eventually found him. He spent much of the Iliad refusing to fight because of a quarrel with the Greek leader Agamemnon. However, when his friend Patroclus rejoined the fight in his place and was killed by Troy’s greatest hero Hector, he returned to the fight, killing Hector, dragging his body around the city and refusing to let him be buried. He is eventually killed by Hector’s brother Paris who fires an arrow from the top of the city walls that Apollo guides into the hero’s heel.

52. Apple of Discord
        
A fruit tossed in a group of goddesses by the goddess Eris at a banquet held by Zeus in honor of the wedding between Thetis and Peleus, the parents of Achilles. The fruit had just one label on it, “To The Fairest”. Three goddesses – Hera, Athena and Aphrodite claimed the apple. They tried to get Zeus to decide, but he passed that obligation to the Trojan prince Paris, and the decision is oft referred to as The Judgment of Paris. In order to bribe him, Hera offered him to be king of Europe and Asia, Athena offered him wisdom and skill and war, while Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the world. Paris chose Aphrodite, who gave him Helen, the beautiful wife of the Greek leader Meneleus. After Helen returned with him to his native land, the Greeks sent 1000 ships to get her  back leading to the Trojan War and the ultimate destruction of Troy.

53. Paris

The son of Priam and Hecuba, the king and queen of Troy. He is sometimes referred to as Alexander. He is most known for his role in the Trojan War. By choosing Aphrodite as the fairest of the goddesses, he was awarded the most beautiful woman in the world. However, that woman, Helen, was already the Queen of Laconia, married to Meneleus. His elopement with Helen and return with her to Troy started the Trojan War as the Greeks sent 1000 ships after her. Early in the war, He squares off with Meneleus in a duel that is supposed to end it once and for all. Meneleus wins easily, but Aphrodite extracts him and takes him to safety in Troy before Meneleus can kill him. Not as heroic as his brother Hector, he still manages to avenge Hector’s death when he kills Achilles by firing an arrow, that was guided by Apollo, into Achilles’ heel. He is eventually mortally wounded by Philoctetes. Ironically, he could have been saved by his first wife, a nymph named Oenone, but because of his mistreatment of her, she lets him die.

54. Helen of Troy

The daughter of Zeus and Leda, who he approached as a swan. The sister of the famed twins Castor and Pollux, as well as Agamemnon’s wife Clytemnestra. She is the central reason for the Trojan War. She is the queen of Laconia, married to Meneleus, the brother of Agamemnon. However, when Paris, a prince of Troy, chooses Aphrodite as the fairest of all the goddesses, she is given to Paris as a prize. Meneleus and Agamemnon bring an alliance of Greeks to come after her in response. Thus she is described by Renaissance poet Christopher Marlowe as “the face that launched a thousand ships”. Paris is killed during the ensuing war. Some versions of the story have her then returned to Meneleus, while others say she was pulled directly to Olympus by Zeus. She is sometimes referred to as being of Sparta as that is her native land.

55. Patroclus

The childhood friend of Achilles, who grew into his best friend and brother-at-arms by the time of the Trojan war, though some later authors would insinuate he was more than that. He is a key figure in Homer’s epic poem, the Iliad. When Achilles refuses to fight against the Trojans because of a quarrel with the Greek leader Agamemnon, the Trojans push the Greeks back all the way to their ships. He then begs Achilles to let him wear Achilles’ armor into battle so that they will follow him. Achilles agrees, on the condition that he stop once the ships are safe. Once he starts fighting, however, he gets carried away, driving the Trojans all the way back to their gates and killing 53 men in the process. With the help of Apollo, he is finally slain by the Trojan prince Hector. His death prompts Achilles to rejoin the war and kill Hector.

56. Hector

The eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, the husband of Andromache and the greatest fighter on the Trojan side of the Trojan War. He comes off as the most noble of the heroes on either side of the war, showing all the noble characteristic’s of the Greek Achilles, with none of the petty squabbling. He was opposed to the war in general and blames his brother for bringing shame on the city of Troy by not only abducting Helen, but also trying to avoid combat with Meneleus. After he slays Achilles’ best friend Patroclus, Achilles rejoins the fight, gunning for him. As Achilles and army pushes forward, he sees his army flee into the city of Troy. He refuses to flee and stands to fight Achilles instead. He loses the fight, and Achilles drags his dead body around abusing it for 12 days until the gods intercede.

    57. Meneleus

A Spartan king and one of the key figures in the Trojan War. His wife Helen is given to (or abducted by) the Trojan prince Paris, and in an effort to get her back, he and his brother Agamemnon lead a Greek force to Troy to get her back, causing the Trojan War. The background to this allegiance goes all the way back to the original courtship of Helen. Many notable Greeks, including his brother, Ajax, Odysseus and Patroclus sought her hand, and her step father Tyndareus didn’t want to choose and offend any of them. In exchange for the hand of Tydareus’ niece Penelope, Odysseus offered a solution. They agreed to draw lots for her hand, with all men swearing to defend the winner if anyone ever tried to abduct Helen. He won the draw of lots, not only ensuring Helen’s hand, but also a giant force of people to help him get her back after she was given to Paris by Aphrodite. At the conclusion of the Trojan War, he intends to kill Helen, but he can’t bring himself to do it, and he takes her back as his wife.

58. Agamemnon

The leader of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. He arranged for a coalition of Greek forces to get his Helen, the wife of his brother Meneleus, back after she is given to Paris, prince of Troy. Before leaving, he offends Artemis and is forced to sacrifice his eldest daughter Iphigenia to appease her, an act that will prove costly to him in his relationship with his wife Clytemnestra. Much of the action in Homer’s epic poem the Iliad centers around his conflict with Achilles. After he is forced to given the daughter of a priest named Chryseis back to her father, he takes her younger sister Briseis from Achilles, causing him to refuse to fight. While not the central conflict of the war, this is the central conflict of the Iliad. At the end of the war, he won the daughter of the king of Troy, Cassandra, by lot. She foretold their doom on arrival home, but he didn’t believe her. When he arrived home, he and Cassandra were murdered by his wife Clytemnestra and her lover Aegisthus, though it varies by telling as to who did the killing.

59. Cassandra

The cursed prophetess of Greek mythology, she is the daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. As the tail goes, she was given the gift of prophesy by the god Apollo in his attempt to seduce her. He failed, as she spurned his affections. (In some versions of the tale, she promised to sleep with him if he gave her the gift of prophesy and then went back on her word). In any case, because of her rejection, Apollo cursed her by making it where her prophecies would never be believed. This drove most of her people, including her dad, to believe her a madwoman. She predicted the destruction of Troy and warned against accepting the Trojan Horse, but both times her word was rejected. After the defeat of Troy, she was taken as the spoils of war by the Greek general Agamemnon. She warned him that on returning home, his wife and her new lover would kill both of them. He didn’t listen, but she was right one final time.

60. Electra

The devoted younger daughter of the general Agamemnon and his wife Clytemnestra. She was not there when her her mother and lover (later stepfather) Aegisthus killed her father, because she had moved away with her brother Orestes to protect him from the affair. Eight years later, when he was 20, she encouraged him to seek revenge, inspiring him to kill their mother and step father, which he did with the aid of their cousin Pylades, who later marries her at command of the gods. There is a psychological complex proposed by Carl Jung named after her that deals with a daughter’s almost unnatural love for her father.

61. Ajax

One of the great Greek warriors in the Trojan War, and perhaps the only one to not receive substantial assistance from any of the gods during the battles. He is described as vicious, fearless, strong and powerful, but with an extremely high level of combat intelligence. He fights to a draw with Hector early in the war, though he may have had a slight advantage when the heralds called it off. He is known fo wielding a huge shield made of seven cow hides with a layer of bronze. He often fought in tandem with his brother Teucer, a great archer. He would use his shield to protect his brother while Teucer picked people off. When Achilles dies, he and Odysseus retrieve the body for a proper burial. They then each lay claim to Achilles’ armor, which had been forged by Hephaestus. When Odysseus wins the armor, he falls on his own sword in despair.  

62. Trojan Horse

After 10 years of sieging Troy to know avail, and the loss of the great hero Achilles, the Greeks turn to a new plan. Odysseus, the wisest of all the Greeks, comes up with a plan to build a giant wooden horse, large enough to fit men in and then have all the other Greek ships leave. One Greek, Sinon, is left behind with the horse. He tells the Trojans that the horse is an offering to the goddess Athena for safe trip home, and that they built it so large to keep the Trojans from bringing it into the city and getting her favor for themselves. So, they pull it into the city. A priest named Laocoon figures out the plot when questioning Sinon, but Poseidon, who favored the Greeks, sends snakes to kill him and his sons before he can share. Both Cassandra and Helen also figure out the plot, but neither of them are believed. When night fell, Odysseus and his men came out of the horse and let the rest of the Greek army into the city. Modern speculation suggests that the horse was actually a battering ram, which often had animal nicknames, and the tale was later embellished by storytellers who had witnessed the event and didn’t understand the term.

63. Laocoon

A Trojan priest who figured out the secret of the Trojan Horse, but was not able to convey that truth before Poseidon sent snakes to kill him and his sons. He is not mentioned in the works of Homer, but shows up in many later works, most notably The Aeneid, by Virgil. It is in the Aeneid that he utters the famous lines, “I fear the Greeks, even bearing gifts.” Which is oft expressed as Beware of Greeks bearing gifts. A statue of he and his sons being attacked by the snakes was excavated from Rome in 1506 and remains on display at the Vatican.

64. The Aeneid

A Latin epic poem written between 29 and 19 BCE by the poet Virgil. It is a continuation from the end of Homer’s Iliad, following the exploits of the Trojan Aeneas, the son of the prince Anchises and the goddess Athena, who leaves Troy at the defeat of the Trojans and eventually becomes the ancestor of the Romans. Virgil links together many old tales of Aeneas’ wanderings and his vague association with the founding of Rome into a coherent plot. The story of the Trojan Horse and the death of Laocoon are told most notably in this work. Through Aeneas’ relationship with the Carthaginian queen Dido, Virgil foreshadows the future strife between the two empires. Aeneas sleeps with Dido, but still leaves to fulfill his destiny of founding a great empire. Dido kills herself with his sword and predicts future enmity between their peoples.

65. Virgil

An ancient Roman poet of the Augustan period, most known for the most famous Latin epic poem The Aeneid, which tells of Aeneas’ journeys after the Trojan war and eventual settling in Italy to be the ancestor of the Roman people. He also wrote the Eclogues and Georgics. He is traditionally ranked as one of Rome’s greatest poets. He was in the process of editing the Aeneid when he died, and likely would have made many changes had he lived. He requested that it be burned, but his request was ignored.

66. The Odyssey

Basically, a sequel to the Iliad, it is the second great work of the Greek poet Homer. It accounts the 10 year journey home of the Greek hero Odysseus to Ithaca from the Trojan War. Since the war itself lasted 10 years, in all Odysseus was away from home for 20 years. During his trip home he is backed by Athena, the goddess of wisdom, as he is the wisest of the Greeks. However, he blinds a cyclops who is the son of Poseidon early in his journey home, and since Poseidon is in charge of the sea, this marks a rough time for Odysseus. Ironically, Poseidon had been a staunch supporter of the Greeks in the war itself. After overcoming many obstacles and losing all of his men on the journey home, Odysseus is then faced with a group of suitors that he has to overcome at his home, who had been seeking to wed his wife Penelope, assuming him to be dead. These suitors, led by Antinous and Eurymachus, are killed by Odysseus and his son Telemachus, leading to his reuinion with his wife.

67. Polyphemus

A giant, the son of Poseidon and Thoosa in Greek mythology, who is most known as the cyclops who traps Odysseus and his men early in the Odyssey. He finds Odysseus and his men in his cave early in the Odyssey and instead of being hospitable to them, he traps them in his cave instead, and begins to eat them, two at the start of the day and two at the end of each day. After getting the cyclops drunk and blinding him,, Odysseus tells him that his name is Nobody. When Odysseus and his men sneak out tied to the bottom of sheep, the cyclops screams, but when asked who attacked him by the other cyclops, replies Nobody, so they assume there was no attack. The encounter inspires Poseidon to make Odysseus’ journey home especially difficult.

68. Circe

A witch, most famous from her mention in the Odyssey, where she turned a number of Odysseus’ men into swine, except for Eurylochus, who returned to warn Odysseus and the others who had stayed on the ship. Odysseus, with help from Hermes, avoided the same fate, rescued his men, and stayed on the island for about a year sleeping with her. Outside of the Odyssey, she is also believed to be the daughter of Helios and the sister of Aeetes, who lost the Golden Fleece to Jason, and Pasiphae, the mother of the minotaur.

69. Calypso

A sea nymph who falls madly in love with Odysseus in the Odyssey and detains the hero on her island for seven years, though he longs to return to his wife Penelope. Eventually, Athena intervenes on his behalf and gets Zeus to send Hermes to tell her to set him free. She rails at the gods first, but does supply him and set him free, still just as in love as ever.

70. Scylla and Charybdis

Two monsters that lived on either side of an impossible passage or strait, often associated with the Strait of Messina. The Scylla was a monster with six heads and multiple rows of sharp teeth that lived on the rocks on one side. The Charybdis was a sea monster on the other side of the strait that created a whirlpool to crash entire ships. The two were so close together that those looking to avoid the Scylla would run into the Charybdis and vice versa. The phrase trapped between the Scylla and Charybdis came to mean any unwinnable situation. In the Odyssey, Odysseus takes his men through the dangerous strait, choosing to steer toward the side of the Scylla, rationalizing that losing six men is better than losing all of them.

71. Penelope

The ever faithful wife of Odysseus in the Odyssey. Despite having a houseful of suitors looking to marry her, she keeps them at bay for 10 years after the other heroes returned from the Trojan War. She uses multiple tricks to delay them including unraveling a shroud each day that she has to finish before marrying and challenging them to string and fire Odysseus’ bow, which they are incapable of.

72. Telemachus

The son of Odysseus and Penelope, he is essential in the resolution of the Odyssey. He escapes an attempt on his life by the suitor Antinous before Odysseus returns home and then helps his father kill all the suitors after his return.