Myths and Legends of Ancient Greece and Rome | Page 7

began to consider how the world,
which they had {20} conquered, should be divided between them. At
last it was settled by lot that Zeus should reign supreme in Heaven,
whilst Aïdes governed the Lower World, and Poseidon had full
command over the Sea, but the supremacy of Zeus was recognized in
all three kingdoms, in heaven, on earth (in which of course the sea was
included), and under the earth. Zeus held his court on the top of Mount

Olympus, whose summit was beyond the clouds; the dominions of
Aïdes were the gloomy unknown regions below the earth; and Poseidon
reigned over the sea. It will be seen that the realm of each of these gods
was enveloped in mystery. Olympus was shrouded in mists, Hades was
wrapt in gloomy darkness, and the sea was, and indeed still is, a source
of wonder and deep interest. Hence we see that what to other nations
were merely strange phenomena, served this poetical and imaginative
people as a foundation upon which to build the wonderful stories of
their mythology.
The division of the world being now satisfactorily arranged, it would
seem that all things ought to have gone on smoothly, but such was not
the case. Trouble arose in an unlooked-for quarter. The Giants, those
hideous monsters (some with legs formed of serpents) who had sprung
from the earth and the blood of Uranus, declared war against the
triumphant deities of Olympus, and a struggle ensued, which, in
consequence of Gæa having made these children of hers invincible as
long as they kept their feet on the ground, was wearisome and
protracted. Their mother's precaution, however, was rendered
unavailing by pieces of rock being hurled upon them, which threw
them down, and their feet being no longer placed firmly on their
mother-earth, they were overcome, and this tedious war (which was
called the Gigantomachia) at last came to an end. Among the most
daring of these earth-born giants were Enceladus, Rhoetus, and the
valiant Mimas, who, with youthful fire and energy, hurled against
heaven great masses of rock and burning oak-trees, and defied the
lightnings of Zeus. One of the most powerful monsters who opposed
Zeus in this {21} war was called Typhon or Typhoeus. He was the
youngest son of Tartarus and Gæa, and had a hundred heads, with eyes
which struck terror to the beholders, and awe-inspiring voices frightful
to hear. This dreadful monster resolved to conquer both gods and men,
but his plans were at length defeated by Zeus, who, after a violent
encounter, succeeded in destroying him with a thunderbolt, but not
before he had so terrified the gods that they had fled for refuge to Egypt,
where they metamorphosed themselves into different animals and thus
escaped.

* * * * *
THEORIES AS TO THE ORIGIN OF MAN.
Just as there were several theories concerning the origin of the world,
so there were various accounts of the creation of man.
The first natural belief of the Greek people was that man had sprung
from the earth. They saw the tender plants and flowers force their way
through the ground in the early spring of the year after the frost of
winter had disappeared, and so they naturally concluded that man must
also have issued from the earth in a similar manner. Like the wild
plants and flowers, he was supposed to have had no cultivation, and
resembled in his habits the untamed beasts of the field, having no
habitation except that which nature had provided in the holes of the
rocks, and in the dense forests whose overarching boughs protected him
from the inclemency of the weather.
In the course of time these primitive human beings became tamed and
civilized by the gods and heroes, who taught them to work in metals, to
build houses, and other useful arts of civilization. But the human race
became in the course of time so degenerate that the gods resolved to
destroy all mankind by means of a flood; Deucalion {22} (son of
Prometheus) and his wife Pyrrha, being, on account of their piety, the
only mortals saved.
By the command of his father, Deucalion built a ship, in which he and
his wife took refuge during the deluge, which lasted for nine days.
When the waters abated the ship rested on Mount Othrys in Thessaly,
or according to some on Mount Parnassus. Deucalion and his wife now
consulted the oracle of Themis as to how the human race might be
restored. The answer was, that they were to cover their heads, and
throw the bones of their mother behind them. For some time they were
perplexed as to the meaning of the oracular command, but at length
both agreed that by the bones of their mother were meant the stones