The Stimphalian birds were the last offspring of monsters in the Peloponnese, and since the power of Eurystheus did not extend beyond the borders of the Peloponnesus, Hercules decided that his service to the king was over.

But the mighty power of Hercules did not allow him to live in idleness. He longed for feats and was even delighted when Koprey appeared to him.

"Eurystheus," said the herald, "commands you to cleanse the stables of the Elid king Augean from the manure in one day."

For a long time and gloriously ruled the golden-rich Mycenae, King Perseus and Queen Andromeda, and the gods sent them many children. The eldest of the sons was named Electrion. Electrion was no longer young when he had to take the throne of his father. The gods did not offend Electrion with their offspring: Electrion had many sons, one better than the other, and only one daughter - the beautiful Alcmene.

It seemed that there is no kingdom in all Hellas more prosperous than the kingdom of Mycenae. But once the country was attacked by the Tafians - fierce sea robbers who lived on the islands at the very entrance to the Gulf of Corinth, where the Aheloy River flows into the sea.

This sea, new to them, unknown to the Greeks, breathed into their faces like a wide noise. It stretched out in a blue desert before them, mysterious and menacing, deserted and stern.

They knew: somewhere out there, on the other side of his turbulent abyss, there are mysterious lands inhabited by wild peoples; their customs are cruel, their appearance is terrible. There, somewhere, scary people with dog muzzles bark along the banks of the full-flowing Istra - kinocephaly, dog-headed. There, beautiful and ferocious Amazon warriors rush about the free steppes. There, eternal darkness thickens further, and in it, like wild animals, inhabitants of the night and the cold - the Hyperboreans - roam. But where is it all?

Many misadventures awaited the brave travelers on the road, but they were destined to emerge from all with glory.

In Bithynia, the land of the Bebriks, they were detained by an invincible fist fighter, King Amik, a terrible murderer; without pity or shame, he threw every stranger to the ground with a blow of his fist. He challenged these new aliens to battle, but young Polydeuce, the brother of Castor, the son of Leda, defeated the mighty, breaking his temple in a fair fight.

Having moved away from the familiar shores, the ship "Argo" for many days cut the waves of the calm Propontida, the sea that people now call the Marble.

It was already a new moon, and the nights became black, like pitch, with which the ship's sides would be tarred, when the sharp-sighted Linkey was the first to point out to his comrades the mountain towering in front. Soon a low shore dawned in the fog, fishing nets appeared on the shore, a town at the entrance to the bay. Deciding to rest on the way, Typhius directed the ship towards the city, and a little later the Argonauts stood on solid ground.

A well-deserved rest awaited the Argonauts on this island. The Argo entered the Feakia harbor. Tall ships stood in countless rows everywhere. Having dropped anchor at the pier, the heroes went to the palace to Alkinoy.

Looking at the Argonauts, at their heavy helmets, at the strong leg muscles in shiny leggings and at the tanned brown faces, the peaceful Theacians whispered to each other:

It must be Ares with his warlike retinue, marching to the house of Alcinoe.

The sons of the great hero Pelops were Atreus and Fiestes. The charioteer of King Aenomai Myrtil, who was treacherously killed by Pelops, once cursed Pelops, and condemned the entire family of Pelops to great atrocities and death with his curse. The curse of Myrtilus also weighed upon Atreus and Fiestos. They committed a number of atrocities. Atreus and Thyestes killed Chrysippus, the son of the nymph Axion and their father Pelops. It was the mother of Atreus and Fiesta Hippodamia who persuaded to kill Chrysippus. Having committed this atrocity, they fled from the kingdom of their father, fearing his anger, and took refuge with the king of Mycenae Sfenelus, the son of Perseus, who was married to their sister Nikippa. When Sfenel died and his son Eurystheus, captured by Iolaus, died at the hands of the mother of Heracles Alcmene, began to rule over the Mycenaean kingdom of Atreus, since Eurystheus left no heirs behind him. His brother Fiestos envied Atreus and decided to take away his power in any way.

Sisyphus had a son, the hero Glaucus, who ruled in Corinth after his father's death. Glaucus also had a son, Bellerophon, one of the great heroes of Greece. Bellerophon was beautiful as a god and equal to the immortal gods in courage. Bellerophon, when he was still a young man, suffered a misfortune: he accidentally killed one citizen of Corinth and had to flee his hometown. He fled to the king of Tiryns, Pass. The king of Tiryns received the hero with great honor and cleansed him of the filth of the blood he had shed. Bellerophon did not have to stay long in Tiryns. Captivated by his beauty, Proyta's wife, the godly Antheia. But Bellerophon rejected her love. Then Queen Antheia was inflamed with hatred for Bellerophon and decided to destroy him. She went to her husband and said to him:

O king! Bellerophon insults you heavily. You must kill him. He haunts me, your wife, with his love. That's how he thanked you for your hospitality!

Grozen Borey, god of the indomitable, stormy north wind. Furious, he rushes over lands and seas, causing all-devastating storms with his flight. Once I saw Boreas, rushing over Attica, the daughter of Erechtheus, Orifia and fell in love with her. Boreas begged Orifia to become his wife and allow him to take her with him to his kingdom to the far north. Orifia did not agree, she was afraid of a formidable, harsh god. Orifia's father, Erechtheus, also refused to Boreus. No requests, no pleas from Boreas helped. The formidable god was angry and exclaimed:

I deserve this humiliation myself! I forgot about my formidable, fierce strength! Is it proper for me to humbly plead with someone? I must act only by force! I drive thunderclouds across the sky, I rise to the sea like mountains, waves, I uproot, like dry blades of grass, age-old oaks, I scourge the earth with hail and turn water into solid, like stone, ice - and I pray, like powerless mortal. When I fly in a frantic flight over the earth, the whole earth vibrates and shudders even the underworld of Hades. And I pray to Erechtheus, as if I were his servant. I must not beg to give Orifia to me as a wife, but take her away by force!

Freed from service to King Eurystheus, Hercules returned to Thebes. Here he gave his wife Megara to his faithful friend Iolaus, explaining his act by the fact that his marriage to Megara was accompanied by unfavorable omens. In fact, the reason that prompted Hercules to part with Megara was different: between the spouses stood the shadows of their common children, whom Hercules killed many years ago in a fit of insanity.

In the hope of finding family happiness, Hercules began to look for a new wife for himself. He heard that Eurytus, the one who taught the young Hercules the art of bowing, offers his daughter Iola as his wife to someone who surpasses him in accuracy.

Hercules went to Eurytus and easily defeated him in the competition. Such an outcome annoyed Evryta immensely. After drinking a fair amount of wine for greater confidence, he told Hercules: "I don't trust my daughter to such a villain like you. Or did you not kill your children from Megara? Besides, you are a slave of Eurystheus and deserve only beating from a free man."

Ancient myths and legends of Ancient Greece

They were created over two thousand centuries ago and the famous scientist Nikolai Kun adapted them at the beginning of the 20th century, but the attention of young readers from all over the world does not fade even now. And it doesn't matter in the 4th, 5th or 6th grade they study the myths of ancient Greece - these works of ancient folklore are considered the cultural heritage of the whole world. Moral and vivid stories about the ancient Greek gods have been studied along and across. And now we read online to our children about who the heroes of the legends and myths of Ancient Greece were and try to summarize the meaning of their actions.

This fantastic world is surprising in that, despite the horror of an ordinary mortal in front of the gods of Mount Olympus, sometimes ordinary people of Greece could get involved in an argument or even fight with them. Sometimes short and simple myths express a very deep meaning and can easily explain the rules of life to a child.

An amazing people - the Hellenes (as they called themselves), came to the Peloponnese peninsula and settled it. In ancient times, all people tried to live next to the river-nurse. And in Greece there were no big rivers. So the Greeks became a seaside people - they were fed by the sea. Brave, curious, they built ships and sailed in the stormy Mediterranean Sea, trading and creating settlements on its shores and islands. They were also pirates, and profited not only from trade, but also from robbery. These people traveled a lot, saw the life of other peoples, and they created myths and legends about gods and heroes. A short ancient Greek myth has become a national folklore tradition. He usually narrated about some of the events that happened to someone who behaved incorrectly, deviating from generally accepted norms. And usually this story was very instructive.

Are the heroes also alive?

Yes and no. Nobody worships them, no one makes sacrifices, no one comes to their sanctuaries, asking for advice. But every short ancient Greek myth saved the life of both gods and heroes. In these stories, time stands still and does not move, but the heroes are fighting, actively acting, hunting, fighting, trying to deceive the gods and talking among themselves. They live. The Greeks immediately began to represent the gods in the form of people, only more beautiful, more skillful and endowed with incredible qualities.

For example, a short ancient Greek of the most important deity can tell us how high on the bright Olympus, surrounded by his wayward, disobedient family, Zeus sits on a high golden throne and establishes order on earth and his harsh laws. While everything is calm, the gods are feasting. young Hebe, brings them ambrosia and nectar. Laughing, joking, offering food to the eagle, she can spill nectar on the ground, and then it will pour out in a short warm summer rain.

But Zeus suddenly got angry, frowned his thick eyebrows, and now the gray ones closed the clear sky. Thunder roared, fiery lightning flashed. Not only the earth is shaking, but also Olympus.

Zeus sends happiness and unhappiness to people, scooping them from two different jugs. Dike's daughter helps him. She oversees justice, defends the truth and does not tolerate deception. Zeus is the guarantor of a fair trial. He is the last one to whom both gods and people go for justice. And Zeus never interferes in the affairs of war - in battles and bloodshed there is and cannot be justice. But there is a goddess of happy fate on Olympus - Tyuhe. From the goat Amalfea, which Zeus was fed, she pours the gifts of happiness to people. But how infrequently it happens!

So, keeping order in the entire Greek world, reigning over evil and good, Zeus reigns forever. Is he alive? A short ancient Greek myth claims to be alive.

What does love only for yourself lead to

A modern person will never get bored with studying ancient Greek myths. Reading short stories, wondering what a deep meaning they have, is just interesting and exciting. Let's move on to the next myth.

Handsome Narcissus considered only himself worthy of love. He paid no attention to anyone, only admired and admired himself. But is this what the valor and virtue of man consist in? His life should bring joy, not grief, to many. And Narcissus cannot help looking into his reflection: a destructive passion for himself is eating him up.

He does not notice the beauty of the world: dew on flowers, hot rays of the sun, beautiful nymphs yearning for friendship with him. The narcissist stops eating and drinking, and feels the approach of death. But he, so young and beautiful, is not afraid, but is waiting for her. And, leaning on the emerald carpet of grass, quietly dies. So Narcissa punished. According to the Greeks, the gods are most willing to help a person when he is going to meet his death. Why would Narcissus live? He is not glad to anyone, he has not done anything good to anyone. But on the bank of the stream, where the selfish handsome man admired himself, a beautiful spring flower grew, which gives happiness to all people.

About love conquering the stone

Our life consists of love and mercy. Another short Greek myth tells the story of the brilliant sculptor Pygmalion, who carved a beautiful girl out of white ivory. She was so beautiful, so superior to the beauty of human daughters, that the creator admired her every minute and dreamed that she would turn from a cold stone to warm, alive.

Pygmalion wanted the girl to be able to talk to him. Oh, how much they would sit, bowing their heads to each other and confiding secrets. But the girl was cold. Then, at the feast of Aphrodite, Pygmalion decided to pray for mercy. And when he returned home, he saw that the dead statue was bleeding through the veins and life and kindness shone in his eyes. So happiness entered the house of the creator. This short story says that true love overcomes all barriers.

The dream of immortality, or how the deception ends

They begin to study myths and Greek legends already in elementary school. Ancient Greek myths are interesting and exciting. Grade 3 should read short and entertaining, tragic and instructive stories according to the school curriculum. These are myths about the proud Niobe, about the disobedient Icarus, about the unfortunate Adonis and about the deceiver Sisyphus.

All heroes crave immortality. But it can only be given by the gods, if they themselves want it. The gods are capricious and gloating - every Hellene knows this. And Sisyphus, king of Corinth, was very rich and cunning. He guessed that the deity of death would soon come for him, and ordered to seize him and put him in chains. The gods freed their messenger, and Sisyphus had to die. But he cheated: he did not order himself to be buried and to bring burial offerings to the gods. His cunning soul asked for a white light in order to persuade the living to make rich sacrifices. Sisyphus was again believed and released, but of his own free will he did not return to the underworld.

In the end, the gods became very angry and assigned him a special punishment: to show the futility of all human efforts, he had to roll a huge stone up the mountain, and then this boulder rolled down from the other side. This is repeated from day to day, for millennia and to this day: no one is able to cope with divine decrees. And cheating is simply not good.

Excessive curiosity

Ancient Greek myths are short for children and adults about disobedience and curiosity.

Zeus got angry with people and decided to "bestow" them with evil. To do this, he ordered the craftsman Hephaestus to create the most adorable girl in the world. Aphrodite gave her an ineffable charm, Hermes - a subtle dodgy mind. The gods revived her and called her Pandora, which translates as "endowed with all gifts." They gave her in marriage to a calm, decent man. He had a tightly closed vessel in his house. Everyone knew that he was filled with sorrows and troubles. But Pandora was not embarrassed.

Slowly, when no one saw, he removed the lid from it! And all the misfortunes of the world instantly flew out of him: disease, poverty, stupidity, discord, strife, wars. When Pandora saw what she had done, she was terribly frightened and waited in a daze until all troubles were freed. And then, as in a fever, she slammed the lid. And what is left at the bottom? The last is hope. It was her that Pandora deprived people of. Therefore, the human race has nothing to hope for. You just need to act and fight for good.

Myths and modernity

If anyone is well known to modern man, it is the gods and heroes of Greece. The heritage of this people is multifaceted. One of the masterpieces is the ancient Greek myths, short. Author Kun Nikolai Albertovich is a historian, professor, teacher, but how much he knew and loved Hellas! How many myths with all the details have brought to our times! Therefore, we read Kuhn a lot today. Greek myths are a source of inspiration for all generations of artists and creators.

Bellerophon, the son of the Corinthian king Glaucus, having killed one Corinthian, was forced to flee from his hometown to the king of Tiryns Pass. But, unfortunately, Proit's wife, Anthea, fell in love with Bellerofoit. When he rejected her, she flew into a rage and told her husband that Bellerophon allegedly harassed her. In anger, Proit wanted to kill Bellerophon, but did not dare raise his hand against the guest. Proytes sent him with a letter to the king of Lycia, Jobatus, in which he asked to take revenge on the young man for the insult inflicted. Iobatus, having read the letter, sent Bellerophon to certain death, ordering to kill the Chimera - a fire-breathing monster with the head of a lion, the body of a goat and a snake instead of a tail.

Once every 9 years, the Athenians paid a heavy tribute to Minos - 14 young men and women went to Crete, where they were devoured by the Minotaur, a monster imprisoned in the Labyrinth built by Daedalus. Theseus, son of the Athenian king Aegeus. decided to sail to Crete with the doomed Athenians to kill the Minotaur. He told his father that if they succeeded, they would have white sails on the way home. Ordinary black sails will be a signal that Theseus died. In Crete, the daughter of King Minos Ariadne fell in love with Theseus. She gave him a sword to kill the Minotaur and a ball of thread to find his way out of

Heroes, myths and legends about them. Therefore, it is important to know their summary. The legends and myths of Ancient Greece, the entire Greek culture, especially of the late time, when both philosophy and democracy were developed, had a strong influence on the formation of the entire European civilization as a whole. Mythology has evolved over time. Legends, legends became known, because the reciters wandered along the paths and roads of Hellas. They carried more or less long stories about the heroic past. Some gave only a summary.

Legends and myths of Ancient Greece gradually became familiar and loved, and what Homer created was customary for an educated person to know by heart and be able to quote from any place. Greek scholars, seeking to streamline everything, began to work on the classification of myths, and turned disparate stories into a coherent series.

Major Greek gods

The very first myths are devoted to the struggle of various gods among themselves. Some of them did not have human features - these are the offspring of the goddess Gaia-Earth and Uranus-Sky - twelve titans and six more monsters that horrified their father, and he plunged them into the abyss - Tartarus. But Gaia persuaded the remaining Titans to overthrow her father.

It was done by the insidious Kronos - Time. But, having married his sister, he was afraid of the children being born and swallowed them immediately after birth: Hestia, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, Aida. Having given birth to the last child - Zeus, the wife deceived Kronos, and he could not swallow the baby. And Zeus was safely hidden in Crete. This is just a summary. The legends and myths of Ancient Greece terribly describe the events taking place.

Zeus' war for power

Zeus grew up, matured and forced Kronos to return to the white light his swallowed sisters and brothers. He called them on to fight the cruel father. In addition, part of the titans, giants and cyclops took part in the struggle. The struggle lasted ten years. The fire raged, the seas boiled, nothing was visible from the smoke. But the victory went to Zeus. The enemies were overthrown in Tartarus and taken into custody.

Gods on Olympus

Zeus, to whom the Cyclopes bound lightning, became the supreme god, Poseidon obeyed all the waters on earth, Hades - the underworld of the dead. This was already the third generation of gods, from which all other gods and heroes descended, about whom stories and legends would begin to be told.

The oldest belong to the cycle of Dionysus, and winemaking, fertility, the patron saint of the night mysteries, which were held in the darkest places. The mysteries were terrible and mysterious. So the struggle of the dark gods with the light ones began to take shape. There were no real wars, but they began to gradually give way to the light god of the sun Phoebus with his rational beginning, with his cult of reason, science and art.

And the irrational, ecstatic, sensual retreated. But these are two sides of the same phenomenon. And one was impossible without the other. The goddess Hera, the wife of Zeus, patronized the family.

Ares for war, Athena for wisdom, Artemis for the moon and hunting, Demeter for agriculture, Hermes for trade, Aphrodite for love and beauty.

Hephaestus to artisans. Their relationships between themselves and people are the tales of the Hellenes. They were fully studied in pre-revolutionary grammar schools in Russia. Only now, when people are concerned for the most part with earthly concerns, they, if necessary, pay attention to their brief content. The legends and myths of Ancient Greece are receding further into the past.

To whom the gods patronized

They are not very kind to people. Often they envied them or lusted after women, were jealous, were greedy for praise and honors. That is, they were very similar to mortals, if we take their description. Legends (summary), legends and myths of Ancient Greece (Kun) describe their gods in very contradictory ways. "Nothing pleases the gods so much as the collapse of human hopes," Euripides believed. And Sophocles echoed him: "The gods most willingly help man when he goes to meet his death."

All gods obeyed Zeus, but for people he mattered as a guarantor of justice. It was when the judge judged unrighteously that a person turned to Zeus for help. In matters of war, only Mars dominated. Wise Athena patronized Attica.

To Poseidon, all the sailors, going to sea, made sacrifices. In Delphi, one could ask for favors from Phoebus and Artemis.

Hero myths

One of the favorite myths was about Theseus, the son of the king of Athens, Aegeus. He was born and raised in a royal family in Trezen. When he grew up and was able to get his father's sword, he went to meet him. On the way, he destroyed the robber Procrustes, who did not allow people to pass through his territory. When he got to his father, he learned that Athens paid tribute to the girls and boys of Crete. Together with another batch of slaves, under funeral sails, he went to the island to kill the monstrous Minotaur.

Princess Ariadne helped Theseus to pass the labyrinth in which the Minotaur was. Theseus fought the monster and destroyed it.

The Greeks joyfully, freed from tribute forever, returned to their homeland. But they forgot to change the black sails. Aegeus, who did not take his eyes off the sea, saw that his son had died, and from unbearable grief threw himself into the depths of the waters over which his palace stood. The Athenians rejoiced that they were forever freed from tribute, but they also wept upon learning of the tragic death of Aegeus. The myth of Theseus is long and colorful. This is its summary. Legends and myths of Ancient Greece (Kun) will give an exhaustive description about him.

Epic - the second part of the book by Nikolai Albertovich Kuhn

The legends of the Argonauts, the travels of Odysseus, the revenge of Orestes for the death of his father and the misadventures of Oedipus in the Theban cycle make up the second half of the book written by Kuhn, Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece. The chapter summaries are indicated above.

Returning from Troy to his native Ithaca, Odysseus spent many long years in dangerous wanderings. It was difficult for him to get home on the stormy sea.

God Poseidon could not forgive Odysseus for the fact that, saving his life and the lives of his friends, he blinded Cyclops, and sent unheard of storms. On the way, they died from the sirens, carried away by their unearthly voices and mellifluous singing.

All his companions died on their voyages across the seas. All were destroyed by an evil fate. In captivity with the nymph Calypso, Odysseus languished for many years. He begged to let him go home, but the beautiful nymph refused. Only the requests of the goddess Athena softened the heart of Zeus, he took pity on Odysseus and returned him to his family.

The legends of the Trojan cycle and the campaigns of Odysseus were created in his poems by Homer - "The Iliad" and "The Odyssey", the myths about the campaign for the golden fleece to the shores of the Pontus Evsinsky are described in the poem of Apolonius of Rhodes. Sophocles wrote the tragedy "Oedipus the King", the tragedy about the Arrest - the playwright Aeschylus. They are summarized in Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece (Nicholas Kun).

Myths and legends about gods, titans, numerous heroes disturb the imagination of the artists of word, brush and cinematography of our days. Standing in a museum near a painting painted on a mythological theme, or hearing the name of the beautiful Elena, it would be good to have at least a little idea of \u200b\u200bwhat is behind this name (a huge war), and to know the details of the plot depicted on the canvas. This can be helped by "Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece". The summary of the book will reveal the meaning of what he saw and heard.

Once upon a time in the Universe there was nothing but dark and gloomy Chaos. And then the Earth appeared from Chaos - the goddess Gaia, powerful and beautiful. She gave life to everything that lives and grows on her. And everyone has since called her their mother.

Great Chaos also gave birth to gloomy Darkness - Erebus and black Night - Nyukta and ordered them to guard the Earth. It was dark on Earth at that time and gloomy. So it was until Erebus and Nyukta got tired of their hard, permanent work. Then they gave birth to the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful shining Day - Hemera.

And so it has been since then. Night guards peace on Earth. As soon as she lowers her black veils, everything plunges into darkness and silence. And then a cheerful, radiant Day comes to replace it, and it becomes light and joyful around.

Deep underground, as deep as one can imagine, the terrible Tartarus was formed. Tartarus was as far from the Earth as the sky, only on the other side. Eternal darkness and silence reigned there ...

And above, high above the Earth, stretched the endless Sky - Uranus. God Uranus began to reign over the whole world. He married the beautiful goddess Gaia - Earth.

Gaia and Uranus had six daughters, beautiful and wise, and six sons, mighty and formidable titans, among them the majestic titan Ocean and the youngest - the cunning Cronus.

And then six terrible giants were born to the mother of the Earth at once. Three giants - cyclops with one eye in their foreheads - could frighten anyone who just looked at them. But the other three giants looked even more terrible, real monsters. Each of them had 50 heads and 100 hands. And they were so terrible in appearance, these hundred-armed giants-hecatoncheires, that even the father himself, the mighty Uranus, feared and hated them. So he decided to get rid of his children. He imprisoned the giants deep in the bowels of their mother Earth and prevented them from emerging.

The giants rushed about in deep darkness, wanted to break out, but did not dare to disobey the orders of their father. It was hard for their mother Earth, she suffered greatly from such an unbearable burden and pain. Then she called her titan children and asked them to help her.

“Rebel against your cruel father,” she persuaded them, “if you don’t take away his power over the world now, he will destroy us all.

But no matter how Gaia tried to persuade her children, they did not agree to raise a hand against their father. Only the youngest of them, the ruthless Cronus, supported their mother, and they decided that Uranus should no longer reign in the world.

And then one day Cronus pounced on his father, wounded him with a sickle and took away his power over the world. The drops of blood of Uranus, which fell to the ground, turned into monstrous giants with snake tails instead of legs and vile, disgusting Erinyes, who wriggled snakes instead of hair on their heads, and in their hands they held lighted torches. They were terrible deities of death, strife, revenge and deceit.

Now the powerful and unforgiving Cron, the god of Time, has reigned in the world. He took the goddess Rhea as his wife.

But there was no peace and harmony in his kingdom either. The gods quarreled among themselves and deceived each other.

For a long time, the great and powerful Cronus, the god of Time, reigned in the world, and people called his kingdom the golden age. The first people were just born on Earth then, and they lived without knowing any worries. The Blessed Earth itself fed them. She gave bountiful harvests. Bread grew by itself in the fields, wonderful fruits ripened in the gardens. People only had to collect them, and they worked as much as they could and wanted.

But Cronus himself was not calm. Long ago, when he was just beginning to reign, his mother, the goddess Gaia, predicted to him that he, too, would lose power. And one of his sons will take it away from Crohn. Here Kron was worried. After all, everyone who has power wants to reign as long as possible.

Kron also did not want to lose power over the world. And he ordered his wife, the goddess Rhea, to bring him her children as soon as they were born. And the father mercilessly swallowed them. Reya's heart was breaking with grief and suffering, but she could not help it. It was impossible to persuade Crohn. So he has already swallowed five of his children. Another child was soon to be born, and the goddess Rhea, in despair, turned to her parents, Gaia and Uranus.

“Help me save my last baby,” she pleaded with tears. - You are wise and all-powerful, tell me what to do to me, where to hide my dear son so that he can grow up and avenge such atrocity.

The immortal gods took pity on their beloved daughter and taught her how to act. And so Rhea brings his husband, the ruthless Cronus, a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.

“Here is your son Zeus,” she told him sadly. - He was just born. Do what you want with him.

Cronus grabbed the bundle and swallowed it without unwrapping it. Meanwhile, the delighted Rhea took her little son, made her way to Dikta in a black dead night and hid him in an inaccessible cave on the wooded Aegean Mountain.

There, on the island of Crete, he grew up surrounded by kind and cheerful demons-kurets. They played with little Zeus, brought him milk from the sacred goat Amalfea. And when he cried, the demons began to clatter their spears against the shields, danced and drowned out his cry with loud cries. They were very afraid that the cruel Cronus would hear the cry of the child and realize that he had been deceived. And then no one can save Zeus.

But Zeus grew very quickly, his muscles were filled with extraordinary strength, and soon the time came when he, mighty and omnipotent, decided to fight his father and take away his power over the world. Zeus turned to the Titans and invited them to fight with him against Crohn.

And a great debate broke out among the titans. Some decided to stay with Crohn, others sided with Zeus. Filled with courage, they were eager to fight. But Zeus stopped them. First, he wanted to free his brothers and sisters from the womb of his father, so that only later he would fight with them against Crohn. But how to get Crohn to let his children go? Zeus understood that he could not defeat the mighty god by force alone. We need to think of something to outwit him.

Then the great titan Ocean came to his aid, who in this struggle was on the side of Zeus. His daughter, the wise goddess Thetis, prepared a magic potion and brought it to Zeus.

“O mighty and all-powerful Zeus,” she said to him, “this miraculous nectar will help you free your brothers and sisters. Just make Crohn drink it.

Cunning Zeus figured out how to do it. He sent Cronus as a gift a luxurious amphora with nectar, and Cronus, suspecting nothing, accepted this insidious gift. He drank the magic nectar with pleasure and immediately vomited out of himself, first the stone wrapped in diapers, and then all his children. One after another they came out into the world, and his daughters, the beautiful goddesses Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and sons - Hades and Poseidon. During the time they were sitting in the womb of their father, they became completely adults.

All the children of Crohn united, and a long and terrible war began between them and their father Crohn for power over all people and gods. New gods established themselves on Olympus. From here they fought their great battle.

The young gods were all-powerful and formidable, the mighty titans supported them in this struggle. Cyclops forged for Zeus formidable thunders and fiery lightning. But on the other side there were powerful opponents. Mighty Cronus was not at all going to give his power to the young gods and also gathered around him formidable titans.