The 12 best short Greek myths

Greece was one of the main cradles of Western civilization, and from which came some of the greatest philosophers and precursors of the science, such as Aristotle, Socrates and Plato, as well as theorems, basic socio-cultural elements or even political systems such as the democracy.

Greek culture is rich and varied, as are the myths that have accompanied the formulation of the Hellenic identity and way of understanding the world.

Throughout this article we are going to see you various short Greek myths, all small to valuable examples of the beliefs that have been part of one of the most recognized and extensive cultures of antiquity.

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A dozen short Greek myths

Next we are going to show you a dozen great short Greek myths, most of the time highly known, that allow us to dive into the idiosyncrasy and way of seeing the world of Hellenic culture, in the Greece of the Antiquity.

1. Pandora's box

We have all heard the expression "open Pandora's box" on occasion.

, and most have at least the notion that this expression refers to a Greek myth, that we speaks of the price of unhealthy curiosity and the birth of the evils of the world, but also of the hope. Although there are several variants of this myth, the most common and well-known is the following:

"Pandora was the first human woman, created by Hephaestus by order of Zeus and being gifted by the different gods of some of their greatest qualities and virtues, but also including the ability to seduce and to lie. Its creation obeys the desire of the king of Olympus to take revenge on Prometheus and his people.

The god made Pandora and Prometheus' brother Epimetheus meet, and eventually led to their marrying. But Pandora also received a box destined for her husband, in which all the evils of the world were enclosed, with instructions never to open it. However, one of the gifts that Pandora had received was that of curiosity. One day, the woman opened the box to see what was inside, something that would cause all the evils to come out of the box and spread throughout the world. Scared, Pandora closed the box, but there was only hope. So Pandora dedicated herself to offering hope to men, in order to help them endure the evils and vicissitudes of the world. "

2. The birth of Aphrodite

The goddess of love and passion, Aphrodite is a highly recognized deity within the Greek pantheon and was widely revered in the past. However, unlike other deities, she was not a natural daughter of any god, but as she implies, her name arose from the foam of the sea. The myth of her birth, which comes to us from Hesiod, is the following.

“Gaea, mother Earth, herself gave birth to Uranus, the heavens. Together with him, she would beget and give birth to numerous children, who, however, would be buried in her mother due to the hatred and fear that Uranus had for her offspring. One day the youngest son, Cronos (a titan who would become the father of the Olympian gods, whom she would devour), with the help of a sickle provided by her mother, he castrated her father Uranus by cutting off his genitals.

The remains of said genitalia fell into the sea, where blood and semen would mix with the waters forming a foam from which a deity would eventually be born, Aphrodite, already fully adult from her birth".

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3. The origin of Medusa

The name Medusa is highly known in Western culture, this Gorgon being a very popular Greek mythological figure. The best known myth of which it is part of it has to do with her death at the hands of Perseus, but another that may be of interest is the origin of her birth. Although there are several versions, one of them establishes the following.

“Medusa was once a beautiful young woman, a priestess of Athena whose beauty was admired by all who looked at her and who enjoyed multiple suitors. One day the god Poseidon observed the young woman and fell in love with her. The god of the seas decided to kidnap Medusa and take her against her will in the temple of Athens.

This fact provoked the wrath of Athena, who he decided to curse the woman by transforming her beautiful hair into angry snakesIn addition to making anyone who stares into her eyes from now on to turn to stone. "

4. The fall of Icarus

One of the myths that most warn us of the risks of ignoring what wisdom dictates and acting carelessly without considering the possible consequences, or wanting to achieve and encompass more than what we can, is that of Icarus. The myth says the following.

“Icarus was the son of Daedalus, a wise old man of great knowledge who was able to build the labyrinth in which King Minos locked the minotaur. Said king, to prevent anyone from ever knowing how to find the exit from the labyrinth, he decided to lock the sage and Icarus for life in a tower.

Daedalus dreamed of escaping from his prison, but he could not escape by land or sea. In time he came to the conclusion that he could escape through the air, and in this way he made two large pairs of wax wings out of wax and bird feathers. Before leaving, the wise Daedalus warned Icarus not to fly too high or too fast, as the wax wings would not hold.

Both started the flight, escaping from their confinement. But Icarus, seeing the beauty of the Sun, ignored the indications of his father and flew higher and higher, trying to get closer until almost touching the sun. But the wings did not resist the heat, falling apart and causing Icarus to pre-dive into the void and die. "

5. The people that came from the ants: the myrmidons

The name Myrmidon may not be especially well known today, but it is the name of a people famous in ancient times for the high reputation and skill of its warriors, being even cited in the Iliad. Although there are different versions of this myth, but the one shown here is the one transcribed by Ovid in "The metamorphoses".

“Legend has it that the king of Olympus, Zeus, maintained relations with the nymph Aegis and later named an island off the Peloponnese after her. However, when Hera found out about her husband's adventure and her name on the island, she decided to send a horrible plague that ended up killing the vast majority of those who inhabited it. Among the few survivors was the island's king, Aeacus of Aegina, who pleaded with Zeus to repopulate the island.

While praying a ray of the sun illuminated a line of ants in an oak, something that made the king decide to ask for as many people to emerge as ants he had seen on the tree. Aeacus of Aegina fell asleep and dreamed that the ants in the oak fell to the ground and in doing so they transformed In person. Upon awakening, the island had recovered the number of inhabitants of yesteryear, being named in honor of the ants from which they came (myrmidon could be translated as ant-men) ”.

6. The myth of Sisyphus

Another relatively short Greek myth is that of Sisyphus, king of Ephira (later Corinth, the city of which he is considered the founder in myths). This myth has been used as symbolism of the price of greed and deception, in addition to making useless efforts (especially due to the punishment that was inflicted on him). The myth says the following.

“There was a time when the region of Ephira had a king named Sisyphus, of great cunning but who had the great defect of being tremendously manipulative and greedy. But the day came when his ambition and his actions would provoke the wrath of Zeus by accusing him of the abduction of the nymph Aegina before her father, Asopo, in exchange for sources of fresh water for her town. Zeus ordered Thanatos to go and take King Sisyphus to the underworld, but once there the devious king invited the deity of death to eat, deceiving him in such a way that he managed to chain him in a cell.

As death was locked up, no deaths occurred, something that of her ended up enraging Hades and make it finally be decided that Ares would free Thanatos and bring Sisyphus to the underworld. However, the clever king asked his wife not to honor him at her funeral on her death, a request she complied with. This fact would be used by Sisyphus to deceive Hades, asking him to bring him back to life since his wife had not celebrated the funeral properly and she had not paid him honors. The god of the underworld accepted in exchange for him to return after doing so. But Sisyphus did not return, until his death many years later.

Sisyphus would eventually be punished by Zeus and Hades. His condemnation was having to climb a stone up the side of a mountain to the top. However when he got there he would fall to the other side of the mountain, with which he would have to be pushed back to the top, something that would repeat itself in an eternal cycle. "

7. The myth of Tiresias

Tiresias is one of the most famous blind seers in all of Greek mythology, being consulted by a large number of heroes. It is also part of one of the cases of transsexuality that appear in mythology. One of the myths that tells us about him is the following, which in turn explains the origin of his blindness.

“Legend has it that while walking through the mountains one day, Tiresias found two snakes in full copulation on his way on the mountain. Tiresias wanted to separate them and hit the female with his rod, killing her. But in doing so, his action had the consequence that he was cursed and in revenge his sex was changed, becoming a woman. Tiresias would live as a woman for 8 years, after which she would meet the same snakes again. This time she struck and killed the male, turning back to being male.

Years later, the gods Zeus and Hera would have a dispute over which of the two sexes enjoyed sex more. Tiresias was chosen as judge, since he had lived as a man and as a woman. But Tiresias's response, proposing that the woman enjoyed herself more, drew Hera's ire. As punishment, the goddess blinded him. However, as compensation for such action, Zeus gave him the gift of clairvoyance. This would make Tiresias one of the most famous seers in all of Greek mythology throughout his life. "

8. The myth of Eco

Some myths try to explain the origin of some phenomena, as occurs for example with the echo. The mythological explanation of this phenomenon is explained below:

“Echo was an oreades or nymphs of the forest and of the mountain. Her most beautiful words came from her lips, but they were so beautiful that Zeus would begin to feel attracted to her. Hera, the betrayal discovered, he cursed Eco snatching his voice and making him only able to repeat the last words that his interlocutor said to him.

Time passed and the nymph fell in love with the young Narcissus, watching him secretly. One day, the young man withdrew from his companions and would perceive the nymph. However, he cruelly rejected her, something that caused the nymph to go into hiding in a cave, where she was consumed until only her voice remained. "

9. The myth of Narcissus

The myth that gives name to narcissism and that warns us that we should not overvalue ourselves, the myth Narcissus is another short myth of Greek origin which is also deeply linked to the previous. The myth tells us the following.

“Son of the god Cephiso and Liriope, Narcissus was a very beautiful and attractive young man, who according to the great soothsayer Tiresias would live many years as long as he did not see his reflection. The young man generated the admiration of both men and women and was aware of his attractiveness, to the point of being highly conceited and despise the virtues and feelings of others, among which was found the nymph Echo or the young Aminias.

To the latter he would give a sword, with which the rejected young man would kill himself. Shortly before dying, he prayed to the goddess of vengeance Nemesis asking that Narcissus know unrequited love. The deity responded. One day, as he approached to drink, Narcissus saw his reflection in the water of a pond and fell madly in love with him. Finally, trying to get closer to his loved one, Narcissus fell into the water and ended up drowning. "

10. The myth of the Minotaur

This Greek myth dates back to the times of the Minoans, a pre-Hellenic civilization that existed until the collapse of the Late Broce Age, when most of the Aegean Sea peoples suffered a strong cultural and economic crisis and returned to Prehistory, forgetting how to read and to write. For this reason, it arose at the time when the Greeks of the Hellenic societies did not know more than through legends.

This one in particular tells us that King Minos of Crete offended the god Poseidon, so he made his wife Pasiphae give birth to a monstrous and aggressive being, the Minotaur, half man and half bull, who fed on human flesh. To hide the reason for his shame, the king ordered the construction of a labyrinth in which the Minotaur had to live. With the intention of appeasing him, every nine years he would offer him human sacrifices, forcing young people to enter the labyrinth never to return.

However, theseus eventually volunteered to enter the labyrinth to kill the minotaur and end the sacrifices. He succeeded with the help of Princess Adriadna, daughter of King Mnos, and Daedalus, inventor of the labyrinth, who gave him a ball of thread so that he could get lost in the labyrinth.

11. The myth of Prometheus

The myth of Prometheus is one of the best known, and in it we can see how the ancient Greeks already wondered how we had discovered and tamed fire, considering it a gift of practically divine origin. The myth goes like this:

“Prometheus was one of the Titans, son of Iapetus and Clymene. According to some myths, together with his brother, Epimetheus was charged with the task of creating animals and humans, it being Prometheus who decided to give man the ability to walk upright.

He also mocked and deceived the gods to favor mortals. On an occasion when Zeus forbade fire to mortals and seeing the needs and difficulties of man to survive, he decided to grant them the fire. Therefore Prometheus entered Olympus and stole the fire from Helios' chariot using a reed, after which he gave it to mortals in such a way that they could be heated and illuminated.

But Zeus was enraged at the theft, condemning the titan to be chained to Mount Caucaso, where every day and forever, an eagle would come to devour his liver. The organ would grow back during the day, so that the torment would repeat itself eternally for this immortal being. "

12. Theseus' ship

This is one of the stories that tells us about the dilemma of identity, the essence of things. This Greek legend, sometimes called the "paradox of Theseus's ship," and related by Plutarch, tells us that the ship in which Theseus (son of Poseidon) and his men traveled from Crete to Athens was being repaired for a decades, to a point where practically the entire ship had been replaced with new parts.

Considering that long process of transformation, was this the ship of Theseus, or had it been replaced by another?