The Olympic Games Timeline

The Olympic Games Timeline The Olympic Games Timeline

Roman name- Victoria (Victory)

Nike is the winged goddess of victory. She can run and fly at great speed. Nike is one of the oldest goddesses, but she is never mentioned in a myth (a story or tale that is not real). She is often found with Athena or Zeus. Both of those gods never give up in a battle. Nobody thought of Nike when they thought of victory. They thought of Athena and Zeus instead. Nike fought on the Olympian’s side in the great war of the gods that was fought between the Titans and Olympians. The Olympians won, and Zeus became the supreme ruler because he was the Olympian leader. Nobody knows Nike’s real parents. Some say it was Pallas I and Styx. Pallas I was the son of the Titans, Crius and Eurybia. Styx is the daughter of Oceanus. Other people think it was Pallas II and an unknown goddess. Pallas II is the son of Pallas I and Lycaon.

Nike’s siblings are victorious in their own ways. Zelus (Zelos) is the human-form of everlasting effort. He is usually found sitting next to Zeus. Cratos is the human-form of strength. He is also always found near Zeus. Bia is the human-form of force and power. He is most famous for the capture of Prometheus as a punishment from Zeus for stealing the gods’ fire and delivering it to the humans. The gods’ fire gave them their strength and their powers. In short, it made them who they were. People today take their company names from Greek mythology. You must have guessed by now that the company NIKE got its name from this Greek goddess. Besides, who wouldn’t want a name that has to do with winning?

What Greeks say about Zeus

Zeus was the supreme ruler of all Greek gods. He was also known as the god of the sky and the god of justice. Many Greeks believe that Zeus was last seen on top of Mount Olympia (located in Olympia, Greece) Greeks think that Zeus has can control the weather, gather up all the clouds and create rain, or create other storms that involve the sky.

Punishments, Rewards, and Weapons The way Zeus punishes people, who lie or break oaths, is by striking them with his weapon, a thunderbolt. Zeus’ punishments were either extremely severe, or his rewards were extremely generous.

Myth about Zeus A myth is a story or tale that is not real. People said there was a war between the Titans and Olympians. The Olympians were gods who disagreed with the ruler and his rules. The Titans were the rest of the gods. The leader of the Olympians was Zeus. The leader of the Titans was Cronus, Zeus’ father. They were supposed to have a common ruler, but Zeus and some other gods decided to declare war. Luckily Ares, the god of war and Nike, the goddess of victory were on the Olympians’ side. They won because most of the strong gods were on their side. Also these gods were strategic and intelligent. All gods were powerful, but the Olympians had powers that would come handy in war. Zeus became the supreme ruler of all gods since he was the ruler of the Olympians. There is another myth that gives a whole different story of how Zeus became the supreme ruler of all gods. It says that when baby Zeus was born, his father, Cronus, had a bad habit of swallowing his children. He did this because he was afraid that his children might grow up and defeat him in a fight for the throne of supreme ruler. Rhea, Cronus’ wife, didn’t want him to eat their newest son, Zeus. Instead of giving Zeus to his father, she gave him a stone wrapped around a blanket to eat. She hid Zeus in a cave in Mt. Olympus. She took care of him secretly because she knew that one day, Zeus would bring all his brothers and sisters back. He would also take the throne and become the ruler of all gods. After he grew up, he fed Cronus an herb that made him vomit out all of his brothers and sisters. Since Zeus rescued everyone, the gods decided to make him supreme ruler of all gods. But, there was a big fight and Zeus severely hurt Cronus with his thunderbolt. The other Olympians killed the Titans. Zeus knew Cronus could never die, so he sent him to a deserted island. Zeus had many affairs with many women, but his final marriage was with Hera. Zeus was in love with her for a long time, but they were afraid to tell their parents. He had promised to marry Hera. He was never faithful to her though. Zeus was supreme ruler and had easy access to women. Hera was very angry with Zeus when she found out about his affairs. He had lots of affairs with women like Europa, Io, Semele, Ganymede, Callisto, Leto, and many others. His most famous affair was with Io. Zeus fell in love with her and turned himself into an eagle to look more attractive and get more attention. Hera soon found out about the affair. He loved her so much he disguised her as a cow and told her to run away safely. Unfortunately, Hera found out about that, too. As a punishment, she sent Io to the underworld.

Special Statues and Temples of Zeus In honor of Zeus, the Ancient Olympics were started. There was a huge gold and ivory statue of Zeus in front of their stadium. It was supposed to give courage to the competitors of the ancient Olympics. It is located in Athens, Greece. There is another great temple in the Livic desert. It is not in Greece, but instead it is in Egypt. Believe it or not, the Egyptians worshipped Zeus too.

Birth of Athena Athena wasn’t born like all the goddesses. She was born a special way. We don’t know exactly who Athena’s mother is but we might think it is Metis. Her father was Zeus. There is a thing that some gods did to their wives. The first child that the wife had would be a girl. The girl would grow up and be a goddess. The second child would be a boy. If the boy grew up he would kill his father. This is how Zeus’s father died (Cronus) and his grandfather (Uranus). So when Zeus caught Metis off guard, he opened his mouth and swallowed her. From the day on, Zeus had terrible headaches. Then these headaches stopped when Hephaestus snuck behind Zeus with an axe and sliced Zeus’s head open. Then Athena came flying out of his head full grown and in armor. Zeus did not die because he quickly pushed his head back together. Even though Athena gave Zeus many headaches, Athena was Zeus’s favorite daughter. If you think about it Athena was small to be able to come out of Zeus’s head. Athena also always had in her right hand she was holding either an owl or Nike another goddesses.

Teaching and Creating

You would think that a thought up goddess could not invent anything. Well some of the Greeks think that Athena invented the trumpet, the flute, the pot, the rake, the plow, the yoke, the ship, and the chariot. Most Greek people think that she invented the chariot for the Olympics. The Greeks think that she invented the flute to calm her down when she was stressed out. She also might have invented the flute so that she can listen to the wind blow when it is not blowing. She also invented the trumpet for about the same reason but to hear the sounds of battle. Athena invented the pot to put her food in and to help her teach some things. She invented the ship for when she went to war at sea. We don’t know why she invented the yoke, the plow, and the rake. Athena was the first person to teach science of numbers, all ancient women’s arts for example cooking, weaving, and spinning. She also taught men how to fight in war so that she could win. We don’t know why she chose to teach people about these things but she did.

Battle

Athena did not like to go to war but if she did she would. This is why she was called the goddess of war. She was allowed to use her father’s weapons like the thunderbolt. Most people/gods did not fight her because when Perseus killed Medusa Athena placed Medusa’s head on her chest shield.

Medusa was one of the most furious gods/people. That is why so many people died from her or did not go near her. For how small she was she was one of the bravest warriors. She taught men to fight in war so that she did not have to fight all the time. In fact when the Typhon was attacking Olympus she stood her ground and did not let them destroy the city. This was a big victory for Athena because Typhon had the biggest and deadliest army back then. During this war she accidentally killed her best friend. After this war she was called "Queen of Heaven", this means in English "Athena". Athena also took part in the Trojan War. After all of the wars that she fought she was then a city was named after her called Athens".