S9E1 - Who's Who in Greek Mythology

stories featured in Greaking Out are original adaptations of classic Greek myths.

This week's story features some messed-up family dynamics, Zeus's many children, most of the gods on Mount Olympus, and some that aren't.

Greaking Out, the greatest stories in history were told in Greek mythology.

Greaking Out gods and heroes' amazing feats.

Listen and you'll see it's Greaking

Out.

Welcome back to Greaking Out.

We're looking forward to another great season of stories filled with Greek heroes, ferocious monsters, and a few field trips to different mythologies from around the world.

But since this is our ninth, yeah, our ninth season at Greaking Out, we wanted to take some time to go back and review a few of our favorite gods and goddesses here on Mount Olympus.

After all, we have come a long way and covered a lot of ground since our first episode premiered.

The first episode of Greaking Out debuted back in 2019.

Yeah, which feels like forever ago.

And you had slightly more hair back then.

Hey, now, come on.

I mean, it's probably true, but you don't need to call it out, Oracle.

I mean, that's the best part of working in audio, actually, is that nobody actually has to.

Anyway, we've done a lot of episodes since 2019.

And along the way, we've gotten a lot more listeners.

So if you're new here to the show, or if you're just looking for a little bit of a refresher on some of the major characters in Greek mythology, this episode is for you.

And when it comes to the Greek gods, there's only one place to begin.

He's the tippy-top of the pyramid, the cream of the ancient Greek crop, the king of the gods himself, the one, the only

Zeus.

Oh, yeah, the countdown thing is back.

I love it when we do this.

Okay, yes.

So yes, Zeus is the top dog on Mount Olympus, and he's basically the whole reason the Olympians are even in power.

If it wasn't for Zeus, the Titans would still be in charge.

To hear how the Olympians stole power from the Titans, listen to the Olympians and the Titans episode in season four.

Right, we go into all the details on that episode, but the gist of it is that Zeus's father, a Titan named Cronus, heard a prophecy that one of his children would grow up to challenge him for the throne and take away his power.

So he did the only reasonable thing he could think of.

He swallowed his children one by one.

Swallowing children whole is neither anatomically possible nor morally appropriate.

And they say we aren't a parenting podcast.

But regardless, Cronus proceeded to swallow all five of his children.

You might recognize their names.

Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.

Right, and they all got eaten.

So when Zeus's mom, Rhea, got pregnant with her last child, a baby named Zeus, she found a way to protect him from his father's digestive tract.

Rhea decided to trick Cronus by wrapping a rock in swaddling cloth and passing it off as a baby.

Not the most elaborate costume in the world, but since Cronus wasn't the brightest star in the constellation, he didn't notice anything was amiss.

Rhea was able to sneak the real baby off to an island far away from his hungry father.

Zeus grew up on this island and was ultimately raised by a goat, Amalthea.

And in this case, we don't mean goat-like greatest of all time.

We mean goat-like farm animal goat.

You know, goat.

You might say that Amalthea was the goat of goats.

Wow, Oracle, was that humor?

After nine seasons working with you, something was bound to rub off.

Okay, fair enough.

After his goat childhood, Zeus did in fact challenge Cronus and win back the throne for the Olympians.

He also freed all of his older siblings from his father's stomach.

Even though he was the youngest, he was the most powerful and he became the king of the gods.

But Zeus wasn't always the best leader.

He had a tendency to get in a lot of trouble and he had a reputation for liking everyone but his own wife.

Zeus had affairs with many mortals and goddesses in ancient Greece and is the father of several bigwigs on Mount Olympus.

Some scholars suspect that Zeus had around 100 children.

100 children?

Man, I thought having seven was a lot.

Well, anyway, not everyone was a fan of all of these romances, especially his wife.

Which brings us to the next god on our list.

Give it up for the queen of the gods,

Hera.

Yeah.

Now there are a lot of myths that paint Hera out to be a bit of a bad guy.

She's known for being jealous, controlling, conceited, and maybe a little bit rude.

But what people don't always realize is that Hera had some pretty bad luck.

Zeus tricked her into marrying him, and then she was forced to watch him have affair after affair without being able to really do much about it.

Ironically, Hera was also the goddess of marriage, women, and childbirth.

So yeah, that's even worse when her whole thing is marriage and Zeus is out there running around with everybody but her.

Eventually, this turned her into a bitter, vengeful person, and that's the way most of the myths portray her.

Hera was known for being spiteful and could dole out some pretty nasty punishments.

Hera is responsible for taking away the voice of a wood nymph named Echo.

Echo was only able to repeat the last few words of what someone else said.

Echo was only able to repeat the last few words of what someone else said.

I know what you're doing.

But yes, we talk more about this in the Echo and Narcissus episode.

We talk more about this in the Echo and and narcissist episode stop that it is frustrating it's frustrating i am officially giving you the silent treatment okay sorry i can't resist a good echo joke a good echo joke a good echo joke but anyway uh keep in mind that hara was also incredibly clever she was very smart and her tactics helped the olympians in several ways she was also an animal lover and had a number of sacred animals including the peacock It was said that she would ride around in a chariot that was actually pulled by a flock of peacocks.

Talk about making an entrance.

And like her precious peacocks, Hera was considered to be incredibly beautiful.

In fact, she might have been the most beautiful of all the goddesses, except for one.

It's everybody's favorite goddess of beauty, the winner of the very heated golden apple dispute, the one, the only

Fro

Oracle come on Oracle this is your line silent treatment remember

right okay sorry sorry I'm sorry just please can you just please say the line

aphrodite

no you gotta do the thing you know the cool sound thing with the

aphrodite

yeah thank you thank you it's just so cool when you do that I love that Anyway, Aphrodite was so beautiful that she was said to be the favorite goddess of all the Greek sculptors.

As a result, she's featured in more pieces of art than any other mythological figure.

She's also known for having a lot of famous romances, including Aries, the god of war, and a mortal named Adonis.

Aphrodite is said to have at least 17 children from seven different fathers.

Her most famous child might be Eros, the Greek god of love and desire.

Listeners might remember him from our Eros and Psyche episodes.

And in case her looks weren't enough, Aphrodite also had a magical girdle that possessed love and desire, making whoever wore it absolutely irresistible.

Many of the gods and goddesses would actually borrow the girdle from Aphrodite from time to time.

The girdle is a belt-type accessory that was gifted to Aphrodite by her husband, Hephaestus.

Right, but didn't she dislike him and pretty much refused to acknowledge their whole marriage?

Yes, she did not find him to be a worthy partner.

If he was smart, he would have worn the girdle himself.

That is an excellent point.

Yeah.

Okay, who's up for a commercial break?

Anybody?

Show, okay.

Yeah, me too.

All right, we're gonna take a short break.

We'll be back on the other side with more Greaking Out.

Hey, parents, the Nat Geo Kids Greaking Out book is in stores now.

This kid-friendly collection of tales from Greek mythology showcases familiar favorites from the podcast as well as brand new, never-before-aired stories.

Coupled with colorful illustrations and informative sidebars, this collection is a great gift for the Greek mythology Aficionado in your life.

Available wherever books are sold.

Okay, thanks for that.

And now we're back with more Greeking out.

Let's take a second to talk more about everybody's favorite blacksmith.

Give it up for

Hephaestus.

That's what I'm talking about.

Yeah, Hephaestus was the god of fire, and he really was one of the unsung heroes on Mount Olympus.

His blacksmith shop played a vital role in helping the gods and goddesses secure the weapons of their choice.

In addition to providing Zeus with thunderbolts, Hephaestus also made Artemis' silver bow, Achilles' shield, Athena's breastplate, and Hermes' winged sandals.

He was a busy guy.

He was.

And wasn't his workshop located under a volcano?

According to some myths, Hephaestus' shop was inside a mountain and would frequently cause eruptions.

Yeah, and it's probably a good thing that he was career-oriented because Hephaestus wasn't very lucky when it came to relationships.

Like we said, he was married to Aphrodite, but she wanted nothing to do with him.

The whole marriage only happened because of a deal he made with the queen of the gods, Hera.

Hera was so disgusted by Hephaestus' appearance that she banished him from Mount Olympus when he was just a baby.

This is true, but thankfully, Hephaestus did have one person in his corner.

His BFF, the god of wine and life of the party,

Dionysus.

Now, Dionysus is an unusual god.

He's actually the only immortal to have a human parent.

Dionysus' mother was a woman named Semele, and his father was, well you guessed it Zeus

Unfortunately for Semele Hera caught wind of this affair and she ended up tricking Semele and ultimately causing her death while she was pregnant with Dionysus Zeus managed to save the unborn baby and stitched him into his thigh until the baby was ready to be born I do not have any scientific explanation for how this is possible Gods appear to have unique bodily functions that have not yet been studied.

Yeah, that is definitely true.

But because he was born from his father, Zeus, Dionysus was a full-fledged immortal god.

He was also one of the more fun laid-back gods on Mount Olympus.

He was the god of pleasure, wine, theater, dance, insanity, and big cats.

Yeah, big cats.

We're not kidding.

You made that joke in a previous episode, and it is still not funny.

Oh, come meow, Oracle.

lighten up a little.

See what I did there?

Meow, come meow and come meow.

Okay, yeah, you're right.

That was pretty bad.

But it's true.

Dionysus had a lot of interests, felines included.

And because he had so much fun, he quickly developed a dedicated group of followers who would travel with him from place to place.

Dionysus was often accompanied by satyrs.

half goat, half man creatures.

Yeah, I know.

I thought that was kind of interesting.

Do you know why they all started following following him?

I mean he was tutored by a satyr named Silenus who became a sort of father figure to Dionysus while he was growing up.

Okay, interesting.

So they sort of formed a bond.

He later would become Dionysus first and most devout satyr follower.

Makes sense.

I'm glad he found someone who would support him.

Some scholars also claim that Silenus was the satyr who King Midas found asleep in his garden and gave back to Dionysus in exchange for having everything he touched turn into gold.

Wow, really?

So all of these myths and characters are kind of interconnected.

You are just figuring that out after nine seasons?

Well, I'm just clarifying that for the audience.

I, of course, knew that.

So anyway, Dionysus is also closely connected to the underworld.

Speaking of which, this seems like a good time to introduce the Lord of Darkness himself, the king of the underworld, but most importantly, Cerberus's dog dad,

Hades.

Yeah, Hades is considered to be one of the three most powerful gods in all of Greek mythology, right up there with Zeus and Poseidon.

Now, even though Hades is the god of the dead, he is not the god of death.

That honor belongs to Thanatos.

Hades' job is simply to rule over the dead souls, and he does so quite well.

In fact, he's often called the host of many because of all of the people he looks after.

Hades was able to set up an entire kingdom in the land of the dead and he liked it so much that he barely left.

Also, Hades had a dog, Cerberus.

He appears in many myths, he has three heads, and he is the goodest boy in all of ancient Greece.

Yes, he is.

Oh, yeah.

He also had his own set of friends.

Charon the ferryman and many of the creatures in the underworld.

Hades is associated with a lot of animals, including screech owls, black rams, and of course, snakes.

Hades was considered to be very wise.

You know, he actually really was.

He has a reputation for being an evil, scary kind of guy.

Living with a bunch of dead souls can do that to your image, I'm sure.

But Hades was actually known for being just and reasonable.

Hades simply wanted to keep things safe and orderly in the land of the dead.

He rarely ventured out of it, and he was a fairly level-headed guy, especially compared to some of the other gods.

This might be because he had a very good partner in his other half.

Ladies and gentlemen, the queen of the underworld, the pomegranates claim to fame, Persephone!

Wait, where's the sound in the thing that you...

You stole my line.

Really?

You promised that I would get to be the one to do the intros.

All right, fine.

Take it away, Oracle.

The pomegranates claim to fame.

Persephone.

Now, Persephone is a very interesting character in Greek mythology, primarily because there's a lot of debate as to whether or not she was happy in her role as queen of the underworld.

Now, we tell this story in an earlier episode, but the gist of it is that Hades stole Persephone away to be his bride.

At first, she didn't like it and resented Hades for stealing her away from the land of the living.

Some versions of the myth claim that she was miserable the entire time she was in the underworld, but some scholars believe that after a while, Persephone truly began to embrace the darkness.

They say she even fell in love with Hades and the two managed to have a pretty happy marriage.

But Persephone was known to get a little jealous from time to time.

She was particularly envious of an underworld nymph named Minthei who had a crush on Hades.

She warned the nymph to stay away from her husband, but Minthe refused to listen.

Eventually, Persephone got so fed up with the nymph that she turned her into a mint plan.

Not the worst punishment we've seen, but still not great.

Despite her occasional temper, Persephone was widely known for her kindness, and she probably got that from her mother, another famous god on Mount Olympus.

Let's take a second to talk about the mother of all mothers.

Take it away, Oracle.

Demeter.

Now Demeter was one of the original Olympians.

She was there from the very beginning in Cronus' stomach, but Demeter kept a pretty low profile and is pretty much known for just one thing, being a mother.

As you can imagine, she was devastated when Persephone went to live in the underworld.

And she is ultimately the reason that we have seasons.

The weather is nice when Persephone is with Demeter for half the year, and it gets cold and dark when she is with Hades for the remainder of it.

It is said that when Demeter was off searching for Persephone, she taught a demigod named Tryptolemus how to farm, and it was he who taught the Greeks all about the art of agriculture.

True.

And in addition to her love for her daughter, Demeter is also known for her beauty.

She caught the eye of several suitors, and although she never married, some were rather persistent.

One of them even made the horse in her honor.

Poseidon.

Wait, hold on, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, wait, hold on, hold on.

I had a whole thing.

I was going to do a setup thing.

Okay.

Introducing the master of the waves, the ruler of the oceans, the king of the sea,

Poseidon.

Right, Poseidon was one of the strongest gods in all of Greek mythology.

The lovely three-pronged trident was his weapon of choice, and it made him very powerful.

Poseidon was known for striking the ground of Mount Olympus with his trident.

This would cause earthquakes, floods, and tidal waves.

And like the sea itself, Poseidon was quite temperamental.

He knew how to hold a grudge and he wouldn't hold back when it came to those who had offended him.

Sailors and people who lived on the coast would often pray to Poseidon and make sacrifices in his honor.

They didn't want to risk upsetting the god.

The hero Odysseus is a prime example of what happens when you insult Poseidon.

He made the hero's journey home very, very difficult.

You can hear more about Poseidon's wrath in our Odyssey episodes.

Yeah, and he did have quite a bit of a temper, something that's becoming a bit of a family trait.

But Poseidon also had a softer side.

He was incredibly skilled at creation and was responsible for making some amazing animals, including the dolphin, the octopus, the hippo, and of course, the horse.

He even created some creatures that no longer exist today, like the hippocampus.

The hippocampus, in question, is a half-horse, half-fish creature that was said to pull Poseidon's chariot.

This is not to be confused with the part of the human brain called the hippocampus, which is responsible for learning and memory.

Correct.

Different thing entirely.

Although one is way cooler than the other.

I assume you are talking about the brain.

No, I meant the mermaid horse, duh.

Poseidon was very competitive and was rivals with another famous god in Greek mythology.

You know her as the mastermind behind the whole operation, the wonder woman of Greek mythology.

Athena.

Yeah.

Athena was the goddess of wisdom, military strategy, and practical reason.

She was the mastermind behind many battles and played an integral part in the Trojan War.

Athena was frequently depicted with a shield and spear and was thought to be quite intimidating.

But like Poseidon, Athena also had a softer side.

She was the literal goddess of arts and crafts and was very talented.

She is frequently said to be Zeus's favorite child.

And remember, he had a lot of children.

This is even more impressive considering that she was born out of Zeus's forehead.

Once again, not sure how this is anatomically possible, but we cover this and more in the All About Athena episode.

Yeah, we talk about Athena a lot because she appears in many different myths.

She was known for helping warriors like Perseus, Odysseus, and Heracles, and was also a valuable member of the Olympian squad anytime they faced a war or a skirmish.

But Athena wasn't the only goddess who could put up a fight.

Introducing the goddess of the hunt, wild animals, vegetation, and childbirth, Artemis.

Yeah, like Athena, Artemis had a tendency to be a little intense.

And also like Athena, Artemis wasn't interested in romantic relationships, especially after Orion, her one true love, accidentally died by her own hand.

This story is told in the Stories of the Stars episode.

Yeah, and it's a bit of a bummer.

After what happened with Orion, Artemis chose not not to become romantically involved with anyone ever again.

Instead, she focused on her archery, and she's often depicted with her bow and arrows and her hunting attendants.

Artemis got along with all of the animals.

But to be fair, deer were probably her most sacred critter.

And even though Artemis loved wildlife, she was also known for her temper and acts of vengeance.

For example, when a hunter named Action accidentally saw Artemis taking a bath in a river, she turned him into a male deer and had him hunted and killed by his own hunting dogs.

Ouch.

It's also said that Artemis is the goddess of girls and women who are not mothers and the goddess of childbirth.

She earned that title by helping her mother deliver her own twin brother.

Which brings us to our next god on Mount Olympus,

Apollo.

Like Athena, Apollo has the honor of being one of the most multi-talented gods on Mount Olympus.

He's the god of poetry, healing, music, art, light, prophecy, knowledge, plagues, and archery.

Wow.

And since he was the god of prophecy, Apollo worked very closely with the Oracle of Delphi.

He also murdered a beautiful Python to get the job.

Okay, well, that's true.

Apollo could be a bit of a troublemaker.

In fact, he was punished by Zeus several times and even at one point sentenced to life on Earth as a mortal.

It is said that Zeus sent Apollo to Earth as a human to build the great walls of Troy that would prove to be unbreachable in the Trojan War.

Interesting.

Oh.

Apollo was also very musically talented and was known for playing his lyre, a guitar-type instrument made out of a turtle shell that was given to him by his little brother, another god you've probably heard of.

Hermes.

Hermes was the god of trade wealth luck fertility sleep travel and thieves one of the cleverest and most mischievous of all the gods Hermes was a bit of a trickster and played lots of pranks especially on his older brother Apollo we tell this story in the Apollo Hermes bromance episode yeah and it's because of Apollo that Hermes secured his position as messenger to the gods This is why Hermes is often seen delivering messages from Zeus and running some very important errands.

Hermes also had the gig of Psychopump.

That's a character in mythology who escorts the dead to their afterlife and he knew how to get into the underworld.

Sometimes he escorted people to the land of the dead.

Now, because of these important jobs, Hermes was featured in many myths.

He also assisted lots of famous heroes like Hercules and Perseus.

And last,

but certainly not least, we thought we'd highlight one special god that no one really talks about that much.

Give it up for the most mysterious lady in the land.

Hestia.

Hestia is one of the OG Olympians and, in my opinion, she's the cleverest of all the gods.

And that's because nobody really knows anything about her.

Hestia chose to stay out of the fray and as a result, she hardly appears in any myths.

Hestia Hestia was the goddess of the hearth and home.

She tried her best to keep the peace between the Olympians, no small task, and the mortal Greek families.

She is known for being the fairest and most righteous of all the gods and advocated for peace and serenity.

So here's a free piece of advice.

In a world full of Zeuses, be a Hestia.

Okay, well, Oracle, I think that's all we have time for today.

But there are so many gods and goddesses we haven't discussed.

I know, but we can't fit all of the characters in Greek mythology into one podcast episode.

I am up to the challenge.

Right, okay.

Well, thanks for listening to today's episode.

Nike.

We'll see you next time.

Amphetrite.

Can we just cut?

We're just gonna end.

Yeah, we're gonna stop.

Pan.

Okay.

Probably the end.

Breaking out.

Thanks for listening.

Next week, we're gonna talk about a different way to be a hero.

Watch out for a treat this week.

The first episode of the Disney Frozen podcast, Forces of Nature, is dropping in the feed.

Then a new Greaking Out episode on Friday.

National Geographic Kids Greaking Out is written by Jillian Hughes and Kenny Curtis and hosted by Kenny Curtis, with Tori Kerr as the Oracle of Wi-Fi, audio production and sound design by Scotty Beam, and our theme song was composed by Perry Gripp.

Dr.

Adria Haluska is our subject matter expert.

Emily Burkette, Lori Boda, and Juliana Schiavo are our producers, and Emily Everhart is our senior producer.