Legends and Myths of Ancient Greece

A Grade 7 Russian Literature topic: «Legends and myths of Ancient Greece» (pp. 3–6). To people of old the workings of nature were unexplained and frightening — and from that legends and myths were born. Легенда (Latin legenda — «that which must be read») is a work of folk art in which historical events are mixed with invention. Миф (Greek mythos — «word, speech») is a tale born of folk imagination that explains the workings of nature. The origin of the world: at first there was only Chaos, from which came Gaia (the Earth) and Tartarus, with Eros (Love) as the quickening force. Gaia brings forth Uranus (the Sky), and they have six sons and six daughters — the Titans. Cronus takes his father's power by cunning. The Olympian gods: Zeus — the sky, the thunderer; Poseidon — the sea; Hades — the underground kingdom of the dead; the Earth — held in common.