2019 AP Literature Mythology Project - Poseidon, Hades, Persephone
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Good morning, my children!
Welcome back to AP Literature Kindergarten.
Everyone take their seats,
It's time for our greek mythology lesson.
We will start where we left off.
Ah, Poseiden. Or "Neptune"
in roman mythology.
God of the sea.
Oooooo-
ooOOWHOA is that a GIANT fork!?
He must eat REALLY big spaghetti bowls.
That is no fork, my dear children.
That is Posiden's most symbolic weapon, the Trident.
It was forged by the cyclops that he, Zeus, and Hades freed from Tartarus
as a token of their gratitude.
Cyclops? That's the big, one eyed man, right? Polf-? Pol-
Polyphemus. Yes, he is a Cyclops. He's the son of Poseidon, in fact.
*collective confusion*
Yes, Poseidon did have a knack for having... peculiar children.
For example, his son Trident, half man half fish.
And another one of his offspring, Pegasus, was a flying horse.
*more kindergarten confusion*
*laughs* Let's get back on track. Poseidon, while the mighty god of the
sea, often caused trouble in the mortal world because of his...
short temper.
What do you mean, Ms. Oracle?
Well... there was an incident where Poseidon flooded the city
of Athens (Attica) after he lost to Athena, goddess of wisdom,
in a competition to see who could create the best gift for the Athenians.
And another time when he placed a sea monster in the waters of Troy
After the king of Troy refused to pay Poseidon (for his labors).
And probably one of his most infamous acts of cruelty-
He made the king of Crete's wife fall in love with prized bull that he
refused to sacrifice to Poseidon.
*completely lost*
All stories for another time.
How about we move on to our next god of subject who-
Hades!
-is also the brother of Poseidon.
...Hades. :D
*laughs* That is right, my child.
Hades, also known as "Pluto" in roman mythology,
God of the Underworld, brother of Poseidon and Zeus.
Wait- does he live in the Underworld too?
He does, my child. He oversees all of the Underworld,
With servants to help him. The furies, fates and Cerberus all serve Hades
and help him maintain order.
The furies... the fates... and... which one is Cerberus?
*kiddos "Aaaww" in unison*
That's a really big puppy~
You could say that. Cerberus guards the gates to the Underworld.
Though the underworld guard dog might be the least of your worries
if you're trying to get in or out.
There are many dangers in the Underworld. For example, the River
of Styx which divides the living earth from Hades' kingdom.
He doesn't have a big fork like Poseidon does.
Well, like Poseidon, the cyclops also forged Hades a gift of thanks for
freeing them. While Hades did not receive a trident, he did receive
the helm of darkness which turns its wearer invisible.
Ooooo... Who's that pretty lady next to Hades?
Does Hades have a... Girlfriend~?
*laughs* His wife, my children. Her name
is Persephone, and she rules the Underworld alongside Hades.
She's so... flowery. And naturey.
What does she do, garden?
Well, Persephone wasn't always the goddess of the Underworld.
Before she joined Hades, she and her mother Demeter ruled in the
overworld as goddesses of wheat and harvest.
Wait... so how did Persephone even end up in the Underworld?
Well, you see my child...
A lonesome and lovestriken Hades fell in love
with the young and beautiful Persephone who
was a contrast to the dark, gloomy kingdom he ruled.
Aaaaaw...
So lovestriken in fact, that Hades kidnapped Persephone one day
and took her back to the Underworld to be his queen.
...whaaaaat?
...this man is desperate.
When Persephone disappeared without a trace, her mother Demeter
fell into a grief that affected the whole world. Crops would not grow,
animals died, and devastating storms left the sky in a pitch black.
*distressed noises*
Well, in order to bring the world back to life, Zeus sent for Persephone
to return from the Underworld in hopes that this would bring Demeter
out of her slump.
Thank goodness...
But, the crafty Hades knew they would come for his queen eventually,
and, in a deciding act, gave Persephone pomegranate seeds
of the Underworld.
*gasp* Only fruit for a snack? What a monster.
See, when something is eaten in the Underworld,
whoever consumed the item is forever drawn to the Underworld.
So, since Persephone ate the pomegranate seeds-
-she's stuck in the Underworld forever!
Well, Demeter would not have this. So, in order to appease both
Demeter and Hades, it was decreed that Persephone
would stay in the overworld for 2/3 of the year with Demeter,
and in the remaining 1/3, return to the Underworld with Hades.
And, in this 1/3 of the year, Demeter falls back into a grief, making the
weather cold, the sky cloudy, and the trees barren.
Wait... that kinda sounds like-
-Winter!
That's right my children. According to the story, we have seasons
based around Persephone. While she is in the Underworld, Demeter's
grief brings winter. And while she is in the overworld, reunited with
her mother, we enjoy spring and summer.
[Part 2 - Allusions/Pop Culture]
So, now that we have learned about the original Poseidon,
Hades, and Persephone, can you think of other medias where you
might have seen these gods?
Percy Jackson!
That's right, that's always the popular one. So, let's start out with the
obvious god in Percy Jackson, Poseidon. How is he different in the
series than in the original greek mythology?
Well.. I liked him a lot more in Percy Jackson.
Did you not like him in the original mythology?
He was just really scary.
Yes, he is more likable as "the proud dad of Percy Jackson"
rather than "the wrathful god of the seas". So, we could say that
he is... a lot more humanized and quirky in stories like Percy Jackson
Like the "Little Mermaid". Isn't Ariel's dad Poseidon?
I believe that's Triton actually, so... the son of Poseidon.
*gasp* Triton.. OMG Aquaman!
*silence of Marvel fans*
...the trident was his main weapon.
Oooh, I see. So you see children, there are many different stories
in popular culture that adopt aspects of Poseidon.
So, how about Hades in Percy Jackson? What is he like?
He's still mean.
He's not mean, he's just doing his job! People can't go to the
Underworld as much they want, not even heroes like Percy Jackson.
So we can say that a similarity in Hades is his dedication to the
Underworld. And in pop-culture, an emphasis on Hades being "mean".
No, he's just always portrayed as the bad guy... like in Disney's
film "Hercules".
That does seem to be a misconception about Hades. In greek
mythology, Hades is just occupied with his duties in the Underworld
and is rarely power hungry.
Ooo, ooo, ooo!
What about Persephone? She's in Percy Jackson too, but her
marriage with Hades seems pretty okay in the book.
That's the interesting about mythology pop culture. The original myths
don't usually go into depth about how the characters feel in the stories
so works like Percy Jackson fills in the gaps, such as Persephone and
Hades' relationship. However, other works can fill in those gaps
differently. For example, "Hadestown", a musical on the story
of Orpheus and Eurydice. It portrays Hades' and Persephone's
relationship more of an unhappy marriage.
Even the explanation of Persephone's kidnapping story is
different because the myth can be very broad.
(end of 1st period be like)
Okay, my children. You've done very well today. You may begin your
15 minute recess now if you'd like.
Wait, wait. Can we look at the book a little more?
*little kid pleading*
Okay, my children. Come up, let's read it together.
[Part 3 - Universal Application/Modern Relevancy]
So, since we talked about Poseidon, Persephone, and Hades
in our little skit, we'd like to go over their significance and what we saw
in their stories. So first, would be Poseidon- and what we got from it
is that Poseidon's temper tantrums are only okay because he's so
powerful in Greek society because they honor sea faring so much.
So in a way, Poseidon not only represents this great god, but he
represents the peoples' need to worship and feel like they're under
something, under some higher power, and I think that can relate to
a lot of people even today where some people hold religion so dear.
So, the idea of Poseidon can become more like an overarching
religious figure.
Poseidon is also representative of a human condition as he is
represented in either a really good, happy, jolly mood with really high
highs, or a really destructive, island destroying, god at his very low lows.
Because of this, he is very representative of different types of
emotions that humans can display rather than just 2D, flat character.
So for Hades, the main significance that we all found when
researching him is that he's more than just the "bad guy" in the film
He's more than just "Oh, he's just an adversary!" or "a villain we need
to defeat!" It's more of like...
He was born into more unforeseen circumstances more than anything
else. Instead of him choosing to make people suffer, and choosing to
be representative of "death", He's kinda like- "This is what I was thrown
into, so." He just had to work with what he had. He wasn't looking
to make people suffer, that's just the worldly interpretation of him...
He's [his story is] almost like...
[impersonation of edgy teen lord] "I'm misunderstood, no one
understands!" Not that he's like that, but he's always misrepresented,
always misunderstood, just because he got the dirtiest of jobs, but, you
know, someone has to look after the Underworld and all that. So,
that's not only a commonly theme in pop-culture, but also just in his
myth in general. It was common superstition that Greeks couldn't
say Hades name or else they would summon him and stuff like that.
So, just his story in general can be related to just about anyone and how
they're misrepresented or misunderstood.
That can actually go back to jobs nowadays, like those who do "lesser
work" or "menial jobs" they're saying "Oh, don't mention them, they're
this, they're that" and there's this, like you said, a preconceived notion
of someone that you don't know or don't understand and maybe they
didn't have choice.
We're gonna move into Persephone, so- the main give away for
Persephone is "Oh! Her story is used to portray why we have seasons"
but in a deeper context, the story of Persephone's kidnapping also
known as "The Rape of Persephone" can be traced back to when
young daughters were married off early to suitors, and how Demeter
reacted with despair and grief can be symbolism for the sadness of
a young maiden having to be torn away from her family because of
traditions. Although that's not as specific to today it can also relate to
how you may gain family through marriage, it can feel like you have
family members being torn away from you because of certain
situations of like what happened to Persephone.
And that can be indicative of feminist movements. It's this idea of
"I'm not a commodity. I'm not a fantasy or an image you may see, I
am a being." And I think that that's something that Persephone was-
she was really put in that box of being this thing that you could put
on your shelf. And I think it really begs people to look at people as
more parts of a whole, because it's interesting that Hades, who claims
to be so misunderstood and so unhappy with misconceptions about
him misunderstands this young girl for something that he can take as
his own. So I think it also just tells people to just be aware and it's that
age old thing of "treat others how you want to be treated".
Just greek mythology as a whole, it's really indicative of how women
aren't really seen in the most positive light. Which also, again, relates
back to the feminist movement. Which is something that, in early
works of literature, when greek mythology can be used, it wasn't
seen as such. It was seen as a token of sorrow or pity rather than
something to be seen as strength or a positive.
Thank you, everyone~!