The Hiding Place of Zeus - Mt. Ida, Crete

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/File:Idian-Cave-20070814-059834.jpg

 

 

 

This is the cave that Zeus was hidden in, from his father by his mother Rhea.  There is another Mt. Ida in Turkey (known as Anatolia). 

 

In Greek mythology, two sacred mountains are called Mount Ida, the "Mountain of the Goddess": Mount Ida in Crete; and Mount Ida in the ancient Troad region of western Anatolia (in modern-day Turkey) which was also known as the Phrygian Ida in classical antiquity and is the mountain that is mentioned in the Iliad of Homer and the Aeneid of Virgil. Both are associated with the mother goddess in the deepest layers of pre-Greek myth, in that Mount Ida in Anatolia was sacred to Cybele, who is sometimes called Mater Idaea ("Idaean Mother"),^[1] while Rhea, often identified with Cybele, put the infant Zeus to nurse with Amaltheia at Mount Ida in Crete. Thereafter, his birthplace was sacred to Zeus, the king and father of Greek gods and goddesses.^[2]

Crete's Mount Ida is the island's highest summit, sacred to the Goddess Rhea, and wherein lies the legendary cave in which baby Zeus was concealed from his father Cronus. On the flank of this mountain is the Amari Valley, the site of expansion by the ancient settlement at Phaistos.^[3] Its modern name is Psiloritis. The surrounding area and mountain used to be very wooded. "Today small parts of landscape sill hold its wooded areas, especially in areas near Kouroutes, Kamares, Vorizia, and Zaros. Although, some of the these wooded areas still exist the main part of Ida is very rocky with very little formidable vegetation. According to Crete travel guide there is only 4-5 ways to trek the mountain. "You must drive to Anogia village and then to Nida plateau (1hr 30 min from Heraklion) and park your car at the restaurant. There is only this building on the plateau so you can't miss it. Walking starts here, along the dirt track leading to Idaion antron."

 

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

 

 

Sources:

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Ida

 



Europa and Europe

Europa was abducted by Zeus.  Some same it was in retaliation for the abduction of Io. She was a Phoenician princess.  Europe is named after her.  Before that each empire had its own name.  Once again, we can see how this bloodline of Zeus has taken over things and named everything after themselves.  According to Wikipedia:

In Greek mythology Europa (Greek Ευρώπη Eurṓpē) was a Phoenician woman of high lineage, from whom the name of the continent Europe has ultimately been taken.^[1] The story of her abduction by Zeus in the form of a white bull was a Cretan story; as Kerényi points out "most of the love-stories concerning Zeus originated from more ancient tales describing his marriages with goddesses. This can especially be said of the story of Europa".^[2]

Europa's earliest literary reference is in the Iliad, which is commonly dated to the 8th century BCE.^[3] Another early reference to her is in a fragment of the Hesiodic Catalogue of Women, discovered at Oxyrhynchus.^[4] The earliest vase-painting securely identifiable as Europa, dates from mid-7th century BCE.^[5]

Some identify Astarte with Europa:

In the territory of Phoenician Sidon, Lucian of Samosata (2nd century AD) was informed that the temple of Astarte, whom Lucian equated with the moon goddess, was sacred to Europa:

There is likewise in Phœnicia a temple of great size owned by the Sidonians. They call it the temple of Astarte. I hold this Astarte to be no other than the moon-goddess. But according to the story of one of the priests this temple is sacred to Europa, the sister of Cadmus. She was the daughter of Agenor, and on her disappearance from Earth the Phœnicians honoured her with a temple and told a sacred legend about her; how that Zeus was enamoured of her for her beauty, and changing his form into that of a bull carried her off into Crete. This legend I heard from other Phœnicians as well; and the coinage current among the Sidonians bears upon it the effigy of Europa sitting upon a bull, none other than Zeus. Thus they do not agree that the temple in question is sacred to Europa.^[9]

The paradox, as it seemed to Lucian, would be solved if Europa is Astarte in her guise as the full, "broad-faced" moon.

The Moons of Jupiter

 

The invention of the telescope revealed that the planet Jupiter, clearly visible to the naked eye and known to humanity since prehistoric times, has an attendant family of moons. These were named for male and female lovers of the god and other mythological persons associated with him. The smallest of Jupiter's Galilean moons was named after Europa.

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Source:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Europa_(mythology)

The Children of Zeus

Zeus was the Greek father of the gods and humans.  He had many wives (consorts) and children.  His first wife, Hera and many Titans, hated them all.  According to Wikipedia, these are his wives and children:

Divine offspring

Mother	Children
Aega	Aegipan[12]
Ananke or Themis	Moirai/Fates1 Atropos Clotho Lachesis
Demeter	Persephone Zagreus
Dione or Thalassa	Aphrodite
Eos	Ersa Carae
Eris	Limos
Eurynome/Eurydome/ Eurymedusa/Euanthe	Charites/Graces2 Aglaea Euphrosyne Thalia
Gaia	Orion Manes
Hera	Ares3 Eileithyia Eris Hebe3 Hephaestus3 Angelos
Leto	Apollo Artemis
Maia	Hermes
Metis	Athena4
Mnemosyne	Muses (Original three) Aoide Melete Mneme Muses (Later nine) Calliope Clio Erato Euterpe Melpomene Polyhymnia Terpsichore Thalia Urania
Nemesis	Helen of Troy (possibly)
Persephone	Zagreus Melinoe
Selene	Ersa Nemean Lion Pandia
Thalia	Palici
Themis	Astraea Nymphs of Eridanos Nemesis Horae First Generation Auxo Carpo Thallo Second Generation Dike Eirene Eunomia Third generation Pherusa Euporie Orthosie
Unknown mother	Aletheia
Unknown mother	Ate
Unknown mother	Caerus
Unknown mother	Litae
Unknown mother	Tyche

Semi-divine/mortal offspring

Mother	Children
Aegina	Aeacus Damocrateia[13]
Alcmene	Heracles
Antiope	Amphion Zethus
Anaxithea	Olenus
Asterope, Oceanid	Acragas
Callisto	Arcas
Calyce	Aethlius (possibly)
Callirhoe (daughter of Achelous)	no known offspring
Carme	Britomartis
Cassiopeia	Atymnius
Chaldene	Solymus Milye
Danaë	Perseus
Dia	Pirithous
Elara	Tityos
Electra	Dardanus Iasion Harmonia
Europa	Minos Rhadamanthus Sarpedon Alagonia Carnus Dodon[14]
Eurymedousa	Myrmidon
Euryodeia	Arcesius
Himalia	Kronios Spartaios Kytos
Idaea, nymph	Cres
Iodame	Thebe
Io	Epaphus Keroessa
Isonoe	Orchomenus
Lamia	Akheilos Herophile
Laodamia	Sarpedon
Leda	Pollux Helen of Troy5
Maera	Locrus
Niobe	Argus Pelasgus
Othreis	Meliteus
Pandora	Graecus Latinus
Phthia (daughter of Phoroneus)	Achaeus (possibly)
Plouto	Tantalus
Podarge	Balius Xanthus
Protogeneia	Aethlius (possibly) Opus
Pyrrha	Hellen
Semele	Dionysus
Taygete	Lacedaemon
Thyia	Magnes Makednos
Torrhebia	Carius
Nymph African	Iarbas
Nymph Samothracian	Saon (possibly)
Nymph Sithnid	Megarus
Unknown mother	Calabrus Geraestus Taenarus
Unknown mother	Corinthus
Unknown mother	Crinacus

I will be looking into all of their stories as well as the stories of the mythological creatures from around the world.


by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

Some of the Characters in The Library Kids

I started out with the idea of my series, The Library Kids, after a visit with my family to a cave in Texas.  I combined my interest in mythology and anthropology with this cave and all caves and created The Library Kids series.  Many of the places, I wrote about are real and can be visited.  I created an adventure of visiting many of these places with my family and I intertwined these visits within the series.  But some of the characters I came up with, were quite interesting.  I've painted some simple sketches of some of the characters which helped to solidify the story in my mind.  Here are some of them:

 

Simple sketch of the Dark Master with his glowing red eyes.

 

 

One of the Reptoids that are faced in Tibet.

 

 

A character that will be revealed in the 8th book.

 

 

 

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

 

50 Fun Things to Do for the Rest of the Summer

Here are some of the things you can still do with the kids before summer is over:

1. Visit a cave.
2. See a Movie.
3. Go Bowling
4. Go Miniature Golfing
5. Go Geocaching
6. Visit a Forest Preserve
7. Go Swimming
8. Go to the City.
9. Visit an Art Museum.
10. Visit the Zoo.
11. Visit a Museum.
12. Learn how to shoot a bow and arrow.
13. Go fossil hunting.
14. Go on summer vacation.
15. Go to a play.
16. Go out for lunch.
17. Go to a garage sale.
18. Go to the Library.
19. Read a book (preferably my books).
20. Listen to an audio book.
21. Swing.
22. Go to the park.
23. Go fishing.
24. Make something fun to eat like a fruit salad.
25. Go out on a boat.
26. Go visit a historical site.
27. Get a movie at the library.
28. Go on a train ride.
29. Visit a farm.
30. Get a bucket of gems and rocks to look through.
31. Go rock hunting.
32. Make a craft.
33. Plan a summer water gun or water balloon fight.
34. Put some Christmas lights out in your backyard and enjoy seeing them at night while you sit outside.
35. Look up to the sky and see what constellations are up there at night that you can see.
36. Ride your bike.
37. Take a walk during the evening.
38. Make some lemonade.
39. Make your own play and entertain the neighbors.
40. Blow bubbles.
41. Create your own treasure hunt.
42. Write a story.
43. Play badminton
44. Get a slurpee.
45. Go to the dollar store.
46. Make paper chains and decorate a tree with them.
47. Make a puppet show.
48. Listen to the insects and birds all day and see how and when they make noise.
49. Make a sundial.
50. Clean up your rooms and get ready for the fall.  You can have a garage sale if there are things that can be sold or give them to a charity if you are done with them.

by Rita Jean Moran (www.thelibrarykids.com)

GeoCaching

Geocaching is something I'd like to try eventually.  It sounds like a lot of fun.  

Geocaching is an outdoor recreational activity, in which the participants use a Global Positioning System (GPS) receiver or mobile device and other navigational techniques to hide and seek containers, called "geocaches" or "caches", anywhere in the world.

A typical cache is a small waterproof container containing a logbook where the geocacher enters the date they found it and signs it with their established code name. After signing into the log, the cache must be placed back exactly where the person found it. Larger containers such as plastic storage containers (Tupperware or similar) or ammunition boxes can also contain items for trading, usually toys or trinkets of little value. Geocaching shares many aspects with benchmarking, trigpointing, orienteering, treasure-hunting, letterboxing, and waymarking.

Source:  http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geocaching