Recently I've taken

Chatterbox: Blab About Books

Greek and Roman myths and gods
Recently I've taken...

Recently I've taken an intersest in Greek mythology and myths.  I have read much about  it, and some of my favorite series are Percy Jackson and the Olympians, and The Heroes of Olympus, both by Rick Riordan.  My favorite issue of Cricket has to be the Greek mythology issue.  I loved 'Atalanta and the Calydonian Boar'.  I researched ancient Greece, which led me to learning about Rome, one of the greatest empires of all times.  The reason that happened, at least, I think, is that I learned Rome conquered Greece.  The Romans took many of the greek's ideas, copied their architecture, and even used their gods(Though they called them different names).  Such as:

Greek               Roman

Zeus                 Jupiter

Poseidon           Neptune

Hera                  Juno

Hades               Pluto   

Athena             Minerva

Hermes           Mercury

Artemis           Diana

Ares                Mars

Hephaestus      Vulcan

Hestia               Vesta

Persephone       Proserpine (or Persipina, I've seen both)

Demeter           Ceres

Pan                  Faunus

Dionysus           Bacchus

Hypnos              Somnus

Helios               Sol

I could go on for a while. Some of the names the Romans didn't change:

Greek         Roman

Apollo         Apollo

Nemesis      Nemesis

There's some I forgot.  But there are hundreds of minor gods and goddesses the Romans made up.  They are not Greek at all.

Pompona- The Roman goddess of plenty

Bellona- Roman goddess of war

Of course there are more,  but it would take forever to name them all.  I'm not sure about Thanatos, the god of death, though.  I don't know whether he started as Greek and then Roman, or if it's only Roman.  Ahh, well.  I can figure it out soon, probably.

One of my favorite Greek myths is "Zeus and the Golden Apple"  Anyone have a favorite myth?  Soon I will share some.  Anyone can share anything!  Maybe we can test each other's knowlegge on Greek and Roman mythology!

Bye for now!

- Halley

 

submitted by Halley Z, age 13, New Boston, MI
(July 30, 2013 - 4:47 pm)

back to the Blab about Books

I really got into Greek and Roman mythology after reading the Percy Jackson series--and I really like Artemis and Apollo as immortals--very cool. I guess if there is one myth I like most it's the Prometheus myth: the stealing of fire.

submitted by Everinne, age 14, The Ancient World
(July 30, 2013 - 5:13 pm)

I have loved mythology since we did a unit on it in fourth grade. One of my favorite myths is the one about Arachne, which is odd because I don't like spiders.

i think that the Percy Jackson series is a great mythology type book. 

submitted by Teresa, age 14, Michigan
(July 31, 2013 - 12:09 pm)

Oh gosh. Percy Jackson is what got me started on SO MUCH. I've been begging my mom to let me learn greek. And thanks to Annabeth, I started calling myself Blonde Heroines Rule. But anyways.

@ Everinne:

I loved Artemis and Apollo too! In fact, in a test to which cabin I'd be in, they said I was most like Artemis.

@ Halley:

If you like the myths and PJ so much, you might like Pegasus The Flame of Olympus. I just read it, and though not as good as Rick Riordan, it was still pretty good. They're Roman in the that one, and they change up a bit what you originally thought about the Olympians.

submitted by Blonde Heroines Rule, age ageless, Camp Half Blood
(July 31, 2013 - 12:17 pm)

I just got the Pegasus book, but I haven't started it yet! Glad it's good.

submitted by Ivy
(July 31, 2013 - 12:54 pm)

It is. I really need to get the sequel, Pegasus and the Fight for Olympus.

submitted by Blonde Heroines Rule
(August 1, 2013 - 12:24 pm)

I really liked that book!!! I read it before I read Percy Jackson, so I don't know which was better, because my veiw of it was different back then. Did you know they came out with the second book in the US (finally!), but it's name changed? It is now Olympus at War. And my library doesn't have it :(. I'm gonna ask for it for my birthday (which is in November). But then I will have to wait so long. . .  hmm. . . my mom liked it, so maybe she'll get it before my birthday. XD I hope so!!! Anyway, I want the thrid book to come out in the US!!!! Why are al of them only out in the UK???? D:

submitted by Corina , age 11, Olympus
(September 14, 2013 - 3:19 pm)

OMG,OMG,OMG! The Percy Jackson series is my favorite book series big time!

@ BHR:

It's funny, whenever I see Blonde Heroines Rule,  the name reminds me of Annabeth.

Wow, I should get me a nickname!

submitted by Lena A., age 9, laptop
(August 17, 2013 - 10:16 am)

I like all sorts of mythology, but especially Greek and Roman (and Egyptian).  I think it's cool how they explained all sorts of things using stories about magical beings.  We did units on mythology in fourth and seventh grade, so those years were super exciting for me.  The fourth grade one was probably how I got into it.  

submitted by Melody, age 15, Monstropolis
(July 31, 2013 - 1:46 pm)

I like Norse mythology, nevertheless I know tragically little about it.  I must do research!

submitted by Gollum
(July 31, 2013 - 7:22 pm)

@ Gollum:

I absolutely love Norse mythology! This is sadly due to the fact that I watched The Avengers and fell in love with the whole Thor-Loki-Asgard thing. Later I realized that my idol Tolkien was a fan of Norse myths, too, and actually took the names of his many dwarves (and Gandalf) from the mythology.

submitted by Everinne, age 14, Asgard
(August 1, 2013 - 3:28 pm)

Mythology is really cool! I haven't read as much as I would like, but I plan on reading more. I don't have a favorite myth at the moment, though.

We've started talking about adaptations and modern books that incorporate stuff from myths, too, it seems. Some not very well-known ones that I'd recommend are the Theodosia Throckmorton books by R. L. LaFevers, which are about an awesome 11-year-old girl in Edwardian England who lives in a museum and has to stop the magic on the Egyptian artifacts from getting out of hand (as far as I've read, it's not clear how the magic works or even whether or not the gods are real in the series, but the series draws heavily on Egyptian myths, and you do learn about them as you read the series) and also this album called Hadestown--it's, well, the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice in the Great Depression with folk music, which works because it's good folk music (written by Anais Mitchell, who also sings Eurydice's parts). I guess it's technically a musical, but it was only performed in New England for a while and all that's really left is the concept album. The only thing I dislike about it is Orpheus. The person playing Orpheus doesn't sing very well, which would be annoying for anyone but is more so in this case because he's Orpheus. The others sing well, and they even seem to be able to act, but not him.

submitted by Ima, age 15, Texas
(August 1, 2013 - 4:44 pm)

Percy Jackson is my favorite book, and ever since I read it, I've been obsessed with Greek mythology! My favorite god is Posideon!

submitted by Rachel, age 12, Morgantown, Wv
(September 2, 2013 - 8:53 am)