Childrens Illustrated Encyclopedia

Gods and Goddesses

The Ancient Greeks

worshiped many gods

and goddesses. The goddess Athena

took part in battles and loved bravery. Athens,

the capital of Greece, is named after her.

Quetzalcoatl appears in Mexican mythology

as one of the greatest Aztec gods. As god of

air, Quetzalcoatl created the winds that blew

away the rain.

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The TrojAn horse leGend

Greek soldiers conquered the

besieged city of Troy by hiding

in a huge wooden horse. When

the Trojans took the horse

inside the city walls, the Greeks

emerged and conquered Troy.

Before There Were Any Books, storytelling was an important way

of passing on knowledge and beliefs from one generation to the next.

often, the stories took the form of myths that explained mysteries of nature,

such as the origins of thunder. Ancient peoples told stories about gods and

goddesses, and about human heroes with special powers. These myths

became part of art and literature. some legends may have had a basis on

real people and real-life events. To make a better tale, parents exaggerated

the details as they repeated the legends to their children. every country has

its own legends. Paul Bunyan, the hero of stories told by north American

lumberjacks, supposedly carved out the Grand

Canyon by dragging his pick behind him.

sometimes, legendary monsters were created,

such as the werewolf that appears in stories

from many cultures.

A raven, flying over water,

could find nowhere to land. he

decided to create the world by

dropping small pebbles to

make islands.

sun Gods

The same myths can be

found in widely different

cultures thousands

of miles apart. This

is because natural things,

such as the rain, the sea,

and the moon, are

common to everyone.

Many peoples worshiped

sun gods: surya in India

and Apollo in Ancient

Greece were both

believed to ride across the

sky in chariots of flame.

Then he created trees and grass.

Beasts lived in the forest, birds

flew in the air above, and the

sea was filled with fish.

The Indian sun god,

Surya—as painted on a

doorway in Jaipur, India

After many failed attempts, the

raven succeeded in making the

first man and woman out of clay

and wood. At last, his world

was complete.

WIllIAM Tell

A famous swiss

legend describes

how William Tell

insulted his

country’s hated

Austrian rulers.

his punishment

was to shoot an

apple balanced on

his son’s head. he

succeeded, and later led

a revolt against Austrian rule.

The Egyptian

sun god, Ra

Athena, the Greek

goddess of bravery Quetzalcoatl, the Mexican god of air

Myths and legends

Find out more

Greece, ancient

literature

religions

CreATIon MyThs

Most peoples used myths

to explain how the world

may have begun. This

native American myth was

told by members of the

kwakiutl tribe.

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