A son of King Priam of Troy, Paris unwittingly starts the Trojan War by judging Aphrodite the fairest of all the goddesses. Aphrodite arranges for Paris to marry the beautiful Helen, but Helen is already married. Helen’s kidnapping leads the Greeks to unite against Troy and sparks the decade-long Trojan War . Paris is only a minor figure in the Trojan War battles and is usually portrayed as weak and unheroic. Helen Theseus: A great Athenian hero, Theseus defeats the Minotaur with the help of Ariadne, whom he later marries. More recent writers have used Hamilton's observations in contrasting the civilizations and cultures of the East with that of the West. In comparing ancient Egypt with Greece, for instance, Hamilton's writing describes the unique geography, climate, agriculture, and government. Historian James Golden cites from The Greek Way that "Egyptian society was preoccupied with death." Its pharaohs erected giant monuments to themselves to impress future generations and its priests advised the slaves to "look forward to an afterlife." [35] Golden used Hamilton's research to contrast these differences with the Greeks, especially the Athenians. Hamilton argued that individual "perfection of mind and body" dominated Greek thought and as a result, the Greeks "excelled at philosophy and sports" and that life "in all its exuberant potential" was the hallmark of Greek civilization. [35] The Roman Way Roman name: Vulcan or Mulciber. Hephaestus is either the son of Zeus and Hera, or simply of Hera alone, who gives birth to him in retaliation for Zeus’s solo fathering of Athena. The only ugly Olympian, he is also partially crippled. Hephaestus is the armorer and smith of the gods, and he forges spectacular magical objects. He is kind, generous, and good-natured. Earth One of the least impressive of the Greek heroes. Jason’s most notable feat is his assembly of a cast of heroes to travel on a long fraudulent quest—the recovery of the Golden Fleece. When Jason arrives in Colchis to retrieve the Fleece, the daughter of the king, Medea, falls in love with him. Jason abandons her and marries a princess later for political gain. In revenge, Medea kills Jason’s new wife and her own children, whom Medea had by Jason. Though he lives on, he bears the burden of this tragedy, in some ways a fate worse than death. Perseus

Critics have acclaimed Hamilton's books for their lively interpretations of ancient cultures. She is described as the classical scholar who "brought into clear and brilliant focus the Golden Age of Greek life and thought... with Homeric power and simplicity in her style of writing". [4] Her works are said to influence modern lives through a "realization of the refuge and strength in the past" to those "in the troubled present." [5] Hamilton's younger sister was Alice Hamilton, an expert in industrial toxicology and the first woman appointed to the faculty of Harvard University. Baucis and Philemon: When Jupiter and Mercury come down to earth to test humans' hospitality, only one elderly couple, Baucis and Philemon, prove generous. The gods reward the couple and grant them their wish of becoming intertwining trees when they die. Phaethon: A young man, Phaethon, discovers that Apollo is his father and asks to ride the god's chariot. He does so against all advice and gets completely out of control until Zeus strikes him down with a thunderbolt. Many of the facts in The Greek Way (1930) have surprised modern readers. One reviewer in Australia explained Hamilton's view "that the spirit of our age is a Greek discovery, and that the Greeks were really the first Westerners, and the first intellectualists." The same reviewer also credited the book with noting that modern concepts of play and sport were actually common activities to the Greeks, who engaged in exercise and athletic events, including games, races, and music, dancing, and wrestling competitions, among others. [49]

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Roman name: Neptune. The god of the sea, Poseidon is Zeus’s brother and second only to him in power. Poseidon holds a decade-long grudge against Odysseus. The often cruel and unpredictable violence of the seas is assumed to be a result of his anger. Hades One of the three Gorgons. Medusa is a horrible woman-beast with snakes for hair. Her gaze turns men to stone. She is killed by Perseus. The Minotaur Hamilton then introduces the major Greek gods, who live on Mount Olympus: Zeus, the chief and god of thunder and sky, Hera, his sister and jealous wife, his fierce, independent daughters Athena and Artemis, his sons cruel Ares and poetic, prophetic Apollo, his brothers, Poseidon the sea god and Hades the god of the dead, Hestia, his sister and the protector of the hearth, the clever messenger Hermes, the craftsman Hephaestus, and Aphrodite, goddess of love and beauty. Other important gods are Demeter, goddess of corn, and Dionysus, the god of wine, both of whom live on earth. Lesser gods and supernatural creatures include Eros, nymphs of all kinds, and personifications of abstract concepts like Justice and Memory.

According to reviewers, Hamilton's The Prophets of Israel (1936) had similarities to her earlier books about Greeks and Romans by making the prophets' messages relevant to contemporary readers. She accomplishes this, according to one writer, by showing that "behind all great thought stands an individual mind, fired by passion and possessed of an eye that sees deeply into humanity." [52] The views of the prophets, it adds, are very similar to those in modern times: "The prophets were forerunners of three genuinely American movements— humanism, pragmatism and the philosophy of common sense." [52] Death [ edit ] Roman name: Diana. Apollo’s twin sister, Artemis is the beautiful huntress goddess and, like Athena, is somewhat masculine. Artemis is normally good and just, but demands a human sacrifice during the Trojan War. AphroditeHamilton returned to Indiana in 1886 and began four years of preparation prior to her acceptance at Bryn Mawr College near Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, in 1891. She majored in Greek and Latin and was awarded a Bachelor of Arts and a Master of Arts degree in 1894. Hamilton spent the year after her graduation as a fellow in Latin at Bryn Mawr College and was awarded the Mary E. Garrett European Fellowship, the college's highest honor. The cash award from Bryn Mawr provided funds to enable Edith and Alice, who had completed her medical degree at the University of Michigan in 1893, to pursue further studies in Germany for an academic year. [1] [18] Hamilton became the first woman to enroll at the University of Munich. [19] Studies in Germany [ edit ] Adonis: Adonis is a beautiful young man who wins the attentions of both Persephone and Aphrodite. Eventually he is killed by a wild boar. Roman name: Minerva. Usually just called Athena, this goddess emerges from Zeus’s head fully-grown and armed. Associated with war, cleverness, and wit, it is no surprise that she favors Odysseus. Athena is the goddess of Wisdom, Reason, and Purity and is chaste, like Artemis and Hestia. Phoebus Apollo

Also known as the Erinyes, the Furies are three horrible sisters—Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alecto—who torment evildoers and punish them for their sins. The Fates Hallett, Judith (2015). "Moving and Dramatic Athenian Citizenship: Edith Hamilton's Americanization of Greek Tragedy". In Bosher, McIntosh, McConnell and Rankine (ed.). The Oxford Handbook of Greek Drama in the Americas. Oxford University Press. {{ cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: editors list ( link)After retiring as an educator in 1922 and moving to New York City in 1924, Hamilton began a second career as an author of essays and best-selling books on ancient Greek and Roman civilizations. [30] She had studied Greek and Latin from her youth and it remained her lifelong interest. "I came to the Greeks early," Hamilton told an interviewer when she was ninety-one, "and I found answers in them. Greece's great men let all their acts turn on the immortality of the soul. We don't really act as if we believed in the soul's immortality and that's why we are where we are today." [4] The story of Persephone also reveals a trend in Greek mythology in which different gods represent different aspects of the natural world. Persephone comes to represent spring, and Demeter represents summer. Zeus, often associated with lightning bolts, remains most powerfully positioned in the sky. By defining characters through natural elements, the Greek myths succeed in making the characters and morals relevant to the everyday person's life. Roman name: Proserpine. The beautiful daughter of Demeter whom Hades kidnaps to be his wife. She is usually passive, agreeing to whatever is asked of her. Once she even places some of her beauty in a box. Eros In 2000 the city of Fort Wayne, Indiana, erected statues of two Hamilton sisters, Edith and Alice, along with their cousin, Agnes, in the city's Headwaters Park. [1] Selected published works [ edit ]