between macedon and thessaly of eastern greece there stood a high mountain．its cloudy top rushed into the very heavens．on the top of the mountain， the home of the gods was bathed in brightness． at olympus zeus ruled as the father of gods and men． zeus was not a crude ruler by any standards．all the gods listened to his final words，it was true．but zeus made them all sit on a committee of twelve members，including six gods and six goddesses． the first in the olympian crowd sat zeus himself． he was the overlord of gods and men and the operator of the thunderbolt ．next to him was hera，his proud and greeneyed queen．poseidon was ruler of the sea，and hades，king of the lower world，had no seat in the committee．apollo was the god of the sun，music and poetry，while his twinsister artemis was the goddess of the moon and the chase． athena was the goddess of wisdom and patroness of house holdarts．hestin，the goddess of the family，represented home life and family happiness．the frightening ares was the god of war，and the charming aphrodite the goddess of love and beauty．the god of fire，hephaestus，was the forger of the thunderbolts of zeus．the wing footed messenger hermes was the god of invention and commerce；and the goddess of grains and harvests，demeter，looked after agriculture and stood for mother ofcivilization．
all the chief gods mentioned above took human forms of incomparable beauty and grace． often moved by human feelings and desires，they frequently gave way to anger and jealousy．they became involved in ceaseless battles with the world of man． among themselves at olympus they plotted and struggled for power．in the human world they experienced competitions and difficulties．they enjoyed earthly friendships and loves．acrowd of everlasting gods looked and acted in a perfectly human fashion that is what all gods at olympus actually were．
when ilus had first built his new seat，the city of troy， he prayed zeus to show some sign of blessing for it． his prayer was heard，and a wooden image of pallas- a-thena fell from heaven to within the walls of the city． known as the palladium， the statue afforded the city safety and protection． at religious meetings of the goddess it was carried through the city streets amid joys and songs of praise．
after the flames of war had spread for ten years before the walls of troy， a prophet foretold that troy could never be expected to fall as long as the palladium was treasured by its people ．in order to steal it out，odysseus and diomedes slipped into the capital one night in disguise ，known to none but hellen．the bad woman took out them to he cuba， the queen of troy， at whose feet odysseus immediately bowed down and asked formercy．the queen granted their request，and with the help of helen，they successfully brought the image back to the greek camp at dawn．
later it was said that aeneas got hold of it and carried itwith him to his new land，where it was preserved together with the goddess\'\' fire．
prometheus was a titan ．in the war between zeus the giants he had stood on the side of the new olympiangods．out of the clay he made the first man，to whom athena gave soul and holy breath．prometheus spent a lot of time and energy in creating the gift of fire．and fire raised man above all animals ．later，there held a joint meeting of gods and men．the meeting was to decide what part of burnt animals should begiven to gods and what to men．prometheus cut up an ox and divided it into two parts：under the skin he placed the fresh，and under the fat he put the bones，for he knew the selfish zeus loved fat． zeus saw through the trick and felt displeased at the prometheus\' favor towards men．so in a masterful way he took away the gift of fire from mankind．however，prometheus managed to steal fire from heaven and secretly brought it down tomen．flying into an anger at this unjustified act of rebellion，zeus let the other gods chain prometheus to a rock on mountain caucasus，where a hungry eagle ever tore at his liver which ever grew again．his period of pain was to be thirty-thousand years．prometheus faced his bitter fate firmly and never lost courage before zeus．at last heracles made prometheus and zeus restore to friend ship，when heracles came over in search of the golden apple and killed the eagle and set the friend of mankind free．
there had been four ages since the human world first cameinto being ．they are the golden age，the silver age，the age of bronze and the age of iron．the golden agewas the best of all．it was an age when kronus sat on thethrone．generous nature met all the needs of men ．there wereno extremes of cold and heat．and the evils of the human worldwere still kept in the cask．epimetheus guarded the cask and pandora was not yet made to open．men lived a happy life．they were forever young．they were always eating richly and knew neither hard labour nor sorrow．when death came it came like apeaceful sleep．and they became good spirits in heaven ．
the silver age was one in which the human race was somewhat less valuable in body and mind．the period was of helpless be ginning．it lasted a hundred years．and it was the time of manhood，short and troubled．men spent in ignorance and evil．they no longer admired the gods and offered no sacrifices．however，as the race of the silver age was not entirely lack of goodness，they had some honour and lived on as spirits under the earth．
during the age of bronze men became further degenerated ．dressed in bronze and armed with weapons of bronze，they live din the houses of bronze．cruel and heartless，they delighted inwar and died in endless struggle．when they passed away，they came into the darkness of the lower world．
the last age，that of iron，was one of continual care and grief．there was no family love，no sense of respectful duty，no friend ship and hospitality．nor was there any faith，truth and justice．evil was widespread，might was right，and the flames of war burnt the surface of the earth．it was a race of men given up by gods ．
among the crowd of olympian gods the one most widely admired was apollo．he was the son of zeus and let to．according to greek mythology，leto was driven by hera from land to land at last poseidon took pity on her and brought the island of delos out of water for her to live on．there she gave birth to the twins ，apollo and artemis．
apollo was me sun-god．he wore a purple robe．he usually sat in his bright eastern palace early in the morning and madeready to start his daily journey across the sky．during the day hed rove his carriage of gold and ivory ， and brought light， life and love to the great world below． iate in the afternoon he came to the end of his journey in the far western sea and got on his golden boat to return to his eastern home．
apollo was the god of music and poetry．he could stir up all feelings．these feelings are expressed in lofty songs．with his lyre of gold and the sweet accents of his godlike voice heled the choir of the muses at olympus．the pleasant music from his lyre was so exciting that stones marched into their places in rhythmic time and of their own will when he helped poseidonbuild up the walls of troy．on one occasion，invited to a contest by the human musician marsyas，he won and then flayed him to death for his pride．on another occasion，he lost out topan at a musical contest and turned the ears of the judge，king midas，into those of an ass．
his son，orpheus，took over such skill from the father that his lyre moved man and animals alike．
apollo stood for youthful and manly beauty．his goldenhair，stately manner and air all combined to make him the admiration of the world．a beautiful girl，by the name of clytle，was so fond of his beauty and glory that from dawn to dusk she knelt on the ground，her hands outstretched towards the sungod，and her eyes looked at his golden wheeled carriage racing across the blue sky．though her love was not returned，she had never changed her mind about apollo．the gods were moved at the sad sight，and changed her into a sunflower．
apollo drove his golden carriage across the heavens during the day，admired as the sun-god．artemis also raced across the sky in solemn style at night，respected as the moon-goddess．sitting in an airy carriage drawn by milk white horses，“the queen of wide air” gave off silver light all over the sleeping world below．though she remained single all her life，the maiden heart of the goddess was at least for once excited as she saw the beautiful youth endymion sleeping．
she was pure and fair and calm．she was the example of maiden modesty and grace．just as apollo represents manly beauty，so artemis stands for feminine purity and virginity ．as their patron goddess she took it as her duty to protect marrying girls and young women in trouble．it was her altar that those maidens turned for love and happiness．
the twin sister of apollo was also the goddess of hunting and wild life ．dressed in a short hunting-suit coming up to the knee and followed by a team of noisy lovely fairy maidens，artemis had always her bow of pearl and shining arrow with her and travelled in the woods in search of wild animals．when she felt hot and tired she would retire to a spring to take a bath．it was here that young actaeon accidentally came and suffered cruel treatment at the hands of the goddess．indeed，the goddesscould be thoroughly heartless and stopped to be lovely as soon as the bad side of her nature got the upper hand in her．the sadthing of niobe was just a case in point．
发表于 2004-10-4 08:21
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发表于 2004-10-4 14:33