Mythology Wednesday - Apollo & Artemis, and Atlas extra!

Mythology Wednesday - Apollo & Artemis, + Atlas extra!  

Hey all! Welcome to our second Mythology Wednesday! Every Wednesday, both Erika from Books, Stars, Writing, and Everything in Between and I will be summarizing a myth or legend that is relevant to the current book in our read-along! 

Erika’s topic this week is Pegasus. Make sure to check it out! :) 

Apollo & Artemis - The Archer Twins
So, Apollo, the sun god, and Artemis, the moon goddess, as you probably guessed by the title, are twins. They are both the children of Zeus and Leto. I’ll talk about each separately, it’ll make more sense :) 
Apollo
So, Percy Jackson first meets both twins in The Titan’s Curse. This is how he describes the sun god. 
“He looked about seventeen or eighteen, and for a second, I had the uneasy feeling it was Luke, my old enemy. This guy had the same sandy hair and outdoorsy good looks. But it wasn’t Luke. This guy was taller, with no scar on his face like Luke’s. His smile was brighter and more playful. (...) The Maserati driver wore jeans and loafers and a sleeveless T-shirt. 
“Wow” Thalia muttered. “Apollo is hot.”
“He’s the sun god,” I said. 
“That’s not what I meant”” 

 Apollo had all kids of responsibilities. He was the god of the sun, yes, but also the god of healing, music, poetry, and oracles. He spoke through the priestess of Delphi. His symbols are the lyre (a kind of pretty harp) and a bow (oh yeah!). Apparently, he used this to get rid of plagues! One of his stories is as follows:

When King Agamemnon captured Chryseis, a daughter of one of Apollo’s priests, during the Trojan war, Apollo started shooting a bunch of arrows to the Greeks. This brought a plague. During it, many soldiers died, and Apollo stopped firing arrows when Agamemnon freed Chyseis and allowed her to go back to her father. 

Artemis
Apollo’s twin sister, Artemis is the goddess of the moon and the hunt. Percy meets her right before Apollo, and describes her in a somewhat strange way. 
“This one was a little younger than me, maybe twelve or thirteen. She had auburn hair gathered back in a ponytail and strange eyes, silvery yellow like the moon. Her face was so beautiful it made me catch my breath, but her expression was stern and dangerous.
(...)
But when this twelve-year-old girl told me she was the goddess Artemis, I said something real intelligent like, “um... okay.”” 

Artemis, unlike some deities, was a maiden goddess - she vowed never to have children. She was also very modest, unlike her brother who just went around sending plagues to people. One day, a hunter named Actaeon accidentally saw her bathing in a stream, which was hugely disrespectful. She was so upset and mad that she threw water at him, turning him into a stag. Along with his own dogs, Artemis chased and killed him. 

And today, we’re having a little bit of a short extra myth, just because I think it’s so interesting!! 

Atlas
Atlas is a titan. Imagine a big, tall scary guy. Yeah there you go. 
During the titans vs. olympians war, Atlas was one of the titans that sided with,  well the Titans. He was leading the battle. Since he was on the loosing side, Zeus condemned him to carry the sky on his shoulders. 

On the brighter side, he was the Titan of Astronomy, navigation, and endurance and which I actually think is really cool! 

In mythology, Perseus (not Jackson, the one who lived in greek times!) went by where Atlas lived, and asked for hospitality. Since Atlas denied it, Perseus showed him Medusa’s head and turned him to stone. 


I hope you enjoyed this little greek mythology post! :D 
Make sure to comment any thoughts! C: 

Have an amazing day! 

Oh! Today! Right!




Remember that movie, Back to the Future? Well, today is the future!! 
Doc and Marty go forward 30 years, to the 21st of October, 2015! Which is today! So, welcome to the Future!!