Mythology
Make sure to study all the pages up to Latin III as well
Janus
Janus is the god of beginning, transitions, doors, and endings. He is usually pictured with two faces, one looking into the future and the other into the past. He was the ruler of Latium after Camesus died. After Janus' death he was deified. He is also said to have lived at the time of Romulus and had a temple devoted to him.
Daphne
Daphne was a river-nymph who was the victim of Cupid’s revenge on Apollo. One day while Cupid was sitting on a river Apollo mocked his tiny arrows which made him angry. To get revenge Cupid shot a lead tipped arrow, which made the victim feel very afraid, at Daphne who happened to be nearby. Suddenly afraid, she began to run away from the river. Cupid then shot Apollo with a gold tipped arrow which made him fall in love with the first thing he saw. The first thing he saw was Daphne who was running away from him. He called to her and begged for her to stop running, but she only ran faster. Daphne ran until she could not run anymore and she called out to Terra, the goddess of the Earth, who took pity on her and turned her into a laurel tree before Apollo could catch up to her.
Pygmalion
Pygmalion was the king of Cyprus and the son of Neptune. He was also a sculptor who made very lifelike sculptures of people. One day he built an ivory statue of a very beautiful woman, who was so beautiful that he fell in love with it. Pygmalion named the sculpture Galatea which meaning, “she who is white like milk.” He dressed the statue in the finest clothes and jewels and quickly became obsessed with his creation. He wished very badly for her to be a real woman so that he could marry her. Luckily the festival of Venus was nearby so, while making an offering to Venus, he prayed to her that his statue would come to life. He was so passionate that Venus decided to go to his workshop and see the ivory woman for herself. Upon seeing Galatea, Venus was amazed at her beauty and likeness to the goddess herself so she decided to grant Pygmalion’s wish. When Pygmalion returned to his workshop he noticed color coming to Galatea’s cheeks, then he realized that Venus had listened to his pleas. Galatea came to life and they got married soon after. Pygmalion and Galatea had a son named Paphos, who founded the city of Paphos and in some myths they also had a daughter named Metharme.
Jupiter, in a final attempt to stop himself from destroying mankind, disguised himself, along with Mercury, as poor travelers and they knocked on the doors of all the houses in the town to see if anyone had the hospitality to let them in. No one would let them inside until they came to a small hut owned by Baucis and Philemon. The couple invited the travelers inside and offered all their food and wine along with a seat by the hearth. They soon noticed that no matter how many glasses of wine they poured, the pitcher was never empty. They became suspicious that these men were more than travelers and the gods then revealed themselves. They then destroyed the rest of the town in a flood but spared Baucis and Philemon. Jupiter and Mercury replaced the hut, which the couple lived in with a large marble house. They then were granted their wish to become temple priests and die together. The gods granted their wish and when they died they were transformed into two intertwining trees.
Baucis and Philemon
Niobe was the daughter of Tantalus, king of Sipylus, and the wife of King Amphion of Thebes. She had six sons and six daughters and she boasted about her ability to bear children to Leto, the mother of only two children, Artemis and Apollo. As a punishment Artemis killed all six of Niobe’s daughters and Apollo killed all six of her sons. They laid, dead, for nine days because Jupiter turned all the Thebans to stone and on the tenth day their bodies were burned. Niobe wept and wept and wept, finally Niobe was turned to stone on Mount Sipylus and she continues to weep about her children when the snow melts above her in the spring.
Niobe
