History February 21st

New Zealand Company- The Canterbury Association

Church of England (COE)
A select group of people special character

Charles Torlesse

• Was 

The term 'pre-adamites' refers to about 900 Europeans who lived in Canterbury before the arrival of the Charlotte Jane in December 1850.

The origin of the term is a riposte to First Four Ships settlers, who had taken to referring to themselves ( hasn't finished sentence)

Classics ( February 14th)

What was a Demigod?

• A demi-god was a child born of a deity (god/goddess) and a mortal. (both Greek and Roman)
• The term demi-god means half god
• They were known for their courage and strengths 
• They often had great power and abilities and feature heavily in mythologies 
• Some names of note include Achilles, Herakles, Theseus, Perseus and Helen of Troy.
• However, not all demi-gods become greek heroes and not all Greek Heroes were demi-gods.
• The stories of these demi-gods were passed down through the oral poetry of Homer in his works, 'The Iliad' ( The story of the Trojan War' and 'The Odyssey' ( The story of the Greek Odysseus Journey home from the Trojan war) Mythologies were also told through artworks.

Perseus- Creation Story

• The King of Argos, Acrisius, was warned by an orace that he would be killed by a son born to his daughter Danae. As a result, he locked her in a tower with only one window so she could never have children.
• The god Zeus disguised himself as a shower of gold and came through the window and they conceived Perseus.
• Acrisius was so angry when he discovered the baby that he locked the two in a chest and pushed it out to sea where it luckily floated to the island of Serphos where the fisherman Dictys rescued them.
• Dicty's brother, the King Polydectesof Serphos asked Danae to marry him but she refused.

Perceus- The Gorgan Myth

• Polydectes would have forced her to marry him if Perseus was not around, so instead, he married another and demanded that everyone in the land bring him a wedding gift. Perseus was too poor to afford a gift so Polydectes told him to bring him the head of the Gorgan Medusa.
• Perseus was assisted by two gods. Hermes who leant his winged shoes and the scythe that was used to castrate Uranos and Athena who lent him her shield so he wouldn't have to look at Medusa and be turned to stone.
• Athena told him he would need to get the helmet of invisibility to complete his quest

Perseus - The Gorgan Myth

• Perseus crept into the cave of the sleeping Gorgon sisters and cut off medusas head with the Scythe. He avoided looking at her by looking at her reflection in Athenas shield
• He put her head in a bag for safekeeping and safely away. Used the shoes from Hermes to fly.
• On the way home, Perseus encounters many adventures including turning the Titans Atlas to stone to end the pain of holding up the sky and rescuing the princess Andromeda from being sacrificed to a sea monster for her father's kingdom.
• When he returned home he used the head of Medusa to turn Polydectes to stone for continuing to pursue his mother.

Theseus

• A founders hero, earnt Hero status through demonstrating strength, courage, intelligence, and wisdom through battle and by unifying the city of Athens.
• His father Aegeus, King of Athens wanted a son but couldn't conceive one with his wife. He sought advice from the oracle of Delphin but didn't understand it. He went to visit Pittheus, the king of Trozen who was wise.
• Pittheus understood the prophecy and introduced Aegeus to his daughter Aethra with Aegeus was drunk.
• Aethra was possessed by the Sea god Poseidon and so Theseus has to be a demo god.

Theseus - The 6 Labors

• His father left him sandals and a sword under a large rock and told his mother that when he grew up if he was strong enough he should retrieve these and return to Athens to take up his place of King.
• On his trip back to Athens, Theseus could take two routes, the safe route by sea or the dangerous route overland. He chose land and had to encounter sex entrances to the underworld where he defeated great bandis. This is known as the 6 Labors of Theseus.

Herakles- a Quick Overview
Conception story:

• Mortal mother Alcmene was married to mortal man Amphitryon.
• Amphitryon is sent to fight in a war and while he is gone Zeus disguises himself as Amphitryon and bedded Alcmene.
• Zeus even has the sun god slow the rising of the sun so what should have been a 12hrs of night became 36hrs.
• When the real Amphitryon returns to sleep with his wife the next day she remarks that he was better the night before resulting in Amphitryon discovering Zeus has impregnated his wife.
• Amphitryon tried to burn Alcmene and her unborn baby Herakles alive but Zeus sends rain to douse the flames.
• As a result of the event, Amphitryon refuses to ever touch his wife again.

Pre Labours Mythologies:

• Names after Hera- Herakles. She was even tricked into breastfeeding her and when he bit her she pulled him away spilling milk into the heavens and creating the milky way.
• As a baby, Hera sent two snakes to kill Herakles. Instead, Herakles strangling the snakes and killed them.
• Had a violent temper- killed his music teacher by hitting him over the head with a lyre.
• Great sexual stamina- when he was 18 he impregnated 49 out of King Thespius's 50 daughters in a single night.
• Trained and led the Theban army to victory and was given the king's eldest daughter Megara as his wife. They had several children.
• Hera inflicted a temporary fit of rage on Heracles in which he murdered Megara and their children.

12 Labour Mythologies: To redeem himself for killing his wife and children he worked for King Eurystheus for 12 years, Performing all the tasks he was asked to.\

• Slay the Nemean lion- Is often depicted wearing the skin.
• Slay the Lernaean Hydra- grew two heads for every one cut off so Hercules got a friend to burn the ends to stop them resporning.
• Capture the Cerynean hind (a golden horned deer) that belonged to Artemis
• Capture the Erymanthian Boar- drove it into a snowdrift and then captured it in a hunting net.
• Clean out the Augean stables- Herakles diverted two rivers to flow through the stables and clear out the years of dung.
• Get rid of the Stymphalian birds- Athena gave Herakles bronze castanets to startle the birds into flying where he shot them.
• Steal the Cretan bull from King Minos of Crete. The bull did wander off shortly afterwards and was later caught and sacrificed by Theseus.
• Steal the Mares of Diomedes- human flesh-eating horses, Herakles fed them the flesh of Diomedes before bringing them to Eurytheseus.
• Steal the girdle of Hippolyte- Hippolyte was the Amazonian queen- not sure if he killed her and stole it, kidnapped her and exchanged for it or made love to her and received it as a gift.
• Steal the Cattle of Geryon- beautiful red cattle owned by Geryon the three-headed monster.
• Steal the Golden Apples of Hesperides- the Titan Atlas went into the garden to steal them while Herakles held up the sky for him.
• Capture Cerberus- Hades three-headed dog- whilst there he rescues Theseus from where he has been trapped.

A few other-achievements and his death

• Herakles is credited for establishing the Olympic games- a festival in honor of his father Zeus.
• He crushes a giant crab, sent by Hera to help the hydra kill Herakles, and threw its remains into the sky creating the Cancer constellation.
• He was clearly a popular hero, some even say the greatest Greek hero of all time, making appearances in the mythologies of others. He saved Theseus from the underworld and sailed as part of Jason's crew of the Argos.
• Death- Herakles was unfaithful to his second wife. As he killed a Centaur named Nessus, his wife Deianira soaked his cloak in the slain centaur's blood believing it would force him to tell the truth. Instead it began to eat Herakles flesh and he died in agony. He was  

• After acquiring the girdle of Hippolyte he visited the city of Troy, rescued them from a sea monster, built one part of the cities famous walls, killed the King who had cheated him, Apollo and Poseidon and replaced him with Priam. Priam was the kind when Troy fell to the Greeks and the father of Aeneas who would later found the Latin peoples aka the people of Rome.

Theseus- Other Tales

• Theseus abandoned Ariadne on the island of Naxos, no good reason is ever given for this. She curses Theseus but is later rescued by the god Dionysus who takes her as a bride.
• When he arrived back to Athens he is meant to fly a white sail so his father will know he has been successful in killing the Minotaur but he forgets and is still flying a black one (Ariadne's curse?) As a result his father thinks Theseus is dead and jumps from a cliff into the sea ( now names the Aegan sea after him- King Aegus)
• Is the first King to mint money- has symbol of a bull on it.
• Is sappose go have Herakles complete his ninth labour against the amazons.

Theseus- The ending 

• Theseus and Pirithous attempt to steal brides. Theseus steals Zeus's daughter Helen of Sparta ( later known as Helen of Troy). She is later rescued by her twin brothers while Theseus and Pirithous are off for Pirithous's wife.
• Pirithous chooses Persephone ( daughter of Zeus and wife of Hades) He and Theseus sneak into the underworld and Hades invited them to sit and discuss the proposal. When they sit on the chairs their skin merges with the chair- Pirithous spend the rest of his days stuck there.
• When Herakles comes to the underworld for his final labor he recognizes Theseus and rips him free of the chair, leaving much of his flesh behind. Theseus lives in crippling pain from then on.
• Athens now has a usurper King Menestheus who drove Theseus into exile to Scyros where he was murdered by the Kings friend.

Jason -What was the Golden fleece 

• Begins in Boeotia where King Athamas married a cloud sprite named Naphele. They conceived a son and daughter.
• Athamas fell in love with a Theban princess names Ino who was the quintessential evil stepmother. Nephele returned to the sky.
• Ino not only ill treated Nepheles children, she believed on oracle told her that if she killed them it would end the local food shortage.
• As she was about to kill the son, Nepheles sent a large golden fleeced ram to rescue her children. The Daughter Helle fell off and drowned but the son Phrixus was carried safely to Colchis.
• Phrixus sacrificed the ram to Zeus. The fleece was kept as a treasure and hung on a oak tree in a grove of sacred trees guarded by a dragon that never slept.

Jason and the Argonauts 

• Jason was the grandson of the Thessalian King. The king died and his heir, and Jasons father,Aeson was murdered by his half brother Pelias. Jason did not have a diving parent. 
• Jason had been sent to Mt Pelion to be raised by the centaur Chiron- trainer of heroes. 
• Jason won the favour of Hera on his way to reclaim the kingdom of  Iolcus Thessaly. The goddess pretended to be an old woman needing help to cross a flooded river and he obliged, losing a sandle in the process. 
• His uncle Pelias recognised him as the rightful heir because he had been warned about a man with one sandal. 
• He pretended to be willing to give Jason the kingdom if he helped him to bring the Golden Fleece to Iolcus- he expected him to die in the attempt. 

Jason and the argonauts part 2

• Jason sought volunteers from throughout Greece and has over 50 heroes respond. 
• Among them were Castor & Polydeuces- twin brothers of Helen of Troy, Herakles, Orpheus and Peleus- father of Achilles.
• The ship was named ‘The Argos’ and had a piece of oak from the trees at Dodona where Zeus had a famous oracle. It had the power of prophecy and helped the crew from time to time.
• To reach their destination the Argonauts had to pass through the Symplegades- the Clashing Rocks which were held apart for them by Athena. They also overcame the monsters Scylla- a monster living on a rock that plicked sailors from the boats and Charybdis- a whirpool monster that sucked down ships, with the help of Hera. 

Jason- Winning the fleece

• The king of Colchis did not want to give up the fleece but agreed to if Jason performed a number of tasks.
• He had to plough a field using 2 bronze fire-breathing oxen, then sow the ground with dragon teeth. Each tooth sprouted an armed warrior that Jason then had to kill. 
• This was beyond human capability, so Hera and Athena convinced Aphrodite to help Jason. Aphrodite made Medea- skilled in magic and the kings daughter, fall in love with Jason and help him. 
• Medea told him how to get an ointment from the goddess Hecate to prevent the fire and bronze from hurting him. He then took her advice and killed the warriors with rocks. 
• The king agreed to give Jason the fleece but Medea warned him that her father planned to kill him instead. Before they fled, she helped Jason use magic herbs to put the dragon to sleep so he could steal the fleece before leaving.

Jason-back home with medea

• When they reached Iolcus where Pelias kept making excuses to put offing giving Jason the throne. 
• Medea grew tired of this and tricked Pelias daughters into boiling him alive. (she boiled an old ram in front of them in magic herbs and it sprang from the pot a young lamb)
• Jason eventually grew bored of his marriage to Medea and tried to divorce her so he could marry the daughter of the King of Corinth.
• Medea pretended to be okay with this, but then gifted the girl with a poisoned robe than burnt into her flesh and killed her, and her father when he tried to take it off her. 
• To finish off her revenge she murdered the sons she had conceived with Jason. She then fled to to Athens and married King Aegeus and bore him several children. 
• This relationship lasted until Aegeus son Theseus showed up and she failed to poison him before fleeing to Persia and eventually back to Colchis. 

What do myths about Heroes have in common?

• The hero's conception, birth and childhood usually have unusual features such as a divine parent. 
• It is usually a male.
• He will have an enemy/enemies that make life difficult and dangerous for him. They could be mortal or divine.
• He will have to carry out specific tasks or a quest, usually because of the interventions of his foe. 
• While completing these tasks/quest he will have ally/allies, again both mortal and divine.
• He will face difficulties both from the nature of the task and interventions from his enemies. 
• These difficulties may be physical, mental, sexual or spiritual. 
• There are probably restrictions imposed that he will forget at least once.
• He may have special weapon/item of clothing linked to him in art. 
• His success is guaranteed in the end because of his own qualities and the help of his allies. 

Classics Homework

The Hunger Games



In the Greek myth, Theseus and many other young people from the city of Athens were sent as tribute ( human sacrificial offering) to The King Minos in Crete. The king then turned them over to the minotaur a murderous beast that was half man and half bull. This Beast lived in a maze or labyrinth. Theseus killed the minotaur and saved countrymen. This story relates back to The Hunger Games. Her character in this movie relates back and is inspired by the famous Amazon warriors and Atlanta the great female runner of Greek Myth. Atlanta is a character in Greek Mythology is a virgin huntress, is unwilling to marry and is loved by the Hero Meleager. Katniss also recalls Artemis goddess of hunt because her favourite weapon of choice is a bow and arrow.

( this is just a start)