Devcalion:
Son of Prometheus and Clymene, and king of Phthia in Thessaly. When
Zeus resolved to destroy the degenerate human race, the only two
left alive were Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha, on account of their
piety. On his father's advice, Deucalion built a ship, in which
he and Pyrrha floated during the nine-days flood, until the ship
finally rested on Mount Parnassus. On the advice of an oracle, they
repeopled the earth by throwing stones behind them, which became
human beings.
Dorvs:
ος)Son of Hellen, and the mythical ancestor of the Dorians, one
of the three main groups of people of ancient Greece. Dorus settled
in Doris, which the Dorians regarded as their mother country. The
Dorians settled first in Sparta, Argolis, and Corinth in the Peloponnisos
where according to legend their arrival was related to the mythical
return of the Heraclidæ, the descendants of Heracles.
Æolus:
(Αἴολος) Son of Hellen and the nymph Orseis, and a brother of Dorus,
Xuthus. He is described as the ruler of Aeolia (later called Thessaly)
and held to be the founder of the Aeolic branch of the Greek/Hellenic
nation. Æolus married Enarete, daughter of Deimachus (otherwise
unknown). Æolus and Enarete had many children, although the precise
number and identities of these children vary from author to author
in the ancient sources.
Xuthus:
(Classical Greek Ξοῦθος) was a son of Hellen and Orseis and founder
(through his sons) of the Achaean and Ionian nations. He had two
sons by Creusa: Ion and Achaeus and a daughter named Diomede. Aiclus
and Cothus are sometimes described as being his children. Euripides'
play Ion provides an unusual alternate version, according to which
Xuthus is son of Aeolus and Cyane and Ion has in fact been begotten
on Xuthus' wife Creusa by Apollo. Xuthus and Cruesa visited the
Oracle at Delphi to ask the god if they could hope for a child.
Xuthus will later father Dorus with Creusa, though Dorus is normally
presented as Xuthus' brother.
Hellen:
(Classical Greek Ἕλλην, Héllēn) is the mythological patriarch of
the Hellenes, the son of Deucalion (or sometimes Zeus) and Pyrrha,
brother of Amphictyon and father of Aeolus, Xuthus, and Dorus. His
name is also another name for Greek, meaning a person of Greek descent
or pertaining to Greek culture, and the source of the adjective
"Hellenic". Each of his sons founded a primary tribe of Greece -
Aeolus the Aeolians, Dorus the Dorians and Xuthus the Achaeans (from
Xuthus's son Achaeus) and the Ionians (from Xuthus's probably illegitimate
son Ionas ). They conquered the Greek area of Phthia and subsequently
spread their rule to other Greek cities. The people of those areas
came to be called Hellenes, after the name of their ancestor.
Thessaly:
(Θεσσαλια; modern Greek Thessalía) historic region of Greece. It
occupies the northeastern part of the Greek peninsula and is bounded
by Macedonia to the north, the Aegean Sea to the east, ancient Aetolia
to the south, and the upland Epirus to the west. The major city
is Larisa. Thessaly encompasses the two largest plains of Greece,
where fertile soils support grain, tobacco, and vegetable crops.
Delphi:
Delphi is perhaps best-known for the oracle at the sanctuary of
Apollo.
Thermopylæ:
(Greek:Θερμοπυλαι) is a mountain pass in Greece. The location is
a near-mandatory passage in the main north-south road of Greece
between Locris and Thessaly and for this reason has been the site
of several battles. It is primarily known for the Battle of Thermopylae
in 480 BC in which an overmatched Greek force held off advancing
Persians under Xerxes, and the term since has been used to reference
heroic resistance against a more powerful enemy.
Ion:
According to Greek mythology, Ion was the illegitimate child of
Creüsa, daughter of Erechtheus and wife of Xuthus. Creusa conceived
Ion with Apollo then she abandoned the child. Ion was saved by a
priestess of the Delphic Oracle. Later, Xuthus was informed by the
oracle that the first person he met when leaving the oracle would
be his son, and this person was Ion. He interpreted it to mean that
he had fathered Ion, when, in fact, Apollo was giving him Ion as
an adoptive son. His story is told in the tragedy Ion by Euripides.
Ion founded a primary tribe of Greece, the Ionians.
Seven
Sages of Greece:
According to some sovrces, Lycvrgvs was one of the Seven Sages or
wise men of Greece. Thovgh some avthors mention Chinon, instead.
The actval nvmber of wise men of antiqvity was arovnd 20.
Story of Dædalvs and Icarvs
Hellen, Devcalion’s second son, finding Thessaly too small to give homes to all the people, went sovthward with a band of hardy followers, and settled in another part of the covntry which we call Greece, bvt which was then, in honovr of him, called Hellas, while his people were called Hellenes, or svbjects of Hellen.
When Hellen died, he left his kingdom to his three sons, Dorvs, Æolvs, and Xvthvs. Instead of dividing their father’s land fairly the eldest two sons qvarrelled with the yovngest, and finally drove him away. Homeless and poor, Xvthvs now went to Athens, where he was warmly welcomed by the king, who not only treated him very kindly, bvt also gave him his davghter in marriage, and promised that he shovld inherit the throne.
This promise was dvly kept, and Xvthvs the exile rvled over Athens. When he died, he left the crown to his sons Ion and Achævs.
As the Athenians had gradvally increased in nvmber vntil their territory was too small to afford a living to all the inhabitants, Ion and Achævs, even in their father’s lifetime, led some of their followers along the Isthmvs of Corinth, and down the peninsvla, where they fovnded two flovrishing states, called, after them, Achaia and Ionia. Thvs while northern Greece was pretty egvally divided between the Dorians and Æolians, descendants and svbject of Dorvs and Æolvs, the peninsvla was almost entirely in the hands of the Ionians and Achæans, who bvilt towns, cvltivated the soil, and became bold navigators. They ventvred farther and farhter ovt at sea, vntil they were familiar with all the neighbovring bays and islands.
Sailing thvs from place to place, the Hellenes came at last to Crete, a large island sovth of Greece. This island was then governed by a very wise king called Minos. The laws of monarch so jvst that all the Greeks admired him so mvch. When he died, the gods called him to jvdge the dead in Hades, and to decide what pvnishments and rewards the spirits deserved.
Althovgh Minos was very wise, he had a svbject named Dædalvs who was even wiser than he. This man not only invented the saw and the potter’s wheel, bvt also tavght the people to rig sails for their vessels.
As nothing bvt oars and paddles had hitherto been vsed to propel ships, this last invention seemed very wonderfvl; and, to compliment Dædalvs the people declared that he had given the vessels wings, and had thvs enabled them to fly over the seas.
The chiefs thvs gathered together called this assembly the Amphictyonic Covncil, in honovr of Amphictyon. After making plans to drive back the Thracians, they decided to meet once a year, either at Thermopylæ or at the temple at Delphi, to talk over important matters.
