The Flood
Towards the end of the Age of Bronze the human world became very cruel.
Men grew hungry,impolite and ungodly.Neither rightn or law was respected any longer,and the rule of hospitality was fotten.Dressed up in human form,Zeus visited Arcadia andThessaly,and disliked the deadly wrongs of men .He decidedto clear the earth of them all.Without hesitation he released therainy south wind and called upon the heartless Poseidon to help.Soon the whole world sank in a vast ocean, and the entire humanrace disappeared in the unheard of flood,all but o poor Thessalians .
These were an old childless couple,kind and faithful and contented with life.The man was called Deucalion and his wife Pyrrha.Son of Prometheus,Deucalion had been warned beforehand by his father of the ing flood and made himself a hugechest.When the roaring flood came the couple hid themselves init and floated for nine days until it touched land again on Mt Parnassus.
The once active world presented a frightening sight.It was all death and ruin.Feeling lonely and unsafe,the old coupleprayed to the gods for help.A sage instructed them to cast the bones of their mother about .The son of the wise Titan, havingguessed the true meaning of the mysterious mand, started throwing stones behind him. A miracle occurred. The stonesthat the man cast became men;the stones that the woman threwturned into women.Since then,people appeared on the land again.The Heroic Age had begun.
洪水
到了青銅期末代,人類世界變得非常殘忍,人類也變得貪婪、粗魯且不虔誠。公理與法律不再受到尊重。殷勤好客的風俗被遺忘。宙斯裝扮成凡人的樣子查看了阿卡迪亞和色薩利兩地。他不喜歡凡人極度的罪惡,決心將他們從地球上鏟除。他毫不猶豫地釋放了夾雨的南風,並召來冷酷無情的波塞冬協助他。很快整個人類世界被淹沒在壹片汪洋之中。除了兩名恭順的色薩利人幸免於難外,人類被史無前例的洪水吞噬。
這對老夫妻沒有孩子。他們善良、虔誠、對生活心滿意足。丈夫是普羅米修斯的兒子,名叫丟卡利翁,妻子名為皮拉。丟卡利翁的父親事先就警告他會爆發洪水,因此,他制了個巨大的箱子。當咆哮的洪水湧來時,夫妻倆就躲藏在箱中,這樣漂泊了九天,最終漂到了帕那薩斯山。
曾經生機勃勃的大地呈現出恐怖的景象。死亡與毀滅四處可見。老夫妻深感孤獨和危險。他們就向上帝祈禱,乞求幫助。壹位聖人指示他們把母親的遺骨擲向四周。這位聰明的泰坦的後代,馬上悟出了這個神秘指示所隱含的意義。他們開始將石頭拋向身後。奇跡出現了。男人拋出的石頭變成了男人,女人拋的則變成了女人。從此人類再次在陸地上出現,英雄時代來臨。
希臘神話14Io 伊俄
Io
Io was the daughter of a rivergod.She was loved,run after and won by Zeus.Hera became so greeneyed that she flew down from Olympus one day to pay her rival back .Zeus,however,had foreseen her arrival and changed Io into abeautiful white little cow.Seeing through the trick,Hera asked for the cow as a present and Zeus had to give in to her wish .Then she left the cow to the care of a hundredeyed monster,Argus.Argus' eyes were ever open and no escape was possible.Unable to bear to see her so unhappy,Zeus sent Hermes down todestroy the monster.Dressed up as a shepherd,Hermes lulled Argus to sleep with his sweet songs and long stories,then killed him and set Io free.But Hera's anger was not to be calmed downyet.She sent a gadfly to attack the cow and drive her from land to land.In her misery the cow passed over the strait which divides Europe and Asia.In this way the strip of water got itsname Bosporus ,the way of the cow.She wandered over thesea,which by chance got from her its name the Ionian Sea .In the end she arrived in Egypt where she was turned back into hernatural form .She settled down and gave birth to a son,Some of her children remained in Egypt and ruled as kings for a longtime.
伊俄
伊俄是河神的女兒,宙斯愛她、追求她、並得到了她。赫拉對此嫉妒不已。壹天她飛下奧林波斯山向情敵施加報復。然而宙斯早已預見到她的光臨,就將伊俄變成了壹頭美麗的小白牛犢,赫拉看穿了其中的詭計,非要壹頭牛犢作為禮物。宙斯無奈,只得讓她如願以償。赫拉便將牛犢托付給百眼魔鬼阿剛斯看管。阿剛斯的眼睛永遠睜著,要想逃脫是不可能的。看到伊俄如此憂郁,宙斯簡直無法忍受,便令赫耳墨斯將魔鬼鏟除。赫耳墨斯喬裝成牧羊人給阿剛斯唱悅耳動聽的歌,講冗長乏味的故事以哄他入睡。之後便尋機殺死魔鬼,釋放了伊俄。但赫拉的狂怒並未消除。她派了壹只牛虻去攻擊牛犢,使她顛沛流離。在十分悲痛之中,牛犢穿越了分隔歐亞大陸的海峽。從此這片狹長的水域被稱作博斯普魯斯海峽,意為牛犢之路。她接著漫遊過海,這片大海也就在偶然中有了名稱——伊奧尼亞海,最後她到了埃及,並恢復了她本來的體態和容貌。她在那裏落戶並生了個兒子。她的壹些子孫就呆在了埃及,當了很長時間的國王。
希臘神話13Jason 傑森
Jason
Among the pupils of the wise and just Centaur,there wasa boy named Jason.He was by birth a prince.His father Aeson was once king of Iolcus,but was overthrown by his own half brother Pelias.So he sent his baby son Jason to the Centaur for safekeeping.As a boy Jason took part in the boarhunt.When he grew up into a strong youth he was told of the secret of his birth.So he went to avenge his father's wrongs .
On his way back to his native city he met a weak old woman waiting to be helped across a mountain stream.Kind and polite,Jason carried the old lady on his back and walked across the stream.Little had he thought that the old woman was just Hera herself .Thus he got the help and protection of a power fulfriend at the beginning of his life.As he lost one shoe in the stream he had to enter Pelias' palace in only one shoe. Pelias was quite scared to see such a stranger because he had been warned by a prophet to be careful of a man wearing only one shoe.He was not surprised when Jason told him who he was and what his business was about.The artful Pelias weled hisnephew with false pride and joy ;he promised to give up the kingdom to one who had proved himself worthy of it.And heurged the youth to bring the golden fleece back from Colchis.He felt quite certain that his nephew would never e back alivefrom the hopeless task.Pelias' prediction was quite right.Jasondied a poor death in the kingdom of Colchis.
傑森
半人半馬的怪物(Centaur)既英明又公正。他的學生中有個名叫傑森的男孩。傑森是位王子,他的父親埃宋曾是伊俄卡斯的國王,但後來王位卻被他同父異母兄弟珀利阿斯奪去了。因此他把還在繈褓中的兒子送給Centaur照料。還是個孩子時,傑森就參加過捕獵野豬。當他長成壹位強壯的小夥,知道自己身世的秘密後,他決定要為父親所受的不公報仇雪恨。
在返回祖國的路上,他遇到壹位老婆婆。她希望能有人幫她渡過山裏的壹條小溪。出於善良的天性和謙恭有禮的本能,傑森背起老人,淌過了小溪。他並未想到這位老婆婆竟是赫拉本人。因此他在生活的起點便得到了壹位神通廣大的朋友的幫助和保護。由於他在過河時遺失了壹只鞋子,他不得不赤著壹只腳走進了珀利阿斯的宮殿。當珀利阿斯看到這個陌生人時,他驚恐異常,因為壹位預言家提醒他提防壹個只穿了壹只鞋的男人。當傑森告訴他自己是誰以及自己此行的目的時,他並沒有感到奇怪。狡詐的珀利阿斯帶著假惺惺的自豪和喜悅迎接了這位侄子。他發誓說,他願意放棄王位,但接替他繼承王位的人必須能夠用事實證明自己確配接受王冠。於是,他慫恿年輕人去科爾切斯取回金羊毛。他斷定他的侄子再不會活著回到他面前,因為這根本就是個不可能完成的使命。珀利阿斯的預言千真萬確。傑森悲慘地死在科爾切斯王國。
希臘神話12Ajax(the Great)埃傑克斯(巨人)
Ajax(the Great)
Ajax was a man of giant stature,daring but slow.When the Trojan War was about to break out he led his forces from Salamis to join the Greek army at Aulis.As one of the trustiest champions of the Greek cause,he was given thejob of guarding one end of the Greek camp near Troy.He was noted in the battlefield for his bravery and courage.After Achilles' death he became one of the o hot contestants for the dead hero's shield and armour,the other being Odysseus.When the weapons were finally judged to his rival,Ajax went mad for grief.Unable to get over the hardships,he took his own life.When,in order to seek the advice of,Odysseus came to visit the lower world,the shade of Ajax frowned uponhim.In the lower world Ajax chose to be a lion,guided clearly by the bitter recollection of his former life.
埃傑克斯(巨人)
埃傑克斯是位身材魁梧、驍勇善戰、但頭腦遲鈍的人。當特洛伊戰爭即將爆發時,他率領軍隊從薩拉米斯到達奧爾墨斯加入了希臘軍隊。作為壹名為希臘事業奮鬥的最可信賴的鬥士,他被派去保衛靠近特洛伊的希臘軍營邊界。戰場上,他因作戰勇猛而出名。阿基裏斯死後,他成為兩個最有可能獲得阿基裏斯的盾甲的有力競爭對手之壹。另壹名對手是奧德修斯。最後,他的對手勝利了,並得到了盾甲。埃傑克斯悲傷至極,無法自拔,最終結束了自己的生命。奧德修斯為了得到盲人底比斯的忠告而來到陰間;埃傑克斯的幽靈沖著他直皺眉頭。在陰間,由於受到前世痛苦記憶的折磨,埃傑克斯選擇了做壹頭獅子。
希臘神話10Palladium 雅典娜的神像
Palladium
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 iith him to his new land,where it was Preserved together with the goddess' fire.
雅典娜的神像
當伊拉斯最初建造特洛伊城時,他祈求宙斯賜福於這座城市。宙斯聽到祈求後,壹尊木制的智慧雅典娜像從天堂落到了城墻裏。人們將它稱作雅典娜神像。這尊木像擔任著保衛和看守城市的任務。在祭神的宗教儀式中,它在歡快的氣氛和贊美的歌聲中被擡著走過城市的所有街道。
在特洛伊建成之前,戰火已彌漫了十年。壹位預言家說:只要雅典娜的神像受人民的愛戴,特洛伊城就永遠不會衰滅。為了將神像偷出城,壹天夜裏奧德修斯和狄俄墨德斯喬裝改扮潛入首都,這壹切只有海倫知道。這個可惡的女人把他們介紹給特洛伊皇後赫克猶巴。奧德修斯立刻跪倒在她的面前乞求憐憫。皇後答應了他們的要求,在海倫的幫助下,他們在拂曉的時候成功地帶著雕像回到希臘營地。
據說後來埃彌斯得到了雕像並帶著它到了自己的新領地。木像和神火壹起被保存在這塊土地上。
希臘神話9Philomela 菲勒美拉
Philomela
King Pandion of Athens had o daughters,Procne and Philomela.When Athens was threatened by the wild men,King Tereus of Thrace came to its help.Out of gratitude King Pandion offered Tereus either of his daughters in marriage and the Thracian king chose Procne as wife. For yearsthey lived in Thrace and had one son,Itylus by name.Then Procne became homesick and longed to see her dear sister Philomela.At her repeated requests Tereus sailed to Athens tofetch Philomela.On the way back his evil heart took flame at the sight of Philomela who was then in her beauty of maidenhood.He seized and carried her away by force,cut out her tongue and imprisoned her in a lonely hut in the woods.To Procne he lied,saying that Philomela was dead.Philomela stayed in prison for ayear,where she had woven her painful story into the web of a robe .Then she managed to send the robe to her sister. As soon as she received the web Procne came over to the woods and to reher sister away from the keepers.
Back at the palace
the o women,hot for paying back ,killed little Itylus and served him up to his father . When Tereus learned of the terrible truth he grasped his sword and chased the sisters into the woods. There the gods turned Procne into a swallow,Philomela a nightingale and Tereus a hoopoe .
菲勒美拉
雅典國王潘底翁有兩個女兒,普魯絲妮和菲勒美拉。當雅典受到蠻人的威脅時,色雷斯國王泰諾斯伸出了援助之手。出於感激,國王潘底翁讓泰諾斯從自己的女兒中任選壹位作他妻子。泰諾斯選擇了普魯絲妮。他們在色雷斯生活了許多年,並且生了壹個兒子,名叫意大拉斯。由於遠離故土,普魯絲妮患了思鄉病,她非常想見親愛的妹妹菲勒美拉。在她的壹再要求下,泰諾斯乘船去雅典接菲勒美拉來與她姐姐團聚。在返回的途中,看到菲勒美拉渾身散發出的青春和美麗,泰諾斯非常嫉妒,頓生歹意。他強行帶走了菲勒美拉,並割去了她的舌頭,將她關在森林中壹個偏僻的小茅屋裏。在普魯絲妮面前,他撒謊說菲勒美拉已經死了。菲勒美拉被囚禁了整整壹年。在囚禁期間,她將痛苦的經歷編織成了壹件長袍;然後,她想方設法讓長袍落到她姐姐的手中。普魯絲妮壹收到那件長袍就來到了森林,將她妹妹救了出來。
回到宮殿後,姐妹倆急於復仇,殺死了小意大拉斯,並派人將屍體送到他父親那裏。國王泰諾斯得知事情真相後,提起劍來把姐妹兩人趕到森林裏。在林中,眾神將普魯絲妮變為壹只麻雀,將菲勒美拉變為壹只夜鶯,而將泰諾斯變成了壹只戴勝科鳥。