Mythological Character:
Find the figure from Greek
mythology who you were assigned
from the list below. You may be
able to incorporate more than one
character into your myths;
remember, many of these
characters have long, sordid
histories with one another!
Achilles hero of the Trojan War
Aphrodite goddess of love and beauty
Apollo god of light and truth
Arachne –
weaver transformed into a spider
Ares god of war
Artemis god of the hunt
Atalanta –
orphaned hunter
Athena goddess of wisdom, war, and
civilization
Atlas holding the world on his shoulders
Cupid mischievous, emerged from chaos
Cyclops –
one-eyed monsters
Demeter goddess of the harvest
Dionysus god of the wine and vine
Echo unrequited love
Hecate goddess of the night
Hades –
the god of the Underworld
Helen –
face that launched a thousand
ships
Hephaestus god of fire, forger
Hera –
Wife of Zeus, jealous
Figure from United States History:
The figures suggested below are meant to get you thinking about what types of
characters might fit into an original myth combining US History and Greek
Mythology. They may be historical figures who have something in common with
the gods; on the other hand, they may be the type of figure who would draw the
wrath of the gods. How exactly the gods interact with characters from US
History will be up to you. The challenging part of this assignment is keeping
your figures “in character” as much as possible. The actions of the gods should
demonstrate your knowledge of the gods; the actions of the figures in US
History should be representative as well!
General George Custer
flappers, Tokyo Rose, USO
Muckrakers, Jacob Riis, Ida Tarbell, Upton Sinclair, Nellie Bly, Ida B. WellsBarnett
textile industrialization; Triangle Shirt Waist Factory Fire
William Tecumseh Sherman, General George Custer, Nelson Miles, Roosevelt
and the Roughriders, African-American soldiers in the Plains Wars or WWI or
politicians during WWII, the Korean War, or the Viet Nam War
buffalo slaughter, Lewis and Clark, Sitting Bull, Chief Joseph, Prophet Wovoka
Susan B. Anthony, Elizabeth Cady Stanton, Eleanor Roosevelt
Any war (warrior goddess); scientist – wisdom; Susan B. Anthony – advancing of
civilization; Rosie the Riveter; Jonas Salk; Dr. Charles Drew
any president involved in making a decision related to war
George Washington (problems of being the first), Andrew Johnson, Lyndon
Johnson (issues after an assassination); technology
Sir Walter Raleigh and Pocahontas
shop owners, corporations, monopolies, trust
Standard Oil Trust, US Steel Corporation, Armour Meats
immigrant workers, the Dust Bowl, Cesar Chavez
“exodusters”
Carrie Nation, Women’s Christian Temperance Movement, Prohibitionists, Al
Capone, speakeasies
battle cries - Remember the Alamo! Remember the Maine! Speak softly and
carry a big stick.
Thomas Alva Edison, Rural Electrification Administration
miners in the Montana Territory, Sutter’s Mill, Comstock Lode
USO; Pocahontas; Cuba; Queen Liliuokalani
the Bessemer Process, Andrew Carnegie, builders of the Transcontinental
Railroad
Mary Todd Lincoln, Eleanor Roosevelt, Carrie Nation
Hercules –
son of Zeus and hero
Hermes messenger god
thief, imp, inventor of lyre
Hestia goddess of the hearth
Jason –
Heroic winner of the Golden Fleece
Medusa Gorgon and evil monster
The Muses –
gods of the fine arts
Odysseus –
heroic traveler
Pan satyr, servant of Dionysus
symbols of nature’s plenty
Pandora –
and the origin of evil
Persephone queen of the underworld
Perseus –
heroic character
Phaëthon –
the origins of desert land
Poseidon god of the sea
Prometheus –
giver of fire to mankind
Theseus –
heroic character
Zeus –
supreme ruler of the world
Ulysses S. Grant, George Pershing, Dwight D. Eisenhower, MacArthur,
muckrakers
pony express, telephone, telegraph, Morse Code, yellow journalism, cattle
rustlers, makers of musical instruments
Jane Addams, Clara Barton
Carrie Nation
prospectors, the Forty Niners, Commodore Dewey
challenges of the Westward Movement
John Wilkes Booth, James Earl Ray, Lee Harvey Oswald, Charles Giteau
Jacob Lawrence, Langston Hughes, John Steinbeck, F. Scott Fitzgerald, Georgia
O’Keefe, George Gershwin, Aaron Copland, or any artist, musician, or writer
from the second half of United States History.
Lewis and Clark, Sitting Bull
rum runners, moonshiners,
Prohibitionists
Oklahoma Land Rush
Lindbergh’s baby, slaves
Tuskegee Airmen; any hero of any war; heroes of 9/11/01
Dust Bowl
naval leaders of the Spanish American War, WWI and WWII (D-Day)
Oppenheimer; Charles Lindbergh; Martin Luther Ling
Chief Joseph; Sitting Bull
Abraham Lincoln, Theodore Roosevelt, Woodrow Wilson, Franklin Roosevelt