THE MYTH OF
PANDORA
Zeus commanded the god of
craftsmanship, Hephaestus, to
create a woman out of water
and dirt. The gods gave her
many talents, which included
beauty from Aphrodite and
music from Apollo. They gave
her the name Pandora, which
meant “all-gifted”. Pandora
became the first woman of Earth.
When Prometheus, the Titan,
stole fire from the sun and
brought it to the people of Earth,
Zeus was very angry. To punish
the people of Earth, Zeus gave
THE MYTH OF
PANDORA
Pandora a magical box, and told her not to open it under any
circumstances.
Pandora, however, was a very curious girl. She wanted to
know what was inside the box very badly. One day, she decided
to sneak a peek. When she pried open the top of the box to
glance inside, all of the evils of the world quickly flew out. She
frantically tried to close the box, but it was too late. All that
remained inside was Hope.
Zeus’s punishment and Pandora’s curiosity were responsible
for all of the bad things that now exist on Earth. However, as
Hope remained, humans are able to deal with these bad things.
THE MYTH OF
PANDORA
MYTH SUMMARY
WHO WERE THE MAIN CHARACTERS?
WHERE DID IT TAKE PLACE?
WHAT WERE THE MAIN EVENTS?
USE THE INFORMATION YOU GATHERED TO SUMMARIZE THE
STORY HERE.
THE MYTH OF
PERSEUS
One day, Danae, the mother of Perseus,
was approached by a king, who wanted to
marry her. Danae did to want to marry the
king. The king wanted to force her to marry
him, but knew Perseus would never let that
happen.
In order to get Perseus out of the way,
the King asked Perseus to bring him the head
of Medusa, the evil Gorgon, as a gift to him.
Medusa had snakes for hair, and could turn
people to stone simply by looking at them. The
king knew this was a very dangerous task, and
hoped that Perseus would die in the process.
This way he would be free to marry Danae.
At first, Perseus struggled with finding
Medusa’s lair. Because of this, he prayed to
the gods for help. Athena and Hermes
answered his call, and rewarded him with
winged sandals, a sword, a bag, and a shiny
shield.
THE MYTH OF
PERSEUS
Perseus approached Medusa’s lair, where he found the three
Gorgons sleeping. Perseus was able to defeat Medusa by using
his shield as a mirror. By looking in the shiny shield, Perseus was
able to see where Medusa was without looking at her. This
allowed him to kill her without being turned to stone. He took
her head, placed it in a bag, and used the flying sandals given to
him by Hermes to escape before the other Gorgons could wake
and catch him.
When he returned to the King, Perseus discovered that his
mother had been made a slave. She had refused to become the
King’s wife, which resulted in her being forced to become his
servant. When asked to see the head, Perseus got his revenge
by pulling the head from the bag and showing it to him. When
the King looked into Medusa’s eyes, he was promptly turned to
stone.
THE MYTH OF
PERSEUS
MYTH SUMMARY
WHO WERE THE MAIN CHARACTERS?
WHERE DID IT TAKE PLACE?
WHAT WERE THE MAIN EVENTS?
USE THE INFORMATION YOU GATHERED TO SUMMARIZE THE
STORY HERE.