Nauta´s Mini Mythology -Hera, Zeus, Cronus, etc. / Mini Mitología de Nauta - Hera, Zeus, Crono, etc.

Nauta

It´s June, so I am going to tell you about the queen of the gods, about her husband and his father and ten noisy soldiers and a nurse and her goats. And a fellow named Argos.

Es junio así que os voy a hablar de la reina de los dioses, de su marido y su padre y de diez soldados ruidosos y una niñera y sus cabras. Y de un individuo llamado Argos.







Hera is the queen of the Greek gods. We Romans call her Juno, and that is where the name of the month of June comes from. In this picture, she is with her servant Argos, whose body was all covered with eyes.

Hera es la reina de los dioses griegos. Nosotros los romanos la llamamos Juno, y de ahí viene el nombre del mes de junio. En el dibujo está con su sirviente Argos, cuyo cuerpo estaba cubierto de ojos.



Cows are Hera´s favorite animal, because they have big beautiful eyes like she does. But she also likes peacocks, like the one in the picture above. Peacocks came to Greece from Persia. They were consecrated to Hera because the spots on their tail looked like the eyes of Argos.

Las vacas son el animal favorito de Hera, porque tienen ojos grandes y bellos como los suyos. Pero a ella también le gustan los pavos reales, como el del dibujo de arriba. Los pavos reales llegaron a Grecia desde Persia. Los consagraron a Hera porque las motas que tienen en su cola se parecen a los ojos de Argos.



Hera´s husband is Zeus, also called Jove or Jupiter in Rome. He isn´t a good husband. He isn´t faithful and cheats on her often. Zeus thinks that because he is the god of lightning he can bully everybody. He is king of the gods because everybody is scared of him and his lightning bolts.
Why is Zeus such a tyrant? Maybe because he was traumatized during his childhood. His father
was Cronus, also called Saturn, who ruled during the Golden Age, when people were good. Do you remember the Ages of Man? I told you about them in my Mini Mythology II, on the 28th of January.

El marido de Hera es Zeus, también llamado Iove o Jupiter en Roma. No es un buen marido. No es fiel y la engaña a menudo. Zeus cree que porque es el dios de los truenos y relampagos puede dominar a todo el mundo. Es el rey de los dioses porque todo el mundo le teme a él y a sus rayos. ¿Por qué es Zeus tan tirano? Tal vez porque sufrió un trauma durante su niñez. Su padre era Crono, tambien llamado Saturno, que reinó durante la Edad de Oro, cuando los humanos eran buenos. ¿Te acuerdas de las Edades del Hombre? Os hablé de ellas en mi Mini Mitología II, el 28 de Enero.



Cronus was a sad, melancholic god, who would often sit alone in the deep of the woods and brood because he had a problem he didn´t know how to solve. He knew that one of his children would overthrow him. He didn´t want this to happen, so he decide to swallow his children the minute they were born. His wife, Rhea, didn´t like this solution at all. When she gave birth to Zeus, she decided to hide him from her husband. She gave him to the Kuretes, nine soldier-priests who hung his cradle from an oak tree.

Crono era un dios triste y melancólico que con frecuencia se sentaba solo en los mas profundo del bosque para meditar porque tenía un problema que no sabía resolver. Sabía que uno de sus hijos le iba a destronar y no quería que esto ocurriese, así que decidió tragárselos al nacer. A su mujer, Rea, no le gustaba nada esta solución. Cuando dió a luz a Zeus, decidió esconderle de su marido. Se lo entregó a los Curetes, nueve sacerdotes que tambien eran soldados y que colgaron su cuna de un roble.

So that Cronus wouldn´t hear him cry, they took turns and spent the whole day and night pretending to fight, shouting and making terrible noise clashing their swords and shields. Now, wouldn´t that drive anyone crazy?

Para que Crono no pudiese oir al niño llorar, se turnaban y pasaban el día y la noche fingiendo luchar, gritando y haciendo un ruido terrible chocando sus espadas y sus escudos. ¿A que escuchar eso volvería loco a cualquiera?


The lady in the picture above is Amalthea. She was Zeus´ nurse and fed him with the milk of her pet goats. She had a cornucopia, a horn of plenty, that was the source of inexhaustible riches. All sorts of good things came out of that horn. Zeus put the constellation Capra in the sky to honour Amalthea and her goats.

La dama del dibujo de arriba es Amaltea. Era la niñera de Zeus y le alimentaba con la leche de sus cabras. Tenía una cornucopia, un cuerno de la abundancia que era fuente de riquezas interminables. Toda clase de cosas buenas salían de ese cuerno. Zeus colocó la constelación Capra en el cielo para honrar a Amaltea y a sus cabras.


Mini Quiz

Answer True or False:
____1. Hera likes peacocks because they have eyes all over their bodies.
____2. Hera´s eyes are big and beautiful.
____3. Hera´s husband is a very kind and considerate fellow.
____4. Zeus is king of the gods because he frightens everybody with his lightning bolts.
____5. Cronos and Rhea are the parents of Zeus.
____6. The Kuretes made noise to frighten Zeus.
____7. Amalthea was Zeus´nanny.

8. What are the amoretti carrying? Yes, those little winged kids are called Amoretti.

Prize questions:

9. What is the singular of amoretti and of spaghetti? Why?

10. What is the name of the horrible painting below and who painted it?

I don´t think that's the way it happened, because when Zeus defeated him, Cronus threw up all his children out again and they were in perfect shape. Well, maybe a little traumatized also.

Yo no creo que sucediese así, porque cuando Zeus le derrotó, Crono arrojó a todos sus hijos fuera otra vez y estaban en perfecto estado. Bueno, puede que algo traumatizados también.