Greek Myths

I have decided to look at Greek Mythology as a theme for my Children's Book. I feel that Greek myths work great as Children's stories and Greek art has very distinctive style that can give my book a authentic impression.

The myths were used to explain the world around them and where it came from, they contained heroes, gods, goddesses and mythological creatures. They were part of ancient Greek religion and used in a similar way to fables of Christianity. I looked into three Greek myths that interested me and I felt could work as a children's book.

Medusa

Arnold Bocklin – Medusa (1878)

Source: www.arnoldbocklin.coma

King Polydictes set Perseus the task of bringing the head of Medusa to him, an almost impossible task that many had failed before. Medusa was a part serpent part woman was with his shiny reflective shield medusa saw her own reflection and turned to stone.

Daedalus and Icarus

Lament for Icarus – Herbert James Draper (1898)

Source: http://www.ideayayinevi.com/

There are several versions of the story. It involves Icarus and hias father Daedalus, they are locked away in a prison in the town Knossos on the island Crete by king Minos. They escape from the prison by building wings from feathers glued by wax and attaching them to their arms. Daedalus warns his not to fly to close to the sea and not to fly to close to the sun. He ignores his fathers guidance and fly's to close to the sun and wax which bonded the feathers on wings melts.

Hercules


Hercules and the Hydra By Antonio Pollaiuolo (1475)
Source: http://realastrologers.com

 

Hercules was a demigod, half mortal and half god. Son of Zeus a Greek god, Hercules is given his god like powers on earth by god of the underworld hades as he wants to other through Zeus. The king at the time was jealous of Hercules and wanted rid of him. He set him almost impossible tasks to keep him away.

 

Conclusion and Discussion

I would like to stray away from the popular choices that many children will of already heard of. I have decided Icarus is the Myth that would work best, it is not one of the most well known myths and carries a message which is directed to the youth. Icarus is a short and uncomplicated myth, There isn't many characters nor is there many set locations. This gives me the ability to concentrate on creating a design of high quality rather than concentrating on the elaborate sets and lengthy storyline.