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{{Useful Notes|wppage=Classical mythology}}
[[File:mount-
The mythology of ancient Greece and Rome is the [[Older Than Feudalism]] source of many tropes, as well as well-known gods, heroes and monsters. An important element of [[Ancient Greece]], [[The Roman Republic]] and [[The Roman Empire]].
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Classical mythology is sometimes referred to as [[Greek Mythology]] by people who don't think the Romans contributed much, and those who prefer not to lump Greek and Roman myths together.
For the record: the main alteration of the Romans was to rename all the characters, and produce the ''[[
However, contrary to common belief, Roman mythology isn't ''completely'' identical; according to Rome's own legends became closer to Greek mythology around the end of the monarchy and the foundation of [[The Republic]]. Before that, Roman mythology was ''probably'' (though records are sparse) more similar to that of their closer neighbors - the Etruscans. Take, for instance, the emphasis on complicated divination methods that were alien to the Greeks or the fact that some of their gods, such as [[Germans Love David Hasselhoff|Mars]] or [[Hero
Essentially, think of the Roman version as a [[Continuity Reboot]] if that helps. It's not really, but it's a close enough analogy.
The ''Aeneid'' was a sequel to and imitation of the Greek ''[[The Iliad
The central figures of Greek mythology were the [[Classical Mythology/Characters|Twelve Olympians]]: '''Zeus''', '''Hera''', '''Poseidon''', '''Demeter''', '''Ares''', '''Hermes''', '''Hephaestus''', '''Aphrodite''', '''Athena''', '''Apollo''', '''Artemis''', and '''Hestia'''. '''Hades''' lived in the Underworld and thus was not an Olympian; Hestia was sometimes not counted because she gave up her seat to '''Dionysus'''.
In Homer's portrayal, they were basically [[Physical God|super-powered humans]] without [[Comes Great Responsibility|the super-]] that comes standard with powers these days. Zeus, for example, was a philandering rapist, responsible for a large share of the [[Half-Human Hybrid|god-human hybrids]] running around. Many of these became great heroes, the most famous of which was '''Hercules/Heracles/Herakles'''. Though you'd think Zeus's wife and [[Brother-Sister Incest|sister]] Hera would be a sympathetic character, she spends most of her time taking out her frustrations on said heroes, probably because Zeus, said to be more powerful than all the other gods and goddesses combined, was beyond her ability to take any meaningful revenge on. Other gods engaged in similar behavior. Hades, while [[Hijacked
The '''Titans''' were a previous generation of gods overthrown by Zeus, though in [[The Theme Park Version]] they tend to be treated as another class of beings entirely. There were also minor gods such as the '''Muses''', '''Graces''', and countless nymphs, plus various monsters which you can today read about in the ''[[Dungeons
Also there are the oft forgotten, primordial gods that preceded the Titans, '''Gaia''' being the most well known of them (though often [[Did Not Do the Research|mistaken for a titan]]).
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While the Romans generally tried to identify their deities with the Greek ones, there were a few Roman/Italic ones for which no exact Greek equivalent could be found, e.g. '''Flora''' and '''Bellona'''. The former was a nymph-like goddess of flowers and spring (most similar to '''Chloris'''), and the latter was a goddess of war variously identified as Mars' wife or sister (most similar to '''Enyo''').
It should be noted that Greek and Roman religious ideas were not monolithic. In later years, people began worshiping all kinds of newfangled eastern gods. [[Plato]] wanted to outlaw [[
In addition to all this, the Greeks (and, later, the Romans) had a habit of identifying and referring to other people's gods by the names of their own deities. So a Germanic tribe might be said to said to worship Mercury if their principal god was similar enough to the guy; it helped that many of the peoples they came in contact with (the Celts and Germans in particular) were Indo-European and thus their mythologies [
Characters from this period are universally recognizable to viewers thanks to a dress code heavy in drape-and-cinch unpatterned linens, plus, they've all made the uncanny decision to speak with a [[British Accent]].
For further details, see the [[Classical Mythology/Characters|character sheet]].
* ''[[
* ''[[
** ''[[
** ''[[
* Most of the works of ancient Greek tragic playwrights [[
* ''[[
* ''[[
{{tropenamer}}
Greek Mythology has been very influential in literature, art, and many other things so it's named a lot of Tropes. [[Trope Namers/Oral Tradition/Classical Mythology|See the list here.]]
* [[Achilles' Heel]]
* [[Achilles in His Tent]]
* [[An Aesop]]
* [[Answering Echo]]
* [[Cassandra Truth]]
* [[Hydra Problem]]
* [[Lotus Eater Machine]]
* [[Narcissist]]
* [[Scylla and Charybdis]]
{{tropelist}}
== A-C ==
* [[Achilles' Heel]]: [[Trope Namer]] that is surprisingly not ''[[
* [[Achilles in His Tent]]: [[Trope Namer]] again, though not the only example.
* [[Actually, I Am Him]]: Odysseus disguised as a tramp.
* [[Adam and Eve Plot]]: Deucalion and Pyrrha.
* [[Adaptational Villainy]]: Odysseus (or Ulysses) was considered a slimy villain by the Romans, who thought of themselves as the descendants of the Trojans, and their portrayals of him tended to reflect this.
** Although e. g. the Julian family was proud to claim descent from Ulysses through Aeneas' wife Lavinian (who was descended from Odysseus' grandsons Latinus and Italus).
* [[Aerith and Bob]]: For modern readers, anyway. Amongst names like Hercules, Theseus and the like, it's strange to come across the still common name "Jason".
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** There are a number of tales in which Zeus [[Casanova|seduces or forces himself on pretty girls]] while taking seemingly random shapes.
*** Ganymedes was an example of when he did that to a guy, he then made Gadymedes his cupbearer, kicking out Hebe, his daughter by Hera. Ganymede was Trojan, giving Hera yet another reason to hate Troy. [[Hair-Trigger Temper|Then again she tends to hate everything.]]
** There are very few subversions in any of the myths. Perseus is one, as are Hector and Protesilaus. Eros and Psyche avert the
*** And Bellerophon who had an entire city's women strip off and throw themselves at him (he was threatening to use his father Poseidon's power to destroy the city). He panicked and fled.
* [[All of the Other Reindeer]]: The other gods ostracized, mocked and pitied Hephaestus because he was ugly, despite him being the creator of all their [[Iconic Item
** Some myths state his own mother (Hera) threw him out of Olympus after his birth when she saw that he was deformed... Fortunately there were some nice nymphs that raised him (and he gets his revenge on her later on when he returns to Olympus).
** Sometimes Hades as well.
* [[All-Star Cast]]: About half the point of the story of the ''Argo'', Hunt of the Calydonian Boar, and the Battle of the Lapiths were to gather a ridiculous number of well-known heroes together in one place.
* [[Alternate Company Equivalent|Alternate Mythology Equivalent
** Also Apollo and [[Norse Mythology|Freyr]], Hades and [[Finnish Mythology|Tuoni]] and etc.
** The weekdays Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday are named after the Norse/Germanic gods Tiw, Wodan, Thor, and Freya. In the Romance languages, their names are different: For example, in Italian, they're called Martedi (Mars), Mercoledi (Mercury), Giovedi (Jove/Jupiter), and Venerdi (Venus). The implication is that Mars is equivalent to Tiw, Mercury to Wodan, Jupiter to Thor, and Venus to Freya. (Incidentally, it also means that the names of the days of the week are named after [[
* [[Amazon Admirer]]: One of Heracles's twelve labors was to deliver Hippolyta's belt to the king that he served. Hippolyta was more than fine with that because she truly liked him. She handed over the belt, no argument or negotiation required. Alas, Hera intervened and staged a fight when she framed Heracles for kidnapping Hippolyta. In some versions of the myth, Heracles killed Hippolyta in the skirmish before she could defuse the situation. During others, he handed her to Theseus for safekeeping, but she married Theseus of her own volition.
* [[And I Must Scream]]: Those [[Taken for Granite|unfortunate enough]] to gaze upon the face of Medusa.
** Which is where we get the word petrified
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* [[Angel Unaware]]: Zeus and Hermes did this in the legend of Baucis and Philemon.
* [[Answering Echo]]: The story of Echo and Narcissus is the [[Trope Maker]].
* [[Anthropomorphic Personification]]: Nyx (personification of night), her husband and [[Brother-Sister Incest|little brother]] Erebus, and every. Single. One. Of. Her. Children. And grandchildren, too.
* [[The Archer]]: Even when bow and arrows were seen as "unmanly" weapons, many heroes and gods were master archers: Apollo, Heracles, Paris, Philoctetes, Odysseus. And there is Artemis, a goddess. Not to mention Eros.
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: Several.
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** Also Hephaestus, to his half-sister Athena.
** There's also Atalanta, who, after making a vow of chastity to Artemis, had to kill two centaurs, Rhaecus and Hylaeus, who tried to rape her (some accounts say Meleager killed them). In fact, Centaurs are a common victim (or criminal?) of this trope. They go around trying to rape just about anything with a vagina. The whole Centauromachy happened because the centaur Eurytion tried to rape a woman in a wedding and that woman happened to be the bride. One centaur with amazingly big balls called Nessus tried to rape Deianeira, Heracles' wife. Heracles killed him.
* [[At the Crossroads]]: The Ur-example and [[Trope Maker]] is probably the goddess Hecate who was goddess of the crossroads as well as her prominent realms of the dead, ghosts, magic, night and moonlight (if you didn't live in a region big on Artemis or Selene). Like other deities of paths such as Hermes or the Roman Janus, her offerings would be placed at the crossroads so she would control the evil spirits that walked along them. The Romans had a comparable deity Trivia (though one a bit [[Darker and Edgier]]) so this aspect continued strongest. This rite survived for quite a while into the Christianisation of Europe which leads to religious figures specifically demonising the practice which leads to the strong [[Deal
* [[Attention Deficit Ooh Shiny]]: Atalanta, who's distracted from a footrace by [[How Do You Like Them Apples?|sparkly golden apples.]]
* [[Aw, Look -- They Really Do Love Each Other]]: While [[Hypocritical Heartwarming|Zeus himself]] does a lot of morally ambiguous things to [[Casanova|mortals]], if anyone besides him tries to make a move on Hera (or Leto), he reacts instantly and violently.
* [[Back
** Though in Orpheus's case, he came back from Hades, and hadn't really died.
** Persephone does this every year, but doesn't count since she's a goddess.
* [[Badass Bookworm]]: Athena, goddess of [[Gadgeteer Genius|arts and crafts (or possibly technology, depending on your translation)]], [[The Philosopher|philosophy]], and [[The Strategist|strategy]].
* [[Baleful Polymorph]]: Medusa, Scylla, Arachne, Io and the [[Exactly What It Says
** Not to mention the sailors who landed on Circe's Island...
* [[Be Careful What You Wish For]]: Midas.
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** Pretty much the ''only'' thing that will make Hades attack a mortal is trying to cheat death, for the most part.
*** Also if they try to abduct his wife Persephone. Just ask Theseus and Pirithous.
* [[Best Her to Bed Her]]: Atalanta only agreed to marry whoever could outrun her in a footrace.
* [[Bolt of Divine Retribution]]: Zeus was known for hurling thunderbolts at people who annoyed him.
* [[Blind Seer]]: Tiresias.
* [[Big Badass Bird of Prey]]: Aethon, a giant eagle among the offspring of [[Cosmic Horror|Typhon]], sent to punish Prometheus. Also the Stymphalian birds (when not portrayed as [[Ravens and Crows|corvids]] or [[Killer Rabbit|cranes]]), and the harpies and sirens, [[Our Gryphons Are Different|gryphons]] and the peryton all had traits from them.
* [[Bi the Way]]: Nearly everyone has had sex with at least one member of the same sex, and yet are married. In the case of goddesses and important human females, this was more implied, while in with males it was more obvious.
* [[Bishonen]]: Ganymede (which is why Zeus went after him).
** Apollo counts, too.
** Eros, every version of him is described as 'the fairest of the deathless gods'.
* [[Blasphemous Boast]]: the gods are quick to take offense and retaliate when they catch anybody doing this.
** [[
** Queen Niobe brags in public that she has more children than "poor" Leto (the mother of Apollo and Artemis!). The two promptly take it upon themselves to [[Disproportionate Retribution|avenge their mother]] by [[Revenge
** A certain Arachne claims she's a better weaver than Athena? Let's just say there's a reason we call spiders 'arachnids' today...
*** This myth is referenced in [[Cryptonomicon]], where the teller of the tale points out that Athena plays fair during the challenge and actually admits Arachne is as good as she thinks she is. It's not Arachne's blasphemy, but rather her hubris, that results in her being cursed.
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** In one version of the story, Medusa got turned into a monster after having an affair with Hepaestus, and then claiming that she was more beautiful than his wife Aphrodite, goddess of beauty.
** Aphrodite had to deal with this a lot, apparently, since suitors were saying that Psyche (who ended up being [[Misplaced Retribution|the one to catch flack for their boasting]]) was more beautiful than her.
* [[Born
* [[Broke Your Arm Punching Out Cthulhu]]: Sisyphus managed to cheat death by chaining up Thanatos. However, doing so messed up the whole cycle of life and death. So eventually the impulsive Ares frees Thanatos (because a war without death would be boring), and Sisyphus was dragged to underworld. He then gets back again by telling Hades that he has to punish his wife because she didn't bury him properly (he told her to do so, the cheater) and lived on like some insurance cheater for some decades until finally dying once and for all. His punishment? Sisyphus must roll a boulder up a steep hill... But it will always roll back down again whenever he's almost at the top, forcing him to perform this pointless task forever.
* [[Broken Aesop]]: Considering how many of the gods and goddesses are [[Karma Houdini
** The Greek gods pretty much epitomized the idea of "do as we say, not as we do" even ''before'' [[Values Dissonance]] gets added in.
* [[Brother-Sister Incest]]: Like most mythologies, Classical Myth also has lots of pairings between family members, as the various generations of gods are siblings and children of the previous one. Starting with Gaea and Uranus (mother and son), to their children Kronos (Saturn) and Rhea, to their children who are the current generation of gods. Notable sibling pairs among them are e.g. Zeus (Jupiter/Jove) and Hera (Juno), Demeter (Ceres) with both Zeus and Poseidon (Neptune), etc.
* [[Brother-Sister Team]]: Artemis and Apollo, naturally.
* [[The Call Twinks You]]: Perseus.
* [[Calling the Old Man Out]]: Uranus cruelly imprisoned his children - including the Titans - until one Titan, Kronos, attacked and castrated him. Kronos then proved to be just as bad a ruler, swallowing his own children whole, until his son Zeus successfully overthrew him. Zeus proved to be as bad as his father and grandfather, but [[Karma Houdini|avoided their fate]].
* [[Casanova]]: Zeus's appetite for pretty mortal girls (and occasionally boys, according to a few authors) is quite storied. And with Hera breathing down his neck, he got ''very'' creative with disguises for his conquests. He once did the deed as an ''ant''.
* [[Canon Welding]]: The Roman Pantheon was originally distinct from the Greek one, but as Rome came under the influence of Greek culture, the Roman gods were equated with the Greek ones and by and by adopted all their attributes. The ''[[
* [[The Cassandra]]: Cassandra.
* [[Cassandra Truth]]: [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Cardboard Prison]]: Arguably, Hades.
* [[Chained to
* [[Chaos Entity]]:
** Chaos is the first thing that existed, and the Titans such as Gaia, Tartarus, and Eros were born from it.
** Eris is the Greek goddess of discord and strife but wasn't known to have a temple in ancient Greece; thus, often, she acts more like a personification. She is famous for initiating the Trojan War using the Apple of Discord inscribed with the phrase “To the Fairest One” for the goddesses to argue over. Paris, the prince of Troy, was chosen by Zeus to choose Helen, the wife of Menelaus of Sparta, and doomed his city, which led to its destruction.
* [[Clingy Jealous Girl]]: Hera is a Jealous Wife, but rightfully so, because her job as goddess of family and marriage runs in direct opposition to her husband's ''very'' promiscuous ways. She even torments the poor girls Zeus rapes.
** Persephone turned the nymph Minthe into the mint plant as revenge for trying to sleep with her husband.
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* [[Conjoined Twins]]: Depending who you ask, Geryon is a group of conjoined ''triplets.''
* [[Continuity Snarl]]: Even if you stick to just the Roman or just the Greek myths, ''don't'' expect consistency.
* [[Contrasting Sequel Character]]: The current gods, mainly Zues and the gang, got different personalities, got human appearing appearances, and even have powers that are in stark contrast to their predecessors, the titans, who were just giants or appears as typical monsters.
== D-F ==
* [[Dark Is Not Evil]]: Usually it is, but [[Sadly Mythtaken|Hades]] and a few other death related entities appear as being neutral if not downright helpful towards humans.
** Contrary to modern portrayals, Hades is supposed to be [[Tall, Dark and Handsome]] as well.
* [[Death
* [[Death Takes a Holiday]]: Sisyphus and Thanatos.
* [[Depending
* [[Did Not Do the Research]]: A character, Paris, who (if he had) might have realized that his current squeeze, Helen of Sparta, was actually protected by an oath amongst many leading Greek heroes, all of whom had competed for her hand in marriage but feared that, if they won, the others would gang up on him. Finally Odysseus said, "Let's all swear that, whoever she chooses, we'll all defend that man against interlopers if necessary." They did. This is how her husband Menelaos managed to convince a not-really-unified collection of city-states to go to war against Troy.
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: In the [[Alcestis
** In the ''Iliad'', with the help of Athena the mortal hero Diomedes wounds both Aphrodite and Ares and drives them off the battlefield. But Aphrodite got her revenge, making Diomedes' wife fall in love with another men, which led to him being driven into exile.
* [[Different for Girls]]: Achilles in a disguise.
* [[Disproportionate Retribution]]: [[Wild Mass Guessing|Maybe they all want to make an example of those foolish mortals?]]
** [https://web.archive.org/web/20130913093624/http://regretfulmorning.com/2009/02/8-overkill-punishments-dished-out-by-greek-gods/ This list] of [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|the 8 Overkill Punishments]] Dished Out By Greek Gods goes to show that if the gods are not acting towards hubristic humans the way a human king would act towards a disrespectful subject, they are laying elaborate traps that make escape from punishment impossible.
* [[Divine Date]]: Zeus was notorious for doing this behind Hera's back, though a fair number of other gods were willing to give it a try.
* [[Divine Parentage]]: lots and lots of examples. Many were children of Zeus, like Perseus, Heracles and Helen. Aeneas was a son of Aphrodite.
* [[Does Not Like Men]]: Artemis. While Athena and Hestia were also virgin goddesses, at least they weren't hostile towards the idea of even ''meeting'' a man. Ask poor Achteon, who was transformed into a deer, then eaten ''by his own hunting dogs'' for ''accidentally'' peeping on her...
** Sometimes averted in the myth of Orion, the greatest hunter in the history of the world, who she fell in love with and was going to marry. However, her [[My Sister Is Off
*** Another version of the myth had him create [[Scary Scorpions|Scorpio]] to kill Orion, who, when he couldn't beat it by himself, sought Artemis for help while she was practising archery on an island. Apollo still tricked her into sniping him, and she got revenge by killing Scorpio and [[Ascend to
* [[Don't Look Back]]: The Orpheus story.
* [[Double Standard]]: See Calypso's rant at the beginning of the ''Odyssey'' about how gods get to sleep around, but goddesses don't. Note that bad things can happen to consorts of either.
** The [[Double Standard]] was reversed in those days from what we're used to: [[All Women Are Lustful]].
** On the other hand, in Homeric Hymns, we are told that while Hestia, Athena, and Artemis are immune to Aphrodite's power, Aphrodite had mated every god with mortal women, and every other goddess with mortal men. The hymn then recounts how Zeus saw to it that she got mated to a mortal man, to avoid too much trouble in Olympus.
* [[Double Standard Rape (Divine
* [[Downer Ending]]: Many myths have this kind of ending, although there are some that have a [[Bittersweet Ending|somewhat happy ending]].
** Even the great heroes like Perseus, Theseus, Hercules, Jason and Bellerophon always meet unfortunate ends.
* [[Dressing
* [[Driven to Suicide]]: When Oedipus answers the riddle correctly, the sphinx is ''so'' upset that she kills herself.
** Also Narcissus, who was cursed to fall in love with his own reflection by Aphrodite as punishment for cruelly rejecting all the girls (and [[Erastes Eromenos|guys]]) who fancied him. Realising he could never love anyone else so much, he either stabbed himself or threw himself into a river.
** This trope is hardly uncommon, especially in Greek tragedy: going back to Oedipus, Jocasta did not take the news of the revelation well. Then later we have Antigone, Haemon, Eurydice... and that's just the Oedipus trilogy.
* [[Dude, She's Like, in
* [[Due to
** Or you die because you actually DID it (or because of laws that want to prevent that)... ask [[
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: Chaos, according to [[
** Really, every single one of the protogenoi, specially Ouranos and Nix, fall into this, when not manifesting themselves as [[Humanoid Abomination|pretty people]].
** The Hekatonkheires. Embodiments of natural disasters like Tsunamis, Earthquakes & Volcanic Eruptions, born with fifty heads and one hundred arms, and big enough that mountains are literally throwing rocks to them.
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* [[Enthralling Siren]]: Between two and five of them, and they lured sailors to their death on the rocks.
* [[Eye Scream]]: Oedipus, and HOW.
** Polyphemus (the Cyclops in ''[[
* [[The Fatalist]]
* [[Father Neptune]]: Or should we say Poseidon.
* [[Fear Is the Appropriate Response]]: ''Every single one'' of the gods flee to Egypt when Typhon [[Incredibly Lame Pun|storms]] Olympus, leaving Zeus and Athena alone to defeat him.
* [[Femme Fatale]]: Aphrodite - perhaps the original model. She was a ''huge'' [[Jerkass]] when crossed, but not completely evil.
* [[Flanderization]]: At least, the way that we remember the myths nowadays is probably way Flanderized from the way that the ancient Greeks would have recalled the gods. Zeus, remember, was the [[Reasonable Authority Figure|god of law, hospitality, and civilization in general]] to them, not ''just'' Mr. [[Casanova]].
** Also, nymphs were basically just elves, despite the fact that most people today think of them as benevolent versions of [[Horny Devils]].
* [[Food Chains]]: Persephone (Roman: Proserpine), whose ill-timed snack in the Underworld dooms her to stay there.
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* [[Genius Bruiser]]: Athena, being the Greek goddess of both warfare and wisdom. Minerva is her Roman equivalent.
** Also Theseus and Odysseus.
** Heracles is mostly recalled as a [[Hot
** Hephaestus bested Ares using his skills as a smith, considerable wit and formidable strength. Not bad for a guy often considered a joke by the other Gods.
* [[Girl in
* [[Girls with Moustaches]]: Even period art depicts the Chimera as having a mane, even though it was female.
* [[God Is Evil]]: Zeus, the king of the gods, appears often as a rapist and a [[Manipulative Bastard]] in some myths, despist his modern [[Sadly Mythtaken|usually benevolent portrayal]]. His father Chronus/Kronos and his grandfather Uranus weren't any better... if not worse. See also [[Jerkass Gods]].
* [[The Great Flood]]: Deucalion and Phyrra again, as well as two other stories.
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* [[Happily Married]]: Baucis and Philemon. Also Hades and Persephone.
** As previously mentioned, Eros and Psyche, surprisingly.
* [[Happy Ending]]: Though often overshadowed by [[Bittersweet Ending
* [[Has Two Mommies]]: According to a Roman myth, Juno (Greek name: Hera) became pregnant with Mars (Ares) after being touched by a herb grown by the goddess Flora. She did this to get her own back at Jupiter (Zeus) for giving birth to Minerva (Athena).
* [[Hereditary Curse]]: Tantalus prepared his own son Pelops as food for the gods. Not only was he himself punished for this gruesome act (but this is another story...) but also a curse was laid upon the next four generations of his house. How did this curse manifest itself? Let's just say that the House of Atreus (named after Tantalus' grandkid) took being a [[Dysfunctional Family]].
* [[He's Back]]: Odysseus (finally).
* [[High
* [[Horned Humanoid]]: Minotaurs and Satyrs.
* [[Hot
* [[Hydra Problem]]: [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Hubris]]: This was the biggest sin possible in Classical Mythology, as it implied disrespect toward the Gods.
* [[I Ate What?]]: O hai Tantalus! Listen, it was really nice of you to invite us gods over for dinner, especially after we threw you off Olympus for stealing our ambrosia. But no harm, no foul! Mmmm... this sure is tasty... how did you get the meat so soft and... wait a second... [[I Am a Humanitarian|where's your son?!]]
* [[Idiot Ball]]: Probably not the only case, but the biggest: Rhea fooled her husband Kronos from devouring little baby Zeus by giving him a stone in diapers.
* [[I Gave My Word]]: When they swear by the Styx, even the gods have to come through.
* [[I Have Many Names]]: The Romans' practice of labeling foreign gods as versions of their own added to this effect. Roman religious ceremonies involved the priest listing all of the names for a given god - which could be quite extensive.
* [[Information Wants to Be Free]]: The Prometheus myth. Secret of fire given to the mortals against the gods' will. [[Older Than They Think]]? Yup.
* [[Inhumanly Beautiful Race]]: Most immortals, particularly the Olympian deities, though there are some notable exceptions. Hephaestus (known to the Romans as Vulcan), for example, was one of the few gods noted for his bad looks.
* [[In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You]]: In a strange sort of [[Fridge Brilliance]] / [[Hilarious in Hindsight]] example, the Amazons. In the myths, they were just about the only civilization at the time where women oppressed men instead of the other way around. And according to Herodotus, they inhabited parts of what is now Ukraine and Russia.
* [[Instrument of Murder]]: During a music lesson from the lyrist Linus, Hercules once took some criticism the wrong way, and bashed Linus' head in with his own lyre.
* [[It Was a Gift]]
== J-L ==
* [[James Bondage]]: Prometheus.
* [[Jerkass Gods]]: None of the Greek pantheon were capital E evil, but they could all be petty, spiteful, vindictive, and a host of other unpleasant adjectives.
** This is averted by the likes of Hestia (the goddess of the hearth), Helios (the god of the sun), and Selene (the goddess of the moon), who were all actually pretty benign. (Note however that Helios and Selene weren't part of the main pantheon.) Demeter and Hades were slightly different in that Hades never harassed mortals who didn't screw with ''him'' first, while Demeter was quite understandably upset by the loss of Persephone. When Persephone comes back for six months of the year in spring and summer, Demeter cheerfully attends to her duties as a fertility goddess.
* [[Karma Houdini]]: Many gods and goddesses have a tendency to screw up the lives of various people and get away with it. One example, when Medusa had sex with Poseidon (or in some versions of the story, got raped by Poseidon) in Athena's temple, Athena punished the mortal Medusa by turning her into a snake-haired monster... Poseidon was never punished for this.
** Also worth noting is ''[[
*** She's sided with for a few reasons: First, Jason's patron goddess was Hera, goddess of marriage - fairly obvious why Jason betraying Medea after marrying her didn't go over well with Hera. Second and more importantly, Jason had initially been so moved by Medea's devotion to him that he swore an oath to all the Twelve Lords of Olympus that he would stay with her forever. Meaning that when he abandoned her later, ''this was a direct affront to the entire pantheon,'' and Medea was considered a tool of divine vengeance instead of a murdering psycho. Essentially, her actions are the result of Jason having his [[Karma Houdini]] privileges revoked.
* [[Kill It
* [[Light Is Not Good]]: Light gods like Apollo and, possibly, Hyperion, are no better than the other gods (Apollo, for instance, is also a god of plague). Also Aethon, the giant eagle that was sent to punish Prometheus, has a name meaning "burning" or "blazing".
** Both Hesiod and Homer described the god of war Ares with light attributes, such as having golden armour and light.
* [[Loads and Loads of Races]]: Easily has more fantastical races than any other mythology.
* [[Lotus Eater Machine]]: [[Trope Namer]] from ''[[
* [[Love At First Sight]]: A few examples, usually caused directly by some god or goddess [Usually Eros and/or Aphrodite].
** Eros, after a quarrel with Apollo, got back at him by shooting him with an arrow that made him fall in love with Daphne at first sight, after he shot Daphne with an arrow that made her (in simplest terms) hate at first sight.
** Narcissus was considered so beautiful that every woman who looked upon his face fell instantly in love with him, but he would always spurn such people and break their hearts. He was cursed to fall in love with his own reflection after spurning several nymphs this way.
*** And in other versions, falling in love with his own reflection was punishment for spurning probably much older * male* suitors. [[Values Dissonance]]? Perhaps.<ref>
*** No matter who else got rejected by Narcissus, the last person is always Echo in an exceptionally cruel manner. Since she had the misfortune of getting cursed to repeat only what people said to her, it was a big problem when Narcissus needed directions to the nearest city. He had no way of knowing she was cursed, but it doesn't mean he should have called Echo an idiot and gone out of his way to avoid her. Rather understandable that Aphrodite considered this the last straw — especially since Echo was so in love with him that she couldn't bear to cause him harm, even to seek justice for herself.
** Hades and Persephone. A bit one-sided, but basically he (also) gets shot with Eros' arrow of love. Instant attraction and abduction ensues.
*** Oddly enough, they end up the most stable (and presumably happy) couple in Greek mythology. It probably helped that he lavished gifts and non-sexual attention on her to genuinely win her over — and unlike Zeus, he (practically) never cheats
** Even Eros was not immune to this. Aphrodite, Eros' mother, because she was jealous of the beautiful Psyche, asked Eros to shoot her with an arrow so that she would fall in love with someone repulsive at first sight, but Eros ended up falling in love at first sight with Psyche. Fortunately for him it was not one-sided.
* [[Love Makes You Crazy]], [[Love Makes You Dumb]]: Helen of Troy,<ref>"Helen of Sparta" is technically correct as she was Menelaus' wife. "Helen of Troy" is technically correct as well, at least after her defection (or kidnapping) to Troy. As to why people think of her as "Helen of Troy" regardless... chalk it up to [[Memetic Mutation]]. The whole Troy business ''is'' what she's most well-known for.</ref>
* [[Lover and Beloved]]: Goes hand-in-hand with the [[Ho Yay]].
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* [[Murder the Hypotenuse]]: Hera, Hera, Hera... well she ''is'' goddess of marriage, so she can't exactly let that go...
* [[My Name Is Not Durwood]]: The names of many of their Roman equivalents are far more known (Hercules being the most famous example).
** [[The Spirit (
* [[Naked First Impression]]: Never peep on a goddess. '''IT WILL NOT END WELL'''.
** Referring to the myth where a hunter is out in the woods and comes upon a spring where Artemis is bathing. She catches him gawking, goes all "YOU PEEPING TOM!!!" and turns him into a stag. Then his own hounds tear his throat out.
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* [[No Eye in Magic]]: Perseus looked at the Gorgon through a mirror/his shield so he didn't get killed by looking directly at it.
* [[No Good Deed Goes Unpunished]]: Prometheus.
* [[Oh Crap]]: Several mortals have experienced this when they realize they've just crossed one of the gods, with Lycaon being just one example.
** Subverted with Acoetes, who repeatedly tried to talk his fellow pirates out of kidnapping Dionysus. Dionysus destroys the rest of the crew [[Depending
* [[Only Sane Woman]]: Hestia, who is well aware her family is [[Incredibly Lame Pun|divinely]] [[Big Screwed-Up Family|messed up]], and so abdicated her place among the Olympians to Dionysus.
* [[Orphan's Plot Trinket]]
* [[Orphean Rescue]]
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* [[Proper Lady]]: What Hera was supposed to be, before she was flanderized into Zeus's [[Yandere]]. Zeus's sister, Hestia, is more of a straight example.
* [[Rage Against the Heavens]]: Olympus is attacked more than once, and Heracles was known to get into fights with several gods.
** Gaia, mother of Earth, did it the most; first she plotted to have her husband, Ouranos, overthrown and killed by Cronus because he locked away the Gigantes, Cyclopes and Hecatonchires for their ugliness. Then, when Cronus is stupid enough to lock away the newly-freed giants after they were just freed (not to mention devour his children) she plots for Zeus to kill him. Then, as vengeance for the Olympians killing her children, the Titans (which she herself pretty much caused by the previous plot; never mind that Zeus had ''freed'' the kyklopes and hekatonkheires), she sets Typhon and the Gigantes onto the Olympians. Basically, she took offense to pretty much every generation of the gods, even when she got them into power in the first place. Brings a whole new meaning to [[
*** Gaia never was the benevolent entity that modern usage tends to [[Captain Planet|attribute to her]]. All she cared about was her deity children being able to run all over the place. Them pummeling each other? Couldn't care less.
*** Damage to the environment? [[Sadly Mythtaken|Despite what people tend to indicate today]], apparently, she still didn't give a damn.
*** Although being the one who pretty much created just about everything, worrying about the environment doesn't make much sense, you can just remake it. She would care if someone was destroying her creation because it's hers. It's also possible that the place of the Mother Earth was passed down through generations like it was said in Creation Myths of the World: An Encyclopedia: "Demeter would take the place of her grandmother, Gaia, and her mother, Rhea, as goddess of the earth in a time when humans and gods thought the activities of the heavens more sacred than those of earth." After Demeter comes Persephone until she is kidnapped by Hades and turned into the Queen of the Underworld.
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** Lots of the other gods - including Poseidon, Hermes and Aphrodite - also had several lovers, and by them, lots of kids.
*** Apollo more than made up for his sister [[Does Not Like Men|Artemis]] being a sworn virgin.
* [[Revenge SVP]]: Eris wasn't invited to a wedding, so she throws the [[Apple of Discord]] onto the table and causes Hera, Aphrodite and Athena to fight over who is prettiest. In a roundabout way, this ''kickstarted the Trojan War.''
* [[Riddle of the Sphinx]]: From the story of Oedipus.
* [[Right-Hand Attack Dog]]: Cerberus.
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** Another legend involves the winged horse Pegasus flying up to the top of Mt. Helicon and striking a rock with his hoof, creating a stream of water. It became known as the ''Hippocrene'', literally the "Fountain of the Horse"
** A third legend involves a woman named Niobe who [[Blasphemous Boast|thought herself above the goddess]] Leto. To avenge this insult to their mother's honor, Apollo and Artemis flew from Olympus and smote each of Niobe's children. In her grief, Niobe turned into a stone constantly awash in tears.
* [[Rule 34]]: And much [[Older Than They Think]], at that, what with Agostino Carraci's ''[
== S-U ==
* [[Sacred Hospitality]]: Very, ''very'' sacred. As [[What an Idiot!|noted below]], Ixion breeched this trope in the most stone-cold retarded way.
* [[The Scrappy]]: Ares is an in universe example. Zeus flat out tells him in ''[[
* [[Scylla and Charybdis]]: [[Trope Namer]] from ''[[
* [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Self Fulfilling Prophecies]]: No kidding. Someone along the line should have learned that trying to prevent, kill, or throw away an infant with [[Incredibly Lame Pun|bad prophecy]] is a surefire way of it coming back and, often completely unaware, do exactly what you tried to prevent it from doing (e.g. Perseus, Paris, Oedipus, Romulus and Remus, and many more).
* [[Semi
* [[
* [[The Smart Guy|The Smart Gal]]: Athena. She is the goddess of [[The Philosopher|wisdom]], [[Gadgeteer Genius|craftsmanship]], and [[The Strategist|strategy]]. Oh, yes and Athens named themselves after her which shows that Athenians were [[Insufferable Genius|not humble]] about their reputation in such matters.
* [[Spell My Name
* [[Swallowed a Fly]]: Zeus swallows Metis after she transforms into a fly. Cranial pregnancy ensues.
* [[Taken for Granite]]: The Gorgon's victims, Niobe (turned to stone), Amethyst (turned to crystal). Daphne is a variation - she chooses to be turned into a tree to escape from Apollo's amorous advances.
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* [[Totalitarian Utilitarian]]: The Golden Age is identified (at least in some versions) with the reign of Kronos. Now there was a prophecy that one of his children would topple him, like he had toppled his father Uranos. So Kronos ate all his children to avoid this. Not sure whether he did that for concern that the Golden Age should continue or just because he himself didn't want to lose power, but if it was the former, this would be a case.
* [[Trash of the Titans]]: Heracles having to deal with Augias's stables. By ''driving two rivers through them''.
* [[The Trickster]]: Prometheus functioned as a pro-human trickster god until Zeus locked him up. Hermes has tricks and moral transgressions as one of his hats.
* [[Troll]]: What Eris does best.
* [[True Art Is Realistic]]: Pygmalion tells Aphrodite this trope is the reason for not marrying, he simply refuses to marry until he made the most realistic depiction of the most beautiful woman in the world. Basically her. The ending takes the trope further, {{spoiler|The [[Love God|goddess of love]] brings Pygmalion's statue to life just for him to marry, since his masterpiece had become so real to him that he wanted to be with her for the rest of his life, so literally his "art" became "realistic". Plus, Aphrodite was pleased with this request.}}
* [[Truly Single Parent]]: Nyx (although exactly which ones are just hers and which ones she had by Erebus are disputed). Also her daughter Eris, to either a lesser or further extent, depending on whether you're counting number of kids had or percentage of kids born by parthenogenesis.
* [[Twincest]] [[Incest Subtext|Subtext]]: Apollo was ''not'' happy when he heard about Artemis and Orion. It didn't end well for Orion.
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*** Some texts note that after a couple of peaceful years of crossdressing and housework, Heracles became a much more calm person. What are the odds?
*** Other texts state: At first he was her slave, as punishment for killing a guy when he (Heracles, that is) was insane. Then, she married him when she recognized who he was. Then, he became decadent, and the whole cross-dressing thing started. Later, he got better and left her again.
* [[Who's
* [[Who Wants to Live Forever?]]: Tithonos, who was granted eternal life as a favour to his lover Eos, the goddess of the dawn. He was not granted eternal youth, so the gods decided to turn him into a cicada, [[Just
* [[Wild Child]]: Romulus and Remus.
** Also Herakles' son Telephos (raised by a hind) and Agamemnon's murderer Aegisthos (raised by goat).
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* [[Yandere]]: Medea. ''Sweet merciful Zeus, Medea''. {{spoiler|what she does to her own kids, and their father, is almost too gruesome to believe.}}
** Hera, too. Doesn't help that her husband is none other than Zeus.
* [[You Can't Go Home Again]]: ''[[
* [[You Can't Fight Fate]], because
** [[You Cannot Change the Future]]: An [[Aesop]] in just about every Greek story. Otherwise unstoppable [[Designated Hero
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