PROSERPINA Daughter of Jupiter and Ceres, wife of PERSEPHONE Pluto and queen of the lower world. THE TWELVE OLYMPIAN GODS JUPITER The greatest of all, king of heaven. ZEUS JUNO Wife of Jupiter and queen of heaven, HERA goddess of love, marriage, and births. MARS Son of Jupiter and Juno, god of war. ARES VULCAN Son of Jupiter and Juno, god of fire. HEPHAESTUS MERCURY Son of Jupiter and Maia (daughter of HERMES Atlas), the messenger of the gods. NEPTUNE Son of Saturn and Cybele, god of the sea. POSEIDON MINERVA Daughter of Jupiter and Metis, protectress ATHENE of the state, and of all useful arts. A friend of the Greeks in the Trojan War. DIANA Daughter of Jupiter and Latona, sister ARTEMIS of Apollo, generally represented as a huntress. APOLLO Twin brother of Diana, god of prophecy, APOLLO of song and music; the god who gives help and turns away evil. VESTA Daughter of Saturn and Rhea, goddess of HESTIA the hearth. CERES Daughter of Saturn and Rhea, goddess DEMETER of the earth. VENUS Daughter of Jupiter and Diöne, though APHRODITE some say she sprang from the foam of the sea; the goddess of love. OLD GREEK TALES HOW THESEUS SLAYS THE MINOTAUR By Nathaniel Hawthorne In the old city of Trœzene, at the foot of a lofty mountain, there lived, a very long time ago, a little boy named Theseus. His grandfather, King Pittheus, was the sovereign of that country, and was reckoned a very wise man; so that Theseus, being brought up in the royal palace, and being naturally a bright lad, could hardly fail of profiting by the old king’s instructions. His mother’s name was Æthra. As for his father, the boy had never seen him. But, from his earliest remembrance, Æthra used to go with little Theseus into a wood, and sit down upon a moss-grown rock, which was deeply sunken into the earth. Here she often talked with her son about his father, and said that he was called Ægeus, and that he was a great king, and ruled over Attica, and dwelt at Athens, which was as famous a city as any in the world. Theseus was very fond of hearing about King Ægeus, and often asked his good mother Æthra why he did not come and live with them at Trœzene. “Ah, my dear son,” answered Æthra, with a sigh, “a monarch has his people to take care of. The men and women over whom he rules are in the place of children to him; and he can seldom spare time to love his own children as other parents do. Your father will never be able to leave his kingdom for the sake of seeing his little boy.”