Hyacinth- Greek Mythology

Ever wanted to know the story of certain flowers? Well, to be honest, I didn't even know flowers had stories. Apparently almost anything has a story dating back to the times of the Romans. For instance, the flower Hyacinth 's story dates back to a Roman myth of the god Apollo and a very dear young friend named Hyacinth. During a game of quoits (which looks very much like the game of horse shoes check the video below for an idea of what it is, Hyacinth was mortally wounded when struck by a spear (or something like it) on the head. In his sorrow, Apollo took the blood of his dear friend and turned it into this lovely flower which blossoms in the spring to remind us of the faithful friend and his fateful death. Apollo's tears stained the new petals with Ah! Ah! as a sign of grief.

Greek Mythology- Glaucus and Scylla

I haven't been posting regularly on our Mythology stories, but I need to do it more often. Laura's drawings are just fantastic and I want to keep an account of what she is doing for the future here. The stories are also very interesting- where was I in school? I don't remember learning this stuff!

The story of Glaucus and Scylla goes a bit like this: Glaucus was a fisherman who one day noticed the fish he caught were literally moving themselves back into the water.
He ate a bit of the herbs they were laying on thinking that the herbs must carry some kind of special powers.
So, sure enough, he began to long for the water so much, he gave up his life on land to live in the water.
He fell in love with a land- girl named Sylla, but alas! She spurned his love.
Needing help to earn her love, he asked advice from the enchantress Circe, but finding her solution of despising Scylla too severe, he rejected her advice.
In her anger, Circe caused Scylla to be consumed by horrible sea monsters and ultimately changed her into a wretched rock in the ocean becoming the terror of the sea- the cause of many shipwrecks.

Bulfinch's Mythology

For Narration, I had my artistic daughter draw Ancient Greece as well as the gods and goddesses as we have been reading Bulfinch's Mythology. I have to admit, I was very apprehensive about studying about this topic, but it has proved helpful in understanding our other books in literature such as Shakespeare's Midsummer Night's Dream where certain gods were mentioned and I had no idea what it meant until now.