Les Grands Mythes

- Season 1

(2016)

The story of Zeus, father of the Gods and humanity. From the beginning of the Universe to master of Olympus. See his challenges, struggles, and rise.

Zeus combines love with order in coming to rule his new world, and yet the possibility of challenges to his power leads the gods into intrigue.

Taking revenge against Prometheus, Zeus created the first woman - the beautiful Pandora. He gave her a manipulative and deceptive character, and subjected Prometheus to terrible torture.

Having become organiser of the world, Zeus entrusted the world of the sea to his brother Poseidon, and the underworld, or the kingdom of the dead, to Hades.

The Goddess of War Athena was the wisest and most rational deity. She was born out of Zeus' skull, wearing a helmet and holding a spear. She was the protector of heroes, the State, and mankind, to whom she passed on many inventions.

Apollo and his twin sister Artemis were born under threats from the goddess Hera. Zeus' wife Hera never forgave the twins' mother - the nymph Leto - for her union with the King of Mount Olympus, and she forced Leto into exile.

Kronos revolted against his father Uranus. He severed his father's genitals, and threw them into the sea, where they mingled with the foam and gave birth to Aphrodite.

Zeus was a seducer of women. One day he lay with a mortal - Semele. Their son Dionysos was brought up by nymphs. One day he discovered the vine, and decided to travel the world teaching mankind the art of making wine out of it.

Hermes was the youngest of the Gods of Olympus. Right from birth, he was an insolent, thieving, trickster God. While still a baby, he escaped from the cave in which his mother Maia gave birth to him, and stole Apollo's herd.

Located in the bowels of the Earth, Tartarus was the prison of the Underworld, the place where fallen Gods and banished heroes ended up. The Gods also sent three men there.

Psyche is the Beauty. Concerned that his daughter did not have a suitor, Psyche's father consulted Pythia, who announced grave news: Psyche's father must leave her on a hilltop, from where a monster would come take her away.

Perseus was not meant to come into the world. Fearing the fulfilment of the prediction according to which his grandson would kill him, King Acrisius shut his daughter Danaë away in a fortified tower.

On certain evenings, the constellation of Lyra is visible in the skies. Following Orpheus' death, Zeus placed the constellation in the sky, as a tribute to the greatest poet and musician in Greek mythology.

On his quest to find the Golden Fleece, Jason asked the cruel King of Colchis and his daughter Medea, a powerful sorceress, for help. Medea fell in love with Jason, helped him to find the precious Fleece, and fled with him.

Bellerophon, the grandson of Sisyphus, one of the Greek world's worst criminals, dreamt of becoming a hero, of being equal to the Gods. But his plans got off to a bad start with the accidental murder of his brother.

Theseus was the fruit of dual paternity: Aegeus King of Athens slept with Aethra when she had just been raped by Poseidon, God of the Sea. Theseus, who grew into a strong, brave man, therefore had a double lineage - both divine and royal.

Dedalus, a prominent Greek inventor, settled in Crete among King Minos' court. Queen Pasiphaë, who had an all-consuming passion for a white bull, called upon his services.

We all know about Heracles' unequalled strength, and the twelve labours he had to carry out, but we know a great deal less about the way in which his life was turned upside down by a series of terrible curses.

Oedipus, the son of King Laius, King of Thebes, who, as a young man, having abused King Pelops' son, caused his death. The Gods forbade him to have offspring, and decreed that if Laius gave birth to a son, that son would kill him.

Antigone had two brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, as well as a sister, Ismene. One day, her sister informed her that her two brothers, who were heirs to the throne of Thebes, were fighting each other for power.