The book "High on Mount of Olympus" (in Ukrainian - "Gods and Goddesses of Ancient Greek Mythology") by the Italian author Giada Francia is suitable both for family reading and for an independent acquaintance of young readers with the main characters of myths and legends created by the people who lived on the Balkan Peninsula and the islands of the Aegean Sea. Plots, heroes, and symbols of ancient Greek mythology created the basis on which the entire European culture is based, from literature, art, and architecture to applied psychology and design.
The book consists of stories about the 12 main characters of the numerous pantheon of gods and goddesses of the ancient Greeks. The story about the six gods and six goddesses will be interesting to the reader because they were part of the everyday life of the Greeks. The gods were not only worshiped and offered gifts or sacrifices; the Greeks believed that each city had its patron deity, such as Athena, the goddess of wisdom and courage, after whom the city of Athena was named, and that deities controlled certain natural elements, such as Poseidon seas and oceans, or give exceptional talent and character, like Artemis - the goddess of desire. People expected help from their patrons; on the contrary, they feared their revenge if they did something that might displease a particular deity.
The Greeks endowed their gods with superhuman abilities but at the same time with character traits inherent in ordinary people. Therefore, often, under certain circumstances, gods, omnipotent and powerful, in mythical stories behave just like ordinary people: they are happy or angry (when it is Poseidon, for example, a storm starts at sea), they are cunning, they make mistakes, they even fall in love and are jealous. The ancient Greeks dedicated solemn songs (hymns) and poetry, plays to their gods; beautiful buildings: temples, altars, gardens; created sculptures embodying their likeness, which have reached our times.
