Mythical Creatures of Ancient Greece

Mythical Creatures of Ancient Greece Written by Elizabeth Jane Pistilnik Illustrated by Timothy Truman Focus Question What are some mythical creatures of ancient Greece, and what do they represent in that culture?

古希腊神话生物 作者：伊丽莎白·简·皮斯蒂尔尼克 插画：蒂莫西·杜鲁门 思考问题 古希腊有哪些神话生物，它们在古希腊文化中代表着什么？

Introduction. Myths are stories that help people understand important ideas, such as good and evil. Fantastic creatures were important in Greek myths.

引言 神话是帮助人们理解善恶这类重要道理的故事 神奇生物在希腊神话中占有重要地位

Centaurs Centaurs had the head and chest of a human and the body of a horse. The ancient Greeks thought centaurs were different from them because centaurs were animal -like and were driven by their feelings. The story of the centaurs began with a Greek king named Ixion who came to live with the gods. Zeus heard that Ixion had fallen in love with his wife. As a test, Zeus made a cloud that looked like his wife.

半人马 半人马拥有人类的头和胸膛，以及马的身体 古希腊人认为半人马和自己不同，因为半人马更接近野兽，受情绪驱使 半人马的故事要从一位叫伊克西翁的希腊国王说起，他原本来到众神身边居住 宙斯听说伊克西翁爱上了自己的妻子 为了试探他，宙斯变出了一朵长得和他妻子一模一样的云

Ixion fell in love with the cloud because he thought it was the wife of Zeus. The cloud gave birth to the first centaur. Zeus then made Ixion spin around and around on a wheel forever. Greeks used pictures of myths to show how they felt about events that were happening at the time. For example, the Greeks connected one of their enemies, the Persians, with the centaurs.

伊克西翁爱上了这朵云，因为他以为这就是宙斯的妻子 这朵云生下了第一个半人马 之后宙斯惩罚伊克西翁永远在轮子上不停旋转 希腊人用神话形象表达他们对当时发生的事件的看法 比如，希腊人把他们的敌人波斯人和半人马联系在了一起

Sirens. Sirens had female human heads and bird bodies. They sang beautiful songs to make sailors crash into their island. Their myth shows that self -control was important to the Greeks. The myth about the sirens says that they had been human maids to the goddess Persephone. One day, when she was picking flowers, a god took her. The sirens used their wings to look for Persephone. After they could not find her, they settled on an island.

塞壬 塞壬长着人类女性的头颅和鸟类的身体 她们唱着动听的歌，引诱水手撞到她们居住的岛屿 她们的神话体现了自控力对希腊人的重要性 传说塞壬原本是女神珀耳塞福涅的人类侍女 有一天，珀耳塞福涅摘花时被一位神掳走了 塞壬们用翅膀飞着四处寻找珀耳塞福涅 找不到珀耳塞福涅后，她们就在一座岛上定居了

The songs of the sirens drew many sailors to their island. Only a few were able to pass them by. One man played music so loud that he could not hear them. Another man was tied to his ship, and his sailors put wax in their ears.

塞壬的歌声引诱了许多水手来到她们的岛上 只有少数水手成功从她们面前驶过 有一个人奏响了格外响亮的音乐，这样他就听不到塞壬的歌声了 另一个人把自己绑在船身上，他的水手们则用蜡封住了耳朵