The first letter we'll start with is A. First letter of the alphabet, and first letter of our series! We'll cover Arachne, the Amazons, and Alectryon! It's okay if you haven't heard of them before, because you'll get to hear of them now!
Arachne: You might have heard a word similar to this name when in regards to spiders, which makes a lot of sense considering the origin story! Arachne was a great weaver who one day boasted that her weaving skills rivaled that of Minerva (otherwise known as Athena) which caused her to take offense and set up a contest. However, she did not start this contest as Minerva, but rather posed the challenge in the form of an old woman, further leading Arachne to thinking she could easily beat the woman. Arachne accepted and Minerva revealed her true form, and the challenge started, with the new caveat that the loser could never weave again. When the weavings were finished, what they portrayed were vastly different, with Minerva's weavings showing that the mortals were fools to think themselves equal to the gods. However, Arachne's weavings portrayed that the gods were cruel and unloving of mortals. Minerva was insulted by this and ripped Arachne's weaving, and later Arachne died. However, upon seeing her death, Minerva took pity and made Arachne into a spider, or an Arachnid so she could weave and live more without breaking the agreement. The story of Minerva and Arachne changes slightly based on who's telling it, but the basics remain the same.
Here's some more facts and notes.
Amazons: You've most certainly heard of these people before, as they're in Percy Jackson and tons of other things. The Amazons are a group of female warriors who lived in Themiscyra, which is sometimes told to be a kingdom, and other times described as an entire island. Within the island are warriors, who are almost all Demigods, though some are noted to not be, but were rather formidable in their own right, and still earned their place among the Amazons. Amazons were known for leading intense military expeditions across the world, headed by their queen, which was interesting at the time, as rulers were commonly known for staying within the safety of their kingdom and palace. The Amazons also were cited for founding many temples along the way. While the origins of their name is uncertain, and they are called by many other names, their existence is not, as the Greeks commonly met warlike women who were nomadic with many stories, and ended up assigning them all to the same group of people. The Amazons are found in many other mythologies, such as the Illiad, the story of Heracles, the myth of Theseus, and even in rumors surrounding the Trojan War. Overall, they are almost everywhere in Greek Mythologies, and they're well known, and even proven to be somewhat real.
Here's some more info.
Alectryon: The main thing to note (In my opinion) is that he is a rooster. More importantly, he was not always a rooster. Alectryon was once a young solider, who was tasked by Aries to watch the door while he spent time with Aphrodite, however, as the night went on, Alectryon failed in this job and fell asleep at his post, leading to Helios to see and tell Hephaestus, who was Aphrodite's husband. Aries, in his fury, turned Alectryon into a rooster, and Alectryon decided he would never skip on people knowing when Helios was to arrive after, always alerting people at the first sign of sunrays. This story was both to give origin to roosters, and also explain just why the crow with the sun.
Here's some more notes.
I hope this taught you something new regarding Greek Mythology! Make sure to be on the lookout for next week's post regarding the Bs of the Greek mythos!