MythoMusings

This blog will be dedicated to explaining Greek and Roman Myths.

[mythomusings]

This blog will view Greek Mythology through many works, Homer, Ovid, and so on. You can leave asks in the tab, 'Ask the Gods' for any questions you may have.

Many myths will have mature themes and I will be discussing these themes and not sugarcoating anything.

Posts may take a bit to come out due to all the research needed.

I hope you all enjoy!

Thank you so much!

[mythomusings]

The Graces

The 3 Graces are another group of daughters of Zeus with a Titaness and or nymph Eurynome (more on her later).

The 3 Graces were always that feasts for the gods along with the muses. They always were companions of Aphrodite as seen in the famous painting above by Sando Botticelli's Primavera, (1478-1482).

Aglaia; the graces of Splendor and Elegance, in some early myths she was the wife of Hephaestus.

Euphrosyne; was the embodiment of Joy and Mirth.

Thalia; was the grace of Festivity and Youth.

There was never a feast of the gods that the graces, also known as the Charites.

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The 9 Muses

The 9 Muses where daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne, which means Memory.

The 9 muses in early mentions they had no personalities until later then they each were associated with a concept.

Clio; was associated with History.

Euterpe; was Lyrical Poetry and were companions of the god Apollo, the god of Poetry.

Thalia; was the concept of Poetry.

Melpomene; was associated with Tragedy.

Terpsichore; the muse of dance.

Erato; concept of Love Poetry.

Polyhymnia; the muse of Songs to the Gods

Urania/Ourania; associated with Astronomy.

Calliope; was the concept of Epic Poetry and was probably the most notable in literature as most authors call upon Calliope to help them right or tell the story.

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Book 1 ~The Quarrel

The Iliad begins with a nine line stanza of the wrath of Achilles! His anger at Agamemnon and vise versa. These nine lines also gives us some insight into the importance of Achilles.

We learn that because of this quarrel, Achilles has refused to fight for the Greeks and therefore many Greeks have became meals for birds and dogs. Meaning death as visited the Greeks very often since Achilles stopped fighting. Achilles is the Greeks most important and best warrior. His absence in the fight is hurting the Greeks greatly.

The next stanza goes on to describe why this quarrel and how the fight played out.

We then learn that the quarrel began because of the anger of the son of Leto and Zeus, Apollo. Here is our first instance of an intrusion of a god.

Apollo is on the side of the Trojans and is mad at Agamemnon therefore he takes his anger out on the Greek camp using his arrows to strike down troops with the plague. The plague ravishes the Greek camp; (deaths mentioned in the first stanza) all because of a scorned priest and a woman. The scorned priest being Chryses and he came to the Greek camp to ask for his daughter, Chryseis, back but was refused.

In this same stanza, lines 18-19, we get small amount of Historical evidence in the context of the Greece. We learn that the Greeks have swift ships, being fast and agile and that the warriors/soldiers are being bedecked in bronze armor. These two short lines give some life to the mythology with real world fact!

Perhaps the next three lines could also be historical context in the description of the Chryses's attire that he is using a ransom for his daughter. He offers his scared diadem (crown) the emblem of Apollo, and a golden staff. He is offering his lively hood and offers a pray to Apollo so that the Greeks win the war. He offers is pray to both Agamemnon and his brother Menelaus, the ones who brought the Nations of Greece to Troy. The pray goes as follows;

"Sons of Atreus, and all you other warriors from Greece, I pray the gods who live on Mount Olympus allow you to destroy King Priam's city and safety reach your homes- if you return my darling child me. Accept this ransom, and satisfy Apollo, son of Zeus, the god who shoots and strikes from far away." (Lines 26-33).

Chryses was willing to betray his city, his patron God, for the return of his beloved daughter. I find this a great juxtaposition between Agamemnon and Chryses and how they view their daughters.

For those that may not know, when the Greeks were traveling to Troy they angered the goddess Artemis by mistakenly killing a scared stag. In order to set sail again they needed a sacrifice. Not an animal sacrifice but one of a maiden. Agamemnon sacrificed, by his own hand, his own daughter Iphigenia.

One father is willing to lose everything for his daughter back and one will sacrifice his daughter in order to start a war!

The Greek Warriors readily agreed to the ransom and pray, assuming that most of the soldiers do not want to be fighting this war, given that the war is now in its tenth year.

Agamemnon on the other hand harshly refuses, insults the man and sends him away:

"Be off with you, old man! You must not let me catch you lingering here beside our hollow ships a moment longer! And if you ever come back here again. your staff and diadem will not protect you. I will not let her go. She shall grow old a very long way from her fatherland in Argos, in my house, and work the loom, and share my bed. Now go! Do not enrage me! Go, if you want to get away alive!" (lines 40-40).

Another glaring contrast between the two men and how they show love to the daughters. Agamemnon sacrificing his daughter for favorable winds to Troy and Chryses willingly to sacrifice everything he has to get his daughter back.

Chryses leaves the Greek camp and prays to Apollo as he walks back home:

"Lord of the silver bow, now hear my prayer! Great guardian of Tenedos and Chryse and sandy Cilla! Mouse Lord! If I ever built temples to your liking, ever burned fat thighs of oxen or of goats for you, fulfill this prayer for me, and let the Greeks suffer your arrows to avenge my tears!" (lines 55-61).

He calls on Apollo as repay for the years of worship by Chryses he wants the Greeks to suffer for the disrespect from Agamemnon. Apollo hears the pray and takes vengeance and for nine days he showers his arrows into the Greek camp and starts a plague.

So far in this epic Apollo is helping the Trojans get ahead in the war by bring a plague down on the Greeks. Now the epic introduces a goddess helping the Greeks.

Hera her first mention in the epic is line 80 and comes to swift-footed Achilles and urges him to call a meeting with all the Greeks. At this meeting Achilles pleads to Agamemnon to appease Apollo or the Greeks will retreat and suffer defeat in this war.

Agamemnon calls on Thestor, a seer in the Greek camp. His skills from Apollo and is the seer that advised Agamemnon on bringing the Greek fleet to Troy. But before he speaks he asks Achilles for protection:

"I am afraid I may enrage a man who has great power over all the Greeks, whom everybody follows and obeys." (lines 105-107).

Even though Agamemnon is the leader of all the Greek fleet his men are afraid of him. They are afraid of his temper is power that no man will stand up to him.

Achilles agrees to Thestor's plea of protection and then announces that the Greeks have to do in order to appease Apollo. The plague will end once Agamemnon returns Chryseis to her father.

As we have seen every time Agamemnon speaks he rages about being told what to do. This time he insults his wife, Clytemnestra. He goes on about how much better Chryseis is much better and how much he likes her over Clytemnestra.

He then states that he wants another trophy (another woman) if he has to give up Chryseis. For some clarification during the war the Greeks would sack nearby cities for supplies like; food, weapons, other goods. During these sackings, women would be taken and then divided between the Greek generals as payment for their efforts in the sacking. Which is how Agamemnon 'won' Chryseis.

Achilles ask for Agamemnon to give up Chryseis and wait for a trophy. Asks for him to wait until the war is over and he can have 4x the amount of treasure than he has now.

Agamemnon agrees to give back Chryseis, yay, right. No. No. Big no. He agrees to give her up but wants Achilles's woman in return.

This then causes Achilles to rage: "I did not come to Troy because I wanted to fight against the warriors of Troy. They never did me any harm at all." (lines 206-208).

He calls out Agamemnon for doing nothing and getting all the spoils of war. Achilles says that he only came to Troy to please Agamemnon and Menelaus. But both could care less that Achilles does all the work and they get the best spoils. Achilles says that he would leave as not to be disrespected anymore.

Again, Agamemnon turns too insults, he believes that he himself is better than Achilles, because all of Achilles's gifts come from his mother who is a goddess. He again demands Briseis, Achilles's trophy/woman, and says that he will come himself to take her to show his superiority and that his men will return Chryseis.

Achilles fights within himself with his troubled heart, on if he should leave or fight Agamemnon. He leans towards fighting when Athena intervenes. She comes only visible to him and grabs at his chestnut hair.

Athena tells Achilles that Agamemnon will die soon due to his arrogence and that he needs to hold back and just taunt him.

Here Achilles calls Agamemnon a Cannibal King.

I've seen some discourse about this name being thrown around and how is strange or not right to call Agamemnon this.

In my opinion I don't think it is suppose to mean in a physical sense but as a metaphorical sense. Obviously Agamemnon is not eating anyone, well, lets hope he's not eating anyone.

I think Wilson is making a comment on Agamemnon's ability to lead and rule over this Greek army. That Agamemnon does not fight alongside his men that he sends men out to their deaths and is not strategic in his commands. That he is wasting soldiers because of his temper. He is wasting human life by dragging out this war with bad commands and over his ego being hurt because he is being told what to do.

Achilles then vows that he will no longer fight in the war and that one day Agamemnon will need Achilles. That the Greeks will suffer with Achilles not fighting.

Nestor then speaks up and talks of how he fought with heroes of legends like Theseus. That these men listened to him and took his advice for things. Nestor is pleading for Achilles and Agamemnon to listen to him and end this fight and forgive each other. He knows that Achilles is needed for the Greeks to succeed in this war.

Nestor's words fall on deaf ears as the meeting as Achilles makes one last speech before pulling himself and his men from the war:

"But I will keep the other things I have beside my swift black ship. You cannot come and steal a single one of them from me. And if you try- let these men be the witness- your black blood will soon spurt around my spear." (lines 399-403)

Here Achilles states that Agamemnon can have the woman he gave to Achilles but he can not take any other spoils that lay in Achilles's camp. If he so tries to take anything, Achilles will kill him.

After this speech the meeting is over. Achilles heads back to his camp. Odysseus is tasked with sailing Chryseis back to her father along with some cattle.

Agamemnon that had his men cleans themselves and sacrificed bulls and goats on the beach. Would be used as an offering to Apollo to appease.

After this offering Agamemnon sends two his men to take Briseis. Achilles is not happy when the men show up. Briseis unwillingly leaves with the men and Achilles blames all of Greeces faults during the war on Agamemnon and then once alone he cries to his mother:

"Mother, you birthed me for so short a life that Zeus, high god of thunder, on Olympus, should give me glory at the very least- but I get nothing! Now this lord of lords, this Agamemnon, so of Atreus, has disrespected me! He took my trophy! He seized it and now keeps of for himself!" (lines 465-471).

This speech is very important because she speaks of Achilles's fate. Achilles was given a choice to live a short life and have glory or live a long life with no glory. He chooses the short live and to be remembered. Which is one of the reasons he choose to go to Troy, to gain his glory.

After his prayer to his mother Thetis, a goddess she comes to the beach to comfort him. She vows to help him by going to Zeus herself, Zeus owes her a favor for her saving his life. She leaves Achilles to go to Zeus. Achilles wants Zeus to embarrass Agamemnon as Agamemnon embarrassed him by taking Briseis.

He wants the the gods to help the Trojan's too push the Greeks to the brink. He wants the Trojans to have the Greeks at the edge of defeat, so Agamemnon will beg for Achilles's help.

Odysseus arrives to give Chryses his daughter and the cattle to sacrifice to Apollo to end the plague:

"Silver Bow, guardian of Chryses, lord of holy Cilla and of Tenedos as once before you listened to my prayers, and honored me and overwhelmed the Greeks, so now, fulfill for me this new request. Drive off their deadly plague." (lines 595-600).

Apollo listens and forgives and gives Odysseus strong winds to sail back to the Trojan beaches.

Book 1 ends with Achilles seething on his beach for twelve days. His anger at Agamemnon never wavering as he waits for his mother to speak with Zeus. But, deep down Achilles longed to be back fighting.

Zeus returns to Olympus and Thetis bows before him clutching his knee in prayer;

"Father Zeus! If I have ever helped you in word or deed among the gods, fulfill this prayer for me, and glorify my son, whose fate runs faster after him than any mortal's. Now lord Agamemnon has disrespected him. He took his trophy, to keep himself. Wise Zeus, Olympian, honor him! Give the Trojan's power unitl the Greeks respect my son and grant him glory!" (lines 653-661).

Thetis in her prayer to Zeus gives Achilles request for the his revenge of Agamemnon's disrespect. Zeus agrees and Thetis leaves.

Once Thetis leaves as Hera confronts Zeus about this plan to give power to the Trojans. Remember Hera sided with the Greeks in this war. They argue and Zeus said he should not be questioned, showing that he is a tyrant.

The only God that sticks up for Hera is her son Hephaestus. We learn for stanza that Hephaestus has stuck up for Hera before and was thrown from Olympus before by Zeus. Showing that Zeus just like Agamemnon does not want to be questioned or told he is wrong.

The book ends with the gods ceasing their fighting and feasting together, unlike Agamemnon and Achilles that are still feuding over the disrespect of each other.

[mythomusings]

Iliad Analysis

I have begun my analysis of Wilson's Iliad and half way through the first book. Trying to balance work, snow, and looking for a new job. But, I thought I would post and outline of what I'll be looking for in discussion essays.

I have read the Iliad already in college but will not be comparing the two translations. One because I haven't read the first translation since early 2020, trying to block out the year and two, I did not really care for the translation. Maybe at another point in time I'll do a comparison.

Anyway, onto Wilson's translation!

I'll be making analysis posts for every book which will accumulate to 24 posts!!

I'll be looking at four main points:

1. Characterization of main/important characters.

For example:

Agamemnon

Achilles

Hector

Helen

And so on. I want to look at how they act, think, react to other characters and how they may or may not change.

2. How the Gods and Goddesses interact or intrude during the war

Athena helping the Greeks, Apollo helping the Trojans and the other many instances of their appearances.

3. How each side views the war.

What is each side fighting for? If those beliefs are the same for the individual characters.

4. Historical Context

Yes, I know the Iliad is a work of fiction being a mythology and the many appearances of the gods. But some truth maybe scattered between the lines and I'm curious to see if I can find it.

These are just the main things I'll be looking at along with discussing anything I find interesting.

Thank you for waiting for this analysis and I hope I can get posts out in a timely manner.

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Ancient Greek statues from the Parthenon in Athens, now housed the the British Museum. Part of the Elgin Marbels, Ancient Greek artworks and artifacts stole from Greece and taken to the British Museum where they are still housed to this day.

‘’’’ I consider truly that it is the greatest blessing that ever happened to this country, there being brought here.” But others did not share these thoughts.”

Source

A Century of Archaeology Discovers by Professor A. Michaelis University of Strassburg 1908.

Translated by Bettina Kahnweiler

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I can’t wait to read and analyze this book! I read Wilson’s translation of the Odyssey is college. Hopefully I can start my analysis in the New Year!

[mythomusings]

The Gods and Goddess of Greek Mythology

(Family tree of the Greek Gods and Goddess, Google Images).

The Gods came into being through Kronos and Rhea and then were completed through the many children that Zeus had.

Zeus

Zeus is the youngest of his brothers and sisters.

The supreme ruler of the Greek Gods. Zeus is the God of the sky after him and his brothers drew lots to share the universe. Other names for Zeus included Rain-god and the Cloud-gatherer. He is the wielded of the thunderbolt he used to take down his father Kronos. Zeus believes that his is the most powerful and therefore nobody can best him. But many times he is duped by the other gods like Poseidon, his brother and Hera, his wife.

Zeus is also known for his many many infidelities that result in numerous children that he tries to hide from his wife Hera. Supposedly this believe of his conquest of women came from the fact that as the religion of the Gods spread throughout Greece Zeus was merged with whichever ruling God was in that area and therefore the wife was then given to Zeus. But the later Greeks did not care for these love affairs of Zeus.

Zeus was known to the Greeks through the aegis on his breastplate. The Eagle was his scared animal and many prayed and sacrificed to him for help and guidance. Zeus's oracle was Dodona, home to his scared Oak tree. The word of Zeus was heard in the rustling of the Oak tree by the priests that reside at Dodona.

Poseidon

Poseidon is the second eldest son of Kronos.

He is the ruler of the sea as decide by the lot he choose when him and his brothers split the universe between themselves. Poseidon is considered the second most powerful God with only Zeus as his superior. The Greek civilization honored Poseidon with many prays and sacrifices due them being a seafaring culture. The sea was hugely important to the Greeks and therefore Poseidon was an honored God.

Poseidon was always depicted with his weapon, the trident. He was also commonly known as the Earth-shaker; created with the creation of Earthquakes. He is also known as the Father of Horses that he gifted to mankind. He was also associated with bulls, but so many other Gods are too.

Poseidon was married to Amphitrite, a granddaughter of the Titan of the Ocean. Poseidon created for him and his wife a magnificent palace under the sea, but Poseidon was found most often on Olympus; the home of the Gods.

Hades

Hades was the oldest brother of Poseidon and Zeus.

He is the ruler of the Underworld after splitting the universe up between himself and his brothers. He ruled over the dead in his realm of the dark from which he rarely ever left. He never really went to Olympus, never urged to go and was not wanted. He was an unpitying, inexorable, but he was not an evil god.

He was always depicted with he Helm that when wore would make the person invisible.

He was married to Persephone, the Goddess of Spring and daughter of the Goddess Demeter. He kidnapped Persephone and carried her to the Underworld were she became Queen.

He was God of the Dead, not death. The God of death was Thanatos.

Hera

Hera is the wife and sister of Zeus.

She is the protector of Marriage and woman (not a protector to the women that Zeus defiled). On Olympus she was revere and honored the same as Zeus.

She is known throughout much of mythology as the punisher of the many women that her husband Zeus slept with, even though the women were tricked and deceived into sleeping with Zeus. Her anger of punishing these women even continued on to their children over the fact that Hera never forgot.

She was venerated in every home of Greece and many woman pray to her for help in their marriage. Hera's daughter Ilithyia or Eileithyia helped women during childbirth.

The course of the Trojan War could have ended in peace with neither nation conquering the other if Hera's beauty hadn't been slighted by Paris, a Trojan Prince. Her anger only ended with the fall of Troy.

In only one story Hera was the protector of Heroes. In the quest of the Golden Fleece she protected the heroes and inspired heroic deeds. This was the only story though where she protected heroes.

For Hera the cow and peacock were her scared animals and she was a patron to the Greek city of Argos, her favorite city.

Athena

Athena was the daughter of Zeus after she sprang from his head, full grown and wearing armor. She was also the favorite of Zeus over all his children.

She is known to be a ruthless and fierce battle goddess in the Iliad, but everywhere else is depicted as war-like in defending the state and home from enemies. She is seen as the goddess of the City, protector of civilized life, crafts. She invented the bridle that helped men tame horses. Later she is the embodiment of wisdom, reason, and purity.

She was favored by Zeus and he trusted her to carry the aegis shield, which displayed the head of Medusa, and she even carried her father's thunderbolt.

Another name for Athena was Pallas Athena and she was commonly called gray-eyed, having cold gray eyes. She is one of the three virgin goddesses, called the Maiden.

She became the patron goddess of the city Athens, which was named for her. She had argument with Poseidon on who would be the patron of the city. She gives the city the Olive tree, which became her scared tree. The Owl became her symbol and scared animal.

Apollo

Phoebus Apollo was the son of Leto and Zeus and the twin brother of the Goddess Artemis.

He was born on the island of Delos. He is known as "the most Greek of all the Gods." In Greek poetry he is always depicted as a beautiful figure, mayhaps because he is the god of poetry. He is a master musician that delights the Gods on Olympus by playing his golden lyre. He is also an archer-god with his silver bow; known as the far-shooter.

He also was a healing god and taught man that art of healing. He is also the God of light and therefore the God of Truth, since he had no darkness in himself.

Delphi at the bottom of Mount Parnassus sat the Oracle of Apollo. Where heroes and other figures of mythology would go to seek help from the God of Truth. Castalia was his scared spring. Cephissus is scared river. It was believed to be the center of the world and became a pilgrimage site for those in and outside of Greece. The truth was spoke through a priestess who would go into a trance while she spoke. The trance was caused by the vapor rising from a deep cleft in the rock over which the priestess sat her legged stool, the tripod.

The Oracle of Delphi allowed for a direct link between Gods and Man. It worked as a way for men to be guided, learn divine will, and showing men how to make peace with the gods. It also allowed men to be purified to cleanse themselves even for those who have killed their kin.

Other names of Apollo include Delian because of his birth on Delos and Pythian for his slaying of the mighty python (Serpent, a large snake). The python lived in a cave in Mount Parnassus and was a very severe contest for Apollo.

The name Phoebus means brilliant or shining over the fact he was known as a Sun-god, although the Sun-god was Helios the child of the Titan Hyperion.

Some tales depicted Apollo as being cruel and pitiless, but there is very little of that left in him. He is more the beautiful and poetic God.

His sacred tree was the laurel tree. He had many scared animals the chief ones being the dolphin and crow.

Artemis

Artemis is the daughter of Leto and Zeus, the twin sister of Apollo.

She is one of the three maiden or virgin goddesses.

She is known as the Huntress, due to her love of the woods and wild.

Artemis was also a protector of the youth; Maidens.

In the myth of the Trojan War, Artemis held the Greek fleet from sailing because one of her prized animals was killed. She asked for the sacrifice of a maiden. At the last minute she whisked the girl away and replaced her with an animal.

If a woman died a painless death, they were said to have been shot by one of Artemis's silver arrows.

In early Greek Mythology she was a moon goddess, taking the place of the Titan Selene, sister of Helios.

In later years she was known as the goddess of three forms. Those forms being Selene; the sky, Artemis; the earth, Hecate; the lower world, darkness, crossroads, evil magic, awful divinity.

Artemis was the example of uncertainty between good and evil.

Her sacred items are the Cypress tree, wild animals, most commonly the Deer.

Aphordite

The goddess of Love and Beauty.

The laughter-loving goddess; mocking or sweetly.

The birth of Aphrodite is different depending on the source.

In the Iliad by Homer, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

Homer paints her as being a weak, meek, soft goddess

In another version she sprung from ocean sea foam. Aphors is the Greek word for foam.

She also goes by other names, Cytherea, Cyprian; due to Cythera and Cyprus being sacred to her where she washed up after her birth; mentioned in the Homeric Hymns.

Later she is depicted as treacherous and malicious to men.

She is the wife of the god Hephaestus, but has love affairs with the god Ares.

Her sacred items are the Myrtle and birds, mainly the Dove, but also the Sparrow and Swan.

Hermes

The son of Zeus and Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas.

Hermes is depicted as the most human looking god.

He is graceful and swift. His easy to identify due to his winged sandals, low crowned hat and is staff known as the Caduceus.

If a god has wings then it is Hermes.

He is the messenger of the Gods, due to his swiftness.

Hermes is the shrewdest, cunning god. He is also a Master Thief.

When Hermes was just a day old her stole the cattle of Apollo. To appease Apollo Hermes invented the Lyre out of a tortoise shell and gave it to Apollo.

Hermes is the god of thieves, commerce, market, protector of traders, and the guide of the dead; the Divine Herald. He is the only god other than Hades who can travel to and from the Underworld. He leads the souls to the Underworld.

Hermes appears the most in myths.

Ares

The God of War.

Ares is the son of Zeus and Hera, who both detested him.

He is hated throughout the Iliad, often only rejoiced during times of winning or for escaping his ruthless nature. Homer describes him as ruthless and murderous, a bloodstained incarnate curse of mortals.

Homer also describes him as a coward; bellows in pain and runs away when wounded.

But, he has many attendants on the battlefield to inspire anyone for battle.

Eris, the sister of Ares and the goddess discord and her son Strife.

Enyo, Goddess of War walks beside him.

Followed by Terror, Trembling and Panic, whose groaning causes the earth to stream with blood as the move throughout the battle.

He is the lover of Aphordite.

He is very lustful for women, but is also a protector to mistreated women. Women often pray to him when they are treated badly.

His thirst for bloodshed and war made many dislike him.

He is a symbol of War and has little to do with myths.

He was mainly worshiped in Sparta

He is believed to have come from Thrace; the home to a rude and fierce people in Northeast Greece.

His sacred animal is the Vulture and Dog.

Hephaestus

The God of Fire.

The son of Zeus and Hera. (Sometimes just Hera in her retaliation of Athena's birth).

His appearance is stated as ugly and he was lame. The deformity comes from the fact he was thrown from Mount Olympus by Hera because he was ugly. Others say it was Zeus because Hephaestus defended Hera.

He is highly honored by the gods due to his abilities as a blacksmith. He created their weapons, armor, and furnishings.

He also created helpers out of gold to run his workshops.

His forges were located under volcanoes.

Hephaestus is the husband of Aphordite.

He is a kind and peace-loving god that is popular to mortals and city life.

He is the patron of the Arts, handicrafts. and a Protector of the Smiths.

Hestia

A sister of Zeus.

She is a maiden or virgin goddess.

Has no part in the myths.

She is the goddess of the Hearth, symbol of Home.

Every meal began and ended with an offering to her.

Each city had a sacred Hearth to her. The fire was never allowed to go out.

When a colony of a city was founded coals were taken from the hearth of the mother-city and brought to the kindle the fire of the new city.

Demeter

A Daughter of Cronus and Rhea.

Goddess of Agriculture and the Harvest, Sacred law and the cycle of life and death.

Is the mother of Persephone, the goddess of Spring.

Demeter and her grieve and depression of her daughter having to go to live in the Underworld once a year is the reason we have winter. In her anger she kills mortal crops until her daughter reunites with her.

She gave man the knowledge of growing and using corn,

A fertility festival, Thesmophoria was held every year to honor Demeter. Only women attended.

Dionysus

The God of Wine, wine making, fertility, dance, and pleasure. Was known as the bringer of civilization because of his wine making.

Is the son of Zeus and Semele.

Carried an ivy covered wand, Thyrsus.

He had the ability to drive mortals insane.

He is depicted as a young man with long hair.

He married a mortal Ariadne.

Had cults dedicated to him often characterized by madness.

He is usually depicted with exotic creatures like leopards and panthers.

Had many followers like satyrs, and frenzied female worshipers called Maenads.

Athens held a festival every year for Dionysus, where poets came to perform Greek tragedies and comedies some of the most well-known pieces of ancient literature were performed here.

[mythomusings]

The Rise and Fall From Power

Greek Mythology

(A picture depicting Gaea or Gaia and Ouranos, Mother Earth and Father Heaven, google images.).

Once the world was create through the breaking up of Chaos, Gaea and Ouranos began to populate the world. Though Gaea had many children her most well know are the Titans. She also gave birth to the Cyclops and Hecatonchires; fifty heads and a hundred hands. The Titans are well know because of the fact Ouranos banished his other children to Tartarus because he saw them as monsters, because of this he is seen as a bad father.

Gaea loved all her children but was powerless to free her children so she turned to her Titan children for help. Her Titan children consisted of; Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, Tethys and Cronus. But, only Cronus (those who are fans of Percy Jackson, Cronus is also spelled as Kronos), the youngest, was brave enough to step up and overthrow his father.

Ouranos knew that one day one of his sons was going to overthrow him for his power. So, Cronus plotted his plan to take power from his father. His plan was to hide and when Ouranos came down to mate with Gaea, Cronus cut off his father's genitals and threw them into the ocean. This act of throwing the genitals into the ocean mixed with ocean foam and created the goddess Aphrodite. (more detail will come in another post!)

Cronus was now in power and the castration of Ouranos brought in the Age of the Titans.

(Cronus and one of his children, Google images).

Cronus takes over as ruler and begins to have children with his sister Rhea. The children of Cronus and Rhea are known as the Gods and Goddess. But, just like Ouranos, Cronus is told that one of his sons with kill him. In an effort to avoid his fate, as his children are born, he eats them. The children he devours is as follows; Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon.

Rhea grows tired of all of her children being eaten by her husband and then she gives birth to Zeus, instead of handing him over to Cronus, she sends him to Crete. She then passes off a boulder as Zeus and Cronus swallow the boulder.

Zeus grows up on Crete free from his father's stomach and begins to plot revenge for his mother. Isn't Zeus just a Momma's boy!

Zeus's revenge comes in the form of a war.

War with the Titans.

Zeus begins his revenge with the help of Metis, daughter of Ocean and Tethys, who is at this time his consort. They began by drugging Cronus with narcotic honey and once he falls asleep they give him an emetic. This makes Cronus vomit up his children, first with the boulder and ending with Hestia, the eldest child.

This act starts the war between Zeus, his siblings and the Titan Themis; (him having the knowledge of foresight, knew that Zeus would win), versus Cronus and the other Titans.

Thus begins the first war on Earth.

Zeus and his siblings make their home base Mount Olympus, in the North of Greece whereas, the Titans based out of Mount Othrys, in the South of Greece.

The war lasts a long ten years when Zeus is given advice from Prometheus. He advises Zeus to release the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchries from Tartarus. Zeus releases them only after they swear to help the Gods in the war.

In return for their release the Cyclopes forged the Gods’ weapons. Zeus was given his Thunderbolt, Poseidon his Trident, and Hades his Cap or Helm of Invisibility. The Hecatonchries used their many hands to throw boulders during the battle, which slowed down and buried the Titans by the amount of boulders being thrown in a short time.

With the help of the weapons and Hecatonchries Zeus and his siblings were able to defeat Cronus and the other male Titans and imprisoned them in Tartarus, guarded by the Hecatonchries.

The female Titans remained free of Tartarus but had to bare children to Zeus. Like Leto who gave birth to the twin Gods Artemis and Apollo. Memory gave birth to the nine Muses who reside on Mount Helicon.

Many many centuries later the Gods went to war with the Titans. The Giants were monsters created by Gaea as revenge for the sentencing of her son Cronus being sent to Tartarus. The war began when the Giants touched the cattle of Helios, the Titan of the Sun. Gaea sent Typhoeus (Typhon) to Mount Olympus. Typhon is described as a being with a hundred dragon heads, flames igniting from its eyes, nostrils, and mouth, screaming an incessant blood-curdling screech. This creature was so terrifying that the gods fled to Egypt disguising themselves as animals; Zeus a ram, Hera a cow.

(Image of Typhon, Google Images).

Zeus seeing his cowardice went back to Greece and defeated Typhon in a long battle. He thought peace would be at hand but, Gaea had other plans. She sent another monster Enceladus. Zeus defeated this giant easily and the creature was chained with adamantine chains under Mount Aetna.

After defeating these creatures the rest had taken over Olympus. This battle leads to the Gods working together for the first time, but they would only win with the help of a mortal. The fact that a mortal was needed to help the Gods, is the catalyst that brings in the Age of Heroes.

Zeus for this battle only wanted one hero, since the Age of Heroes hadn't officially started, and that hero was Heracles. Zeus had to bring Heracles from the future to fight. Zeus tasked Athena with finding and bring Heracles to the fight. Heracles was able to trick that Giants out of Olympus and shot them with poisoned arrows as the Gods work to destroy them.

(Sculptures of Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades, Google Images).

After the war peace reigned over the world and Zeus realized the world was much to big for just him to control. So, he divided Heaven, Earth, and the sea among his brothers. Hades received the Earth and the Underworld as his domain. Poseidon got the sea and Zeus reigned in Heaven so he could watch over his brothers.

This brings the beginning of Greek Mythology!

Sources Used

Greek & Roman Myths: Jake Jackson

Mythology; Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes: Edith Hamilton

The Greek Myths; Stories of The Greek Gods and Heroes Vividly Retold: Robin Waterfield

Pictures from Google Images

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[mythomusings]

The Creation Story

The people of Ancient Greece used the ideal of storytelling and myth telling to explain the world through the power of nature. Like for example the Creation of the World.

For Greek mythology there isn't much in the form of a primary source of the Creation story, given that most stories from Ancient Greece where orally told and therefore many variations of the story lead to many different myths.

Although there are many different myths all sources can agree that in the Creation of the World, it began with Chaos.

Chaos, in mythology is a primordial being described as; "formless confusion". This ideal was first written down by Hesiod in his works. From Chaos sprung two children, Nyx and Erebus.

The Greeks then developed the Egg Myth.

This myth states that Nyx and Erebus produced and egg that birth Eros, the God of love, and his birth created the Earth. The ideal the love created light (Day), since night already existed in Nyx. The idea of this myth was that the Greeks were personifying nature and that nature and human = life.

With the birth of the world came Mother Earth (Gaea or Gaia) and Father Heaven (Ouranos).

For the Greeks, they believed that the Earth was Flat! They believed that the Earth was a disk that Greece was the central point and Mount Olympus was in the exact center. The Earth was divided into two equal points being Pontus (the Sea, Mediterranean and Black Seas) and Oceanus (where all water was derived from).

(A Greek map depicting a flat Earth).

Gaea and Ouranos become more important in the different Ages of Greek Myth through the children they have! I’ll delve into more details in later posts!

The last part of the Creation Story is how humans came to be. The most popular aspect of the many different myths is that humans were created with clay and water by the Titan Prometheus.

(Source; Edith Hamilton, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes. Jake Jackson: Greek & Roman Myths).

Roman Myth

Now for Roman Mythology, as most know, the Romans just took the Greek myths and Latinized them. The popular poet for Roman mythology is Ovid and his, Metamorphoses.

Just like the Greeks, the opening lines explain how the world began as a "unstructured mass... matter composed of disparate incompatible elements" know as Chaos.

Ovid then goes on to detail Chaos as a mix of the Sun, Moon, and Ocean all just swirling together none of them having their own space to be. (I myself just picture a giant black hole.)

At this point Ovid strays away from the Egg Myth and instead explains the breaking up of Chaos is caused by a kind nature God that goes nameless for his deed of creating the Earth. I find it interesting that Nature is being described as Kind.

Ovid explains the four elements, Fire, Water, Air, and Earth, all are now in their rightful place. Ovid was sure to mention that fire resided in Heaven, which is important in a later myth!

Interestingly, Ovid again differs from Greek myth by writing that the Earth is rounded! Now that everything is separated the Earth is symmetrically balanced.

(A Roman depiction of the Earth).

As I’ve mentioned before that the Nature God was kind by creating the seasons and introducing thunder to trouble the hearts of men (lines 50-55). Ovid says the Nature God is nice but then created something that men would fear. I assume these lines are a lesson to humans that people need to have a respectful fear of nature.

Ovid then goes on to explain the creation of the four Wind Gods;

Eurus (Dawn, brings the sunlight)

Zephyr (Evening, ocean wind)

Bóreas (North, blizzard)

Auster (South, brings the rain)

Then Ovid mentions the location of Heaven in the description that the floor is made of the stars and planets. Heaven in the minds of the Romans is above space.

Lastly, just like the Greeks, humans were made last in the creation of the world. Again Ovid takes the myth of Prométheus moulding clay in the likeness of the Gods to create men. I found it interesting that humans were formed to look like the Gods, seems like the Romans weren't as afraid of the Gods like the Greeks.

(Source: Ovid: Metamorphoses).

Sources Used:

Edith Hamilton, Mythology: Timeless Tales of Gods and Heroes.

Jake Jackson: Greek & Roman Myths

Ovid: Metamorphoses

Pictures from Google Images

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