Mythology

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Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
Mythology, the body of myths of a particular culture, and the study and interpretation of such myths. A myth may be broadly defined as a narrative that through many retellings has become an accepted tradition in a society. By this definition, the term mythology might include all traditional tales, from the creation stories of ancient Egypt to the sagas of Icelandic literature to the American folktale of Paul Bunyan.
Myths are universal, occurring in almost all cultures. They typically date from a time before the introduction of writing, when they were passed orally from one generation to the next. Myths deal with basic questions about the nature of the world and human experience, and because of their all-encompassing nature, myths can illuminate many aspects of a culture.
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WHAT ARE MYTHS?
Although it is difficult to draw rigid distinctions among various types of traditional tales, people who study mythology find it useful to categorize them. The three most common types of tales are sagas, legends, and folktales.
When a tale is based on a great historical (or supposedly historical) event, it is generally known as a saga. Despite a saga’s basis in very distant historical events, its dramatic structure and characters are the product of storytellers’ imaginations. Famous sagas include the Greek story of the Trojan War and the Germanic epic poem the Nibelungenlied (Song of the Nibelungs).
A legend is a fictional story associated with a historical person or place. For example, many early saints of the Christian church are historical figures whose lives have been embellished with legend (see Saint Denis; Saint George). Legends often provide examples of the virtues of honored figures in the history of a group or nation. The traditional American story about young George Washington and the cherry tree—in which he could not lie about chopping it down—is best described as a legend, because George Washington is a historical figure but the story about the cherry tree is recognized today as fictional.
Folktales, a third variety of traditional tale, are usually simple narratives of adventure built around elements of character and plot—for example, the young man who slays a monster and wins the hand of a princess. The Greek tale of Perseus is a good example of this theme. He saves the Ethiopian princess Andromeda from a sea monster and then marries her. Folktales may contain a moral or observation about life, but their chief purpose is entertainment.
Myths may include features of sagas, legends, and folktales. What makes one of these tales a myth is its serious purpose and its importance to the culture. Experts usually define a myth as a story that has compelling drama and deals with basic elements and assumptions of a culture. Myths explain, for example, how the world began; how humans and animals came into being; how certain customs, gestures, or forms of human activity originated; and how the divine and human worlds interact. Many myths take place at a time before the world as human beings know it came into being. Because myth-making often involves gods, other supernatural beings, and processes beyond human understanding, some scholars have viewed it as a dimension of religion. However, many myths address topics that are not typically considered religious—for example, why features of the landscape take a certain shape.
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COMMON TYPES OF MYTHS
No system of classification encompasses every type of myth, but in discussing myths it is helpful to group them into broad categories. This article concentrates on three major categories: cosmic myths, myths of gods, and hero myths.
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Cosmic Myths
Cosmic myths are concerned with the world and how it is ordered. They seek to explain the origin of the world, universal catastrophes such as fire or flood, and the afterlife. Nearly all mythologies have stories about creation, a type of story technically known as cosmogony, meaning “birth of the world.” Creation stories also include accounts of how human beings first came into existence and how death and suffering entered human experience.
The oldest cosmogonies known today are those of Egypt and the ancient Near East. An example is the creation epic of the Babylonians, Enuma elish (When on high), which dates back to at least the 12th century BC. According to Enuma elish, in the beginning of the world there was only a watery void in which fresh waters mingled with salt waters of the sea. The fresh waters were personified as Apsu, a male being, and the salt waters as Tiamat, a female. The myth describes a conflict between these earliest gods and a younger generation that sprang from them. Ultimately the younger gods won the war, led
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by Marduk, a god of thunder and lightning who resembles the Greek god Zeus and the Norse god Thor. Marduk defeated the army of the elder gods and killed Tiamat—represented as a dragon—in single combat. He then split her carcass in two, forming heaven and earth from the halves, and established the sun, moon, and constellations.
Enuma elish contains several themes common to many ancient Near Eastern creation stories: the ordering of the world out of chaos, the central role of waters in the creation of the world, the victory of a divine king over enemies who represent chaos, and the creation of matter from the corpse of a world-mother. A very different type of creation story appears in the Spider Woman myth of the Native American Hopi people. According to this narrative, in the beginning the only two beings in existence were Tawa, the sun god, and Spider Woman, an earth goddess who lived in a shadowy, cavelike underworld. Human beings were created from clay by Spider Woman and animated by the gaze of Tawa. Tawa used his light and heat to create dry land, and the world took shape. Spider Woman led the humans and other creatures up to the earth’s surface, and each species was assigned its proper residence and role in the world. This myth features the common Native American theme of emergence, in which creatures emerge from the earth as if from a mother’s womb.
Other types of creation myth occur in the cosmogony of the Maya people, with its many cycles of creation and destruction, and in the ancient Hebrew account of creation by a single, all-powerful deity.
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Myths of the Gods
Many myths do not directly concern human beings, but focus rather on the activities of the gods in their own realm. In many mythologies the gods form a divine family, or pantheon (from the Greek pan, meaning “all,” and theos, “god”). The story of a power struggle within a pantheon is common to a large number of world mythologies—for example, the Babylonian Enuma elish centers on Marduk’s struggle for supremacy and his eventual victory over Tiamat. Greek mythology features a similar story of struggle between generations. In Greek mythology, the earliest gods were Gaea (Earth) and Uranus (Heaven), and their children were called the Titans. The eldest of the Titans, Cronus, overthrew his father and was eventually overthrown by his own son, Zeus, who became the new master of the universe. Similarly, the Aesir–the pantheon of the Norse gods—had to overcome an older group called the Vanir before gaining power. Unlike the Greek and Babylonian accounts, the Norse myth features a reconciliation between the two sides.
Across cultures, mythologies tend to describe similar characters. A common character is the trickster. The trickster is recklessly bold and even immoral, but through his inventiveness he often helps human beings. In Greek mythology, Hermes (best known as the messenger of the gods) was a famous trickster. In one version of a characteristic tale, Hermes, while still an infant, stole the cattle of his half-brother Apollo. To avoid leaving a trail that could be followed, Hermes made shoes from the bark of a tree and used grass to tie them to the cattle’s hooves. When Apollo nonetheless discovered that Hermes had stolen his cattle, he was furious. In the end, Apollo was so enchanted with the music of a lyre that Hermes had made that he allowed Hermes to keep the cattle in exchange for the lyre. Other tricksters of mythology are the West African god Eshu, who tricked the supreme god Olodumare into abandoning the earth to dwell in heaven; the Indian god Krishna, whose trickery often aims at a higher moral purpose; and the Native American Coyote, who scattered the once-orderly stars in the sky and strewed the plants on earth.
Myths about the gods are as numerous as the cultures that produce them. Other types that occur across various cultures include myths about the Great Mother (for example, the Mesopotamian Ishtar, who journeys to the underworld to rescue her lost lover Tammuz); the Dying God (for example, the Egyptian Osiris, who is murdered and dismembered but ultimately resurrected); and the Savior God (for example, the Greek Prometheus, who helps humanity at the cost of incurring Zeus’s anger).
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Myths of Heroes
Nearly all cultures have produced myths about heroes. Some heroes, such as the Greek Achilles, have one mortal and one divine parent. Others are fully human but are blessed with godlike strength or beauty. Many myths about heroes concern significant phases of the hero’s career, such as the circumstances of the hero’s birth, a journey or quest, and the return home.
The birth and infancy of a mythological hero is often exceptional or even miraculous. In the ancient Near Eastern and Mediterranean world, the births of many heroes followed similar patterns. For example, the Hebrew prophet Moses, the Greek hero Oedipus, and the Roman heroes Romulus and Remus were all exposed to the elements at birth and left to die, but miraculously survived. Other heroes were immediately able to care for themselves. In early infancy, the Greek hero Hercules strangled a pair of enormous serpents sent to kill him. The Irish Cú Chulainn, who later became a great warrior, also performed astonishing feats of strength as a child.
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Most heroes set off on a quest or a journey of some kind. One of the earliest tales of a hero’s journey is the Babylonian story known as the Gilgamesh epic, written in cuneiform on 12 clay tablets in about 2000 BC. The hero, Gilgamesh, embarks on a quest for immortality. A goddess named Siduri guides him, and in the course of his adventures he must do combat with monsters and visit the world of the dead. At the end of the quest, Gilgamesh must accept mortality, which the gods allotted to human beings when they created them. In Greek and Roman mythology the stories of Jason (who sailed in quest of the Golden Fleece) and of Aeneas (who traveled from Troy to Italy to found Rome) likewise describe journeys or quests. Other narratives that may be interpreted as heroic journeys include the biblical story of the Hebrew prophet Moses, who led his people on a 40-year journey through the wilderness, and the Celtic tale of King Arthur and the quest for the Holy Grail (see Arthurian Legend).
The most famous tale of a hero’s return home is probably the ancient Greek story of Odysseus, recounted in the Odyssey by the poet Homer. When the story opens, Odysseus has been away for nearly 20 years, fighting in the Trojan War and then kept captive by the sea nymph Calypso. Back in his kingdom of Ithaca, suitors who want to marry his wife Penelope are devouring and wasting his property and plotting against his son. Zeus persuades Calypso to let Odysseus leave and return home, but the god Poseidon is angry with Odysseus and is determined to kill him. In the course of his journey, Odysseus is shipwrecked, held captive by Calypso, and nearly devoured by monsters; all his companions are killed. When he finally returns to Ithaca, penniless and without allies, he must plot the destruction of the suitors and persuade Penelope that he really is who he claims to be. Of course, he succeeds brilliantly.
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INTERPRETING MYTHS
The universal human practice of myth-making appears to be the earliest means by which people interpreted the natural world and the society in which they lived. Thus myth has been the dominant mode of human reflection for the greater part of human history. Greek thinkers of the 6th century BC were the first people known to question the validity of myth-making. In subsequent centuries the rationalism introduced by these Greeks and the monotheism (belief in one God) of Judaism, Christianity, and Islam all but replaced myth-making throughout much of the world. In some Asian and African cultures, however, traditional stories retained their power and became important elements of religious systems. And some cultures in the modern world maintain a worldview based primarily on myths. These cultures include Native Americans, Aboriginal Australians, and the Maori of New Zealand.
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Antiquity
In the early stages of Greek civilization, as in other ancient cultures, the truth of myths was taken for granted. The Greek word mythos, from which the English word myth is derived, was originally used to describe any narrative. Early Greek authors who employed the term drew no rigid distinction between tales that were historical or factual and those that were not.
In the 6th century BC, however, Greek thinkers began to question the validity of their culture’s traditional tales, and the word mythos came to denote an implausible story. Greek philosopher Xenophanes, for example, argued that much of the behavior that the poets Homer and Hesiod attributed to the gods was unworthy of divine beings. By the 5th century BC, serious Greek thinkers tended to regard the old myths as naive explanations for natural phenomena or simply to reject them altogether. Nevertheless, myths retained their cultural importance, even after they had come under attack from philosophers. The ancient Greek tragedies, which remained central to civic and religious life in Athens through the end of the 5th century BC, drew their subject matter largely from myths.
In the early 4th century BC, Greek philosopher Plato systematically contrasted logos, or rational argument, with mythos—which in Plato’s view was little better than outright falsehood. In his philosophical dialogue The Republic, Plato argued that the ideal commonwealth should exclude traditional mythological poetry on the grounds that it was full of dangerous falsehoods. Plato himself nevertheless devised myths of a sort to explore such topics as the birth of the world and death and the afterlife, which in his view fell outside the boundaries of logical explanation.
After Plato, most thinkers either tried to apply reason to the supernatural elements in myths or interpreted them symbolically. Euhemerus, a Greek writer of the 4th century BC, traced the origin of the gods to the deification of human rulers by their grateful subjects. This explanation for the gods is consequently known as euhemerism. Philosophers known as the Stoics and—much later—the Neoplatonists interpreted myths as allegories (narratives that employ picturesque language and images to convey a hidden message). Even as classical Greco-Roman civilization went into decline in the early centuries AD, the older, more critical spirit of Xenophanes was kept alive by Greek essayist and satirist Lucian of Samosata. In the 2nd century Lucian lampooned such myths as the birth of Athena from Zeus’s head, as well as the Judgment of Paris, which supposedly led to the Trojan War.
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Hebrew and Early Christian Interpretations
In the Hebrew tradition, the break from mythology took a different direction than it had taken among the Greeks. Here, the source of tension was not the incompatibility of myth and reason—as it had been with the Greeks—but the incompatibility of Near Eastern polytheism (belief in many gods) and Hebrew monotheism. Greek thinkers resolved the primary tension (myth versus reason) by identifying the divine figures in Near Eastern mythology as natural elements and forces, such as the sun and the wind. The Hebrew Bible resolved the primary tension (polytheism versus monotheism) by concentrating on the role of a supreme god and by minimizing or eliminating the roles of all other characters who could be considered divine.
As classical civilization gave way to Christianity, Christian thinkers argued about the role of myth in their religion. The traditional myths had undergone criticism and reinterpretation by Greek writers from Xenophanes to Lucian, over a period of seven centuries. Most Christian thinkers found this philosophical critique—particularly euhemerism—useful in their struggle against pagan culture and its worship of many gods. They argued that the pagan gods were actually no more than human rulers who had been mistakenly deified by their followers. Some Christian thinkers, however, attempted to establish a parallel between Christian ideas and certain aspects of pagan mythology. In the 2nd century, theologian Justin Martyr drew a comparison between Hermes (the divine messenger) and Christ (the representative of God). In the 4th century, theologian Saint Augustine argued that Christians should utilize the traditions of the pagan world in furthering the Christian worldview.
In this spirit, pagan mythological themes were reinterpreted and used symbolically in early Christian art. For example, a common motif of pagan art was the figure of Odysseus bound to the mast of his ship so that he could hear the irresistibly sweet singing of the Sirens without danger of temptation. In Christian art, this motif was adapted to symbolize a soul bound to the wood of the cross, through which the believer enters the port of salvation. Other traditional pagan motifs that were used in Christian allegories include Helios on his chariot of fire (Christ, the “light of the world” in biblical language) and the figures of Cupid and Psyche (Christ and the soul). See also Early Christian Art and Architecture.
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The Middle Ages and Renaissance
In the Middle Ages (5th century to 15th century) allegorical interpretation of the ancient myths predominated. Even the works of the ancient Roman poet Ovid, whose writings about the pagan gods were famous for their irreverence and bawdiness, received allegorical interpretation. For example, Ovid’s Metamorphoses includes a story of how Zeus fathered Perseus by approaching Danae in a shower of gold; this tale was interpreted in light of the biblical story of Mary’s virgin conception of Jesus. The entire Metamorphoses offered a rich source of material for medieval Christian allegory, starting with its tale of the creation and universal flood, and continuing through the flight of Phaëthon (who foolishly tried to drive the chariot of the sun) to the long philosophical speech of Greek philosopher Pythagoras at the end.
Mythological interpretation in the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century) continued the allegorizing approach of the Middle Ages. An old idea that enjoyed a new vogue in the Renaissance was astrology, which associated the personalities of the pagan gods with the planets that bore their names—Venus, Jupiter, Mars, and so forth. In a more philosophical vein, the Neoplatonist thinkers in Italy—especially Marsilio Ficino and Giovanni Pico della Mirandola—attempted to reconcile pagan mythology with Christian theology. Typically, however, Renaissance thinkers interpreted the material of pagan mythology in an imaginative rather than theoretical manner, drawing upon it for inspiration in painting and poetry.
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The Age of Enlightenment
During the Age of Enlightenment (17th and 18th centuries), with its emphasis on rationality, the allegorical interpretation of myths fell into disfavor. At the beginning of this period, myths were dismissed by intellectuals as absurd and superstitious fabrications, in part because of a climate of hostility toward all forms of religion. The so-called Quarrel of the Ancients and the Moderns, in which the relative merits of classical and modern literature were debated, lent additional force to the devaluing of myths and myth-making. French writer Pierre Bayle, in his Dictionnaire historique et critique (Historical and Critical Dictionary, 1697), ridiculed the absurdity of the ancient Greek and Roman myths.
In the late 17th century, a different approach to mythology arose in the context of new information about myth-making peoples (especially those in the Americas). Europeans had become aware of these peoples in the course of the voyages of discovery of the 16th and 17th centuries. Working on the assumption that these cultures could provide insight into the experience of prehistoric societies, European scholars sought the origins of mythology in the “childhood of man,” when human beings supposedly first formulated myths as a response to their physical and social environment. The studies made in this period were consolidated in the work of German scholar Christian Gottlob Heyne, who was the first scholar to use the Latin term mythus (instead of fabula, meaning “fable”) to refer to the tales of heroes and gods.
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The 19th-Century Science of Mythology
As more and more material from other cultures became available, European scholars came to recognize even greater complexity in mythological traditions. Especially valuable was the evidence provided by ancient Indian and Iranian texts such as the Bhagavad-Gita and the Zend-Avesta. From these sources it became apparent that the character of myths varied widely, not only by geographical region but also by historical period. German scholar Karl Otfried Müller followed this line of inquiry in his Prolegomena zu einer wissenschaftlichen Mythologie (Prolegomena to a Scientific Mythology, 1825). He argued that the relatively simple Greek myth of Persephone reflects the concerns of a basic agricultural community, whereas the more involved and complex myths found later in Homer are the product of a more developed society.
Scholars also attempted to tie various myths of the world together in some way. From the late 18th century through the early 19th century, the comparative study of languages had led to the reconstruction of a hypothetical parent language to account for striking similarities among the various languages of Europe and the Near East. These languages, scholars concluded, belonged to an Indo-European language family. Experts on mythology likewise searched for a parent mythology that presumably stood behind the mythologies of all the European peoples. German-born British scholar Max Müller concluded that the Rig-Veda of ancient India—the oldest preserved body of literature written in an Indo-European language—reflected the earliest stages of an Indo-European mythology. Müller attributed all later myths to misunderstandings that arose from the picturesque terms in which early peoples described natural phenomena. For example, an expression like “maiden dawn” for “sunrise” resulted first in personification of the dawn, and then in myths about her.
Later in the 19th century the theory of evolution put forward by English naturalist Charles Darwin heavily influenced the study of mythology. Scholars excavated the history of mythology, much as they would excavate fossil-bearing geological formations, for relics from the distant past. This approach can be seen in the work of British anthropologist Edward Burnett Tylor. In Primitive Culture (1871), Tylor organized the religious and philosophical development of humanity into separate and distinct evolutionary stages. Similarly, British anthropologist Sir James George Frazer proposed a three-stage evolutionary scheme in The Golden Bough (3rd edition, 1912–1915). According to Frazer’s scheme, human beings first attributed natural phenomena to arbitrary supernatural forces (magic), later explaining them as the will of the gods (religion), and finally subjecting them to rational investigation (science).
The research of British scholar William Robertson Smith, published in Lectures on the Religion of the Semites (1889), also influenced Frazer. Through Smith’s work, Frazer came to believe that many myths had their origin in the ritual practices of ancient agricultural peoples, for whom the annual cycles of vegetation were of central importance. The myth and ritual theory, as this approach came to be called, was developed most fully by British scholar Jane Ellen Harrison. Using insight gained from the work of French sociologist Émile Durkheim, Harrison argued that all myths have their origin in collective rituals of a society. This approach reached its most extreme form in the so-called functionalism of British anthropologist A. R. Radcliffe-Brown, who held that every myth implies a ritual, and every ritual implies a myth.
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20th-Century Approaches
Most analyses of myths in the 18th and 19th centuries showed a tendency to reduce myths to some essential core—whether the seasonal cycles of nature, historical circumstances, or ritual. That core supposedly remained once the fanciful elements of the narratives had been stripped away. In the 20th century, investigators began to pay closer attention to the content of the narratives themselves. Austrian psychoanalyst Sigmund Freud held that myths—like dreams—condense the material of experience and represent it in symbols. Freud’s pupil Carl Jung took this psychological approach in a different direction. Jung viewed myths not as relics of the infancy of the human race, but as revelations of humanity’s tendency to draw on a collective store of what he called archetypes—a set of patterns in the unconscious mind that people in all cultures express through similar images and symbols. French anthropologist Claude Lévi-Strauss argued that the primary function of myths is to resolve contradictions between such basic sets of opposites as life and death, nature and culture, and self and society.
What has become clear is that myth-making is an extremely varied and complex human activity. As in other creative activities, an enormous number of social, environmental, and personal factors come into play that make it difficult to summarize or explain myth-making from a single vantage point. While every theory offers something illuminating and useful to the understanding of some myths or mythological traditions, it seems unlikely that anyone will ever devise a theory that accounts for every type of tale that is classified as myth.
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INFLUENCE OF MYTHS
Mythology has exerted a pervasive influence on the arts in all parts of the world from the earliest times. In the Americas, people expressed mythological themes using materials such as sand (in the sandpaintings of the Navajo) and stone (in the
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jade masks of the Olmec). In Oceania, wood was a preferred material, used to created sculptures and masks. The indigenous peoples of Central and South America used ceramics for funerary urns and sculptures of gods and mythological figures. In ancient Europe as well, mythological themes were treated in a variety of media, including stone, wood, and metal.
Some of the richest artistic traditions involving mythology are found in the cultures of West Africa. Particularly prominent in sculpture are the Nommo, celestial twins whose representations can be studied both in the way they have changed over time and in the way they vary across cultures. Despite the artistic value of pieces inspired by myth, it is misleading to isolate the art objects of myth-making cultures from their religious and intellectual context. The statuettes and masks of the Dogon people, for example, do not exist primarily to satisfy an aesthetic impulse, but to serve as instruments in religious acts.
Even apart from cultures in which myth-making is bound up with ritual, myths have provided a wealth of material for the writer and artist since the beginning of recorded history. The divine characters employed by Homer in his epics—principally Zeus, Hera, Athena, Aphrodite, Apollo, and Ares—became the common property of poets throughout antiquity. In addition, Greek writers of tragedy drew upon the traditional body of myth to create such human characters as Agamemnon and Clytemnestra (in the Oresteia of Aeschylus); Antigone (in the play of the same name by Sophocles); and Electra (in plays by Sophocles and Euripides).
The gods have also provided inspiration to many visual artists through the centuries. As an ideal of masculine beauty, Apollo figures prominently in artworks of all periods. The most famous representation of Apollo is the Apollo Belvedere, an ancient Roman sculpture copied from a Greek original, in the Vatican Museum in Rome. Many artists of the Renaissance and the Baroque Era (1600 to 1750) represented Apollo as well. The goddess Venus, equally renowned for beauty, has inspired many artists since ancient times. Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli copied an ancient sculpture in his famous painting Birth of Venus (after 1482, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy).
In literature and music the debt to mythological themes is equally pronounced. Antigone, a daughter of Oedipus, became famous in the play by Sophocles, which portrays the conflict between obedience to the laws of the state and to the higher laws of the gods. Among those who later used themes from her life are French playwrights Jean Cocteau (Antigone, 1922) and Jean Anouilh (Antigone, 1942) and German playwright Bertolt Brecht (Antigone, 1948). Electra, the unhappy daughter of Agamemnon who seeks to avenge her father’s murder, has been the subject of plays by French playwright Jean-Paul Sartre (The Flies, 1943) and American playwright Eugene O’Neill (Mourning Becomes Elektra, 1931), and of a celebrated opera by German composer Richard Strauss (Elektra, 1909). It is no exaggeration to say that art, music, and literature throughout the world would be unimaginably different without the influence of mythology.
See also Greek Mythology; Roman Mythology; Egyptian Mythology; Scandinavian Mythology; Ancient Middle Eastern Religions; Native American Religions.
Creation Stories
Creation Stories, myths that explain the origin of the universe, or cosmos. The origin of the cosmos forms one of the principal themes of mythology throughout the world. Most mythologies view the process of creation as belonging to the distant past. Some mythological traditions, however, present creation as a continuing cycle of birth and destruction, as in Hindu tradition or in the belief of the native peoples of Central America in the so-called Five Suns that governed successive worlds (see Hinduism; Pre-Columbian Religions).
Students of mythology often draw a distinction between creation myths proper, or cosmogonies, and myths of origins. Cosmogonies tell how the cosmos arose or was created from a primal state. Myths of origin explain how later features of the known world—such as human beings, animals, and the social order—came into being. In practice, however, stories of origin usually represent continuations of a cosmogony, recounting the further development of an original creative act.
Most creation stories assume the eternity of matter or even of the world itself. However, these myths hold that the world in its precreation state was uninhabitable and must be organized either by the action of cosmic forces or by creator deities. Certain images of the primal, or precreation, state of the universe are common to a number of mythological traditions. Some myths represent the primal state as a void. Others depict it as a chaos of indistinct elements. Still others present it as a primeval sea, or as a cosmic egg containing all things in embryonic form.
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Some creation myths reflect the environmental circumstances of a particular culture. For example, in Mesopotamia, located between the Tigris and Euphrates rivers, a dependence on irrigation systems and the perpetual threat of flooding were a pervasive feature of life. Accordingly, the action and control of the waters played a major role in the mythology of Sumer, an early Mesopotamian civilization. In Sumerian mythology, the primeval sea, personified by the goddess Nammu, is the source of the gods and of the cosmos. When the gods decide to destroy their human creations, they do so by sending a flood (see Ancient Middle Eastern Religions; Deluge).
Creation mythologies explain the actual formation of the world by a variety of processes. These processes include the sacrifice of a primal being (for example, a giant or serpent); a struggle between supernatural powers; the blending or coalescing of elements, particularly water and earth; the incubation of a cosmic egg; and the uttering of a divine word. In myths that credit primary creation to gods, such as the Greek deities Uranus (sky god) and Gaea (earth goddess), these deities often become hazy, remote figures in later mythology, and stories often recount their overthrow by their own offspring. For example, in the Greek tradition, Zeus succeeded his father Cronus and grandfather Uranus to become ruler of the gods (see Greek Mythology).
Many mythological accounts ascribe creation to impersonal agents rather than to individual deities. In some African traditions, a cosmic egg hatched to release spirits called Nommo, who then set about the creation of mankind. In Egyptian mythology, both personal and impersonal creative forces came into play: Elemental energies were personified by four divine couples who fused to form the cosmic egg, from which the sun god was born. In later Egyptian mythology, the sun god became identified with the figure of Ra, a deity who gave rise to a pantheon of high gods (known as the Nine Gods of Heliopolis) through self-fertilization (see Egyptian Mythology). Many mythologies include similar stories of self-fertilization by a creator deity, whose offspring then give birth to other gods, creating a pantheon based on incestuous family relationships. The most famous such line of descent occurs in Greek mythology, in which Zeus begets offspring by many goddesses and mortals.
Many creation myths focus on the idea that primal elements were separated or made distinct from one another during the act of creation. In ancient Egyptian mythology, creation began when a mound of land first distinguished itself in the midst of the primal waters. In the biblical Genesis story, Yahweh's creation of the world is described mainly in terms of separating—for example, the separation of light from darkness, and of sea from land. In other creation mythologies, the raw material for making the world derives from a specific source. A widespread Native American myth tells of the descent into the depths of the ocean of a so-called earth-diver, an animal—often a turtle—who brings back mud from which the world is fashioned (see Native American Religions). In Indian Vedic tradition, the body of the primordial man, Purusha, is dismembered to provide material for the world and everything in it (see Veda). A similar theme occurs in the Norse myth in which the primal giant Ymir is killed by Odin and his brothers, who then make the sky from his skull, the earth from his body, and the sea from his blood.
Cosmogonic myths generally culminate in the creation of humankind, after which the mythic cosmos comes to resemble the world of human experience. In mythic history, the earliest era of the world is usually the closest to perfection—a Golden Age or Garden of Eden—with later phases showing the progressive degeneration of the world as it grows more distant from the original creative impulse. The earliest humans are often thought to have been of extraordinary stature and longevity and to have been much closer to the gods than are the humans of the present day. In many traditions the story cycles associated with demigods and heroes are an even richer source of myth than those involving the gods themselves. Such myths enable the listener to recall the time of creation when the world was in its infancy.
Greek Mythology
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INTRODUCTION
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Greek Mythology, set of diverse traditional tales told by the ancient Greeks about the exploits of gods and heroes and their relations with ordinary mortals.
The ancient Greeks worshiped many gods within a culture that tolerated diversity. Unlike other belief systems, Greek culture recognized no single truth or code and produced no sacred, written text like the Bible or the Qur’an. Stories about the origins and actions of Greek divinities varied widely, depending, for example, on whether the tale appeared in a comedy, tragedy, or epic poem. Greek mythology was like a complex and rich language, in which the Greeks could express a vast range of perceptions about the world.
A Greek city-state devoted itself to a particular god or group of gods in whose honor it built temples. The temple generally housed a statue of the god or gods. The Greeks honored the city’s gods in festivals and also offered sacrifices to the gods, usually a domestic animal such as a goat. Stories about the gods varied by geographic location: A god might have one set of characteristics in one city or region and quite different characteristics elsewhere.
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PRINCIPAL FIGURES IN GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Greek mythology has several distinguishing characteristics, in addition to its multiple versions. The Greek gods resembled human beings in their form and in their emotions, and they lived in a society that resembled human society in its levels of authority and power. However, a crucial difference existed between gods and human beings: Humans died, and gods were immortal. Heroes also played an important role in Greek mythology, and stories about them conveyed serious themes. The Greeks considered human heroes from the past closer to themselves than were the immortal gods.
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Gods
Given the multiplicity of myths that circulated in Greece, it is difficult to present a single version of the genealogy (family history) of the gods. However, two accounts together provide a genealogy that most ancient Greeks would have recognized. One is the account given by Greek poet Hesiod in his Theogony (Genealogy of the Gods), written in the 8th century BC. The other account, The Library, is attributed to a mythographer (compiler of myths) named Apollodorus, who lived during the 2nd century BC.
A1
The Creation of the Gods
According to Greek myths about creation, the god Chaos (Greek for “Gaping Void”) was the foundation of all things. From Chaos came Gaea (“Earth”); the bottomless depth of the underworld, known as Tartarus; and Eros (“Love”). Eros, the god of love, was needed to draw divinities together so they might produce offspring. Chaos produced Night, while Gaea first bore Uranus, the god of the heavens, and after him produced the mountains, sea, and gods known as Titans. The Titans were strong and large, and they committed arrogant deeds. The youngest and most important Titan was Cronus. Uranus and Gaea, who came to personify Heaven and Earth, also gave birth to the Cyclopes, one-eyed giants who made thunderbolts.
A2
Cronus and Rhea
Uranus tried to block any successors from taking over his supreme position by forcing back into Gaea the children she bore. But the youngest child, Cronus, thwarted his father, cutting off his genitals and tossing them into the sea. From the bloody foam in the sea Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love, was born.
After wounding his father and taking away his power, Cronus became ruler of the universe. But Cronus, in turn, feared that his own son would supplant him. When his sister and wife Rhea gave birth to offspring—Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades, and Poseidon—Cronus swallowed them. Only the youngest, Zeus, escaped this fate, because Rhea tricked Cronus. She gave him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes to swallow in place of the baby.
A3
Zeus and the Olympian Gods
When fully grown, Zeus forced his father to disgorge the children he had swallowed. With their help and armed with the thunderbolt, Zeus made war on Cronus and the Titans, and overcame them. He established a new regime, based on Mount Olympus in northern Greece. Zeus ruled the sky. His brother Poseidon ruled the sea, and his brother Hades, the underworld. Their sister Hestia ruled the hearth, and Demeter took charge of the harvest. Zeus married his sister Hera, who became queen of the heavens and guardian of marriage and childbirth. Among their children was Ares, whose sphere of influence was war.
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Twelve major gods and goddesses had their homes on Mount Olympus and were known as the Olympians. Four children of Zeus and one child of Hera joined the Olympian gods Zeus, Hera, Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Ares. Zeus’s Olympian offspring were Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, and Athena. Hera gave birth to Hephaestus.
A4
The Offspring of Zeus
Zeus had numerous children by both mortal and immortal women. By the mortal Semele he had Dionysus, a god associated with wine and with other forms of intoxication and ecstasy. By Leto, a Titan, Zeus fathered the twins Apollo and Artemis, who became two of the most important Olympian divinities. Artemis remained a virgin and took hunting as her special province. Apollo became associated with music and prophecy. People visited his oracle (shrine) at Delphi to seek his prophetic advice. By the nymph Maia, Zeus became father of Hermes, the Olympian trickster god who had the power to cross all kinds of boundaries. Hermes guided the souls of the dead down to the underworld, carried messages between gods and mortals, and wafted a magical sleep upon the wakeful.
Two other Olympian divinities, Hephaestus and Athena, had unusual births. Hera conceived Hephaestus, the blacksmith god, without a male partner. Subsequently he suffered the wrath of Zeus, who once hurled him from Olympus for coming to the aid of his mother; this fall down onto the island of Lemnos crippled Hephaestus. The birth of Athena was even stranger. Zeus and Metis, daughter of the Titan Oceanus, were the parents of Athena. But Gaea had warned Zeus that, after giving birth to the girl with whom she was pregnant, Metis would bear a son destined to rule heaven. To avoid losing his throne to a son, Zeus swallowed Metis, just as Cronus had previously swallowed his own children to thwart succession. Metis’s child Athena was born from the head of Zeus, which Hephaestus split open with an axe. Athena, another virgin goddess, embodied the power of practical intelligence in warfare and crafts work. She also served as the protector of the city of Athens.
Another of Zeus’s children was Persephone; her mother was Demeter, goddess of grain, vegetation, and the harvest. Once when Persephone was gathering flowers in a meadow, Hades, god of the underworld, saw and abducted her, taking her down to the kingdom of the dead to be his bride. Her grief-stricken mother wandered the world in search of her; as a result, fertility left the earth. Zeus commanded Hades to release Persephone, but Hades had cunningly given her a pomegranate seed to eat. Having consumed food from the underworld, Persephone was obliged to return below the earth for part of each year. Her return from the underworld each year meant the revival of nature and the beginning of spring. This myth was told especially in connection with the Eleusinian Mysteries, sacred rituals observed in the Greek town of Elevsís near Athens. The rituals offered initiates in the mysteries the hope of rebirth, just as Persephone had been reborn after her journey to the underworld.
Many Greek myths report the exploits of the principal Olympians, but Greek myths also refer to a variety of other divinities, each with their particular sphere of influence. Many of these divinities were children of Zeus, symbolizing the fact that they belonged to the new Olympian order of Zeus’s regime. The Muses, nine daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory, Mnemosyne, presided over song, dance, and music. The Fates, three goddesses who controlled human life and destiny, and the Horae, goddesses who controlled the seasons, were appropriately the children of Zeus and Themis, the goddess of divine justice and law. Far different in temperament were the Erinyes (Furies), ancient and repellent goddesses who had sprung from the earth after it had been impregnated with the blood of Uranus’s severed genitals. Terrible though they were, the Erinyes also had a legitimate role in the world: to pursue those who had murdered their own kin.
A5
Disruptive Deities
Human existence is characterized by disorder as well as order, and many of the most characteristic figures in Greek mythology exert a powerfully disruptive effect. Satyrs, whom the Greeks imagined as part human and part horse (or part goat), led lives dominated by wine and lust. Myths depicted them as companions of Dionysus who drunkenly pursued nymphs, spirits of nature represented as young and beautiful maidens. Many of the jugs used at Greek symposia (drinking parties) carry images of satyrs.
Equally wild, but more threatening than the satyrs, were the savage centaurs. These monsters, depicted as half-man and half-horse, tended toward uncontrolled aggression. The centaurs are known for combat with their neighbors, the Lapiths, which resulted from an attempt to carry off the Lapith women at a wedding feast. This combat was depicted in sculpture on the Parthenon, a temple dedicated to Athena in Athens.
The Sirens, usually portrayed as birds with women’s heads, posed a different sort of threat. These island-dwelling enchantresses lured mariners to their deaths by the irresistible beauty of their song. The seafaring Greek hero Odysseus alone survived this temptation by ordering his companions to block their own ears, to bind him to the mast of his ship, and to ignore all his entreaties to be allowed to follow the lure of the Sirens’ song.
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B
Mortals
The Greeks had several myths to account for the origins of humanity. According to one version, human beings sprang from the ground, and this origin explained their devotion to the land. According to another myth, a Titan molded the first human beings from clay. The Greeks also had a story about the destruction of humanity, similar to the biblical deluge.
B1
The Creation of Human Beings
Conflicting Greek myths tell about the creation of humanity. Some myths recount how the populations of particular localities sprang directly from the earth. The Arcadians, residents of a region of Greece known as Arcadia, claimed this distinction for their original inhabitant, Pelasgus (see Pelasgians). The Thebans boasted descent from earthborn men who had sprung from the spot where Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, had sown the ground with the teeth of a sacred dragon. According to another tale, one of the Titans, Prometheus, fashioned the first human being from water and earth. In the more usual version of the story Prometheus did not actually create humanity but simply lent it assistance through the gift of fire.
Another tale dealt with humanity’s re-creation. When Zeus planned to destroy an ancient race living on Earth, he sent a deluge. However, Deucalion, a son of Prometheus, and his wife Pyrrha—the Greek equivalents of the biblical Noah and his wife—put provisions into a chest and climbed into it. Carried across the waters of the flood, they landed on Mount Parnassus. After the waters receded, the couple gratefully made sacrifices to Zeus. His response was to send Hermes to instruct them how to repopulate the world. They should cast stones behind them. Stones thrown by Deucalion became men; those thrown by Pyrrha, women.
B2
The Greek People
According to myth, the various peoples of Greece descended from Hellen, son of Deucalion and Pyrrha. One genealogy related that the Dorian and the Aeolian Greeks sprang from Hellen’s sons Dorus and Aeolus. The Achaeans and Ionians descended from Achaeos and Ion, sons of Hellen’s other son, Xuthus. These figures, in their turn, produced offspring who, along with children born of unions between divinities and mortals, made up the collection of heroes and heroines whose exploits constitute a central part of Greek mythology.
C
Heroes
Myths about heroes are particularly characteristic of Greek mythology. Many of these heroes were the sons of gods, and a number of myths involved expeditions by these heroes. The expeditions generally related to quests or combats. Scholars consider some of these myths partly historical in nature—that is, they explained events in the distant past and were handed down orally from one generation to the next. Two of the most important of the semihistorical myths involve the search for the Golden Fleece and the quest that led to the Trojan War. In other myths heroes such as Heracles and Theseus had to overcome fearsome monsters.
C1
Jason and the Golden Fleece
Jason was a hero who sailed in the ship Argo, with a band of heroes called the Argonauts, on a dangerous quest for the Golden Fleece at the eastern end of the Black Sea in the land of Colchis. Jason had to fetch this family property, a fleece made of gold from a winged ram, in order to regain his throne. A dragon that never slept guarded the fleece and made the mission nearly impossible. Thanks to the magical powers of Medea, daughter of the ruler of Colchis, Jason performed the impossible tasks necessary to win the fleece and to take it from the dragon. Afterward Medea took horrible revenge on Pelias, who had killed Jason’s parents, stolen Jason’s throne, and sent Jason on the quest for the fleece. She tricked Pelias’s daughters into cutting him up and boiling him in a cauldron. Medea’s story continued to involve horrific violence. When Jason rejected her for another woman, Medea once more used her magic to avenge herself with extreme cruelty.
C2
Meleager
Jason and the same generation of heroes took part in another adventure, with Meleager, the son of King Oeneus of Calydon and his wife Althea. At Meleager’s birth the Fates predicted that he would die when a log burning on the hearth was completely consumed. His mother snatched the log and hid it in a chest. Meleager grew to manhood. One day, his father accidentally omitted Artemis, the goddess of the hunt, from a sacrifice. In revenge Artemis sent a mighty boar to ravage the country. Meleager set out to destroy it, accompanied by some of the greatest heroes of the day, including Peleus, Telamon, Theseus, Jason, and Castor and Polydeuces. The boar was killed. However, Meleager killed his mother’s brothers in a quarrel
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about who should receive the boar skin. In her anger Althea threw the log on to the fire, so ending her son’s life; she then hanged herself.
C3
Heroes of the Trojan War
The greatest expedition of all was that which resulted in the Trojan War. The object of this quest was Helen, a beautiful Greek woman who had been abducted by Paris, son of King Priam of Troy. Helen’s husband Menelaus and his brother Agamemnon led an army of Greeks to besiege Troy. After ten years, with many heroes dead on both sides, the city fell to the trick of the Trojan Horse—a giant wooden horse that the Greeks built and left outside the gates of Troy while their army pretended to withdraw. Not knowing that Greek heroes were hiding inside the horse, the Trojans took the horse into the city. The hidden Greeks then slipped out, opened the city gates and let their army in, thus defeating Troy. The Iliad, an epic poem attributed to Greek poet Homer, tells the story of the Trojan War. The story continued with the Odyssey, another long poem attributed to Homer, in which the Greek hero Odysseus made his way home after the Trojan War. Odysseus returned to his faithful wife, Penelope, whereas Agamemnon returned to be murdered by his faithless wife, Clytemnestra, and her lover.
Historians considered the Trojan War entirely mythical until excavations in Turkey showed that there had been cities on the site of Troy and that fire had destroyed one of these cities at about the time of the Trojan War, sometime from 1230 BC to 1180 BC.
C4
Heracles and Theseus
The deeds of the heroes Heracles (see Hercules) and Theseus exemplify a central theme in Greek mythology: the conflict between civilization and wild savagery. Each hero confronted and overcame monstrous opponents, yet neither enjoyed unclouded happiness.
Heracles had been an Argonaut but left the expedition after being plunged into grief at the loss of his companion Hylas. In another story, a fit of madness led Heracles to kill his own wife and children. But he is best known for his feats of prowess against beasts and monsters, which began soon after his birth. The most difficult of these feats are known as the 12 labors, which are believed to represent efforts to conquer death and achieve immortality. Although Heracles died, his father, Zeus, gave him a place on Mount Olympus.
Theseus successfully slew the Minotaur, a monster that was half man and half bull. On his voyage home to Athens, however, he forgot to hoist the white sails that would have signified the success of his adventure. According to one tale, Theseus’s heartbroken father Aegeus, seeing black sails, believed his son had died, and committed suicide. The Aegean Sea in which he drowned is presumably named after Aegeus.
C5
Oedipus
No hero of Greek mythology has proved more fascinating than Oedipus. He destroyed a monster, the Sphinx, by answering its riddle. Yet his ultimate downfall served as a terrifying warning of the instability of human fortune. As a baby, Oedipus had been abandoned on a mountainside by his parents, King Laius and Queen Jocasta of Thebes, because of a prophecy that the child would grow up to kill his father and marry his mother. Saved by the pity of a shepherd, the child—its identity unknown—was reared by the king and queen of the neighboring city of Corinth. In due course, Oedipus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy, matching the horrific crimes he had committed with the equally ghastly self-punishment of piercing his own eyes with Jocasta’s brooch-pins.
III
THE NATURE OF GREEK GODS AND HEROES
A
Gods and Goddesses
In many respects the gods and goddesses of Greek mythology resembled extraordinarily powerful human beings. They experienced emotions such as jealousy, love, and grief, and they shared with humans a desire to assert their own authority and to punish anyone who flouted it. However, these emotions and desires took supernaturally intense form in gods and goddesses. As numerous literary descriptions and artistic representations testify, the Greeks imagined their gods to have human shape, although this form was strongly idealized.
The Greeks, moreover, modeled relationships between divinities on those between human beings. Apollo and Artemis were brother and sister, Zeus and Hera were husband and wife, and the society of the gods on Mount Olympus resembled that of an unruly family, with Zeus at its head. The gods could temporarily enter the human world. They might, for example, fall in
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love with a mortal, as Aphrodite did with Adonis; Apollo with Daphne; and Zeus with Leda, Alcmene, and Danae. Or they might destroy a mortal who displeased them, as Dionysus destroyed King Pentheus of Thebes for mocking his rites.
Not all Greek divinities resembled human beings. They could also be uncanny, strange, and alien, a quality made visible in artistic representations of monsters. For example, the snake-haired Gorgon Medusa had a stare that turned her victims to stone. The Graeae, sisters of the Gorgons, were gray-haired old crones from birth. They possessed but a single tooth and a single eye between them. Typhoeus was a hideous monster from whose shoulders grew a hundred snakeheads with dark, flickering tongues.
Even the major deities of Olympus showed alien characteristics at times. A recurrent sign of divine power is the ability to change shape, either one’s own or that of others. Athena once transformed herself into a vulture; Poseidon once took the form of a stallion. This ability could prove convenient such as when Zeus assumed the form of a swan to woo Leda. Zeus turned Lycaon, a disrespectful king, into a wolf to punish him for his wickedness. The ability to exercise power over the crossing of boundaries is a crucial feature of divine power among the Greeks.
B
Heroes
Greek mythology also told how divinities interacted with heroes, a category of mortals who, though dead, were believed to retain power to influence the lives of the living. In myths heroes represented a kind of bridge between gods and mortals. Heroes such as Achilles, Perseus, and Aeneas were the products of a union between a deity and a mortal. The fact that the gods often intervened to help heroes—for example, during combat—indicated not the heroes’ weakness but their special importance. Yet heroes were not the equals of the gods.
With a logic characteristic of Greek myth, heroes typically possessed a defect to balance out their exceptional power. For example, the warrior Achilles, hero of the Trojan War, was invulnerable except in the heel. The prophet Cassandra, who warned the Trojans of dangers such as the Trojan Horse, always prophesied the truth but was never believed. Heracles constituted an extreme example of this paradox: His awesome strength was balanced by his tendency to become a victim of his own excessive violence. Nevertheless, the gods allowed Heracles to cross the ultimate boundary by gaining admission to Olympus.
IV
THE FUNCTIONS OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Like most other mythological traditions, Greek myths served several purposes. First, Greek myths explained the world. Second, they acted as a means of exploration. Third, they provided authority and legitimacy. Finally, they provided entertainment.
A
Explanation
Greek myths lent structure and order to the world and explained how the current state of things had originated. Hesiod’s Theogony narrated the development of the present order of the universe by relating it to Chaos, the origin of all things. By a complex process of violence, struggle, and sexual attraction, the regime led by Zeus had eventually taken over. Another poem by Hesiod, Works and Days, explained why the world is full of trouble. According to the poem the first woman, Pandora, opened a jar whose lid she had been forbidden to lift. As a result of her disobedience all the diseases and miseries previously confined in the jar escaped into the world. Such a myth also makes a statement about relationships between the sexes in Hesiod’s own world. Scholars assume that he composed the poem for a largely male audience that was receptive to a tale that put women at the root of all evil.
One of the commonest types of explanation given in myths relates to ritual. Myths helped worshipers make sense of a religious practice by telling how the practice originated. A prime example is sacrifice, a ritual that involved killing a domesticated animal as an offering to the gods. The ceremony culminated in the butchering, cooking, and sharing of the meat of the victim. Hesiod recounts the myth associated with this rite. According to this myth, the tricky Titan Prometheus tried to outwit Zeus by offering him a cunningly devised choice of meals. Zeus could have either an apparently unappetizing dish—an ox paunch, which had tasty meat concealed within—or a seemingly delicious one, gleaming fat on the outside, which had nothing but bones hidden beneath. Zeus chose the second dish, and ever since human beings have kept the tastiest part of every sacrifice for themselves, leaving the gods nothing but the savor of the rising smoke.
B
Exploration
Myths charted paths through difficult territory, examining contradictions and ambiguities. For instance, Homer’s Iliad explores the consequences during the Trojan War of the Greek leader Agamemnon’s decision to deprive the warrior Achilles
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of his allotted prize, a female slave. Achilles feels that Agamemnon has assailed his honor or worth but wonders how far he should go in reaction. Is he right to refuse to fight, if that means the destruction of the Greek army? Is he justified in rejecting Agamemnon’s offer of compensation? One of this poem’s themes explores the limits of honor.
The dramatic genre of tragedy provides the clearest example of mythical exploration (see see Greek Literature; Drama and Dramatic Arts). The great Athenian playwrights of the 5th century BC—Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides—wrote tragedies that explored social questions by placing them, in extreme and exaggerated form, in a mythical context. Sophocles’s tragic play Antigone concerns just such an extreme situation. Two brothers have killed each other in battle: Eteocles defending his homeland, and Polynices attacking it. Their sister Antigone, in defiance of an edict by the city’s ruler, attempts to bury her ostensibly traitorous brother Polynices. Sophocles raises several moral issues. Is Antigone justified in seeking to bury her brother? Which should prevail, a religious obligation to tend and bury a corpse, or a city’s well-being? The answers to these moral issues are far from clear-cut, as we might expect from a work whose subtlety and profundity have so often been admired.
C
Legitimation
Myths also had the function of legitimation. A claim, an action, or a relationship acquired extra authority if it had a precedent in myth. Aristocratic Greek families liked to trace their ancestry back to the heroes or gods of mythology. The Greek poet Pindar, who wrote in the early 5th century BC, offers ample evidence for this preference. In his songs Pindar praised the exploits of current victors in the Olympian Games by linking them with the deeds of their mythical ancestors. In addition, two Greek city-states could cement bonds between them by showing that they had an alliance in the mythological past.
D
Entertainment
Finally, myth telling was a source of enjoyment and entertainment. Homer’s epics contain several descriptions of audiences held spellbound by the songs of bards (poets), and recitations of Homer’s poems also captivated audiences. Public performances of tragic drama were also hugely popular, regularly drawing some 15,000 spectators.
V
ORIGINS AND DEVELOPMENT OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Our knowledge of Greek mythology begins with the epic poems attributed to Homer, the Iliad and the Odyssey, which date from about the 8th century BC even though the stories they relate probably have their origins in events that occurred several centuries earlier. Scholars, however, know that the origins of Greek mythology reach even farther back than that.
A
Origins of Greek Mythology
Linguists (people who study languages) have concluded that some names of Greek deities, including Zeus, can be traced back to gods worshiped by speakers of Proto-Indo-European, the common ancestor of the Greek, Latin, and Sanskrit languages. But it would be misleading to regard the people who may have spoken this language as originators of Greek mythology because many other elements contributed.
Archaeologists have shown that many of the places where mythical events presumably took place correspond to sites that had historical importance during the Mycenaean period of Greek history (second half of the 2nd millennium BC). Scholars thus consider it likely that the Mycenaeans made a major contribution to the development of the stories, even if this contribution is hard to demonstrate in detail. Some scholars have argued that the Minoan civilization of Crete also had a formative influence on Greek myths. The myth of the Minotaur confined in a labyrinth in the palace of King Minos, for example, might be a memory of historical bull-worship in the labyrinthine palace at Knossos on Crete. However, there is little evidence that Cretan religion survived in Greece. Nor have any ancient inscriptions confirmed that Minos ever existed outside of myth.
Scholars can demonstrate influence on Greek mythology from the Middle East much more reliably than influence from Crete. Greek mythology owed much to cultures in Mesopotamia and Anatolia, especially in the realm of cosmogony (origin of the universe) and theogony (origin of the gods). To take one example, a clear parallel exists in an early Middle Eastern myth for Greek poet Hesiod’s story about the castration of Uranus by his son Cronus and the subsequent overthrow of Cronus by his son Zeus. The Middle Eastern myth tells of the sky god Anu who was castrated by Kumarbi, father of the gods. The weather and storm god Teshub, in turn, displaced Anu. Scholars continue to bring to light more and more similarities between Greek and Middle Eastern mythologies.
B
Development of Greek Mythology
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Our knowledge of Greek myths comes from a mixture of written texts, sculpture, and decorated pottery. Scholars have reconstructed stories that circulated orally by inference and guesswork.
Homer’s epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, stand at the beginning of Greek literary tradition (see Greek literature), even though they almost certainly depended on a lengthy previous tradition of oral poetry. The Iliad is set during the Trojan War; it focuses on the consequences of a quarrel between Agamemnon and Achilles, two of the leading Greek warriors. The Odyssey is about the aftermath of the Trojan War, when the Greek hero Odysseus at last returns to his home on the island of Ithaca following years of wandering in wild and magical lands. The Trojan War later provided subject matter for many tragic dramas and for imagery on countless painted vases.
Hesiod’s Theogony, composed in the 8th century BC at about the same time as the Homeric epics, gave an authoritative account of how things began. The creation of the world, described by Hesiod in terms of passions and crimes of the gods, is a theme that later Greek philosophers such as Empedocles and Plato developed but took in new directions. This connection serves as a reminder that mythology was not a separate aspect of Greek culture, but one that interacted with many other fields of experience, particularly the writing of history. For example, in the 5th century BC Greek historian Herodotus employed numerous themes and story patterns from Greek epics and tragedies in writing his historical account of the war between Greeks and Persians (see Persian Wars).
Although the authority of Homer and Hesiod remained dominant, the poetic retelling of myths continued throughout antiquity. Myths were constantly remade in the light of new social and political circumstances. The Hellenistic period of Greek history (323-331 BC) saw many new trends in the treatment of myths. One of the most important was the development of mythography, the compilation and organization of myths on the basis of particular themes (for example, myths about metamorphosis). Such organization corresponded to a wish of newly established Hellenistic rulers to lend legitimacy to their regimes by claiming that they continued a cultural tradition reaching back into a great past.
Artists, too, portrayed myths. Statues of gods stood inside Greek temples, and relief sculptures of scenes from mythology adorned pediments and friezes on the outside of these temples (see Greek Art and Architecture). Among the best-known examples are the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens. These reliefs include depictions of combat between centaurs and Lapiths.
Other visual representations of mythology were more modest in size and scope. The best evidence for the use of mythology in Greek painting comes from painted ceramic vases. The Greeks used these vases in a variety of contexts, from cookery to funerary ritual to athletic games. (Vases filled with oil were awarded as prizes in games.) In most cases scholars can securely identify the imagery on Greek vases as mythological, but sometimes they have no way of telling whether the artist intended an allusion to mythology because myth became fused with everyday life. For example, does a representation of a woman weaving signify Penelope, wife of Odysseus who spent her days at a loom, or does it portray someone engaged in an everyday activity?
The Greeks retold myths orally, as well as preserving them in literary and artistic works. The Greeks transmitted to children tales of monsters and myths of gods and heroes. Old men gathered to exchange tales in leschai (clubs or conversation places). Storytelling, whether in writing, art, or speech, was at the heart of Greek civilization.
VI
THE LEGACY OF GREEK MYTHOLOGY
Mythology formed a central reference point in Greek society because it was interwoven with ritual and other aspects of social existence. Yet the question of how far people believed the myths is a difficult and probably unanswerable one. Some intellectuals, such as Greek writer Palaephatus, tried to interpret the myths as having figurative (nonliteral) meanings. Writing in the 4th century BC, Palaephatus interpreted the stories of Diomedes, a king devoured by his own mares, and of Actaeon, a hunter torn apart by his own hounds, as concealing perfectly credible accounts of young men who had spent too much money on their animals and so been figuratively eaten alive by debt.
Other thinkers, such as the 4th-century-BC philosopher Plato, objected to some myths on moral grounds, particularly to myths that told of crimes committed by the gods. Yet such skepticism seems hardly to have altered the imaginative power and persistence of Greek myths. As late as the 2nd century AD, the Greek traveler and historian Pausanias described the myths and cults in the places he visited as if they constituted a still-living complex of religious discourse and behavior.
A
Ancient Rome and Early Christianity
The ancient Romans eventually took over Greek civilization and conquered Greece. In the process, they adapted Greek mythology, and myths remained a vehicle for reflecting on and coping with the world. In his poem the Aeneid, written in the 1st century BC, Roman poet Virgil used the theme of the wandering Trojan hero Aeneas and his eventual foundation of a
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settlement that became Rome. The Aeneid not only continues story patterns developed in Homer’s epics, but it also makes frequent and detailed allusions to the texts of Homer and other Greek writers. The long poem Metamorphoses by Roman poet Ovid embraces an enormous number of Greek myths, reworked into a composition that later had unparalleled influence on European culture of the Middle Ages and Renaissance.
Greek mythology survived during Christian antiquity by its interpretation as allegory (expressive of a deeper or hidden meaning). Early Christians incorporated pagan stories into their own worldview if they could reinterpret the story to express a concealed, uplifting meaning. In the 5th century AD, for example, Latin mythographer Fulgentius gave an allegorical reading of the Judgment of Paris. The Greek myth told of a young Trojan shepherd faced with a choice between the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite. Each goddess tried to bribe Paris to name her the most beautiful: Hera offering power, Athena offering success in battle, and Aphrodite offering a beautiful woman. Fulgentius explained that the choice was actually a moral one, between a life of action, a life of contemplation, and a life dominated by love. The allegorical approach to the myths has never died out; we find it today in the writings of those who regard myths as expressions of basic, universal psychological truths. For example, Sigmund Freud, the founder of psychoanalysis, borrowed from Greek mythology in developing his ideas of human psychosexual development, which he described in terms of an Oedipus complex and an Electra complex. Swiss psychiatrist Carl Jung believed that certain psychic structures he called archetypes were common to all people in all times and gave rise to recurring ideas such as mythological themes.
B
European Art, Music, and Literature
The influence of Greek mythology on Western art, music, and literature can hardly be exaggerated. Many of the greatest works of painting and sculpture have taken myths as their subject. Examples include the Birth of Venus (after 1482) by Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli, a marble sculpture of Apollo and Daphne (1622-1625) by Italian baroque sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini, a terrifying Cronus Devouring One of His Children (1820-1823) by Spanish painter Francisco de Goya, and Landscape with the Fall of Icarus (about 1558) by Flemish painter Pieter Bruegel. In the Bruegel painting peasants continue with their daily toil oblivious of the mythological drama being played out in the sky above.
Musicians too, especially composers of opera and oratorio, have found inspiration in ancient myths. Operatic dramatizations of these stories begin with Orfeo (Orpheus, 1607) and Il ritorno d’Ulisse in patria (The Return of Ulysses to His Homeland, 1641) by Italian composer Claudio Monteverdi. They continue into the 20th century with Elektra (1909) by German composer Richard Strauss and Oedipus Rex (1927) by Russian composer Igor Stravinsky.
The impact of Greek mythology on literature has been incalculably great. In the 20th century the story of the murderous revenge of Orestes on his mother Clytemnestra (for killing his father, Agamemnon) has inspired writers as diverse as American dramatist Eugene O’Neill (in Mourning Becomes Electra, 1931), American-born poet and playwright T. S. Eliot (in The Family Reunion, 1939), and French philosopher and playwright Jean-Paul Sartre (in Les Mouches [1943; The Flies, 1946]). Among the most notable of all literary works inspired by Greek mythology is Ulysses by Irish writer James Joyce. In this intricate novel, Ulysses (Odysseus) becomes Dublin resident Leopold Bloom, while Bloom’s wife, Molly, combines characteristics of faithful Penelope (wife of Odysseus) and seductive Calypso (a sea nymph who holds Odysseus captive on his journey home).
The influence of Greek mythology shows no sign of diminishing. Computer games (see Electronic Games) and science fiction frequently use combat- or quest-oriented story patterns that have clear parallels in classical mythology. Greek myths developed in a specific ancient society, but the emotional and intellectual content of the stories has proved adaptable to a broad range of cultural contexts.
Roman Mythology
I
INTRODUCTION
Roman Mythology, the religious beliefs and practices of the people of ancient Rome. At first the Romans envisioned their gods more as powers than as persons, and as a result there is little mythology that is purely Roman. According to Roman scholar Marcus Terentius Varro, only after the Romans came into contact with Greek culture in the 6th century BC did they begin to represent their gods in human form. Over the last three centuries before Christ was born, writers such as Virgil and Ovid grafted the names and functions of Roman gods onto Greek literary and artistic tradition, creating a hybrid Greco-Roman mythology that has inspired poets and painters from antiquity to the present day. Most of what we know about ancient Rome and its mythology comes from the works of ancient Roman writers, from surviving artworks, and from archaeological findings.
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The Romans believed that their religious practices maintained the pax deorum—or “peace of the gods”—that ensured the community’s continued prosperity. No private citizen was likely to undertake business of any importance without seeking the favor of the appropriate god, and the Romans held numerous public festivals to honor their gods.
II
MYTHS OF THE FOUNDING OF ROME
The Romans did not develop a myth about the creation of the world itself, but they did attach great importance to the founding of Rome. Two distinct myths developed about the city’s beginnings: the story of the twins Romulus and Remus, and the tale of Aeneas.
The myth of Romulus and Remus is best known from its account in the work of Livy, a Roman historian of the 1st century BC. The twins were the sons of the god Mars and a mortal woman named Rhea Silvia. When they were infants, Romulus and Remus’s great uncle set them adrift on the Tiber River to die. The great uncle had stolen royal power from the twins’ grandfather and did not want the boys to survive to challenge his right to power. But a she-wolf found Romulus and Remus and cared for them until a shepherd discovered them. The shepherd and his wife took the boys in and raised them as their own children. Years later, after restoring their grandfather to his throne, Romulus and Remus decided to found a city of their own. However, the two quarreled, and in the ensuing brawl Remus died. In some versions of the story Romulus killed him, in other versions Romulus’s followers did so. After his brother’s death, Romulus named the new city Rome and became its first king. According to Varro, the date that Romulus founded Rome was 753 BC.
The other legend of Rome’s founding traced the origins of the city to Aeneas, the son of the goddess Venus and the Trojan prince Anchises. Aeneas came from the city of Troy in Asia Minor, which according to tradition was conquered by Greek forces during the Trojan War. The war was fought in the late 13th or early 12th century BC, and it forms the setting for the epic poem the Iliad by the Greek poet Homer. Although Aeneas’s role in the Iliad is small, Roman legend holds that after the war he led a group of Trojan survivors who left Troy and eventually arrived at Carthage, where the queen, Dido, fell in love with Aeneas. But he left her and traveled to Italy, where he founded Rome.
Scholars believe that the legend of Aeneas gained acceptance during the 3rd century BC, when Rome was developing as a nation and its citizens sought to enhance the city’s prestige by establishing a connection to the famous figures of Greek mythology. It was difficult, therefore, for later writers to reconcile the 400-year interval between the story of Aeneas, which took place in the 12th century BC, and the account of Romulus and Remus, which occurred in the 8th century BC. The poet Virgil resolved the problem in his epic the Aeneid, which describes Aeneas marrying Lavinia, daughter of the king of Latium, a kingdom that occupied the future territory of Rome. Through this marriage, Aeneas became the originator of a line of kings and a direct ancestor of Romulus and the Romans.
Most of the other early stories of Rome have to do with the traditional Seven Kings, who were the first seven rulers of Rome. One of the best-known stories about the reign of Romulus is the so-called Rape of the Sabines. According to this story, to ensure the future of Rome, Romulus and his band of followers needed wives who would bear children to ensure the future of the new city. They invited their neighbors, the Sabine people, to a festival and then kidnapped the daughters of the Sabines. A war broke out between the two communities, and peace was restored only when the Sabine women declared their preference for their Roman husbands. The Sabines then joined the Romans in a single community.
The second Roman king was Numa Pompilius, whom the Romans credited with inventing their religious institutions. Artworks depict Numa as a priestly figure with a long white beard. Legend tells that the fourth king, Ancus Martius (whose name means “warlike”), conquered many neighboring towns and greatly increased Roman territory. The sixth king, Servius Tullius, developed the first census, or counting of the population and their property. According to tradition, Servius Tullius also built the first city wall.
III
THE ROMAN GODS
The early Romans did not represent their gods in human or animal form, and the gods did not have well-defined personalities. Most Roman gods were, however, associated with particular places. For example, high hilltops and oak-groves were associated with Jupiter, the god of rain, thunder, and lightning. Any piece of land struck by lightning was dedicated to him. According to Varro, Romans worshiped their gods without images for 170 years after the city was founded. Only in the 6th century BC, under the influence of the Greeks and of neighboring societies such as the Etruscan civilization did the Romans first represent their gods in human form and build temples for them.
While the personalities of their gods were not important to the early Romans, they cared a great deal about the gods’ functions. Gods presided over every aspect of life and death, including the phases of the agricultural year. The Romans integrated their worship into the routines of public and private life. For example, the doorway of a house—an important
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threshold separating personal space from public space—fell under the protection of the god Janus, who was also the god of beginnings. The first month of the year, January, was named for him. The hearth, which served as the center of the home, was the province of the goddess Vesta. A state shrine to Vesta featured a fire that was perpetually tended by priestesses called Vestal virgins.
Knowledge of early Roman religion is limited, but some evidence exists that the earliest Roman community had special reverence for the gods Jupiter, Mars, and Quirinus. Jupiter was the Roman form of the sky-god whom the Greeks worshiped as Zeus. The Romans worshiped Jupiter as the special protector of the Roman state. Mars—later equated with the Greek god Ares—was a warrior-god whose sacred animals were the wolf and the woodpecker. Festivals in his honor took place in March and October and marked the opening and close of the military campaigning season. Mars also appears to have had some role in protecting farmers’ fields. Quirinus remains a vague figure. The Romans associated him with the Sabine people, and he later came to be identified with Romulus, who had become a god.
According to Roman tradition, a dynasty of Etruscan kings ruled the city in the 6th century BC. During this period Rome adopted a group of three Etruscan gods as the focus of state worship. Because the Romans worshiped these gods in a grand temple on the Capitoline Hill in Rome, they were known as the Capitoline triad. The triad consisted of Jupiter and the goddesses Juno and Minerva. At this time Jupiter was viewed as the sovereign, or head, of the Roman state. Juno was both the protector of women in marriage and childbirth and was the patron deity of several communities in ancient Italy. The Romans worshiped her under several names, including Juno Sospita (Juno the Savior) and Juno Regina (Juno the Queen). Minerva, who later came to be identified with the Greek goddess Athena, was the goddess of handicrafts. Her temple on the Aventine Hill in Rome was a center for organizations of skilled craftspeople.
According to tradition, in 509 BC the dynasty of Etruscan kings ended and the Roman Republic was founded. The republic was ruled by two chief magistrates, called consuls, who were elected by the people to one-year terms. During the time of the republic, the Capitoline temple became the most important public shrine of the Roman people and the focus of public worship. Each January, the new consuls offered sacrifices to open the new year, and provincial governors took their vows before departing for their provinces. At other times, victorious generals led triumphal processions up to the Capitoline temple, where they offered sacrifices and gave thanks for their victories.
As Rome’s sphere of influence expanded, the Romans encountered the older and richer religious and mythological beliefs of the Greek civilization, and the beliefs of other cultures of the eastern Mediterranean Sea region. Major innovations in Roman religious life occurred as a result of this contact, most notably the Romans’ acceptance of gods from these other cultures. New gods and heroes were traditionally given temples outside the pomerium, the ritual boundary of the city, rather than in the city center.
Among the earliest of the Greek gods to be accepted by the Romans were Castor and Polydeuces, divine twins who were believed to have intervened in the Romans’ favor at the battle of Lake Regillus in 484 BC. This battle marked an early victory for the young Roman Republic against a force of surrounding Latin peoples. Later in the 5th century BC, on the advice of an oracle, the worship of the Greek god Apollo was introduced in Rome to avert a terrible plague. Apollo later became a symbol of Roman virtue and austerity. Other Roman gods that took on characteristics of Greek divinities were Diana (Artemis), Mercury (Hermes), Neptune (Poseidon), Pluto (Hades), Venus (Aphrodite), and Vulcan (Hephaestus).
The Romans also adopted Greek heroes into their mythology. Perhaps the best-known figure was the Greek hero Heracles, who became known in Rome as Hercules. According to Roman historian Livy, Hercules once stopped at the site of Rome before Rome’s founding, and there killed a monster that had terrorized the local people.
Rome also imported gods from other regions of the Mediterranean world, sometimes to fill particular roles. In 204 BC, armies from the rival city-state of Carthage, led by the Carthaginian general Hannibal, threatened to invade Rome. In this emergency, Roman priests consulted the Sibylline Books, which contained collections of oracles or prophecies, and recommended that the Romans begin to worship the goddess Cybele from the city of Pessinus in Asia Minor. To worship Cybele, the Romans dedicated a spot to her on the Palatine Hill in the heart of Rome. The Romans eventually defeated Hannibal.
As Rome expanded and became a hub of international commerce, more and more foreign gods found their way into the culture. Especially popular were the so-called savior-gods of religious orders known as mystery religions. Savior-gods such as Mithra, the ancient Persian god of light and wisdom, offered the promise of individual salvation through the belief in the immortality of the soul. Mystery religions such as Mithraism were open only to the initiated. As a result, many people saw them as offering a greater sense of community than traditional Roman religion. Scholars have noted similarities between mystery religions and the early Christian church, which took root in the Roman world when mystery religions were popular and widespread.
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A later development in Roman religion was the worshiping of emperors as gods. As the Romans expanded their holdings to the east, they encountered the phenomenon of divine kingship. At first they rejected the idea that a human ruler should be worshiped as a god. But in 44 BC, Roman ruler Julius Caesar permitted a statue to be erected to himself bearing the inscription deo invicto (“to the unvanquished god”), and declared himself dictator for life. That same year Caesar was assassinated by citizens who were unhappy with his dictatorial regime and wanted to see a return to Rome’s earlier republican ideals. While Caesar’s heir, Octavian, took the name Augustus and made himself the first emperor of Rome, he also avoided any claim to divinity. In the first century of the Roman Empire, the idea of the divinization of emperors was often ridiculed. The philosopher and playwright Seneca mocked the imperial divinization of Claudius I as the “Pumpkinification of Claudius.”
As the government of the Roman Empire became more and more autocratic, giving rulers almost unlimited power, emperors eventually accepted divine honors, and sacrifice to the emperor came to be required as a token of loyalty. The requirement of sacrifice became a significant source of conflict between early Christians, who resisted the practice, and the Roman political authorities who enforced it. The period of emperors being considered gods ended in the 4th century AD, when Emperor Constantine the Great became the first Roman emperor to convert to Christianity. By the end of the 4th century, Emperor Theodosius I, who was a supporter of orthodox Christianity, officially banned the practice of the old Roman pagan religion.
IV
HOW THE ROMANS WORSHIPED THEIR GODS
Because many of the early religious practices of the Romans originated in a period when Rome was a small, agricultural community, these customs reflected the needs and concerns of the farming community. Long after Rome had become a busy commercial center, the religious calendar of Rome continued to reflect the cycle of the agricultural year.
Romans worshiped their gods on both individual and communal levels. Each part of a Roman house had a god associated with it. The hearth was sacred to Vesta, and during the main meal of the day people would throw a small cake into the fire as an offering to her. Roman houses had a penus, or storeroom for grain, over which gods called the Penates presided. They also received daily offerings. Closely connected with the Penates were the household gods known as Lares, to whom families would pray and perhaps offer a small gift of wine or incense. The god Janus presided over the main door to the house. Janus was envisioned as a human figure who faced both directions at once and was thus suited to watch over the doorway. The Romans believed that if they paid due respect to these gods each day, they could be confident of enjoying divine blessing for their daily activities.
Romans also paid respect to the gods of the fields. For example, the Terminalia was an annual festival at which farmers with adjoining property decorated boundary stones with garlands. Each family’s property was purified once a year in one of the oldest Roman festivals, called the Ambarvalia, in which families took part in a procession around their fields and sacrificed a pig, sheep, and bull and offered prayers to the god Mars for the health and prosperity of the fields, flocks, and family. After the sacrifice they feasted and celebrated.
Each stage of life was also marked by religious observances. At the birth of a child, men would strike the threshold of the house with agricultural implements to ward off the wilder spirits of the fields. At puberty, a boy set aside the bulla, or protective amulet of childhood, and exchanged his boyhood toga for the toga of manhood. The modern tradition of the bridal veil goes back to the Roman practice of veiling a young woman who was leaving the protection of her father’s home for that of her new husband, and who was therefore in a temporary state of religious vulnerability. Similarly, she would be carried over the threshold of her new home to avoid the bad omen that would result if the newest member of the household were to stumble upon her first entry into the house. When someone died in a house, the corpse was removed feet-first to discourage the ghost from returning. At the festival of the Parentalia, in February, the living family members would make offerings of flowers, corn meal, and wine on the graves of their family’s dead.
An important communal Roman religious celebration was the Lupercalia, held annually on February 15. The ceremony took place at the Lupercal, a small cave on the slopes of Rome’s Palatine Hill, where the Romans believed that Romulus and Remus had been suckled by the she-wolf. During the ceremony, two groups of young men sacrificed goats and a dog and then cut the goatskins into strips. Clothed only in these strips, the young men then ran a race along a specified course, tapping female bystanders with the strips of their goatskin garments as they passed. This rowdy festival was so popular that it was not abandoned until AD 494, well into the Christan era, when Pope Gelasius I replaced it with the Christian Feast of the Purification of the Virgin.
V
ROMAN MYTHOLOGY IN LITERATURE AND ART
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After the Romans came in contact with the Greeks in the 6th century BC, the identities of the Roman gods and the Greek gods tended to meld into Greco-Roman combinations. For centuries these deities and the stories told about them have inspired writers and artists.
Virgil’s poem the Aeneid was a literary celebration of the supposed Trojan origin of the Roman people. In the Aeneid, Virgil took Zeus and Hera, who the Greek writer Homer had earlier portrayed as somewhat petty and complaining, and transformed them into the awe-inspiring Jupiter and the vividly angry Juno. Writing just after Virgil, Ovid produced works that were witty and popularly entertaining. He wove the diverse strands of Greek mythology into a single tapestry in his 15-volume work the Metamorphoses, which covers the history of the world from creation to Ovid’s own time.
In later centuries, numerous musicians, writers, and artists drew on the stories that Virgil, Ovid, and other Roman writers told, incorporating the Roman literary images into their own works. In music, one of the best-known adaptations of Roman mythology is the opera Dido and Aeneas (about 1689) by English composer Henry Purcell. The opera dramatizes an episode from the Aeneid. Two of the most prominent writers to dramatize Roman mythology were Dante Alighieri of Italy, author of La divina commedia (1321?; The Divine Comedy, 1802), and Edmund Spenser of England, who wrote the epic poem The Faerie Queene (1590-1596). British writer Anthony Burgess retold the story of Aeneas’s travels in his novel A Vision of Battlements (1949). Aeneas’s journey through the underworld was also the subject of a poem by 20th-century American writer Reynolds Price.
Ovid’s vivid descriptions also lent themselves to representation in the visual arts. The Birth of Venus (after 1482, Uffizi Gallery, Florence, Italy) by Italian Renaissance painter Sandro Botticelli is a famous rendition of how Venus first appeared. Italian Renaissance sculptor Gianlorenzo Bernini created the Fountain of the Triton (1642-1643?) in Rome, which depicts the moment in Ovid’s narrative when the sea-god Triton delivers a ringing blast from his conch horn to signal the end of the universal deluge. Aeneas was treated several times by 19th-century British painter J. M. W. Turner, who depicted Aeneas in the company of Dido, Mercury, and other figures from legend. Dido is also the subject of several paintings by 19th-century English painter Edward Burne-Jones.
Ancient Greek and Roman Gods
As the Roman Empire expanded, it assimilated elements of the cultures it conquered. In religion this process has been called interpretatio Romana, or the Roman understanding. When Roman and Greek culture mixed after the Romans conquered ancient Greece in the 3rd century BC, ancient Roman gods and goddesses became associated with those of the Greek civilization. The table lists some of the main gods and goddesses and the roles they played in both Greek and Roman mythology.
Greek Name
Roman Name
Role in Mythology
Aphrodite
Venus
Goddess of beauty and sexual desire (Roman mythology: Goddess of gardens and fields)
Apollo
Apollo
God of prophecy, medicine, and archery (late Greek/Roman mythology: God of the sun)
Ares
Mars
God of War
Artemis
Diana
Goddess of the hunt (late Greek/Roman mythology: Goddess of moon)
Asclepius
Aesculapius
God of medicine
Athena
Minerva
Goddess of arts and crafts, and war; Helper of heroes (late Greek/Roman mythology: Goddess of wisdom)
Cronus
Saturn
God of the sky; Ruler of the Titans (Roman mythology: God of agriculture)
Demeter
Ceres
Goddess of grain
Dionysus
Bacchus
God of wine and vegetation
Eros
Cupid
God of love
Gaea
Terra
Mother Earth
Hephaestus
Vulcan
God of fire; Blacksmith of the gods
Hera
Juno
Goddess of marriage and childbirth; Protector of married women; Queen of the gods
Hermes
Mercury
Messenger of the gods; Protector of travelers, thieves, and merchants
Hestia
Vesta
Guardian of the home
Hypnos
Somnus
God of sleep
Hades
Pluto
God of the underworld; Lord of the dead
Poseidon
Neptune
God of the sea and earthquakes
Rhea
Ops
Wife of Cronus/Saturn; Mother Goddess
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Uranus
Uranus
God of the sky; Father of the Titans
Zeus
Jupiter
Ruler of the gods
Egyptian Mythology
I
INTRODUCTION
Egyptian Mythology, specifically, the religion of ancient Egypt. The religious beliefs of the ancient Egyptians were the dominating influence in the development of their culture, although a true religion, in the sense of a unified theological system, never existed among them. The Egyptian faith was based on an unorganized collection of ancient myths, nature worship, and innumerable deities. In the most influential and famous of these myths a divine hierarchy is developed and the creation of the earth is explained.
II
CREATION
According to the Egyptian account of creation, only the ocean existed at first. Then Ra, the Sun, came out of an egg (a flower, in some versions) that appeared on the surface of the water. Ra brought forth four children, the gods Shu and Geb and the goddesses Tefnut and Nut. Shu and Tefnut became the atmosphere. They stood on Geb, who became the Earth, and raised up Nut, who became the sky. Ra ruled over all. Geb and Nut later had two sons, Set and Osiris, and two daughters, Isis and Nephthys. Osiris succeeded Ra as king of the Earth, helped by Isis, his sister-wife. Set, however, hated his brother and killed him. Isis then embalmed her husband’s body with the help of the god Anubis, who thus became the god of embalming. The powerful charms of Isis resurrected Osiris, who became king of the netherworld, the land of the dead. Horus, who was the son of Osiris and Isis, later defeated Set in a great battle and became king of the Earth.
III
LOCAL GODS
From this myth of creation came the conception of the ennead, a group of nine divinities, and the triad, consisting of a divine father, mother, and son. Every local temple in Egypt possessed its own ennead and triad. The greatest ennead, however, was that of Ra and his children and grandchildren. This group was worshiped at Heliopolis, the center of Sun worship. The origin of the local deities is obscure; some of them were taken over from foreign religions, and some were originally the animal gods of prehistoric Africa. Gradually, they were all fused into a complicated religious structure, although comparatively few local divinities became important throughout Egypt. In addition to those already named, the important divinities included the gods Amon, Thoth, Ptah, Khnemu, and Hapi, and the goddesses Hathor, Mut, Neit, and Sekhet. Their importance increased with the political ascendancy of the localities where they were worshiped. For example, the ennead of Memphis was headed by a triad composed of the father Ptah, the mother Sekhet, and the son Imhotep. Therefore, during the Memphite dynasties, Ptah became one of the greatest gods in Egypt. Similarly, when the Theban dynasties ruled Egypt, the ennead of Thebes was given the most importance, headed by the father Amon, the mother Mut, and the son Khonsu. As the religion became more involved, true deities were sometimes confused with human beings who had been glorified after death. Thus, Imhotep, who was originally the chief minister of the 3rd Dynasty ruler Djoser, was later regarded as a demigod. During the 5th Dynasty the pharaohs began to claim divine ancestry and from that time on were worshiped as sons of Ra. Minor gods, some merely demons, were also given places in local divine hierarchies.
IV
ICONOGRAPHY
The Egyptian gods were represented with human torsos and human or animal heads. Sometimes the animal or bird expressed the characteristics of the god. Ra, for example, had the head of a hawk, and the hawk was sacred to him because of its swift flight across the sky; Hathor, the goddess of love and laughter, was given the head of a cow, which was sacred to her; Anubis was given the head of a jackal because these animals ravaged the desert graves in ancient times; Mut was vulture-headed and Thoth was ibis-headed; and Ptah was given a human head, although he was occasionally represented as a bull, called Apis. Because of the gods to which they were attached, the sacred animals were venerated, but they were never worshiped until the
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decadent 26th Dynasty. The gods were also represented by symbols, such as the Sun disk and hawk wings that were worn on the headdress of the pharaoh.
V
SUN WORSHIP
The only important god who was worshiped with consistency was Ra, chief of cosmic deities, from whom early Egyptian kings claimed descent. Beginning with the Middle Kingdom (2040-1640 BC), Ra worship acquired the status of a state religion, and the god was gradually fused with Amon during the Theban dynasties, becoming the supreme god Amon-Ra. During the 18th Dynasty the pharaoh Amenhotep III renamed the Sun god Aton, an ancient term for the physical solar force. Amenhotep’s son and successor, Amenhotep IV, instituted a revolution in Egyptian religion by proclaiming Aton the true and only god. He changed his own name to Akhenaton, meaning “He who is devoted to Aton.” This first great monotheist was so iconoclastic that he had the plural word gods deleted from monuments, and he relentlessly persecuted the priests of Amon. Akhenaton’s Sun religion failed to survive, although it exerted a great influence on the art and thinking of his time, and Egypt returned to the ancient, labyrinthine religion of polytheism after Akhenaton’s death.
VI
BURIAL RITUAL
Burying the dead was of religious concern in Egypt, and Egyptian funerary rituals and equipment eventually became the most elaborate the world has ever known. The Egyptians believed that the vital life-force was composed of several psychical elements, of which the most important was the ka. The ka, a duplicate of the body, accompanied the body throughout life and, after death, departed from the body to take its place in the kingdom of the dead. The ka, however, could not exist without the body; every effort had to be made, therefore, to preserve the corpse. Bodies were embalmed and mummified according to a traditional method supposedly begun by Isis, who mummified her husband Osiris. In addition, wood or stone replicas of the body were put into the tomb in the event that the mummy was destroyed. The greater the number of statue-duplicates in his or her tomb, the more chances the dead person had of resurrection. As a final protection, exceedingly elaborate tombs were erected to protect the corpse and its equipment. See Egyptian Art and Architecture.
After leaving the tomb, the souls of the dead supposedly were beset by innumerable dangers, and the tombs were therefore furnished with a copy of the Book of the Dead. Part of this book, a guide to the world of the dead, consists of charms designed to overcome these dangers. After arriving in the kingdom of the dead, the ka was judged by Osiris, the king of the dead, and 42 demon assistants. The Book of the Dead also contains instructions for proper conduct before these judges. If the judges decided the deceased had been a sinner, the ka was condemned to hunger and thirst or to be torn to pieces by horrible executioners. If the decision was favorable, the ka went to the heavenly realm of the fields of Yaru, where grain grew 3.7 m (12 ft) high and existence was a glorified version of life on earth. All the necessities for this paradisiacal existence, from furniture to reading matter, were, therefore, put into the tombs. As a payment for the afterlife and his benevolent protection, Osiris required the dead to perform tasks for him, such as working in the grain fields. Even this duty could, however, be obviated by placing small statuettes, called ushabtis, into the tomb to serve as substitutes for the deceased.
Scandinavian Mythology
I
INTRODUCTION
Scandinavian Mythology, pre-Christian religious beliefs of the Scandinavian people. The Scandinavian legends and myths about ancient heroes, gods, and the creation and destruction of the universe developed out of the original common mythology of the Germanic peoples and constitute the primary source of knowledge about ancient German mythology. Because Scandinavian mythology was transmitted and altered by medieval Christian historians, the original pagan religious beliefs, attitudes, and practices cannot be determined with certainty. Clearly, however, Scandinavian mythology developed slowly, and the relative importance of different gods and heroes varied at different times and places. Thus, the cult of Odin, chief of the gods, may have spread from western Germany to Scandinavia not long before the myths were recorded; minor gods—including Ull, the fertility god Njord, and Heimdall—may represent older deities who lost strength and popularity as Odin became more important. Odin, a god of war, was also associated with learning, wisdom, poetry, and magic.
Most information about Scandinavian mythology is preserved in the Old Norse literature (see Icelandic Literature; Norwegian Literature), in the Eddas and later sagas; other material appears in commentaries by the Danish historian Saxo Grammaticus and the German writer Adam of Bremen (flourished about 1075). Fragments of legends are sometimes preserved in old inscriptions and in later folklore.
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II
GODS AND HEROES
Besides Odin, the major deities of Scandinavian mythology were his wife, Frigg, goddess of the home; Thor, god of thunder, who protected humans and the other gods from the giants and who was especially popular among the Scandinavian peasantry; Frey, a god of prosperity; and Freya, sister of Frey, a fertility goddess. Other, lesser gods were Balder, Hermod, Tyr, Bragi, and Forseti; Idun, Nanna, and Sif were among the goddesses. The principle of evil among the gods was represented by the trickster Loki. Many of these deities do not seem to have had special functions; they merely appear as characters in legendary tales.
Many ancient mythological heroes, some of whom may have been derived from real persons, were believed to be descendants of the gods; among them were Sigurd the Dragon-slayer; Helgi Thrice-Born, Harald Wartooth, Hadding, Starkad, and the Valkyries. The Valkyries, a band of warrior-maidens that included Svava and Brunhild, served Odin as choosers of slain warriors, who were taken to reside in Valhalla. There the warriors would spend their days fighting and nights feasting until Ragnarok, the day of the final world battle, in which the old gods would perish and a new reign of peace and love would be instituted. Ordinary individuals were received after death by the goddess Hel in a cheerless underground world.
Scandinavian mythology included dwarves; elves; and the Norns, who distributed fates to mortals. The ancient Scandinavians also believed in personal spirits, such as the fylgja and the hamingja, which in some respects resembled the Christian idea of the soul. The gods were originally conceived as a confederation of two formerly warring divine tribes, the Aesir and the Vanir. Odin was originally the leader of the Aesir, which consisted of at least 12 gods. Together all the gods lived in Asgard.
III
CREATION MYTH
The Eddic poem Völuspá (Prophecy of the Seeress) portrays a period of primeval chaos, followed by the creation of giants and gods and, finally, of humankind. Ginnungagap was the yawning void, Jotunheim the home of the giants, Niflheim the region of cold, and Muspellsheim the realm of heat. The great world-tree, Yggdrasil, reached through all time and space, but it was perpetually under attack from Nidhogg, the evil serpent. The fountain of Mimir, source of hidden wisdom, lay under one of the roots of the tree.
IV
RELIGIOUS RITUAL
The Scandinavian gods were served by a class of priest-chieftains called godar. Worship was originally conducted outdoors, under guardian trees, near sacred wells, or within sacred arrangements of stones. Later, wooden temples were used, with altars and with carved representations of the gods. The most important temple was at Old Uppsala, Sweden, where animals and even human beings were sacrificed.
See separate entries on most of the deities mentioned.
Trojan War
Trojan War, in Greek legend, famous war waged by the Greeks against the city of Troy. The tradition is believed to reflect a real war between the Greeks of the late Mycenaean period and the inhabitants of the Troad, or Troas, in Anatolia, part of present-day Turkey. Modern archaeological excavations have shown that Troy was destroyed by fire sometime between 1230 BC and 1180 BC, and that the war may have resulted from the desire either to plunder the wealthy city or to put an end to Troy’s commercial control of the Dardanelles.
Legendary accounts of the war traced its origin to a golden apple, inscribed “for the fairest” and thrown by Eris, goddess of discord, among the heavenly guests at the wedding of Peleus, the ruler of Myrmidons, and Thetis, one of the Nereids. The award of the apple to Aphrodite, goddess of love, by Paris, son of King Priam of Troy, secured for Paris the favor of the goddess and the love of the beautiful Helen of Troy, wife of Menelaus, the king of Sparta. Helen went with Paris to Troy, and an expedition to avenge the injury to Menelaus was placed under the command of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae. Agamemnon’s force included many famous Greek heroes, the most noted of whom were Achilles, Patroclus, the two Ajaxes, Teucer, Nestor, Odysseus, and Diomedes.
After the Trojans refused to restore Helen to Menelaus, the Greek warriors assembled at the Bay of Aulis and proceeded to Troy in 1000 ships. The siege lasted ten years, the first nine of which were uneventful. In the tenth year, Achilles withdrew from battle because of his anger with Agamemnon; Achilles’ action furnished Homer with the theme of the Iliad. To avenge the death of his friend Patroclus, Achilles returned to battle and killed Hector, the principal Trojan warrior. Subsequent
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events, described in later epic poems, included Achilles’ victories over Penthesilea, queen of the Amazons, and Memnon, king of Ethiopia, and the death of Achilles at the hands of Paris.
The city of Troy was captured at last by treachery. A force of Greek warriors gained entrance to the city by hiding in the interior of a large wooden horse. Subsequently the Greeks sacked and burned the city. Only a few Trojans escaped, the most famous being Aeneas, who led the other survivors to what is present-day Italy; this story is told by Virgil in the Aeneid.
The return of the Greek warriors to Greece inspired epic poems, the most celebrated being that of Odysseus, whose 10-year wanderings and arrival in Ithaca are told in Homer’s Odyssey.
Iliad
I
INTRODUCTION
Iliad, ancient Greek epic poem in 24 books attributed to the poet Homer. It was probably composed in the 8th century BC, but it describes events of the Trojan War, a conflict between Greece and Troy that took place four centuries earlier. The initial cause of the Trojan War was the abduction of Helen, the queen of Sparta, by Paris, a Trojan prince. The Iliad relates in 15,693 lines a momentous episode in the Trojan War—the wrath of the Greek hero Achilles and its destructive consequences.
II
THE ACTION
The action of the Iliad begins in the tenth and final year of the Greek siege of Troy. The Greek army has been besieging Troy for over nine years. In a recent raid on a nearby district, the Greeks have captured Chryseis, daughter of a priest of the god Apollo. Agamemnon, commander in chief of the Greek forces, has taken her for his slave woman. Apollo in anger afflicts the Greeks with a devastating plague after Agamemnon humiliates the priest.
A
The Wrath of Achilles
At an assembly of the army Agamemnon, urged by Achilles, agrees to send back Chryseis. But he insists that he shall have Briseis, Achilles’ captive, in her place. Achilles, in anger at this slight on his honor, draws his sword to attack Agamemnon, but is restrained by the goddess Athena who wishes the Greeks to win the war. Achilles abuses Agamemnon as a shameless and selfish coward and announces his withdrawal from active service in the war.
Nestor, by far the oldest and wisest of the Greek kings, tries to reconcile the quarrelers, but fails. Chryseis is restored to her father by Odysseus, the most diplomatic and effective of the Greek commanders. Agamemnon takes Briseis, and Achilles asks his mother, Thetis, to persuade Zeus, the king of the gods, to allow the Trojans to win a victory, so that the Greeks may learn how much they owe to his valor and honor him accordingly. Zeus consents despite protests from his wife Hera, who favors the Greeks.
B
The Armies Prepare
Zeus sends a deceptive dream to Agamemnon, who calls a council of the commanders. Confusion follows: The army is seized by a sudden desire to return home, but Odysseus, prompted by Athena, checks the rush toward the ships with a powerful speech. Thersites, the only ugly and mean-spirited soldier in the poem, boldly insults Agamemnon until Odysseus stops him with abusive language and blows. After a prudent speech from Nestor and a sacrifice to the gods, the whole Greek army, except Achilles and his followers, prepares for battle.
A detailed description of the forces contributed by each Greek state (the so-called Catalogue of the Ships) follows. The use of colorful poetic descriptions saves it from being a dry list. The Trojan army assembles to resist the attack and is described in a briefer catalogue. The army is led by Hector, the chivalrous and valiant son of Priam, king of Troy. Hector’s brother Paris has caused the war by abducting Helen, wife of Menelaus, king of the Greek state of Sparta.
C
The Battle Begins
Paris offers to fight a duel with Menelaus to settle the conflict. After an exchange of blows, Paris’s protector, the goddess Aphrodite, intervenes to save him. Treacherously incited by their enemy Athena, the Trojans break the armistice made before the duel and thereby put themselves morally in the wrong. A series of single combats ensue, skillfully interspersed with domestic incidents inside Troy.
Eventually, when the Greeks are hard-pressed by the Trojans, Agamemnon sends representatives to Achilles who offer rich gifts and the return of Briseis if he will join the fight again. Achilles refuses because he knows reentry guarantees his death at
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Troy and he now believes no form of honor is worth his life. Yet, after the Greek warrior Ajax appeals to him as a friend, Achilles announces he will fight again if Hector reaches their ships.
D
The Death of Patroclus
Further duels and maneuvers follow. The Trojans attack the Greek camp, and Hector seems unstoppable. Hera, fearing a Trojan triumph, adorns and beautifies herself voluptuously and lures Zeus away from helping the Trojans. He and she withdraw together to Mount Ida. The Greeks regain the upper hand. Zeus awakens, furiously realizes Hera’s cunning, and gives help again to the Trojans. The Greeks fall back in panic. Pitying their plight, Patroclus, dearest friend of Achilles, puts on Achilles’ armor and drives the enemy back. But Hector meets Patroclus in single combat and kills him, and a bloody battle rages over his corpse.
E
The Death of Hector and the Funeral of Patroclus
Achilles resolves to avenge his friend’s death. Thetis persuades Hephaestus, god of metalworking, to make a beautiful new suit of armor for her son. The ornamentation of the shield is described in detail: It includes civic and rural scenes and dancing figures. Achilles, equipped with his new armor, sallies out and kills many Trojans. He fights the river-god Scamander and finally encounters Hector, who panics and is chased three times by Achilles around the walls of Troy. Achilles overtakes Hector and with the help of Athena kills him remorselessly. He ties Hector’s corpse by the heels to his chariot and drags it exultantly back to the Greek camp, while Priam, Priam’s wife Hecuba, and Andromache, Hector’s devoted wife, bewail Hector’s death.
Achilles makes preparations to give Patroclus a hero’s funeral. A feast is given; wood is gathered from the forests of Mount Ida for a great pyre. Patroclus’s corpse is laid on the pyre; the funeral rites are performed, the body is consumed by fire, and the bones are gathered in a golden vessel. Then come athletic contests in his honor.
The next day Achilles, still full of grief, drags the body of Hector round the burial place of Patroclus repeatedly. After twelve days Apollo appeals to the gods to end this indignity. Zeus agrees to allow Priam to ransom the body of his son, despite the opposition of Hera. Thetis is sent to persuade Achilles to consent to the return of Hector’s body. Iris, messenger of the gods, tells Priam of Zeus’s decision. Priam, despite Hecuba’s efforts to dissuade him, sets out for the tent of Achilles, bearing rich gifts as a ransom.
In a somberly magnificent scene Achilles receives Priam with grave courtesy and, remembering his own aged father Peleus (whom he knows he will never see again), gives Priam the body of Hector. Priam returns with it to Troy. Andromache mourns her husband, Hecuba her son, and Helen her friend. The Trojans perform the obsequies of Hector, and the poem ends with the line: “So they tended the burial of Hector, tamer of horses.”
III
THE CHARACTERS
The characters of the Iliad are lifelike, vivid, and memorable. On the Greek side are the arrogant, self-centered, yet majestic Agamemnon and the young, quick-tempered, and honor-obsessed Achilles. Savage in his anger, Achilles at heart remains courteous and compassionate. Nestor, though prudent and subtle, is often long-winded. Odysseus, hero of the other epic attributed to Homer, is conciliatory, self-controlled, and resourceful; Ajax, bold, massive, and magnanimous; and Diomedes, dashing and debonair. Many others are portrayed with masterly variety and clarity.
Among the Trojans are the valiant, affectionate, lovable, and doomed Hector, and the age-worn, grief-stricken, but undefeated Priam. Hecuba, wild with grief, first tries in vain to coax her son back to safety, then laments his death in utterly hopeless grief. Andromache, noblest of young wives and mothers, appears in one of the most moving scenes ever composed: the final parting between her and Hector. Helen, conscious of the destructive element in her supreme beauty, remains helpless to escape it.
The gods, too, have vivid but by no means admirable personalities. They bicker, quarrel, scheme, deceive, and even come to blows; they provide the only moments of humor in the grim story. Yet Zeus is invested at times with a sublimity that approaches the highest conceptions of deity. There also are many glimpses of minor characters—soldiers, mythological figures, captives, servants, and country folk—in the background. No poet has surpassed Homer in the art of subtle, economical character drawing.
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Aëdon
Aëdon, in Greek mythology, wife of Zethus, king of Thebes. She was insanely jealous of her sister-in-law, Niobe, who had seven sons, while she had only one. Attempting to kill Niobe’s eldest boy, Itylus, Aëdon slew her own son by mistake. The god Zeus turned her into a nightingale whose melancholy song is a lament for the boy.
According to a later version of the story, Aëdon was called Procne. She and her sister, Philomela, were the daughters of Pandion, the king of Athens. Procne married a Thracian hero named Tereus and gave birth to a son, Itys. Tereus eventually conceived a passion for Philomela, raped her, and cut out her tongue so that she would be unable to betray him. However, Philomela revealed the crime to Procne by embroidering the course of events on a tapestry. To punish Tereus, Philomela and Procne killed Itys and served his remains to Tereus in a stew. When Tereus discovered the truth, he took an ax and went in pursuit of the women, who implored the gods to help them. In response to their pleas, the gods transformed Procne into a nightingale and Philomela into a swallow. Tereus was changed into a hoopoe.
In another version of the story the roles of the sisters are reversed so that it is Philomela who becomes a nightingale and Procne a swallow. This version was adopted by the Roman poets, and it is the one most frequently encountered in subsequent Western art and literature.
Achates
Achates, in Roman mythology, the constant companion of the Trojan hero Aeneas.
Acheron
Acheron, in Greek mythology, river in Hades. It was also the name of a river in southern Epirus, Greece, which flowed underground for part of the 58-km (36-mi) course to the Ionian Sea.
Achilles
I
INTRODUCTION
Achilles, in Greek mythology, greatest of the Greek warriors in the Trojan War. He was the son of the sea nymph Thetis and Peleus, king of the Myrmidons of Thessaly. When the Fates prophesied that Achilles would die in the Trojan War, Thetis bathed her infant son in the River Styx to make him immortal. The waters made him invulnerable except for the heel by which his mother held him. The term Achilles heel has become proverbial for referring to a weakness.
II
YOUTH
While Achilles was growing up, the Greek armies were preparing for their assault on Troy in Asia Minor. Knowing that her son was fated to die if he took part in the war, Achilles’s mother dressed him in women’s clothing and sent him to Skyros to live among the young women in the court of King Lycomedes. Warned that they could not conquer Troy without the aid of Achilles, the Greeks sent Odysseus, king of Ithaca, to find him. Disguised as a peddler, Odysseus went to Skyros bearing a shield and a spear among his goods. When Achilles betrayed his identity by seizing the weapons, Odysseus persuaded him to join the Greek expedition to Troy.
III
THE TROJAN WAR
Achilles fought many battles during the Greeks’ ten-year siege of Troy. When the Mycenaean king Agamemnon seized the captive slave Briseis from him during the war, Achilles withdrew the Myrmidons from battle and sulked in his tent. The Trojans, emboldened by his absence, attacked the Greeks and drove them into headlong retreat. Then Patroclus, Achilles’s friend and companion, begged Achilles to lend him his armor and let him lead the Myrmidons into battle. Achilles consented.
Patroclus was killed by the Trojan prince Hector. Afterward the grief-stricken Achilles returned to battle, slew Hector, and dragged his body in triumph behind his chariot. Achilles fought his last battle with Memnon, king of the Ethiopians. After killing the king, Achilles led the Greeks to the walls of Troy. There he was mortally wounded in the heel by Paris, the Trojan prince whose abduction of Helen, queen of Sparta, started the Trojan War. The quarrel between Achilles and Agamemnon, the subsequent battle, and the ransoming of Hector’s body are recounted in the Iliad, an ancient Greek epic poem attributed to the poet Homer.
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Acrisius
Acrisius, king of Árgos who, as had been foretold, was killed by his grandson Perseus.
For information on: • myth of Acrisius and Perseus, see Perseus (mythology) • founding of the city of Tiryns by Acrisius’s brother, Proetus, see Tiryns
Actaeon
Actaeon, in Greek mythology, a hunter who surprised the goddess Artemis while she was bathing with her nymphs. Artemis changed him into a stag (male deer) and he was torn to pieces by his own hounds. Actaeon was the son of Aristaeus (son of Apollo) and Autonoe (daughter of Cadmus, the founder of the city of Thebes), and was trained as a hunter by the centaur Chiron. The dramatist Euripides had Actaeon angering Artemis by boasting that he was the superior hunter.
Aditi
Aditi, in Vedic tradition (that is, based on the most ancient Hindu holy literature, the Veda), a primordial goddess who is seen as an all-embracing divine spirit, the personification of infinity and sustainer of all things. In the early Vedic hymns Aditi is referred to as the mother of the major gods, who were called the Adityas after her. Among the more important of these gods are Varuna, Indra, and Daksha.
Adonis (mythology)
Adonis (mythology), in Greek mythology, beautiful youth beloved by the goddesses Aphrodite and Persephone. Born of the incestuous union of King Cinyras of Cyprus and his daughter, Adonis was concealed in a chest and placed in the custody of Persephone, queen of the underworld. When Adonis was slain by a wild boar while hunting, Aphrodite pleaded with the god Zeus to restore him to her. Zeus decreed that Adonis should spend the winter months with Persephone in Hades and the summer months with Aphrodite. The story of his death and resurrection is symbolic of the natural cycle of death and rebirth. The name Adonis is etymologically related to adon, a Semitic word meaning “lord” that occurs in the Old Testament in the form Adonai (see Jehovah).
Adrasteia
Adrasteia (Greek, “Necessity”), in classical religion, one of two primordial deities (the other being Chronos, “Time”) present at the beginning of creation. Adrasteia appears in the mythology of Orphism, the mystic cult of ancient Greece believed to have been drawn from the writings of the legendary poet and musician Orpheus.
Aeacus
Aeacus, in Greek mythology, king of Aegina (now Aíyina). He was the son of the nymph Aegina, for whom his island kingdom was named, and the god Zeus. Hera, queen of the gods, angry with Zeus for his love of Aegina, sent a plague that destroyed most of the Aeginetans. Aeacus prayed to his father to change a group of industrious ants into human beings to people his deserted city. Zeus granted his wish, creating a race called the Myrmidons. Aeacus ruled over his people with such justice that after his death he became one of the three judges of the underworld. He was the father of Peleus and the grandfather of Achilles.
Aegir
Aegir, in Germanic mythology, god of stormy seas. His wife, Ran, sank ships and drew mariners to the depths of the sea. The nine daughters of Aegir and Ran represented the different appearances of the ocean waves.
Aegis
Aegis, in Greek mythology, a garment of Zeus, the king of the gods, and of Athena, his daughter. A short cloak with golden tassels, generally worn over the shoulders, the aegis served as the symbol of Zeus’s power; it not only protected him but terrified his enemies. Originally made for Zeus by Hephaestus, the god of artisans, it became the ordinary dress of Athena in later mythology. In art, Athena’s aegis was frequently depicted as a breastplate or as a shield fringed with serpents. The garment was also occasionally used by other gods.
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Aegisthus
Aegisthus, in Greek mythology, the son of Thyestes and his daughter Pelopia. Desiring to avenge himself upon his brother Atreus and acting on the advice of the oracle at Delphi, Thyestes consummated an incestuous union with Pelopia. Shortly afterward, Atreus married Pelopia, not knowing she was his niece. When Aegisthus was born, Atreus accepted him as his own son. Aegisthus later learned his true identity and, urged by Thyestes, killed Atreus. While Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, was away fighting in the Trojan War, Aegisthus became the lover of Queen Clytemnestra. He helped Clytemnestra kill her husband upon his return from Troy. Together with the queen, Aegisthus then ruled Mycenae for seven years; he was murdered by Agamemnon’s son Orestes.
Aegyptus
Aegyptus, in Greek mythology, king of Arabia and Egypt, which he conquered and named for himself. He was the twin brother of Danaüs, who became king of Árgos.
Aelurus
Aelurus, in Egyptian mythology, sacred cat worshiped as a deity and embalmed and buried after its death at Bubastis. According to the Greek historian Herodotus, Aelurus was identified with Artemis, Greek goddess of the hunt.
Aeneas
Aeneas in Roman mythology, the son of Anchises, a Trojan prince, and Venus, goddess of love. After the capture of Troy by the Greeks, Aeneas escaped from the fallen city with the help of his mother. Carrying his aged father on his back and leading his little son by the hand, Aeneas made his way to the seacoast. In the confusion of flight, his wife was left behind.
A long, adventure-filled voyage took Aeneas to Thrace, Delos, Crete, and Sicily, where his father died. The goddess Juno, who had always hated Aeneas and wanted to prevent him from founding Rome, which she knew to be his destiny, tried to drown him in a violent storm. He and his crew were cast up on the African coast, where they were welcomed by Dido, the beautiful queen of Carthage. Dido fell in love with Aeneas and begged him to remain. When he refused and set sail, she took her own life in despair.
After several years of wandering, Aeneas reached Italy and the mouth of the Tiber. There he was hospitably received by Latinus, king of Latium. He became betrothed to Lavinia, the daughter of Latinus, but before he could marry her, Juno caused Turnus, king of the Rutuli and a rejected suitor of Lavinia, to make war against Aeneas and Latinus. The war was resolved by hand-to-hand combat, in which Turnus was defeated and slain by Aeneas. Aeneas then ruled for several years in Latium and, by marrying Lavinia, accomplished the union of Trojans and Latins that would one day produce the Roman people.
The great Roman epic the Aeneid, by Virgil, tells the story of Aeneas’s perilous wanderings in detail and ends with the death of Turnus.
Aeolus
Aeolus, name of two figures in Greek mythology. The best known was keeper of the winds. He lived on the floating island Aeolia with his six sons and six daughters. The god Zeus had given him the power to still and arouse the winds. When the Greek hero Odysseus visited Aeolus, he was welcomed as an honored guest. As a parting gift Aeolus gave him a favoring wind and a leather bag filled with all the winds. Odysseus’s sailors, thinking the bag contained gold, opened it and were at once swept back to Aeolia. There Aeolus refused to help them again.
Another Aeolus in Greek mythology was the king of Thessaly. He was the son of Hellen, ancestor of the Hellenes, the ancient Greek peoples. Aeolus was himself the ancestor of the Aeolian Greeks.
Aerop-Enap
Aerop-Enap, according to the mythology of the Nauruan people of Micronesia, the primordial spider, which initiated the creation of the sea and sky. Aerop-Enap found a clamshell and asked a shellfish to pry it open. The shellfish was only partly successful, so Aerop-Enap asked a caterpillar for help. The caterpillar opened the shell fully, but died of exhaustion. The top part of the shell became the salt sea. The caterpillar became the sun and the shellfish became the moon.
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Aesculapius
Aesculapius, in Roman mythology, the god of medicine, equivalent to the Greek Asclepius.
Aesir
Aesir, the principal gods of Scandinavian mythology—Odin, Thor, Balder, Tyr, Heimdall, and Loki. Their dwelling place is Asgard. They fought against a rival group of gods, the Vanir, and as a result Njord, Freyr, and Freya joined them, initially as hostages.
Agamemnon
Agamemnon, in Greek mythology, king of Mycenae, and commander of the Greek forces in the Trojan War. He was the son of Atreus and suffered the curse laid on his house (see Atreus, House of). When the Greeks had assembled in Aulis for their voyage to Troy, they were held back by adverse winds. To calm the winds, Agamemnon sacrificed his daughter Iphigenia to the goddess Artemis. His quarrel with Achilles over the captive princess Briseis and the consequences of that quarrel form much of the plot of Homer’s Iliad. After a ten-year siege, Troy fell and Agamemnon returned in triumph to Mycenae. With him came the Trojan princess Cassandra, who had been awarded to him by the victorious Greek army.
Clytemnestra, Agamemnon’s wife, greeted him with protestations of love, but while he was in his bath she killed him with the assistance of her lover, Aegisthus. His death was avenged seven years later by his son Orestes. The story of Agamemnon’s death is told in the first play of the trilogy Oresteia, by ancient Greek poet Aeschylus.
Aglaia
Aglaia, in Greco-Roman mythology, one of the three Graces (or Charites, plural of Greek Charis, meaning grace). Together with her sisters Euphrosyne (mirth) and Thalia (bringer of flowers), Aglaia (splendor) belonged to a triad of female deities who were venerated as spirits of vegetation in ancient Greece and were later adopted in Roman mythology. They were the daughters of Zeus and the sea-nymph Eurynome, daughter of Oceanus, and they lived on Mount Olympus with the other immortals. Their task was to attend to Aphrodite, goddess of sexual love. The Graces are related to other offspring of Zeus, the nine Muses (deities of the arts and inspiration) and the three Seasons (or Hours; Horae). The Graces can be further related to the motif of the “Triple Goddess”, which occurs in many different mythological traditions. The youngest of the Graces, Aglaia was reputedly the most beautiful. During the Middle Ages, the three Graces were used in Christian iconography to represent beauty, charity, and love.
Agni
Agni, in Hindu mythology, the god of fire, the guardian of homes, and the protector of humans against evil.
Aither
Aither (Greek, “Ether”), one of the elemental deities in classical mythology. According to the poem called Theogeny by 8th-century Greek poet Hesiod, Aither came into being in the first stages of creation, but is featured infrequently in later myths.
Ajax
Ajax, in Greek mythology, mighty warrior who fought in the Trojan War. He was the son of Telamon, king of Salamís, and led the Salaminian forces to Troy. An enormous man, slow in speech but unshakable in battle, Ajax was called “bulwark of the Achaeans” by Homer. Angered because he was not awarded the armor of the dead Achilles, Ajax resolved to kill the Greek leaders Agamemnon and Menelaus. To prevent this, the goddess Athena struck him with madness. In his delirium, Ajax committed suicide by falling on his sword.
Ajax the Lesser
Ajax the Lesser, in Greek mythology, chieftain from Locris in central Greece. He fought in the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, he violated the temple of Athena by dragging the prophet Cassandra from the altar of the goddess. Athena appealed to the sea god Poseidon to avenge the sacrilege. When the Greeks sailed for home, Poseidon sent a great tempest. Ajax was shipwrecked, but managed to swim to shore. Clinging to a jagged rock, he boasted that he was a man whom the sea could not drown. Angered by his words, Poseidon split the rock with his trident, and Ajax was swept away by the waves.
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Alcestis
Alcestis, in Greek mythology, daughter of Pelias, king of Iolcus in Thessaly. She married Admetus, king of Pherae, whose herds the god Apollo was required to tend as punishment for killing the Cyclopes. During this period of servitude, Apollo and Admetus became friends. When it was time for Admetus to die, Apollo persuaded the Fates to let him live if he could persuade another to die in his place. Alcestis willingly died to spare Admetus’s life. Later, Hercules rescued her from Hades.
Alcmaeon
Alcmaeon, in Greek mythology, son of Amphiaraus and Eriphyle. After Amphiaraus was killed in the expedition of the Seven Against Thebes, Alcmaeon led the Epigoni (the sons of the Seven) in a second expedition. To avenge his father’s death, on his return home he killed his mother, because she had coerced her husband to go on the expedition. He afterwards went mad and wandered from place to place, haunted by the avenging goddesses, the Erinyes, until he took refuge at Psophis in Arcadia. There, he married Arsinoë, the king’s daughter. When the land was cursed with barrenness because of his presence, he fled to the mouth of the Achelous River and married Callirrhoe, daughter of the river god. The king and his sons pursued Alcmaeon and killed him.
Alcmene
Alcmene, in Greek mythology, the wife of Amphitryon (prince of the city of Tiryns) and the mother of Hercules, the Greek hero known for feats of strength and courage. Zeus, the king of the gods, visited Alcmene in the form of her husband; Hercules was the child of their union.
Amanominakanushi-no-kami
Amanominakanushi-no-kami (Japanese for “Lord of the Center of Heaven”), the oldest of the gods. He was the first of three invisible deities who came into existence when the earth was not yet fully formed, and was one of the five primordial Separate Heavenly Deities.
Amazons
Amazons, in Greek mythology, a race of warlike women who excluded men from their society. The Amazons occasionally had sexual relations with men of neighboring states, and all male children born to them were either sent to live with their fathers or killed. The girls were trained as archers for war, and the custom of burning off the right breast was practiced to facilitate bending the bow—hence the name Amazon, derived from the Greek word for breastless. In art, however, in which they are frequently represented, they are depicted as beautiful women with no apparent mutilation. Ancient art, such as that on temple friezes, vases, and sarcophagi, usually presents them in battle scenes. According to legend, they were almost constantly at war with Greece and fought other nations as well. According to one version, they were allied with the Trojans, and during the siege of Troy their queen was slain by the Greek warrior Achilles. Some scholars who attribute a historical foundation to the legends identify the country of the Amazons with Scythia or Asia Minor on the shores of the Black Sea.
Amon
Amon or Ammon (Egyptian, “hidden”), ancient Egyptian deity, originally a local Theban god of reproductive forces, represented as a ram. Amon, his wife, Mut (Egyptian, “the mother”), and his son, the moon god Khon (Egyptian, “to traverse the sky”), formed the divine triad of Thebes. Later Amon was identified with the sun god Ra of Heliopolis, and was known as Amon-Ra, “the father of the gods, the fashioner of men, the creator of cattle, the lord of all being.” As a universal god he became the god of the Egyptian nation and the empire. The power of his high priest rivaled that of the pharaoh, provoking political problems similar to modern church-state rivalry. The most massive temple ever built was constructed for Amon-Ra at Al Karnak. Amon was worshiped in the ancient Greek colonies of Cyrene, where he was identified with Zeus, and in Rome, where he was associated with Jupiter.
Amphiaraus
Amphiaraus, in Greek mythology, a visionary from the city of Árgos who foresaw his own death in the expedition of the Seven against Thebes (an ill-fated attempt to take over the city of Thebes). An oracle called Amphiaraus existed in ancient times at Oropos, near Thebes.
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Amphitrite
Amphitrite, in Greek mythology, sea goddess, daughter of Nereus or of Oceanus, and wife of Poseidon. In sculpture, she often appears sitting next to Poseidon in a chariot drawn by Tritons.
Amphitryon
Amphitryon, in Greek mythology, prince of Tiryns. He married Alcmene, daughter of King Electryon of Mycenae. During his absence on a military expedition, the god Zeus visited Alcmene disguised as Amphitryon. Alcmene gave birth to twin sons: Hercules, the son of Zeus, and Iphicles, the son of Amphitryon.
Anchises
Anchises, in Roman mythology, a member of the royal family of the city of Troy, loved by the goddess Venus. Their son Aeneas rescued Anchises on the fall of Troy and carried him from the burning city on his shoulders. The story forms an episode in the Aeneid, an epic poem about Aeneas written by Roman poet Virgil in the first century BC. In a further episode, Anchises reveals the future greatness of Rome to Aeneas during his son’s visit to the underworld.
Andromache
Andromache, in Greek mythology, wife of Hector, the Trojan hero. Her husband was slain by the Greek warrior Achilles shortly before Troy was captured by the Greeks in the Trojan War. Astyanax, Andromache’s only son, was hurled from the battlements of the city, and Andromache was given to Neoptolemus, son of Achilles, as a prize of war. She bore Neoptolemus three sons, and after he was slain at Delphi, she married Helenus, brother of Hector and king of Epirus.
Andromeda (mythology)
Andromeda (mythology), in Greek mythology, princess of Ethiopia. Her mother, Cassiopeia, angered the god Poseidon by boasting that she herself was more beautiful than the sea nymphs, the Nereids. As punishment, Poseidon sent a horrible sea monster to ravage the land. The Ethiopians learned from an oracle that they would be freed of the monster only if they offered Andromeda as a sacrifice. The maiden was chained to a rock on the seashore, but was rescued by the hero Perseus, who slew the monster and claimed the hand of Andromeda as his reward.
Antaboga
Antaboga, primordial serpent which, according to the Balinese account of creation, existed when there was neither heaven nor earth. Antaboga initiated the process of creation by bringing into being, through meditation, Bedawang, the cosmic turtle that was the foundation of the earth.
Antigone
Antigone, in Greek mythology, daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes, and Queen Jocasta. Antigone accompanied her father into exile but returned to Thebes after his death. Oedipus left the throne of Thebes to his sons, Eteocles and Polynices, Antigone’s brothers. The two came into conflict over who should rule, and after Eteocles succeeded in establishing himself in power, Polynices led the expedition of the Seven Against Thebes to unseat his brother. In the course of the siege, Eteocles and Polynices killed each other. The new king, Creon, gave Eteocles an honorable burial but ordered that the body of Polynices, whom he regarded as a traitor, remain where it had fallen. Antigone, believing divine law must take precedence over earthly decrees, buried her brother. Creon condemned her to be buried alive. She hanged herself in the tomb, and her grief-stricken lover, Haemon, Creon’s son, killed himself. Antigone was the subject of plays by ancient Greek playwright Sophocles and 20th-century French playwright Jean Anouilh.
Antiope
Antiope, in Greek mythology, mother of the twins Amphion and Zethus, whose father was Zeus. Antiope was imprisoned by a tyrant, Lycus, and his wife, Dirce, and freed by her sons, who punished Dirce by tying her to a bull. The scene is represented in a classical marble group, the Farnese Bull (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples), which was rediscovered during the Renaissance.
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Anubis
Anubis, in Egyptian mythology, god of the dead. He was considered the inventor of embalming, the guardian of tombs, and a judge of the dead. The Egyptians believed that at the judgment he weighed the heart of the dead against the feather of truth. In art he is represented as jackal-headed. Anubis was sometimes identified with Hermes in Greek mythology.
Aphrodite
Aphrodite, in Greek mythology, the goddess of love and beauty and the counterpart of the Roman goddess Venus. In Homeric legend she is said to be the daughter of Zeus and Dione, one of Zeus’s consorts, but in the Theogony of Hesiod she is described as having sprung from the foam of the sea, and etymologically her name may mean “foam-risen.” According to Homer, Aphrodite is the wife of Hephaestus, the lame and ugly god of fire. Her lovers include Ares, god of war, who in later mythology was represented as her husband. She was the rival of Persephone, queen of the underworld, for the love of the beautiful Greek youth Adonis.
Perhaps the most famous legend about Aphrodite concerns the cause of the Trojan War. Eris, the personification of discord—the only goddess not invited to the wedding of King Peleus and the sea nymph Thetis—resentfully tossed into the banquet hall a golden apple on which were inscribed the words “for the fairest.” When Zeus refused to judge between Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite, the three goddesses who claimed the apple, they asked Paris, prince of Troy, to make the award. Each goddess offered Paris a bribe: Hera, that he would be a powerful ruler; Athena, that he would achieve great military fame; and Aphrodite, that he should have the fairest woman in the world. Paris declared Aphrodite the fairest and chose as his prize Helen of Troy, the wife of the Greek king Menelaus. Paris’s abduction of Helen led to the Trojan War.
Probably of Near Eastern origin, Aphrodite was identified in early Greek religious belief with the Phoenician goddess Astarte and was known under a variety of cult titles, including Aphrodite Urania, queen of the heavens, and Aphrodite Pandemos, goddess of the whole people.
Apis
Apis, sacred bull of the ancient Egyptians. It was known to them as Hapi and was regarded as the incarnation of Osiris or of Ptah. A court was set apart for Apis in the temple of Ptah at Memphis. It was believed that when Apis died, a new Apis appeared and had to be searched out; he would be recognizable by certain sacred marks upon his body, such as his color (mainly black) and a knot under his tongue. Apis is sometimes represented as a man with the head of a bull.
Apollo (mythology)
Apollo (mythology), in Greek mythology, son of the god Zeus and Leto, daughter of a Titan. He also bore the epithets “Delian” from Delos, the island of his birth, and “Pythian,” from his killing of the Python, the fabled serpent that guarded a shrine on the slopes of Mount Parnassus. The functions of the Greek sun god Helios were transferred to Apollo, in his identity as Phoebus. In Homeric legend Apollo was primarily a god of prophecy. His most important oracle was at Delphi, the site of his victory over the Python. He sometimes gave the gift of prophecy to mortals whom he loved, such as the Trojan princess Cassandra.
Apollo was a gifted musician who delighted the gods with his performance on the lyre. He was also a master archer and a fleet-footed athlete, credited with having been the first victor in the ancient Olympic Games. His twin sister, Artemis, was the guardian of young women, and Apollo was the special protector of young men. He was also the god of agriculture and cattle and of light and truth. He taught humans the art of healing (see Asclepius).
Some tales depict Apollo as stern or cruel. According to Homer’s Iliad, Apollo answered the prayers of the priest Chryses to obtain the release of his daughter from the Greek general Agamemnon by shooting fiery, pestilential arrows into the Greek army. He also abducted and ravished the young Athenian princess Creusa and abandoned her and the child born to them. Perhaps because of his beauty, Apollo was represented in ancient art more frequently than any other deity.
Apsaras
Apsaras (Sanskrit, moving in the water), in Hindu mythology, heavenly nymph of great beauty, often represented as a dancer at the court of the Hindu god Indra in svarga, his heavenly kingdom. In early Hindu sculptures apsarases are frequently depicted with Indra’s musicians, the gandharvas, their heavenly consorts. Apsarases also appear in Buddhist art, such as the frescoes at the Ajanta caves, located in central India.
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The apsarases appear to have been originally water nymphs associated with rivers and seas, and who had superhuman powers and could change form at will. According to the Sanskrit histories of gods and primordial times—the Puranas—Apsarases arose from the sea of milk when it was churned in the dawn of mythical time to produce the magical food amrit for the deities called Devas. In certain mythological stories, Indra sends an Apsaras to earth to distract sages practicing austerities. For instance, in the story of Shakuntala, made famous by a classical Sanskrit play of the 5th-century Indian dramatist Kalidasa, Shakuntala’s mother, the apsaras Menaka, is sent from heaven to distract and seduce Visvamitra, a sage who is gaining alarming levels of yogic power through his concentrated meditation. The most famous apsaras is Urvasi, who falls in love with the mortal Pururuvas, and vows to stay with him providing she never sees him naked. They live happily for a while, but the gandharvas, jealous of Urvasi’s relationship with a mortal, contrive to trick Pururuvas into rushing out one night to rescue Urvasi’s pet lamb, and send a flash of lightning to illuminate his nakedness. Urvasi disappears and Pururuvas is left in despair, until he is finally shown how he can transform himself into a gandharva and is thus reunited with Urvasi in svarga. An Apsaras would also serve as a reward to heroes fallen in combat, rushing to the battle site and carrying them into heaven.
The changing perception and role of apsarases, from immortal women with remarkable sexual freedom to seductresses sent by Indra to distract holy men from their meditation, has been the subject of much analysis. In some areas of India, apsarases were worshiped as part of mother-goddess cults, and an association between apsarases and hierodules (temple prostitutes) is apparent in the early stories of Hindu mythology.
Apsu
Apsu, in the Babylonian creation story, the deity embodying the primordial sweet-water ocean. According to the myth, Apsu and his female counterpart, Tiamat, the salt-water ocean, united to produce a succession of offspring culminating in the gods Anu, Ea, and Marduk. Ea killed Apsu in a struggle for supremacy that eventually saw the emergence of Marduk as the greatest of all the gods.
Arachne
Arachne, in Greek mythology, a young girl who was so skilled in the art of weaving that she dared to challenge the goddess Athena, a patron of the arts and crafts, to a contest. While Athena wove a tapestry depicting the gods and goddesses in all their splendor, Arachne wove one illustrating their romances. Furious over the perfection of the girl’s work, Athena tore it to shreds, and Arachne hanged herself in grief. Out of pity, however, Athena loosened the rope, turning it into a cobweb, and transformed Arachne into a spider.
Arcadia (mythology)
Arcadia (mythology), in Greek mythology, a sanctuary on the Acropolis (the citadel of ancient Athens) and the home of Pan, god of nature and patron of shepherds, who helped the Athenian Greeks win an important victory over the Persians and received the sanctuary in exchange for his aid. Arcadia is actually a district in the central region of the Pelopónnisos, the southern peninsula of the Greek mainland. In later literature a fanciful version of Arcadia became the setting for poetic evocations of pastoral life. While the actual terrain of Arcadia is harsh and mountainous, the idealized landscape of the literary Arcadia is gentle and fertile, home to uncorrupted shepherds and rustic deities. The qualities of this imaginary Arcadia were first developed as a poetic theme by the Roman poet Virgil in his Eclogues, in which Arcadia’s inhabitants lead simple lives in close harmony with nature. Virgil was aware of the contrast between the real and the idealized Arcadian landscapes, but the writers and artists of the Renaissance (14th century to 17th century) who later took up the subject had no knowledge of Arcadia as a real place. Therefore, Arcadia became the location for a wishful vision of innocent, unsophisticated existence, set in a classical past untouched by the conflicts of contemporary life or—unlike the biblical Garden of Eden—by the constraints of Judeo-Christian morality.
In 16th-century Europe Arcadia was widely invoked in such literary works as Arcadia (1504) by the Italian writer Jacopo Sannazzaro and The Arcadia (versions written 1581 and 1583-1584) by the English courtier, poet, and soldier Sir Philip Sidney. Beginning in the 17th century, Arcadia is often present in literature as a vaguely classicized pastoral setting for amatory verse. In the paintings of 17th-century French artists Nicolas Poussin and Claude Lorrain, both active in Italy, classical subjects are often depicted in a landscape that owes much to Virgil’s descriptions of Arcadia and his evocation of a pastoral golden age. Poussin’s Et in Arcadia Ego (Latin, meaning “I am in Arcadia, too”), also known as The Arcadian Shepherds, Louvre, 1640?) shows a group of shepherds curiously inspecting an inscribed coffin.
In the Romantic period of art (1800-1850, see Romanticism [art]) and literature (1750-1870, see Romanticism [literature]), Arcadia remained a powerful symbolic focus, depicted as a place where nature reigned supreme. In modern western
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literature, Arcadia has become a generalized dream of rural happiness and tranquility and an alternative to the complicated experience of urban society.
Ares
Ares, in Greek mythology, god of war and son of Zeus, king of the gods, and his wife, Hera. The Romans identified him with Mars, also a god of war. Aggressive and sanguinary, Ares personified the brutal nature of war. He was unpopular with both gods and humans. Among the deities associated with Ares were his consort, Aphrodite, goddess of love, and such minor deities as Deimos (Panic) and Phobos (Fear), who accompanied him in battle. Although fierce and warlike, Ares was not invincible, even against mortals.
The worship of Ares, believed to have originated in Thrace, was not extensive in ancient Greece, and where it existed, it lacked social or moral significance. Ares was an ancestral deity of Thebes and had a temple at Athens, at the foot of the Areopagus, or Hill of Ares.
Arethusa (mythology)
Arethusa (mythology), in Greek mythology, a wood nymph, the favorite of the nature goddess Artemis. One day, while Arethusa was bathing in a stream belonging to the river god Alpheus, Alpheus appeared and proclaimed his love for her. Arethusa fled under the ocean to the island of Ortygia, where Artemis transformed her into a fountain. But Alpheus pursued her beneath the sea and was himself changed into a river whose waters united with those of the fountain. In ancient times, it was thought that the Alpheus River ran under the sea from Greece and emerged in the fountain of Arethusa in the Sicilian harbor of Syracuse.
Argonauts
Argonauts, in Greek mythology, the band of heroes who sailed on the ship Argo to obtain the Golden Fleece. The leader of the expedition was Jason, son of Aeson, king of Iolcus in Thessaly. Aeson was deposed by his half brother Pelias, who then tried to prevent Jason from claiming the throne. To this end, he persuaded Jason to undertake the dangerous quest for the Golden Fleece, which was held by Aeëtes, king of Colchis, a region located at the eastern end of the Euxine (Black) Sea. Jason assembled 50 of the noblest young men of Greece to accompany him on the voyage. The group that was chosen included Hercules, Orpheus, Castor and Pollux, and Peleus.
The Argo sailed from Iolcus to the island of Lemnos, and on to the Euxine Sea by way of Mysia, an area east of the Aegean Sea, and Thrace. Early in the voyage the crew lost Hercules, who left the ship to search for Hylas, his friend and armor bearer. The Argonauts saved a Thracian king, Phineus, from starvation caused by the Harpies, flying creatures with heads of women, who were carrying off and befouling his food. In gratitude, Phineus told them how to pass through the Symplegades, the rocks that guarded the entrance to the Euxine Sea by clashing against each other when anything went between them. As Phineus had instructed them, the Argonauts released a dove that flew between the Symplegades. As the rocks clanged together and began to return to their positions, the Argo sailed swiftly through.
When the ship finally reached Colchis, Aeëtes refused to relinquish the fleece unless Jason could first yoke and plow a field with two fire-breathing, brass-hoofed bulls. He was then to sow a field with dragon teeth and vanquish the armed men that would spring up from them. Helped by Aeëtes’ daughter, the sorceress Medea, who had fallen in love with him, Jason accomplished these tasks and carried off the fleece. Medea, fleeing with him, slew her brother, Apsyrtus, to delay the pursuit of her father. On the homeward voyage the Argo safely passed between the six-headed monster Scylla and the whirlpool Charybdis. Sea nymphs, sent by the goddess Hera, saved the ship from destruction in a storm off the coast of Libya. From there the Argo sailed to Crete (Kríti) and then home to Iolcus.
Argus
Argus, in Greek mythology, a 100-eyed giant, also called Panoptes (Greek for “the all-seeing”). Argus was assigned to guard Io, the mistress of Zeus, by Zeus’s jealous wife Hera, after Zeus had changed Io into a heifer to conceal her from Hera. The god Hermes, dispatched by Zeus to rescue Io, slew Argus by lulling him to sleep with music and then severing his head. In one version of the story, Argus subsequently became a peacock; in another, Hera transplanted his eyes onto the peacock’s tail.
Argus was also the name of the builder of the Argo, the ship that carried the Greek hero Jason in his quest for the Golden Fleece (see Argonauts). Also known by the name Argus was the old dog of Odysseus, Greek leader during the Trojan War. When his master returned to Ithaca after 19 years, Argus recognized him and promptly died.
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Ariadne
Ariadne, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Minos, king of Crete, and Pasiphaë, daughter of Helios, the sun god. The hero Theseus came to Crete (Kríti) as one of the 14 victims that the Athenians were annually required to offer to the Minotaur, a monster—half bull, half human—that was confined in the mazes of the labyrinth. When Ariadne saw Theseus, she fell in love with him and offered to help him if he would promise to take her back to Athens and marry her. She then gave him a ball of thread, which she had obtained from Daedalus, the designer of the labyrinth. Fastening one end of the thread to the door and unwinding it as he went along, Theseus was able to find and kill the Minotaur and then to escape from the maze by rewinding the thread.
Taking Ariadne with them, Theseus and his companions fled over the seas toward Athens. On the way they stopped at the island of Naxos. According to one legend, Theseus deserted Ariadne, sailing without her while she was asleep on the island; the god Dionysus found her and married her. According to another legend, Theseus set Ariadne ashore to recover from seasickness while he returned to the ship to perform some necessary task. A strong wind then carried him out to sea. When he was finally able to return, he found that Ariadne had died.
Aristaeus
Aristaeus, in Greek mythology, son of the god Apollo and the nymph Cyrene. He was worshiped as the protector of hunters, herdsmen, and flocks and as the inventor of beekeeping and olive culture. When Aristaeus tried to seduce Eurydice, the wife of the celebrated musician Orpheus, she fled from him and received a fatal snake bite. The nymphs punished him by causing all of his bees to die; but he appeased the nymphs with a sacrifice of cattle, from whose carcasses emerged new swarms of bees. Aristaeus was learned in the arts of healing and prophecy, and he wandered over many lands sharing his knowledge and curing the sick. He was widely honored as a beneficent god and was often represented as a youthful shepherd carrying a lamb.
Artemis
Artemis, in Greek mythology, one of the principal goddesses, counterpart of the Roman goddess Diana. She was the daughter of the god Zeus and Leto and the twin sister of the god Apollo. She was chief hunter to the gods and goddess of hunting and of wild animals, especially bears. Artemis was also the goddess of childbirth, of nature, and of the harvest. As the moon goddess, she was sometimes identified with the goddesses Selene and Hecate.
Although traditionally the friend and protector of youth, especially young women, Artemis prevented the Greeks from sailing to Troy during the Trojan War until they sacrificed a maiden to her. According to some accounts, just before the sacrifice, she rescued the victim, Iphigenia. Like Apollo, Artemis was armed with a bow and arrows, which she often used to punish mortals who angered her. In other legends, she is praised for giving young women who died in childbirth a swift and painless death.
Asclepius
Asclepius, in Greek mythology, the god of medicine. He was a son of the god Apollo and Coronis, a beautiful maiden of Thessaly (Thessalia). Angry because Coronis was unfaithful to him, Apollo killed her and tore the unborn Asclepius from her womb. He later sent Asclepius to the centaur Chiron to be raised. Asclepius learned all that Chiron knew about the art of healing and soon became a great physician. Because Asclepius threatened the natural order by raising people from the dead, the god Zeus killed him with a thunderbolt.
The cult of Asclepius was centered in Epidaurus, but it was popular throughout the Greco-Roman world. The sanctuaries of Asclepius functioned as health resorts, where therapeutic regimens such as exercise and diets were prescribed. The most important practice associated with the cures was the ritual of incubation, in which afflicted people slept within a temple or sacred enclosure in the hope that the god would come to them in dreams and prescribe cures for their illnesses.
Asgard
Asgard, in Norse mythology, the abode of the gods. Access to Asgard was possible only by crossing the bridge Bifrost (the rainbow). Asgard was divided into 12 or more realms in which each principal god had his own luxurious mansion of gold or silver. The most important palace was Valhalla, the home of Odin, the chief of the gods.
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Ashera
Ashera, Ugaritic (Canaanite) fertility goddess, the consort of the supreme god El and mother of the Canaanite pantheon. In Greek and Roman mythology, she was known as Astarte; she is said to be related to the Mesopotamian Ishtar or Inanna.
Astarte
Astarte, Greek and Roman name of Ashtoreth, the supreme female divinity of the Phoenician nation, the goddess of love and fruitfulness. Like that of Baal, the corresponding male divinity, the name is frequently found in the earlier books of the Old Testament in the plural form Ashtaroth; not until the time of King Solomon of Israel (10th century BC) did the singular form Ashtoreth occur. She symbolized the female principle in all its aspects, as Baal symbolized maleness. Astarte has been identified with various Greek goddesses: the goddess of the moon, Selene; the goddess of wild nature, Artemis; and the goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. The Babylonian and Assyrian counterpart of Astarte was Ishtar.
Astyanax
Astyanax, in Greek mythology, the son of Hector and Andromache. At the siege of Troy, the child Astyanax was thrown from the city walls by the victorious Greeks.
Atalanta
Atalanta, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Schoeneus of Boeotia or of Iasus of Arcadia. Disappointed that she was not a boy, her father abandoned her on a mountainside shortly after her birth. She was rescued and nursed by a she-bear and later raised by hunters. By the time she had grown up, she was a skilled hunter herself. The feat for which she became especially famous was her participation in the boar hunt of Calydon, a city of Aetolia in central Greece.
According to another legend, Atalanta was a fleet-footed runner who offered to marry anyone who could defeat her in a race. Those who lost were killed. The youth Hippomenes (or Melanion) won with the aid of Aphrodite, goddess of love, who gave him three golden apples of the Hesperides. He dropped them one by one, and, by stopping to pick them up, Atalanta lost the race. She and Hippomenes were later turned into lions because of an affront to the gods. Parthenopaeus, their son, joined the expedition of the Seven Against Thebes.
Ate
Ate, in Greek mythology, daughter of the godZeus and Eris, goddess of strife. Ate was the goddess of rash actions and their consequences. Zeus banished her from heaven after she had tricked him into taking a thoughtless oath. She is said to have been responsible for the bitter quarrel between the Greek heroes Agamemnon and Achilles during the Trojan War.
Athena
Athena, one of the most important goddesses in Greek mythology. In Roman mythology she became identified with the goddess Minerva. Also known as Pallas Athena. Athena sprang full-grown and armored from the forehead of the god Zeus and was his favorite child. He entrusted her with his shield, adorned with the hideous head of Medusa the Gorgon, his buckler, and his principal weapon, the thunderbolt. A virgin goddess, she was called Parthenos (“the maiden”). Her major temple, the Parthenon, was in Athens, which, according to legend, became hers as a result of her gift of the olive tree to the Athenian people.
Athena was primarily the goddess of the Greek cities, of industry and the arts, and, in later mythology, of wisdom; she was also goddess of war. Athena was the strongest supporter, among the gods, of the Greek side in the Trojan War. After the fall of Troy, however, the Greeks failed to respect the sanctity of an altar to Athena at which the Trojan prophet Cassandra sought shelter. As punishment, storms sent by the god of the sea, Poseidon, at Athena’s request destroyed most of the Greek ships returning from Troy.
Athena was also a patron of the agricultural arts and of the crafts of women, especially spinning and weaving. Among her gifts to man were the inventions of the plow and the flute and the arts of taming animals, building ships, and making shoes. She was often associated with birds, especially the owl.
Atlantis
Atlantis, in the tradition of antiquity, a large island in the Western Ocean (the ocean to the west of the known world), near the Pillars of Hercules. The first recorded accounts of Atlantis, which is said to have been engulfed by the ocean as the result of
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an earthquake, appear in Timaeus and Critias, two dialogues by Greek philosopher Plato. According to the account in Timaeus, the island was described to Athenian statesman Solon by an Egyptian priest, who maintained that Atlantis was larger than Asia Minor and Libya combined. The priest further revealed that a flourishing civilization had reputedly centered on Atlantis about the 10th millennium BC, and that the nation had conquered all the Mediterranean peoples except the Athenians. In Critias, Plato records the history of Atlantis and depicts the nation as a utopian commonwealth. Although Plato’s descriptive material and history are probably fictional, the possibility exists that he had access to records that have not survived.
The tradition that a lost island such as Atlantis once flourished has always fascinated the popular imagination, and the tradition continues today. In the 20th century some oceanographers advanced the theory that Atlantis was once a Greek island in the Aegean Sea. Some associate the legend of Atlantis with the Greek island Thíra (Thera), which, according to geologists, experienced a massive volcanic eruption about 1640 BC. Other theories have been based on archaeological discoveries. Scholars have variously identified the island with Crete (Kríti), the Canary Islands, the Scandinavian Peninsula, and the Americas.
Atlas (mythology)
Atlas (mythology), in Greek mythology, son of the Titan Iapetus and the nymph Clymene, and brother of Prometheus. Atlas fought with the Titans in the war against the deities of Mount Olympus. As punishment, he was condemned to bear forever on his back the earth and the heavens and on his shoulders the great pillar that separates them.
Atlas was the father of the Hesperides, the nymphs who guarded the tree of golden apples, and Hercules sought his help in performing one of his labors. Hercules offered to assume Atlas’s burden if Atlas would obtain the golden apples for him. Atlas happily agreed, thinking to rid himself forever of the wearying load. After Atlas returned with the apples, Hercules asked him to take the burden back for a moment while he arranged a pad to ease the pressure on his shoulders. Atlas assumed the load again, and Hercules departed with the apples.
Because the figure of Atlas supporting the earth was often used in the title pages of early map collections, the name now denotes a volume of maps. In classical architecture, atlantes (the plural form of atlas) are male figures used as columns to support a superstructure. Atlantes are the male counterpart of caryatids and are sometimes also called telamones.
Atreus
Atreus, in Greek mythology, son of Pelops. When the king of Mycenae died without an heir, the notables of the kingdom chose Atreus as their new king. Atreus’s brother Thyestes, a rival for the throne, seduced Aërope, wife of Atreus and mother of Agamemnon and Menelaus. In revenge, Atreus murdered two of Thyestes’ sons and served them boiled in a cauldron to their father at a banquet. When Thyestes had eaten the loathsome meal, Atreus ordered a dish holding the bloody heads of the children brought in. Thyestes laid a curse on his brother. Atreus later married Pelopia, daughter of Thyestes, not knowing her true identity. Her son Aegisthus killed Atreus at the command of Thyestes.
House of Atreus
House of Atreus, in Greek mythology, royal family of Mycenae, named for Atreus, who was elected king by the Mycenaean notables. The ill-fated house of Atreus was a favorite subject of ancient Greek writers, including Homer, Aeschylus, Euripides, Sophocles, and Pindar. The cause of the misfortunes that befell the house was the behavior of Tantalus, king of Lydia, who offended the gods and was punished forever in Tartarus. His son Pelops was cursed by the charioteer Myrtilus after accepting Myrtilus’s assistance in gaining the hand of Hippodamia in marriage and then throwing him into the sea to drown. Niobe, the daughter of Tantalus, was punished by the gods for her arrogance.
Atreus, son of Pelops, and his children and grandchildren felt the full weight of divine wrath. First, Atreus’s brother Thyestes seduced the wife of Atreus. In revenge, Atreus served the boiled flesh of two sons of Thyestes to their father at a banquet. Thyestes’ third son, Aegisthus, later killed Atreus to avenge this deed. Of Atreus’s sons, Agamemnon and Menelaus were the most famous. The abduction of Menelaus’s wife, Helen of Troy, was the cause of the Trojan War. After the war, Menelaus and Helen were reconciled and, following many adventures, returned to Sparta, where they lived happily. Agamemnon, on the other hand, was killed on the day of his triumphant homecoming by his wife, Clytemnestra, and Aegisthus, whom she had taken as her lover. Agamemnon’s death was avenged seven years later by his children Electra and Orestes. When Orestes was at last acquitted of blood guilt in the murder of his mother by the Areopagus in Athens, the curse on the house of Atreus was finally lifted.
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Atum
Atum, in Egyptian mythology, god of the sun and also a creator god. Atum was considered one of four principal creator deities, along with Amon, Khnum, and Ptah. Atum, whose cult center was in the ancient city of Heliopolis, first emerged from the primeval ocean in the form of a serpent, but was usually represented in human form. Like other creator deities, Atum represented a totality that contained both male and female, and he created the first divine couple, Shu and Tefnut. As Ra-Atum, he represented the evening sun.
Augean Stables
Augean Stables, in Greek mythology, the stables owned by Augeas, who in some versions of the myth is a son of the god Helios and king of Elis in northwest Pelopónnisos (Peloponnesus). Augeas possessed an immense herd of cattle, including 12 white bulls sacred to Helios, kept in stalls that had not been cleaned for years. One of the 12 labors imposed on the Greek hero Hercules was cleaning the stables, unaided, in a single day. He did this by diverting the rivers Alpheus and Peneus to run through them. Augeas had promised Hercules a tenth of his herd as payment but did not keep his word. Hercules then sent an army against him, slaying Augeas and his sons.
Autolycus
Autolycus, in Greek mythology, an accomplished thief and trickster. He was the son of the god Hermes, who gave him the power of invisibility.
Balder
Balder or Baldur, in Norse mythology, the god of light and joy, son of Odin and Frigga, king and queen of the gods. Having dreamed that Balder’s life was threatened, Frigga extracted an oath from the forces and objects in nature, animate and inaminate, that they would not harm Balder, but she forgot the mistletoe. The gods, thinking Balder safe, cast darts and stones at him. The malicious giant Loki put a twig of mistletoe in the hands of Balder’s twin, the blind Hoder, god of darkness, and directed his aim against Balder, who fell pierced to the heart. After the death of Balder, Odin sent another son, the messenger Hermod, to the underworld to plead for Balder’s return. The god would be released only if everything in the world would weep for him. Everything wept except one old woman in a cave, and Balder could not return to life.
Bast
Bast, also Bastet or Ubasti, in Egyptian mythology, cat goddess worshiped primarily in the ancient city of Bubastis on the Nile Delta. As the protector of cats, which the ancient Egyptians often kept in their homes as pets, Bast was also an important goddess of the hearth. During the New Kingdom (1550-1070 BC), she became equated with Sekhmet, the lioness deity of war. Bast was also worshiped as the spouse of the creator god, Ptah-seker-ausur, and possessed destructive powers attributed to the sun.
Images of Bast portray her with a sistrum (ancient Egyptian percussion instrument) in her right hand, and a small bag over her left arm, with figurines of kittens surrounding her feet. Such images are among the most naturalistic works of ancient Egyptian sculpture.
Herodotus, a Greek historian of the 5th century BC, described in his second book of his Histories the annual festival of Bast, whom he equated with the Greek goddess Artemis. He estimated that the festival attracted more than 700,000 people each year. Excavations in the area where Bubastis was located have uncovered cat cemeteries with large numbers of mummified cats and cat figurines, which were perhaps dedicated to Bast during her festival.
Batara Kala
Batara Kala, in Balinese cosmology, the divine ruler of the cave of the underworld, which he rules jointly with the goddess Setesuyara. Batara Kala created light and mother earth.
Bel
Bel, supreme god of the Babylonians (see Isaiah 46). Bel is the Chaldaic form of Baal and is believed by some to be identical with that god. Like the equivalent Hebrew Baal, the name Bel was used also in the sense of “lord” or “owner.” Bel presided over the air. His consort was Belit. Bel was identified with the Greek god Zeus by the Greek historian Herodotus and was believed by the British Orientalist George Rawlinson to have been different from the Syrian Baal. As Bel-Merodach the god was connected with the planet Jupiter, associated in astral mythology with the productive power of nature.
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Bellerophon
Bellerophon, in Greek mythology, the son of Glaucus, king of Corinth; he was the hero who tamed the winged horse Pegasus with the aid of a bridle given him by the goddess Athena. Falling in love with the wife of King Proetus of Árgos, Bellerophon aroused the jealousy of Proetus, who sent him to his father-in-law Iobates, king of Lycia, with a message requesting that the bearer be slain. The king, having entertained Bellerophon before he read the message, was afraid to anger the god Zeus by carrying out a request that would break the traditional bond between host and guest. Instead of killing Bellerophon, he asked him to kill the Chimera, a fire-breathing monster, which the hero did with the help of Pegasus. He also defeated the Solymi and the Amazons, two warrior tribes. Iobates was impressed by Bellerophon’s superhuman courage and married him to his daughter. After a time of prosperity, Bellerophon defied the gods by trying to ride Pegasus up to Olympus, but, thrown to the earth by the horse, he wandered in misery until he died.
Bellona
Bellona, in Roman mythology, the goddess of war. She is often identified with the Greek war goddess Enyo. Although she was an ancient goddess, Bellona had no flamen, or dedicated priest, and no festival in her honor. Her temple, which was dedicated in Rome in 296 BC, stood in the Campus Martius near the altar of Mars outside the gates of the city. Here the Senate met to receive foreign ambassadors. In front of Bellona’s temple stood the columna bellica, or column of war. Here the fetial priests, who supervised the religious aspect of Rome’s international affairs, performed ceremonies for the declaration of war.
Bes
Bes, in Egyptian mythology, the god of music and dance. Bes is usually shown as a grotesque dwarf.
Boreas
Boreas, in Greek mythology, the north wind that carried off Oreithyia, daughter of a legendary king of Athens. Their children were Calais and Zetes, two of the Argonauts, who freed Phineus (a blind soothsayer, destined to be the future king of Salmydessus in Thrace) from the Harpies.
Brownie
Brownie, in the popular folklore of Scotland, a good-natured, invisible, household goblin who lives in farmhouses and other country dwellings. While the people are asleep, the brownie performs their labors for them. If offered payment for his services, the brownie disappears and is never seen again. Brownies resemble Robin Goodfellow of English folklore. In Germany a similar spirit is called a Kobold.
Brunhild (mythology)
Brunhild (mythology), in Germanic mythology and literature, a beautiful, powerful princess and warrior. Her story is recorded in the 13th-century Eddaic poems and Volsunga Saga of Iceland and in the medieval German epic poem the Nibelungenlied (circa 1200). In the Icelandic writings, she is called Brynhild; she is Brünnehilde in the German composer Richard Wagner’s opera cycle The Ring of the Nibelungs, based in part on these legends.
In the Nibelungenlied, Brunhild is a belligerent queen of Iceland who swears to marry the man who can better her in combat. Siegfried is able to defeat her, but wins her for another, Gunther. Despising Siegfried for his deception, she takes vengeance by arranging his death.
In Icelandic sources this character, called Brynhild, is delivered from eternal sleep by Sigurd, who crosses a wall of fire that encircles her. They become engaged, but Sigurd resumes his travels. Later, a magic potion causes him to forget Brynhild and marry Gudrun instead. He then aids Gudrun’s brother Gunnar in his suit of Brynhild, by disguising himself as Gunnar. Discovering the deception, Brynhild brings about Sigurd’s death, but is so grief stricken by the news of it that she takes her own life on his funeral pyre.
Cadmus
Cadmus, in Greek mythology, Phoenician prince who founded the city of Thebes in Greece. When his sister Europa was kidnapped by the god Zeus, Cadmus was ordered by his father, the king of Phoenicia, to find her or not to return home. Unable to locate his sister, he consulted the oracle at Delphi and was instructed to abandon his search and instead to found a
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city. Upon leaving Delphi, the oracle advised, Cadmus would come upon a heifer, follow her, and build the city where she lay down to rest.
Near the site of the new city Cadmus and his companions found a sacred grove guarded by a dragon. After the beast killed his companions, Cadmus slew the dragon and, on the advice of the goddess Athena, planted its teeth in the ground. Armed men sprang from the teeth and fought each other until all but five were killed. Cadmus enlisted the help of the victors in founding the citadel of the new city of Thebes, and they became the heads of its noble families. Before Cadmus could enjoy his new home, however, he had to do penance for killing the dragon, which was sacred to Ares, god of war. After eight years of servitude, Cadmus was made king of Thebes and was given Harmonia, the daughter of Ares and of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, as his wife.
Although Thebes prospered under Cadmus’s rule, misfortune overcame his descendants. In his old age, after two of his daughters and two of his grandsons had suffered violent deaths, Cadmus fled with his wife to Illyria, where at his death he and Harmonia were changed into serpents. According to tradition, Cadmus introduced the alphabet into Greece.
Caduceus
Caduceus, symbolic staff surmounted by two wings and entwined with two snakes. Among the ancient Greeks the caduceus was carried by heralds and ambassadors as a badge of office and a mark of personal inviolability, because it was the symbol of Hermes, the messenger of the gods. According to Book IV of Virgil’s Aeneid, the Greek god Apollo gave the staff to Hermes in return for the lyre. In Roman mythology the symbol is associated with the god Mercury. The staff of Asclepius, the Greek god of healing, which was entwined by a single snake, was also called a caduceus. The caduceus has been adopted as a symbol by the medical profession; it is also the emblem of the medical branches of the United States Army and Navy.
Calchas
Calchas, in Greek mythology, the most famous soothsayer among the Greeks at the time of the Trojan War. When the Greek fleet was stranded at Aulis because of a lack of favorable wind, Calchas revealed that the goddess Artemis was offended and that King Agamemnon must sacrifice his virgin daughter Iphigenia before the winds would rise. Calchas predicted the 10-year siege of Troy, and shortly before the conclusion of the war, when the Greeks were stricken with a plague, explained that the god Apollo was angry because Agamemnon had taken as his mistress the daughter of one of Apollo’s priests. Calchas was highly respected because of the accuracy of his prophecies, and at his suggestion the Greek commanders built the Trojan horse by which the Greek forces gained access to the city.
Calypso (mythology)
Calypso (mythology), in Greek mythology, a sea nymph and daughter of the Titan Atlas. Calypso lived alone on the mythical island of Ogygia in the Ionian Sea. When the Greek hero Odysseus was shipwrecked on Ogygia, she fell in love with him and kept him a virtual prisoner for seven years. Although she promised him immortality and eternal youth if he would stay with her, she could not make him overcome his desire to return home. At the bidding of the god Zeus, she finally released Odysseus and gave him materials to build a raft to leave the island. She died of grief after he left.
Cassandra
Cassandra, in Greek mythology, daughter of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy. The god Apollo, who loved Cassandra, granted her the gift of prophecy, but when she refused to return his love, Apollo made the gift useless by decreeing that no one would believe her predictions. Cassandra warned the Trojans of many dangers, including the wooden horse by which the Greeks entered the city, but she was dismissed as a madwoman. After the fall of Troy, she was dragged from her sanctuary in the temple of the goddess Athena by Ajax the Lesser and brought to the Greek camp. When the spoils were divided, Cassandra was awarded to King Agamemnon as his slave and mistress. Cassandra warned him that he would be killed if he returned to Greece; again she was not believed. Upon their arrival in Mycenae she and Agamemnon were murdered by Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae and wife of Agamemnon.
Cassiopeia (mythology)
Cassiopeia (mythology), in Greek mythology, the wife of Cepheus, king of Ethiopia. When Cassiopeia boasted that she was more beautiful than the Nereids, these water nymphs complained to Poseidon, the god of the sea, who sent a sea monster to ravage the land. Poseidon demanded that Cassiopeia’s daughter Andromeda be punished for her mother’s vanity by being sacrificed to the monster, but the girl was rescued by the hero Perseus. According to tradition, at her death Cassiopeia was changed into the constellation that bears her name.
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Castor and Polydeuces
Castor and Polydeuces, in Greek and Roman mythology, the twin sons of Leda, wife of the Spartan king Tyndareus. Polydeuces is also called Pollux. They were the brothers of Clytemnestra, queen of Mycenae, and Helen of Troy. Although both boys were known as the Dioscuri, or Sons of Zeus, in most accounts only Polydeuces was held to be immortal, having been conceived when Zeus appeared to Leda in the form of a swan. Castor, his fraternal twin, was considered the mortal son of Tyndareus. Both were worshiped as deities in the Roman world, however, and were regarded as the special protectors of sailors and warriors. Living just before the Trojan War, the brothers took part in many of the famous events of the day, including the Calydonian boar hunt, the expedition of the Argonauts, and the rescue of their sister Helen when she was carried off by the Greek hero Theseus. Throughout their adventures the brothers were inseparable, and when Castor was slain by Idas, a cattle owner, in a dispute about his oxen, Polydeuces was inconsolable. In response to his prayers for death for himself or immortality for his brother, Zeus reunited the brothers, allowing them to be together always, half the time in the underworld and half with the gods on Mount Olympus. According to a later legend, Castor and Polydeuces were transformed by Zeus into the constellation Gemini, or The Twins.
Cecrops
Cecrops, in Greek mythology, the founder of Athens and of Greek civilization. Reputed to have sprung half man, half serpent from the soil, he became the first king of Attica, which he divided into 12 communities. He established marriage and property laws, introduced bloodless sacrifice and burial of the dead, and invented writing. During his 50-year rule he arbitrated a dispute over possession of Athens between Athena and Poseidon, awarding it to Athena.
Centaurs
Centaurs, in Greek mythology, a race of monsters believed to have inhabited the mountain regions of Thessaly (Thessalia) and Arcadia. They were usually represented as human down to the waist, with the lower torso and legs of a horse. The centaurs were characterized by savageness and violence; they were known for their drunkenness and lust and were often portrayed as followers of Dionysus, the god of wine. The centaurs were driven from Thessaly when, in a drunken frenzy, they attempted to abduct the bride of the king of the Lapiths from her wedding feast. An exception to their bestial behavior was the centaur Chiron, who was noted for his goodness and wisdom. Several Greek heroes, including Achilles and Jason, were educated by him.
Cerberus
Cerberus, in Greek mythology, a three-headed, dragon-tailed dog that guarded the entrance to the lower world, or Hades. The monster permitted all spirits to enter Hades, but would allow none to leave. Only a few heroes ever escaped Cerberus’s guard; the great musician Orpheus charmed it with his lyre, and the Greek hero Hercules captured it bare-handed and brought it for a short time from the underworld to the regions above. In Roman mythology both the beautiful maiden Psyche and the Trojan prince Aeneas were able to pacify Cerberus with a honey cake and thus continue their journey through the underworld. Cerberus is sometimes pictured with a mane of snakes and 50 heads.
Ceres (mythology)
Ceres (mythology), in Roman mythology, the goddess of agriculture. She and her daughter Proserpine were the counterparts of the Greek goddesses Demeter and Persephone. The Greek belief that her joy at being reunited with her daughter each spring caused the earth to bring forth an abundance of fruits and grains was introduced into Rome in the 5th century BC, and her cult became extremely popular, especially with the plebeians. The word cereal is derived from her name. Her chief festival, the Cerealia, was celebrated from April 12 to 19.
Chaos
Chaos, in one ancient Greek myth of creation, the dark, silent abyss from which all things came into existence. According to the Theogony of Hesiod, Chaos generated the solid mass of Earth, from which arose the starry, cloud-filled Heaven. Mother Earth and Father Heaven, personified respectively as Gaea and her offspring Uranus, were the parents of the Titans. Other children of Chaos include Tartarus and Eros. In a later theory Chaos is the formless matter from which the cosmos, or harmonious order, was created.
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Charon (mythology)
Charon (mythology), in Greek mythology, the son of Night and of Erebus, who personified the darkness under the earth through which dead souls passed to reach the home of Hades, the god of death. Charon was the aged boatman who ferried the souls of the dead across a river separating the world of the living from the world of the dead and brought them to the gates of the underworld. The river has traditionally been identified as the Styx, but early Greek writers called it the Acheron. Charon would admit to his boat only the souls of those who had received the rites of burial and whose passage had been paid with a coin placed under the tongue of the corpse. Those who had not been buried and whom Charon would not admit to his boat were doomed to wait beside the river for 100 years.
Chimera (mythology)
Chimera (mythology), in Greek mythology, a fire-breathing monster that had the head of a lion, the body of a she-goat, and the tail of a dragon. It terrorized Lycia, a region in Asia Minor, but was finally killed by the Greek hero Bellerophon.
Cimmerians
Cimmerians, in the poetry of Homer, a mythical people who lived in northwestern Europe, on the shores of the ocean, where perpetual darkness reigned. The name is also used to designate a historical people who settled along the northern shore of the Black Sea and presumably made several inroads into Asia Minor (the accounts are confused). The Cimmerians, driven from their homes, probably in the 8th century BC by the Scythians, overran Asia Minor; they plundered Sardis and destroyed Magnesia. After their defeat by the empire of Lydia about the 7th century BC, the Cimmerians disappeared.
Circe
Circe, in Greek mythology, a sorceress, the daughter of the sun god Helios and the sea nymph Perse. She lived on the island of Aeaea, near the west coast of Italy. With potions and incantations Circe was able to turn people into beasts. Her victims retained their reason, however, and knew what had happened to them. In the course of his wanderings, the Greek hero Odysseus visited her island with his companions, whom she turned into swine. On his way to find help for his men, Odysseus met the god Hermes, from whom he received an herb that made him immune to Circe’s enchantments. He forced her to restore his companions to human form, and in amazement that anyone could resist her spell, Circe fell in love with Odysseus. He and his friends stayed with her for a year. When they finally determined to leave, she told Odysseus how to find the spirit of the Theban seer Tiresias in the underworld in order to learn from him how to conduct safely the homeward voyage.
Clytemnestra
Clytemnestra, in Greek mythology, queen of Mycenae, a city in the Pelopónnisos (Peloponnesus), and wife of King Agamemnon. The daughter of Tyndareus, king of Sparta, and his wife Leda, she bore Agamemnon four children: Electra, Iphigenia, Orestes, and Chrysothemis. After Agamemnon sacrificed Iphigenia so that his ships could sail to Troy, Clytemnestra’s love for her husband turned to hatred; while he led the Greek forces in the Trojan War, she took Aegisthus as her lover. When Agamemnon returned in triumph with the Trojan princess Cassandra, Clytemnestra sought revenge for the death of Iphigenia, and, with the help of Aegisthus, she killed both her husband and his Trojan mistress. She and her lover ruled for seven years until they were both slain by Orestes, who had been commanded by the god Apollo to avenge the death of his father.
Creon
Creon, in Greek mythology, brother of Jocasta, queen of Thebes. After King Oedipus was exiled, Creon served as regent of Thebes until his nephew Eteocles, Oedipus’s younger son, claimed the throne. The elder son, Polynices, angered at this usurpation of his legal right, led an invading army in the battle of the Seven Against Thebes. Both brothers were killed in combat, and Creon again took command of Thebes, decreeing that all who had fought against the city would be denied burial rites. Burial of the dead was regarded as a sacred duty, and Antigone, sister of Polynices, defied Creon and buried her brother, claiming that she owed a higher obedience to the laws of the gods than to the laws of man. Enraged at her defiance of his authority, Creon ordered that his niece be buried alive. His son Haemon, who had loved Antigone, killed himself in despair at her death. In the story of Jason and Medea, the king of Corinth is named Creon.
Cronus
Cronus, in Greek mythology, ruler of the universe during the Golden Age. He was one of the 12 Titans and the youngest son of Uranus and Gaea, the personifications of heaven and earth. The first sons of his parents were the three Hecatonchires, the
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100-handed, 50-headed monsters whom Uranus had imprisoned in a secret place. Gaea sought to rescue them and appealed for help from her other offspring, including the Cyclopes. Cronus alone accepted the challenge. He attacked Uranus and wounded him severely; Cronus thus became the ruler of the universe.
Cronus and his sister-queen, Rhea, became the parents of 6 of the 12 gods and goddesses known as the Olympians. Cronus had been warned that he would be overthrown by one of his children, and he swallowed each of his first five children as soon as it was born. Rhea, however, substituted a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes for their sixth child, Zeus. Zeus was hidden in Crete (Kríti), and when he was grown, with the aid of Gaea, forced Cronus to disgorge the other five children together with the stone. The stone was later removed to Delphi. Zeus and his five brothers and sisters waged war on Cronus and the other Titans. Zeus was aided by the Hecatonchires and the Cyclopes, whom he freed from the prison where they were kept by Cronus. Cronus and the Titans were thereafter confined in Tartarus, a cave in the deepest part of the underworld. The Roman counterpart of Cronus is Saturn, the god of sowing and seed.
Cupid
Cupid (Latin cupido,”desire”), in Roman mythology, son of Venus, goddess of love. His counterpart in Greek mythology was Eros, god of love. He is best known as the handsome young god who falls in love with the beautiful maiden Psyche. This story is told in The Golden Ass, a romance by the Roman writer Lucius Apuleius. In other tales he appears as a mischievous boy who indiscriminately wounds both gods and humans with his arrows, thereby causing them to fall deeply in love. Cupid is commonly represented in art as a naked, winged infant, often blindfolded, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows.
Cybele
Cybele, Latin name of a goddess native to Phrygia in Asia Minor and known to the Greeks as Rhea, the wife of the Titan Cronus and mother of the Olympian gods. Cybele was a goddess of nature and fertility who was worshiped in Rome as the Great Mother of the Gods. Because Cybele presided over mountains and fortresses, her crown was in the form of a city wall, and she was also known to the Romans as Mater Turrita. The cult of Cybele was directed by eunuch priests called Corybantes, who led the faithful in orgiastic rites accompanied by wild cries and the frenzied music of flutes, drums, and cymbals.
Cyclops
Cyclops, in Greek mythology, giants with one enormous eye in the middle of the forehead. In Hesiod, the three sons—Arges, Brontes, and Steropes—of Uranus and Gaea, the personifications of heaven and earth, were Cyclopes. They were thrown into the lower world by their brother Cronus, one of the Titans, after he dethroned Uranus. But Cronus’s son, the god Zeus, released the Cyclopes from the underworld, and they, in gratitude, gave him the gifts of thunder and lightning with which he defeated Cronus and the Titans and thus became lord of the universe.
In Homer’s Odyssey, the Cyclopes were shepherds living in Sicily. They were a lawless, savage, and cannibalistic race fearing neither gods nor humans. The Greek hero Odysseus was trapped with his men in the cave of the Cyclops Polyphemus, a son of Poseidon, god of the sea. In order to escape from the cave after the giant devoured several men, Odysseus blinded him.
Daedalus
Daedalus, in Greek mythology, Athenian architect and inventor who designed the labyrinth for King Minos of Crete. It was built as a prison for the Minotaur, a man-eating monster that was half man and half bull. The labyrinth was so skillfully designed that no one who entered it could escape from the Minotaur. Daedalus revealed the secret of the labyrinth only to Ariadne, daughter of Minos, and she aided her lover, the Athenian hero Theseus, to slay the Minotaur and escape. In anger at the escape, Minos imprisoned Daedalus and his son Icarus in the labyrinth. Although the prisoners could not find the exit, Daedalus made wax wings so that they could both fly out. Icarus, however, flew too near the sun; his wings melted, and he fell into the sea. Daedalus flew to Sicily, where he was welcomed by King Cocalus. Minos later pursued Daedalus but was killed by the daughters of Cocalus.
Dagon
Dagon, god of fertility worshiped by the Philistines and throughout the ancient Middle East. His cult is known to have existed as early as 2500 BC, and a number of references to him are made in the Old Testament. The possible derivations of his name are numerous; from the Hebrew word for “grain”; from the Semitic word for “corn”; and from a Hebrew word for “fish.” The
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last of these derivations gave rise to the common image of Dagon as a merman—half man, half fish. Dagon is also regarded as the legendary inventor of the plow.
Dana
Dana, also known as Danu, Anu, or Danaan, a major mother goddess in Celtic mythology. It is difficult to establish Dana’s early role and significance, because much of pre-Christian mythology existed purely in oral tradition. Dana is attributed three sons: the gods Brian, Iuchar, and Iucharba. Some sources describe the Celtic goddess Brigit as their mother, however, indicating a possibility that Dana and Brigit were the same goddess. The descendants of Dana and her consort Bilé (Beli) were known as the Tuatha Dé Danaan (Celtic for “Children of Danaan”), a race of gods that in later legend became one of the early peoples of Ireland. According to legend, the Tuatha Dé Danaan were ousted from Ireland in the 2nd century BC after a struggle with the armed Milesians from Spain. It is generally true of the Celtic tradition, however, that goddesses—whether in the role of ancestral mothers, warriors, or queens—were accorded a particularly high status. In Britain, Dana became the god Don.
Danaüs
Danaüs, in Greek mythology, the son of Belus, king of Egypt, and Anchinoe. Aegyptus, Danaüs’s twin brother, wished to settle a quarrel between them by marrying his 50 sons to the 50 daughters of Danaüs. Danaüs and his daughters, who opposed the arrangement, fled from Egypt to Árgos, where Danaüs became king. The young men pursued them, however, and Danaüs finally agreed to the marriage, but gave each daughter a dagger with which to kill her husband on the wedding night. Hypermnestra, the only daughter who did not obey, was imprisoned by Danaüs but later released. As punishment for the murders, the 49 obedient sisters, known as the Danaïds, were condemned by the gods to the fruitless and eternal task of filling leaking jars in the underworld.
Danae
Danae, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Acrisius, king of Árgos, and, by the god Zeus, the mother of Perseus.
Daphne (mythology)
Daphne (mythology), in Greek mythology, nymph, daughter of the river god Peneus. She was a hunter who dedicated herself to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and, like the goddess, refused to marry. The god Apollo fell in love with Daphne, and when she refused his advances, he pursued her through the woods. She prayed to her father for help, and as Apollo advanced upon her, she was changed into a laurel tree (Greek daphne). Grief-stricken at her transformation, Apollo made the laurel his sacred tree.
Daphnis
Daphnis, in Greek mythology, the Sicilian shepherd who invented pastoral poetry, born of the union of the god Hermes with a nymph. According to one legend, Daphnis was blinded after breaking a vow of fidelity to a nymph who loved him. In another account, he loved the nymph Piplea, and to rescue her from Lityerses, king of Phrygia, Daphnis entered a reaping contest with the king. Daphnis lost the contest and was about to be beheaded by the king when the hero Hercules appeared and killed Lityerses. In one Greek pastoral poem, Daphnis is the lover of the shepherdess Chloë.
Dardanus
Dardanus, in Greek mythology, ancestor of the Trojans and son of the god Zeus and the nymph Electra. He married the daughter of Teucer, who ruled a region in Asia Minor. After Teucer’s death he became ruler of the region, which he named Dardania and which was later called Troas or Troy after Tros, Dardanus’s grandson. The chief city of the region was named Troy, and the town of Dardanus, adjoining Troy, preserved the name of the ancient king.
Demeter
Demeter, in Greek mythology, goddess of grain and the harvest, and daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. When her daughter Persephone was abducted by Hades, god of the underworld, Demeter’s grief was so great that she neglected the land; no plants grew, and famine devastated the earth. Dismayed at this situation, Zeus, the ruler of the universe, demanded that his brother Hades return Persephone to her mother. Hades agreed, but before he released the girl, he made her eat some pomegranate seeds that would force her to return to him for four months each year. In her joy at being reunited with her daughter, Demeter caused the earth to bring forth bright spring flowers and abundant fruit and grain for the harvest. However,
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her sorrow returned each fall when Persephone had to go back to the underworld. The desolation of the winter season and the death of vegetation were regarded as the yearly manifestation of Demeter’s grief when her daughter was taken from her. Demeter and Persephone were worshiped in the rites of the Eleusinian Mysteries. The cult spread from Sicily to Rome, where the goddesses were worshiped as Ceres and Proserpine.
Deucalion
Deucalion, in Greek mythology, son of the Titan Prometheus. Deucalion was king of Phthia in Thessaly (Thessalia) when the god Zeus, because of the wicked ways of the human race, destroyed them by flood. For nine days and nights Zeus sent torrents of rain. Only Deucalion and his wife, Pyrrha, survived drowning. They were saved because they were the only people who had led good lives and remained faithful to the laws of the gods. Having been warned by his father, Prometheus, of the approaching disaster, Deucalion built a boat, which carried him and Pyrrha safely to rest atop Mount Parnassus. The oracle at Delphia commanded them to cast the bones of their mother over their shoulders. Understanding this to mean the stones of the earth, they obeyed, and from the stones sprang a new race of people.
Devas and Asuras
Devas and Asuras, in Vedic tradition (that is, based on the most ancient Hindu holy literature, the Veda), two classes of gods, that in later traditions diverged into two groups of deities and demons, respectively. The 33 Devas (Sanskrit for “deity”) govern the three regions of heaven, air, and earth, assisting humankind with their beneficent powers. In the cosmic struggle between the forces of order and chaos, the Devas are opposed by the demonic Asuras (Sanskrit for “air of life”), a class of titans that are also enemies of humans. The conflict between Devas and Asuras is dramatized in the myth of the churning of the ocean, in which the high gods uproot Mount Mandara, wrap the serpent Vasuli about it, and set it in the ocean. The Devas pull on one end of the serpent and the Asuras on the other, churning the ocean into butter. Finally, after more churning, the sun and moon rise from the ocean, followed by Dhanvantari, the physician of the gods, bearing the elixir of immortality. This is given to the Devas, sparking off a battle in which the Asuras are defeated.
In another myth of conflict, a battle rages between the Devas and Asuras for hundreds of years. The Devas are put to flight by the buffalo demon Mahisha, but are saved by the anger of Vishnu and Shiva, which is so intense that its energy materializes in the form of the goddess Durga, who vanquishes the buffalo. The Devas are led by Indra, the warrior god of storms and rain, who is often shown riding on an elephant. Indra’s rival is Varuna, supreme god of cosmic order, whom he appears to have supplanted, and many myths record Indra’s battles with the destructive powers represented by the Asuras. In numerous myths the Asuras receive aid from the creator deity, Brahma. For example, Brahma permits the Asuras to construct three great cities from which to dominate the regions of heaven, air, and earth. At the height of their glory, however, the Asura cities are incinerated by Shiva and the Asuras themselves are hurled into the sea.
In the Zoroastrian religion (see Zoroastrianism) of Iran, the Asuras became Ahuras, the forces of good under the great deity Ahura Mazda, while the Devas, or Daevas, fulfilled the opposite role, being associated with the evil spirit Angra Mainyu.
Diana
Diana, in Roman mythology, goddess of the moon and of the hunt. The Latin counterpart of the Greek virgin goddess Artemis, Diana was the guardian of springs and streams and the protector of wild animals. She was, in addition, especially revered by women, and was believed to grant an easy childbirth to her favorites. In art she is typically shown as a young hunter, often carrying bow and arrows. The most celebrated shrine to Diana was on Lake Nemi, near Aricia.
Dido
Dido, in Greek mythology, legendary founder and queen of Carthage, and daughter of Belus, king of Tyre. When Dido’s husband was killed by her brother Pygmalion, king of Tyre, Dido fled with her followers to North Africa. She purchased the site of Carthage from a native ruler, Iarbus, who, when the new city began to prosper, threatened Dido with war unless she married him. Rather than subject either herself or her followers to these alternatives, Dido killed herself.
The most famous version of Dido’s story is told by Roman poet Virgil in his mythological epic the Aeneid. According to Virgil, the Trojan prince Aeneas was shipwrecked at Carthage after escaping from the sack of Troy with his father, son, and companions. Dido, who had pledged herself to celibacy after the murder of her husband, received the Trojans hospitably and eventually fell in love with Aeneas. The two began to live together as husband and wife. When it became clear that Aeneas intended to make Carthage his home, Jupiter warned him that he must leave Dido in order to continue on his destined mission and found Rome. In despair at his departure, Dido killed herself on a funeral pyre. Later, on his journeys, Aeneas encountered the ghost of Dido in Hades, but she refused to speak to him.
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Diomedes
Diomedes, in Greek mythology, king of Árgos, and the son of Tydeus, one of the warriors known as the Seven Against Thebes. Diomedes was one of the outstanding Greek heroes of the Trojan War. He killed several of the outstanding Trojan warriors, and, with the assistance of the goddess Athena, he wounded Aphrodite, goddess of love, and Ares, god of war, both of whom were aiding the Trojans. When he returned from the war and discovered that his wife had been unfaithful, Diomedes went to Apulia, where he remarried.
Dionysus
Dionysus, in Greek mythology, god of wine and vegetation, who showed mortals how to cultivate grapevines and make wine. A son of Zeus, Dionysus is usually characterized in one of two ways. As the god of vegetation—specifically of the fruit of the trees—he is often represented on Attic vases with a drinking horn and vine branches. He eventually became the popular Greek god of wine and cheer, and wine miracles were reputedly performed at certain of his festivals. Dionysus is also characterized as a deity whose mysteries inspired ecstatic, orgiastic worship. The maenads, or bacchantes, were a group of female devotees who left their homes to roam the wilderness in ecstatic devotion to Dionysus. They wore fawn skins and were believed to possess occult powers. Dionysus was good and gentle to those who honored him, but he brought madness and destruction upon those who spurned him or the orgiastic rituals of his cult.
According to tradition, Dionysus died each winter and was reborn in the spring. To his followers, this cyclical revival, accompanied by the seasonal renewal of the fruits of the earth, embodied the promise of the resurrection of the dead. The yearly rites in honor of the resurrection of Dionysus gradually evolved into the structured form of the Greek drama, and important festivals were held in honor of the god, during which great dramatic competitions were conducted. The most important festival, the Greater Dionysia, was held in Athens for five days each spring. It was for this celebration that the Greek dramatists Aeschylus, Sophocles, and Euripides wrote their great tragedies.
By the 5th century BC, Dionysus was also known to the Greeks as Bacchus, a name referring to the loud cries with which Dionysus was worshiped at the orgia, or Dionysiac mysteries. These frenetic celebrations, which probably originated in spring nature festivals, became occasions for licentiousness and intoxication. This was the form in which the worship of Dionysus became popular in the 2nd century BC in Roman Italy, where the Dionysiac mysteries were called the Bacchanalia. The indulgences of the Bacchanalia became increasingly extreme, and the celebrations were prohibited by the Roman Senate in 186 BC. In the 1st century AD, however, the Dionysiac mysteries were still popular, as evidenced by representations of them found on Greek sarcophagi.
Dodona
Dodona, ancient Greek oracle, in the interior of Epirus, about 80 km (about 50 mi) east of Corfu (Kérkira). It was sacred to Zeus and his consort Dione. Priests of the temple interpreted the rustling of a great oak tree, the activities of doves in its branches, the clanging of brass pots hung from the branches, and the murmurs of a fountain as responses from Zeus. Both Homer and Hesiod mention Dodona. The oracle at Dodona was one of the most respected of ancient times, and it was consulted by Greeks from many cities and by foreigners. Croesus, king of Lydia, was said to have visited the temple. The shrine was destroyed in warfare by the Aetolians in 219 BC but was probably restored later. Archaeological finds have been made at the site, and the magnificent theater built by the 3rd-century BC king Pyrrhus has been restored.
The Dreaming
The Dreaming, or Dreamtime in Australian Aboriginal mythology (see Aboriginal Australians), the period of creation in which the known landscape took shape and all life had its source. The Dreaming represents a distant mythic period in which Wondjina (ancestral spirits) traveled across Australia, establishing the essential fabric of life and depositing the spirits of unborn children. The Wondjina were born from the earth, and their journeys during the Dreaming are recorded in the oral traditions of the Aboriginal peoples of different regions of Australia with great attention to local geographical detail and specific events. After passing on to humans the knowledge necessary for survival and social living, the Wondjina disappeared back into the earth or, according to other traditions, married into humankind. The waterholes they created on their wanderings later became sacred sites.
The Dreaming is also considered to be a part of the present. It can be reentered through rituals using totems, in which the participants themselves become the Wondjina and retrace their journeys, reliving the so-called strong time of creation.
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Dryad
Dryad, in Greek mythology, a nymph of the trees and forests. In early legend, each dryad was born with a certain tree over which she watched. She lived either in the tree (in which case she was called a hamadryad) or near it. Because the dryad died when her tree fell, the gods often punished anyone who destroyed a tree. The word dryad has also been used in a general sense for nymphs living in the forest.
Ea
Ea or Enki, god (or sometimes goddess) who appears in the religions of several ancient Middle Eastern peoples, such as the Hittites and the Babylonians. Ea was the Babylonian god of water and of wisdom. He was associated with the Babylonian creation story and, particularly in the Epic of Gilgamesh, with the creation of order out of the chaos of the primal waters. Ea was reputed to be the creator of humanity in some traditions. See also Ancient Middle Eastern Religions.
Echo (mythology)
Echo (mythology), in Greek mythology, a mountain nymph. The supreme god, Zeus, persuaded her to distract his wife, Hera, with incessant talk, so that Hera could not spy on him. In anger, Hera robbed Echo of the full power of speech, leaving her only the capacity to repeat the final syllable of every word she heard. An unrequited love for the beautiful Narcissus, who loved only his own reflected image, caused Echo to pine away until only her voice remained.
Electra
Electra, in Greek mythology, daughter of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Queen Clytemnestra. After the murder of Agamemnon by Clytemnestra and her lover, Aegisthus, Electra sent her brother, Orestes, to safety at the court of an uncle. She stayed behind in Mycenae, living in poverty under constant surveillance while Clytemnestra and Aegisthus ruled the kingdom. Electra sent frequent reminders to Orestes that he must return to avenge the death of their father. At the end of seven years, Orestes and his friend Pylades went secretly to Agamemnon’s tomb. There they met Electra, who had come to pour libations and offer prayers for vengeance. Orestes revealed his identity to his sister, then proceeded at once to the palace, where he killed Aegisthus and Clytemnestra. Electra later married Pylades, Orestes’ constant companion.
Elysium
Elysium, also known as the Elysian Fields, in Greek mythology, a pre-Hellenic paradise, a land of perfect peace and happiness. In the works of Homer, Elysium was a land at the farthest and westernmost edge of the world to which the great heroes were carried, body and soul, and made immortal. There they were free to pursue their favorite activities, and worries and illness were unknown. Soon, however, Elysium came to be regarded as the abode of the blessed dead, where the souls of dead heroes, poets, priests, and others lived in perfect happiness, surrounded by grass, trees, and gentle winds and enveloped in rose-tinted, perpetual light.
In Roman mythology, Elysium was a part of the underworld and a place of reward for the virtuous dead. For some it was only a temporary paradise. At the edge of its soft, green meadows flowed the Lethe, river of forgetfulness, from which all souls returning to life in the world above had to drink.
Endymion
Endymion, in Greek mythology, a youth of exceptional beauty who sleeps eternally. Endymion was either the king of Elis, a hunter, or a shepherd. According to most accounts he was a shepherd on Mount Latmos in Caria. Selene, the goddess of the moon, fell in love with him and visited him every night as he lay asleep in a cave. She bore him 50 daughters, but she put him to sleep forever so that she might have him to herself.
Other legends give different reasons for his eternal sleep. In one, the god Zeus offered him anything he desired, and Endymion chose an everlasting sleep, in which he might remain forever young. In another, his perpetual sleep was a punishment inflicted by Zeus for having dared to fall in love with Zeus’s consort, Hera.
Epigoni
Epigoni, in Greek mythology, the sons of the seven Greek chieftains known as the Seven Against Thebes. To avenge the deaths of their fathers, who had been slain in the ill-fated expedition against Thebes, the Epigoni conquered the city and completely destroyed it. Although their name, Epigoni, or the “Afterborn,” implied that they had come into the world too late
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and after all the great deeds had been done, one of their number, the warrior Diomedes, became one of the greatest Greek heroes of the Trojan War.
Erinyes
Erinyes, also Furies, in Greek mythology, the three avenging deities Tisiphone (the avenger of murder), Megaera (the jealous one), and Alecto (unceasing in anger). In most accounts the Erinyes are the daughters of Gaea and Uranus; sometimes they are called the daughters of Night. They lived in the world below, from which they ascended to earth to pursue the wicked. They were just but merciless and without regard for mitigating circumstances. They punished all offenses against human society such as perjury, violation of the rites of hospitality, and, above all, the murder of blood relatives.
These terrible goddesses were hideous to behold; they had writhing snakes for hair and blood dripped from their eyes. They tormented wrongdoers, pursuing them from place to place across the earth, driving them mad. One of the most famous legends about the Erinyes concerns their relentless pursuit of the Theban prince Orestes for the murder of his mother, Queen Clytemnestra. Orestes had been commanded by the god Apollo to avenge the death of his father, King Agamemnon, whom Clytemnestra had murdered. The Erinyes, however, heedless of his motives, pursued and tormented him. Orestes finally appealed to the goddess Athena, who persuaded the avenging goddesses to accept Orestes’ plea that he had been cleansed of his guilt. When they were thus able to show mercy, they became changed themselves. From the Furies of frightful appearance, they were transformed into the Eumenides, protectors of the suppliant.
Eris
Eris, ancient Greek goddess of discord.
For information on: • Eris as instigator of the Trojan War, see Aphrodite; Peleus; Trojan War • daughter of Eris and Zeus, see Ate • other Greek gods and goddesses, see Greek Mythology: Principal Gods
Eros (mythology)
Eros (mythology), in Greek mythology, the god of love and counterpart of the Roman Cupid. In early mythology he was represented as one of the primeval forces of nature, the son of Chaos, and the embodiment of the harmony and creative power in the universe. Soon, however, he was thought of as a handsome and intense young man, attended by Pothos (“longing”) or Himeros (“desire”). Later mythology made him the constant attendant of his mother, Aphrodite, goddess of love.
In Greek art Eros was depicted as a winged youth, slight but beautiful, often with eyes covered to symbolize the blindness of love. Sometimes he carried a flower, but more commonly the silver bow and arrows, with which he shot darts of desire into the bosoms of gods and men. In Roman legend and art, Eros degenerated into a mischievous child and was often depicted as a baby archer.
Eshu
Eshu, also known as Elegba, Legba, or Exú, in West African and Brazilian-African religions, a trickster deity of the Yoruba, Fon, and other peoples of southwest Nigeria and Benin. Eshu speaks all languages and serves as an intermediary between gods and humans. He takes messages to humans from the supreme god Olodumare, and returns to him with sacrifices from his worshipers. Eshu presides over chance, luck, and accidents, lurking along roads, ready to trick travelers. In one story, Eshu argues with Shango, the god of thunder, over which is the most powerful. Eshu assumes a menacing stance, causing Shango to admit that Eshu is the more powerful. In the sculpture of West Africa, Eshu is often represented with a distinctive phallic headdress. Eshu is a spirit of transformation, and his ability to communicate with deities gives him an important role in rites used to appease the gods. He is closely associated with the Yoruba god of healing and prophecy, Ifa, often in the role of his servant. Eshu and Ifa are linked in the Yoruba system of divination. In Brazil, Eshu (or Eshou) carries the same attributes as he does in West Africa, except that in the Brazilian tradition he is also a god of vengeance.
Eumenides
Eumenides, in Greek mythology, ancient earth spirits or goddesses, associated with fertility but also having certain moral and social functions. Traditionally three in number, the Eumenides were worshiped in Athens, at Colonus, and in lands outside Attica. Although their name is variously described as meaning “the kindly ones,””the reverend ones,” and “the gracious ones,” the goddesses were usually portrayed as Gorgon-like creatures with snakes for hair and eyes that dripped blood. Their
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appearance stems from their identification in later legends with the Erinyes, the three avenging goddesses from the underworld. In his play The Eumenides, Athenian playwright Aeschylus recounted the Erinyes’ relentless pursuit of Orestes after he killed his mother, Clytemnestra, to avenge the death of his father, King Agamemnon, whom Clytemnestra had murdered. Heedless of motives or extenuating circumstances, the Erinyes hounded Orestes all the way to Athens. There Orestes appealed to the goddess Athena, who presided over his trial by the Areopagus and cast the decisive vote in favor of acquittal. After this trial, the Erinyes accepted a new role as guardians of justice and became known as the Eumenides.
Europa (mythology)
Europa (mythology), in Greek mythology, daughter of Agenor, the Phoenician king of Tyre, and sister of Cadmus, the legendary founder of Thebes. One morning, when Europa was gathering flowers by the seashore, the god Zeus saw her and fell in love with her. Assuming the guise of a beautiful chestnut-colored bull, he appeared before her and enticed her to climb onto his back. He then sped away with her across the ocean to the island of Crete (Kríti). Among the sons she bore him were Minos and Rhadamanthus, both of whom became judges of the dead. The abduction of Europa has been the subject of paintings by many artists, including Italians Paolo Veronese and Titian.
Eurydice
Eurydice, in Greek mythology, a beautiful nymph, and wife of Orpheus, the master musician. Shortly after their marriage Eurydice was bitten in the foot by a snake and died. Grief-stricken, Orpheus descended into the underworld to seek his wife. Accompanying his song with the strains of his lyre, he begged Hades, god of the dead, to relinquish Eurydice. His music so touched Hades that Orpheus was permitted to take his wife back with him on the condition that he would not turn around to look at her until they had reached the upper air. They had almost completed their ascent when Orpheus, overwhelmed by love and anxiety, looked back to see if Eurydice was following him. The promise broken, Eurydice vanished forever to the regions of the dead.
Fates
Fates, in Greek mythology, the three goddesses who determined human life and destiny. Known as Moirai in Greek and Parcae in Latin, the Fates apportioned to each person at birth a share of good and evil, although one might increase the evil by one’s own folly. Portrayed in art and poetry as stern old women or as somber maidens, the goddesses were often thought of as weavers. Clotho, the Spinner, spun the thread of life; Lachesis, the Dispenser of Lots, decided its span and assigned a destiny to each person; and Atropos, the Inexorable, carried the dread shears that cut the thread of life at the appointed time. The decisions of the Fates could not be altered, even by the gods.
Faunus
Faunus, in Roman mythology, the grandson of the god Saturn, worshiped as the god of the fields and of shepherds. He was believed to speak to people through the sounds of the forest and in nightmares. Faunus is the Roman counterpart of the Greek god Pan. He was attended by the fauns, creatures half men and half goats, the counterparts of the Greek satyrs. In some legends Faunus was identified as an early king of Latium, who taught his people how to plant crops and breed stock. He was also credited with introducing the religious system of the country and was honored after his death as a god.
Flora
Flora, in Roman mythology, goddess of flowers and springtime. Her festival, the Floralia, was licentious in spirit and featured dramatic spectacles and animal hunts in the Circus Maximus. Flora was represented as a beautiful maiden, wearing a crown of flowers.
Fortuna
Fortuna, in Roman mythology, the goddess of chance and good luck. From earliest times, her worship was extensive throughout the Roman Empire. At first, she was regarded as a kind of fertility goddess or bearer of prosperity; gradually, she was invoked exclusively for good luck. As the goddess of chance, she was often consulted about the future at her oracular shrines in Antium and Praeneste (now Anzio and Palestrina). A favorite subject in art, Fortuna is usually depicted holding a rudder in one hand and a cornucopia, or horn of plenty, in the other. The rudder signified that she guided the destiny of the world; the cornucopia, that she was the provider of abundance.
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Frei
Frei or Freyr, in Norse mythology, son of the fertility god Njord. Frey was the god of fruitfulness, prosperity, and peace and the bestower of sunlight and rain. He wakened the earth from the long sleep of winter, and prayers for a bountiful harvest were addressed to him. His sister was Freya, and his wife, Gerd. Frey was the patron god of Sweden; his chief shrine was at Uppsala.
Freya
Freya or Freyja, in Norse mythology, goddess of love, fertility, and beauty, sometimes identified as the goddess of battle and death. Her father was Njord, a fertility god. Blond, blue-eyed, and beautiful, Freya traveled on a golden-bristled boar or in a chariot drawn by cats. She resided in the celestial realm of Folkvang, where it was her privilege to receive half of all the warriors slain in battle; the god Odin received the other half at Valhalla. In Germany, Freya was sometimes identified with Frigg, the wife of Odin.
Frigg
Frigg or Frigga, in Norse mythology, goddess of the sky and wife of Odin, the chief of the gods. She was worshiped as the protector of married love and housewives. A bunch of keys was her symbol. Frigg had two sons, Balder, the god of light, and Hoder, the blind god of darkness, who killed Balder with a mistletoe sprig. Frigg’s name survives in the English word Friday (Frigg’s day). In German mythology, Frigg was sometimes identified with Freya, the goddess of love.
Gaea
Gaea or Ge (mythology), in Greek mythology, the personification of Mother Earth, and the daughter of Chaos. She was the mother and wife of Father Heaven, who was personified as Uranus. They were the parents of the earliest living creatures: the Titans; the Cyclopes; and the Giants, or Hecatoncheires (Hundred-Handed Ones). Fearing and hating the Giants, despite the fact that they were his sons, Uranus imprisoned them in a secret place on earth, leaving the Cyclopes and Titans at large. Gaea, enraged at this favoritism, persuaded her son, the Titan Cronus, to overthrow his father. He emasculated Uranus, and from his blood Gaea brought forth the Giants and the three avenging goddesses the Erinyes. Her last and most terrifying offspring was Typhon, a 100-headed monster, who, although conquered by the god Zeus, was believed to spew forth the molten lava flows of Mount Etna.
Galatea (sea nymph)
Galatea (sea nymph), in Greek mythology, one of the 50 Nereids, the daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea. The gay, mocking sea nymph was loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus, an ugly giant with one huge eye in the middle of his forehead. Galatea did not return his love, however; she teased and ridiculed him, arousing his hopes with kind words and then rejecting him. In later legends, although her attitude toward the lovelorn Cyclops grew kinder, Polyphemus never won her. Galatea finally fell in love with Acis, a handsome young prince, whom Polyphemus killed in a jealous rage.
In Roman mythology, Galatea was the name of a statue of a beautiful woman that was brought to life by Venus, goddess of love, in response to the prayers of the sculptor Pygmalion, who had fallen in love with his creation.
Gandharva
Gandharva (Pali, Gandhabba), in Hindu mythology, celestial musician who serves the Hindu god in his heavenly kingdom of svarga. The music of the gandharvas accompanies the dancing of the apsarases, beautiful nymphs who entertain in Indra’s court. Gandharvas and apsarases appear as divine couples decorating the sculptured facades of many ancient Hindu temples. In early Hindu texts, such as the Upanishads, gandharvas appear as shape-shifting spirits able to possess mortal women. They also appear in Buddhist literature as semidivine entities, existing in a transient state between death and rebirth. Gandharvas traditionally number 6333 and haunt the mountains, forests, and air of India. They often enter into battle with human warriors, imparting great wisdom upon those strong enough to overcome them. Gandharvas are considered so attractive that in India, love at first sight is known as a Gandharva marriage. Gandharvas guard the elixir of the gods, soma, which promises eternal life.
Ganymede (mythology)
Ganymede (mythology), in Greek mythology, a handsome young Trojan prince whom the god Zeus, in the guise of an eagle, snatched from the midst of his companions and bore up to Mount Olympus. He was granted immortality and replaced Hebe,
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goddess of youth, as cupbearer to the gods. Ganymede was later identified with the constellation Aquarius, “the Water Bearer.”
Garuda
Garuda, in Hindu mythology, a giant bird god often depicted carrying the god Vishnu through the sky. The son of the sage Kasyapa and his wife Vinata, Garuda hatched from an egg laid by Vinata that had been incubated for 1000 years. Garuda appears in many Hindu myths, in one of two main roles: as a devourer of serpents or as the mount of Vishnu, the supreme god and protector of the world. In one myth, Vinata is enslaved by her co-wife and the sons of the co-wife, the nagas (serpents). In exchange for his mother, Garuda (also known as “serpent-slayer”) brings the nagas an elixir of eternal life. In another myth, Garuda steals soma (the drink of the gods) for Vishnu, who allows him to be his mount. Garuda symbolically represents the ascent from the material plane to higher spiritual awareness. The serpents he seeks to destroy symbolize spiritual awareness in an earth-bound context. In popular Hindu belief, Garuda protects against snakes and devours all evil things. He is depicted in art as an emerald-colored eagle with golden wings, a falcon, a man with a falcon’s beak, or a bird with a human head.
Genius
Genius, in Roman mythology, a protecting, or guardian, spirit. It was believed that every individual, family, and city had its own genius. The genius received special worship as a household god because it was thought to bestow success and intellectual powers on its devotees. For this reason, the word came to designate a person with unusual intellectual powers. The genius of a woman was sometimes referred to as a juno. In art, the genius of a person was frequently depicted as a winged youth; the genius of a place, as a serpent.
Golden Age
Golden Age, in classical mythology, the earliest period of human life, when human beings lived without labor or sorrow. This was followed by silver and bronze ages, the age of heroes, and the iron age of labor and strife. The term is also applied to great periods of literature in national cultures; for instance, to the late Republican and Augustan ages in Rome (from the 6th century BC to the 1st century AD), and the 17th century in France and Spain.
In the 8th century BC Greek poet Hesiod described the deteriorating conditions of humanity, starting during the reign of the god Cronus, in his poem Works and Days. In Roman belief, the reign of Saturn was the equivalent period.
Golden Fleece
Golden Fleece, in Greek mythology, the fleece of the winged ram Chrysomallus. The ram was sent by the god Hermes to rescue Phrixus and Helle, the two children of the Greek king Athamas and his wife, Nephele. Athamas had grown indifferent to his wife and had taken Ino, the daughter of King Cadmus, for his second wife. Ino hated her stepchildren, especially Phrixus, because she wanted her own son to succeed to the throne. Realizing that her children were in grave danger because of the jealousy of their stepmother, Nephele prayed to the gods for help. Hermes sent her Chrysomallus, the winged ram, whose fleece was made of gold. The ram snatched the children up and bore them away on his back. Soaring into the air, he flew eastward, but as he was crossing the strait that divides Europe and Asia, Helle slipped from his back and fell into the water. The strait where she was drowned was named for her: the Sea of Helle, or the Hellespont. The ram safely landed Phrixus in Colchis, a country on the Black Sea that was ruled by King Aeëtes. There he was hospitably received and, in gratitude to the gods for saving his life, sacrificed Chrysomallus at the temple of the god Zeus. Phrixus then gave the precious Golden Fleece to Aeëtes, who placed it in a sacred grove under the watchful eye of a dragon that never slept.
Many years later, the Argonauts led by Phrixus’s cousin, the Greek hero Jason, recovered the Golden Fleece with the help of the daughter of King Aeëtes, the sorceress Medea who, out of love for Jason, put the dragon to sleep.
Gordian Knot
Gordian Knot, in Greek mythology, complex knot tied by Gordius, king of Phrygia and father of Midas. Gordius was a Phrygian peasant who became king because he was the first man to drive into town after an oracle had commanded his countrymen to select as ruler the first person who would drive into the public square in a wagon. In gratitude, Gordius dedicated his wagon to the god Zeus and placed it in the grove of the temple, tying the pole of the wagon to the yoke with a rope of bark. The knot was so intricately entwined that no one could undo it. A saying developed that whoever succeeded in untying the difficult knot would become the ruler of all Asia. Many tried, but all failed. According to legend, even Alexander
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the Great was unable to untie the Gordian knot, so he drew his sword and cut it through with a stroke. The expression “to cut the Gordian knot” is used to refer to a situation in which a difficult problem is solved by a quick and decisive action.
Gorgon
Gorgon, in Greek mythology, one of three monstrous daughters of the sea god Phorcys and his wife, Ceto. The Gorgons were terrifying, dragonlike creatures, covered with golden scales and having snakes for hair. They had huge wings and round, ugly faces; their tongues were always hanging out, and they had large, tusklike teeth. They lived on the farthest side of the western ocean, shunned because their glance turned persons to stone.
Two of the Gorgons, Stheno and Euryale, were immortal; Medusa alone could be killed. The hero Perseus, a gallant but foolish young man, volunteered to kill Medusa and bring back her head. With the help of the deities Hermes and Athena, Perseus cut off Medusa’s head. From her blood sprang the winged horse Pegasus, her son by the god Poseidon.
Graces (Greek goddesses)
Graces (Greek goddesses), in Greek mythology, the three goddesses of joy, charm, and beauty. The daughters of the god Zeus and the nymph Eurynome, they were named Aglaia (Splendor), Euphrosyne (Mirth), and Thalia (Good Cheer). The Graces presided over banquets, dances, and all other pleasurable social events, and brought joy and goodwill to both gods and mortals. They were the special attendants of the divinities of love, Aphrodite and Eros, and together with companions, the Muses, they sang to the gods on Mount Olympus, and danced to beautiful music that the god Apollo made upon his lyre. In some legends Aglaia was wed to Hephaestus, the craftsman among the gods. Their marriage explains the traditional association of the Graces with the arts; like the Muses, they were believed to endow artists and poets with the ability to create beautiful works of art. The Graces were rarely treated as individuals, but always together as a kind of triple embodiment of grace and beauty. In art they are usually represented as lithe young maidens, dancing in a circle.
Griffin
Griffin, legendary creature, usually represented in literature and art as having the head, beak, and wings of an eagle, the body and legs of a lion, and occasionally a serpent’s tail. The griffin seems to have originated in the Middle East, as it is found in the paintings and sculptures of the ancient Babylonians, Assyrians, and Persians. The Romans used the griffin merely for decorative purposes in friezes and on table legs, altars, and candelabra. The griffin motif appeared in early Christian times in the bestiaries, or beast allegories, of St. Basil and St. Ambrose. Stone replicas of griffins frequently served as gargoyles in the Gothic architecture of the late Middle Ages. The griffin is still a familiar device in heraldry and is thought to represent strength and vigilance.
Hades
Hades, in Greek mythology, god of the dead. He was the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of Zeus and Poseidon. When the three brothers divided up the universe after they had deposed their father, Cronus, Hades was awarded the underworld. There, with his queen, Persephone, whom he had abducted from the world above, he ruled the kingdom of the dead. Although he was a grim and pitiless god, unappeased by either prayer or sacrifice, he was not evil. In fact, he was known also as Pluto, lord of riches, because both crops and precious metals were believed to come from his kingdom below ground.
The underworld itself was often called Hades. It was divided into two regions: Erebus, where the dead pass as soon as they die, and Tartarus, the deeper region, where the Titans had been imprisoned. It was a dim and unhappy place, inhabited by vague forms and shadows and guarded by Cerberus, the three-headed, dragon-tailed dog. Sinister rivers separated the underworld from the world above, and the aged boatman Charon ferried the souls of the dead across these waters. Somewhere in the darkness of the underworld Hades’ palace was located. It was represented as a many-gated, dark and gloomy place, thronged with guests, and set in the midst of shadowy fields and an apparition-haunted landscape. In later legends the underworld is described as the place where the good are rewarded and the wicked punished.
Harmonia
Harmonia, in Greek mythology, daughter of Ares, god of war, and Aphrodite, goddess of love, and wife of Cadmus, founder of Thebes. At Harmonia’s wedding, which was attended by the gods, Aphrodite gave her a beautiful necklace made by Hephaestus, god of metalwork. Although the gift brought her good fortune, it brought only death and misery to her family. In their old age Harmonia and Cadmus were transformed into serpents.
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Harpies
Harpies, in Greek mythology, foul creatures with the heads of old women and the bodies, wings, beaks, and claws of birds. They could fly with the speed of the wind, and their feathers, which could not be pierced, served as armor. The Harpies frequently snatched up mortals and carried them off to the underworld, always leaving behind a sickening odor.
One of the many perils to be overcome by the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece was an encounter with these dread, half-human creatures, who were slowly starving a pathetic old man by befouling his food before he could eat it. The Argonauts were on the point of killing the creatures when Iris, goddess of the rainbow, intervened. At her request they merely drove the Harpies away. The Trojan prince Aeneas also came upon the Harpies, but he and his crew put out to sea to escape them.
Hathor
Hathor, in Egyptian mythology, goddess of the sky and queen of heaven. Daughter of the sun god Ra and wife of the sky god Horus, she was the goddess of fertility and patron of women and marriage. She was also the goddess of love and beauty; for this reason, she was identified often with the Greek goddess Aphrodite. Worshiped throughout Egypt, she was often represented as a star-studded cow or as a woman with a cow’s head. Her name also appears as Athor or Athyr.
Hebe
Hebe, in Greek mythology, the goddess of youth, the daughter of Zeus and Hera. Hebe served for a long time as cupbearer to the gods, serving them their nectar and ambrosia. She was replaced in this office by the Trojan prince Ganymede. According to one story, she resigned as cupbearer to the gods upon her marriage to the hero Hercules, who had just been deified. In another, she was dismissed from her position because of a fall she suffered while in attendance on the gods.
Hecate
Hecate, in Greek mythology, goddess of darkness, and the daughter of the Titans Perses and Asteria. Unlike Artemis, who represented the moonlight and splendor of the night, Hecate represented its darkness and its terrors. On moonless nights she was believed to roam the earth with a pack of ghostly, howling dogs. She was the goddess of sorcery and witchcraft and was especially worshiped by magicians and witches, who sacrificed black lambs and black dogs to her. As goddess of the crossroads, Hecate and her pack of dogs were believed to haunt these remote spots, which seemed evil and ghostly places to travelers. In art Hecate is often represented with either three bodies or three heads and with serpents entwined about her neck.
Hector (mythology)
Hector (mythology), in Greek mythology, the eldest son of King Priam and Queen Hecuba of Troy, and husband of Andromache. In Homer’s Iliad, Hector is the greatest of the Trojan warriors. As commander of the Trojan forces he is instrumental in holding off the Greek army for nine years and finally succeeds in forcing the Greeks back to their ships (see Trojan War). During the battle, however, Hector kills Patroclus, the bosom friend of Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors. Achilles has withdrawn from the fighting because of a quarrel with King Agamemnon, the leader of the Greek forces, but in order to avenge the death of Patroclus, he returns to the battlefield. Grief-stricken and frenzied, Achilles pursues Hector three times around the walls of Troy, kills him, and then ties his body to his chariot and drags it around the walls and back to Patroclus’s funeral pyre. Learning that the Greeks are withholding burial rites from his son, the sorrowing Priam makes his way behind Greek battle lines with the aid of the god Hermes and begs Achilles to relinquish Hector’s corpse. Moved by the sorrow of the aged king, Achilles agrees to yield the corpse and declares a truce to permit the Trojans to honor Hector with a suitable burial. A description of the funeral honors paid to Hector concludes the Iliad. In contrast to the fierce and alienated Achilles, Hector is depicted as a devoted family man and chivalrous warrior.
Hecuba
Hecuba, in Greek mythology, wife of Priam, king of Troy, to whom she bore Hector, Paris, Cassandra, and 16 other children. Following the fall of Troy and the death of Priam, the aging Hecuba was taken prisoner by the Greeks. During the siege of Troy, her youngest son, Polydorus, had been entrusted to the care of the king of Thrace. On the way to Greece, where she was being taken by her captors, Hecuba discovered that Polydorus had been murdered on the Thracian shore. In revenge, she put out the eyes of the king and murdered his two sons. According to legend Hecuba met death in one of three ways: in despair at her capture she leapt into the Hellespont (now the Dardanelles); she was killed for abusing her captors; or she was metamorphosed into a dog.
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Hel
Hel, in Norse mythology, the goddess of the dead. She dwelt beneath one of the three roots of the sacred ash tree Yggdrasil and was the daughter of Loki, the spirit of mischief or evil, and the giantess Angerbotha (Angerboda). Odin, the All-Father, hurled Hel into Niflheim, the realm of cold and darkness, itself also known as Hel, over which he gave her sovereign authority.
Helen of Troy
Helen of Troy, in Greek mythology, the most beautiful woman in Greece, daughter of the god Zeus and of Leda. She was abducted in childhood by the hero Theseus, who hoped in time to marry her, but she was rescued by her brothers, Castor and Polydeuces (also known as Pollux). Because Helen was courted by so many prominent heroes, her stepfather Tyndareus made all of them swear to abide by Helen’s choice of a husband, and to defend that husband’s rights should anyone attempt to take Helen away by force.
Helen’s beauty was the direct cause of the Trojan War. The ten-year conflict began when the three goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite asked the Trojan prince Paris to choose the most beautiful among them. After each of the goddesses had attempted to influence his decision, Paris chose Aphrodite, who had promised him the world’s most beautiful woman.
Soon afterward Paris sailed to Greece, where he was hospitably received by Helen and her husband, Menelaus, king of Sparta. Helen, as the fairest of her sex, was the prize destined for Paris. Although she was living happily with Menelaus, Helen fell under the influence of Aphrodite and allowed Paris to persuade her to elope with him, and he carried her off to Troy. Menelaus then called upon the Greek chieftains, including Helen’s former suitors, to help him rescue his wife, and with few exceptions they responded to his call. During nine years of conflict, the Greeks and Trojans fought indecisively. Then Paris and Menelaus agreed to meet in single combat between the opposing armies, and Helen was summoned to view the duel. As she approached the tower, where the aged King Priam and his counselors sat, her beauty was still so matchless and her sorrow so great that no one could feel for her anything but compassion. Although the Greeks claimed the victory in the battle between the two warriors, Aphrodite helped Paris escape from the enraged Menelaus by enveloping him in a cloud and taking him safely to Helen’s chamber, where Aphrodite compelled the unwilling Helen to lie with him.
After the death of Paris and the fall of Troy, Menelaus was reunited with his wife, and they soon left Troy for their native Greece. They had, however, incurred the displeasure of the gods and were therefore driven by storms from shore to shore in the Mediterranean Sea, stopping in Cyprus, Phoenicia, and Egypt. Arriving at length in Sparta, Menelaus and Helen resumed their reign and lived the rest of their days in royal splendor. They had one daughter, Hermione.
Helios, in Greek mythology, the ancient sun god, son of the Titans Hyperion and Thea, and brother of Selene, goddess of the moon, and Eos, goddess of the dawn. Helios was believed to ride his golden chariot across the heavens daily, giving light to gods and mortals. At evening he sank into the western ocean, from which he was carried in a golden cup back to his palace in the east. Helios alone could control the fierce horses that drew his fiery chariot. When his son Phaëthon persuaded Helios to let him drive the chariot across the sky, Phaëthon was killed.
Helios was widely worshiped throughout the Greek world, but his principal cult was at Rhodes. One of the Seven Wonders of the World, the Colossus of Rhodes was a representation of Helios. He is often identified with Apollo, the later Greek god of the sun.
Hellen
Hellen, ancestor of the Hellenes, or Greeks. He was the son of Pyrrha and Deucalion, who because of their piety were spared in a devastating flood that destroyed all creation. Hellen was believed to be the father of the principal nations of Greece. From his sons Aeolus and Dorus sprang the Aeolians and Dorians, and from the descendants of his son Xuthus came the Achaeans and Ionians.
Hephaestus
Hephaestus, in Greek mythology, god of fire and metalwork, the son of the god Zeus and the goddess Hera, or sometimes the son of Hera alone. In contrast to the other gods, Hephaestus was lame and awkward. Shortly after his birth, he was cast out of Olympus, either by Hera, who was repelled by his deformity, or by Zeus, because Hephaestus had sided with Hera against him. In most legends, however, he was soon honored again on Olympus and was married to Aphrodite, goddess of love, or to Aglaia, one of the three Graces. As the artisan among the gods, Hephaestus made their armor, weapons, and jewelry. His workshop was believed to lie under Mount Etna, a volcano in Sicily. Hephaestus is often identified with the Roman god of fire, Vulcan.
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Hera
Hera, in Greek mythology, queen of the gods, the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the sister and wife of the god Zeus. Hera was the goddess of marriage and the protector of married women. She was the mother of Ares, god of war; Hephaestus, god of fire; Hebe, goddess of youth; and Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth. Hera was a jealous wife, who often persecuted Zeus’s mistresses and children. She never forgot an injury and was known for her vindictive nature. Angry with the Trojan prince Paris for preferring Aphrodite, goddess of love, to herself, Hera aided the Greeks in the Trojan War and was not appeased until Troy was finally destroyed. Hera is often identified with the Roman goddess Juno.
Hercules (mythology)
I
INTRODUCTION
Hercules (mythology), in Greek mythology, hero noted for his strength and courage and for his many legendary exploits. Hercules is the Roman name for the Greek hero Heracles. He was the son of the god Zeus and Alcmene, wife of the Theban general Amphitryon. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, was determined to kill her unfaithful husband’s offspring, and shortly after Hercules’ birth she sent two great serpents to destroy him. Hercules, although still a baby, strangled the snakes. As a young man Hercules killed a lion with his bare hands. As a trophy of his adventure, he wore the skin of the lion as a cloak and its head as a helmet. The hero next conquered a tribe that had been exacting tribute from Thebes. As a reward, he was given the hand of the Theban princess Megara, by whom he had three children. Hera, still relentless in her hatred of Hercules, sent a fit of madness upon him during which he killed his wife and children. In horror and remorse at his deed Hercules would have slain himself, but he was told by the oracle at Delphi that he should purge himself by becoming the servant of his cousin Eurystheus, king of Mycenae. Eurystheus, urged on by Hera, devised as a penance the 12 difficult tasks, the “Labors of Hercules.”
II
THE TWELVE LABORS
The first task was to kill the lion of Nemea, a beast that could not be wounded by any weapon. Hercules stunned the lion with his club first and then strangled it. He then killed the Hydra that lived in a swamp in Lerna. This monster had nine heads: One head was immortal; when one of the others was chopped off, two grew back in its place. Hercules seared each mortal neck with a burning torch to prevent reproduction of two heads; he buried the immortal head under a rock. He then dipped his arrows into the Hydra’s blood to make them poisonous. Hercules’ next labor was to capture alive a stag with golden horns and bronze hoofs that was sacred to Artemis, goddess of the hunt, and the fourth labor was to capture a great boar that had its lair on Mount Erímanthos. Hercules then had to clean up in one day the 30 years of accumulated filth left by thousands of cattle in the Augean stables. He diverted the streams of two rivers, causing them to flow through the stables. Hercules next drove off a huge flock of man-eating birds with bronze beaks, claws, and wings that lived near Lake Stymphalus. To fulfill the seventh labor Hercules brought to Eurystheus a mad bull that Poseidon, god of the sea, had sent to terrorize Crete (Kríti). To bring back the man-eating mares of Diomedes, king of Thrace, Hercules killed Diomedes, then drove the mares to Mycenae. Hippolyta, queen of the Amazons, was willing to help Hercules with his ninth labor. As Hippolyta was about to give Hercules her girdle, which Eurystheus wanted for his daughter, Hera made Hippolyta’s forces believe Hercules was trying to abduct the queen. Hercules killed Hippolyta, thinking she was responsible for the ensuing attack, and escaped from the Amazons with the girdle. On his way to the island of Erythia to capture the oxen of the three-headed monster Geryon, Hercules set up two great rocks (the mountains Gibraltar and Ceuta, which now flank the Strait of Gibraltar) as a memorial of his journey. After Hercules had brought back the oxen, he was sent to fetch the golden apples of the Hesperides. Because Hercules did not know where these apples were, he sought help from Atlas, father of the Hesperides. Atlas agreed to help him if Hercules would support the world on his shoulders while Atlas got the apples. The old man did not wish to resume his burden, but Hercules tricked Atlas into taking the world back. The 12th and most difficult labor of Hercules was to bring back the three-headed dog Cerberus from the lower world. Hades, god of the dead, gave Hercules permission to take the beast if he used no weapons. Hercules captured Cerberus, brought him to Mycenae, and then carried him back to Hades.
III
DEATH OF THE HERO
Hercules later married Deianira, whom he won from the river god Achelous. When the centaur Nessus attacked Deianira, Hercules wounded him with an arrow that he had poisoned in the blood of the Hydra. The dying centaur told Deianira to take some of his blood, which he said was a powerful love charm but was really a poison. Believing that Hercules had fallen in love with the princess Iole, Deianira later sent him a tunic dipped in the blood. When he put it on, the pain caused by the
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poison was so great that he killed himself on a funeral pyre. After death he was brought by the gods to Olympus and married to Hebe, goddess of youth.
Hercules was worshiped by the Greeks as both a god and as a mortal hero. He is usually represented as strong and muscular, clad in a lion skin and carrying a club. The most famous statue of the mythical hero is in the National Museum in Naples.
Hermaphroditus
Hermaphroditus, in Greek mythology, a youth who was transformed by the gods into a being half male and half female, after a nymph, whose love he had rejected, prayed to be forever united with him.
Hermes
Hermes, in Greek mythology, messenger of the gods, the son of the god Zeus and of Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas. As the special servant and courier of Zeus, Hermes had winged sandals and a winged hat and bore a golden Caduceus, or magic wand, entwined with snakes and surmounted by wings. He conducted the souls of the dead to the underworld and was believed to possess magical powers over sleep and dreams. Hermes was also the god of commerce, and the protector of traders and herds. As the deity of athletes, he protected gymnasiums and stadiums and was believed to be responsible for both good luck and wealth. Despite his virtuous characteristics, Hermes was also a dangerous foe, a trickster, and a thief. In one version of a characteristic tale, on the day of his birth he stole the cattle of his brother, the sun god Apollo, obscuring their trail by making the herd walk backward. When confronted by Apollo, Hermes denied the theft. The brothers were finally reconciled when Hermes gave Apollo his newly invented lyre. Hermes was represented in early Greek art as a mature, bearded man; in classical art he became an athletic youth, nude and beardless.
Hermione
Hermione, in Greek mythology, daughter of Helen of Troy and Menelaus, king of Sparta. Although she was betrothed to Orestes, king of Mycenae, after the Trojan War Hermione married Neoptolemus, the son of the Greek hero Achilles. Orestes later killed Neoptolemus and became Hermione’s second husband.
Hero (mythical priestess)
Hero (mythical priestess), in Greek mythology, priestess of Aphrodite, goddess of love, at Sestos, a town on the Hellespont (now Dardanelles). Hero was loved by Leander, a youth who lived at Abydos, a town on the Asian side of the channel. They could not marry because Hero was bound by a vow of chastity, and so every night Leander swam from Asia to Europe, guided by a lamp in Hero’s tower. One stormy night a high wind extinguished the beacon, and Leander was drowned. His body was washed ashore beneath Hero’s tower; in her grief, she threw herself into the sea.
Hesperides
Hesperides, in Greek mythology, the daughters of the Titan Atlas or of Night. Aided by a dragon, the Hesperides guarded a tree, with branches and leaves of gold, that bore golden apples. The tree had been given to the goddess Hera on her wedding day by Gaea, Mother Earth. One of the 12 labors imposed upon the hero Hercules was to bring back the golden apples of the Hesperides.
Hestia
Hestia, in Greek mythology, virgin goddess of the hearth, the eldest daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. She was believed to preside at all sacrificial altar fires, and prayers were offered to her before and after meals. Although she appears in very few myths, most cities had a common hearth where her sacred fire burned. In Rome, Hestia was worshiped as Vesta, and her fire was attended by six virgin priestesses known as vestal virgins.
Hippolyte
Hippolyte, in Greek mythology, queen of the Amazons and daughter of Ares, god of war. She was slain by the hero Hercules when he took from her, as one of his labors, the girdle given to her by her father. According to another legend she became the wife of the Greek hero Theseus, by whom she had a son, Hippolytus.
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Hippolytus
Hippolytus, in Greek mythology, son of the Theban hero Theseus and his wife Hippolyte, queen of the Amazons, or sometimes the son of her sister Antiope. Hippolytus was an excellent hunter and charioteer, and he was a devoted servant of Artemis, goddess of the hunt. Hippolytus spurned all women, and when his stepmother, Phaedra, fell in love with him, he rejected her advances. In despair at his refusal, Phaedra committed suicide, leaving a letter accusing Hippolytus of having attempted to ravish her. Theseus, believing his son guilty, invoked his father, Poseidon, god of the sea, to destroy Hippolytus. As the young man drove his chariot along the shore, Poseidon sent a sea monster that frightened his horses; they ran away, dashing the chariot to pieces. Mortally wounded, Hippolytus was carried to his father, who had in the meantime learned from Artemis that his son was innocent. As Hippolytus died, the grief-stricken father and son were reconciled.
Horus
Horus, in Egyptian mythology, god of the sky and of light and goodness. One of the major Egyptian deities, Horus was the son of Isis, the nature goddess, and Osiris, the god of the underworld. After Osiris was murdered by his evil brother Set, the god of darkness and evil, Horus avenged his father’s death by killing his uncle. Worshiped throughout Egypt, Horus was usually depicted as a falcon or a falcon-headed man. Another representation of him, an infant with a finger held to his lips, was known as Harpocrates by the Greeks and Romans.
Huangdi
Huangdi or Huang-Ti, called the Yellow Emperor, legendary Chinese ruler and cultural hero, traditionally said to have reigned from 2697 to 2597 BC. One of the five mythical emperors of the period preceding the Xia dynasty, he is reputed to have—among his other accomplishments—invented the compass, calculated a calendar, and brought the bamboo to China. Along with Laozi (Lao-tzu), he is also supposed to have founded Daoism (Taoism). His queen is said to have originated silkworm cultivation.
Huitzilopochtli
Huitzilopochtli, in Aztec religion, the god of war and of the sun. According to tradition, he guided the Aztecs during their long migration from Aztlán, their mythical homeland, to the Valley of Mexico. His name, from the Aztec huitzilin, meaning “hummingbird,” expresses the Aztec belief that dead warriors were reborn as hummingbirds. His mother, the earth goddess Coatlicue, conceived him after keeping in her bosom a ball of hummingbird feathers—that is, the soul of a fallen warrior—that dropped from the sky.
As the sun god, Huitzilopochtli was born anew each morning from Coatlicue’s womb. He was also thought to require human hearts and blood for nourishment. Sacrificial victims included prisoners of war and warriors who had perished in battle; after their death and sacrifice, such warriors became part of the sun’s brilliance until, after four years, they were incarnated permanently in the bodies of hummingbirds.
Huitzilopochtli was usually depicted either as a hummingbird or as a warrior wearing hummingbird feathers for armor. The temple built in his honor at Tenochtitlán (on the site of present-day Mexico City) was a great architectural achievement in pre-Columbian America.
See Aztec Empire.
Hyacinthus
Hyacinthus, in Greek mythology, handsome Spartan youth loved both by Apollo, god of the sun, and by Zephyrus, god of the west wind. One day, as Apollo was teaching the young man to throw the discus, the god accidentally killed Hyacinthus. From the blood of the youth, Apollo caused a flower (not the modern hyacinth, but possibly the iris or larkspur) to spring up, each petal inscribed with an exclamation of lamentation. According to another legend, Zephyrus was jealous of the youth’s love for Apollo and blew upon the discus, causing it to strike Hyacinthus.
Hydra (mythology)
Hydra (mythology), in Greek mythology, nine-headed monster that dwelled in a marsh near Lerna, Greece. A menace to all of Árgos, it had fatally poisonous breath and when one head was severed, grew two in its place; its central head was immortal. Hercules, sent to kill the serpent as the second of his 12 labors, succeeded in slaying it by burning off the eight mortal heads and burying the ninth, immortal head under a huge rock. The term hydra is commonly applied to any complex situation or problem that continually poses compounded difficulties.
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Hylas
Hylas, in Greek mythology, handsome youth, the inseparable companion of the hero Hercules. Hylas accompanied Hercules as his armor bearer during the voyage of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece. When they stopped on the coast of Mysia in Asia Minor, Hylas was drawn by a sea nymph into the spring from which he was drawing water. He never appeared again. Hercules abandoned the expedition in order to look for Hylas, and afterward, the Mysians conducted a search for Hylas one day of each year.
Hymen
Hymen, in Greek mythology, a god of the marriage ceremony. In paintings, he is represented as a youth carrying a bridal torch.
Hyperion (mythology)
Hyperion (mythology), in Greek mythology, one of the Titans. He was the father of Helios, god of the sun, Selene, goddess of the moon, and Eos, goddess of the dawn.
Idomeneus
Idomeneus, legendary Cretan king, the son of Deucalion and the grandson of King Minos of Crete. A suitor of Helen of Troy, he was one of the most valiant of the Greeks in the Trojan War. Beset by a violent storm on his way home from the war, he vowed to the sea god Poseidon that should he arrive home safely, he would make a sacrifice of the first living thing he met. The first to meet him when he landed was his own son, but he nevertheless fulfilled his vow. When a plague broke out on Crete (Kríti), however, he was banished by his subjects. He fled to Calabria in Italy and then to Colophon in Asia Minor, where he is reputed to be buried.
Inanna
Inanna, Sumerian queen of heaven. She was also the goddess of love, procreation, and war.
For information on: • Inanna as a major deity, see Sumerian Religion; Ancient Middle Eastern Religions: Creation • depiction of Inanna in sculpture, see Mesopotamian Art and Architecture: Prehistoric Period • poem describing the destructive-creative fury of Inanna in protecting her worshipers, see Poetry: The First Poetry
Io (mythology)
Io (mythology), in Greek mythology, daughter of the river god Inachus. She was loved by the god Zeus, who changed her into a white heifer to protect her from the jealousy of his wife, Hera. Suspecting that the animal was really Zeus’s mistress, Hera asked for the heifer as a gift and set the 100-eyed monster Argus to guard it. Because the monster never slept with all his eyes shut, Io was unable to escape until Zeus sent his son, the messenger god Hermes, to rescue her. Hermes managed to kill the monster after he had put Argus’s 100 eyes to sleep with a series of boring stories. Hera was still angry, however, and next sent a gadfly to torment Io, who wandered over the earth in misery. Io finally swam across the sea that was later named for her (the Ionian Sea) and at last reached Egypt. There she was restored to her original physical form, and she bore Zeus a son, Epaphus, who was an ancestor of the Greek hero Hercules.
Iphigenia
Iphigenia, in Greek mythology, eldest daughter of Agamemnon and Clytemnestra. Before the Trojan War, when the Greek forces prepared to sail from Aulis for Troy, a strong north wind held the thousand Greek ships in the harbor. A soothsayer revealed that Artemis, goddess of the hunt, was angry because the Greeks had slain one of the wild animals she protected. The only way to appease the goddess and gain favorable winds for the ship was to sacrifice Iphigenia. Agamemnon, fired by his ambition to conquer Troy, agreed to the sacrifice. He summoned his daughter from Mycenae, telling her she was to marry Achilles, the greatest of the Greek warriors. When the maiden arrived in Aulis, she was carried to Artemis’s altar and slain. At once the north wind stopped blowing and the Greek ships set sail for Troy.
In the plays of the ancient Greek poet Euripides, Iphigenia was not sacrificed. Artemis, who would not permit her altar to be defiled with human blood, substituted a deer for the sacrifice and carried Iphigenia to the land of the Taurians (modern
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Crimea). There she became the chief priestess of Artemis’s temple. After many years she was rescued by her brother, Orestes, and returned with him to Mycenae.
Iris (mythology)
Iris (mythology), in Greek mythology, goddess of the rainbow, the daughter of the Titan Thaumas and Electra, daughter of the Titan Oceanus. As messenger of the god Zeus and his wife, Hera, Iris left Olympus only to convey the divine commands to humankind, by whom she was regarded as an adviser and guide. Traveling with the speed of the wind, she could go from one end of the earth to the other, and to the bottom of the sea or to the depths of the underworld. Although she was a sister of the winged monsters, the Harpies, Iris was represented as a beautiful maiden, with wings and robes of bright colors and a halo of light on her head, trailing across the sky with a rainbow in her wake.
Ishtar
Ishtar, chief goddess of the Babylonians and the Assyrians and the counterpart of Astarte, a Phoenician goddess. The name appeared in different forms in every part of the ancient Semitic world; thus it was Athtar in Arabia, Astar in Abyssinia (now Ethiopia), and Ashtart in Canaan and Israel. The sex of the divinity also varied: Athtar and Astar were male deities. Ishtar of Erech (in Babylonia) was a goddess worshiped in connection with the evening star, but Ishtar of Akkad (also in Babylonia) was a god identified with the morning star. As a goddess, Ishtar was the Great Mother, the goddess of fertility and the queen of heaven. On the other hand, her character had destructive attributes; she was considered, especially by the Assyrians, a goddess of hunting and war and was depicted with sword, bow, and quiver of arrows. Among the Babylonians, Ishtar was distinctly the mother goddess and was portrayed either naked and with prominent breasts or as a mother with a child at her breast. As goddess of love she brought destruction to many of her lovers, of whom the most notable was her consort Tammuz, the Babylonian counterpart of Adonis.
Isis (mythology)
Isis (mythology), in Egyptian mythology, goddess of fertility and motherhood. According to the Egyptian belief, she was the daughter of the god Keb (“Earth”) and the goddess Nut (“Sky”), the sister-wife of Osiris, judge of the dead, and mother of Horus, god of day. After the end of the Late Period in the 4th century BC, the center of Isis worship, which was then reaching its greatest peak, was on Philae, an island in the Nile, where a great temple was built to her during the 30th Dynasty. Ancient stories described Isis as having great magical skill, and she was represented as human in form though she was frequently described as wearing the horns of a cow. Her personality was believed to resemble that of Athor, or Hathor, the goddess of love and gaiety.
The cult of Isis spread from Alexandria throughout the Hellenistic world after the 4th century BC. It appeared in Greece in combination with the cults of Horus, her son, and Serapis, the Greek name for Osiris. The Greek historian Herodotus identified Isis with Demeter, the Greek goddess of earth, agriculture, and fertility. The tripartite cult of Isis, Horus, and Serapis was later introduced (86 BC) into Rome in the consulship of Lucius Cornelius Sulla and became one of the most popular branches of Roman religion. It later received a bad reputation through the licentiousness of some of its priestly rites, and subsequent consuls made efforts to suppress or limit Isis worship. The cult died out in Rome after the institution of Christianity, and the last remaining Egyptian temples to Isis were closed in the middle of the 6th century AD.
Ixion
Ixion, in Greek mythology, the first man to murder one of his kinspeople. He killed his father-in-law to avoid giving him promised bridal gifts. After obtaining purification from the god Zeus, Ixion ungratefully sought to seduce Hera, the wife of Zeus. To foil Ixion, Zeus created a cloud in Hera’s image; Ixion was deceived and consequently sired the monstrous Centaurs. As punishment, Ixion was bound to a wheel that revolved eternally in the underworld.
Janus (mythology)
Janus (mythology), in Roman mythology, the god of doors and gateways, and also of beginnings, which the Romans believed ensured good endings. His principal temple in the Forum had doors facing east and west for the beginning and ending of the day, and between them stood his statue with two faces, gazing in opposite directions. In every home the morning prayer was addressed to him, and in every domestic undertaking his assistance was sought. As the god of beginnings, he was publicly invoked on the first day of January, the month that was named for him because it began the new year. He was invoked too at the beginning of wars, during which the doors of his temple in the Forum always stood open; when Rome was at peace, the doors were closed. Janus has no counterpart in Greek mythology.
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Jason
Jason, in Greek mythology, son of Aeson, a king in Greece. Aeson’s throne had been taken away from him by his half brother Pelias, and Jason, the rightful heir to the throne, had been sent away as a child for his own protection. When Jason grew to manhood, however, he courageously returned to Greece to regain his kingdom. Pelias pretended to be willing to relinquish the crown, but said that the young man must first undertake the quest of the Golden Fleece, which was the rightful property of their family. Pelias did not believe that Jason could succeed in the quest, nor that he would come back alive, but the young man scoffed at the dangers ahead. Jason assembled a crew of heroic young men from all parts of Greece to sail with him on the ship Argo. After a voyage of incredible perils, the Argonauts reached Colchis, the country in which the Golden Fleece was held by King Aeëtes. Aeëtes agreed to give up the Golden Fleece if Jason would yoke two fire-breathing bulls with bronze feet, and sow the teeth of the dragon that Cadmus, the founder of Thebes, had long before slain. From the teeth would spring up a crop of armed men who would turn against Jason.
Jason successfully accomplished this task with the aid of Medea, the king’s daughter. Unknown to Jason, the goddess Hera had intervened in his behalf by making Medea fall in love with him. Medea gave Jason a charm to sprinkle on his weapons that would make him invincible for the day of his ordeal and helped him steal the fleece that night by charming a sleepless dragon that guarded it. In return for her help, Jason promised to love Medea always and to marry her as soon as they were safely back in Greece. Carrying the fleece and accompanied by Medea, Jason and his crew managed to escape from Aeëtes.
On reaching Greece, the crew of heroes disbanded, and Jason with Medea took the Golden Fleece to Pelias. In Jason’s absence Pelias had forced Jason’s father to kill himself, and his mother had died of grief. To avenge their deaths, Jason called upon Medea to help him punish Pelias. Medea tricked Pelias’s daughters into killing their father, and then she and Jason went to Corinth, where two sons were born to them. Instead of feeling grateful to Medea for all she had done, Jason treacherously married the daughter of the king of Corinth. In her grief and despair, Medea employed more sorcery to kill the young bride. Next, fearing that her young sons might be left alone for strangers to mistreat, she killed them. When the furious Jason determined to kill her, she escaped in a chariot drawn by dragons.
Jinni
Jinni, in Middle Eastern and Islamic folklore and mythology, a spirit or demon lower than an angel. The plural form of the name is jinn, the feminine form jinniyah. Composed of fire or air, jinn can assume both animal and human form. They may be either good or evil: If good, they are beautiful; if wicked, they are ugly. They exist in air, in flame, under the earth, and in inanimate objects, such as rocks, trees, and ruins. In some ways they resemble humans: They have the same bodily needs; they reproduce their kind; and they die, although they live longer. Jinn are mischievous spirits who enjoy punishing humans for wrongs done them, even unintentionally. Thus, accidents and diseases are considered to be their work. With the proper knowledge, however humans can control jinn for their own purposes. Popular in the folklore of Egypt, Syria, Iran, Turkey, and North Africa, jinn are familiar in the West as characters in The Thousand and One Nights. They are frequently known by the Anglicized form genie.
Jocasta
Jocasta, in Greek mythology, wife of Laius, king of Thebes, and mother of Oedipus, king of Thebes. When an oracle foretold that Jocasta’s son would kill his father, Laius had the child’s ankles pierced and abandoned him on a mountain.
The infant, rescued by a shepherd and given the name Oedipus, was adopted by Polybus, king of Corinth. Later, when the oracle at Delphi proclaimed that he would kill his father and marry his mother, Oedipus, not wanting any harm to come to Polybus, left Corinth. On the road to Boeotia, Oedipus quarreled with and killed a stranger he mistook for a robber. The victim was his true father, Laius.
Believing her son dead, Jocasta did not recognize Oedipus when he reappeared in Thebes as a young man. The youth saved the city from the sphinx and, as a reward, was married to Jocasta, who bore him four children. When she learned that Oedipus was her son as well as her husband, Jocasta committed suicide in horror and despair at their incestuous relationship.
Juno (mythology)
Juno (mythology), in Roman mythology, queen of the gods, the wife and sister of the god Jupiter. She was the protector of women and was worshiped under several names. As Juno Pronuba she presided over marriage; as Juno Lucina she aided women in childbirth; and as Juno Regina she was the special counselor and protector of the Roman state. Her special festival, the Matronalia, was celebrated on March 1. Juno is the Latin counterpart of the Greek queen of the gods, Hera. Some authorities believe that the month of June was named after Juno.
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Jupiter (mythology)
Jupiter (mythology) or Jove, in Roman mythology, the ruler of the gods, the son of the god Saturn, whom he overthrew. Originally the god of the sky and king of heaven, Jupiter was worshiped as god of rain, thunder, and lightning. As the protector of Rome he was called Jupiter Optimus Maximus (“the best and greatest”) and was worshiped in a temple on the Capitoline Hill (Monte Capitoline). As Jupiter Fidius he was guardian of law, defender of truth, and protector of justice and virtue. The Romans identified Jupiter with Zeus, the supreme god of the Greeks, and assigned to the Roman god the attributes and myths of the Greek divinity; the Jupiter of Latin literature, therefore, has many Greek characteristics, but the Jupiter of Roman religious worship remained substantially untouched by the Greek influence. With the goddesses Juno and Minerva, Jupiter formed the triad whose worship was the central cult of the Roman state.
Laius
Laius, in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, husband of Jocasta, and father of Oedipus. Having been told by the oracle at Delphi that he would be killed by his own son, Laius exposed the newborn child on a mountainside. A shepherd rescued the child, however, and adopted him. The prophecy was fulfilled when Oedipus as a young man unknowingly killed his father.
Laocoön
Laocoön, in Greek mythology, priest of Apollo, god of the sun, or of Poseidon, god of the sea. In the last year of the Trojan War, the Greeks prepared a giant wooden horse, which they pretended was a votive offering to the goddess Athena, but which was in reality a hiding place for Greek soldiers. Laocoön, fearing a ruse, vainly urged the Trojan leaders to destroy the gift, warning “I fear the Greeks even when they come bearing gifts.” While the people were trying to decide if they should risk bringing the horse inside the city walls for the sake of the favorable omens supposedly connected with it, Poseidon, the divinity most bitter toward Troy, sent two fearful sea serpents swimming to the land. Advancing straight to the spot where Laocoön stood with his two sons, the serpents wrapped their coils around the children. Laocoön struggled to tear them away, but they overpowered him and strangled him and his sons. The Trojans, convinced that this was a signal from heaven to ignore Laocoön’s advice, brought the horse within the city walls and thus directly contributed to their own destruction.
The most famous literary interpretation of the Laocoön legend is in Virgil’s Aeneid. The most famous representation in art is a marble sculpture of the priest and his sons being crushed in the coils of the serpents; this group, known simply as Laocoön dates from the 1st century BC, and is now in the Vatican in Rome.
Laodamia
Laodamia, in Greek mythology, wife of the Thessalian commander Protesilaus, the first Greek slain when the Greek fleet reached the coast of Troy in the Trojan War. When the news of her husband’s death reached Laodamia, she implored the gods to let her see him once again if only for a short time. Her pleas were answered, and the god Hermes led her husband back from the underworld for a 3-hour visit. When it came time for him to return, however, Laodamia could not bear to give him up. She killed herself and returned with her husband to the underworld.
Laomedon
Laomedon, in Greek mythology, king of Troy and father of Priam, later king of Troy. At the command of the god Zeus, Poseidon, god of the sea, and Apollo, god of the sun, built for Laomedon the walls of Troy. When the walls were finished, however, Laomedon refused to pay them the wages agreed on, and Poseidon sent a sea serpent to ravage the country. To appease the monster, the desperate Laomedon agreed to sacrifice his daughter Hesione. As the maiden sat on the shore waiting to be devoured, she was rescued by the hero Hercules. In return for saving Hesione, Laomedon had promised Hercules the immortal horses that Zeus had given to his grandfather. But when Hercules had slain the monster, Laomedon refused to keep his promise. Hercules then sacked the city and killed the king.
Lares
Lares, in Roman mythology, tutelary deities of the crossroads and country districts; also, and more commonly, the gods of the household. The lares compitales were worshiped at the compitum, or “crossroads” where four pieces of property joined.
The lares familiares, or “household gods,” which were sharply distinguished from the lares compitales, are considered by some modern scholars to have been the deified spirits of dead ancestors, which were worshiped as good spirits in contrast to the malevolent tormenters, the larvae; according to a more widely accepted theory, the household Lares were likewise originally spirits of the tilled fields and only later invested with domestic functions. The lar familiaris, or guardian spirit of
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the household, was the center of the family worship, and the word lar was frequently employed by Roman writers in the sense of “home.” During the period of the Roman Republic each home had only one lar familiaris, but under the Roman Empire two Lares were regularly worshiped, and they came to be identified with the Penates.
The regular state religion included the worship of “public Lares,” or lares praestites, guardians of the city, who had a temple and an altar on the Via Sacra near the Palatine Hill.
Leda (mythology)
Leda (mythology), in Greek mythology, wife of Tyndareus, who was king of Sparta, and the mother of Castor and Polydeuces, Clytemnestra, and Helen of Troy. After the god Zeus had wooed Leda in the guise of a swan, she laid two eggs. From one were hatched Polydeuces (also known as Pollux) and Helen, who were immortal children of Zeus, and from the other Castor and Clytemnestra, who were mortal children of Tyndareus.
Lethe
Lethe, in Greek mythology, the river of forgetfulness, situated in the underworld. The spirits of the dead drank from its waters to forget the sorrows of their earthly life before entering Elysium. When the Trojan prince Aeneas visited the world of the dead, he found a great number of souls wandering on the banks of the stream. His father, Anchises, with whom he was joyously reunited, told him that before these spirits could live again in the world above, they must drink of the river of oblivion to forget the happiness they had experienced in Elysium.
Leto
Leto, in Greek mythology, daughter of the Titans Phoebe and Coeus. Leto was the mother of divine twins: Artemis, goddess of the bow and of hunting, and Apollo, god of prophecy, medicine, and archery. Zeus was their father. When Leto was about to give birth to the twins, Zeus banished her because he feared the jealousy of his wife Hera. All countries and islands were also afraid of Hera’s wrath and refused the desperate Leto a home where her children could be born. Finally, in her wanderings, she set foot on a small island floating in the Aegean Sea. The island, which was called Delos, was a rocky, barren place, but when Leto reached it and asked for refuge, it welcomed her hospitably. At that moment four great pillars rose from the bottom of the sea to hold the island firmly moored forever after.
Liber
Liber, ancient Roman god of fertility of the fields. He was honored every March 17 in the Liberalis, a ceremony during which adolescent boys symbolically became men by casting off their juvenile clothes. The clothes were replaced with the toga virilis (the robes of men). Liber is often referred to as the Roman adaptation of the Greek god Dionysus, the god of wine and drunkeness.
Loki
Loki, in Norse mythology, the handsome giant who represented evil and was possessed of great knowledge and cunning. He was indirectly responsible for the death of Balder, god of light and joy. According to the Poetic Edda, a collection of Scandinavian myths, Loki and Hel, goddess of the underworld, will lead the forces of evil against the Aesir, or gods, in the titanic struggle of Ragnarok, the end of the world.
Manes
Manes, in Roman mythology, spirits of the dead, apparently hostile, and therefore euphemistically termed di manes, the “kindly ones.” Sometimes the Manes were identified with di parentes, or “dead ancestors” living in the underworld, who came forth only on certain days, at which time propitiatory offerings were made to them.
Marduk
Marduk, in Babylonian religion, the supreme god. Originally, he was a god of thunderstorms. According to Enuma elish, an ancient epic poem of creation, Marduk defeated Tiamat and Kingu, the dragons of chaos, and thereby gained supreme power. Acknowledged as the creator of the universe and of humankind, the god of light and life, and the ruler of destinies, he rose to such eminence that he claimed 50 titles. Eventually, he was called simply Bel, meaning “Lord.”
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Mars (mythology)
Mars (mythology), in Roman mythology, god of war. One of the most important Roman deities, Mars was regarded as the father of the Roman people because he was the father of Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome. Although his original nature and functions are obscure, Mars was identified by the Romans with the Greek god of war, Ares. The month of March was named for Mars. To commemorate his victory over the assassins of Julius Caesar in 42 BC, Emperor Augustus honored Mars with the cult title Ultor (Avenger) and a new temple.
Marsyas
Marsyas, in Greek mythology, one of the satyrs. He found the flute that Athena, the goddess of cities, handicrafts, and wisdom, had invented and later discarded because playing on it puffed out her cheeks and distorted her features. Marsyas became such an accomplished musician that he challenged the god Apollo, who played the lyre, to a contest, the winner of which would have the right to punish the loser. The Muses awarded the victory to Apollo. The god thereupon flayed Marsyas, from whose blood the river Marsyas sprang.
Medea
Medea, in Greek mythology, sorceress, the daughter of Aeëtes, king of Colchis. When the hero Jason, in command of the Argonauts, reached Colchis in search of the Golden Fleece, Medea fell hopelessly in love with him. In return for Jason’s pledge of everlasting fidelity and his promise to take her back to Greece with him, she used her magic gifts to enable him to deceive her father and obtain the fleece. Medea then sailed away from Colchis with Jason, taking Apsyrtus, her young brother, with her. To escape from Aeëtes’s pursuit, Medea killed Apsyrtus and scattered his remains on the sea. The king stopped to gather them up, and the delay enabled Jason and his party to escape. In another legend, it was Jason who killed Apsyrtus after Aeëtes had sent him in pursuit of the fugitives.
When Jason and Medea reached Greece, they found that Jason’s wicked uncle Pelias had been responsible for the death of Jason’s parents. To avenge their deaths, Jason once again asked Medea to aid him with her magic. Responsive as always to his wishes, Medea brought about the death of Pelias by a cunning trick. Telling his daughters she knew how they could make their aging parent young again, she dismembered an old sheep and boiled the pieces. After she uttered a charm, a frisky young lamb jumped from the pot of hot water. The daughters were convinced they could similarly restore their father to his youth. So, after Medea had given Pelias a powerful sleeping potion, they were persuaded to cut him into pieces, but Medea then disappeared without saying the magic words that would bring him back to life. After this Jason and Medea fled to Corinth, where two sons were born to them. They lived happily there until Jason fell in love with the daughter of King Creon of Corinth. In revenge, Medea killed her rival by sending her a poisoned robe. Fearing that Creon would attempt to avenge the death of his daughter by harming her sons, Medea killed them.
Medea escaped the wrath of Jason by leaving Corinth in a winged car and fleeing to Athens. There she achieved great influence over King Aegeus. Through her sorcery, she realized that Aegeus was unknowingly the father of Theseus, a young hero, who was arriving in Athens. She did not wish to have her influence with Aegeus disturbed by the appearance of a son, so she plotted with Aegeus to invite Theseus to a banquet and give him a poisoned cup. Aegeus willingly conspired with her through fear that the Athenians would prefer the popular young hero to him and would want to place Theseus on the throne. Fortunately, Theseus made himself known to his father, who dashed the poisoned cup to the ground. Medea escaped the wrath of Aegeus by fleeing to Asia.
Medusa
Medusa, in Greek mythology, a mortal woman who was transformed into a Gorgon, a dragon-like creature with snakes for hair. Medusa was slain by Perseus. Medusa’s head was so hideous—even in death—that any beholder was turned to stone.
Meleager
Meleager, in Greek mythology, son of Oeneus and Althea, king and queen of Calydon. Meleager led the hunt for a boar that the goddess Artemis sent to devastate the country. The hero finally killed the animal, but gave the head and skin to the huntress Atalanta, who had been the first to wound the beast and with whom Meleager was in love. When his maternal uncles, angered at this award, took the trophies from Atalanta, Meleager killed them.
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Memnon
Memnon, in Greek mythology, king of Ethiopia, the son of the Trojan prince Tithonus and of Eos, goddess of the dawn. In the tenth year of the Trojan War, Memnon brought his army to the assistance of Troy. He fought bravely but was eventually killed by the Greek hero Achilles. To comfort Memnon’s mother, however, the god Zeus made him immortal. A colossal statue near Thebes in Egypt was said to represent Memnon.
Menelaus
Menelaus, in Greek mythology, king of Sparta, brother of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and husband of Helen of Troy. When Helen was abducted by the Trojan prince Paris, Menelaus organized an expedition to bring her back. Under the leadership of Agamemnon, Menelaus and the other Greek kings set sail for Troy. At the close of the ensuing Trojan War, Menelaus was one of the Greeks who hid in the wooden horse and sacked the city. After being reconciled with Helen, Menelaus set out for Greece. After a series of adventures in the eastern Mediterranean, Menelaus and Helen finally reached Sparta. There Menelaus prospered greatly, and he and Helen enjoyed a long and happy life. According to Homer’s Odyssey, Menelaus was promised a place in Elysium after his death.
Mentor (mythology)
Mentor (mythology), in Greek mythology, elderly friend and counselor of the hero Odysseus and tutor of his son Telemachus. In the Odyssey of Homer, the goddess Athena frequently assumes the form of Mentor when she appears to Odysseus or Telemachus. In modern English the tutor’s name has become an eponym for a wise, trustworthy counselor or teacher.
Mercury (mythology)
Mercury (mythology), in Roman mythology, messenger of the gods, the son of the god Jupiter and of Maia, the daughter of the Titan Atlas. Mercury was also the god of merchants and of trading and shared many of the attributes of the Greek god Hermes. The worship of Mercury was introduced into Rome in 495 BC when a temple was dedicated to him near the Circus Maximus. His festival was celebrated on May 15.
Midas
Midas, in Greek mythology, king of Phrygia in Asia Minor. For his hospitality to the satyr Silenus, Dionysus, god of wine, offered to grant Midas anything he wished. The king requested that everything he touched be turned to gold, but he soon regretted his choice because even his food and water were changed to gold. To free himself from the enchantment, Midas was instructed by Dionysus to bathe in the Pactolus River. It was said that afterward the sands of the river contained gold.
Midas was also one of the judges in a musical contest between the gods Apollo and Pan. When Midas preferred Pan’s playing of the pipes to Apollo’s playing of the lyre, Apollo changed Midas’s ears to those of an ass. Midas was able to conceal his ears from all but his barber, who whispered the secret into a hole in the ground. When the wind blew, the reeds that grew over the hole repeated the story.
Minerva
Minerva, in Roman mythology, goddess of handicrafts. Identified from an early date with the Greek goddess Athena, Minerva was the patron of the arts, and trades. With Jupiter and Juno, she was worshiped in the great temple that crowned the Capitoline Hill (Monte Capitoline) in ancient Rome.
Minos
Minos, in Greek mythology, legendary ruler of Crete (Kríti). Some ancient writers identified several kings by his name, especially Minos the Elder and his grandson Minos the Younger, but this distinction never appears in the accounts themselves. Minos was the son of Zeus, father of the gods, and of the princess Europa. From the city of Knossos (Knosós) he colonized many of the Aegean islands, and he was widely considered a just ruler. In the most famous story about Minos, he refused to sacrifice a certain bull. The god Poseidon punished him by making his wife Pasiphaë fall in love with the animal, and she subsequently gave birth to the Minotaur. According to Attic legend, Minos was a tyrant who took harsh measures to avenge the death of his son Androgeos at the hands of the Athenians. At stated intervals he exacted a tribute from Athens of seven youths and seven maidens to be sacrificed to the Minotaur. Minos eventually met his death in Sicily, and he then became one of the judges of the dead in the underworld. The legends concerning Minos probably have a historical basis and
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reflect the age when Crete was supreme in the Aegean region and certain cities of Greece were subject to the kings of Knossos.
Minotaur
Minotaur, in Greek mythology, monster with the head of a bull and the body of a man. It was the offspring of Pasiphaë, queen of Crete, and a snow-white bull the god Poseidon had sent to Pasiphaë’s husband, King Minos. When Minos refused to sacrifice the beast, Poseidon made Pasiphaë fall in love with it. After she gave birth to the Minotaur, Minos ordered the architect and inventor Daedalus to build a labyrinth so intricate that escape from it without assistance would be impossible. Here the Minotaur was confined and fed with young human victims Minos forced Athens to send him as tribute. The Greek hero Theseus was determined to end the useless sacrifice and offered himself as one of the victims. When Theseus reached Crete (Kríti), Minos’s daughter Ariadne fell in love with him. She helped him escape by giving him a ball of thread, which he fastened to the door of the maze and unwound as he made his way through it. When he came upon the sleeping Minotaur, he beat the monster to death and then led the other sacrificial youths and maidens to safety by following the thread back to the entrance.
Mnemosyne
Mnemosyne, in Greek mythology, the goddess of memory. She and Zeus, father of the gods, were the parents of the nine Muses. Mnemosyne was one of the pre-Olympian Titans, who were the children of the god of the heavens, Uranus, and the goddess of the earth, Gaea.
Monkey (mythology)
Monkey (mythology), (Sun Houzi), in Chinese mythology, a god-hero whose exploits are recorded in the Xiyouji (The Journey to the West), by Wu Cheng’en. Monkey was supposedly born from a stone egg, created from a rock as old as time and the essences of Heaven and Earth. He was a master of magic, and his weapons included a magical staff capable of growing or shrinking to any size.
Monkey defied the supreme god of Chinese mythology, the Jade Emperor (Yu Di), with his own claim as high god. To appease the mischievous Monkey, the Jade Emperor proclaimed him King of Heaven, concealing the fact that he had only made him a heavenly stable keeper. Monkey discovered this deception and, enraged, returned to Earth to wreak havoc. The Jade Emperor entreated Buddha for help. Buddha dropped a mountain on Monkey, and Monkey remained beneath it for 500 years. On his journey from China to India to retrieve Buddhist scriptures, the monk Tripitaka (see Tripitaka (legendary figure)) unearthed Monkey, who became Tripitaka’s escort and disciple. With two other companions, Piggy and Sandy, both exofficials of the Heavenly Court reborn in monstrous bodies, Monkey accompanied the monk for 14 years, covering nine kingdoms and encountering numerous fantastic adventures. After presenting the scriptures Tripitaka had obtained in India to the Chinese emperor in the imperial capital of Chang-an, the four travelers were borne up to heaven. Monkey, with his irrepressible spirit and countless magic tricks, is generally regarded as a personification of the nature of genius.
Morpheus
Morpheus, in Greek mythology, god of dreams, the son of Hypnos, god of sleep. Morpheus formed the dreams that came to those asleep. He also represented human beings in dreams. The name Morpheus is derived from the Greek word for “shape” or “form.”
Muses
Muses, in Greek mythology, nine goddesses, daughters of the god Zeus, king of the gods, and of Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory. The Muses were believed to inspire all artists, especially poets, philosophers, and musicians. By late Roman times (3rd century to 5th century), each Muse was believed to preside over a particular art: Calliope was the muse of epic poetry; Clio of history; Euterpe of lyric poetry sung to the accompaniment of the flute; Melpomene of tragedy; Terpsichore of choral songs and the dance; Erato of love poetry sung to the accompaniment of the lyre; Polyhymnia of sacred poetry; Urania of astronomy; and Thalia of comedy.
The Muses were said to be the companions of the Graces and of Apollo, the god of music. They sat near the throne of Zeus and sang of his greatness and of the origin of the world and its inhabitants and the glorious deeds of the great heroes. The Muses were worshiped throughout ancient Greece, especially at Helicon in Boeotia and at Pieria in Macedonia.
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Myrmidons
Myrmidons, in Greek mythology, inhabitants of the island of Aegina in the Gulf of Saronikós, the followers of Achilles during the Trojan War. During the reign of Achilles’ grandfather Aeacus, Hera, the wife of Zeus, sent a plague that destroyed the island’s inhabitants, because Zeus loved Aegina, the maiden for whom the island was named. Aeacus, in despair, prayed to Zeus; seeing a troop of ants as he did so, he asked that they be transformed into people numerous enough to fill his empty city. Zeus answered his prayer in this manner, and because Aegina was repopulated from an anthill, its people became known as Myrmidons, from the Greek word meaning “ants” (myrmêkes).
Mysteries (ancient rituals)
Mysteries (ancient rituals), secret rites and ceremonies connected with various religious worships of ancient Greece and Rome. These rites and ceremonies were known to, and practiced by, congregations of men and women who had been duly initiated; no other persons were allowed to participate. The origin and purpose of the mysteries are unknown. The theory that the mysteries concealed deep truths and remnants of a primitive revelation too profound for the popular mind is no longer believed, but undoubtedly the sacred rituals brought to the initiates secret religious doctrines, which in many instances were concerned with the continuance of life beyond the grave. The mysteries consisted of purifications, sacrificial offerings, processions, songs, dances, and dramatic performances. Often the birth, suffering, death, and resurrection of a god were enacted in dramatic form. The aim of the mysteries seems to have been twofold, namely, to give comfort and moral instruction for life on earth, and to inspire hope for life after death.
The earliest and most important Greek mysteries were the Orphic, the Eleusinian, and the Dionysiac. The Orphic mysteries were those of a mystic cult founded, according to tradition, by the legendary poet and musician Orpheus, to whom was attributed a great mass of religious literature (see Orphism). Far more celebrated were the Eleusinian mysteries, connected with the worship of the goddesses Demeter and Persephone at Eleusis in Attica; with these divinities were associated Pluto, god of the underworld; Iacchus, a name of the youthful Dionysus, god of vegetation and of wine; and other gods. The worship of Dionysus, or Bacchus, at Athens was accompanied by feasts, processions, and musical and dramatic performances. In later times the mysteries associated with Dionysus became occasions for intoxication and gross licentiousness. They were forbidden at Thebes and later elsewhere in Greece. As the Bacchanalia these rites were introduced into Rome early in the 2nd century BC. At first the mysteries were celebrated only by women; when they were opened to men, the gatherings were suspected of gross immoralities, and in 186 BC the Roman Senate attempted to suppress the rites by decree.
Secret rites were a part of the worship of several Greek deities, such as Hera, queen of the gods, Aphrodite, goddess of love, and Hecate, goddess of the underworld. Many foreign religions adopted by the Greeks and Romans had mysteries connected with the worship of the divinity; these religions included the worship of the Phrygian goddess Cybele, the “great mother” of the gods; the Egyptian Isis, goddess of the moon, nature, and fertility; and the Persian Mithras, god of the sun. The worship of these deities spread throughout the Greco-Roman world and was extremely popular in the early centuries of the Roman Empire. Isis, who at an early date had been identified with Demeter, was worshiped in Italy as late as the 5th century AD.
Naiads
Naiads, in Greek mythology, nymphs of brooks, springs, and fountains. Endowed with youth and beauty, they were gifted in music and dancing and the social graces. They were also thought to have healing and prophetic powers.
Nanna
Nanna, Sumerian god of the moon and one of the three sky deities of the Sumerian religion. Nanna was the father of Utu and Inanna. In Norse mythology, Nanna was a goddess.
For information on: • Nanna as a sky deity in Sumerian mythology, see Sumerian Religion • principal center for worship of Nanna, see Ur • Nanna as the subject of a Babylonian ziggurat, see Mesopotamian Art and Architecture: Neo-Babylonian Period; Temple (building): Egyptian and Mesopotamian Temples; Ziggurat • Nanna as a lesser goddess in Norse mythology, see Scandinavian Mythology: Gods and Heroes
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Narcissus (mythology)
Narcissus (mythology), in Greek mythology, a handsome youth, the son of the river god Cephissus. Because of his great beauty many women fell in love with Narcissus, but he repulsed their advances. Among the lovelorn maidens was the nymph Echo, who had incurred the displeasure of Hera and had been condemned by the goddess never to speak again except to repeat what was said to her. Echo was therefore unable to tell Narcissus of her love, but one day, as Narcissus was walking in the woods, he became separated from his companions. When he shouted, “Is anyone here?” Echo joyfully answered, “Here, here.” Unable to see her hidden among the trees, Narcissus cried “Come!” Back came the answer, “Come, come,” as Echo stepped forth from the woods with outstretched arms. Narcissus cruelly refused to accept Echo’s love; she was so humiliated that she hid in a cave and wasted away until nothing was left of her but her voice. To punish Narcissus, the avenging goddess Nemesis made Narcissus fall hopelessly in love with his own beautiful face as he saw it reflected in a pool. As he gazed in fascination, unable to remove himself from his image, he gradually pined away. At the place where his body had lain grew a beautiful flower, honoring the name and memory of Narcissus.
Nebo
Nebo, in ancient literature, the name given to a mountain and to a deity. In the Bible, Nebo is a mountain in Moab where Moses saw the Promised Land. In certain ancient religions, Nebo was the name of the patron deity of the city Borsippa, in Babylon. He was the god of wisdom, and the planet Mercury was sacred to him.
Nemesis
Nemesis, in Greek mythology, personification of divine justice and the vengeance of the gods, sometimes called the daughter of Night. She represented the righteous anger of the gods against the proud and haughty and against breakers of the law; she distributed good or bad fortune to all mortals. No one could escape her power.
Neoptolemus
Neoptolemus, also called Pyrrhus, in Greek legend and poetry, the son of the warrior Achilles and Deidamia of Scyros. Neoptolemus was raised at Scyros and, after the death of Achilles, was taken to Troy by the hero Odysseus in the final year of the Trojan War, because it was prophesied that the Greeks could not take Troy without the help of Neoptolemus. He was among the warriors who entered Troy in the Trojan horse, and when the city was captured, he killed Priam, king of Troy. Neoptolemus never returned to Scyros but settled instead in Epirus. He was later considered the ancestor of the Molossian kings of that region. He married Hermione, daughter of Menelaus and Helen of Troy, king and queen of Sparta. Slain at Delphi, Neoptolemus was buried on the grounds of the temple there, and festivals were held in his honor every eight years.
Neptune (mythology)
Neptune (mythology), in Roman mythology, god of the sea, son of the god Saturn, and brother of Jupiter, king of the gods, and Pluto, god of the dead. Originally a god of springs and streams, he became identified with the Greek god of the sea, Poseidon. His festival was celebrated on July 23.
Nereids
Nereids, in Greek mythology, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea. They were the 50 lovely daughters of Nereus, the old man of the sea, and his wife, Doris. They lived at the bottom of the sea, but often came to the surface to aid sailors and other travelers. They were believed to ride dolphins and other sea animals. The most famous of the Nereids were Thetis, the mother of the Greek hero Achilles; Amphitrite, the wife of Poseidon, god of the sea; and Galatea, who was loved by the Cyclops Polyphemus.
Nereus
Nereus, in Greek mythology, sea god, son of the sea god Pontos and Gaea, Mother Earth, called the old man of the sea. He was married to Doris, a daughter of the Titan Oceanus, by whom he had 50 beautiful daughters, the nymphs of the sea, called the Nereids. Nereus lived at the bottom of the sea.
Nestor
Nestor, in Greek mythology, king of Pílos (Pylos), son of Neleus and Chloris. In his early life, Nestor was a distinguished warrior and participant in many of the great events of the day. He took part in the fight of the Lapiths against the centaurs
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(see Centaurs) and was among the hunters of the Calydonian boar (see Meleager). Although well advanced in years when the Trojan War began, he sailed with the other Greek heroes against Troy. Having ruled over three generations, he was renowned for his wisdom and justice, and he served as wise counselor to the Greeks during the war. After the fall of Troy, Nestor returned to Pílos and welcomed Telemachus when the youth came for information about the fate of his father, Odysseus.
Nike
Nike, in Greek mythology, goddess of victory, daughter of the Titan Pallas and the river Styx. Nike fought with the god Zeus in his battle against the Titans, and in Greek art is sometimes represented as winged and carrying a wreath or palm of victory. The Nike of Samothráki, or Winged Victory (Louvre, Paris), is one of the finest pieces of Hellenistic sculpture.
Nimrod
Nimrod, character in the biblical Book of Genesis, described as “the first potentate on earth” and “mighty hunter in the eyes of Yahweh (God)” (Gen. 10:8-9). In Genesis he is identified as the son of Ham and grandson of Noah, and an empire-builder whose lands included large areas of southern Mesopotamia. Nimrod’s identity is much debated. He has been associated with the Mesopotamian god Ninurta, with the legendary Mesopotamian hero Gilgamesh (see Gilgamesh Epic), and with King Shamshi-Adad I, the founder of the Assyrian empire.
The epithet “mighty hunter” applied to Nimrod in Genesis has traditionally been interpreted as indicating that “his prey was man.” In the 17th-century epic poem Paradise Lost (Book XII, 11. 24-63), by English writer John Milton, Nimrod appears as the lawless and impious tyrant whose ambition led to the disastrous episode of the building of the Tower of Babel. Nimrod instructed his people to construct a tower to reach heaven. God punished Nimrod’s arrogance and halted construction by condemning the human race to speak separate and mutually unintelligible languages and scattering it all over the world. Legend locates the tomb of Nimrod in Damascus, Syria. In English literary tradition, the name Nimrod is often applied to a skillful or daring hunter.
Niobe
Niobe, in Greek mythology, daughter of Tantalus, and the queen of Thebes. Her husband, King Amphion, was a son of the god Zeus and was a great musician. Niobe bore him six handsome sons and six beautiful daughters. Although she was happy, Niobe exhibited the same arrogance toward the gods that her father had shown (see Atreus, House of). She boasted of her superiority to the goddess Leto, who had only two children. The gods heard her words on distant Mount Olympus and resolved to punish her. Leto’s children—Apollo, god of prophecy and a master archer; and Artemis, goddess of the hunt—fired their arrows with deadly aim, killing all of Niobe’s children. The grief-stricken Niobe was turned into a stone that was forever wet with her tears.
Nymphs
Nymphs, in Greek and Roman mythology, lesser divinities or spirits of nature, dwelling in groves and fountains, forests, meadows, streams, and the sea, represented as young and beautiful maidens, fond of music and dancing. The nymphs were distinguished according to the part of nature they personified, and included the Oceanids, or daughters of Oceanus, the ocean that flows around the earth; the Nereids, or daughters of the sea god Nereus, nymphs of the Mediterranean Sea; the Potameides, river nymphs; the Naiads, nymphs of springs and freshwater streams; the Oreads, nymphs of mountains and grottoes; and the Dryads, nymphs of the forests.
Oceanus
Oceanus, in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, the son of Uranus and Gaea. With his wife, the Titan Tethys, he ruled over Ocean, a great river encircling the earth, which was believed to be a flat circle. The nymphs of this great river, the Oceanids, were their daughters, and the gods of all the streams on earth were their sons. In later legends, when Zeus, chief of the Olympian gods, and his brothers, Poseidon and Hades, overthrew the Titans and assumed their power, Poseidon and his wife, Amphitrite, succeeded Oceanus and Tethys as rulers of the waters.
Odin
Odin (Old Norse Odhinn, Anglo-Saxon Woden, Old High German Wōdan, Woutan), in Scandinavian mythology, king of the gods. His two black ravens, Huginn (“Thought”) and Muninn (“Memory”), flew forth daily to gather tidings of events all over the world. As god of war, Odin held court in Valhalla, where all brave warriors went after death in battle. His greatest
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treasures were his eight-footed steed, Sleipner, his spear, Gungnir, and his ring, Draupner. Odin was also the god of wisdom, poetry, and magic, and he sacrificed an eye for the privilege of drinking from Mimir, the fountain of wisdom. Odin’s three wives were earth goddesses, and his eldest son was Thor, the god of Thunder.
Odysseus
Odysseus, in Greek legend, a Greek hero, ruler of the island of Ithaca and one of the leaders of the Greek army during the Trojan War. Homer’s Odyssey recounts Odysseus’s adventures and ultimate return home ten years after the fall of Troy. Initially, Odysseus was mentioned as the son of Laertes, king of Ithaca, although in later tradition Sisyphus, king of Corinth, was considered his real father, his mother having later married Laertes. At first Odysseus refused to accompany the Greeks to Troy, feigning madness by sowing his fields with salt, but the Greeks placed his son Telemachus in front of the plow, and Odysseus was compelled to admit his ruse and join the invading army. Throughout the Iliad of Homer, he is portrayed as a brave, sagacious, cunning warrior, and he is awarded the famous armor of the Greek warrior Achilles on the latter’s death. Odysseus was responsible for bringing the Greek heroes Neoptolemus and Philoctetes to Troy for the final stage of the conflict. In the Odyssey it is said that he proposed the stratagem of the Trojan Horse, the means by which Troy was conquered.
In the works of later classical writers, particularly those of the Greek poet Pindar, the Greek playwright Euripides, and the Roman poet Virgil, Odysseus is characterized as a cowardly and scheming politician. In Latin his name is rendered as Ulysses.
Oedipus
Oedipus, in Greek mythology, king of Thebes, the son of Laius and Jocasta, king and queen of Thebes. Laius was warned by the oracle of Apollo at Delphi that he would be killed by his own son. Determined to avert his fate, Laius pierced and bound together the feet of his newborn child and left him to die on a lonely mountain. The infant was rescued by a shepherd, however, and given to Polybus, king of Corinth, who named the child Oedipus (swollen foot) and raised him as his own son. The boy did not know that he was adopted, and when an oracle proclaimed that he would kill his father, he left Corinth. In the course of his wanderings he met and killed Laius, believing that the king and his followers were a band of robbers, and thus unwittingly fulfilled the prophecy.
Lonely and homeless, Oedipus arrived at Thebes, which was beset by a dreadful monster called the Sphinx. The frightful creature frequented the roads to the city, killing and devouring all travelers who could not answer the riddle that she put to them: What walks on four legs in the morning, on two legs at noon, and on three legs in the evening? The answer was a human being, who in infancy crawls on all fours, in adulthood walks upright on two legs, and in old age uses a cane. When Oedipus solved her riddle, the Sphinx killed herself. Believing that King Laius had been slain by unknown robbers, and grateful to Oedipus for ridding them of the Sphinx, the Thebans rewarded Oedipus by making him their king and giving him Queen Jocasta as his wife. For many years the couple lived in happiness, not knowing that they were really mother and son.
Then a terrible plague descended on the land, and the oracle proclaimed that Laius’s murderer must be punished. Oedipus soon discovered that he had unknowingly killed his father. In grief and despair at her incestuous life, Jocasta killed herself, and when Oedipus realized that she was dead and that their children were accursed, he put out his eyes and relinquished the throne. He lived in Thebes for several years but was finally banished. Accompanied by his daughter Antigone, he wandered for many years. He finally arrived at Colonus, a shrine near Athens sacred to the powerful goddesses called the Eumenides. Oedipus died at this shrine, after the god Apollo had promised him that the place of his death would remain sacred and would bring great benefit to the city of Athens, which had given shelter to the wanderer.
Oreads
Oreads, in Greek mythology, nymphs of grottoes and mountains. One of the most famous Oreads was Echo, who was deprived by the goddess Hera of the power of speech and could only repeat the last words that were said to her.
Orestes
Orestes, in Greek mythology, son of Agamemnon, king of Mycenae, and Clytemnestra. He was still a child when his mother and her lover, Aegisthus, murdered Agamemnon. Orestes’ older sister Electra, fearing for the boy’s life, sent him to live with their uncle Strophius, king of Phocis. There Orestes grew up with Pylades, son of Strophius, who became his lifelong companion. When he reached maturity, Orestes realized that he had a sacred duty to avenge the death of his father, but the crime of matricide, the act of killing one’s mother, was abhorrent to him. He consulted the oracle at Delphi and was advised to kill the two who had murdered his father. With Pylades he returned to Mycenae and slew his mother and Aegisthus.
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Pursued by the avenging goddesses the Erinyes, Orestes wandered through many lands. Finally, at the command of the god Apollo, he went to Athens to plead his cause before the goddess Athena and a council of Athenian nobles on the hill known as the Areopagus. The Erinyes prosecuted, and Orestes defended himself. When Athena and the other judges voted, the votes were found to be equally divided. Athena ruled that in cases of equally divided votes the defendant should be acquitted, which settled the case and established a principle of Athenian law.
According to the dramas of Greek playwright Euripides, some of the Erinyes refused to accept the verdict and continued to pursue Orestes. In despair he again consulted the Delphic oracle. He was advised to go to the land of the Taurians (now Crimea) and steal the sacred image of Artemis from the temple of the goddess. With Pylades he went to the temple and discovered that the priestess was his sister Iphigenia, whom he had thought to be dead. With her help he stole the sacred statue and returned with it to Mycenae. Thereafter the Erinyes let Orestes live in peace.
Orion (mythology)
Orion (mythology), in Greek mythology, handsome giant and mighty hunter, the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and Euryale, the Gorgon. Orion fell in love with Merope, the daughter of Oenopion, king of Chios, and sought her in marriage. Oenopion, however, constantly deferred his consent to the marriage, and Orion attempted to gain possession of Merope by violence. Incensed at his behavior, her father, with the aid of the god Dionysus, put Orion into a deep sleep and blinded him. Orion then consulted an oracle, who told him he could regain his sight by going to the east and letting the rays of the rising sun fall on his eyes. His sight restored, he lived on Crete (Kríti) as the huntsman of the goddess Artemis. One version of Orion’s story relates that the goddess eventually killed him because she was jealous of his affection for Aurora, goddess of the dawn. After Orion’s death, Artemis placed him in the heavens as a constellation.
Orpheus
Orpheus, in Greek mythology, poet and musician, the son of the muse Calliope (see Muses) and Apollo, god of music, or Oeagrus, king of Thrace. He was given the lyre by Apollo and became such an excellent musician that he had no rival among mortals. When Orpheus played and sang, he moved everything animate and inanimate. His music enchanted the trees and rocks and tamed wild beasts, and even the rivers turned in their course to follow him.
Orpheus is best known for his ill-fated marriage to the lovely nymph Eurydice. Soon after the wedding the bride was stung by a viper and died. Overwhelmed with grief, Orpheus determined to go to the underworld and try to bring her back, something no mortal had ever done. Hades, the ruler of the underworld, was so moved by his playing that he gave Eurydice back to Orpheus on the one condition that he not look back until they reached the upperworld. Orpheus could not control his eagerness, however, and as he gained the light of day he looked back a moment too soon, and Eurydice vanished. In his despair, Orpheus forsook human company and wandered in the wilds, playing for the rocks and trees and rivers. Finally a fierce band of Thracian women, who were followers of the god Dionysus, came upon the gentle musician and killed him. When they threw his severed head in the river Hebrus, it continued to call for Eurydice, and was finally carried to the shore of Lesbos, where the Muses buried it. After Orpheus’s death his lyre became the constellation Lyra.
For the importance of Orpheus in Greek religious history, see Orphism.
Orphism
Orphism, in classical religion, mystic cult of ancient Greece, believed to have been drawn from the writings of the legendary poet and musician Orpheus. Fragmentary poetic passages, including inscriptions on gold tablets found in the graves of Orphic followers from the 6th century BC, indicate that Orphism was based on a cosmogony that centered on the myth of the god Dionysus Zagreus, the son of the deities Zeus and Persephone. Furious because Zeus wished to make his son ruler of the universe, the jealous Titans dismembered and devoured the young god. Athena, goddess of wisdom, was able to rescue his heart, which she brought to Zeus, who swallowed it and gave birth to a new Dionysus. Zeus then punished the Titans by destroying them with his lightning and from their ashes created the human race. As a result, humans had a dual nature: the earthly body was the heritage of the earth-born Titans; the soul came from the divinity of Dionysus, whose remains had been mingled with that of the Titans.
According to the tenets of Orphism, people should endeavor to rid themselves of the Titanic or evil element in their nature and should seek to preserve the Dionysiac or divine nature of their being. The triumph of the Dionysiac element would be assured by following the Orphic rites of purification and asceticism. Through a long series of reincarnated lives, people would prepare for the afterlife. If they had lived in evil, they would be punished, but if they had lived in holiness, after death their souls would be completely liberated from Titanic elements and reunited with the divinity.
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Osiris
Osiris, in Egyptian mythology, one of the principal deities. Originally the local god of Abydos and Busiris, Osiris, who represented the male productive force in nature, became identified with the setting sun. Thus he was regarded as the ruler of the realm of the dead in the mysterious region below the western horizon. Osiris was the brother and husband of Isis, goddess of the earth and moon, who represented the female productive force in nature. According to legend, Osiris, as king of Egypt, found his people plunged in barbarism and taught them law, agriculture, religion, and other blessings of civilization. He was murdered by his evil brother, Set, who tore the body to pieces and scattered the fragments. Isis found and buried his scattered remains, however, and each burial place was thereafter revered as sacred ground. Their son Horus, sired by a temporarily regenerated Osiris, avenged his father’s death by killing Set and then ascended the throne. Osiris lived on in the underworld as the ruler of the dead, but he was also, through Horus, regarded as the source of renewed life.
Palladium (mythology)
Palladium (mythology), in Greek mythology, statue of the goddess Athena holding a shield and a spear. It was believed to have been hurled from Olympus by the god Zeus at the founding of Troy. The safety of a city was believed to depend on the careful preservation of the image in the sanctuary of the goddess. In the tenth year of the Trojan War the Greek heroes Diomedes and Odysseus stole the Palladium, thus facilitating the fall of Troy. The Romans, tracing their ancestry from the Trojans, believed that the Palladium, which was kept at Rome in the temple of Vesta, goddess of the hearth, was the Trojan original, brought to Italy by the hero Aeneas after the sack of Troy.
Pan (mythology)
Pan (mythology), in Greek mythology, god of shepherds and flocks. He was believed to be responsible for their fertility. Born in Arcadia, Pan was depicted with human arms and a human torso but with the ears, horns, and legs of a goat. His father was the god Hermes and his mother was either Penelope, the wife of Odysseus, or the nymph Callisto. Pan was especially fond of remote mountains and caves and was believed to be responsible for the sudden, inexplicable fear, or panic, that can overtake travelers in such surroundings.
There are only a few myths concerning Pan. A famous tale relates how he invented the panpipes, or syrinx, when a nymph he was chasing was transformed into a stand of reeds to escape his advances. Pan fashioned the instrument from one of the reeds and named it after the nymph. The Greek historian Herodotus wrote that Pan appeared to the Athenian courier Phidippides on the eve of the Battle of Marathon in 490 BC, promising to aid Athens against the invading Persians. After their victory, the Athenians dedicated a shrine to Pan on the slope of the Acropolis. In the 2nd century AD the Greek essayist Plutarch recorded that during the reign of Emperor Tiberius travelers sailing along the west coast of Greece heard a loud voice proclaiming the death of the great god Pan. In Christian legend, this story was associated with the Passion of Christ, which occurred during the reign of Tiberius, and was held to portend the victory of Christ over the pagan gods.
Pandarus
Pandarus, in Greek mythology, Lycian who fought as an ally of the Trojans in the Trojan War. A famous archer, he broke the truce between the Greeks and the Trojans by wounding Menelaus, king of Sparta. Pandarus was later slain by the Greek hero Diomedes.
Pandora (mythological figure)
Pandora (mythological figure), in Greek mythology, first woman on earth, created by the god Hephaestus at the request of the god Zeus. Zeus wished to counteract the blessing of fire, which had been stolen from the gods by the Titan Prometheus and given to human beings. Endowed by the gods with every attribute of beauty and goodness, Pandora was sent to Epimetheus, who was happy to have her for his wife, although he had been warned by his brother Prometheus never to accept anything from Zeus. In bestowing their gifts on Pandora, the gods had given her a box, warning her never to open it. Her curiosity finally overcame her, however, and she opened the mysterious box, from which flew innumerable plagues for the body and sorrows for the mind. In terror, she tried to shut the box, but only Hope, the one good thing among many evils the box had contained, remained to comfort humanity in its misfortunes. In another legend, the box contained blessings that would have been preserved if Pandora had not allowed them to escape.
Paris (mythology)
Paris (mythology), also called Alexander, in Greek mythology, son of Priam and Hecuba, king and queen of Troy. A prophecy had warned that Paris would someday be the ruin of Troy and, therefore, Priam exposed him on Mount Ida, where
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he was found and brought up by shepherds. He was tending his sheep when an argument arose among the goddesses Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite as to who was the most beautiful. The three goddesses asked him to be the judge. Each tried to bribe him, Hera promising to make him ruler of Europe and Asia, Athena to help him lead Troy to victory against the Greeks, and Aphrodite to give him the most beautiful woman in the world, Helen, the wife of Menelaus, king of Sparta. Paris favored Aphrodite, even though at the time he was in love with the nymph Oenone. His decision made Hera and Athena bitter enemies of his country. This and the abduction of Helen, in Menelaus’s absence, brought about the Trojan War.
In the tenth year of the siege of Troy that followed, Paris and Menelaus met in hand-to-hand combat. Menelaus would easily have been the victor except for Aphrodite, who enveloped Paris in a cloud, and carried him back to Troy. Before the fall of the city, Paris was mortally wounded by the archer Philoctetes. Paris then went to Oenone, who had a magic drug that could cure him. She refused him, but when he died, Oenone killed herself out of misery.
Patroclus
Patroclus, in Greek mythology, dearest friend of the hero Achilles whom he accompanied to the Trojan War. In the tenth year of the conflict Achilles withdrew his troops, the Myrmidons, from combat because of a quarrel with Agamemnon, commander of the Greek forces. Without Achilles, the Greeks began to lose to the Trojans. Finally, as the Trojans began to burn the Greek ships, Patroclus persuaded Achilles to allow him to lead the Myrmidons to the rescue. Clad in Achilles’ armor, Patroclus led the Greeks to victory, forcing the Trojans back to the walls of their city. In his moment of glory, however, Patroclus was slain by the Trojan commander, Hector. To avenge his friend’s death, Achilles rejoined the battle and killed Hector.
Pegasus (mythology)
Pegasus (mythology), in Greek mythology, winged horse, son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and the Gorgon Medusa. Pegasus sprang from Medusa’s neck when she was killed by the hero Perseus. Shortly after its birth, the magic steed struck the ground on Mount Helicon, and on the spot a spring, later sacred to the Muses and believed to be a source for poetic inspiration, began to flow. All longed in vain to catch and tame the creature, and this became the obsession of Bellerophon, prince of Corinth. On the advice of a seer, Bellerophon spent a night in the temple of the goddess Athena. As he slept, the goddess appeared to him with a golden bridle and told him that it would enable him to capture Pegasus. When Bellerophon awoke, he found the golden bridle beside him, and with it he easily captured and tamed the winged horse. Pegasus thereafter proved to be a great help to Bellerophon and aided the hero in his adventures against the Amazons and the Chimaera. Bellerophon was overcome by his own pride, however. When he attempted to fly to the top of Olympus to join the gods, the wise horse threw him, leaving Bellerophon to wander disconsolately about, hated by the gods. Pegasus found shelter in the Olympian stalls and was entrusted by Zeus with bringing him his lightning and thunderbolts.
Peleus
Peleus, in Greek mythology, king of the Myrmidons in Thessalía, and the son of Aeacus, king of Aegina (modern Aíyina). Peleus took part in the hunt for the Calydonian boar and the journey of the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece, but he is especially famed for his marriage to Thetis, one of the Nereids, who was destined to bear a son mightier than his father. Although Zeus, ruler of the Olympian gods, loved Thetis, he wished her to be married to a mortal because of this prophecy. Aided by the gods, Peleus lay in wait for Thetis by the shore, and in spite of her transformations into fire, water, and wild beasts, he held her fast until she returned to her original form, which secured their relationship. The marriage was attended by all the gods with the exception of Eris, goddess of discord and strife. Enraged at being excluded, Eris threw into the gathering a golden apple inscribed “To the Most Beautiful.” Amid contention, the Trojan prince Paris awarded the apple to Aphrodite, goddess of love, an act that led to the Trojan War. By Thetis, Peleus was the father of the Greek hero and warrior Achilles. Eventually Peleus and Thetis went to dwell among the Nereids, and Peleus outlived both his son and his grandson Neoptolemus.
Pelias
Pelias, in Greek mythology, son of Poseidon, god of the sea. Pelias usurped the throne of Iolcus from his half-brother Aeson and sent Aeson’s son, Jason, the rightful heir, to carry off the Golden Fleece from Colchis, hoping that he would never return. With the aid of the sorceress Medea, however, Jason succeeded. Returning with Medea and the fleece, Jason found that Pelias had forced Aeson to kill himself. In revenge Medea tricked Pelias’s daughters into cutting him up and boiling him in the hope of magically restoring his youth.
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Pelops
Pelops, in Greek mythology, son of Tantalus. When he was a child, his father killed him and served his boiled flesh to the gods at a banquet. The gods realized the nature of the meal, punished Tantalus, and restored Pelops to life. The goddess Demeter, distracted by the loss of her daughter Persephone, had eaten the flesh of the left shoulder. When the body was put together again, the shoulder was replaced with one of ivory. Pelops later won the hand of Princess Hippodamia by winning a chariot race from her father, King Oenomaus of Pisa. Unknown to Pelops, the princess had bribed the charioteer Myrtilus to remove the linchpins from Oenomaus’s chariot. Later Pelops quarreled with Myrtilus and hurled him into the sea. Before he drowned, the charioteer cursed Pelops, but the curse had no effect on Pelops but did on his children (see Atreus, House of). The Pelopónnisos (Peloponnesus) Peninsula of southern Greece is named in his honor.
Penates
Penates, in Roman mythology, gods of the storeroom, who were worshiped, along with the Lares, in every home as protectors of the house. They were often represented as dancing, holding a drinking horn as a symbol of prosperity. The Penates were also worshiped publicly as special protectors of the community and the state.
Penelope
Penelope, in Greek mythology, daughter of Icarius, king of Sparta, and the wife of Odysseus, king of Ithaca. Penelope and Odysseus had a son, Telemachus. Although her husband was gone for more than 20 years during and after the Trojan War, Penelope never doubted that he would return, and according to most versions of the story she remained faithful to him. She was courted by many suitors who devoured and wasted Odysseus’s property. Unwilling to choose a new husband, Penelope kept their advances in check by insisting that she must first complete a shroud that she was weaving for Laertes, her father-in-law. Each night she undid the work she completed on the shroud during the day, and by this means avoided having to choose a husband. Finally betrayed by a maid, Penelope was compelled to finish the work. The suitors were preparing to force a decision when Odysseus returned in disguise, killed them, and revealed his identity to his wife.
Persephone
Persephone, in Greek mythology, daughter of Zeus, father of the gods, and of Demeter, goddess of the earth and of agriculture. Hades, god of the underworld, fell in love with Persephone and wished to marry her. Although Zeus gave his consent, Demeter was unwilling. Hades, therefore, seized the maiden as she was gathering flowers and carried her off to his realm. As Demeter wandered in search of her lost daughter, the earth grew desolate. All vegetation died, and famine devastated the land. Finally Zeus sent Hermes, the messenger of the gods, to bring Persephone back to her mother. Before Hades would let her go, he asked her to eat a pomegranate seed, the food of the dead. She was thus compelled to return to the underworld for one-third of the year. As both the goddess of the dead and the goddess of the fertility of the earth, Persephone was a personification of the revival of nature in spring. The Eleusinian Mysteries were held in honor of her and her mother. Proserpine was the Latin counterpart of Persephone.
Perseus (mythology)
Perseus (mythology), in Greek mythology, slayer of the Gorgon Medusa; he was the son of Zeus, father of the gods, and of Danaë, daughter of Acrisius, king of Árgos. Warned that he would be killed by his grandson, Acrisius locked mother and child in a chest and cast them into the sea. They drifted to the island of Seriphus, where they were rescued and where Perseus grew to manhood. Polydectes, king of Seriphus, fell in love with Danaë, and, fearing that Perseus might interfere with his plans, sent him to procure the head of Medusa, a monster whose glance turned men to stone.
Aided by Hermes, messenger of the gods, Perseus made his way to the Gray Women, three old hags who shared one eye between them. Perseus took their eye and refused to return it until they gave him directions for reaching the nymphs of the north. From the nymphs he received winged sandals, a magic wallet that would fit whatever was put into it, and a cap to make him invisible. Equipped with a sword from Hermes that could never be bent or broken and a shield from the goddess Athena, which would protect him from being turned to stone, Perseus found Medusa and killed her. Invisible in his cap, he was able to escape the wrath of her sisters and with her head in the wallet flew on his winged sandals toward home.
As he was passing Ethiopia, he rescued the princess Andromeda as she was about to be sacrificed to a sea monster and took her with him as his wife. At Seriphus he freed his mother from Polydectes by using Medusa’s head to turn the king and his followers to stone. All then returned to Greece, where Perseus accidentally killed his grandfather Acrisius with a discus, thus fulfilling the prophecy. According to one legend, Perseus went to Asia, where his son Perses ruled over the Persians, from whom they were said to have gotten their name.
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Phaëthon
Phaëthon, in Greek mythology, son of Helios, god of the sun, and of the nymph Clymene. Helios had rashly promised to grant his son anything he wished, and Phaëthon chose to drive the chariot of the sun across the sky. Vainly Helios tried to explain to him that no mortal could drive the chariot; Phaëthon, however, insisted that his father keep his promise. Helios, after explaining the dreadful hazards, reluctantly yielded. Soon Phaëthon realized that his father had been right. Terrified, he lost control of the horses, and driving too near the earth set it on fire. To save the world from utter destruction, the god Zeus hurled his thunderbolt at the rash young driver, killing him instantly. Phaëthon fell to earth and according to legend was buried on the banks of the Eridanus River (now Po River).
Philemon and Baucis
Philemon and Baucis, in Roman mythology, peasant couple of Phrygia, remarkable for their mutual love. When Jupiter, father of the gods, and his messenger, Mercury, wandered through Phrygia in human form seeking food and lodging, they were turned away by all except the aged Philemon and his wife, Baucis, who hospitably entertained them. As a reward for their kindness, Jupiter saved them from a flood that he sent to punish the Phrygians for their cruelty and changed Philemon and Baucis’s humble cottage into a temple. He also swore to grant them anything they might wish, but they asked only to be priest and priestess of his temple and to die at the same time. Jupiter fulfilled his promise, and in their extreme old age he transformed Philemon and Baucis into an oak and linden tree, which grew from one trunk so they would never be separated. This marvelous tree stood for many years before the temple and was honored by the people.
Philoctetes
Philoctetes, in Greek mythology, famous archer, the friend of the hero Hercules, who bequeathed to him his bow and poisoned arrows. On the way to the Trojan War, Philoctetes was bitten in the foot by a snake, and because the wound failed to heal, he was left behind on the island of Lemnos. In the final year of the war, when an oracle declared that the Greeks could not capture Troy without the arrows of Hercules, the hero Odysseus, accompanied by the warrior Diomedes or by Neoptolemus, the son of Achilles, went to Lemnos and persuaded Philoctetes to come to Troy. After being treated for his wound by a Greek physician, Philoctetes joined the battle and killed the Trojan prince Paris. Returning to his home in northern Greece after the war, Philoctetes found that a revolt had broken out against him, whereupon he again set sail and settled in Italy.
Phlegethon
Phlegethon, in Greek mythology, river of fire, one of the rivers of the lower world, along with Acheron, Styx, Lethe, and Cocytus.
Phoenix (mythology)
Phoenix (mythology), legendary bird that lived in Arabia. According to tradition, the phoenix consumed itself by fire every 500 years, and a new, young phoenix sprang from its ashes. In the mythology of ancient Egypt, the phoenix represented the sun, which dies at night and is reborn in the morning. Early Christian tradition adopted the phoenix as a symbol of both immortality and resurrection.
Pleiades (mythology)
Pleiades (mythology), in Greek mythology, seven daughters of Atlas and of Pleione, the daughter of Oceanus. Their names were Electra, Maia, Taygete, Alcyone, Celaeno, Sterope, and Merope. According to some versions of the myth, they committed suicide from grief at the fate of their father, Atlas, or at the death of their sisters, the Hyades. Other versions made them the attendants of Artemis, goddess of wildlife and of hunting, who were pursued by the giant hunter Orion, but were rescued by the gods and changed into doves. After their death, or metamorphosis, they were transformed into stars, but are still pursued across the sky by the constellation Orion.
Pluto (mythology)
Pluto (mythology), in Roman mythology, god of the dead, the husband of Proserpine. The Latin counterpart of the Greek god Hades, Pluto assisted his two brothers, Jupiter and Neptune, in overthrowing their father, Saturn. In dividing the world among them, Jupiter chose the earth and the heavens as his realm, Neptune became the ruler of the sea, and Pluto received as his kingdom the lower world, in which he ruled over the shades of the dead. He was originally considered a fierce and unyielding god, deaf to prayers and unappeased by sacrifices. In later cults and popular belief the milder and more beneficent aspects of
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the god were stressed. Believed to be the bestower of the blessings hidden in the earth, such as mineral wealth and crops, Pluto was also known as Dis or Orcus, the giver of wealth.
Polyphemus
Polyphemus, in Greek mythology, a Cyclops, the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and of the nymph Thoösa. During his wanderings after the Trojan War, the Greek hero Odysseus and his men were cast ashore on Polyphemus’s island home, Sicily. The enormous giant penned the Greeks in his cave and began to devour them. Odysseus then gave Polyphemus some strong wine and when the giant had fallen into a drunken stupor, bored out his one eye with a burning stake. The Greeks then escaped by clinging to the bellies of his sheep. Poseidon punished Odysseus for blinding Polyphemus by causing him many troubles in his subsequent wanderings by sea. In another legend, Polyphemus was depicted as a huge, one-eyed shepherd, unhappily in love with the sea nymph Galatea.
Poseidon
Poseidon, in Greek mythology, god of the sea, the son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, and the brother of Zeus and Hades. Poseidon was the husband of Amphitrite, one of the Nereids, by whom he had a son, Triton. Poseidon had numerous other love affairs, however, especially with nymphs of springs and fountains, and was the father of several children famed for their wildness and cruelty, among them the giant Orion and the Cyclops Polyphemus. Poseidon and the Gorgon Medusa were the parents of Pegasus, the famous winged horse.
Poseidon plays a prominent part in numerous ancient myths and legends. He contended unsuccessfully with Athena, goddess of wisdom, for the control of Athens. When he and Apollo, god of the sun, were cheated of their promised wages after having helped Laomedon, king of Troy, build the walls of that city, Poseidon’s revenge against Troy knew no bounds. He sent a terrible sea monster to ravage the land, and during the Trojan War he helped the Greeks.
In art, Poseidon is represented as a bearded and majestic figure, holding a trident and often accompanied by a dolphin. Every two years the Isthmian Games, featuring horse and chariot racers, were held in his honor at Corinth. The Romans identified Poseidon with their god of the sea, Neptune.
Priam
Priam, in Greek mythology, king of Troy. He was the father of 50 sons, notably the great warrior Hector, and 50 daughters, including the prophet Cassandra. As a young man Priam fought with the Phrygians against the Amazons, but by the time of the Trojan War he was too old to fight. The conflict had begun when the Greeks set out to recapture Helen of Troy, who had been abducted by Priam’s son Paris. During the ten years of fighting, Priam anxiously watched the course of battle from the walls of Troy with his wife, Queen Hecuba. After his son Hector was slain by the Greek hero Achilles, Priam went to the Greek camp to beg for his body. Achilles spared Priam’s life and gave him Hector’s body for burial, but during the sack of Troy, Priam was killed by Achilles’ son Neoptolemus.
Priapus
Priapus, in Greek mythology, god of fertility, protector of gardens and herds. He was the son of Aphrodite, goddess of love, and of Dionysus, god of wine, or, according to some accounts, of Hermes, messenger of the gods. He was usually represented as a grotesque individual with a huge phallus. The Romans set up crude images of Priapus in their gardens as scarecrows.
Procrustes
Procrustes, in Greek mythology, a robber who lived near Eleusis in Attica. Originally named Damastes or Polypemon, he acquired the name Procrustes (“The Stretcher”) because he tortured his victims by cutting them down to fit his bed if they were too tall, or hammering and stretching them if they were too short. He was captured by the Greek hero Theseus, who inflicted upon Procrustes the same kind of torture that he had imposed upon his victims.
Prometheus (mythology)
Prometheus (mythology), in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, known as the friend and benefactor of humanity, the son of the Titan Iapetus by the sea nymph Clymene or the Titaness Themis. Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus were given the task of creating humanity and providing humans and all the animals on earth with the endowments they would need to survive. Epimetheus (whose name means afterthought) accordingly proceeded to bestow on the various animals gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, and feathers, fur, and other protective coverings. When it came time to create a being who was to be superior to all other living creatures, Epimetheus found he had been so reckless with his resources that he had nothing
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left to bestow. He was forced to ask his brother’s help, and Prometheus (whose name means forethought) took over the task of creation. To make humans superior to the animals, he fashioned them in nobler form and enabled them to walk upright. He then went up to heaven and lit a torch with fire from the sun. The gift of fire that Prometheus bestowed upon humanity was more valuable than any of the gifts the animals had received.
Because of his actions Prometheus incurred the wrath of the god Zeus. Not only did he steal the fire he gave to humans, but he also tricked the gods so that they should get the worst parts of any animal sacrificed to them, and human beings the best. In one pile, Prometheus arranged the edible parts of an ox in a hide and disguised them with a covering of entrails. In the other, he placed the bones, which he covered with fat. Zeus, asked to choose between the two, took the fat and was very angry when he discovered that it covered a pile of bones. Thereafter, only fat and bones were sacrificed to the gods; the good meat was kept for mortals. For Prometheus’s transgressions, Zeus had him chained to a rock in the Caucasus, where he was constantly preyed upon by an eagle. Finally he was freed by the hero Hercules, who slew the eagle.
Protesilaus
Protesilaus, in Greek mythology, king of Phylace in Thessaly (Thessalia), who was killed in the Trojan War. An oracle had proclaimed that the first Greek to touch the Trojan soil would be the first to die. Aware of it, Protesilaus bravely leaped ashore and was slain. His wife, Laodamia, grieved so that the gods permitted him to visit her for three hours.
Proteus (mythology)
Proteus (mythology), in Greek mythology, son of Poseidon, god of the sea, or his attendant and the keeper of his seals. Proteus knew all things past, present, and future but was able to change his shape at will to avoid the necessity of prophesying. Each day at noon Proteus would rise from the sea and sleep in the shade of the rocks on the island of Pharos in Egypt with his seals lying around him. Persons wishing to learn the future had to catch hold of him at that time and hold on as he assumed dreadful shapes, including those of wild animals and terrible monsters. If all his ruses proved unavailing, Proteus resumed his usual form and told the truth. Among those who fought with Proteus to learn the truth was Menelaus, king of Sparta.
Psyche (mythological figure)
Psyche (mythological figure), in Roman mythology, beautiful princess loved by Cupid, god of love. Jealous of Psyche’s beauty, Venus, goddess of love, ordered her son, Cupid, to make Psyche fall in love with the ugliest man in the world. Fortunately for Psyche, Cupid instead fell in love with her and carried her off to a secluded palace where he visited her only by night, unseen and unrecognized by her. Although Cupid had forbidden her ever to look upon his face, one night Psyche lit a lamp and looked upon him while he slept. Because she had disobeyed him, Cupid abandoned her, and Psyche was left to wander desolately throughout the world in search of him. Finally, after many trials she was reunited with Cupid and was made immortal by Jupiter, king of the gods.
Ptah
Ptah, in ancient Egyptian mythology, one of the greatest of gods. Ancient inscriptions describe him as “creator of the earth, father of the gods and all the being of this earth, father of beginnings.” He was regarded as the patron of metalworkers and artisans and as a mighty healer. He is usually represented as a mummy bearing the symbols of life, power, and stability. The main center of his worship was in Memphis.
Pygmalion
Pygmalion, in Roman mythology, sculptor of Cyprus. Pygmalion hated women and resolved never to marry. He worked, however, for many months on a statue of a beautiful woman, and eventually fell madly in love with it. Disconsolate because the statue remained lifeless and could not respond to his caresses, Pygmalion prayed to Venus, goddess of love, to send him a maiden like his statue. Venus answered his prayer by endowing the statue with life. The maiden, whom Pygmalion called Galatea, returned his love and bore him a son, Paphos, from whom the city sacred to Venus received its name.
Python (mythology)
Python (mythology), in Greek mythology, great serpent, the son of Gaea, Mother Earth, produced from the slime left on the earth after the great flood. The monster lived in a cave near Delphi on Mount Parnassus and guarded the oracle there. The god Apollo slew the Python, claimed the oracle for himself, and was thereafter known as Pythian Apollo. The god was said to have established the Pythian Games to commemorate his victory.
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Quetzalcoatl
Quetzalcoatl, Toltec and Aztec god and legendary ruler of Mexico, usually referred to as the Plumed, or Feathered, Serpent, the translation of his Nahuatl name (see Aztec Empire). In the 10th century AD the Toltecs transformed what had been a god of soil fertility, worshiped in Teotihuacán before the 9th century, into a deity associated with the morning and evening star, Venus. The Aztecs later made him a symbol of death and resurrection and a patron of priests. The opposing deity in the dualistic Toltec religion was Tezcatlipoca, the god of the night sky. He was believed to have driven Quetzalcoatl from his capital, Tula, into exile, from which, according to prophecy, Quetzalcoatl, described as light-skinned and bearded, would return in a certain year. Thus, when the Spanish conqueror Hernán Cortés appeared in 1519, the Aztec king, Montezuma II, was easily convinced that Cortés was the returning god.
The legend of the exile of Quetzalcoatl may reflect changes in Toltec religion from agricultural ceremonies to the practice of human sacrifice (also adopted by the Aztecs), or it may have been based on the exile from Tula of a priest-king named Quetzalcoatl in the 10th century.
See also Native Americans of Middle and South America: Religious Beliefs and Practices.
Quirinus
Quirinus, in early Roman mythology, god of war worshiped by the Sabines. In later Roman mythology, Quirinus was identified with the deified Romulus, the legendary founder of Rome.
Ra
Ra or Re, in ancient Egyptian mythology, sun god depicted with a human body and the head of a hawk. Ra was usually considered the creator and controller of the universe, his chief symbols being the sun disk and the obelisk. Originally a local cult, the worship of Ra first became widespread during the Old Kingdom in Egypt. The chief temple of Ra was at the city of Heliopolis, which became an important center when the cult was adopted as a state religion. Ra later became associated with other important deities, particularly Amon and Horus.
Remus
Remus, in Roman mythology, the twin brother of Romulus, who was believed to have founded the city of Rome in 753 BC.
Rhadamanthus
Rhadamanthus, in Greek mythology, the son of Zeus and Europa and the brother of Minos, king of Crete. According to Homer, Rhadamanthus dwelt in Elysium. Later legends report that, respected for his judgment and probity, he was made one of the three judges of the underworld.
Rhea (mythology)
Rhea (mythology), in Greek mythology, mother of the gods, a Titan, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, Heaven and Earth, and the sister and wife of the Titan Cronus. For many ages, Cronus and Rhea ruled the universe. Cronus, having been warned that one of their children was destined to seize his throne, tried to avert this fate by swallowing his offspring as soon as they were born. After the birth of her sixth child, the god Zeus, Rhea outwitted her husband by giving him a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed, thinking it was the baby. In the meantime, she had hidden the child in Crete (Kríti). Later, when Zeus was grown, he forced his father to disgorge the stone, along with the five other children who had been born to Rhea: Poseidon, god of the sea; Hades, god of the dead; Demeter, goddess of the earth; Hestia, goddess of the hearth; and Hera, goddess of marriage, who became the wife of Zeus. In Roman mythology, Rhea was identified with Cybele, the great mother of the gods.
Roc
Roc (Arabic, Rukhkh), in Arabian mythology, enormous bird, reputedly so powerful that it could carry elephants and other large creatures to its nest, where it devoured them. The roc appears in one of the adventures of Sindbad the Sailor in the compilation of tales known in English as the Arabian Nights. The overall framework for these stories is their narration by the legendary Queen Scheherazade as a nightly entertainment for her husband, by which means she distracts him from his plot to kill her once their marriage is consummated. The tales originate from a variety of sources, including Persian, Indian, and Arabic sources, and the Sindbad stories date back to the 9th century AD. On one trading voyage, after falling asleep on the island home of the roc, Sindbad awakens to find himself deserted by his companions. He discovers a massive egg in the roc’s
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nest and hides beside it; when the bird returns to its nest, Sindbad ties himself with his turban to one of its legs. The next day Sindbad is carried away from the island when the roc takes flight in search of prey. The roc is also mentioned by 13th-century Venetian traveler and author Marco Polo in a description of the island of Madagascar, in the Indian Ocean, and the East African islands.
Romulus (mythology)
Romulus (mythology), in Roman mythology, founder and first king of Rome. He and his twin brother, Remus, were the sons of Mars, god of war, and of Rhea Silvia, also called Ilia, one of the vestal virgins. Rhea Silvia was the daughter of Numitor, king of Alba Longa, who had been deposed by his younger brother Amulius. Amulius had made Rhea Silvia a priestess so that she would have no children to make claims against his throne. After the birth of her two boys, to remove any threat against himself, he had them thrown in a basket into the Tiber River. The twins were not drowned, however. They were rescued and nursed by a she-wolf on the slope of the Palatine Hill and were later discovered by the shepherd Faustulus and reared by his wife, Acca Larentia. When they grew to manhood, the brothers deposed Amulius and placed their grandfather Numitor on the throne.
The brothers then decided to build a city. After quarreling over the spot, they finally chose the Palatine Hill. Romulus built a wall, over which Remus, to show its inadequacy, scornfully leaped; Remus was thereupon killed by Romulus or one of his companions, and Romulus became sole ruler of the city. He provided an asylum on the Capitoline Hill (Monte Capitoline) for runaway slaves and homicides and procured wives for them by seizing the Sabine women at a festival to which he had invited the Sabines. After a series of wars between Romulus and the Sabines, they were finally reconciled, with Romulus as king. According to legend, Romulus was carried up to the heavens by his father, and was later worshiped as the god Quirinus.
Saturn (mythology)
Saturn (mythology), in Roman mythology, ancient god of agriculture. In later legends he was identified with the Greek god Cronus, who, after having been dethroned by his son Zeus (in Roman mythology, Jupiter), fled to Italy, where he ruled during the Golden Age, a time of perfect peace and happiness. Beginning on December 17 of each year, during the festival known as the Saturnalia, the Golden Age was restored for seven days. All business stopped and executions and military operations were postponed. It was a period of goodwill, devoted to banquets and the exchange of visits and gifts. A special feature of the festival was the freedom given to slaves, who during this time had first place at the family table and were served by their masters.
Saturn was the husband of Ops, goddess of plenty. Besides Jupiter, who was ruler of the gods, Saturn’s children also included Juno, goddess of marriage; Neptune, god of the sea; Pluto, god of the dead; and Ceres, goddess of the grain. In art Saturn is usually shown bearded, carrying a sickle or an ear of corn.
Satyrs
Satyrs, in Greek mythology, deities of the woods and mountains, with horns and tails and sometimes with the legs of a goat. The satyrs were the companions of Dionysus, god of wine, and spent their time pursuing nymphs, drinking wine, dancing, and playing the syrinx, flute, or bagpipes.
Savitar
Savitar (Sanskrit for “he who inspires”), generator deity of Hindu mythology belonging to the Vedic class of gods (the Veda is the body of Hindu scripture). He works in close conjunction with the other Vedic gods, such as the god of water, Varuna, and the god of thunder, Indra, as the source of all movement. Savitar grants immortality and worshipers pray to him for the forgiveness of sins.
The most sacred text of the Veda, the Gavatri, is dedicated to Savitar and extols his virtues, speaking of him in such epithets as “the golden-eyed,” ”the golden-handed,” and “the golden-tongued.” In one myth, Savitar cuts off his hand as a sacrifice and it is replaced with a golden one. In artistic representations, Savitar rides in a chariot drawn across the sky by brilliant horses, and his arms are stretched out in a gesture of benevolence. It is said that one of the duties of a Brahman, a member of the highest Hindu caste, is to recite the Gavatri upon waking.
Savitri
Savitri, in Hindu mythology, faithful wife who tricks the god of the dead into restoring her husband Satyavan to life. In a story told in the Sanskrit epic the Mahabharata, Savitri—the daughter of King Asvapati of Madra—marries Satyavan knowing that he only has one year to live before Yama, the god of the dead, carries away his soul. During this year, the
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couple retires to a home in the woods. When Yama comes for Satyavan and takes him away, Savitri follows and begs for the return of her husband. Impressed by her devotion, Yama agrees to grant her one wish as long as she does not request that life be restored to Satyavan. Savitri asks to bear a hundred sons by Satyavan, and Yama has no choice but to revive her husband.
Scylla and Charybdis
Scylla and Charybdis, in Greek mythology, two sea monsters dwelling on the opposite sides of a narrow strait, the personification of the dangers of navigation near the rocks and eddies. Scylla was a horrible creature with 12 feet and 6 long necks, each bearing a head with 3 rows of teeth, with which she devoured any prey that came within reach; she lived in a cave on a cliff. Across the strait, opposite her, was a large fig tree under which Charybdis, the whirlpool, dwelt, sucking in and belching forth the waters of the sea three times daily, engulfing anything that came near. When the Greek hero Odysseus passed between them, he was able to avoid Charybdis, but Scylla seized six men from his ship and devoured them. In later times, the geographical position of this dangerous passage was believed to be the Strait of Messina between Italy and Sicily, with Scylla on the Italian side. Scylla, originally a beautiful maiden loved by a sea god, had been transformed into a monster by her jealous rival, the sorceress Circe.
Sea Serpent
Sea Serpent, imaginary marine creature supposed to be of snakelike form and monstrous size. During the times of wooden sailing vessels, sea serpents were widely believed to have destroyed many ships. No scientific evidence as yet supports the existence of snakelike sea monsters. Exaggerated descriptions of sea snakes or oarfishes have probably been responsible for most reports of sea serpents; floating seaweeds have probably also contributed to this myth. Such a monster has also been reputed to exist in the waters of Loch Ness, Scotland.
Selene
Selene, in Greek mythology, goddess of the moon, the daughter of the Titans Hyperion and Theia, and the sister of Helios, god of the sun. Selene fell in love with the handsome young shepherd Endymion, whom she lulled into an eternal sleep so that he could never leave her. In art, Selene is represented driving a chariot drawn by two horses, or sometimes, by two oxen. She is often identified with the Olympian goddess of the moon, Artemis.
Semele
Semele, in Greek mythology, the daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, who were the king and queen of Thebes, and the mother of the god Dionysus. Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, realizing that Semele had conceived a child by her husband, tricked Semele into asking to see Zeus in his majesty. Bound by an oath, Zeus appeared before Semele in all his divine glory. As she gazed at him, she was consumed by the lightning bolts that radiated from him. Zeus was nevertheless able to rescue her unborn child, Dionysus, from the ashes, and he hid the fetus in his thigh until it was time for the child to be born. Later the young Dionysus rescued his mother from the underworld and brought her to Olympus.
Serapis
Serapis, also Sarapis, in Greek and Egyptian mythology, a deity (variously associated with Osiris, Hermes, and Hades) introduced in the 3rd century BC as a state god for both Greeks and Egyptians. Serapis was believed by Egyptians to be a human manifestation of Apis, a sacred dead bull that symbolized Osiris. In Greek mythology, Serapis was represented as a god of fertility and medicine and the ruler of the dead in Tartarus. The worship of Serapis spread throughout the ancient world and the Roman Empire. The cult waned with the ascendancy of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility. The destruction of the temple to Serapis in Alexandria in the second half of the 4th century AD marked the virtual end of paganism in the Roman Empire.
See also Greek Mythology; Egyptian Mythology.
Serapis
Serapis, also Sarapis, in Greek and Egyptian mythology, a deity (variously associated with Osiris, Hermes, and Hades) introduced in the 3rd century BC as a state god for both Greeks and Egyptians. Serapis was believed by Egyptians to be a human manifestation of Apis, a sacred dead bull that symbolized Osiris. In Greek mythology, Serapis was represented as a god of fertility and medicine and the ruler of the dead in Tartarus. The worship of Serapis spread throughout the ancient world and the Roman Empire. The cult waned with the ascendancy of Isis, the Egyptian goddess of motherhood and fertility.
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The destruction of the temple to Serapis in Alexandria in the second half of the 4th century AD marked the virtual end of paganism in the Roman Empire.
See also Greek Mythology; Egyptian Mythology.
Queen of Sheba
Queen of Sheba, biblical character who also figures in Islamic tradition—where she is named Bilqis—and in Ethiopian legend, where, as Makeda, wife of King Solomon, she is credited with founding the first royal line of the Kingdom of Sheba in southwest Arabia.
In the biblical Book of Kings (I Kings 10), the Queen of Sheba (or Saba’, a region located by scholars in southwest, or sometimes north, Arabia) visits King Solomon at his court in Jerusalem. Hoping to impress him with her wealth, she arrives with a camel-train laden with spices, gold, and jewels. She is overwhelmed by the splendor of Solomon’s state, however, attributing this, and his people’s good fortune in being governed by such a king, to the Hebrew god, Yahweh. The Queen plies Solomon with difficult questions and is astonished at the wisdom revealed in his answers.
If the Queen of Sheba was a historical figure, she is likely to have traveled to Jerusalem for diplomatic and commercial reasons. Israel’s prosperity under Solomon is ascribed by scholars to the king’s vigorous expansion of trade, especially in metals, and Solomon would have controlled important overland trade routes from Sheba to the north.
A story in the Islamic holy book, the Qur’an (Koran), recounts a trick played on Bilquis by Solomon, whose attendant spirits, not wanting him to fall in love with the exotic queen, have told him that she has hairy legs with donkey’s hooves. The king has a glass floor laid in front of his throne. When Bilqis approaches, she mistakes the glass surface for water and lifts her skirts, revealing her hairy legs.
Sibyl
Sibyl, in Greek and Roman mythology, any woman inspired with prophetic power by the god Apollo. The sibyls lived in caves or near streams and prophesied in a frenzied trance, usually in Greek hexameters, which were handed down in writing. Early Greek writers mention only one sibyl, probably the Erythraean Herophile, who predicted the Trojan War. In later legends, the number of sibyls was increased to ten, including the Samian, the Trojan or Hellespontine, the Phrygian, the Cimmerian, the Delphian, the Cumaean, the Libyan, the Tiburtine, and the Babylonian or Persian sibyls. Of these, the most important in Roman mythology was the Cumaean sibyl, Deiphobe. Apollo had promised to grant her anything she wished, and she asked to live for as many years as there were grains of sand in her hand. She did not ask, however, for eternal youth as well and became so withered that she was hung upside down in a bottle. Her overwhelming desire to die could not happen. In later legend, she guided the Trojan prince Aeneas through the underworld to visit his father Anchises. According to another legend, she appeared in the form of an aged woman before Lucius Tarquinius Superbus, the seventh and last king of Rome, and offered him nine prophetic books at a high price. When he refused her, she destroyed three books and then offered the remaining six at the original price; again Tarquin refused, and she destroyed three more. The king finally bought the remaining three at the price demanded for the nine. These three books were placed in the temple of the god Jupiter in Rome and were consulted in times of great emergency. Although the original Sibylline Books were destroyed in a fire in 83 BC, a new collection was subsequently compiled. These, however, were destroyed in AD405.
Silenus
Silenus, in Greek mythology, oldest of the satyrs, the son of Hermes, messenger of the gods, or of Pan, a woodland god. The tutor of the young god Dionysus, Silenus often accompanied him on his travels. The old satyr was usually drunk, and he could be compelled, if caught in a drunken sleep, to prophesy the future. As a reward for his hospitality to Silenus, Dionysus granted Midas, king of Phrygia, the golden touch. In art Silenus is represented as a little old man in a state of jovial intoxication.
Silvanus
Silvanus, in Roman mythology, god of uncultivated fields and forests, the protector of cattle and flocks. Originally a deity without a name who was referred to by the adjective silvanus (Latin, “living in a wood”), he was later identified with the pastoral gods Pan and Faunus.
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Siren (mythology)
Siren (mythology), sea nymph in Greek mythology, sometimes described as having the body of a bird and the head of a woman and at other times represented as a woman. The Sirens are the daughters of the sea god Phorcys, although in one version of the myth their father is the river god Achelous. The Sirens had such sweet voices that sailors who heard their songs were lured into grounding their boats on the rocks on which the nymphs sang. The Greek hero Odysseus was able to pass their island in safety because, following the advice of the sorceress Circe, he plugged the ears of his companions with wax and had himself firmly bound to the mast of the ship so that he could hear the songs without danger. According to another legend, the band of heroes called the Argonauts escaped the Sirens because the musician Orpheus, who was on board their ship, the Argo, sang so sweetly that he drowned out the song of the nymphs. According to later legends, the Sirens, upset at the escape of Odysseus or at the victory of Orpheus, threw themselves into the sea and perished.
Sisyphus
Sisyphus, in Greek mythology, king of Corinth, the son of Aeolus, king of Thessaly. Sisyphus saw the god Zeus carry off the beautiful maiden Aegina and told her father what he had witnessed. Enraged with Sisyphus, Zeus condemned him to Tartarus, where he was compelled for eternity to roll to the top of a steep hill a stone that always rolled down again.
Somnus
Somnus, in Roman mythology, god of sleep, the son of Night and the twin brother of Death. His home was in a dark cave in the far west, where the sun never shone and all things were wrapped in silence. Lethe, the river of forgetfulness, flowed near the cave, and poppies and other sleep-inducing plants grew close by. Somnus had power over both gods and mortals and is often represented as a sleeping youth carrying a poppy stalk.
Sphinx
Sphinx, in Greek mythology, monster with the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird. Lying crouched on a rock, she accosted all who were about to enter the city of Thebes by asking them a riddle, “What is it that has four feet in the morning, two at noon, and three at night?” If they could not solve the riddle, she killed them. When the hero Oedipus solved the riddle by answering, “Man, who crawls on four limbs as a baby, walks upright on two as an adult, and walks with the aid of a stick in old age,” the sphinx killed herself. For ridding them of this terrible monster, the Thebans made Oedipus their king.
In ancient Egypt, sphinxes were statues representing deities, with the body of a lion and the head of some other animal or of man, frequently a likeness of the king. The most famous of all Egyptian sphinxes is the Great Sphinx of Giza, near the pyramids. Dating from around 2500 BC, the Great Sphinx is about 20 m (about 66 ft) high and about 73 m (about 240 ft) long.
Styx
Styx, in Greek mythology, a river, the entrance to the underworld. It was often described as the boundary river over which the aged ferryman Charon transported the shades of the dead. However, early Greek writers identified the river across which Charon ferried the souls of the dead as the Acheron. The River Styx was personified as a daughter of the Titan Oceanus, and Styx was the guardian of the sacred oaths that bound the gods.
The actual river, the modern name of which is the Mavronéri, is in northeastern Arcadia, Greece. It plunges over a 183-m (600-ft) cliff, then flows through a wild gorge. The ancient Greeks believed that its waters were poisonous, and the river was associated with the underworld from the time of Homer.
Tammuz
Tammuz or Dumuzi, in Sumerian, Babylonian, and Assyrian mythology, a god of animal and plant fertility. The principal features of his cult were his ritual marriage to the goddess of the harvest, Ishtar, in which the deities were represented by the king and high priestess, and the annual lamenting of his early death, which marked the end of the spring season. Tammuz was the counterpart of the Phoenician fertility god known to the Greeks as Adonis.
Tantalus
Tantalus, in Greek mythology, king of Lydia and son of Zeus, ruler of the gods. Tantalus was honored above all other mortals by the gods. He ate at their table on Olympus, and once they even came to dine at his palace. To test their omniscience,
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Tantalus killed his only son, Pelops, boiled him in a cauldron, and served him at the banquet. The gods, however, realized the nature of the food. They restored Pelops to life and devised a terrible punishment for Tantalus. He was hung forever from a tree in Tartarus and afflicted with tormenting thirst and hunger. Under him was a pool of water, but when he stooped to drink, the pool would sink from sight. The tree above him was laden with pears, apples, figs, ripe olives, and pomegranates, but when he reached for them the wind blew the laden branches away. The word tantalize is derived from this story.
Tartarus
Tartarus, in Greek mythology, the lowest region of the underworld. According to Hesiod and Virgil, Tartarus is as far below Hades as the earth is below the heavens and is closed in by iron gates. In some accounts Zeus, the father of the gods, after leading the gods to victory over the Titans, banished his father, Cronus, and the other Titans to Tartarus. The name Tartarus was later employed sometimes as a synonym for Hades, or the underworld in general, but more frequently for the place of damnation where the wicked were punished after death. Such legendary sinners as Ixion, king of the Lapiths, Sisyphus, king of Corinth, and Tantalus, a mortal son of Zeus, were placed in Tartarus.
Telamon
Telamon, in Greek mythology, king of Salamís, the son of Aeacus, king of Aegina, and the father of the hero and warrior Ajax the Greater. After he and his brother Peleus were banished from Aegina for murdering their half brother, Telamon went to Salamís, where he married the princess Glauce and succeeded to the throne. Telamon fathered Ajax by his second wife, Periboea, or Eriboea. He later helped the hero Hercules kill Laomedon, king of Troy, and was given Laomedon’s daughter Hesione in return; she bore him Teucer, who also became a great warrior. Other famous events in which Telamon took part include the Calydonian boar hunt and the voyage of Jason and the Argonauts in search of the Golden Fleece.
Telemachus
Telemachus, in Greek mythology, son of Odysseus, king of Ithaca, and his wife, Penelope. The constant companion of his mother during the long years of Odysseus’s wanderings after the fall of Troy, Telemachus watched with increasing unhappiness as the many ill-mannered suitors for the hand of his mother lived riotously on his father’s estate. Unable to bear the taunts of these men any longer, the youth set out for Pílos (Pylos) to learn from the old king Nestor the fate of Odysseus. Although the old man could not help him, he sent Telemachus to Menelaus, king of Sparta, from whom the boy learned that his father had been held prisoner by the nymph Calypso. Still uncertain as to whether his father was alive or dead, Telemachus returned to Ithaca only to discover that during his absence Odysseus had returned home. The king had not revealed himself, however, having been disguised as a beggar. After a joyous reunion, Telemachus helped Odysseus kill the suitors and make himself known to Penelope. According to a later legend, Telemachus married the sorceress Circe or her daughter Cassiphone.
Tellus
Tellus or Terra Mater, in Roman religion, an ancient earth goddess. Considered a goddess of fertility, she was prominent with Ceres, the goddess of grain, in the rituals surrounding the sowing of seeds.
Tethys (mythology)
Tethys (mythology), in Greek mythology, a Titan, daughter of Uranus, god of heaven, and Gaea, goddess of earth. Tethys was the wife of her brother Oceanus and by him the mother of the 3000 Oceanids, or ocean nymphs, and of all the river gods.
Teucer
Teucer, in Greek mythology, the name of two heroes, one Trojan and the other Greek. The Trojan Teucer was the son of the river god Scamander and the nymph Idaea, and was the first king of Troy. He is thought to be a hero invented by the Teucri, the founders of the city of Troy. Teucer the Greek was the son of Telamon, king of Salamís, and of Hesione, daughter of King Laomedon of Troy. He accompanied his half brother Ajax to the Trojan War, in which he distinguished himself by his archery. After the war Teucer was banished by his father because he had not prevented the death of Ajax, whereupon he sailed to the island of Cyprus and there founded another Salamis.
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Tezcatlipoca
Tezcatlipoca, in Toltec and Aztec religions, the god of the night sky, the moon and stars, and young men. Also called Yaotl (the warrior), this god was associated with the forces of destruction and evil. He ruled over the district schools where Aztec youths received an elementary education and military training. He was also the protector of slaves and punished anyone who mistreated them. Tezcatlipoca was also a wizard and a master of black magic and was usually depicted with a black stripe across his face or a mirror on his chest, in which he saw all deeds and thoughts of humankind. Human sacrifice was introduced through his cult into central Mexico. For one year before he was to be the sacrifice to Tezcatlipoca, a young, handsome prisoner was chosen to live in luxury. At the end of that year, during the fifth ritual month (Toxcatl), he climbed the steps of a temple and was sacrificed by having his heart cut out.
Themis
Themis, in Greek mythology, one of the Titans, the daughter of Uranus and Gaea, Heaven and Earth, and the mother of the three Fates and the Seasons. The goddess of divine justice and law, Themis was the constant companion of the god Zeus and sat beside him on Olympus. In ancient art she is represented holding aloft a pair of scales on which she weighs the claims of opposing parties.
Thersites
Thersites, in Greek mythology, a member of the Greek army in the Trojan War. Homer describes him in the Iliad as the ugliest and most impudent of the Greeks. He was beaten by the Greek hero Ulysses for reviling the Greek general Agamemnon, to the amusement of the assembled Greeks. According to later writers, Thersites mocked the Greek hero Achilles for mourning the death of the Amazon queen Penthesilea and was slain by Achilles.
Theseus
Theseus, in Greek mythology, the greatest Athenian hero, the son of either Aegeus, king of Athens, or Poseidon, god of the sea, and Aethra, daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen. At the age of 16, Theseus, having been brought up in Troezen, went to Athens to claim Aegeus as his father. The young man chose to make the hazardous journey by land, clearing the road of bandits and monsters. Among the villains whom Theseus killed, making each suffer the method of death he had inflicted on others, were Sciron, Sinis, and Procrustes.
Theseus arrived in Athens wearing a sword and a pair of sandals that Aegeus had left for his son in Troezen. Medea, Aegeus’s wife, attempted to poison Theseus, but as soon as Aegeus recognized the heirlooms, he proclaimed Theseus his son and heir and banished Medea. His early adventures included his encounter with the Minotaur, a monster half human, half bull, who was confined in a labyrinth under the palace of Minos, king of Crete. With the help of Ariadne, Minos’s daughter, Theseus killed the Minotaur and escaped from the maze. On his return to Athens, however, he forgot to hoist a white sail signaling his success against the Minotaur. Aegeus, seeing a black sail, believed his son dead and threw himself from a rocky height into the sea, which has since been known as the Aegean Sea.
As king of Athens, Theseus was wise and generous, but he retained his love of danger and adventure. He abducted the Amazon Hippolyta, who bore him a son, Hippolytus. He took part in the Calydonian boar hunt and in the quest of the Argonauts for the Golden Fleece. He was a devoted friend of Pirithous, king of the Lapithae, whom he accompanied to the underworld to rescue the goddess Persephone. Both men were imprisoned by the god Hades for their rash deed, but Theseus was subsequently rescued by Hercules.
Returning to Athens, Theseus found his kingdom in disarray, torn by rebellion and corruption. Unable to reestablish authority, he sent his children away and sailed to the island of Skyros, where Lycomedes, king of Skyros, murdered him by throwing him from a cliff into the sea. Later the Delphic oracle commanded the Athenians to gather Theseus’s bones and bring them back to Athens. The Athenians then paid him great honor by building him a tomb dedicated to the poor and helpless whom he had befriended.
Thetis
Thetis, in Greek mythology, the daughter of the sea divinities Nereus and Doris, and the most famous of the Nereids. She was wooed both by Zeus, the supreme deity, and by Poseidon, god of the sea, until they learned the prophecy that she would bear a son who would be mightier than his father. She was then given to Peleus, ruler of the Myrmidons, who was considered the most deserving mortal. By Peleus, Thetis became the mother of the hero Achilles.
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Thor
Thor, in Scandinavian mythology, the god of thunder, eldest son of Odin, ruler of the gods, and Jord, the earth goddess. Thor was the strongest of the Aesir, the chief gods, whom he helped protect from their enemies, the giants. He had a magic hammer, which he threw with the aid of iron gloves and which always returned to him. Thunder was supposed to be the sound of the rolling of his chariot. Thursday is named for Thor.
Thyestes
Thyestes, in Greek mythology, son of Pelops and brother of Atreus. Thyestes was the rival of his brother for the throne of Mycenae. He seduced Atreus’s wife, Aërope, and persuaded her to steal the fleece of a golden lamb that Atreus treasured. The people of Mycenae decided that the possessor of the fleece should be their king, and Thyestes was chosen. The god Zeus intervened, however, and, by causing the sun to reverse its course and set in the east, gained Thyestes’ abdication. Atreus succeeded as king and banished his brother. Later he discovered the infidelity of his wife and in revenge called Thyestes back from exile. At a welcoming banquet, Atreus served his brother the flesh of Thyestes’ two murdered sons. When this was revealed to him, Thyestes laid a curse on Atreus and his descendants. The oracle at Delphi then advised Thyestes to ravish his own daughter, Pelopia. From the incestuous union was born Aegisthus, who later helped fulfill the curse that Thyestes had placed on the house of Atreus.
Tipitaka (scripture)
Tipitaka (scripture) (Pali, “Three Baskets”), the fundamental scriptural canon of Buddhism, divided by subject into three collections of writings. The Tipitaka is revered by Theravada Buddhists as the complete scriptural collection of the teachings of the founder of Buddhism, Siddhartha Gautama (563?-483?BC), known as the Buddha, or Enlightened One. Mahayana Buddhists also esteem the Tipitaka, but regard the Mahayana sutras (discourses of the Buddha) as more important. The contents of the Tipitaka were initially handed down by the Buddha’s disciples as oral traditions and written down at a later date. According to early Buddhist sources the Tipitaka was written down in the second half of the 1st century BC, in the Pali dialect of the Sanskrit language. The Buddha apparently preferred vernacular tongues like Pali, a popular dialect, to Sanskrit, a literary language favored by India’s priestly and learned circles. However, after the Buddha’s death, his followers eventually accepted the Sanskrit language and translated his teachings into Sanskrit. This scriptural collection is known in Sanskrit as the Tripitaka. Large portions of what is believed to have been the Sanskrit Tipitaka were translated into Chinese, and some texts exist in Tibetan versions. The complete canon survives only in Pali.
The process of compiling the Tipitaka began with the first Buddhist council, held at Rajagaha (present-day Rajgir) soon after the Buddha’s death. The council of 500 arhats, or worthy ones, was convened to seek consensus on the doctrine (dhamma) contained in the Buddha’s discourses (suttas in Pali; sutras in Sanskrit), and on the monastic discipline (vinaya) taught by the Buddha. After this consensus was reached, the suttas were eventually divided into several collections, memorized and transmitted by different groups of specialist teachers as far as Sri Lanka, where the Pali canon was written down.
In its present format, the Tipitaka is composed of the Vinaya Pitaka, the Sutta Pitaka, and the Abhidhamma Pitaka. The Vinaya Pitaka contains the rules of conduct for Buddhist monks and nuns. It consists of three groups of texts: the Sutta-vibhanga (Division of Rules), the Khandhakas (Sections), and the Parivara (Accessory). The Sutta-vibhanga begins with the Patimokkha (Code of Rules), which consists of commentary on the sutta. This is followed by the Mahavibhanga, which explains the regulations for monks, and the Bhikkhuni-vibhanga, which explains the regulations for nuns. It is a set of 227 rules for monks and 311 for nuns. Each rule is accompanied by a story explaining the circumstances in which it was established by the Buddha. The 22 Khandhakas explain regulations concerning the structure, function, and life of the sangha, or monastic community. They deal with such matters as ordination, the monastic calendar, food, and clothing. A large portion of the first Khandhaka provides a partial biography of the Buddha, and the last two deal with the early Buddhist councils. The Parivara is generally considered to be a supplement to the Vinaya. Composed in question-and-answer form, it essentially summarizes the rules and regulations explained at length in the Sutta-vibhanga and the Khandhakas. In addition to the Pali Vinaya followed by the monks of the Theravada tradition, several other Vinayas are preserved as living traditions that can be traced back to the Buddha—one of these is followed in Tibet, another in China and Korea. Each of these Vinayas has a different number of rules than the Pali Vinaya.
The collections of the Sutta (Discourse) Pitaka contain the actual discourses of the Buddha, supplemented by extensive commentaries, associated material, and myths and legends. There are five collections in the Sutta Pitaka: Digha Nikaya (Collection of Long Discourses), Majjhima Nikaya (Collection of Medium-Length Discourses), Samyutta Nikaya (Collection of Grouped Discourses), Anguttara Nikaya (Collection of Discourses on Numbered Topics), and Khuddaka Nikaya (Collection of Miscellaneous Texts). These divisions apparently derive from the earliest memorizers of sutras, who
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specialized in particular lengths of texts. The Digha Nikaya contains 34 sutras, some of which deal with the life and death of the Buddha. The Majjhima Nikaya contains 152 sutras, though the Chinese translation, based on the lost Sanskrit original, has 222. The Samyutta Nikaya consists of 59 divisions arranged in five groups: a total of 2,941 sutras, including some of the most important doctrinal statements on anatman (the absence of a permanent soul) and pratityasamutpada (dependent origination). The Anguttara Nikaya contains 2,308 short sutras, grouped according to the number of topics covered in each one. The Khuddaka Nikaya consists of 15 independent works, and includes poems, hymns of praise by monks and nuns, popular doctrinal statements such as the famous Dhammapada (Religious Sentences), and the Jatakas, the stories of former lives of the Buddha.
The Abhidhamma Pitaka, which contains commentaries on the sutta and Vinaya, in its Pali form contains seven works on topics derived from the Buddha’s teaching but presenting largely Theravada doctrinal positions. Mahayana schools have often substituted their own treatises for this “basket.” It is explicitly the work of eminent scholars, rather than the words of the Buddha himself. The first work is the Dhammasangani (Summary of Dhamma; Sanskrit, dharma), a categorization of reality on ethical principles. The Vibhanga (Division), which gives further definitions of the various aspects of reality, and the Dhatukatha (Discussion of Elements), which presents additional classifications of these aspects, are essentially supplements to the Dhammasangani. The Puggalapannatti (Designation of Person) is a classification of types of human personality, mostly taken from the Sutta Pitaka. The Kathavatthu (Points of Controversy), attributed to Moggaliputta, president of the third Buddhist council—held in the 3rd century BC—deals with controversial questions which are refuted from the Theravada position. The Yamaka (Pairs) is a paired listing of basic psychological concepts. The Patthana (Activations) exhaustively covers 24 kinds of causal relationships between physical and mental phenomena. The works of the Abhidharma Pitaka are chiefly of interest to advanced students of Buddhism, and their patterned and numbered lists often provided material for contemplation as well as reasoning.
After it was compiled, the Tipitaka spread with the expansion of Buddhism. The Pali Tipitaka cherished by the Theravada tradition is the only one preserved in its entirety. In addition to the Pali Tipitaka, five Vinayas survive which once belonged to different early schools of Buddhism. Only portions are available of the original text of these Vinayas. Five Vinayas exist in Chinese translation and one in Tibetan translation. Other translations of Mahayana sutras, treatises, and commentaries are collected under the Sanskrit name Tripitaka.
Tiresias
Tiresias, in Greek mythology, a seer, or prophet, from Thebes, said to have been struck blind by the goddess Athena because he had seen her bathing. Athena compensated Tiresias with the gift of prophecy. According to another version, after separating a pair of snakes that he found copulating in the road, Tiresias was for a time transformed into a woman. Later, having become a man again, he was asked by Zeus and Hera, king and queen of the gods, to tell which sex had more pleasure in love. When he replied that woman had nine times as much pleasure as man, Hera, in anger, blinded him, but Zeus granted him long life. Tiresias played a prominent part in Theban legends, delivering prophecies to Oedipus, king of Thebes. He died while fleeing the wrath of the Epigoni, warlike sons of the Argive heroes who were killed in the war of the Seven Against Thebes.
Titans
Titans, in Greek mythology, 12 children of Uranus and Gaea, Heaven and Earth, and some of the children of the 12. Often called the Elder Gods, they were for many ages the supreme rulers of the universe and were of enormous size and incredibly strong. Cronus, the most important of the Titans, ruled the universe until he was dethroned by his son Zeus, who seized power for himself. The other important Titans were Oceanus, the river that flowed around the earth; Tethys, his wife; Mnemosyne, the goddess of memory; Themis, the goddess of divine justice; Hyperion, the father of the sun, the moon, and the dawn; Iapetus, the father of Prometheus, who created mortals; and Atlas, who carried the world on his shoulders. Of all the Titans only Prometheus and Oceanus sided with Zeus against Cronus. As a result, they were honored and the others were bound in Tartarus. Eventually, however, Zeus was reconciled with the Titans, and Cronus was made ruler of the Golden Age.
Tithonus
Tithonus, in Greek mythology, the son of Laomedon, king of Troy, and the brother of Priam, Laomedon’s successor. He was loved by the dawn goddess, Eos, who bore him a son, the hero Memnon, king of Ethiopia. Eos obtained the gift of immortality from the gods for Tithonus, but, because she forgot to ask that he remain eternally young, Tithonus in his old age withered away to a decrepit and shriveled old man. A later account related his final transformation into a grasshopper.
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Tjurunga
Tjurunga, in Australian Aboriginal religion (see Aboriginal Australians), a sacred object, whose properties are known only to the initiated. A tjurunga can take many forms, but is typically a flat, elongated piece of stone or wood, up to 3 m (almost 10 ft) in length. It is often decorated with elaborate patterns of ritual and mythological significance. The term also applies to the mythical being associated with the object and its user. In this sense, a tjurunga embodies the constant interplay in an individual’s life between the human and the spirit worlds, between ordinary time and the mythological time called The Dreaming. Tjurungas are employed in initiation rituals and are kept in sanctuaries for this purpose. As objects of heightened personal significance, they may be buried with their users.
Tripitaka (legendary figure)
Tripitaka (legendary figure), in Chinese legend, a monk whose pilgrimage to India to gather Buddhist scriptures is recounted in the 16th-century novel Xiyouji (The Journey to the West) by Wu Cheng’en. The person after whom Wu Cheng’en patterned Tripitaka was the 7th-century monk Xuanzang (Hsuan-tsang), who made a pilgrimage from China to India, returning with numerous Buddhist scriptures called sutras as well as the tenets of the Vijñanavada (Consciousness Vehicle) school of Buddhism. (The name “Tripitaka” is Sanskrit for “Three Baskets” and refers to the canonical collection of Buddhist sutras.) Xuanzang wrote an account of his journey and the 130 kingdoms he had visited. By the 16th century, however, he had become a near-legendary figure.
Wu Cheng’en drew from Chinese popular religion, as well as Buddhist and Daoist (Taoist) tradition, to transform Xuanzang’s exploits into a series of fantastic supernatural adventures. In Xiyouji, a boatman kills Tripitaka’s father and usurps his position. His mother, appropriated by the usurper, gives up the infant Tripitaka, and a monastery takes him in. On reaching adulthood, Tripitaka discovers his identity, leads the authorities to the usurper, rescues his mother, and sees his father restored to life. He then becomes spiritual counselor to the emperor and is appointed to travel to India in search of Buddhist scriptures. He is aided by the immortal Monkey (see Monkey (mythology)), and two other monstrous companions, Piggy and Sandy. After returning to China with the requested scriptures, the four travelers are taken up to heaven, and Tripitaka and Monkey are made Buddhas. Tripitaka, who is impatient and easily disheartened, is regarded as personifying the ordinary human on the road through life, in contrast to the irrepressible Monkey, spirit of genius.
Triptolemus
Triptolemus, in Greek mythology, the original priest of the grain goddess Demeter and founder of the Eleusinian Mysteries celebrated in Demeter’s honor. The son of King Celeus of Eleusis, Triptolemus herded his father’s cattle. One day he observed the daughter of Demeter, Persephone, being carried off in the chariot of her abductor, Hades, god of the underworld. Persephone was restored to her mother, and Demeter gave Triptolemus the wooden plow and seed corn, and then sent him to instruct mortals in the art of agriculture. She also taught him the rites that became the most famous of all Greek religious festivals.
Triton (mythology)
Triton (mythology), in Greek mythology, trumpeter of the deep, the son of Poseidon, god of the sea, and of his wife Amphitrite. He lived with his parents in a golden palace in the depths of the sea, but sometimes went to the coast of Libya, where he once came to the aid of the Argonauts in their quest for the Golden Fleece. Human in form to the waist, but with the tail of a fish, Triton blew loudly upon his large seashell to raise great storms and blew gently to calm the waves. In later legends, the attendants of the water deities were known as Tritons, and they had a similar appearance.
Troll
Troll, in Scandinavian mythology, a powerful giant that was an enemy of humans. Trolls lived in caves or in castles on hilltops, robbing and eating any travelers foolish enough to stray into their domain after dark. Huge, hard-skinned, and virtually indestructible, they could only be vanquished by sunlight, which would either turn them to stone or make them explode.
In later folklore, trolls were less awesome and malevolent. They committed specific acts of malice, such as stealing maidens, and also began to develop semimagical powers such as prophecy and shape-shifting. Outside Scandinavia trolls began to be associated with stories of the so-called little people who lived in mounds on the outer limits of cultivated land and performed acts of mischief.
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Trolls are also found in literature. The 19th-century Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen used them in Peer Gynt (1867; English translation, 1892) as symbols of evil. In children’s stories, trolls often live beneath bridges, harassing passers-by and exacting tolls. In The Hobbit (1937), by British writer J. R. R. Tolkien, they appear as highly dangerous but essentially slow-witted creatures. In the Moominland children’s stories by 20th-century Finnish writer Tove Jansson, the Moomintrolls have metamorphosed into gentle creatures living in a rural paradise.
Tuatha Dé Danaan
Tuatha Dé Danaan, in Irish mythology, the descendants of the great mother-goddess Dana. With her consort Bilé, Dana engendered a race of gods who have their counterparts in the Celtic mythologies of the British Isles and Gaul. According to legend, the Tuatha Dé Danaan were the ancestors of one of the early peoples of Ireland, who in their turn were vanquished by the Milesians from Spain and went underground to live as fairy inhabitants of the land. Dana’s divine offspring include Goibhniu, the god of metalwork, Nuadhu Airgedlámh, the ancestral king, and Oghma, the god of writing and eloquence.
The gods of early Irish mythology reappear as heroes in the Lebor Gabala (Book of the Invasion of Ireland), a legendary account of the history of Ireland since the great flood described in the Bible. The collection, compiled by monks during the Middle Ages, merges elements of myth, folktale, and history with a Christian outlook. In the Lebor Gabala the Tuatha Dé Danaan arrive on clouds from the “northern islands of the world” as the fifth of a series of invading peoples. They carry with them four possessions: the Lia Fail (stone of destiny), which cries out when the true king touches it; the spear of the warrior-god Lug; the sword of their king, Nuadhu, which seeks out all enemies; and a cauldron. Led by Nuadhu, they overcame the Fir Bholg people at the First Battle of Magh Tuiredh, in which Nuadhu loses his right arm and is thus debarred from kingship. His place is taken by Bres, who is descended from the Fomorians, an earlier race of monstrous giants. After a period of tyranny, Bres is forced to yield to Nuadhu, for whom the healer Dian Cécht has made a silver arm. A struggle for power results in the Second Battle of Magh Tuiredh, in which the Tuatha forces are victorious but suffer such great losses as to leave them irrevocably weakened. In due course they are defeated by the Spanish Sons of Mil (or Milesians), who thereafter become the ruling race in Ireland. The Tuatha retreat to the Tir na n-Og, a distant land of eternal youth, and live on in subterranean palaces, where they maintain an invisible, fairy presence in Ireland.
Unicorn
Unicorn, fabled beast, pure white in color, having the head and legs of a horse and a long, twisted horn set in the middle of its forehead. Symbolic of holiness and chastity, the unicorn was prominent in tapestries of the Middle Ages. It has been widely used in heraldic signs.
Unkulunkulu
Unkulunkulu, the supreme god in the Xhosa and Zulu tradition of southern Africa. The name means “ancient one” or “great one,” in the Zulu-Xhosa language, and Unkulunkulu is both a creator deity and the first ancestor of humanity. Unkulunkulu derived his creative powers from his father, Unvelingange (Zulu-Xhosa for “he who exists before all things”), and is thought to have been born from a reed-bed. Unkulunkulu provided humans with the technology they needed for survival and established social customs. However, he is also associated with bringing death into the world. According to myth, Unkulunkulu entrusted the chameleon with taking the message to humans that they would not die. When the chameleon’s lazy manner and slow pace angered him, he sent the lizard with a second message announcing the coming of death, which was received before the chameleon arrived. To make up for this, Unkulunkulu instituted marriage as a means for humans to regain immortality through the lives of their children. In the Xhosa and Zulu tradition, the name Unkulunkulu is given to a clan’s ancestral founder-figure but, like many primary creator deities in world mythology, the god himself is too distant a figure to be the focus of worship.
Uranus (mythology)
Uranus (mythology), in Greek mythology, the god of the heavens and husband of Gaea, who personified the earth. Uranus was the father of the Titans, the Cyclopes, and the 100-handed giants. The Titans, led by their ruler, Cronus, dethroned and castrated Uranus. From the blood that fell upon the earth sprang the three Erinyes, or Furies, who avenge crimes of patricide and perjury. The severed genitals of Uranus fell into the sea, and from them emerged the goddess Aphrodite. Although Uranus may have been worshiped as a god by earlier inhabitants of Greece, he was never an object of worship for the Greeks of the historical period.
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Valhalla
Valhalla (Old Norse Valhöll,”hall of the slain”), in Old Norse mythology, the hall of slain heroes, ruled by the king of the gods, Odin, in the realm of the gods, Asgard. The hall had 540 doors, through each of which 800 heroes could walk abreast, and the roof was made of shields. The souls of heroic soldiers killed in battle were brought to Valhalla by warrior maidens called Valkyries. The heroes fought during the day, but their wounds healed before night, when they banqueted with Odin.
Valkyries
Valkyries, in Scandinavian mythology, warrior maidens who attended Odin, ruler of the gods. The Valkyries rode through the air in brilliant armor, directed battles, distributed death lots among the warriors, and conducted the souls of slain heroes to Valhalla, the great hall of Odin. Their leader was Brunhild. The Valkyries play an important part in the opera Die Walküre (The Valkyries, 1856) by the German composer Richard Wagner.
Venus (mythology)
Venus (mythology), in Roman mythology, originally a goddess of gardens and fields but later identified with Aphrodite, the Greek goddess of love and beauty. In imperial times she was worshiped under several aspects. As Venus Genetrix, she was worshiped as the mother of the hero Aeneas, the founder of the Roman people; as Venus Felix, the bringer of good fortune; as Venus Victrix, the bringer of victory; and as Venus Verticordia, the protector of feminine chastity. Venus was the wife of Vulcan, god of metalwork, but she was often unfaithful to him. Among her many lovers were Mars, the god of war; the handsome shepherd Adonis; and Anchises, the father of Aeneas. Venus was also the mother of Cupid, god of love.
Vesta (mythology)
Vesta (mythology), in Roman mythology, the goddess of the hearth, worshiped by Roman families as a household deity. The most important public shrine to Vesta was her round temple in the Forum at Rome, where her fire was said to have been brought from Troy by Aeneas, the legendary founder of Rome. The shrine was symbolic of the safety of the city and was watched continually by six vestal virgins, priestesses who kept the fire burning and who served for terms of 30 years according to severe rules. In early June of each year a festival honoring Vesta, called Vestalia, was held. In form the goddess was associated with the flames of her fire. Her Greek counterpart was Hestia.
Vulcan
Vulcan (Latin Volcanus), in Roman mythology, the god of fire. Originally an old Italian deity who seems to have been associated with volcanic fire, Vulcan was identified with the Greek god Hephaestus in classical times. At Rome his festival, the Volcanalia, was celebrated on August 23. He was particularly revered at Ostia, where his was the principal cult.
Yakshas and Yakshis
Yakshas and Yakshis, in Indian mythology, earth spirits, believed to live in the trunks of trees and to determine the fertility and wealth of a region. Sometimes called Punyajanas (Good People), yakshas and yakshis probably originated during a very early period of animism in Indian mythology, as fertility gods and goddesses associated with the primordial power of the soil.
As guardians of treasures deep in the earth, such as precious stones, yakshas and yakshis were regarded as bestowers of riches and prosperity. They were often carved on doorposts to guard and bring wealth to homes. Kubera, the large-bellied king of the yakshas, was a minor deity of wealth and was often depicted flying through the air on the shoulders of yakshas. Yakshas, who were originally believed to inhabit caityas, ancient temples of worship marked by a tree and located near a body of water, were probably tolerated in the Buddhist India (see Buddhism) of Mauryan King Asoka (reigned 272-232 BC), to placate those among the peasantry who continued to worship trees and mountains. In later mythology, yakshis appear as dangerous creatures, similar to sirens in Greek mythology, who entice men with their extraordinary beauty and devour them.
Much of early religious Indian sculpture consists of yaksha images. Yakshas were depicted as handsome men with slightly protruding stomachs or as black dwarves, while yakshis appeared as large-breasted women with broad hips, often clinging to trees in full bloom. The Great Stupa in Sanchī, India, a shrine constructed by Asoka in the 3rd century BC and further developed until the 1st century AD, is decorated with notable images of yakshis. Some of the yakshi figures, carved into stone brackets, reach out into free space in the tribhanga position, with hips and head bent to one side.
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Zephyrus
Zephyrus, in Greek mythology, the god of the west wind. He was the son of the Titan Astraeus and of Eos, the goddess of the dawn. Zephyrus was said to be the husband of Iris, the goddess of the rainbow and a messenger of the gods. His brothers were Boreas and Notus, the gods of the north and south winds, respectively.
Zeus
Zeus, in Greek mythology, the god of the sky and ruler of the Olympian gods. Zeus corresponds to the Roman god Jupiter.
Zeus was considered, according to Homer, the father of the gods and of mortals. He did not create either gods or mortals; he was their father in the sense of being the protector and ruler both of the Olympian family and of the human race. He was lord of the sky, the rain god, and the cloud gatherer, who wielded the terrible thunderbolt. His breastplate was the aegis, his bird the eagle, his tree the oak. Zeus presided over the gods on Mount Olympus in Thessaly (Thessalia). His principal shrines were at Dodona, in Epirus, the land of the oak trees and the most ancient shrine, famous for its oracle, and at Olympia, where the Olympic Games were celebrated in his honor every fourth year. The Nemean games, held at Nemea, northwest of Árgos, were also dedicated to Zeus.
Zeus was the youngest son of the Titans Cronus and Rhea and the brother of the deities Poseidon, Hades, Hestia, Demeter, and Hera. According to one of the ancient myths of the birth of Zeus, Cronus, fearing that he might be dethroned by one of his children, swallowed them as they were born. Upon the birth of Zeus, Rhea wrapped a stone in swaddling clothes for Cronus to swallow and concealed the infant god in Crete (Kríti), where he was fed on the milk of the goat Amalthaea and reared by nymphs. When Zeus grew to maturity, he forced Cronus to disgorge the other children, who were eager to take vengeance on their father. In the war that followed, the Titans fought on the side of Cronus, but Zeus and the other gods were successful, and the Titans were consigned to the abyss of Tartarus. Zeus henceforth ruled over the sky, and his brothers Poseidon and Hades were given power over the sea and the underworld, respectively. The earth was to be ruled in common by all three.
Beginning with the writings of the Greek poet Homer, Zeus is pictured in two very different ways. He is represented as the god of justice and mercy, the protector of the weak, and the punisher of the wicked. As husband to his sister Hera, he is the father of Ares, the god of war; Hebe, the goddess of youth; Hephaestus, the god of fire; and Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth. At the same time, Zeus is described as falling in love with one woman after another and resorting to all kinds of tricks to hide his infidelity from his wife. Stories of his escapades were numerous in ancient mythology, and many of his offspring were a result of his love affairs with both goddesses and mortal women. It is believed that, with the development of a sense of ethics in Greek life, the idea of a lecherous, sometimes ridiculous father god became distasteful, so later legends tended to present Zeus in a more exalted light. His many affairs with mortals are sometimes explained as the wish of the early Greeks to trace their lineage to the father of the gods.
Zeus’s image was represented in sculptural works as a kingly, bearded figure. The most celebrated of all statues of Zeus was Phidias’s gold and ivory colossus at Olympia.
Bulfinch’s Mythology: Admetus and Alcestis
Nineteenth-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch told the ancient Greek myth of the queen Alcestis and her willingness to give up her life to save her dying husband Admetus, ruler of the city of Pherae. Alcestis’s selflessness was rewarded when the Greek hero Hercules wrestled with Death to save her life.
Æsculapius, the son of Apollo, was endowed by his father with such skill in the healing art that he even restored the dead to life. At this Pluto took alarm, and prevailed on Jupiter to launch a thunderbolt at Æsculapius. Apollo was indignant at the destruction of his son, and wreaked his vengeance on the innocent workmen who had made the thunderbolt. These were the
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Cyclopses, who have their workshop under Mount Ætna, from which the smoke and flames of their furnaces are constantly issuing. Apollo shot his arrows at the Cyclopses, which so incensed Jupiter that he condemned him as a punishment to become the servant of a mortal for the space of one year. Accordingly Apollo went into the service of Admetus, king of Thessaly, and pastured his flocks for him on the verdant banks of the river Amphrysos.
Admetus was a suitor, with others, for the hand of Alcestis, the daughter of Pelias, who promised her to him who should come for her in a chariot drawn by lions and boars. This task Admetus performed by the assistance of his divine herdsman, and was made happy in the possession of Alcestis. But Admetus fell ill, and being near to death, Apollo prevailed on the Fates to spare him on condition that some one would consent to die in his stead. Admetus, in his joy at this reprieve, thought little of the ransom, and perhaps remembering the declarations of attachment which he had often heard from his courtiers and dependents fancied that it would be easy to find a substitute. But it was not so. Brave warriors, who would willingly have perilled their lives for their prince, shrunk from the thought of dying for him on the bed of sickness; and old servants who had experienced his bounty and that of his house from their childhood up, were not willing to lay down the scanty remnant of their days to show their gratitude. Men asked, "Why does not one of his parents do it? They cannot in the course of nature live much longer, and who can feel like them the call to rescue the life they gave from an untimely end?" But the parents, distressed though they were at the thought of losing him, shrunk from the call. Then Alcestis, with a generous self-devotion, proffered herself as the substitute. Admetus, fond as he was of life, would not have submitted to receive it at such a cost; but there was no remedy. The condition imposed by the Fates had been met, and the decree was irrevocable. Alcestis sickened as Admetus revived, and she was rapidly sinking to the grave.
Just at this time Hercules arrived at the Palace of Admetus, and found all the inmates in great distress for the impending loss of the devoted wife and beloved mistress. Hercules, to whom no labour was too arduous, resolved to attempt her rescue. He went and lay in wait at the door of the chamber of the dying queen, and when Death came for his prey, he seized him and forced him to resign his victim. Alcestis recovered, and was restored to her husband.
[Seventeenth-century poet John] Milton alludes to the story of Alcestis in his Sonnet "on his deceased wife": "Methought I saw my late espoused saint Brought to me like Alcestis from the grave, Whom Jove's great son to her glad husband gave, Rescued from death by force, though pale and faint."
[Nineteenth-century American poet and essayist] J. R. Lowell has chosen the "Shepherd of King Admetus" for the subject of a short poem. He makes that event the first introduction of poetry to men.
"Men called him but a shiftless youth, In whom no good they saw, And yet unwittingly, in truth, They made his careless words their law. And day by day more holy grew Each spot where he had trod, Till after-poets only knew Their first-born brother was a god."
Adventures of Aeneas
Mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch included the Roman myth of Æneas in his collection of myths, originally published as The Age of Fable (1855). Æneas, son of the Trojan prince Anchises and Venus, goddess of love, was a heroic leader and warrior who fled Troy after it was captured by the Greeks in the Trojan War. The Roman poet Virgil told Æneas’s story in his epic the Aeneid.
We have followed one of the Grecian heroes, Ulysses, in his wanderings on his return home from Troy, and now we propose to share the fortunes of the remnant of the conquered people, under their chief Æneas, in their search for a new home, after the ruin of their native city. On that fatal night when the wooden horse disgorged its contents of armed men, and the capture and conflagration of the city were the result, Æneas made his escape from the scene of destruction, with his father, and his wife, and young son. The father, Anchises, was too old to walk with the speed required, and Æneas took him upon his shoulders. Thus burdened, leading his son and followed by his wife, he made the best of his way out of the burning city; but, in the confusion, his wife was swept away and lost.
On arriving at the place of rendezvous, numerous fugitives, of both sexes, were found, who put themselves under the guidance of Æneas. Some months were spent in preparation, and at length they embarked. They first landed on the
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neighboring shores of Thrace, and were preparing to build a city, but Æneas was deterred by a prodigy. Preparing to offer sacrifice, he tore some twigs from one of the bushes. To his dismay the wounded part dropped blood. When he repeated the act a voice from the ground cried out to him, "Spare me, Æneas; I am your kinsman, Polydore, here murdered with many arrows, from which a bush has grown, nourished with my blood." These words recalled to the recollection of Æneas that Polydore was a young prince of Troy, whom his father had sent with ample treasures to the neighbouring land of Thrace, to be there brought up, at a distance from the horrors of war. The king to whom he was sent had murdered him and seized his treasures. Æneas and his companions, considering the land accursed by the stain of such a crime, hastened away.
They next landed on the island of Delos, which was once a floating island, till Jupiter fastened it by adamantine chains to the bottom of the sea. Apollo and Diana were born there, and the island was sacred to Apollo. Here Æneas consulted the oracle of Apollo, and received an answer, ambiguous as usual,—"Seek your ancient mother; there the race of Æneas shall dwell, and reduce all other nations to their sway." The Trojans heard with joy and immediately began to ask one another, "Where is the spot intended by the oracle?" Anchises remembered that there was a tradition that their forefathers came from Crete and thither they resolved to steer. They arrived at Crete and began to build their city, but sickness broke out among them, and the fields that they had planted failed to yield a crop. In this gloomy aspect of affairs Æneas was warned in a dream to leave the country and seek a western land, called Hesperia, whence Dardanus, the true founder of the Trojan race, had originally migrated. To Hesperia, now called Italy, therefore, they directed their future course, and not till after many adventures and the lapse of time sufficient to carry a modern navigator several times round the world, did they arrive there.
Their first landing was at the island of the Harpies. These were disgusting birds with the heads of maidens, with long claws and faces pale with hunger. They were sent by the gods to torment a certain Phineus, whom Jupiter had deprived of his sight, in punishment of his cruelty; and whenever a meal was placed before him the Harpies darted down from the air and carried it off. They were driven away from Phineus by the heroes of the Argonautic expedition, and took refuge in the island where Æneas now found them.
When they entered the port the Trojans saw herds of cattle roaming over the plain. They slew as many as they wished and prepared for a feast. But no sooner had they seated themselves at the table than a horrible clamour was heard in the air, and a flock of these odious harpies came rushing down upon them, seizing in their talons the meat from the dishes and flying away with it. Æneas and his companions drew their swords and dealt vigorous blows among the monsters, but to no purpose, for they were so nimble it was almost impossible to hit them, and their feathers were like armour impenetrable to steel. One of them, perched on a neighbouring cliff, screamed out, "Is it thus, Trojans, you treat us innocent birds, first slaughter our cattle and then make war on ourselves?" She then predicted dire sufferings to them in their future course, and having vented her wrath flew away. The Trojans made haste to leave the country, and next found themselves coasting along the shore of Epirus. Here they landed, and to their astonishment learned that certain Trojan exiles, who had been carried there as prisoners, had become rulers of the country. Andromache, the widow of Hector, became the wife of one of the victorious Grecian chiefs, to whom she bore a son. Her husband dying, she was left regent of the country, as guardian of her son, and had married a fellow-captive, Helenus, of the royal race of Troy. Helenus and Andromache treated the exiles with the utmost hospitality, and dismissed them loaded with gifts.
From hence Æneas coasted along the shore of Sicily and passed the country of the Cyclopses. Here they were hailed from the shore by a miserable object, whom by his garments, tattered as they were, they perceived to be a Greek. He told them he was one of Ulysses' companions, left behind by that chief in his hurried departure. He related the story of Ulysses' adventure with Polyphemus, and besought them to take him off with them as he had no means of sustaining his existence where he was but wild berries and roots, and lived in constant fear of the Cyclopses. While he spoke Polyphemus made his appearance; "a terrible monster, shapeless, vast, whose only eye had been put out." He walked with cautious steps, feeling his way with a staff, down to the seaside, to wash his eye-socket in the waves. When he reached the water, he waded out towards them, and his immense height enabled him to advance far into the sea, so that the Trojans, in terror, took to their oars to get out of his way. Hearing the oars, Polyphemus shouted after them, so that the shores resounded, and at the noise the other Cyclopses came forth from their caves and woods and lined the shore, like a row of lofty pine trees. The Trojans plied their oars and soon left them out of sight.
Æneas had been cautioned by Helenus to avoid the strait guarded by the monsters Scylla and Charybdis. There Ulysses, the reader will remember, had lost six of his men, seized by Scylla while the navigators were wholly intent upon avoiding Charybdis. Æneas, following the advice of Helenus, shunned the dangerous pass and coasted along the island of Sicily.
Juno [queen of the gods in Roman mythology, the counterpart of the Greek Hera], seeing the Trojans speeding their way prosperously towards their destined shore, felt her old grudge against them revive, for she could not forget the slight that Paris [son of the king and queen of Troy] had put upon her, in awarding the prize of beauty to another. "In heavenly minds can such resentments dwell!" Accordingly she hastened to Æolus, the ruler of the winds,—the same who supplied Ulysses with favouring gales, giving him the contrary ones tied up in a bag. Æolus obeyed the goddess and sent forth his sons, Boreas, Typhon, and the other winds, to toss the ocean. A terrible storm ensued and the Trojan ships were driven out of their
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course towards the coast of Africa. They were in imminent danger of being wrecked, and were separated, so that Æneas thought that all were lost except his own.
At this crisis, Neptune, hearing the storm raging, and knowing that he had given no orders for one, raised his head above the waves, and saw the fleet of Æneas driving before the gale. Knowing the hostility of Juno, he was at no loss to account for it, but his anger was not the less at this interference in his province. He called the winds and dismissed them with a severe reprimand. He then soothed the waves, and brushed away the clouds from before the face of the sun. Some of the ships which had got on the rocks he prised off with his own trident, while Triton and a sea-nymph, putting their shoulders under others, set them afloat again. The Trojans, when the sea became calm, sought the nearest shore, which was the coast of Carthage, where Æneas was so happy as to find that one by one the ships all arrived safe, though badly shaken.
Antigone
The classical Greek legend of Antigone, daughter of Oedipus, king of Thebes, exemplified how fate can overshadow a person’s life. After Antigone’s grandfather Laius, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that his son would kill him, he left his infant son Oedipus to die on a mountain, an act which set into motion the defining events of Antigone’s life. In this 19th-century interpretation, American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch related the story of Antigone’s devotion to her brother Polynices, who was killed in a battle for Oedipus’s throne. Antigone risked her life by burying Polynices after the new king declared him a traitor and refused to bury him.
A large proportion both of the interesting persons and of the exalted acts of legendary Greece belongs to the female sex. Antigone was as bright an example of filial and sisterly fidelity as was Alcestis of connubial devotion. She was the daughter of OEdipus and Jocasta, who with all their descendants were the victims of an unrelenting fate, dooming them to destruction. OEdipus in his madness had torn out his eyes, and was driven forth from his kingdom Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all men, as an object of divine vengeance. Antigone, his daughter, alone shared his wanderings and remained with him till he died, and then returned to Thebes.
Her brothers, Eteocles and Polynices, had agreed to share the kingdom between them, and reign alternately year by year. The first year fell to the lot of Eteocles, who, when his time expired, refused to surrender the kingdom to his brother. Polynices fled to Adrastus, king of Argos, who gave him his daughter in marriage, and aided him with an army to enforce his claim to the kingdom. This led to the celebrated expedition of the "Seven against Thebes," which furnished ample materials for the epic and tragic poets of Greece.
Amphiaraus, the brother-in-law of Adrastus, opposed the enterprise, for he was a soothsayer, and knew by his art that no one of the leaders except Adrastus would live to return. But Amphiaraus, on his marriage to Eriphyle, the king's sister, had agreed that whenever he and Adrastus should differ in opinion, the decision should be left to Eriphyle. Polynices, knowing this, gave Eriphyle the collar of Harmonia [daughter of the god of war and the goddess of love], and thereby gained her to his interest. This collar or necklace was a present which Vulcan [the god of fire] had given to Harmonia on her marriage with Cadmus [founder and first king of the city of Thebes], and Polynices had taken it with him on his flight from Thebes. Eriphyle could not resist so tempting a bribe, and by her decision the war was resolved on, and Amphiaraus went to his certain fate. He bore his part bravely in the contest, but could not avert his destiny. Pursued by the enemy, he fled along the river, when a thunderbolt launched by Jupiter opened the ground, and he, his chariot, and his charioteer were swallowed up.
It would not be in place here to detail all the acts of heroism or atrocity which marked the contest; but we must not omit to record the fidelity of Evadne as an offset to the weakness of Eriphyle. Capaneus, the husband of Evadne, in the ardour of the fight declared that he would force his way into the city in spite of Jove himself. Placing a ladder against the wall he mounted, but Jupiter, offended at his impious language, struck him with a thunderbolt. When his obsequies were celebrated, Evadne cast herself on his funeral pile and perished.
Early in the contest Eteocles consulted the soothsayer Tiresias as to the issue. Tiresias in his youth had by chance seen Minerva bathing. The goddess in her wrath deprived him of his sight, but afterwards relenting gave him in compensation the knowledge of future events. When consulted by Eteocles, he declared that victory should fall to Thebes if Menoeceus, the son of Creon, gave himself a voluntary victim. The heroic youth, learning the response, threw away his life in the first encounter.
The siege continued long, with various success. At length both hosts agreed that the brothers should decide their quarrel by single combat. They fought and fell by each other's hands. The armies then renewed the fight, and at last the invaders were forced to yield, and fled, leaving their dead unburied. Creon, the uncle of the fallen princes, now become king, caused Eteocles to be buried with distinguished honour, but suffered the body of Polynices to lie where it fell, forbidding every one on pain of death to give it burial.
Antigone, the sister of Polynices, heard with indignation the revolting edict which consigned her brother's body to the dogs and vultures, depriving it of those rites which were considered essential to the repose of the dead. Unmoved by the dissuading counsel of an affectionate but timid sister, and unable to procure assistance, she determined to brave the hazard, and to bury
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the body with her own hands. She was detected in the act, and Creon gave orders that she should be buried alive, as having deliberately set at naught the solemn edict of the city. Her lover, Hæmon, the son of Creon, unable to avert her fate, would not survive her, and fell by his own hand.…
The following is the lamentation of Antigone over OEdipus, when death has at last relieved him from his sufferings:
"Alas! I only wished I might have died With my poor father; wherefore should I ask For longer life? O, I was fond of misery with him; E'en what was most unlovely grew beloved When he was with me. O my dearest father, Beneath the earth now in deep darkness hid, Worn as thou wert with age, to me thou still Wast dear, and shalt be ever." Francklin's Sophocles.
Apollo and Daphne
American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch (1796-1867) drew upon classical Greek and Roman legends in order to weave together the following story about Apollo, master archer and god of prophecy, and his unrequited love for the nymph Daphne. According to legend, Daphne escaped Apollo’s advances by being transformed into a laurel tree.
The slime with which the earth was covered by the waters of the flood produced an excessive fertility, which called forth every variety of production, both bad and good. Among the rest, Python, an enormous serpent, crept forth, the terror of the people, and lurked in the caves of Mount Parnassus. Apollo slew him with his arrows—weapons which he had not before used against any but feeble animals, hares, wild goats, and such game. In commemoration of this illustrious conquest he instituted the Pythian games, in which the victor in feats of strength, swiftness of foot, or in the chariot race was crowned with a wreath of beech leaves; for the laurel was not yet adopted by Apollo as his own tree.
The famous statue of Apollo called the Belvedere represents the god after this victory over the serpent Python. To this [19th-century English poet George Gordon Noel] Byron alludes in his "Childe Harold," iv. 161: "…The lord of the unerring bow, The god of life, and poetry, and light, The Sun, in human limbs arrayed, and brow All radiant from his triumph in the fight. The shaft has just been shot; the arrow bright With an immortal's vengeance; in his eye And nostril, beautiful disdain, and might And majesty flash their full lightnings by, Developing in that one glance the Deity."
Daphne was Apollo's first love. It was not brought about by accident, but by the malice of Cupid. Apollo saw the boy playing with his bow and arrows; and being himself elated with his recent victory over Python, he said to him, "What have you to do with warlike weapons, saucy boy? Leave them for hands worthy of them. Behold the conquest I have won by means of them over the vast serpent who stretched his poisonous body over acres of the plain! Be content with your torch, child, and kindle up your flames, as you call them, where you will, but presume not to meddle with my weapons." Venus's boy heard these words, and rejoined, "Your arrows may strike all things else, Apollo, but mine shall strike you." So saying, he took his stand on a rock of Parnassus, and drew from his quiver two arrows of different workmanship, one to excite love, the other to repel it. The former was of gold and sharp pointed, the latter blunt and tipped with lead. With the leaden shaft he struck the nymph Daphne, the daughter of the river god Peneus, and with the golden one Apollo, through the heart. Forthwith the god was seized with love for the maiden, and she abhorred the thought of loving. Her delight was in woodland sports and in the spoils of the chase. Many lovers sought her, but she spurned them all, ranging the woods, and taking no thought of Cupid nor of Hymen. Her father often said to her, "Daughter, you owe me a son-in-law; you owe me grandchildren." She, hating the thought of marriage as a crime, with her beautiful face tinged all over with blushes, threw her arms around her father's neck, and said, "Dearest father, grant me this favour, that I may always remain unmarried, like Diana." He consented, but at the same time said, "Your own face will forbid it."
Apollo loved her, and longed to obtain her; and he who gives oracles to all the world was not wise enough to look into his own fortunes. He saw her hair flung loose over her shoulders, and said, "If so charming in disorder, what would it be if
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arranged?" He saw her eyes bright as stars; he saw her lips, and was not satisfied with only seeing them. He admired her hands and arms, naked to the shoulder, and whatever was hidden from view he imagined more beautiful still. He followed her; she fled, swifter than the wind, and delayed not a moment at his entreaties. "Stay," said he, "daughter of Peneus; I am not a foe. Do not fly me as a lamb flies the wolf, or a dove the hawk. It is for love I pursue you. You make me miserable, for fear you should fall and hurt yourself on these stones, and I should be the cause. Pray run slower, and I will follow slower. I am no clown, no rude peasant. Jupiter is my father, and I am lord of Delphos and Tenedos, and know all things, present and future. I am the god of song and the lyre. My arrows fly true to the mark; but, alas! an arrow more fatal than mine has pierced my heart! I am the god of medicine, and know the virtues of all healing plants. Alas! I suffer a malady that no balm can cure!"
The nymph continued her flight, and left his plea half uttered. And even as she fled she charmed him. The wind blew her garments, and her unbound hair streamed loose behind her. The god grew impatient to find his wooings thrown away, and, sped by Cupid, gained upon her in the race. It was like a hound pursuing a hare, with open jaws ready to seize, while the feebler animal darts forward, slipping from the very grasp. So flew the god and the virgin—he on the wings of love, and she on those of fear. The pursuer is the more rapid, however, and gains upon her, and his panting breath blows upon her hair. Her strength begins to fail, and, ready to sink, she calls upon her father, the river god: "Help me, Peneus! open the earth to enclose me, or change my form, which has brought me into this danger!" Scarcely had she spoken, when a stiffness seized all her limbs; her bosom began to be enclosed in a tender bark; her hair became leaves; her arms became branches; her foot stuck fast in the ground, as a root; her face became a tree-top, retaining nothing of its former self but its beauty. Apollo stood amazed. He touched the stem, and felt the flesh tremble under the new bark. He embraced the branches, and lavished kisses on the wood. The branches shrank from his lips. "Since you cannot be my wife," said he, "you shall assuredly be my tree. I will wear you for my crown; I will decorate with you my harp and my quiver; and when the great Roman conquerors lead up the triumphal pomp to the Capitol, you shall be woven into wreaths for their brows. And, as eternal youth is mine, you also shall be always green, and your leaf know no decay." The nymph, now changed into a Laurel tree, bowed its head in grateful acknowledgment.
That Apollo should be the god both of music and poetry will not appear strange, but that medicine should also be assigned to his province, may. The [18th-century Scottish] poet [John] Armstrong, himself a physician, thus accounts for it: "Music exalts each joy, allays each grief, Expels diseases, softens every pain; And hence the wise of ancient days adored One power of physic, melody, and song."
The story of Apollo and Daphne is often alluded to by the poets. [17th-century English poet Edmund] Waller applies it to the case of one whose amatory verses, though they did not soften the heart of his mistress, yet won for the poet wide-spread fame: "Yet what he sung in his immortal strain, Though unsuccessful, was not sung in vain. All but the nymph that should redress his wrong, Attend his passion and approve his song. Like Phoebus thus, acquiring unsought praise, He caught at love and filled his arms with bays."
The following stanza from [19th-century English poet Percy Bysshe] Shelley's "Adonais" alludes to Byron's early quarrel with the reviewers: "The herded wolves, bold only to pursue; The obscene ravens, clamorous o'er the dead; The vultures, to the conqueror's banner true, Who feed where Desolation first has fed, And whose wings rain contagion: how they fled, When like Apollo, from his golden bow, The Pythian of the age one arrow sped And smiled! The spoilers tempt no second blow; They fawn on the proud feet that spurn them as they go."
Apollo and Hyacinthus
Hyacinthia was an important Spartan festival named for the mythological figure Hyacinthus, a Spartan youth who was a favorite of the Greek god Apollo. In the following account of the tragic story of Apollo and Hyacinthus, 19th-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch quoted from poems by the 17th-century English poet John Milton and
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the 19th-century English romantic poet John Keats. One of Apollo’s other names, used in the following account, was Phoebus, which derived from the Greek phoibos, meaning radiant, or sun.
Apollo was passionately fond of a youth named Hyacinthus. He accompanied him in his sports, carried the nets when he went fishing, led the dogs when he went to hunt, followed him in his excursions in the mountains, and neglected for him his lyre and his arrows. One day they played a game of quoits together, and Apollo, heaving aloft the discus, with strength mingled with skill, sent it high and far. Hyacinthus watched it as it flew, and excited with the sport ran forward to seize it, eager to make his throw, when the quoit bounded from the earth and struck him in the forehead. He fainted and fell. The god, as pale as himself, raised him and tried all his art to stanch the wound and retain the flitting life, but all in vain; the hurt was past the power of medicine. As when one has broken the stem of a lily in the garden it hangs its head and turns its flowers to the earth, so the head of the dying boy, as if too heavy for his neck, fell over on his shoulder. "Thou diest, Hyacinth," so spoke Phoebus, "robbed of thy youth by me. Thine is the suffering, mine the crime. Would that I could die for thee! But since that may not be, thou shalt live with me in memory and in song. My lyre shall celebrate thee, my song shall tell thy fate, and thou shalt become a flower inscribed with my regrets." While Apollo spoke, behold the blood which had flowed on the ground and stained the herbage ceased to be blood; but a flower of hue more beautiful than the Tyrian sprang up, resembling the lily, if it were not that this is purple and that silvery white. And this was not enough for Phoebus; but to confer still greater honour, he marked the petals with his sorrow, and inscribed "Ah! ah!" upon them, as we see to this day. The flower bears the name of Hyacinthus, and with every returning spring revives the memory of his fate.
It was said that Zephyrus (the West wind), who was also fond of Hyacinthus and jealous of his preference of Apollo, blew the quoit out of its course to make it strike Hyacinthus. Keats alludes to this in his "Endymion," where he describes the lookers-on at the game of quoits:
"Or they might watch the quoit-pitchers, intent On either side, pitying the sad death Of Hyacinthus, when the cruel breath Of Zephyr slew him; Zephyr penitent, Who now ere Phoebus mounts the firmament, Fondles the flower amid the sobbing rain."
An allusion to Hyacinthus will also be recognized in Milton's "Lycidas":
"Like to that sanguine flower inscribed with woe."
Arthur
In his retelling of the early life of King Arthur, the semi-legendary 6th-century king of the Britons, American mythologist Thomas Bulfinch acknowledged that historians have disputed Arthur’s existence. Some evidence, however, such as references to the king and his court in traditional Welsh poetry, suggests that Arthur was actually a historical figure. Bulfinch bolstered his version of Arthur’s sensational exploits with support from literary sources, including various English poets and the 12th-century Welsh writer Geoffrey of Monmouth.
We shall begin our history of King Arthur by giving those particulars of his life which appear to rest on historical evidence; and then proceed to record those legends concerning him which form the earliest portion of British literature.
Arthur was a prince of the tribe of Britons called Silures, whose country was South Wales,—the son of Uther, named Pendragon, a title given to an elective sovereign, paramount over the many kings of Britain. He appears to have commenced his martial career about the year 500, and was raised to the Pendragonship about ten years later. He is said to have gained twelve victories over the Saxons. The most important of them was that of Badon, by some supposed to be Bath, by others Berkshire. This was the last of his battles with the Saxons, and checked their progress so effectually that Arthur experienced no more annoyance from them, and reigned in peace, until the revolt of his nephew Modred [or Mordred], twenty years later, which led to the fatal battle of Camlan, in Cornwall, in 542. Modred was slain, and Arthur, mortally wounded, was conveyed by sea to Glastonbury, where he died, and was buried. Tradition preserved the memory of the place of his interment within the abbey, as we are told by Giraldus Cambrensis, who was present when the grave was opened by command of Henry II in 1150, and saw the bones and sword of the monarch, and a leaden cross let into his tombstone, with the inscription in rude Roman letters, "Here lies buried the famous King Arthur, in the island Avolonia." This story has been elegantly versified by Warton [Thomas Warton, 18th-century English poet laureate]. A popular traditional belief was long entertained among the Britons that Arthur was not dead, but had been carried off to be healed of his wounds in Fairy-land, and that he would reappear to avenge his countrymen, and reinstate them in the sovereignty of Britain. In Wharton's [Warton’s] Ode a bard
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relates to King Henry the traditional story of Arthur's death, and closes with these lines:— "Yet in vain a paynim [pagan] foe Armed with fate the mighty blow; For when he fell, the Elfin queen, All in secret and unseen, O'er the fainting hero threw Her mantle of ambrosial blue, And bade her spirits bear him far, In Merlin's agate-axled car, To her green isle's enamelled steep, Far in the navel of the deep. O'er his wounds she sprinkled dew From flowers that in Arabia grew. ..... There he reigns a mighty king, Thence to Britain shall return, If right prophetic rolls I learn, Borne on victory's spreading plume, His ancient sceptre to resume, His knightly table to restore, And brave the tournaments of yore."
After this narration another bard came forward, who recited a different story:— "When Arthur bowed his haughty crest, No princess veiled in azure vest Snatched him, by Merlin's powerful spell, In groves of golden bliss to dwell; But when he fell, with wingèd speed, His champions, on a milk-white steed, From the battle's hurricane Bore him to Joseph's towered fane, In the fair vale of Avalon; There, with chanted orison And the long blaze of tapers clear, The stoled fathers met the bier; Through the dim aisles, in order dread Of martial woe, the chief they led, And deep entombed in holy ground, Before the altar's solemn bound."
It must not be concealed, that the very existence of Arthur has been denied by some. Milton [17th-century English poet John Milton] says of him: "As to Arthur, more renowned in songs and romances than in true stories, who he was, and whether ever any such reigned in Britain, hath been doubted heretofore, and may again, with good reason." Modern critics, however, admit that there was a prince of this name, and find proof of it in the frequent mention of him in the writings of the Welsh bards. But the Arthur of romance, according to Mr. Owen, a Welsh scholar and antiquarian, is a mythological person. "Arthur," he says, "is the Great Bear, as the name literally implies (Arctos, Arcturus), and perhaps this constellation, being so near the pole, and visibly describing a circle in a small space, is the origin of the famous Round Table." Let us now turn to the history of King Arthur, as recorded by the romantic chroniclers.
Constans, king of Britain, had three sons, Moines, Ambrosius, otherwise called Uther, and Pendragon. Moines, soon after his accession to the crown, was vanquished by the Saxons, in consequence of the treachery of his seneschal [steward], Vortigern, and growing unpopular, through misfortune, he was killed by his subjects, and the traitor Vortigern chosen in his place.
Vortigern was soon after defeated in a great battle by Uther and Pendragon, the surviving brothers of Moines, and Pendragon ascended the throne.
This prince had great confidence in the wisdom of Merlin, and made him his chief adviser. About this time a dreadful war arose between the Saxons and Britons. Merlin obliged the royal brothers to swear fidelity to each other, but predicted that one of them must fall in the first battle. The Saxons were routed, and Pendragon, being slain, was succeeded by Uther, who now assumed, in addition to his own name, the appellation of Pendragon.
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Merlin still continued a favorite counsellor. At the request of Uther, he transported by magic art enormous stones from Ireland, to form the sepulchre of Pendragon. These stones constitute the monument now called Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain.
Merlin next proceeded to Carlisle to prepare the Round Table, at which he seated an assemblage of the great nobles of the country. The companions admitted to this high order were bound by oath to assist each other at the hazard of their own lives, to attempt singly the most perilous adventures, to lead, when necessary, a life of monastic solitude, to fly to arms at the first summons, and never to retire from battle till they had defeated the enemy, unless night intervened and separated the combatants.
Soon after this institution, the king invited all his barons to the celebration of a great festival, which he proposed holding annually at Carlisle.
As the knights had obtained the sovereign's permission to bring their ladies along with them, the beautiful Igerne accompanied her husband, Gerlois, Duke of Tintadiel [or Tintagel], to one of these anniversaries. The king became deeply enamored of the Duchess, and disclosed his passion; but Igerne repelled his advances, and revealed his solicitations to her husband. On hearing this, the Duke instantly removed from court with Igerne, and without taking leave of Uther. The king complained to his council of this want of duty, and they decided that the Duke should be summoned to court, and, if refractory, should be treated as a rebel. As he refused to obey the citation, the king carried war into the estates of his vassal, and besieged him in the strong castle of Tintadiel. Merlin transformed the king into the likeness of Gerlois, and enabled him to have many stolen interviews with Igerne. At length the Duke was killed in battle, and the king espoused Igerne.
From this union sprang Arthur, who succeeded his father, Uther, upon the throne.
Arthur Chosen King
Arthur, though only fifteen years old at his father's death, was elected king, at a general meeting of the nobles. It was not done without opposition, for there were many ambitious competitors; but Bishop Brice, a person of great sanctity, on Christmas eve addressed the assembly, and represented that it would well become them, at that solemn season, to put up their prayers for some token which should manifest the intentions of Providence respecting their future sovereign. This was done, and with such success, that the service was scarcely ended, when a miraculous stone was discovered, before the church door, and in the stone was firmly fixed a sword, with the following words engraven on its hilt:— "I am hight Escalibore [Excalibur], Unto a king fair tresore."
Bishop Brice, after exhorting the assembly to offer up their thanksgivings for this signal miracle, proposed a law, that whoever should be able to draw out the sword from the stone, should be acknowledged as sovereign of the Britons; and his proposal was decreed by general acclamation. The tributary kings of Uther, and the most famous knights, successively put their strength to the proof, but the miraculous sword resisted all their efforts. It stood till Candlemas; it stood till Easter, and till Pentecost, when the best knights in the kingdom usually assembled for the annual tournament. Arthur, who was at that time serving in the capacity of squire to his foster-brother, Sir Kay, attended his master to the lists [an arena for jousting tournaments]. Sir Kay fought with great valor and success, but had the misfortune to break his sword, and sent Arthur to his mother for a new one. Arthur hastened home, but did not find the lady; but having observed near the church a sword sticking in a stone, he galloped to the place, drew out the sword with great ease, and delivered it to his master. Sir Kay would willingly have assumed to himself the distinction conferred by the possession of the sword; but when, to confirm the doubters, the sword was replaced in the stone, he was utterly unable to withdraw it, and it would yield a second time to no hand but Arthur's. Thus decisively pointed out by Heaven as their king, Arthur was by general consent proclaimed as such, and an early day appointed for his solemn coronation.
Immediately after his election to the crown, Arthur found himself opposed by eleven kings and one duke, who with a vast army were actually encamped in the forest of Rockingham. By Merlin's advice Arthur sent an embassy to Brittany to solicit aid of King Ban and King Bohort, two of the best knights in the world. They accepted the call, and with a powerful army crossed the sea, landing at Portsmouth, where they were received with great rejoicing. The rebel kings were still superior in numbers; but Merlin by a powerful enchantment, caused all their tents to fall down at once, and in the confusion Arthur with his allies fell upon them and totally routed them.
After defeating the rebels, Arthur took the field against the Saxons. As they were too strong for him unaided, he sent an embassy to Armorica, beseeching the assistance of Hoel, who soon after brought over an army to his aid. The two kings joined their forces, and sought the enemy, whom they met, and both sides prepared for a decisive engagement. "Arthur himself," as Geoffrey of Monmouth relates, "dressed in a breastplate worthy of so great a king, places on his head a golden helmet engraved with the semblance of a dragon. Over his shoulders he throws his shield called Priwen, on which a picture of the Holy Virgin constantly recalled her to his memory. Girt [girded] with Caliburn, a most excellent sword, and fabricated in
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the isle of Avalon, he graces his right hand with the lance named Ron. This was a long and broad spear, well contrived for slaughter." After a severe conflict, Arthur, calling on the name of the Virgin, rushes into the midst of his enemies, and destroys multitudes of them with the formidable Caliburn, and puts the rest to flight. Hoel, being detained by sickness, took no part in this battle.
This is called the victory of Mount Badon, and, however disguised by fable, it is regarded by historians as a real event.
The feats performed by Arthur at the battle of Badon Mount are thus celebrated in Drayton's [16th-century English poet Michael Drayton] verse:— "They sung how he himself at Badon bore, that day, When at the glorious goal his British scepter lay; Two dais together how the battle stronglie stood; Pendragon's worthie son, who waded there in blood, Three hundred Saxons slew with his owne valiant hand." Song IV.
Bacchus (Dionysus)
Bacchus, also known as Dionysus, was the Greek god of wine and vegetation. This narrative by 19th-century American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch recounts the tale of how Bacchus came to be worshipped in Greece. A portion of the story related here, how Theban king Pentheus was killed by Bacchus’s followers, is also found in Greek dramatist Euripides’ The Bacchae (405 BC).
Bacchus was the son of Jupiter [ruler of the Gods] and Semele [daughter of Cadmus and Harmonia, the king and queen of the Greek city of Thebes]. [Jupiter’s wife and sister, the goddess] Juno, to gratify her resentment against Semele, contrived a plan for her destruction. Assuming the form of Beroë, [Semele’s] aged nurse, [Juno] insinuated doubts whether it was indeed Jove himself who came as a lover. Heaving a sigh, [Juno] said, "I hope it will turn out so, but I can't help being afraid. People are not always what they pretend to be. If he is indeed Jove, make him give some proof of it. Ask him to come arrayed in all his splendours, such as he wears in heaven. That will put the matter beyond a doubt." Semele was persuaded to try the experiment. She asks a favour, without naming what it is. Jove gives his promise, and confirms it with the irrevocable oath, attesting the river Styx, terrible to the gods themselves. Then she made known her request. The god would have stopped her as she spake, but she was too quick for him. The words escaped, and he could neither unsay his promise nor her request. In deep distress he left her and returned to the upper regions. There he clothed himself in his splendours, not putting on all his terrors, as when he overthrew the giants, but what is known among the gods as his lesser panoply. Arrayed in this, he entered the chamber of Semele. Her mortal frame could not endure the splendours of the immortal radiance. She was consumed to ashes.
Jove took the infant Bacchus and gave him in charge to the Nysæan nymphs, who nourished his infancy and childhood, and for their care were rewarded by Jupiter by being placed, as the Hyades, among the stars. When Bacchus grew up he discovered the culture of the vine and the mode of extracting its precious juice; but Juno struck him with madness, and drove him forth a wanderer through various parts of the earth. In Phrygia the goddess Rhea cured him and taught him her religious rites, and he set out on a progress through Asia, teaching the people the cultivation of the vine. The most famous part of his wanderings is his expedition to India, which is said to have lasted several years. Returning in triumph, he undertook to introduce his worship into Greece, but was opposed by some princes, who dreaded its introduction on account of the disorder and madness it brought with it.
As he approached his native city Thebes, Pentheus the king, who had no respect for the new worship, forbade its rites to be performed. But when it was known that Bacchus was advancing, men and women, but chiefly the latter, young and old, poured forth to meet him and to join his triumphal march.
[Nineteenth-century American poet Henry Wadsworth] Longfellow in his "Drinking Song" thus describes the march of Bacchus: "Fauns with youthful Bacchus follow; Ivy crowns that brow, supernal As the forehead of Apollo, And possessing youth eternal. "Round about him fair Bacchantes, Bearing cymbals, flutes and thyrses, Wild from Naxian groves of Zante's Vineyards, sing delirious verses."
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It was in vain Pentheus remonstrated, commanded and threatened. "Go," said he to his attendants, "seize this vagabond leader of the rout and bring him to me. I will soon make him confess his false claim of heavenly parentage and renounce his counterfeit worship." It was in vain his nearest friends and wisest counsellors remonstrated and begged him not to oppose the god. Their remonstrances only made him more violent.
But now the attendants returned whom he had dispatched to seize Bacchus. They had been driven away by the Bacchanals, but had succeeded in taking one of them prisoner, whom, with his hands tied behind him, they brought before the king. Pentheus, beholding him with wrathful countenance, said "Fellow! you shall speedily be put to death, that your fate may be a warning to others; but though I grudge the delay of your punishment, speak, tell us who you are, and what are these new rites you presume to celebrate."
The prisoner, unterrified, responded, "My name is Acetes; my country is Mæonia; my parents were poor people, who had no fields or flocks to leave me, but they left me their fishing rods and nets and their fisherman's trade. This I followed for some time, till growing weary of remaining in one place, I learned the pilot's art and how to guide my course by the stars. It happened as I was sailing for Delos we touched at the island of Dia and went ashore. Next morning I sent the men for fresh water, and myself mounted the hill to observe the wind; when my men returned bringing with them a prize, as they thought, a boy of delicate appearance, whom they had found asleep. They judged he was a noble youth, perhaps a king's son, and they might get a liberal ransom for him. I observed his dress, his walk, his face. There was something in them which I felt sure was more than mortal. I said to my men, 'What god there is concealed in that form I know not, but some one there certainly is. Pardon us, gentle deity, for the violence we have done you, and give success to our undertakings.' Dictys, one of my best hands for climbing the mast and coming down by the ropes, and Melanthus, my steersman, and Epopeus, the leader of the sailor's cry, one and all exclaimed, 'Spare your prayers for us.' So blind is the lust of gain! When they proceeded to put him on board I resisted them. 'This ship shall not be profaned by such impiety,' said I. 'I have a greater share in her than any of you.' But Lycabas, a turbulent fellow, seized me by the throat and attempted to throw me overboard, and I scarcely saved myself by clinging to the ropes. The rest approved the deed.
"Then Bacchus (for it was indeed he), as if shaking off his drowsiness, exclaimed, 'What are you doing with me? What is this fighting about? Who brought me here? Where are you going to carry me?' One of them replied, 'Fear nothing; tell us where you wish to go and we will take you there.' 'Naxos is my home,' said Bacchus; 'take me there and you shall be well rewarded.' They promised so to do, and told me to pilot the ship to Naxos. Naxos lay to the right, and I was trimming the sails to carry us there, when some by signs and others by whispers signified to me their will that I should sail in the opposite direction, and take the boy to Egypt to sell him for a slave. I was confounded and said, 'Let some one else pilot the ship;' withdrawing myself from any further agency in their wickedness. They cursed me, and one of them, exclaiming, 'Don't flatter yourself that we depend on you for our safety,' took my place as pilot, and bore away from Naxos.
"Then the god, pretending that he had just become aware of their treachery, looked out over the sea and said in a voice of weeping, 'Sailors, these are not the shores you promised to take me to; yonder island is not my home. What have I done that you should treat me so? It is small glory you will gain by cheating a poor boy.' I wept to hear him, but the crew laughed at both of us, and sped the vessel fast over the sea. All at once—strange as it may seem, it is true, —the vessel stopped, in the mid sea, as fast as if it was fixed on the ground. The men, astonished, pulled at their oars, and spread more sail, trying to make progress by the aid of both, but all in vain. Ivy twined round the oars and hindered their motion, and clung to the sails, with heavy clusters of berries. A vine, laden with grapes, ran up the mast, and along the sides of the vessel. The sound of flutes was heard and the odour of fragrant wine spread all around. The god himself had a chaplet of vine leaves, and bore in his hand a spear wreathed with ivy. Tigers crouched at his feet, and forms of lynxes and spotted panthers played around him. The men were seized with terror or madness; some leaped overboard; others preparing to do the same beheld their companions in the water undergoing a change, their bodies becoming flattened and ending in a crooked tail. One exclaimed, 'What miracle is this!' and as he spoke his mouth widened, his nostrils expanded, and scales covered all his body. Another, endeavouring to pull the oar, felt his hands shrink up and presently to be no longer hands but fins; another, trying to raise his arms to a rope, found he had no arms, and curving his mutilated body jumped into the sea. What had been his legs became the two ends of a crescent-shaped tail. The whole crew became dolphins and swam about the ship, now upon the surface, now under it, scattering the spray, and spouting the water from their broad nostrils. Of twenty men I alone was left. Trembling with fear, the god cheered me. 'Fear not,' said he; 'steer towards Naxos.' I obeyed, and when we arrived there, I kindled the altars and celebrated the sacred rites of Bacchus."
Pentheus here exclaimed, "We have wasted time enough on this silly story. Take him away and have him executed without delay." Acetes was led away by the attendants and shut up fast in prison; but while they were getting ready the instruments of execution the prison doors came open of their own accord and the chains fell from his limbs, and when they looked for him he was nowhere to be found.
Pentheus would take no warning, but instead of sending others, determined to go himself to the scene of the solemnities. The mountain Citheron was all alive with worshippers, and the cries of the Bacchanals resounded on every side. The noise roused the anger of Pentheus as the sound of a trumpet does the fire of a war-horse. He penetrated through the wood and reached an
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open space where the chief scene of the orgies met his eyes. At the same moment the women saw him; and first among them his own mother, Agave, blinded by the god, cried out, "See there the wild boar, the hugest monster that prowls in these woods! Come on, sisters! I will be the first to strike the wild boar." The whole band rushed upon him, and while he now talks less arrogantly, now excuses himself, and now confesses his crime and implores pardon, they press upon him and wound him. In vain he cries to his aunts to protect him from his mother. Autonoë seized one arm, Ino the other, and between them he was torn to pieces, while his mother shouted, "Victory! Victory! we have done it; the glory is ours!"
So the worship of Bacchus was established in Greece.
There is an allusion to the story of Bacchus and the mariners in [17th-century English poet John] Milton's "Comus," at line 46.…
"Bacchus that first from out the purple grapes Crushed the sweet poison of misused wine, After the Tuscan mariners transformed, Coasting the Tyrrhene shore as the winds listed On Circe's island fell; (who knows not Circe, The daughter of the Sun? whose charmed cup Whoever tasted lost his upright shape, And downward fell into a grovelling swine.)"
Baucis and Philemon
This Roman fable celebrates the life-long love of a kind and modest couple. Baucis and her husband, Philemon, provide hospitality to the gods Jupiter and Mercury, who appear disguised as travelers, when no one else would be bothered with them. The gods offer to reward them for their kindness, and they reply that since they have lived together they would like to die together. After they lived out their lives, Baucis and Philemon were transformed into two trees with intertwining limbs. Thomas Bulfinch, a 19th-century American writer who chronicled Greek and Roman mythology, retells the story here.
On a certain hill in Phrygia stands a linden tree and an oak, enclosed by a low wall. Not far from the spot is a marsh, formerly good habitable land, but now indented with pools, the resort of fen-birds and cormorants. Once on a time Jupiter, in human shape, visited this country, and with him his son Mercury (he of the caduceus), without his wings. They presented themselves, as weary travellers, at many a door, seeking rest and shelter, but found all closed, for it was late, and the inhospitable inhabitants would not rouse themselves to open for their reception. At last a humble mansion received them, a small thatched cottage, where Baucis, a pious old dame, and her husband Philemon, united when young, had grown old together. Not ashamed of their poverty, they made it endurable by moderate desires and kind dispositions. One need not look there for master or for servant; they two were the whole household, master and servant alike. When the two heavenly guests crossed the humble threshold, and bowed their heads to pass under the low door, the old man placed a seat, on which Baucis, bustling and attentive, spread a cloth, and begged them to sit down. Then she raked out the coals from the ashes, and kindled up a fire, fed it with leaves and dry bark, and with her scanty breath blew it into a flame. She brought out of a corner split sticks and dry branches, broke them up, and placed them under the small kettle. Her husband collected some pot-herbs in the garden, and she shred them from the stalks, and prepared them for the pot. He reached down with a forked stick a flitch of bacon hanging in the chimney, cut a small piece, and put it in the pot to boil with the herbs, setting away the rest for another time. A beechen bowl was filled with warm water, that their guests might wash. While all was doing, they beguiled the time with conversation.
On the bench designed for the guests was laid a cushion stuffed with sea-weed; and a cloth, only produced on great occasions, but ancient and coarse enough, was spread over that. The old lady, with her apron on, with trembling hand set the table. One leg was shorter than the rest, but a piece of slate put under restored the level. When fixed, she rubbed the table down with some sweet-smelling herbs. Upon it she set some of chaste Minerva's olives, some cornel berries preserved in vinegar, and added radishes and cheese, with eggs lightly cooked in the ashes. All were served in earthen dishes, and an earthenware pitcher, with wooden cups, stood beside them. When all was ready, the stew, smoking hot, was set on the table. Some wine, not of the oldest, was added; and for dessert, apples and wild honey; and over and above all, friendly faces, and simple but hearty welcome.
Now while the repast proceeded, the old folks were astonished to see that the wine, as fast as it was poured out, renewed itself in the pitcher, of its own accord. Struck with terror, Baucis and Philemon recognized their heavenly guests, fell on their knees, and with clasped hands implored forgiveness for their poor entertainment. There was an old goose, which they kept as the guardian of their humble cottage; and they bethought them to make this a sacrifice in honour of their guests. But the
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goose, too nimble, with the aid of feet and wings, for the old folks, eluded their pursuit, and at last took shelter between the gods themselves. They forbade it to be slain; and spoke in these words: "We are gods. This inhospitable village shall pay the penalty of its impiety; you alone shall go free from the chastisement. Quit your house, and come with us to the top of yonder hill." They hastened to obey, and, staff in hand, laboured up the steep ascent. They had reached to within an arrow's flight of the top, when, turning their eyes below, they beheld all the country sunk in a lake, only their own house left standing. While they gazed with wonder at the sight, and lamented the fate of their neighbours, that old house of theirs was changed into a temple. Columns took the place of the corner posts, the thatch grew yellow and appeared a gilded roof, the floors became marble, the doors were enriched with carving and ornaments of gold. Then spoke Jupiter in benignant accents: "Excellent old man, and woman worthy of such a husband, speak, tell us your wishes; what favour have you to ask of us?" Philemon took counsel with Baucis a few moments; then declared to the gods their united wish. "We ask to be priests and guardians of this your temple; and since here we have passed our lives in love and concord, we wish that one and the same hour may take us both from life, that I may not live to see her grave, nor be laid in my own by her." Their prayer was granted. They were the keepers of the temple as long as they lived. When grown very old, as they stood one day before the steps of the sacred edifice, and were telling the story of the place, Baucis saw Philemon begin to put forth leaves, and old Philemon saw Baucis changing in like manner. And now a leafy crown had grown over their heads, while exchanging parting words, as long as they could speak. "Farewell, dear spouse," they said, together, and at the same moment the bark closed over their mouths. The Tyanean shepherd still shows the two trees, standing side by side, made out of the two good old people.
The story of Baucis and Philemon has been imitated by Swift [18th-century satirist Jonathan Swift], in a burlesque style, the actors in the change being two wandering saints, and the house being changed into a church, of which Philemon is made the parson. The following may serve as a specimen:
"They scarce had spoke, when, fair and soft, The roof began to mount aloft; Aloft rose every beam and rafter; The heavy wall climbed slowly after. The chimney widened and grew higher, Became a steeple with a spire. The kettle to the top was hoist, And there stood fastened to a joist, But with the upside down, to show Its inclination for below; In vain, for a superior force, Applied at bottom, stops its course; Doomed ever in suspense to dwell, 'Tis now no kettle, but a bell. A wooden jack, which had almost Lost by disuse the art to roast, A sudden alteration feels. Increased by new intestine wheels; And, what exalts the wonder more, The number made the motion slower; The flier, though 't had leaden feet, Turned round so quick you scarce could see 't; But slackened by some secret power, Now hardly moves an inch an hour. The jack and chimney, near allied, Had never left each other's side: The chimney to a steeple grown, The jack would not be left alone; But up against the steeple reared, Became a clock, and still adhered; And still its love to household cares By a shrill voice at noon declares, Warning the cook-maid not to burn That roast meat which it cannot turn. The groaning chair began to crawl, Like a huge snail, along the wall;
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There stuck aloft in public view, And with small change, a pulpit grew. A bedstead of the antique mode, Compact of timber many a load, Such as our ancestors did use, Was metamorphosed into pews, Which still their ancient nature keep By lodging folks disposed to sleep."
Beowulf
The epic poem Beowulf, believed to have been composed in the 8th century, is considered the most important literary work in Old English. The poem recounts the legend of Beowulf, prince of the Geats, a people from southern Sweden. The poem tells how Beowulf killed the monster Grendel, Grendel’s mother, and, much later, a dragon. Nineteenth-century American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch provided a synopsis of the tale of Beowulf.
Although the manuscript which contains the epic of Beowulf was written about 1000 A.D., the poem itself was known and had been elaborated upon for centuries by minstrels who recited the heroic exploits of the son of Ecgtheow and nephew of Hygelac, King of the Geats, whose kingdom was what is now Southern Sweden.
In his boyhood Beowulf gave evidence of the great feats of strength and courage which in manhood made him the deliverer of Hrothgar, King of Denmark, from the monster, Grendel, and later in his own kingdom from the fiery dragon which dealt Beowulf a mortal blow.
Beowulf's first renown followed his conquest of many sea-monsters while he swam for seven days and nights before he came to the country of the Finns. Helping to defend the land of the Hetware, he killed many of the enemy and again showed his prowess as a swimmer by bringing to his ship the armor of thirty of his slain pursuers. Offered the crown of his native land, Beowulf, just entering manhood, refused it in favor of Heardred, the young son of the queen. Instead, he acted as guardian and counsellor until the boy-king grew old enough to rule alone.
For twelve years, Hrothgar, King of Denmark, suffered while his kingdom was being ravaged by a devouring monster, named Grendel. This Grendel bore a charmed life against all weapons forged by man. He lived in the wastelands and nightly prowled out to visit the hall of Hrothgar, carrying off and slaughtering many of the guests.
Beowulf, hearing from mariners of Grendel's murderous visits sailed from Geatland with fourteen stalwart companions to render Hrothgar the help of his great strength. Landing on the Danish coast, Beowulf was challenged as a spy. He persuaded the coastguards to let him pass, and he was received and feasted by King Hrothgar. When the king and his court retired for the night, Beowulf and his companions were left alone in the hall. All but Beowulf fell asleep. Grendel entered. With a stroke he killed one of Beowulf's sleeping men, but Beowulf, unarmed, wrestled with the monster and by dint of his great strength managed to tear Grendel's arm out at the shoulder. Grendel, mortally wounded, retreated, leaving a bloody trail from the hall to his lair.
All fear of another attack by Grendel allayed, the Danes returned to the hall, and Beowulf and his companions were sheltered elsewhere. Grendel's mother came to avenge the fatal injury to her monster son and carried off a Danish nobleman and Grendel's torn-off paw. Following the blood trail, Beowulf went forth to despatch the mother. Armed with his sword, Hrunting, he came to the water's edge. He plunged in and swam to a chamber under the sea. There he fought with Grendel's mother, killing her with an old sword he found in the sea cavern. Nearby was Grendel's body. Beowulf cut off its head and brought it back as a trophy to King Hrothgar. Great was the rejoicing in the hall and greater was Beowulf's welcome when he returned to Geatland, where he was given great estates and many high honors.
Shortly afterward, Heardred, the boy-king, was killed in the war with the Swedes. Beowulf succeeded him to the throne.
For fifty years Beowulf ruled his people in peace and serenity. Then suddenly a dragon, furious at having his treasure stolen from his hoard in a burial mound, began to ravage Beowulf's kingdom. Like Grendel, this monster left its den at night on its errand of murder and pillage.
Beowulf, now an aged monarch, resolved to do battle, unaided, with the dragon. He approached the entrance to its den, whence boiling steam issued forth. Undaunted, Beowulf strode forward shouting his defiance. The dragon came out, sputtering flames from its mouth. The monster rushed upon Beowulf with all its fury and almost crushed him in its first charge. So fearful grew the struggle that all but one of Beowulf's men deserted and fled for their lives. Wiglaf remained to help his aged monarch. Another rush of the dragon shattered Beowulf's sword and the monster's fangs sunk into Beowulf's neck. Wiglaf, rushing into the struggle, helped the dying Beowulf to kill the dragon.
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Before his death, Beowulf named Wiglaf his successor to the throne of Geatland and ordered that his own ashes be placed in a memorial shrine at the top of a high cliff commanding the sea. Beowulf's body was burned on a vast funeral pyre, while twelve Geats rode around the mound singing their sorrow and their praise for the good and great man, Beowulf.
Cadmus
The origin of the ancient Greek city of Thebes is explained in the myth of Cadmus, which is excerpted below from American writer Thomas Bulfinch’s The Age of Fable (1855). Bulfinch’s chapter on Cadmus also includes quotations from the work of English poets Lord Byron and John Milton, who both employ references to Cadmus in their work.
Jupiter, under the disguise of a bull, had carried away Europa, the daughter of Agenor, king of Phoenicia. Agenor commanded his son Cadmus to go in search of his sister, and not to return without her. Cadmus went and sought long and far for his sister, but could not find her, and not daring to return unsuccessful, consulted the oracle of Apollo to know what country he should settle in. The oracle informed him that he should find a cow in the field, and should follow her wherever she might wander, and where she stopped, should build a city and call it Thebes. Cadmus had hardly left the Castalian cave, from which the oracle was delivered, when he saw a young cow slowly walking before him. He followed her close, offering at the same time his prayers to Phoebus. The cow went on till she passed the shallow channel of Cephisus and came out into the plain of Panope. There she stood still, raising her broad forehead to the sky, filled the air with her lowings. Cadmus gave thanks, and stooping down kissed the foreign soil, then lifting his eyes, greeted the surrounding mountains. Wishing to offer a sacrifice to Jupiter, he sent his servants to seek pure water for a libation. Near by there stood an ancient grove which had never been profaned by the axe, in the midst of which was a cave, thick covered with the growth of bushes, its roof forming a low arch, from beneath which burst forth a fountain of purest water. In the cave lurked a horrid serpent with a crested head and scales glittering like gold. His eyes shone like fire, his body was swollen with venom, he vibrated a triple tongue, and showed a triple row of teeth. No sooner had the Tyrians dipped their pitchers in the fountain, and the in-gushing waters made a sound, than the glittering serpent raised his head out of the cave and uttered a fearful hiss. The vessels fell from their hands, the blood left their cheeks, they trembled in every limb. The serpent, twisting his scaly body in a huge coil, raised his head so as to overtop the tallest trees, and while the Tyrians from terror could neither fight nor fly, slew some with his fangs, others in his folds, and others with his poisonous breath.
Cadmus, having waited for the return of his men till midday, went in search of them. His covering was a lion's hide, and besides his javelin he carried in his hand a lance, and in his breast a bold heart, a surer reliance than either. When he entered the wood, and saw the lifeless bodies of his men, and the monster with his bloody jaws, he exclaimed, "O faithful friends, I will avenge you, or share your death." So saying he lifted a huge stone and threw it with all his force at the serpent. Such a block would have shaken the wall of a fortress, but it made no impression on the monster. Cadmus next threw his javelin, which met with better success, for it penetrated the serpent's scales, and pierced through to his entrails. Fierce with pain, the monster turned back his head to view the wound, and attempted to draw out the weapon with his mouth, but broke it off, leaving the iron point rankling in his flesh. His neck swelled with rage, bloody foam covered his jaws, and the breath of his nostrils poisoned the air around. Now he twisted himself into a circle, then stretched himself out on the ground like the trunk of a fallen tree. As he moved onward, Cadmus retreated before him, holding his spear opposite to the monster's opened jaws. The serpent snapped at the weapon and attempted to bite its iron point. At last Cadmus, watching his chance, thrust the spear at a moment when the animal's head thrown back came against the trunk of a tree, and so succeeded in pinning him to its side. His weight bent the tree as he struggled in the agonies of death.
While Cadmus stood over his conquered foe, contemplating its vast size, a voice was heard (from whence he knew not, but he heard it distinctly) commanding him to take the dragon's teeth and sow them in the earth. He obeyed. He made a furrow in the ground, and planted the teeth, destined to produce a crop of men. Scarce had he done so when the clods began to move, and the points of spears to appear above the surface. Next helmets with their nodding plumes came up, and next the shoulders and breasts and limbs of men with weapons, and in time a harvest of armed warriors. Cadmus, alarmed, prepared to encounter a new enemy, but one of them said to him, "Meddle not with our civil war." With that he who had spoken smote one of his earth-born brothers with a sword, and he himself fell pierced with an arrow from another. The latter fell victim to a fourth, and in like manner the whole crowd dealt with each other till all fell, slain with mutual wounds, except five survivors. One of these cast away his weapons and said, "Brothers, let us live in peace!" These five joined with Cadmus in building his city, to which they gave the name of Thebes.
Cadmus obtained in marriage Harmonia, the daughter of Venus. The gods left Olympus to honour the occasion with their presence, and Vulcan presented the bride with a necklace of surpassing brilliancy, his own workmanship. But a fatality hung over the family of Cadmus in consequence of his killing the serpent sacred to Mars. Semele and Ino, his daughters, and Actæon and Pentheus, his grandchildren, all perished unhappily, and Cadmus and Harmonia quitted Thebes, now grown odious to them, and emigrated to the country of the Enchelians, who received them with honour and made Cadmus their king.
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But the misfortunes of their children still weighed upon their minds; and one day Cadmus exclaimed, "If a serpent's life is so dear to the gods, I would I were myself a serpent." No sooner had he uttered the words than he began to change his form. Harmonia beheld it and prayed to the gods to let her share his fate. Both became serpents. They live in the woods, but mindful of their origin, they neither avoid the presence of man nor do they ever injure any one.
There is a tradition that Cadmus introduced into Greece the letters of the alphabet which were invented by the Phoenicians. This is alluded to by Byron, where, addressing the modern Greeks, he says: "You have the letters Cadmus gave, Think you he meant them for a slave?"
Milton, describing the serpent which tempted Eve, is reminded of the serpents of the classical stories and says: … "—pleasing was his shape, And lovely: never since the serpent kind Lovelier; not those that in Illyria changed Hermione and Cadmus, nor the god In Epidaurus."
Castor and Pollux
Nineteenth-century American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch chiefly drew on the ancient Roman writers Virgil and Ovid to compile classical legends such as the following story about Castor and Pollux, twin heroes in Greek and Roman mythology. These brothers are said to be represented in the zodiacal constellation Gemini. In this retelling of the legend, Bulfinch also cited 19th-century English historian Thomas Babington Macaulay’s poem about the twins.
Castor and Pollux were the offspring of Leda and the Swan, under which disguise Jupiter had concealed himself. Leda gave birth to an egg from which sprang the twins. Helen, so famous afterwards as the cause of the Trojan war, was their sister.
When Theseus and his friend Pirithous had carried off Helen from Sparta, the youthful heroes, Castor and Pollux, with their followers, hastened to her rescue. Theseus was absent from Attica and the brothers were successful in recovering their sister.
Castor was famous for taming and managing horses, and Pollux for skill in boxing. They were united by the warmest affection and inseparable in all their enterprises. They accompanied the Argonautic expedition. During the voyage a storm arose, and Orpheus prayed to the Samothracian gods, and played on his harp, whereupon the storm ceased and stars appeared on the heads of the brothers. From this incident, Castor and Pollux came afterwards to be considered the patron deities of seamen and voyagers, and the lambent flames, which in certain states of the atmosphere play round the sails and masts of vessels, were called by their names.
After the Argonautic expedition, we find Castor and Pollux engaged in a war with Idas and Lynceus. Castor was slain, and Pollux, inconsolable for the loss of his brother, besought Jupiter to be permitted to give his own life as a ransom for him. Jupiter so far consented as to allow the two brothers to enjoy the boon of life alternately, passing one day under the earth and the next in the heavenly abodes. According to another form of the story, Jupiter rewarded the attachment of the brothers by placing them among the stars as Gemini the Twins.
They received divine honours under the name of Dioscuri (sons of Jove). They were believed to have appeared occasionally in later times, taking part with one side or the other, in hard-fought fields, and were said on such occasions to be mounted on magnificent white steeds. Thus in the early history of Rome they are said to have assisted the Romans at the battle of Lake Regillus, and after the victory a temple was erected in their honour on the spot where they appeared.
Macaulay, in his "Lays of Ancient Rome," thus alludes to the legend: "So like they were, no mortal Might one from other know; White as snow their armour was, Their steeds were white as snow. Never on earthly anvil Did such rare armour gleam, And never did such gallant steeds Drink of an earthly stream. . . . . . "Back comes the chief in triumph Who in the hour of fight Hath seen the great twin Brethren
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In harness on his right. Safe comes the ship to haven, Through billows and through gales, If once the great Twin Brethren Sit shining on the sails."
Charlemagne
Charlemagne, king of the Germanic tribes known as the Franks, conquered much of central and western Europe, and in 800 he was crowned emperor of the Holy Roman Empire. In the following passage from Bulfinch’s Mythology, 19th-century mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch chronicled Charlemagne’s consecration as emperor as well as the many contributions he made to the culture of his day. Although Bulfinch’s accounts are known to contain some historical inaccuracies, he continues to be read because of the breadth, liveliness, and accessibility of his work.
Charlemagne, or Charles the Great, succeeded his father, Pepin, on the throne in the year 768. This prince, though the hero of numerous romantic legends, appears greater in history than in fiction. Whether we regard him as a warrior or as a legislator, as a patron of learning or as the civilizer of a barbarous nation, he is entitled to our warmest admiration. Such he is in history; but the romancers represent him as often weak and passionate, the victim of treacherous counsellors, and at the mercy of turbulent barons, on whose prowess he depends for the maintenance of his throne. The historical representation is doubtless the true one, for it is handed down in trustworthy records, and is confirmed by the events of the age. At the height of his power, the French empire extended over what we now call France, Germany, Switzerland, Holland, Belgium, and a great part of Italy.
In the year 800, Charlemagne, being in Rome, whither he had gone with a numerous army to protect the Pope, was crowned by the Pontiff Emperor of the West. On Christmas day Charles entered the Church of St. Peter, as if merely to take his part in the celebration of the mass with the rest of the congregation. When he approached the altar and stooped in the act of prayer, the Pope stepped forward and placed a crown of gold upon his head; and immediately the Roman people shouted, "Life and victory to Charles the August, crowned by God the great and pacific Emperor of the Romans." The Pope then prostrated himself before him, and paid him reverence, according to the custom established in the times of the ancient Emperors, and concluded the ceremony by anointing him with consecrated oil.
Charlemagne's wars were chiefly against the pagan and barbarous people, who, under the name of Saxons, inhabited the countries now called Hanover [a region in Germany] and Holland. He also led expeditions against the Saracens of Spain; but his wars with the Saracens were not carried on, as the romances assert, in France, but on the soil of Spain. He entered Spain by the Eastern Pyrenees, and made an easy conquest of Barcelona and Pampeluna. But Saragossa refused to open her gates to him, and Charles ended by negotiating, and accepting a vast sum of gold as the price of his return over the Pyrenees.
On his way back, he marched with his whole army through the gorges of the mountains by way of the valleys of Engui, Eno, and Roncesvalles. The chief of this region had waited upon Charlemagne, on his advance, as a faithful vassal of the monarchy; but now, on the return of the Franks, he had called together all the wild mountaineers who acknowledged him as their chief, and they occupied the heights of the mountains under which the army had to pass. The main body of the troops met with no obstruction, and received no intimation of danger; but the rear-guard, which was considerably behind, and encumbered with its plunder, was overwhelmed by the mountaineers in the pass of Roncesvalles, and slain to a man. Some of the bravest of the Frankish chiefs perished on this occasion, among whom is mentioned Roland or Orlando, governor of the marches or frontier of Brittany. His name became famous in after times, and the disaster of Roncesvalles and death of Roland became eventually the most celebrated episode in the vast cycle of romance.
Though after this there were hostile encounters between the armies of Charlemagne and the Saracens, they were of small account, and generally on the soil of Spain. Thus the historical foundation for the stories of the romancers is but scanty, unless we suppose the events of an earlier and of a later age to be incorporated with those of Charlemagne's own time.
There is, however, a pretended history, which for a long time was admitted as authentic, and attributed to Turpin, Archbishop of Rheims, a real personage of the time of Charlemagne. Its title is "History of Charles the Great and Orlando." It is now unhesitatingly considered as a collection of popular traditions, produced by some credulous and unscrupulous monk, who thought to give dignity to his romance by ascribing its authorship to a well-known and eminent individual. It introduces its pretended author, Bishop Turpin, in this manner:—
"Turpin, Archbishop of Rheims, the friend and secretary of Charles the Great, excellently skilled in sacred and profane literature, of a genius equally adapted to prose and verse, the advocate of the poor, beloved of God in his life and conversation, who often fought the Saracens, hand to hand, by the Emperor's side, he relates the acts of Charles the Great in one book, and flourished under Charles and his son Louis, to the year of our Lord eight hundred and thirty."
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The titles of some of Archbishop Turpin's chapters will show the nature of his history. They are these: "Of the Walls of Pampeluna, that fell of themselves." "Of the War of the holy Facundus, where the Spears grew." (Certain of the Christians fixed their spears, in the evening, erect in the ground, before the castle; and found them, in the morning, covered with bark and branches.) "How the Sun stood still for Three Days, and the Slaughter of Four Thousand Saracens."
Turpin's history has perhaps been the source of the marvellous adventures which succeeding poets and romancers have accumulated around the names of Charlemagne and his Paladins, or Peers. But [16th-century poet Ludovico] Ariosto and the other Italian poets have drawn from different sources, and doubtless often from their own invention, numberless other stories which they attribute to the same heroes, not hesitating to quote as their authority "the good Turpin," though his history contains no trace of them;—and the more outrageous the improbability, or rather the impossibility, of their narrations, the more attentive are they to cite "the Archbishop," generally adding their testimonial to his unquestionable veracity.
The principal Italian poets who have sung the adventures of the peers of Charlemagne are [15th-century poet Luigi] Pulci, [15th-century poet Matteo Maria] Boiardo, and Ariosto. The characters of Orlando, Rinaldo, Astolpho, Gano, and others, are the same in all, though the adventures attributed to them are different. Boiardo tells us of the loves of Orlando, Ariosto of his disappointment and consequent madness, Pulci of his death.
Ogier, the Dane, is a real personage. History agrees with romance in representing him as a powerful lord who, originally from Denmark and a Pagan, embraced Christianity, and took service under Charlemagne. He revolted from the Emperor, and was driven into exile. He afterwards led one of those bands of piratical Norsemen which ravaged France under the reigns of Charlemagne's degenerate successors. The description which an ancient chronicler gives of Charlemagne, as described by Ogier, is so picturesque, that we are tempted to transcribe it. Charlemagne was advancing to the siege of Pavia. Didier, King of the Lombards, was in the city with Ogier, to whom he had given refuge. When they learned that the king was approaching, they mounted a high tower, whence they could see far and wide over the country. "They first saw advancing the engines of war, fit for the armies of [6th-century-BC king of Persia] Darius or [1st-century-BC Roman general and statesman] Julius Cæsar. 'There is Charlemagne,' said Didier. 'No,' said Ogier. The Lombard next saw a vast body of soldiers, who filled all the plain. 'Certainly Charles advances with that host,' said the king. 'Not yet,' replied Ogier. 'What hope for us,' resumed the king, 'if he brings with him a greater host than that?' At last Charles appeared, his head covered with an iron helmet, his hands with iron gloves, his breast and shoulders with a cuirass of iron, his left hand holding an iron lance, while his right hand grasped his sword. Those who went before the monarch, those who marched at his side, and those who followed him, all had similar arms. Iron covered the fields and the roads; iron points reflected the rays of the sun. This iron, so hard, was borne by a people whose hearts were harder still. The blaze of the weapons flashed terror into the streets of the city."
This picture of Charlemagne in his military aspect would be incomplete without a corresponding one of his "mood of peace." One of the greatest of modern historians, [19th-century French historian François Pierre Guillaume] M. Guizot, has compared the glory of Charlemagne to a brilliant meteor, rising suddenly out of the darkness of barbarism to disappear no less suddenly in the darkness of feudalism. But the light of this meteor was not extinguished, and reviving civilization owed much that was permanently beneficial to the great Emperor of the Franks. His ruling hand is seen in the legislation of his time, as well as in the administration of the laws. He encouraged learning; he upheld the clergy, who were the only peaceful and intellectual class, against the encroaching and turbulent barons; he was an affectionate father, and watched carefully over the education of his children, both sons and daughters. Of his encouragement of learning, we will give some particulars.
He caused learned men to be brought from Italy and from other foreign countries, to revive the public schools of France, which had been prostrated by the disorders of preceding times. He recompensed these learned men liberally, and kept some of them near himself, honoring them with his friendship. Of these the most celebrated is [scholar and ecclesiastic] Alcuin, an Englishman, whose writings still remain, and prove him to have been both a learned and a wise man. With the assistance of Alcuin, and others like him, he founded an academy or royal school, which should have the direction of the studies of all the schools of the kingdom. Charlemagne himself was a member of this academy on equal terms with the rest. He attended its meetings, and fulfilled all the duties of an academician. Each member took the name of some famous man of antiquity. Alcuin called himself Horace [after 1st-century-BC Roman poet and satirist], another took the name of [4th- and 5th-century-AD Roman philosopher and Christian Church father] Augustin, a third of [5th-century-BC Greek poet] Pindar. Charlemagne, who knew the Psalms by heart, and who had an ambition to be, according to his conception, a king after God's own heart, received from his brother academicians the name of David.
Of the respect entertained for him by foreign nations an interesting proof is afforded in the embassy sent to him by the Caliph of the Arabians, the celebrated Haroun al Raschid, a prince in character and conduct not unlike to Charlemagne. The ambassadors brought with them, besides other rich presents, a clock, the first that was seen in Europe, which excited universal admiration. It had the form of a twelve-sided edifice with twelve doors. These doors formed niches, in each of which was a little statue representing one of the hours. At the striking of the hour the doors, one for each stroke, were seen to open, and from the doors to issue as many of the little statues, which, following one another, marched gravely round the tower. The motion of the clock was caused by water, and the striking was effected by balls of brass equal to the number of
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the hours, which fell upon a cymbal of the same metal, the number falling being determined by the discharge of the water, which, as it sunk in the vessel, allowed their escape.
Charlemagne was succeeded by his son Louis, a well-intentioned but feeble prince, in whose reign the fabric reared by Charles began rapidly to crumble. Louis was followed successively by two Charleses, incapable princes, whose weak and often tyrannical conduct is no doubt the source of incidents of that character ascribed in the romances to Charlemagne.
The lawless and disobedient deportment of Charles's paladins, instances of which are so frequent in the romantic legends, was also a trait of the declining empire, but not of that of Charlemagne.
Cupid and Psyche
According to legend, Cupid, the ancient Roman god of love (his Greek counterpart was Eros), and the princess Psyche fell in love. After many hardships, brought on by the opposition of Cupid’s mother Venus (Aphrodite in Greek mythology), the goddess of love, Cupid and Psyche were united. The tale has had various interpretations, including the union of love and the soul, or the yearning of the soul for immortality. Nineteenth-century American mythologist Thomas Bulfinch based the following version of the tale of Cupid and Psyche on a work by the 2nd-century Roman writer Lucius Apuleius. Bulfinch also quoted from poems on the subject by 17th-century English poet John Milton and 19th-century English poet John Keats.
A certain king and queen had three daughters. The charms of the two elder were more than common, but the beauty of the youngest was so wonderful that the poverty of language is unable to express its due praise. The fame of her beauty was so great that strangers from neighbouring countries came in crowds to enjoy the sight, and looked on her with amazement, paying her that homage which is due only to Venus herself. In fact Venus found her altars deserted, while men turned their devotion to this young virgin. As she passed along, the people sang her praises, and strewed her way with chaplets and flowers.
This perversion of homage due only to the immortal powers to the exaltation of a mortal gave great offence to the real Venus. Shaking her ambrosial locks with indignation, she exclaimed, "Am I then to be eclipsed in my honours by a mortal girl? In vain then did that royal shepherd, whose judgment was approved by Jove himself, give me the palm of beauty over my illustrious rivals, Pallas [Athena] and Juno. But she shall not so quietly usurp my honours. I will give her cause to repent of so unlawful a beauty."
Thereupon she calls her winged son Cupid, mischievous enough in his own nature, and rouses and provokes him yet more by her complaints. She points out Psyche to him and says, "My dear son, punish that contumacious beauty; give thy mother a revenge as sweet as her injuries are great; infuse into the bosom of that haughty girl a passion for some low, mean, unworthy being, so that she may reap a mortification as great as her present exultation and triumph."
Cupid prepared to obey the commands of his mother. There are two fountains in Venus's garden, one of sweet waters, the other of bitter. Cupid filled two amber vases, one from each fountain, and suspending them from the top of his quiver, hastened to the chamber of Psyche, whom he found asleep. He shed a few drops from the bitter fountain over her lips, though the sight of her almost moved him to pity; then touched her side with the point of his arrow. At the touch she awoke, and opened eyes upon Cupid (himself invisible), which so startled him that in his confusion he wounded himself with his own arrow. Heedless of his wound, his whole thought now was to repair the mischief he had done, and he poured the balmy drops of joy over all her silken ringlets.
Psyche, henceforth frowned upon by Venus, derived no benefit from all her charms. True, all eyes were cast eagerly upon her, and every mouth spoke her praises; but neither king, royal youth, nor plebeian presented himself to demand her in marriage. Her two elder sisters of moderate charms had now long been married to two royal princes; but Psyche, in her lonely apartment, deplored her solitude, sick of that beauty which, while it procured abundance of flattery, had failed to awaken love.
Her parents, afraid that they had unwittingly incurred the anger of the gods, consulted the oracle of Apollo, and received this answer: "The virgin is destined for the bride of no mortal lover. Her future husband awaits her on the top of the mountain. He is a monster whom neither gods nor men can resist."
This dreadful decree of the oracle filled all the people with dismay, and her parents abandoned themselves to grief. But Psyche said, "Why, my dear parents, do you now lament me? You should rather have grieved when the people showered upon me undeserved honours, and with one voice called me a Venus. I now perceive that I am a victim to that name. I submit. Lead me to that rock to which my unhappy fate has destined me." Accordingly, all things being prepared, the royal maid took her place in the procession, which more resembled a funeral than a nuptial pomp, and with her parents, amid the lamentations of the people, ascended the mountain, on the summit of which they left her alone, and with sorrowful hearts returned home.
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While Psyche stood on the ridge of the mountain, panting with fear and with eyes full of tears, the gentle Zephyr raised her from the earth and bore her with an easy motion into a flowery dale. By degrees her mind became composed, and she laid herself down on the grassy bank to sleep. When she awoke refreshed with sleep, she looked round and beheld near by a pleasant grove of tall and stately trees. She entered it, and in the midst discovered a fountain, sending forth clear and crystal waters, and fast by, a magnificent palace whose august front impressed the spectator that it was not the work of mortal hands, but the happy retreat of some god. Drawn by admiration and wonder, she approached the building and ventured to enter. Every object she met filled her with pleasure and amazement. Golden pillars supported the vaulted roof, and the walls were enriched with carvings and paintings representing beasts of the chase and rural scenes, adapted to delight the eye of the beholder. Proceeding onward, she perceived that besides the apartments of state there were others filled with all manner of treasures, and beautiful and precious productions of nature and art.
While her eyes were thus occupied, a voice addressed her, though she saw no one, uttering these words: "Sovereign lady, all that you see is yours. We whose voices you hear are your servants and shall obey all your commands with our utmost care and diligence. Retire, therefore, to your chamber and repose on your bed of down, and when you see fit repair to the bath. Supper awaits you in the adjoining alcove when it pleases you to take your seat there."
Psyche gave ear to the admonitions of her vocal attendants, and after repose and the refreshment of the bath, seated herself in the alcove, where a table immediately presented itself, without any visible aid from waiters or servants, and covered with the greatest delicacies of food and the most nectareous wines. Her ears too were feasted with music from invisible performers; of whom one sang, another played on the lute, and all closed in the wonderful harmony of a full chorus.
She had not yet seen her destined husband. He came only in the hours of darkness and fled before the dawn of morning, but his accents were full of love, and inspired a like passion in her. She often begged him to stay and let her behold him, but he would not consent. On the contrary he charged her to make no attempt to see him, for it was his pleasure, for the best of reasons, to keep concealed. "Why should you wish to behold me?" he said; "have you any doubt of my love? have you any wish ungratified? If you saw me, perhaps you would fear me, perhaps adore me, but all I ask of you is to love me. I would rather you would love me as an equal than adore me as a god."
This reasoning somewhat quieted Psyche for a time, and while the novelty lasted she felt quite happy. But at length the thought of her parents, left in ignorance of her fate, and of her sisters, precluded from sharing with her the delights of her situation, preyed on her mind and made her begin to feel her palace as but a splendid prison. When her husband came one night, she told him her distress, and at last drew from him an unwilling consent that her sisters should be brought to see her.
So, calling Zephyr, she acquainted him with her husband's commands, and he, promptly obedient, soon brought them across the mountain down to their sister's valley. They embraced her and she returned their caresses. "Come," said Psyche, "enter with me my house and refresh yourselves with whatever your sister has to offer." Then taking their hands she led them into her golden palace, and committed them to the care of her numerous train of attendant voices, to refresh them in her baths and at her table, and to show them all her treasures. The view of these celestial delights caused envy to enter their bosoms, at seeing their young sister possessed of such state and splendour, so much exceeding their own.
They asked her numberless questions, among others what sort of a person her husband was. Psyche replied that he was a beautiful youth, who generally spent the daytime in hunting upon the mountains. The sisters, not satisfied with this reply, soon made her confess that she had never seen him. Then they proceeded to fill her bosom with dark suspicions. "Call to mind," they said, "the Pythian oracle that declared you destined to marry a direful and tremendous monster. The inhabitants of this valley say that your husband is a terrible and monstrous serpent, who nourishes you for a while with dainties that he may by and by devour you. Take our advice. Provide yourself with a lamp and a sharp knife; put them in concealment that your husband may not discover them, and when he is sound asleep, slip out of bed, bring forth your lamp, and see for yourself whether what they say is true or not. If it is, hesitate not to cut off the monster's head, and thereby recover your liberty."
Psyche resisted these persuasions as well as she could, but they did not fail to have their effect on her mind, and when her sisters were gone, their words and her own curiosity were too strong for her to resist. So she prepared her lamp and a sharp knife, and hid them out of sight of her husband. When he had fallen into his first sleep, she silently rose and uncovering her lamp beheld not a hideous monster, but the most beautiful and charming of the gods, with his golden ringlets wandering over his snowy neck and crimson cheek, with two dewy wings on his shoulders, whiter than snow, and with shining feathers like the tender blossoms of spring. As she leaned the lamp over to have a nearer view of his face a drop of burning oil fell on the shoulder of the god, startled with which he opened his eyes and fixed them full upon her; then, without saying one word, he spread his white wings and flew out of the window. Psyche, in vain endeavouring to follow him, fell from the window to the ground. Cupid, beholding her as she lay in the dust, stopped his flight for an instant and said, "O foolish Psyche, is it thus you repay my love? After having disobeyed my mother's commands and made you my wife, will you think me a monster and cut off my head? But go; return to your sisters, whose advice you seem to think preferable to mine. I inflict no other punishment on you than to leave you for ever. Love cannot dwell with suspicion." So saying, he fled away, leaving poor Psyche prostrate on the ground, filling the place with mournful lamentations.
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When she had recovered some degree of composure she looked around her, but the palace and gardens had vanished, and she found herself in the open field not far from the city where her sisters dwelt. She repaired thither and told them the whole story of her misfortunes, at which, pretending to grieve, those spiteful creatures inwardly rejoiced. "For now," said they, "he will perhaps choose one of us." With this idea, without saying a word of her intentions, each of them rose early the next morning and ascended the mountain, and having reached the top, called upon Zephyr to receive her and bear her to his lord; then leaping up, and not being sustained by Zephyr, fell down the precipice and was dashed to pieces.
Psyche meanwhile wandered day and night, without food or repose, in search of her husband. Casting her eyes on a lofty mountain having on its brow a magnificent temple, she sighed and said to herself, "Perhaps my love, my lord, inhabits there," and directed her steps thither.
She had no sooner entered than she saw heaps of corn, some in loose ears and some in sheaves, with mingled ears of barley. Scattered about, lay sickles and rakes, and all the instruments of harvest, without order, as if thrown carelessly out of the weary reapers hands in the sultry hours of the day.
This unseemly confusion the pious Psyche put an end to, by separating and sorting everything to its proper place and kind, believing that she ought to neglect none of the gods, but endeavour by her piety to engage them all in her behalf. The holy Ceres, whose temple it was, finding her so religiously employed, thus spoke to her: "O Psyche, truly worthy of our pity, though I cannot shield you from the frowns of Venus, yet I can teach you how best to allay her displeasure. Go, then, and voluntarily surrender yourself to your lady and sovereign, and try by modesty and submission to win her forgiveness, and perhaps her favour will restore you the husband you have lost."
Psyche obeyed the commands of Ceres and took her way to the temple of Venus, endeavouring to fortify her mind and ruminating on what she should say and how best propitiate the angry goddess, feeling that the issue was doubtful and perhaps fatal.
Venus received her with angry countenance. "Most undutiful and faithless of servants," said she, "do you at last remember that you really have a mistress? Or have you rather come to see your sick husband, yet laid up of the wound given him by his loving wife? You are so ill-favoured and disagreeable that the only way you can merit your lover must be by dint of industry and diligence. I will make trial of your housewifery." Then she ordered Psyche to be led to the storehouse of her temple, where was laid up a great quantity of wheat, barley, millet, vetches, beans, and lentils prepared for food for her pigeons, and said, "Take and separate all these grains, putting all of the same kind in a parcel by themselves, and see that you get it done before evening." Then Venus departed and left her to her task.
But Psyche, in a perfect consternation at the enormous work, sat stupid and silent, without moving a finger to the inextricable heap.
While she sat despairing, Cupid stirred up the little ant, a native of the fields, to take compassion on her. The leader of the ant-hill, followed by whole hosts of his six-legged subjects, approached the heap, and with the utmost diligence taking grain by grain, they separated the pile, sorting each kind to its parcel; and when it was all done, they vanished out of sight in a moment.
Venus at the approach of twilight returned from the banquet of the gods, breathing odours and crowned with roses. Seeing the task done, she exclaimed, "This is no work of yours, wicked one, but his, whom to your own and his misfortune you have enticed." So saying, she threw her a piece of black bread for her supper and went away.
Next morning Venus ordered Psyche to be called and said to her, "Behold yonder grove which stretches along the margin of the water. There you will find sheep feeding without a shepherd, with golden-shining fleeces on their backs. Go, fetch me a sample of that precious wool gathered from every one of their fleeces."
Psyche obediently went to the riverside, prepared to do her best to execute the command. But the river god inspired the reeds with harmonious murmurs, which seemed to say, "O maiden, severely tried, tempt not the dangerous flood, nor venture among the formidable rams on the other side, for as long as they are under the influence of the rising sun, they burn with a cruel rage to destroy mortals with their sharp horns or rude teeth. But when the noontide sun has driven the cattle to the shade, and the serene spirit of the flood has lulled them to rest, you may then cross in safety, and you will find the woolly gold sticking to the bushes and the trunks of the trees."
Thus the compassionate river god gave Psyche instructions how to accomplish her task, and by observing his directions she soon returned to Venus with her arms full of the golden fleece; but she received not the approbation of her implacable mistress, who said, "I know very well it is by none of your own doings that you have succeeded in this task, and I am not satisfied yet that you have any capacity to make yourself useful. But I have another task for you. Here, take this box and go your way to the infernal shades, and give this box to Proserpine and say, 'My mistress Venus desires you to send her a little of your beauty, for in tending her sick son she has lost some of her own.' Be not too long on your errand, for I must paint myself with it to appear at the circle of the gods and goddesses this evening."
Psyche was now satisfied that her destruction was at hand, being obliged to go with her own feet directly down to Erebus. Wherefore, to make no delay of what was not to be avoided, she goes to the top of a high tower to precipitate herself headlong, thus to descend the shortest way to the shades below. But a voice from the tower said to her, "Why, poor unlucky
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girl, dost thou design to put an end to thy days in so dreadful a manner? And what cowardice makes thee sink under this last danger who hast been so miraculously supported in all thy former?" Then the voice told her how by a certain cave she might reach the realms of Pluto, and how to avoid all the dangers of the road, to pass by Cerberus, the three-headed dog, and prevail on Charon, the ferryman, to take her across the black river and bring her back again. But the voice added, "When Proserpine has given you the box filled with her beauty, of all things this is chiefly to be observed by you, that you never once open or look into the box nor allow your curiosity to pry into the treasure of the beauty of the goddesses."
Psyche, encouraged by this advice, obeyed it in all things, and taking heed to her ways travelled safely to the kingdom of Pluto. She was admitted to the palace of Proserpine, and without accepting the delicate seat or delicious banquet that was offered her, but contented with coarse bread for her food, she delivered her message from Venus. Presently the box was returned to her, shut and filled with the precious commodity. Then she returned the way she came, and glad was she to come out once more into the light of day.
But having got so far successfully through her dangerous task a longing desire seized her to examine the contents of the box. "What," said she, "shall I, the carrier of this divine beauty, not take the least bit to put on my cheeks to appear to more advantage in the eyes of my beloved husband!" So she carefully opened the box, but found nothing there of any beauty at all, but an infernal and truly Stygian sleep, which being thus set free from its prison, took possession of her, and she fell down in the midst of the road, a sleepy corpse without sense or motion.
But Cupid, being now recovered from his wound, and not able longer to bear the absence of his beloved Psyche, slipping through the smallest crack of the window of his chamber which happened to be left open, flew to the spot where Psyche lay, and gathering up the sleep from her body closed it again in the box, and waked Psyche with a light touch of one of his arrows. "Again," said he, "hast thou almost perished by the same curiosity. But now perform exactly the task imposed on you by my mother, and I will take care of the rest."
Then Cupid, as swift as lightning penetrating the heights of heaven, presented himself before Jupiter with his supplication. Jupiter lent a favouring ear, and pleaded the cause of the lovers so earnestly with Venus that he won her consent. On this he sent Mercury to bring Psyche up to the heavenly assembly, and when she arrived, handing her a cup of ambrosia, he said, "Drink this, Psyche, and be immortal; nor shall Cupid ever break away from the knot in which he is tied, but these nuptials shall be perpetual."
Thus Psyche became at last united to Cupid, and in due time they had a daughter born to them whose name was Pleasure.
The fable of Cupid and Psyche is usually considered allegorical. The Greek name for a butterfly is Psyche, and the same word means the soul. There is no illustration of the immortality of the soul so striking and beautiful as the butterfly, bursting on brilliant wings from the tomb in which it has lain, after a dull, grovelling, caterpillar existence, to flutter in the blaze of day and feed on the most fragrant and delicate productions of the spring. Psyche, then, is the human soul, which is purified by sufferings and misfortunes, and is thus prepared for the enjoyment of true and pure happiness.
In works of art Psyche is represented as a maiden with the wings of a butterfly, along with Cupid, in the different situations described in the allegory.
Milton alludes to the story of Cupid and Psyche in the conclusion of his "Comus":
"Celestial Cupid, her famed son, advanced, Holds his dear Psyche sweet entranced, After her wandering labours long, Till free consent the gods among Make her his eternal bride; And from her fair unspotted side Two blissful twins are to be born, Youth and Joy; so Jove hath sworn."
The allegory of the story of Cupid and Psyche is well presented in the beautiful lines of T. K. Harvey:
"They wove bright fables in the days of old, When reason borrowed fancy's painted wings; When truth's clear river flowed o'er sands of gold, And told in song its high and mystic things! And such the sweet and solemn tale of her The pilgrim heart, to whom a dream was given, That led her through the world,—Love's worshipper,— To seek on earth for him whose home was heaven! "In the full city,—by the haunted fount,— Through the dim grotto's tracery of spars,— 'Mid the pine temples, on the moonlit mount,
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Where silence sits to listen to the stars; In the deep glade where dwells the brooding dove, The painted valley, and the scented air, She heard far echoes of the voice of Love, And found his footsteps' traces everywhere. "But nevermore they met! since doubts and fears, Those phantom shapes that haunt and blight the earth, Had come 'twixt her, a child of sin and tears, And that bright spirit of immortal birth; Until her pining soul and weeping eyes Had learned to seek him only in the skies; Till wings unto the weary heart were given, And she became Love's angel bride in heaven!"
The story of Cupid and Psyche first appears in the works of Apuleius, a writer of the second century of our era. It is therefore of much more recent date than most of the legends of the Age of Fable. It is this that Keats alludes to in his "Ode to Psyche":
"O latest born and loveliest vision far Of all Olympus' faded hierarchy! Fairer than Phoebe's sapphire-regioned star Or Vesper, amorous glow-worm of the sky; Fairer than these, though temple thou hast none, Nor altar heaped with flowers; Nor virgin choir to make delicious moan Upon the midnight hours; No voice, no lute, no pipe, no incense sweet, From chain-swung censer teeming; No shrine, no grove, no oracle, no heat Of pale-mouthed prophet dreaming."
In Moore's "Summer Fête" a fancy ball is described, in which one of the characters personated is Psyche—
"… not in dark disguise to-night Hath our young heroine veiled her light;— For see, she walks the earth, Love's own. His wedded bride, by holiest vow Pledged in Olympus, and made known To mortals by the type which now Hangs glittering on her snowy brow, That butterfly, mysterious trinket, Which means the soul, (though few would think it,) And sparkling thus on brow so white Tells us we've Psyche here to-night."
Daedalus
American writer Thomas Bulfinch first published his accounts of Greek and Roman myths in The Age of Fable (1855), which were later included in his popular collection of myths and legends entitled Bulfinch’s Mythology. In Bulfinch’s account of the legendary Athenian architect Daedalus, Daedalus seeks to escape the island of King Minos by fashioning wings—held together with thread and wax—for himself and his son Icarus. As the two prepare to fly over the Aegean Sea, Daedalus warns Icarus of the dangers of soaring too close to the sun. Buoyed by his man-made wings, however, Icarus fails to heed his father’s warning.
The labyrinth from which Theseus escaped by means of the clew [ball of thread] of Ariadne was built by Dædalus, a most skilful artificer. It was an edifice with numberless winding passages and turnings opening into one another, and seeming to have neither beginning nor end, like the river Mæander, which returns on itself, and flows now onward, now backward, in its course to the sea. Dædalus built the labyrinth for King Minos, but afterwards lost the favour of the king, and was shut up in a
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tower. He contrived to make his escape from his prison, but could not leave the island by sea, as the king kept strict watch on all the vessels, and permitted none to sail without being carefully searched. "Minos may control the land and sea," said Dædalus, "but not the regions of the air. I will try that way." So he set to work to fabricate wings for himself and his young son Icarus. He wrought feathers together, beginning with the smallest and adding larger, so as to form an increasing surface. The larger ones he secured with thread and the smaller with wax, and gave the whole a gentle curvature like the wings of a bird. Icarus, the boy, stood and looked on, sometimes running to gather up the feathers which the wind had blown away, and then handling the wax and working it over with his fingers, by his play impeding his father in his labours. When at last the work was done, the artist, waving his wings, found himself buoyed upward, and hung suspended, poising himself on the beaten air. He next equipped his son in the same manner and taught him how to fly, as a bird tempts her young ones from the lofty nest into the air. When all was prepared for flight he said, "Icarus, my son, I charge you to keep at a moderate height, for if you fly too low the damp will clog your wings, and if too high the heat will melt them. Keep near me and you will be safe." While he gave him these instructions and fitted the wings to his shoulders, the face of the father was wet with tears, and his hands trembled. He kissed the boy, not knowing that it was for the last time. Then rising on his wings, he flew off, encouraging him to follow, and looked back from his own flight to see how his son managed his wings. As they flew the ploughman stopped his work to gaze, and the shepherd leaned on his staff and watched them, astonished at the sight, and thinking they were gods who could thus cleave the air.
They passed Samos and Delos on the left and Lebynthos [Greek islands] on the right, when the boy, exulting in his career, began to leave the guidance of his companion and soar upward as if to reach heaven. The nearness of the blazing sun softened the wax which held the feathers together, and they came off. He fluttered with his arms, but no feathers remained to hold the air. While his mouth uttered cries to his father it was submerged in the blue waters of the sea, which thenceforth was called by his name. His father cried, "Icarus, Icarus, where are you?" At last he saw the feathers floating on the water, and bitterly lamenting his own arts, he buried the body and called the land Icaria [or Ikaria, a Greek island in the Aegean Sea] in memory of his child. Dædalus arrived safe in Sicily, where he built a temple to Apollo [Greek god of the sun], and hung up his wings, an offering to the god.
Dædalus was so proud of his achievements that he could not bear the idea of a rival. His sister had placed her son Perdix under his charge to be taught the mechanical arts. He was an apt scholar and gave striking evidences of ingenuity. Walking on the sea-shore he picked up the spine of a fish. Imitating it, he took a piece of iron and notched it on the edge, and thus invented the saw. He put two pieces of iron together, connecting them at one end with a rivet, and sharpening the other ends, and made a pair of compasses. Dædalus was so envious of his nephew's performances that he took an opportunity, when they were together one day on the top of a high tower, to push him off. But Minerva, who favours ingenuity, saw him falling, and arrested his fate by changing him into a bird called after his name, the Partridge. This bird does not build his nest in the trees, nor take lofty flights, but nestles in the hedges, and mindful of his fall, avoids high places.
The death of Icarus is told in the following lines by Darwin [18th century English poet Erasmus Darwin]: "… with melting wax and loosened strings Sunk hapless Icarus on unfaithful wings; Headlong he rushed through the affrighted air, With limbs distorted and dishevelled hair; His scattered plumage danced upon the wave, And sorrowing Nereids decked his watery grave; O'er his pale corse their pearly sea-flowers shed, And strewed with crimson moss his marble bed; Struck in their coral towers the passing bell, And wide in ocean tolled his echoing knell."
Diana and Actaeon
The Roman goddess Diana (the Latin counterpart of the Greek goddess Artemis) was associated with the moon, hunting, animals, and the forest. This goddess is portrayed in paintings and sculpture as wearing hunting clothes and carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows. In the following excerpt, 19th-century mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch recounted the story of how Diana caused the violent death of the hunter Actaeon. Bulfinch derived the information for most of his retellings of classical legends from the writings of the Roman poets Ovid and Virgil. In this story, Bulfinch included an excerpt from a poem by 19th-century English romantic poet Percy Bysshe Shelley that referred to Actaeon.
…It was midday, and the sun stood equally distant from either goal, when young Actæon, son of King Cadmus, thus addressed the youths who with him were hunting the stag in the mountains:
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"Friends, our nets and our weapons are wet with the blood of our victims; we have had sport enough for one day, and to-morrow we can renew our labours. Now, while Phoebus parches the earth, let us put by our implements and indulge ourselves with rest."
There was a valley thick enclosed with cypresses and pines, sacred to the huntress queen, Diana. In the extremity of the valley was a cave, not adorned with art, but nature had counterfeited art in its construction, for she had turned the arch of its roof with stones, as delicately fitted as if by the hand of man. A fountain burst out from one side, whose open basin was bounded by a grassy rim. Here the goddess of the woods used to come when weary with hunting and lave her virgin limbs in the sparkling water.
One day, having repaired thither with her nymphs, she handed her javelin, her quiver, and her bow to one, her robe to another, while a third unbound the sandals from her feet. Then Crocale, the most skilful of them, arranged her hair, and Nephele, Hyale, and the rest drew water in capacious urns. While the goddess was thus employed in the labours of the toilet, behold Actæon, having quitted his companions, and rambling without any especial object, came to the place, led thither by his destiny. As he presented himself at the entrance of the cave, the nymphs, seeing a man, screamed and rushed towards the goddess to hide her with their bodies. But she was taller than the rest and overtopped them all by a head. Such a colour as tinges the clouds at sunset or at dawn came over the countenance of Diana thus taken by surprise. Surrounded as she was by her nymphs, she yet turned half away, and sought with a sudden impulse for her arrows. As they were not at hand, she dashed the water into the face of the intruder, adding these words: "Now go and tell, if you can, that you have seen Dianna unapparelled." Immediately a pair of branching stag's horns grew out of his head, his neck gained in length, his ears grew sharp-pointed, his hands became feet, his arms long legs, his body was covered with a hairy spotted hide. Fear took the place of his former boldness, and the hero fled. He could not but admire his own speed; but when he saw his horns in the water, "Ah, wretched me!" he would have said, but no sound followed the effort. He groaned, and tears flowed down the face which had taken the place of his own. Yet his consciousness remained. What shall he do?—go home to seek the palace, or lie hid in the woods? The latter he was afraid, the former he was ashamed, to do. While he hesitated the dogs saw him. First Melampus, a Spartan dog, gave the signal with his bark, then Pamphagus, Dorceus, Lelaps, Theron, Nape, Tigris, and all the rest, rushed after him swifter than the wind. Over rocks and cliffs, through mountain gorges that seemed impracticable, he fled and they followed. Where he had often chased the stag and cheered on his pack, his pack now chased him, cheered on by his huntsmen. He longed to cry out, "I am Actæon; recognize your master!" but the words came not at his will. The air resounded with the bark of the dogs. Presently one fastened on his back, another seized his shoulder. While they held their master, the rest of the pack came up and buried their teeth in his flesh. He groaned,—not in a human voice, yet certainly not in a stag's,—and falling on his knees, raised his eyes, and would have raised his arms in supplication, if he had had them. His friends and fellow-huntsmen cheered on the dogs, and looked everywhere for Actæon, calling on him to join the sport. At the sound of his name he turned his head, and heard them regret that he should be away. He earnestly wished he was. He would have been well pleased to see the exploits of his dogs, but to feel them was too much. They were all around him, rending and tearing; and it was not till they had torn his life out that the anger of Diana was satisfied.
In Shelley's poem "Adonais" is the following allusion to the story of Actæon: "'Midst others of less note came one frail form, A phantom among men: companionless As the last cloud of an expiring storm, Whose thunder is its knell; he, as I guess, Had gazed on Nature's naked loveliness, Actæon-like, and now he fled astray With feeble steps o'er the world's wilderness; And his own Thoughts, along that rugged way, Pursued like raging hounds their father and their prey." Stanza 31.
The allusion is probably to Shelley himself.
Druids
The Druids were the religious, learned, and magistral class among the Celtic people, who lived mainly in the British Isles and areas of Gaul (now France). Druidism flourished from the 2nd century BC through the 2nd century AD, when the Romans suppressed Celtic culture and Christianity supplanted the Druids’ religious functions. Because the druids relied on an oral tradition rather than written records, knowledge about their practices is slight. Nineteenth-century American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch drew the following stories about the Druids and their festivals from accounts written by ancient Romans and Greeks, and from fragments of ancient poetry.
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The Druids were the priests or ministers of religion among the ancient Celtic nations in Gaul, Britain, and Germany. Our information respecting them is borrowed from notices in the Greek and Roman writers, compared with the remains of Welsh and Gaelic poetry still extant.
The Druids combined the functions of the priest, the magistrate, the scholar, and the physician. They stood to the people of the Celtic tribes in a relation closely analogous to that in which the Brahmans of India, the Magi of Persia, and the priests of the Egyptians stood to the people respectively by whom they were revered.
The Druids taught the existence of one god, to whom they gave a name "Be' al," which Celtic antiquaries tell us means "the life of everything," or "the source of all beings," and which seems to have affinity with the Phoenician Baal. What renders this affinity more striking is that the Druids as well as the Phoenicians identified this, their supreme deity, with the Sun. Fire was regarded as a symbol of the divinity. The Latin writers assert that the Druids also worshipped numerous inferior gods.
They used no images to represent the object of their worship, nor did they meet in temples or buildings of any kind for the performance of their sacred rites. A circle of stones (each stone generally of vast size), enclosing an area of from twenty feet to thirty yards in diameter, constituted their sacred place. The most celebrated of these now remaining is Stonehenge, on Salisbury Plain, England.
These sacred circles were generally situated near some stream, or under the shadow of a grove or widespreading oak. In the centre of the circle stood the Cromlech or altar, which was a large stone, placed in the manner of a table upon other stones set up on end. The Druids had also their high places, which were large stones or piles of stones on the summits of hills. These were called Cairns, and were used in the worship of the deity under the symbol of the sun.
That the Druids offered sacrifices to their deity there can be no doubt. But there is some uncertainty as to what they offered, and of the ceremonies connected with their religious services we know almost nothing. The classical (Roman) writers affirm that they offered on great occasions human sacrifices, as for success in war or for relief from dangerous diseases. [First-century Roman general and statesman Gaius Julius] Cæsar has given a detailed account of the manner in which this was done. "They have images of immense size, the limbs of which are framed with twisted twigs and filled with living persons. These being set on fire, those within are encompassed by the flames." Many attempts have been made by Celtic writers to shake the testimony of the Roman historians to this fact, but without success.
The Druids observed two festivals in each year. The former took place in the beginning of May, and was called Beltane or "fire of God." On this occasion a large fire was kindled on some elevated spot, in honour of the sun, whose returning beneficence they thus welcomed after the gloom and desolation of winter. Of this custom a trace remains in the name given to Whitsunday in parts of Scotland to this day. [Nineteenth-century Scottish novelist and poet] Sir Walter Scott uses the word in the "Boat Song" in the "Lady of the Lake": "Ours is no sapling, chance sown by the fountain, Blooming at Beltane in winter to fade;" etc.
The other great festival of the Druids was called "Samh' in," or "fire of peace," and was held on … [the] first of November, which still retains this designation in the Highlands of Scotland. On this occasion the Druids assembled in solemn conclave, in the most central part of the district, to discharge the judicial functions of their order. All questions, whether public or private, all crimes against person or property, were at this time brought before them for adjudication. With these judicial acts were combined certain superstitious usages, especially the kindling of the sacred fire, from which all the fires in the district, which had been beforehand scrupulously extinguished, might be relighted. This usage of kindling fires … lingered in the British islands long after the establishment of Christianity.
Besides these two great annual festivals, the Druids were in the habit of observing the full moon, and especially the sixth day of the moon. On the latter they sought the Mistletoe, which grew on their favourite oaks, and to which, as well as to the oak itself, they ascribed a peculiar virtue and sacredness. The discovery of it was an occasion of rejoicing and solemn worship. "They call it," says [1st-century Roman encyclopedist] Pliny [the Elder], "by a word in their language, which means 'heal-all,' and having made solemn preparation for feasting and sacrifice under the tree, they drive thither two milk-white bulls, whose horns are then for the first time bound. The priest then, robed in white, ascends the tree, and cuts off the mistletoe with a golden sickle. It is caught in a white mantle, after which they proceed to slay the victims, at the same time praying that God would render his gift prosperous to those to whom he had given it." They drink the water in which it has been infused, and think it a remedy for all diseases. The mistletoe is a parasitic plant, and is not always nor often found on the oak, so that when it is found it is the more precious.
The Druids were the teachers of morality as well as of religion. Of their ethical teaching a valuable specimen is preserved in the Triads of the Welsh Bards, and from this we may gather that their views of moral rectitude were on the whole just, and that they held and inculcated many very noble and valuable principles of conduct. They were also the men of science and learning of their age and people. Whether they were acquainted with letters or not has been disputed, though the probability is strong that they were, to some extent. But it is certain that they committed nothing of their doctrine, their history, or their poetry to writing. Their teaching was oral, and their literature (if such a word may be used in such a case) was preserved solely by tradition. But the Roman writers admit that "they paid much attention to the order and laws of nature, and
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investigated and taught to the youth under their charge many things concerning the stars and their motions, the size of the world and the lands, and concerning the might and power of the immortal gods."
Their history consisted in traditional tales, in which the heroic deeds of their forefathers were celebrated. These were apparently in verse, and thus constituted part of the poetry as well as the history of the Druids. In the poems of [the legendary Gaelic poet] Ossian we have, if not the actual productions of Druidical times, what may be considered faithful representations of the songs of the Bards.
The Bards were an essential part of the Druidical hierarchy. One author, Pennant, says, "The Bards were supposed to be endowed with powers equal to inspiration. They were the oral historians of all past transactions, public and private. They were also accomplished genealogists," etc.
Pennant gives a minute account of the Eisteddfods or sessions of the Bards and minstrels, which were held in Wales for many centuries, long after the Druidical priesthood in its other departments became extinct. At these meetings none but Bards of merit were suffered to rehearse their pieces, and minstrels of skill to perform. Judges were appointed to decide on their respective abilities, and suitable degrees were conferred. In the earlier period the judges were appointed by the Welsh princes, and after the conquest of Wales, by commission from the kings of England. Yet the tradition is that Edward I, in revenge for the influence of the Bards in animating the resistance of the people to his sway, persecuted them with great cruelty. This tradition has furnished the [18th-century English] poet [Thomas] Gray with the subject of his celebrated ode, the "Bard."
There are still occasional meetings of the lovers of Welsh poetry and music, held under the ancient name. Among Mrs. Hemans' poems is one written for an Eisteddfod, or meeting of Welsh Bards, held in London, May 22, 1822. It begins with a description of the ancient meeting, of which the following lines are a part: "…midst the eternal cliffs, whose strength defied The crested Roman in his hour of pride; And where the Druid's ancient cromlech frowned, And the oaks breathed mysterious murmurs round, There thronged the inspired of yore! On plain or height, In the sun's face, beneath the eye of light, And baring unto heaven each noble head, Stood in the circle, where none else might tread."
The Druidical system was at its height at the time of the Roman invasion under Julius Cæsar. Against the Druids, as their chief enemies, these conquerors of the world directed their unsparing fury. The Druids, harassed at all points on the mainland, retreated to Anglesey [a region in Wales] and Iona [an island off the coast of Scotland], where for a season they found shelter and continued their now dishonoured rites.
The Druids retained their predominance in Iona and over the adjacent islands and mainland until they were supplanted and their superstitions overturned by the arrival of St. Columba [in the 1st century], the apostle of the Highlands, by whom the inhabitants of that district were first led to profess Christianity.
Echo and Narcissus
The Greek myths telling of the mountain nymph Echo and the handsome youth Narcissus date to antiquity, but they resonate in modern times. To this day the term narcissism, derived from Narcissus’s name, means excessive admiration of, or preoccupation with, oneself. Nineteenth-century American mythologist Thomas Bulfinch assembled the following tale about Echo and Narcissus from classical sources. Following the ancient legend, Bulfinch provided related excerpts from the 17th-century English poet John Milton, from the Anglo-Irish writer Oliver Goldsmith, and from the English poet William Cowper. The latter two writers lived in the 18th century.
Echo was a beautiful nymph, fond of the woods and hills, where she devoted herself to woodland sports. She was a favourite of Diana [goddess of the moon and the hunt], and attended her in the chase. But Echo had one failing; she was fond of talking, and whether in chat or argument, would have the last word. One day Juno [the queen of the gods] was seeking her husband, who, she had reason to fear, was amusing himself among the nymphs. Echo by her talk contrived to detain the goddess till the nymphs made their escape. When Juno discovered it, she passed sentence upon Echo in these words: "You shall forfeit the use of that tongue with which you have cheated me, except for that one purpose you are so fond of—reply. You shall still have the last word, but no power to speak first."
This nymph saw Narcissus, a beautiful youth, as he pursued the chase upon the mountains. She loved him and followed his footsteps. O how she longed to address him in the softest accents, and win him to converse! but it was not in her power. She waited with impatience for him to speak first, and had her answer ready. One day the youth, being separated from his companions, shouted aloud, "Who's here?" Echo replied, "Here." Narcissus looked around, but seeing no one, called out, "Come." Echo answered, "Come." As no one came, Narcissus called again, "Why do you shun me?" Echo asked the same
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question. "Let us join one another," said the youth. The maid answered with all her heart in the same words, and hastened to the spot, ready to throw her arms about his neck. He started back, exclaiming, "Hands off! I would rather die than you should have me!" "Have me," said she; but it was all in vain. He left her, and she went to hide her blushes in the recesses of the woods. From that time forth she lived in caves and among mountain cliffs. Her form faded with grief, till at last all her flesh shrank away. Her bones were changed into rocks and there was nothing left of her but her voice. With that she is still ready to reply to any one who calls her, and keeps up her old habit of having the last word.
Narcissus's cruelty in this case was not the only instance. He shunned all the rest of the nymphs, as he had done poor Echo. One day a maiden who had in vain endeavoured to attract him uttered a prayer that he might some time or other feel what it was to love and meet no return of affection. The avenging goddess heard and granted the prayer.
There was a clear fountain, with water like silver, to which the shepherds never drove their flocks, nor the mountain goats resorted, nor any of the beasts of the forests; neither was it defaced with fallen leaves or branches, but the grass grew fresh around it, and the rocks sheltered it from the sun. Hither came one day the youth, fatigued with hunting, heated and thirsty. He stooped down to drink, and saw his own image in the water; he thought it was some beautiful water-spirit living in the fountain. He stood gazing with admiration at those bright eyes, those locks curled like the locks of Bacchus or Apollo, the rounded cheeks, the ivory neck, the parted lips, and the glow of health and exercise over all. He fell in love with himself. He brought his lips near to take a kiss; he plunged his arms in to embrace the beloved object. It fled at the touch, but returned again after a moment and renewed the fascination. He could not tear himself away; he lost all thought of food or rest, while he hovered over the brink of the fountain gazing upon his own image. He talked with the supposed spirit: "Why, beautiful being, do you shun me? Surely my face is not one to repel you. The nymphs love me, and you yourself look not indifferent upon me. When I stretch forth my arms you do the same; and you smile upon me and answer my beckonings with the like." His tears fell into the water and disturbed the image. As he saw it depart, he exclaimed, "Stay, I entreat you! Let me at least gaze upon you, if I may not touch you." With this, and much more of the same kind, he cherished the flame that consumed him, so that by degrees he lost his colour, his vigour, and the beauty which formerly had so charmed the nymph Echo. She kept near him, however, and when he exclaimed, "Alas! alas!" she answered him with the same words. He pined away and died; and when his shade passed the Stygian river, it leaned over the boat to catch a look of itself in the waters. The nymphs mourned for him, especially the water-nymphs; and when they smote their breasts Echo smote hers also. They prepared a funeral pile and would have burned the body, but it was nowhere to be found; but in its place a flower, purple within, and surrounded with white leaves, which bears the name and preserves the memory of Narcissus.
Milton alludes to the story of Echo and Narcissus in the Lady's song in "Comus." She is seeking her brothers in the forest, and sings to attract their attention: "Sweet Echo, sweetest nymph, that liv'st unseen Within thy aëry shell By slow Meander's margent green, And in the violet-embroidered vale, Where the love-lorn nightingale Nightly to thee her sad song mourneth well; Canst thou not tell me of a gentle pair That likest thy Narcissus are? O, if thou have Hid them in some flowery cave, Tell me but where, Sweet queen of parly, daughter of the sphere, So may'st thou be translated to the skies, And give resounding grace to all heaven's harmonies."
Milton has imitated the story of Narcissus in the account which he makes Eve give of the first sight of herself reflected in the fountain.
"That day I oft remember when from sleep I first awaked, and found myself reposed Under a shade on flowers, much wondering where And what I was, whence thither brought, and how Not distant far from thence a murmuring sound Of waters issued from a cave, and spread Into a liquid plain, then stood unmoved Pure as the expanse of heaven; I thither went With unexperienced thought, and laid me down On the green bank, to look into the clear Smooth lake that to me seemed another sky.
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As I bent down to look, just opposite A shape within the watery gleam appeared, Bending to look on me. I started back; It started back; but pleased I soon returned, Pleased it returned as soon with answering looks Of sympathy and love. There had I fixed Mine eyes till now, and pined with vain desire, Had not a voice thus warned me: 'What thou seest, What there thou seest, fair creature, is thyself;" etc. Paradise Lost, Book IV.
No one of the fables of antiquity has been oftener alluded to by the poets than that of Narcissus. Here are two epigrams which treat it in different ways. The first is by Goldsmith: “ON A BEAUTIFUL YOUTH, STRUCK BLIND BY LIGHTENING” "Sure 'twas by Providence designed Rather in pity than in hate, That he should be like Cupid blind, To save him from Narcissus' fate."
The other is by Cowper: “ON AN UGLY FELLOW” "Beware, my friend, of crystal brook Or fountain, lest that hideous hook, Thy nose, thou chance to see; Narcissus' fate would then be thine, And self-detested thou would'st pine, As self-enamoured he."
Hebe and Ganymede
The ancient gods had a sumptuous existence, living on ambrosia and nectar served to them by the lovely goddess Hebe. When Hebe moved on, Jupiter (Zeus in Greek mythology) needed to replace her. A beautiful young prince named Ganymede was Jupiter’s choice. There are several variations on how Ganymede was captured. In this one, related by the 19th century American writer Thomas Bulfinch, Jupiter disguised himself as an eagle and carried Ganymede away.
Hebe, the daughter of Juno, and goddess of youth, was cup-bearer to the gods. The usual story is that she resigned her office on becoming the wife of Hercules. But there is another statement which our countryman Crawford, the sculptor, has adopted in his group of Hebe and Ganymede, now in the Athenæum gallery. According to this, Hebe was dismissed from her office in consequence of a fall which she met with one day when in attendance on the gods. Her successor was Ganymede, a Trojan boy, whom Jupiter, in the disguise of an eagle, seized and carried off from the midst of his playfellows on Mount Ida, bore up to heaven, and installed in the vacant place.
Tennyson[Alfred Tennyson, 19th century Victorian-era English poet], in his "Palace of Art," describes among the decorations on the walls a picture representing this legend: "There, too, flushed Ganymede, his rosy thigh Half buried in the eagle's down, Sole as a flying star shot through the sky Above the pillared town."
And in Shelley’s [Percy Bysshe Shelley, early 19th century English poet] "Prometheus" Jupiter calls to his cup-bearer thus: "Pour forth heaven's wine, Idæan Ganymede, And let it fill the Dædal cups like fire." The beautiful legend of the "Choice of Hercules" may be found in the "Tatler," No. 97.
Hercules
Ancient Greek and Roman legend tells how the hero Hercules, the son of the god Jupiter (Roman counterpart of Zeus, king of the gods) and the mortal woman Alcmena, completed the 12 renowned heroic tasks known as the “Labors of Hercules.” In this retelling of the classical legend, nineteenth-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch
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described some of the feats that Hercules performed, including capturing oxen that were guarded by both a giant and a two-headed dog, and convincing the queen of the Amazons, a tribe of warrior women, to surrender her girdle, or belt, to him.
Hercules was the son of Jupiter and Alcmena. As Juno [queen of the gods, known as Hera in Greek mythology] was always hostile to the offspring of her husband by mortal mothers, she declared war against Hercules from his birth. She sent two serpents to destroy him as he lay in his cradle, but the precocious infant strangled them with his own hands. He was, however, by the arts of Juno rendered subject to Eurystheus [a Greek ruler and cousin of Hercules] and compelled to perform all his commands. Eurystheus enjoined upon him a succession of desperate adventures, which are called the "Twelve Labours of Hercules." The first was the fight with the Nemean lion. The valley of Nemea was infested by a terrible lion. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the skin of this monster. After using in vain his club and arrows against the lion, Hercules strangled the animal with his hands. He returned carrying the dead lion on his shoulders; but Eurystheus was so frightened at the sight of it and at this proof of the prodigious strength of the hero, that he ordered him to deliver the account of his exploits in future outside the town.
His next labour was the slaughter of the Hydra. This monster ravaged the country of Argos, and dwelt in a swamp near the well of Amymone. This well had been discovered by Amymone when the country was suffering from drought, and the story was that Neptune [god of the sea], who loved her, had permitted her to touch the rock with his trident, and a spring of three outlets burst forth. Here the Hydra took up his position, and Hercules was sent to destroy him. The Hydra had nine heads, of which the middle one was immortal. Hercules struck off its heads with his club, but in the place of the head knocked off, two new ones grew forth each time. At length with the assistance of his faithful servant Iolaus, he burned away the heads of the Hydra, and buried the ninth or immortal one under a huge rock.
Another labour was the cleaning of the Augean stables. Augeas, king of Elis, had a herd of three thousand oxen, whose stalls had not been cleansed for thirty years. Hercules brought the rivers Alpheus and Peneus through them, and cleansed them thoroughly in one day.
His next labour was of a more delicate kind. Admeta, the daughter of Eurystheus, longed to obtain the girdle of the queen of the Amazons, and Eurystheus ordered Hercules to go and get it. The Amazons were a nation of women. They were very warlike and held several flourishing cities. It was their custom to bring up only the female children; the boys were either sent away to the neighbouring nations or put to death. Hercules was accompanied by a number of volunteers, and after various adventures at last reached the country of the Amazons. Hippolyta, the queen, received him kindly, and consented to yield him her girdle, but Juno, taking the form of an Amazon, went and persuaded the rest that the strangers were carrying off their queen. They instantly armed and came in great numbers down to the ship. Hercules, thinking that Hippolyta had acted treacherously, slew her, and taking her girdle made sail homewards.
Another task enjoined him was to bring to Eurystheus the oxen of Geryon, a monster with three bodies, who dwelt in the island of Erytheia (the red), so called because it lay at the west, under the rays of the setting sun. This description is thought to apply to Spain, of which Geryon was king. After traversing various countries, Hercules reached at length the frontiers of Libya and Europe, where he raised the two mountains of Calpe and Abyla, as monuments of his progress, or, according to another account, rent one mountain into two and left half on each side, forming the straits of Gibraltar, the two mountains being called the Pillars of Hercules. The oxen were guarded by the giant Eurytion and his two-headed dog, but Hercules killed the giant and his dog and brought away the oxen in safety to Eurystheus.
The most difficult labour of all was getting the golden apples of the Hesperides, for Hercules did not know where to find them. These were the apples which Juno had received at her wedding from the goddess of the Earth, and which she had intrusted to the keeping of the daughters of Hesperus, assisted by a watchful dragon. After various adventures Hercules arrived at Mount Atlas in Africa. Atlas was one of the Titans who had warred against the gods, and after they were subdued, Atlas was condemned to bear on his shoulders the weight of the heavens. He was the father of the Hesperides, and Hercules thought might, if any one could, find the apples and bring them to him. But how to send Atlas away from his post, or bear up the heavens while he was gone? Hercules took the burden on his own shoulders, and sent Atlas to seek the apples. He returned with them, and though somewhat reluctantly, took his burden upon his shoulders again, and let Hercules return with the apples to Eurystheus.
[Seventeenth-century English poet John] Milton, in his "Comus," makes the Hesperides the daughters of Hesperus and niece of Atlas:
"…amidst the gardens fair Of Hesperus and his daughters three, That sing about the golden tree."
The poets, led by the analogy of the lovely appearance of the western sky at sunset, viewed the west as a region of brightness and glory. Hence they placed in it the Isles of the Blest, the ruddy Isle Erytheia, on which the bright oxen of Geryon were
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pastured, and the Isle of the Hesperides. The apples are supposed by some to be the oranges of Spain, of which the Greeks had heard some obscure accounts.
A celebrated exploit of Hercules was his victory over Antæus. Antæus, the son of Terra, the Earth, was a mighty giant and wrestler, whose strength was invincible so long as he remained in contact with his mother Earth. He compelled all strangers who came to his country to wrestle with him, on condition that if conquered (as they all were) they should be put to death. Hercules encountered him, and finding that it was of no avail to throw him, for he always rose with renewed strength from every fall, he lifted him up from the earth and strangled him in the air.
Cacus was a huge giant, who inhabited a cave on Mount Aventine, and plundered the surrounding country. When Hercules was driving home the oxen of Geryon, Cacus stole part of the cattle, while the hero slept. That their footprints might not serve to show where they had been driven, he dragged them backward by their tails to his cave; so their tracks all seemed to show that they had gone in the opposite direction. Hercules was deceived by this stratagem, and would have failed to find his oxen, if it had not happened that in driving the remainder of the herd past the cave where the stolen ones were concealed, those within began to low, and were thus discovered. Cacus was slain by Hercules.
The last exploit we shall record was bringing [the three-headed dog] Cerberus from the lower world. Hercules descended into Hades, accompanied by Mercury [messenger of the gods] and Minerva [goddess of the arts and trades]. He obtained permission from Pluto [god of the underworld] to carry Cerberus to the upper air, provided he could do it without the use of weapons; and in spite of the monster's struggling, he seized him, held him fast, and carried him to Eurystheus, and afterwards brought him back again. When he was in Hades he obtained the liberty of Theseus, his admirer and imitator, who had been detained a prisoner there for an unsuccessful attempt to carry off Proserpine [Pluto’s wife].
Hercules in a fit of madness killed his friend Iphitus, and was condemned for this offence to become the slave of Queen Omphale for three years. While in this service the hero's nature seemed changed. He lived effeminately, wearing at times the dress of a woman, and spinning wool with the hand-maidens of Omphale, while the queen wore his lion's skin. When this service was ended he married Dejanira and lived in peace with her three years. On one occasion as he was travelling with his wife, they came to a river, across which the Centaur Nessus carried travellers for a stated fee. Hercules himself forded the river, but gave Dejanira to Nessus to be carried across. Nessus attempted to run away with her, but Hercules heard her cries and shot an arrow into the heart of Nessus. The dying Centaur told Dejanira to take a portion of his blood and keep it, as it might be used as a charm to preserve the love of her husband.
Dejanira did so, and before long fancied she had occasion to use it. Hercules in one of his conquests had taken prisoner a fair maiden, named Iole, of whom he seemed more fond than Dejanira approved. When Hercules was about to offer sacrifices to the gods in honour of his victory, he sent to his wife for a white robe to use on the occasion. Dejanira, thinking it a good opportunity to try her love-spell, steeped the garment in the blood of Nessus. We are to suppose she took care to wash out all traces of it, but the magic power remained, and as soon as the garment became warm on the body of Hercules the poison penetrated into all his limbs and caused him the most intense agony. In his frenzy he seized Lichas, who had brought him the fatal robe, and hurled him into the sea. He wrenched off the garment, but it stuck to his flesh, and with it he tore away whole pieces of his body. In this state he embarked on board a ship and was conveyed home. Dejanira, on seeing what she had unwittingly done, hung herself. Hercules, prepared to die, ascended Mount OEta, where he built a funeral pile of trees, gave his bow and arrows to [the archer and friend of Hercules] Philoctetes, and laid himself down on the pile, his head resting on his club, and his lion's skin spread over him. With a countenance as serene as if he were taking his place at a festal board he commanded Philoctetes to apply the torch. The flames spread apace and soon invested the whole mass.
Milton thus alludes to the frenzy of Hercules [Alcides is another name for Hercules]:
"As when Alcides from OEchalia crowned With conquest, felt the envenomed robe, and tore, Through pain, up by the roots Thessalian pines And Lichas from the top of OEta threw Into the Euboic Sea."
The gods themselves felt troubled at seeing the champion of the earth so brought to his end. But Jupiter with cheerful countenance thus addressed them: "I am pleased to see your concern, my princes, and am gratified to perceive that I am the ruler of a loyal people, and that my son enjoys your favour. For although your interest in him arises from his noble deeds, yet it is not the less gratifying to me. But now I say to you, Fear not. He who conquered all else is not to be conquered by those flames which you see blazing on Mount OEta. Only his mother's share in him can perish; what he derived from me is immortal. I shall take him, dead to earth, to the heavenly shores, and I require of you all to receive him kindly. If any of you feel grieved at his attaining this honour, yet no one can deny that he has deserved it." The gods all gave their assent; Juno only heard the closing words with some displeasure that she should be so particularly pointed at, yet not enough to make her regret the determination of her husband. So when the flames had consumed the mother's share of Hercules, the diviner part, instead of being injured thereby, seemed to start forth with new vigour, to assume a more lofty port and a more awful dignity.
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Jupiter enveloped him in a cloud, and took him up in a four-horse chariot to dwell among the stars. As he took his place in heaven, Atlas felt the added weight.
Juno, now reconciled to him, gave him her daughter Hebe in marriage.
The [18th-century German] poet [Friedrich von] Schiller, in one of his pieces called the "Ideal and Life," illustrates the contrast between the practical and the imaginative in some beautiful stanzas, of which the last two may be thus translated:
"Deep degraded to a coward's slave, Endless contests bore Alcides brave, Through the thorny path of suffering led; Slew the Hydra, crushed the lion's might, Threw himself, to bring his friend to light, Living, in the skiff that bears the dead. All the torments, every toil of earth Juno's hatred on him could impose, Well he bore them, from his fated birth To life's grandly mournful close.
"Till the god, the earthly part forsaken, From the man in flames asunder taken, Drank the heavenly ether's purer breath. Joyous in the new unwonted lightness, Soared he upwards to celestial brightness, Earth's dark heavy burden lost in death. High Olympus gives harmonious greeting To the hall where reigns his sire adored; Youth's bright goddess, with a blush at meeting, Gives the nectar to her Lord." S.G.B.
Hero and Leander
The tragic story of the Greek mythological figures Hero, a temple priestess, and Leander has been taken up by many poets and dramatists. Leander’s swimming of the Dardanelles strait to reach his beloved Hero inspired English poet Lord Byron to swim the strait, located in Turkey, in 1810. Other writers who have explored this tale include 16th-century English playwright and poet Christopher Marlowe and 19th-century English poet John Keats, a member of the romantic movement. The works of the Roman poets Virgil and Ovid served as primary sources for 19th-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch, who compiled the following accounts of the Hero and Leander legend.
Leander was a youth of Abydos, a town of the Asian side of the strait which separates Asia and Europe. On the opposite shore, in the town of Sestos, lived the maiden Hero, a priestess of Venus. Leander loved her, and used to swim the strait nightly to enjoy the company of his mistress, guided by a torch which she reared upon the tower for the purpose. But one night a tempest arose and the sea was rough; his strength failed, and he was drowned. The waves bore his body to the European shore, where Hero became aware of his death, and in her despair cast herself down from the tower into the sea and perished.
The following sonnet is by Keats: “ON A PICTURE OF LEANDER” "Come hither all sweet maidens soberly, Down looking aye, and with a chasten'd light Hid in the fringes of your eyelids white, And meekly let your fair hands joinèd be, As if so gentle that ye could not see, Untouch'd, a victim of your beauty bright, Sinking away to his young spirit's night, Sinking bewilder'd 'mid the dreary sea. 'Tis young Leander toiling to his death. Nigh swooning he doth purse his weary lips For Hero's cheek, and smiles against her smile.
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O horrid dream! see how his body dips Dead-heavy; arms and shoulders gleam awhile; He's gone; up bubbles all his amorous breath!"
The story of Leander's swimming the Hellespont was looked upon as fabulous, and the feat considered impossible, till Lord Byron proved its possibility by performing it himself. In the "Bride of Abydos" he says, "These limbs that buoyant wave hath borne."
The distance in the narrowest part is almost a mile, and there is a constant current setting out from the Sea of Marmora into the Archipelago. Since Byron's time the feat has been achieved by others; but it yet remains a test of strength and skill in the art of swimming sufficient to give a wide and lasting celebrity to any one of our readers who may dare to make the attempt and succeed in accomplishing it.
In the beginning of the second canto of the same poem, Byron thus alludes to this story: "The winds are high on Helle's wave, As on that night of stormiest water, When Love, who sent, forgot to save The young, the beautiful, the brave, The lonely hope of Sestos' daughter. O, when alone along the sky The turret-torch was blazing high, Though rising gale and breaking foam, And shrieking sea-birds warned him home; And clouds aloft and tides below, With signs and sounds forbade to go, He could not see, he would not hear Or sound or sight foreboding fear. His eye but saw that light of love, The only star it hailed above; His ear but rang with Hero's song, 'Ye waves, divide not lovers long.' That tale is old, but love anew May nerve young hearts to prove as true."
Ibycus
The wrongful death of Ibycus, a poet of ancient Greece, was avenged in an unusually dramatic manner. When two thieves attacked Ibycus on his way to a festival in Corinth, the poet, aware that he was dying, appealed to a flock of cranes flying overhead to take up his cause. The cranes’ unexpected appearance during a theater performance in Corinth shocked the poet’s murderers, who were sitting in the audience, and they revealed themselves. American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch enriched his retelling of the tale with a description of a Greek amphitheater.
In order to understand the story of Ibycus which follows it is necessary to remember, first, that the theatres of the ancients were immense fabrics [structures] capable of containing from ten to thirty thousand spectators, and as they were used only on festal occasions, and admission was free to all, they were usually filled. They were without roofs and open to the sky, and the performances were in the daytime. Secondly, the appalling representation of the Furies [the three avenging deities of Greek mythology] is not exaggerated in the story. It is recorded that Æschylus, the tragic poet, having on one occasion represented the Furies in a chorus of fifty performers, the terror of the spectators was such that many fainted and were thrown into convulsions, and the magistrates forbade a like representation for the future.
Ibycus, the pious poet, was on his way to the chariot races and musical competitions held at the Isthmus of Corinth, which attracted all of Grecian lineage. Apollo [Greek god of prophecy, music, and poetry] had bestowed on him the gift of song, the honeyed lips of the poet, and he pursued his way with lightsome step, full of the god. Already the towers of Corinth crowning the height appeared in view, and he had entered with pious awe the sacred grove of Neptune [in Roman mythology, god of the sea]. No living object was in sight, only a flock of cranes flew overhead taking the same course as himself in their migration to a southern clime. "Good luck to you, ye friendly squadrons," he exclaimed, "my companions from across the sea. I take your company for a good omen. We come from far and fly in search of hospitality. May both of us meet that kind reception which shields the stranger guest from harm!"
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He paced briskly on, and soon was in the middle of the wood. There suddenly, at a narrow pass, two robbers stepped forth and barred his way. He must yield or fight. But his hand, accustomed to the lyre, and not to the strife of arms, sank powerless. He called for help on men and gods, but his cry reached no defender's ear. "Then here must I die," said he, "in a strange land, unlamented, cut off by the hand of outlaws, and see none to avenge my cause." Sore wounded, he sank to the earth, when hoarse screamed the cranes overhead. "Take up my cause, ye cranes," he said, "since no voice but yours answers to my cry." So saying he closed his eyes in death.
The body, despoiled and mangled, was found, and though disfigured with wounds, was recognized by the friend in Corinth who had expected him as a guest. "Is it thus I find you restored to me?" he exclaimed. "I who hoped to entwine your temples with the wreath of triumph in the strife of song!"
The guests assembled at the festival heard the tidings with dismay. All Greece felt the wound, every heart owned its loss. They crowded round the tribunal of the magistrates, and demanded vengeance on the murderers and expiation with their blood.
But what trace or mark shall point out the perpetrator from amidst the vast multitude attracted by the splendour of the feast? Did he fall by the hands of robbers or did some private enemy slay him? The all-discerning sun alone can tell, for no other eye beheld it. Yet not improbably the murderer even now walks in the midst of the throng, and enjoys the fruits of his crime, while vengeance seeks for him in vain. Perhaps in their own temple's enclosure he defies the gods, mingling freely in this throng of men that now presses into the amphitheatre.
For now crowded together, row on row, the multitude fills the seats till it seems as if the very fabric would give way. The murmur of voices sounds like the roar of the sea, while the circles widening in their ascent rise tier on tier, as if they would reach the sky.
And now the vast assemblage listens to the awful voice of the chorus personating the Furies, which in solemn guise advances with measured step, and moves around the circuit of the theatre. Can they be mortal women who compose that awful group, and can that vast concourse of silent forms be living beings?
The choristers, clad in black, bore in their fleshless hands torches blazing with a pitchy flame. Their cheeks were bloodless, and in place of hair writhing and swelling serpents curled around their brows. Forming a circle, these awful beings sang their hymns, rending the hearts of the guilty, and enchaining all their faculties. It rose and swelled, overpowering the sound of the instruments, stealing the judgment, palsying the heart, curdling the blood.
"Happy the man who keeps his heart pure from guilt and crime! Him we avengers touch not; he treads the path of life secure from us. But woe! woe! to him who has done the deed of secret murder. We, the fearful family of Night, fasten ourselves upon his whole being. Thinks he by flight to escape us? We fly still faster in pursuit, twine our snakes around his feet, and bring him to the ground. Unwearied we pursue; no pity checks our course; still on and on, to the end of life, we give him no peace nor rest." Thus the Eumenides [the Furies] sang, and moved in solemn cadence, while stillness like the stillness of death sat over the whole assembly as if in the presence of superhuman beings; and then in solemn march completing the circuit of the theatre, they passed out at the back of the stage.
Every heart fluttered between illusion and reality, and every breast panted with undefined terror, quailing before the awful power that watches secret crimes and winds unseen the skein of destiny. At that moment a cry burst forth from one of the uppermost benches—"Look! look! comrade, yonder are the cranes of Ibycus!" And suddenly there appeared sailing across the sky a dark object which a moment's inspection showed to be a flock of cranes flying directly over the theatre. "Of Ibycus! did he say?" The beloved name revived the sorrow in every breast. As wave follows wave over the face of the sea, so ran from mouth to mouth the words, "Of Ibycus! him whom we all lament, whom some murderer's hand laid low! What have the cranes to do with him?" And louder grew the swell of voices, while like a lightning's flash the thought sped through every heart, "Observe the power of the Eumenides! The pious poet shall be avenged! [T]he murderer has informed against himself. Seize the man who uttered that cry and the other to whom he spoke!"
The culprit would gladly have recalled his words, but it was too late. The faces of the murderers, pale with terror, betrayed their guilt. The people took them before the judge, they confessed their crime, and suffered the punishment they deserved.
Iona
The 19th century American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch provides a detailed history of Irish missionary Saint Columba’s settlement of the tiny, isolated island of Iona in the British Isles in the 6th century. Saint Columba established an unusual monastery in which the members—called Culdee monks—were permitted to marry and labor for their own financial ends. The Culdees, whose wives were housed on a separate island, thrived for centuries until invasions by the Vikings and interference from the Vatican in Rome threatened their island sanctuary.
One of the smallest of the British Isles, situated near a rugged and barren coast, surrounded by dangerous seas, and possessing no sources of internal wealth, Iona has obtained an imperishable place in history as the seat of civilization and
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religion at a time when the darkness of heathenism hung over almost the whole of Northern Europe. Iona or Icolmkill is situated at the extremity of the island of Mull, from which it is separated by a strait of half a mile in breadth, its distance from the mainland of Scotland being thirty-six miles.
Columba was a native of Ireland, and connected by birth with the princes of the land. Ireland was at that time a land of gospel light, while the western and northern parts of Scotland were still immersed in the darkness of heathenism. Columba with twelve friends landed on the island of Iona in the year of our Lord 563, having made the passage in a wicker boat covered with hides. The Druids who occupied the island endeavoured to prevent his settling there, and the savage nations on the adjoining shores incommoded him with their hostility, and on several occasions endangered his life by their attacks. Yet by his perseverance and zeal he surmounted all opposition, procured from the king a gift of the island, and established there a monastery of which he was the abbot. He was unwearied in his labours to disseminate a knowledge of the Scriptures throughout the Highlands and islands of Scotland, and such was the reverence paid him that though not a bishop, but merely a presbyter and monk, the entire province with its bishops was subject to him and his successors. The Pictish monarch was so impressed with a sense of his wisdom and worth that he held him in the highest honour, and the neighbouring chiefs and princes sought his counsel and availed themselves of his judgment in settling their disputes.
When Columba landed on Iona he was attended by twelve followers whom he had formed into a religious body of which he was the head. To these, as occasion required, others were from time to time added, so that the original number was always kept up. Their institution was called a monastery and the superior an abbot, but the system had little in common with the monastic institutions of later times. The name by which those who submitted to the rule were known was that of Culdees, probably from the Latin "cultores Dei"—worshippers of God. They were a body of religious persons associated together for the purpose of aiding each other in the common work of preaching the gospel and teaching youth, as well as maintaining in themselves the fervour of devotion by united exercises of worship. On entering the order certain vows were taken by the members, but they were not those which were usually imposed by monastic orders, for of these, which are three—celibacy, poverty, and obedience,—the Culdees were bound to none except the third. To poverty they did not bind themselves; on the contrary they seem to have laboured diligently to procure for themselves and those dependent on them the comforts of life. Marriage also was allowed them, and most of them seem to have entered into that state. True, their wives were not permitted to reside with them at the institution, but they had a residence assigned to them in an adjacent locality. Near Iona there is an island which still bears the name of "Eilen nam ban," women's island, where their husbands seem to have resided with them, except when duty required their presence in the school or the sanctuary.
Campbell [Scottish poet Thomas Campbell], in his poem of "Reullura," alludes to the married monks of Iona: "… The pure Culdees Were Albyn's earliest priests of God, Ere yet an island of her seas By foot of Saxon monk was trod, Long ere her churchmen by bigotry Were barred from holy wedlock's tie. 'Twas then that Aodh, famed afar, In Iona preached the word with power, And Reullura, beauty's star, Was the partner of his bower."
In these respects and in others the Culdees departed from the established rules of the Romish [Roman Catholic] church, and consequently were deemed heretical. The consequence was that as the power of the latter advanced that of the Culdees was enfeebled. It was not, however, till the thirteenth century that the communities of the Culdees were suppressed and the members dispersed. They still continued to labour as individuals, and resisted the inroads of Papal usurpation as they best might till the light of the Reformation dawned on the world.
Iona, from its position in the western seas, was exposed to the assaults of the Norwegian and Danish rovers by whom those seas were infested, and by them it was repeatedly pillaged, its dwellings burned, and its peaceful inhabitants put to the sword. These unfavourable circumstances led to its gradual decline, which was expedited by the subversion of the Culdees throughout Scotland. Under the reign of Popery [the Pope] the island became the seat of a nunnery, the ruins of which are still seen. At the Reformation, the nuns were allowed to remain, living in community, when the abbey was dismantled.
Iona is now chiefly resorted to by travellers on account of the numerous ecclesiastical and sepulchral remains which are found upon it. The principal of these are the Cathedral or Abbey Church and the Chapel of the Nunnery. Besides these remains of ecclesiastical antiquity, there are some of an earlier date, and pointing to the existence on the island of forms of worship and belief different from those of Christianity. These are the circular Cairns which are found in various parts, and which seem to have been of Druidical origin. It is in reference to all these remains of ancient religion that Johnson [English writer Samuel Johnson] exclaims, "That man is little to be envied whose patriotism would not gain force upon the plains of Marathon, or whose piety would not grow warmer amid the ruins of Iona."
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Meleager and Atalanta
In this excerpt, American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch provided a history of the lives of the Greek hero Meleager of Calydon and the female hunter Atalanta. According to legend, Meleager fell in love with Atalanta while they were both hunting a giant boar. The goddess Artemis (known in Roman mythology as Diana) had sent this beast to destroy the fields and livestock of Calydon, a city in central Greece. Bulfinch also recounted the story of how the youth Hippomenes (or Melanion) won the right to marry Atalanta by defeating her in a race with the help of Aphrodite (called Venus by the Romans), the goddess of love.
One of the heroes of the Argonautic expedition was Meleager, son of Oeneus and Althea, king and queen of Calydon. Althea, when her son was born, beheld the three destinies, who as they spun their fatal thread, foretold that the life of the child should last no longer than a brand then burning upon the hearth. Althea seized and quenched the brand, and carefully preserved it for years, while Meleager grew to boyhood, youth and manhood. It chanced, then, that Oeneus, as he offered sacrifices to the gods, omitted to pay due honours to Diana; and she, indignant at the neglect, sent a wild boar of enormous size to lay waste the fields of Calydon. Its eyes shone with blood and fire, its bristles stood like threatening spears, its tusks were like those of Indian elephants. The growing corn was trampled, the vines and olive trees laid waste, the flocks and herds were driven in wild confusion by the slaughtering foe. All common aid seemed vain; but Meleager called on the heroes of Greece to join in a bold hunt for the ravenous monster. Theseus and his friend Pirithous, Jason, Peleus, afterwards the father of Achilles, Telamon the father of Ajax, Nestor, then a youth, but who in his age bore arms with Achilles and Ajax in the Trojan war—these and many more joined in the enterprise. With them came Atalanta, the daughter of Iasius, king of Arcadia. A buckle of polished gold confined her vest, an ivory quiver hung on her left shoulder, and her left hand bore the bow. Her face blent feminine beauty with the best graces of martial youth. Meleager saw and loved.
But now already they were near the monster's lair. They stretched strong nets from tree to tree; they uncoupled their dogs, they tried to find the footprints of their quarry in the grass. From the wood was a descent to marshy grounds. Here the boar, as he lay among the reeds, heard the shouts of his pursuers, and rushed forth against them. One and another is thrown down and slain. Jason throws his spear, with a prayer to Diana for success; and the favouring goddess allows the weapon to touch, but not to wound, removing the steel point of the spear in its flight. Nestor, assailed, seeks and finds safety in the branches of a tree. Telamon rushes on, but stumbling at a projecting root, falls prone. But an arrow from Atalanta at length for the first time tastes the monster's blood. It is a slight wound, but Meleager sees and joyfully proclaims it. Anceus, excited to envy by the praise given to a female, loudly proclaims his own valour, and defies alike the boar and the goddess who had sent it; but as he rushes on, the infuriated beast lays him low with a mortal wound. Theseus throws his lance, but it is turned aside by a projecting bough. The dart of Jason misses its object, and kills instead one of their own dogs. But Meleager, after one unsuccessful stroke, drives his spear into the monster's side, then rushes on and despatches him with repeated blows.
Then rose a shout from those around; they congratulated the conqueror, crowding to touch his hand. He, placing his foot upon the head of the slain boar, turned to Atalanta and bestowed on her the head and the rough hide which were the trophies of his success. But at this, envy excited the rest to strife. Plexippus and Toxeus, the brothers of Meleager's mother, beyond the rest opposed the gift, and snatched from the maiden the trophy she had received. Meleager, kindling with rage at the wrong done to himself, and still more at the insult offered to her whom he loved, forgot the claims of kindred, and plunged his sword into the offenders' hearts.
As Althea bore gifts of thankfulness to the temples for the victory of her son, the bodies of her murdered brothers met her sight. She shrieks, and beats her breast, and hastens to change the garments of rejoicing for those of mourning. But when the author of the deed is known, grief gives way to the stern desire of vengeance on her son. The fatal brand, which once she rescued from the flames, the brand which the destinies had linked with Meleager's life, she brings forth, and commands a fire to be prepared. Then four times she essays to place the brand upon the pile; four times draws back, shuddering at the thought of bringing destruction on her son. The feelings of the mother and the sister contend within her. Now she is pale at the thought of the proposed deed, now flushed again with anger at the act of her son. As a vessel, driven in one direction by the wind, and in the opposite by the tide, the mind of Althea hangs suspended in uncertainty. But now the sister prevails above the mother, and she begins as she holds the fatal wood: "Turn, ye Furies, goddesses of punishment! turn to behold the sacrifice I bring! Crime must atone for crime. Shall Oeneus rejoice in his victor son, while the house of Thestius is desolate? But, alas! to what deed am I borne along? Brothers, forgive a mother's weakness! my hand fails me. He deserves death, but not that I should destroy him. But shall he then live, and triumph, and reign over Calydon, while you, my brothers, wander unavenged among the shades? No! thou hast lived by my gift; die, now, for thine own crime. Return the life which twice I gave thee, first at thy birth, again when I snatched this brand from the flames. O that thou hadst then died! Alas! evil is the conquest; but, brothers, ye have conquered." And, turning away her face, she threw the fatal wood upon the burning pile.
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It gave, or seemed to give, a deadly groan. Meleager, absent and unknowing of the cause, felt a sudden pang. He burns, and only by courageous pride conquers the pain which destroys him. He mourns only that he perishes by a bloodless and unhonoured death. With his last breath he calls upon his aged father, his brother, and his fond sisters, upon his beloved Atalanta, and upon his mother, the unknown cause of his fate. The flames increase, and with them the pain of the hero. Now both subside; now both are quenched. The brand is ashes, and the life of Meleager is breathed forth to the wandering winds.
Althea, when the deed was done, laid violent hands upon herself. The sisters of Meleager mourned their brother with uncontrollable grief; till Diana, pitying the sorrows of the house that once had aroused her anger, turned them into birds.
Atalanta
The innocent cause of so much sorrow was a maiden whose face you might truly say was boyish for a girl, yet too girlish for a boy. Her fortune had been told, and it was to this effect: "Atalanta, do not marry; marriage will be your ruin." Terrified by this oracle, she fled the society of men, and devoted herself to the sports of the chase. To all suitors (for she had many) she imposed a condition which was generally effectual in relieving her of their persecutions,—"I will be the prize of him who shall conquer me in the race; but death must be the penalty of all who try and fail." In spite of this hard condition some would try. Hippomenes was to be judge of the race. "Can it be possible that any will be so rash as to risk so much for a wife?" said he. But when he saw her lay aside her robe for the race, he changed his mind, and said, "Pardon me, youths, I knew not the prize you were competing for." As he surveyed them he wished them all to be beaten, and swelled with envy of any one that seemed at all likely to win. While such were his thoughts, the virgin darted forward. As she ran she looked more beautiful than ever. The breezes seemed to give wings to her feet; her hair flew over her shoulders, and the gay fringe of her garment fluttered behind her. A ruddy hue tinged the whiteness of her skin, such as a crimson curtain casts on a marble wall. All her competitors were distanced, and were put to death without mercy. Hippomenes, not daunted by this result, fixing his eyes on the virgin, said, "Why boast of beating those laggards? I offer myself for the contest." Atalanta looked at him with a pitying countenance, and hardly knew whether she would rather conquer him or not. "What god can tempt one so young and handsome to throw himself away? I pity him, not for his beauty (yet he is beautiful), but for his youth. I wish he would give up the race, or if he will be so mad, I hope he may outrun me." While she hesitates, revolving these thoughts, the spectators grow impatient for the race, and her father prompts her to prepare. Then Hippomenes addressed a prayer to Venus: "Help me, Venus, for you have led me on." Venus heard and was propitious.
In the garden of her temple, in her own island of Cyprus, is a tree with yellow leaves and yellow branches and golden fruit. Hence she gathered three golden apples, and unseen by any one else, gave them to Hippomenes, and told him how to use them. The signal is given; each starts from the goal and skims over the sand. So light their tread, you would almost have thought they might run over the river surface or over the waving grain without sinking. The cries of the spectators cheered Hippomenes,—"Now, now, do your best! haste, haste! you gain on her! relax not! one more effort!" It was doubtful whether the youth or the maiden heard these cries with the greater pleasure. But his breath began to fail him, his throat was dry, the goal yet far off. At that moment he threw down one of the golden apples. The virgin was all amazement. She stopped to pick it up. Hippomenes shot ahead. Shouts burst forth from all sides. She redoubled her efforts, and soon overtook him. Again he threw an apple. She stopped again, but again came up with him. The goal was near; one chance only remained. "Now, goddess," said he, "prosper your gift!" and threw the last apple off at one side. She looked at it, and hesitated; Venus impelled her to turn aside for it. She did so, and was vanquished. The youth carried off his prize.
But the lovers were so full of their own happiness that they forgot to pay due honour to Venus; and the goddess was provoked at their ingratitude. She caused them to give offence to Cybele. That powerful goddess was not to be insulted with impunity. She took from them their human form and turned them into animals of characters resembling their own: of the huntress-heroine, triumphing in the blood of her lovers, she made a lioness, and of her lord and master a lion, and yoked them to her car, where they are still to be seen in all representations, in statuary or painting, of the goddess Cybele.
Cybele is the Latin name of the goddess called by the Greeks Rhea and Ops. She was the wife of Cronos and mother of Zeus. In works of art she exhibits the matronly air which distinguishes Juno and Ceres. Sometimes she is veiled, and seated on a throne with lions at her side, at other times riding in a chariot drawn by lions. She wears a mural crown, that is, a crown whose rim is carved in the form of towers and battlements. Her priests were called Corybantes.
[Nineteenth-century poet Lord George Gordon Noel] Byron, in describing the city of Venice, which is built on a low island in the Adriatic Sea, borrows an illustration from Cybele: "She looks a sea-Cybele fresh from ocean, Rising with her tiara of proud towers At airy distance, with majestic motion, A ruler of the waters and their powers." Childe Harold, IV.
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In [19th-century Irish poet Thomas] Moore's "Rhymes on the Road," the poet, speaking of Alpine scenery, alludes to the story of Atalanta and Hippomenes thus: "Even here, in this region of wonders, I find That light-footed Fancy leaves Truth far behind, Or at least, like Hippomenes, turns her astray By the golden illusions he flings in her way."
Midas
Midas was the mythical king who wished that everything he touched should be turned to gold. He then regretted his wish. This famous myth was used to explain why the River Pactolus bore gold. The Pactolus was a minor river in Phrygia (now Turkey). The second myth associated with Midas accounted for the whispering sounds that reeds make in the breeze. Both are retold in this excerpt from American mythologist Thomas Bulfinch’s compilation of Greek and Roman myths.
Bacchus [the god of wine, called Dionysus in Greek mythology], on a certain occasion, found his old schoolmaster and foster-father, Silenus, missing. The old man had been drinking, and in that state wandered away, and was found by some peasants, who carried him to their king, Midas. Midas recognized him, and treated him hospitably, entertaining him for ten days and nights with an unceasing round of jollity. On the eleventh day he brought Silenus back, and restored him in safety to his pupil. Whereupon Bacchus offered Midas his choice of a reward, whatever he might wish. He asked that whatever he might touch should be changed into gold. Bacchus consented, though sorry that he had not made a better choice. Midas went his way, rejoicing in his new-acquired power, which he hastened to put to the test. He could scarce believe his eyes when he found a twig of an oak, which he plucked from the branch, become gold in his hand. He took up a stone; it changed to gold. He touched a sod; it did the same. He took an apple from the tree; you would have thought he had robbed the garden of the Hesperides. His joy knew no bounds, and as soon as he got home, he ordered the servants to set a splendid repast on the table. Then he found to his dismay that whether he touched bread, it hardened in his hand; or put a morsel to his lip, it defied his teeth. He took a glass of wine, but it flowed down his throat like melted gold.
In consternation at the unprecedented affliction, he strove to divest himself of his power; he hated the gift he had lately coveted. But all in vain; starvation seemed to await him. He raised his arms, all shining with gold, in prayer to Bacchus, begging to be delivered from his glittering destruction. Bacchus, merciful deity, heard and consented. "Go," said he, "to the River Pactolus, trace the stream to its fountain-head, there plunge your head and body in, and wash away your fault and its punishment." He did so, and scarce had he touched the waters before the gold-creating power passed into them, and the river sands became changed into gold, as they remain to this day.
Thenceforth Midas, hating wealth and splendour, dwelt in the country, and became a worshipper of Pan, the god of the fields. On a certain occasion Pan had the temerity to compare his music with that of Apollo, and to challenge the god of the lyre to a trial of skill. The challenge was accepted, and Tmolus, the mountain god, was chosen umpire. The senior took his seat, and cleared away the trees from his ears to listen. At a given signal Pan blew on his pipes, and with his rustic melody gave great satisfaction to himself and his faithful follower Midas, who happened to be present. Then Tmolus turned his head toward the Sun-god, and all his trees turned with him. Apollo rose, his brow wreathed with Parnassian laurel, while his robe of Tyrian purple swept the ground. In his left hand he held the lyre, and with his right hand struck the strings. Ravished with the harmony, Tmolus at once awarded the victory to the god of the lyre, and all but Midas acquiesced in the judgment. He dissented, and questioned the justice of the award. Apollo would not suffer such a depraved pair of ears any longer to wear the human form, but caused them to increase in length, grow hairy, within and without, and movable on their roots; in short, to be on the perfect pattern of those of an ass.
Mortified enough was King Midas at this mishap; but he consoled himself with the thought that it was possible to hide his misfortune, which he attempted to do by means of an ample turban or head-dress. But his hair-dresser of course knew the secret. He was charged not to mention it, and threatened with dire punishment if he presumed to disobey. But he found it too much for his discretion to keep such a secret; so he went out into the meadow, dug a hole in the ground, and stooping down, whispered the story, and covered it up. Before long a thick bed of reeds sprang up in the meadow, and as soon as it had gained its growth, began whispering the story, and has continued to do so, from that day to this, every time a breeze passes over the place.
The story of King Midas has been told by others with some variations. Dryden [17th-century English poet John Dryden], in the "Wife of Bath's Tale," makes Midas's queen the betrayer of the secret:
"This Midas knew, and durst communicate To none but to his wife his ears of state."
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Midas was king of Phrygia. He was the son of Gordius, a poor countryman, who was taken by the people and made king, in obedience to the command of the oracle, which had said that their future king should come in a wagon. While the people were deliberating, Gordius with his wife and son came driving his wagon into the public square.
Gordius, being made king, dedicated his wagon to the deity of the oracle, and tied it up in its place with a fast knot. This was the celebrated Gordian knot, which, in after times it was said, whoever should untie should become lord of all Asia. Many tried to untie it, but none succeeded, till Alexander the Great, in his career of conquest, came to Phrygia. He tried his skill with as ill success as others, till growing impatient he drew his sword and cut the knot. When he afterwards succeeded in subjecting all Asia to his sway, people began to think that he had complied with the terms of the oracle according to its true meaning.
Minerva (Athena)
Minerva, the Roman counterpart of the Greek goddess Athena, was the patron deity of the arts and trades. In later Greek mythology she was also the goddess of wisdom. This deity was one of the most important figures in both Greek and Roman mythology. In this excerpt from Bulfinch’s Mythology, 19th-century American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch retells the story of how Arachne, a girl who possessed great talents in weaving, pridefully challenged Minerva to a weaving competition. Bulfinch also gave examples of references to Minerva in English literature.
Minerva, the goddess of wisdom, was the daughter of Jupiter. She was said to have leaped forth from his brain, mature, and in complete armour. She presided over the useful and ornamental arts, both those of men—such as agriculture and navigation—and those of women,—spinning, weaving, and needlework. She was also a warlike divinity; but it was defensive war only that she patronized, and she had no sympathy with Mars's savage love of violence and bloodshed. Athens was her chosen seat, her own city, awarded to her as the prize of a contest with Neptune, who also aspired to it. The tale ran that in the reign of Cecrops, the first king of Athens, the two deities contended for the possession of the city. The gods decreed that it should be awarded to that one who produced the gift most useful to mortals. Neptune gave the horse; Minerva produced the olive. The gods gave judgment that the olive was the more useful of the two, and awarded the city to the goddess; and it was named after her, Athens, her name in Greek being Athene.
There was another contest, in which a mortal dared to come in competition with Minerva. That mortal was Arachne, a maiden who had attained such skill in the arts of weaving and embroidery that the nymphs themselves would leave their groves and fountains to come and gaze upon her work. It was not only beautiful when it was done, but beautiful also in the doing. To watch her, as she took the wool in its rude state and formed it into rolls, or separated it with her fingers and carded it till it looked as light and soft as a cloud, or twirled the spindle with skilful touch, or wove the web, or, after it was woven, adorned it with her needle, one would have said that Minerva herself had taught her. But this she denied, and could not bear to be thought a pupil even of a goddess. "Let Minerva try her skill with mine," said she; "if beaten I will pay the penalty." Minerva heard this and was displeased. She assumed the form of an old woman and went and gave Arachne some friendly advice. "I have had much experience," said she, "and I hope you will not despise my counsel. Challenge your fellow-mortals as you will, but do not compete with a goddess. On the contrary, I advise you to ask her forgiveness for what you have said, and as she is merciful perhaps she will pardon you." Arachne stopped her spinning and looked at the old dame with anger in her countenance. "Keep your counsel," said she, "for your daughters or handmaids; for my part I know what I say, and I stand to it. I am not afraid of the goddess; let her try her skill, if she dare venture." "She comes," said Minerva; and dropping her disguise stood confessed. The nymphs bent low in homage, and all the bystanders paid reverence. Arachne alone was unterrified. She blushed, indeed; a sudden colour dyed her cheek, and then she grew pale. But she stood to her resolve, and with a foolish conceit of her own skill rushed on her fate. Minerva forbore no longer nor interposed any further advice. They proceed to the contest. Each takes her station and attaches the web to the beam. Then the slender shuttle is passed in and out among the threads. The reed with its fine teeth strikes up the woof into its place and compacts the web. Both work with speed; their skilful hands move rapidly, and the excitement of the contest makes the labour light. Wool of Tyrian dye is contrasted with that of other colours, shaded off into one another so adroitly that the joining deceives the eye. Like the bow, whose long arch tinges the heavens, formed by sunbeams reflected from the shower, in which, where the colours meet they seem as one, but at a little distance from the point of contact are wholly different.
Minerva wrought on her web the scene of her contest with Neptune. Twelve of the heavenly powers are represented, Jupiter, with august gravity, sitting in the midst. Neptune, the ruler of the sea, holds his trident, and appears to have just smitten the earth, from which a horse has leaped forth. Minerva depicted herself with helmed head, her Ægis covering her breast. Such was the central circle; and in the four corners were represented incidents illustrating the displeasure of the gods at such presumptuous mortals as had dared to contend with them. These were meant as warnings to her rival to give up the contest before it was too late.
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Arachne filled her web with subjects designedly chosen to exhibit the failings and errors of the gods. One scene represented Leda caressing the swan, under which form Jupiter had disguised himself; and another, Danaë, in the brazen tower in which her father had imprisoned her, but where the god effected his entrance in the form of a golden shower. Still another depicted Europa deceived by Jupiter under the disguise of a bull. Encouraged by the tameness of the animal Europa ventured to mount his back, whereupon Jupiter advanced into the sea and swam with her to Crete. You would have thought it was a real bull, so naturally was it wrought, and so natural the water in which it swam. She seemed to look with longing eyes back upon the shore she was leaving, and to call to her companions for help. She appeared to shudder with terror at the sight of the heaving waves, and to draw back her feet from the water.
Arachne filled her canvas with similar subjects, wonderfully well done, but strongly marking her presumption and impiety. Minerva could not forbear to admire, yet felt indignant at the insult. She struck the web with her shuttle and rent it in pieces; she then touched the forehead of Arachne and made her feel her guilt and shame. She could not endure it and went and hanged herself. Minerva pitied her as she saw her suspended by a rope. "Live," she said, "guilty woman! and that you may preserve the memory of this lesson, continue to hang, both you and your descendants, to all future times." She sprinkled her with the juices of aconite, and immediately her hair came off, and her nose and ears likewise. Her form shrank up, and her head grew smaller yet; her fingers cleaved to her side and served for legs. All the rest of her is body, out of which she spins her thread, often hanging suspended by it, in the same attitude as when Minerva touched her and transformed her into a spider.
Spenser tells the story of Arachne in his "Muiopotmos," adhering very closely to his master Ovid, but improving upon him in the conclusion of the story. The two stanzas which follow tell what was done after the goddess had depicted her creation of the olive tree: "Amongst these leaves she made a Butterfly, With excellent device and wondrous slight, Fluttering among the olives wantonly, That seemed to live, so like it was in sight; The velvet nap which on his wings doth lie, The silken down with which his back is dight, His broad outstretched horns, his hairy thighs, His glorious colours, and his glistening eyes." "Which when Arachne saw, as overlaid And mastered with workmanship so rare, She stood astonied long, ne aught gainsaid; And with fast-fixed eyes on her did stare, And by her silence, sign of one dismayed, The victory did yield her as her share: Yet did she inly fret and felly burn, And all her blood to poisonous rancour turn."
And so the metamorphosis is caused by Arachne's own mortification and vexation, and not by any direct act of the goddess.
The following specimen of old-fashioned gallantry is by Garrick: "UPON A LADY'S EMBROIDERY "Arachne once, as poets tell, A goddess at her art defied, And soon the daring mortal fell The hapless victim of her pride. "O, then beware Arachne's fate; Be prudent, Chloe, and submit, For you'll most surely meet her hate, Who rival both her art and wit."
Tennyson, in his "Palace of Art," describing the works of art with which the palace was adorned, thus alludes to Europa: "… sweet Europa's mantle blew unclasped From off her shoulder, backward borne, From one hand drooped a crocus, one hand grasped The mild bull's golden horn." In his "Princess" there is this allusion to Danaë: "Now lies the earth all Danaë to the stars, And all thy heart lies open unto me."
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Niobe
The story of Niobe, queen of the ancient Grecian city of Thebes, serves as an example of the vengeance gods took against prideful humans in Greek and Roman mythology. In this retelling of the classical legend, 19th-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch told how Niobe boasted of her numerous children to the goddess Latona (known as Leto in Greek mythology), who had only two children. Latona quickly summoned her children, Apollo and Diana (Artemis in Greek legend), to seek revenge for Niobe’s insulting remarks.
…Niobe, the queen of Thebes…had indeed much to be proud of; but it was not her husband's fame, nor her own beauty, nor their great descent, nor the power of their kingdom that elated her. It was her children; and truly the happiest of mothers would Niobe have been if only she had not claimed to be so. It was on occasion of the annual celebration in honour of Latona and her offspring, Apollo and Diana,—when the people of Thebes were assembled, their brows crowned with laurel, bearing frankincense to the altars and paying their vows,—that Niobe appeared among the crowd. Her attire was splendid with gold and gems, and her aspect beautiful as the face of an angry woman can be. She stood and surveyed the people with haughty looks. "What folly," said she, "is this!—to prefer beings whom you never saw to those who stand before your eyes! Why should Latona be honoured with worship, and none be paid to me? My father was Tantalus, who was received as a guest at the table of the gods; my mother was a goddess. My husband built and rules this city, Thebes, and Phrygia is my paternal inheritance. Wherever I turn my eyes I survey the elements of my power; nor is my form and presence unworthy of a goddess. To all this let me add I have seven sons and seven daughters, and look for sons-in-law and daughters-in-law of pretensions worthy of my alliance. Have I not cause for pride? Will you prefer to me this Latona, the Titan's daughter, with her two children? I have seven times as many. Fortunate indeed am I, and fortunate I shall remain! Will any one deny this? My abundance is my security. I feel myself too strong for Fortune to subdue. She may take from me much; I shall still have much left. Were I to lose some of my children, I should hardly be left as poor as Latona with her two only. Away with you from these solemnities,—put off the laurel from your brows,—have done with this worship!" The people obeyed, and left the sacred services uncompleted.
The goddess was indignant. On the Cynthian mountain top where she dwelt she thus addressed her son and daughter: "My children, I who have been so proud of you both, and have been used to hold myself second to none of the goddesses except Juno alone, begin now to doubt whether I am indeed a goddess. I shall be deprived of my worship altogether unless you protect me." She was proceeding in this strain, but Apollo interrupted her. "Say no more," said he; "speech only delays punishment." So said Diana also. Darting through the air, veiled in clouds, they alighted on the towers of the city. Spread out before the gates was a broad plain, where the youth of the city pursued their warlike sports. The sons of Niobe were there with the rest,—some mounted on spirited horses richly caparisoned, some driving gay chariots. Ismenos, the first-born, as he guided his foaming steeds, struck with an arrow from above, cried out, "Ah me!" dropped the reins, and fell lifeless. Another, hearing the sound of the bow,—like the boatman who sees the storm gathering and makes all sail for the port,—gave the reins to his horses and attempted to escape. The inevitable arrow overtook him, as he fled. Two others, younger boys, just from their tasks, had gone to the playground to have a game of wrestling. As they stood breast to breast, one arrow pierced them both. They uttered a cry together, together cast a parting look around them, and together breathed their last. Alphenor, an elder brother, seeing them fall, hastened to the spot to render assistance, and fell stricken in the act of brotherly duty. One only was left, Ilioneus. He raised his arms to heaven to try whether prayer might not avail. "Spare me, ye gods!" he cried, addressing all, in his ignorance that all needed not his intercessions; and Apollo would have spared him, but the arrow had already left the string, and it was too late.
The terror of the people and grief of the attendants soon made Niobe acquainted with what had taken place. She could hardly think it possible; she was indignant that the gods had dared, and amazed that they had been able to do it. Her husband, Amphion, overwhelmed with the blow, destroyed himself. Alas! how different was this Niobe from her who had so lately driven away the people from the sacred rites, and held her stately course through the city, the envy of her friends, now the pity even of her foes! She knelt over the lifeless bodies, and kissed now one, now another of her dead sons. Raising her pallid arms to heaven, "Cruel Latona," said she, "feed full your rage with my anguish! Satiate your hard heart, while I follow to the grave my seven sons. Yet where is your triumph? Bereaved as I am, I am still richer than you, my conqueror." Scarce had she spoken, when the bow sounded and struck terror into all hearts except Niobe's alone. She was brave from excess of grief. The sisters stood in garments of mourning over the biers of their dead brothers. One fell, struck by an arrow, and died on the corpse she was bewailing. Another, attempting to console her mother, suddenly ceased to speak, and sank lifeless to the earth. A third tried to escape by flight, a fourth by concealment, another stood trembling, uncertain what course to take. Six were now dead, and only one remained, whom the mother held clasped in her arms, and covered as it were with her whole body. "Spare me one, and that the youngest! O spare me one of so many!" she cried; and while she spoke, that one fell dead. Desolate she sat, among sons, daughters, husband, all dead, and seemed torpid with grief. The breeze moved not her hair, no
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colour was on her cheek, her eyes glared fixed and immovable, there was no sign of life about her. Her very tongue cleaved to the roof of her mouth, and her veins ceased to convey the tide of life. Her neck bent not, her arms made no gesture, her foot no step. She was changed to stone, within and without. Yet tears continued to flow; and borne on a whirlwind to her native mountain, she still remains, a mass of rock, from which a trickling stream flows, the tribute of her never-ending grief.
The story of Niobe has furnished [19th-century English poet Lord George Gordon Noel] Byron with a fine illustration of the fallen condition of modern Rome:
"The Niobe of nations! there she stands, Childless and crownless in her voiceless woe; An empty urn within her withered hands, Whose holy dust was scattered long ago; The Scipios' tomb contains no ashes now: The very sepulchres lie tenantless Of their heroic dwellers; dost thou flow, Old Tiber! through a marble wilderness? Rise with thy yellow waves, and mantle her distress." Childe Harold, IV. 79.
As an illustration of this story there is a celebrated statue in the imperial gallery of Florence. It is the principal figure of a group supposed to have been originally arranged in the pediment of a temple. The figure of the mother clasped by the arm of her terrified child is one of the most admired of the ancient statues. It ranks with the Laocoön and the Apollo among the masterpieces of art. The following is a translation of a Greek epigram supposed to relate to this statue:
"To stone the gods have changed her, but in vain; The sculptor's art has made her breathe again." …
Orpheus and Eurydice
The legend of Orpheus and Eurydice demonstrates the merciless severity with which the ancient Greek gods dealt with those who disobeyed them. Nevertheless, the gods could frequently be swayed, in their fashion, by fidelity, fine music, and genuine sentiment. Given the chance to return his dead bride Eurydice from the underworld, the musician Orpheus failed to follow divine instructions and lost her a second time. Eventually, after a period of penitence and deep suffering, Orpheus reunited with his beloved Eurydice, although this time he had to die himself to do so. American writer Thomas Bulfinch first published his version of the legend in The Age of Fable (1855).
Orpheus was the son of Apollo [Greek god of prophesy, poetry, and music, also associated with the sun] and the Muse Calliope [the muse of epic poetry]. He was presented by his father with a lyre and taught to play upon it, which he did to such perfection that nothing could withstand the charm of his music. Not only his fellow-mortals, but wild beasts were softened by his strains, and gathering round him laid by their fierceness, and stood entranced with his lay. Nay, the very trees and rocks were sensible to the charm. The former crowded round him and the latter relaxed somewhat of their hardness, softened by his notes.
Hymen [the Greek god of marriage] had been called to bless with his presence the nuptials of Orpheus with Eurydice; but though he attended, he brought no happy omens with him. His very torch smoked and brought tears into their eyes. In coincidence with such prognostics, Eurydice, shortly after her marriage, while wandering with the nymphs, her companions, was seen by the shepherd Aristæus, who was struck by her beauty and made advances to her. She fled, and in flying trod upon a snake in the grass, was bitten in the foot, and died. Orpheus sang his grief to all who breathed the upper air, both gods and men, and finding it all unavailing resolved to seek his wife in the regions of the dead. He descended by a cave situated on the side of the promontory of Tænarus and arrived at the Stygian realm [land of the dead]. He passed through crowds of ghosts and presented himself before the throne of Pluto [Roman god of the dead, called Hades in Greek mythology] and Proserpine. Accompanying the words with the lyre, he sung, "O deities of the under-world, to whom all we who live must come, hear my words, for they are true. I come not to spy out the secrets of Tartarus [a region further below, where the Titans were confined], nor to try my strength against the three-headed dog with snaky hair who guards the entrance [Cerberus]. I come to seek my wife, whose opening years the poisonous viper's fang has brought to an untimely end. Love has led me here, Love, a god all powerful with us who dwell on the earth, and, if old traditions say true, not less so here. I implore you by these abodes full of terror, these realms of silence and uncreated things, unite again the thread of Eurydice's life. We all are destined to you, and sooner or later must pass to your domain. She too, when she shall have filled her term of life, will rightly
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be yours. But till then grant her to me, I beseech you. If you deny me, I cannot return alone; you shall triumph in the death of us both."
As he sang these tender strains, the very ghosts shed tears. Tantalus, in spite of his thirst, stopped for a moment his efforts for water, Ixion's wheel stood still, the vulture ceased to tear the giant's liver, the daughters of Danaus rested from their task of drawing water in a sieve, and Sisyphus sat on his rock to listen. Then for the first time, it is said, the cheeks of the Furies were wet with tears. Proserpine could not resist, and Pluto himself gave way. Eurydice was called. She came from among the new-arrived ghosts, limping with her wounded foot. Orpheus was permitted to take her away with him on one condition, that he should not turn around to look at her till they should have reached the upper air. Under this condition they proceeded on their way, he leading, she following, through passages dark and steep, in total silence, till they had nearly reached the outlet into the cheerful upper world, when Orpheus, in a moment of forgetfulness, to assure himself that she was still following, cast a glance behind him, when instantly she was borne away. Stretching out their arms to embrace each other, they grasped only the air! Dying now a second time, she yet cannot reproach her husband, for how can she blame his impatience to behold her? "Farewell," she said, "a last farewell,"—and was hurried away, so fast that the sound hardly reached his ears.
Orpheus endeavoured to follow her, and besought permission to return and try once more for her release; but the stern ferryman repulsed him and refused passage. Seven days he lingered about the brink, without food or sleep; then bitterly accusing of cruelty the powers of Erebus, he sang his complaints to the rocks and mountains, melting the hearts of tigers and moving the oaks from their stations. He held himself aloof from womankind, dwelling constantly on the recollection of his sad mischance. The Thracian [in ancient Greece, Thrace composed the northeastern shore of the Aegean Sea] maidens tried their best to captivate him, but he repulsed their advances. They bore with him as long as they could; but finding him insensible one day, excited by the rites of Bacchus [Greek god of wine, also called Dionysus], one of them exclaimed, "See yonder our despiser!" and threw at him her javelin. The weapon, as soon as it came within the sound of his lyre, fell harmless at his feet. So did also the stones that they threw at him. But the women raised a scream and drowned the voice of the music, and then the missiles reached him and soon were stained with his blood. The maniacs tore him limb from limb, and threw his head and his lyre into the river Hebrus, down which they floated, murmuring sad music, to which the shores responded a plaintive symphony. The Muses gathered up the fragments of his body and buried them at Libethra, where the nightingale is said to sing over his grave more sweetly than in any other part of Greece. His lyre was placed by Jupiter among the stars. His shade passed a second time to Tartarus, where he sought out his Eurydice and embraced her with eager arms. They roam the happy fields together now, sometimes he leading, sometimes she; and Orpheus gazes as much as he will upon her, no longer incurring a penalty for a thoughtless glance.
The story of Orpheus has furnished Pope [18th-century-English poet Alexander Pope] with an illustration of the power of music, for his "Ode for St. Cecilia's Day." The following stanza relates the conclusion of the story: "But soon, too soon the lover turns his eyes; Again she falls, again she dies, she dies! How wilt thou now the fatal sisters move? No crime was thine, if 'tis no crime to love. Now under hanging mountains, Beside the falls of fountains, Or where Hebrus wanders, Rolling in meanders, All alone, He makes his moan, And calls her ghost, For ever, ever, ever lost! Now with furies surrounded, Despairing, confounded, He trembles, he glows, Amidst Rhodope's snows. See, wild as the winds o'er the desert he flies; Hark! Hæmus resounds with the Bacchanals' cries. Ah, see, he dies! Yet even in death Eurydice he sung, Eurydice still trembled on his tongue: Eurydice the woods Eurydice the floods Eurydice the rocks and hollow mountains rung."
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Pegasus and the Chimera
American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch’s The Age of Fable (1855) popularized the legends of ancient Greece and Rome for 19th century readers. The Age of Fable was later published in a collection of Bulfinch’s work under the title Bulfinch’s Mythology. In the following excerpt, Bulfinch recounts the triumphs and misadventures of a young warrior, Bellerophon, and his winged horse, Pegasus. He closes with a description of Pegasus by the German poet and playwright Friedrich von Schiller, and an animated passage from William Shakespeare’s Henry IV, Part I (1597?).
When Perseus cut off Medusa's head, the blood sinking into the earth produced the winged horse Pegasus. Minerva [a Roman goddess of wisdom, the arts, and handicrafts] caught and tamed him and presented him to the Muses [nine goddesses, each of whom presides over an art]. The fountain Hippocrene, on the Muses' mountain Helicon, was opened by a kick from his hoof.
The Chimæra was a fearful monster, breathing fire. The fore part of its body was a compound of the lion and the goat, and the hind part a dragon's. It made great havoc in Lycia [ancient name for what is now a province of Turkey], so that the king, Iobates, sought for some hero to destroy it. At that time there arrived at his court a gallant young warrior, whose name was Bellerophon. He brought letters from Proetus, the son-in-law of Iobates, recommending Bellerophon in the warmest terms as an unconquerable hero, but added at the close a request to his father-in-law to put him to death. The reason was that Proetus was jealous of him, suspecting that his wife Antea looked with too much admiration on the young warrior. From this instance of Bellerophon being unconsciously the bearer of his own death warrant, the expression "Bellerophontic letters" arose, to describe any species of communication which a person is made the bearer of, containing matter prejudicial to himself.
Iobates, on perusing the letters, was puzzled what to do, not willing to violate the claims of hospitality, yet wishing to oblige his son-in-law. A lucky thought occurred to him, to send Bellerophon to combat with the Chimæra. Bellerophon accepted the proposal, but before proceeding to the combat consulted the soothsayer Polyidus, who advised him to procure if possible the horse Pegasus for the conflict. For this purpose he directed him to pass the night in the temple of Minerva. He did so, and as he slept Minerva came to him and gave him a golden bridle. When he awoke the bridle remained in his hand. Minerva also showed him Pegasus drinking at the well of Pirene, and at sight of the bridle the winged steed came willingly and suffered himself to be taken. Bellerophon mounted him, rose with him into the air, soon found the Chimæra, and gained an easy victory over the monster.
After the conquest of the Chimæra Bellerophon was exposed to further trials and labours by his unfriendly host, but by the aid of Pegasus he triumphed in them all, till at length Iobates, seeing that the hero was a special favourite of the gods, gave him his daughter in marriage and made him his successor on the throne. At last Bellerophon by his pride and presumption drew upon himself the anger of the gods; it is said he even attempted to fly up into heaven on his winged steed, but Jupiter [ruler of the gods] sent a gadfly which stung Pegasus and made him throw his rider, who became lame and blind in consequence. After this Bellerophon wandered lonely through the Aleian field, avoiding the paths of men, and died miserably.…
Pegasus, being the horse of the Muses, has always been at the service of the poets. Schiller tells a pretty story of his having been sold by a needy poet and put to the cart and the plough. He was not fit for such service, and his clownish master could make nothing of him. But a youth stepped forth and asked leave to try him. As soon as he was seated on his back the horse, which had appeared at first vicious, and afterwards spirit-broken, rose kingly, a spirit, a god, unfolded the splendour of his wings, and soared towards heaven.…
Shakespeare alludes to Pegasus in "Henry IV.," where Vernon describes Prince Henry: "I saw young Harry, with his beaver on, His cuishes [plate armor] on his thighs, gallantly armed, Rise from the ground like feathered Mercury, And vaulted with such ease into his seat, As if an angel dropped down from the clouds, To turn and wind a fiery Pegasus, And witch the world with noble horsemanship."
Penelope
Few models of patience and fidelity compare with that of the legendary queen, Penelope, who waited for over 20 years for the return of her missing husband, the Greek hero Odysseus [in Roman mythology, Ulysses], biding her time by fending off suitors with a clever ruse. Much like the ancient Greek poet Homer in his epic poem the Odyssey, American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch cast the faithful Penelope as a heroine in her own right.
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Penelope is another of those mythic heroines whose beauties were rather those of character and conduct than of person. She was the daughter of Icarius, a Spartan prince. Ulysses, king of Ithaca, sought her in marriage, and won her, over all competitors. When the moment came for the bride to leave her father's house, Icarius, unable to bear the thoughts of parting with his daughter, tried to persuade her to remain with him, and not accompany her husband to Ithaca. Ulysses gave Penelope her choice, to stay or go with him. Penelope made no reply, but dropped her veil over her face. Icarius urged her no further, but when she was gone erected a statue to Modesty on the spot where they parted.
Ulysses and Penelope had not enjoyed their union more than a year when it was interrupted by the events which called Ulysses to the Trojan war. During his long absence, and when it was doubtful whether he still lived, and highly improbable that he would ever return, Penelope was importuned by numerous suitors, from whom there seemed no refuge but in choosing one of them for her husband. Penelope, however, employed every art to gain time, still hoping for Ulysses' return. One of her arts of delay was engaging in the preparation of a robe for the funeral canopy of Laertes, her husband's father. She pledged herself to make her choice among the suitors when the robe was finished. During the day she worked at the robe, but in the night she undid the work of the day. This is the famous Penelope's web, which is used as a proverbial expression for anything which is perpetually doing but never done.…
Perseus and Medusa
The ancient tale of the brave young man Perseus is rich in drama with its two monsters and a giant, and its story of a doomed virgin and the valiant battle to rescue her. From this myth emerged explanations for the lofty heights of the Atlas Mountains in northwestern Africa and the position of the constellation Cassiopeia in the heavens. This version from the works of the 19th-century American writer Thomas Bulfinch starts at the beginning, when Perseus and his mother are cast into the sea by his superstitious grandfather.
Perseus was the son of Jupiter and Danaë. His grandfather Acrisius, alarmed by an oracle which had told him that his daughter's child would be the instrument of his death, caused the mother and child to be shut up in a chest and set adrift on the sea. The chest floated towards Seriphus, where it was found by a fisherman who conveyed the mother and infant to Polydectes, the king of the country, by whom they were treated with kindness. When Perseus was grown up Polydectes sent him to attempt the conquest of Medusa, a terrible monster who had laid waste the country. She was once a beautiful maiden whose hair was her chief glory, but as she dared to vie in beauty with Minerva, the goddess deprived her of her charms and changed her beautiful ringlets into hissing serpents. She became a cruel monster of so frightful an aspect that no living thing could behold her without being turned into stone. All around the cavern where she dwelt might be seen the stony figures of men and animals which had chanced to catch a glimpse of her and had been petrified with the sight. Perseus, favoured by Minerva and Mercury, the former of whom lent him her shield and the latter his winged shoes, approached Medusa while she slept and taking care not to look directly at her, but guided by her image reflected in the bright shield which he bore, he cut off her head and gave it to Minerva, who fixed it in the middle of her Ægis.
Milton, in his "Comus," thus alludes to the Ægis: "What was that snakyheaded Gorgon-shield That wise Minerva wore, unconquered virgin, Wherewith she freezed her foes to congealed stone, But rigid looks of chaste austerity, And noble grace that dashed brute violence With sudden adoration and blank awe!"
Armstrong, the poet of the "Art of Preserving Health," thus describes the effect of frost upon the waters: "Now blows the surly North and chills throughout The stiffening regions, while by stronger charms Than Circe e'er or fell Medea brewed, Each brook that wont to prattle to its banks Lies all bestilled and wedged betwixt its banks, Nor moves the withered reeds… The surges baited by the fierce North-east, Tossing with fretful spleen their angry heads, E'en in the foam of all their madness struck To monumental ice.… Such execution, So stern, so sudden, wrought the grisly aspect
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Of terrible Medusa, When wandering through the woods she turned to stone Their savage tenants; just as the foaming Lion Sprang furious on his prey, her speedier power Outran his haste, And fixed in that fierce attitude he stands Like Rage in marble!"—Imitations of Shakespeare.
Perseus and Atlas
After the slaughter of Medusa, Perseus, bearing with him the head of the Gorgon, flew far and wide, over land and sea. As night came on, he reached the western limit of the earth, where the sun goes down. Here he would gladly have rested till morning. It was the realm of King Atlas, whose bulk surpassed that of all other men. He was rich in flocks and herds and had no neighbour or rival to dispute his state. But his chief pride was in his gardens, whose fruit was of gold, hanging from golden branches, half hid with golden leaves. Perseus said to him, "I come as a guest. If you honour illustrious descent, I claim Jupiter for my father; if mighty deeds, I plead the conquest of the Gorgon. I seek rest and food." But Atlas remembered that an ancient prophecy had warned him that a son of Jove should one day rob him of his golden apples. So he answered, "Begone! or neither your false claims of glory nor parentage shall protect you;" and he attempted to thrust him out. Perseus, finding the giant too strong for him, said, "Since you value my friendship so little, deign to accept a present;" and turning his face away, he held up the Gorgon's head. Atlas, with all his bulk, was changed into stone. His beard and hair became forests, his arms and shoulders cliffs, his head a summit, and his bones rocks. Each part increased in bulk till he became a mountain, and (such was the pleasure of the gods) heaven with all its stars rests upon his shoulders.
The Sea-monster
Perseus, continuing his flight, arrived at the country of the Æthiopians, of which Cepheus was king. Cassiopeia his queen, proud of her beauty, had dared to compare herself to the Sea-Nymphs, which roused their indignation to such a degree that they sent a prodigious sea-monster to ravage the coast. To appease the deities, Cepheus was directed by the oracle to expose his daughter Andromeda to be devoured by the monster. As Perseus looked down from his aerial height he beheld the virgin chained to a rock, and waiting the approach of the serpent. She was so pale and motionless that if it had not been for her flowing tears and her hair that moved in the breeze, he would have taken her for a marble statue. He was so startled at the sight that he almost forgot to wave his wings. As he hovered over her he said, "O virgin, undeserving of those chains, but rather of such as bind fond lovers together, tell me, I beseech you, your name, and the name of your country, and why you are thus bound." At first she was silent from modesty, and, if she could, would have hid her face with her hands; but when he repeated his questions, for fear she might be thought guilty of some fault which she dared not tell, she disclosed her name and that of her country, and her mother's pride of beauty. Before she had done speaking, a sound was heard off upon the water, and the sea-monster appeared, with his head raised above the surface, cleaving the waves with his broad breast. The virgin shrieked, the father and mother who had now arrived at the scene, wretched both, but the mother more justly so, stood by, not able to afford protection, but only to pour forth lamentations and to embrace the victim. Then spoke Perseus: "There will be time enough for tears; this hour is all we have for rescue. My rank as the son of Jove and my renown as the slayer of the Gorgon might make me acceptable as a suitor; but I will try to win her by services rendered, if the gods will only be propitious. If she be rescued by my valour, I demand that she be my reward." The parents consent (how could they hesitate?) and promise a royal dowry with her.
And now the monster was within the range of a stone thrown by a skilful slinger, when with a sudden bound the youth soared into the air. As an eagle, when from his lofty flight he sees a serpent basking in the sun, pounces upon him and seizes him by the neck to prevent him from turning his head round and using his fangs, so the youth darted down upon the back of the monster and plunged his sword into its shoulder. Irritated by the wound, the monster raised himself into the air, then plunged into the depth; then, like a wild boar surrounded by a pack of barking dogs, turned swiftly from side to side, while the youth eluded its attacks by means of his wings. Wherever he can find a passage for his sword between the scales he makes a wound, piercing now the side, now the flank, as it slopes towards the tail. The brute spouts from his nostrils water mixed with blood. The wings of the hero are wet with it, and he dares no longer trust to them. Alighting on a rock which rose above the waves, and holding on by a projecting fragment, as the monster floated near he gave him a death stroke. The people who had gathered on the shore shouted so that the hills reëchoed with the sound. The parents, transported with joy, embraced their future son-in-law, calling him their deliverer and the saviour of their house, and the virgin, both cause and reward of the contest, descended from the rock.
Cassiopeia was an Æthiopian, and consequently, in spite of her boasted beauty, black; at least so Milton seems to have thought, who alludes to this story in his "Penseroso," where he addresses Melancholy as the "…goddess, sage and holy,
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Whose saintly visage is too bright To hit the sense of human sight, And, therefore, to our weaker view, O'erlaid with black, staid Wisdom's hue. Black, but such as in esteem Prince Memnon's sister might beseem, Or that starred Æthiop queen that strove To set her beauty's praise above The sea-nymphs, and their powers offended."
Cassiopeia is called "the starred Æthiop queen" because after her death she was placed among the stars, forming the constellation of that name. Though she attained this honour, yet the Sea-Nymphs, her old enemies, prevailed so far as to cause her to be placed in that part of the heaven near the pole, where every night she is half the time held with her head downward, to give her a lesson of humility.
Memnon was an Æthiopian prince, of whom we shall tell in a future chapter.
The Wedding Feast
The joyful parents, with Perseus and Andromeda, repaired to the palace, where a banquet was spread for them, and all was joy and festivity. But suddenly a noise was heard of warlike clamour, and Phineus, the betrothed of the virgin, with a party of his adherents, burst in, demanding the maiden as his own. It was in vain that Cepheus remonstrated—"You should have claimed her when she lay bound to the rock, the monster's victim. The sentence of the gods dooming her to such a fate dissolved all engagements, as death itself would have done." Phineus made no reply, but hurled his javelin at Perseus, but it missed its mark and fell harmless. Perseus would have thrown his in turn, but the cowardly assailant ran and took shelter behind the altar. But his act was a signal for an onset by his band upon the guests of Cepheus. They defended themselves and a general conflict ensued, the old king retreating from the scene after fruitless expostulations, calling the gods to witness that he was guiltless of this outrage on the rights of hospitality.
Perseus and his friends maintained for some time the unequal contest; but the numbers of the assailants were too great for them, and destruction seemed inevitable, when a sudden thought struck Perseus,—"I will make my enemy defend me." Then with a loud voice he exclaimed, "If I have any friend here let him turn away his eyes!" and held aloft the Gorgon's head. "Seek not to frighten us with your jugglery," said Thescelus, and raised his javelin in the act to throw, and became stone in the very attitude. Ampyx was about to plunge his sword into the body of a prostrate foe, but his arm stiffened and he could neither thrust forward nor withdraw it. Another, in the midst of a vociferous challenge, stopped, his mouth open, but no sound issuing. One of Perseus's friends, Aconteus, caught sight of the Gorgon and stiffened like the rest. Astyages struck him with his sword, but instead of wounding, it recoiled with a ringing noise.
Phineus beheld this dreadful result of his unjust aggression, and felt confounded. He called aloud to his friends, but got no answer; he touched them and found them stone. Falling on his knees and stretching out his hands to Perseus, but turning his head away, he begged for mercy. "Take all," said he, "give me but my life." "Base coward," said Perseus, "thus much I will grant you; no weapon shall touch you; moreover, you shall be preserved in my house as a memorial of these events." So saying, he held the Gorgon's head to the side where Phineus was looking, and in the very form in which he knelt, with his hands outstretched and face averted, he became fixed immovably, a mass of stone!
The following allusion to Perseus is from Milman's "Samor": "As 'mid the fabled Libyan bridal stood Perseus in stern tranquillity of wrath, Half stood, half floated on his ankle-plumes Out-swelling, while the bright face on his shield Looked into stone the raging fray; so rose, But with no magic arms, wearing alone Th' appalling and control of his firm look, The Briton Samor; at his rising awe Went abroad, and the riotous hall was mute."
Prometheus and Pandora
In this 19th-century narrative, American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch retold several ancient Greek myths of creation, including the legend in which the god Prometheus and his brother Epimetheus created humanity and bestowed upon it the stolen gift of fire. According to one version of the myth, Zeus (named Jupiter in Latin), ruler of the gods,
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punished both the gods and humanity for this theft by creating Pandora, the first woman, whose curiosity would unleash a variety of ills. Bulfinch then recounted a tale of flooding and destruction that killed nearly all the earth’s inhabitants, who had degenerated into greed and crime; and of the creation of a new, and more worthy, race of people.
The creation of the world is a problem naturally fitted to excite the liveliest interest of man, its inhabitant. The ancient pagans, not having the information on the subject which we derive from the pages of Scripture, had their own way of telling the story, which is as follows:
Before earth and sea and heaven were created, all things wore one aspect, to which we give the name of Chaos—a confused and shapeless mass, nothing but dead weight, in which, however, slumbered the seeds of things. Earth, sea, and air were all mixed up together; so the earth was not solid, the sea was not fluid, and the air was not transparent. God and Nature at last interposed, and put an end to this discord, separating earth from sea, and heaven from both. The fiery part, being the lightest, sprang up, and formed the skies; the air was next in weight and place. The earth, being heavier, sank below; and the water took the lowest place, and buoyed up the earth.
Here some god—it is not known which—gave his good offices in arranging and disposing the earth. He appointed rivers and bays their places, raised mountains, scooped out valleys, distributed woods, fountains, fertile fields, and stony plains. The air being cleared, the stars began to appear, fishes took possession of the sea, birds of the air, and four-footed beasts of the land.
But a nobler animal was wanted, and Man was made. It is not known whether the creator made him of divine materials, or whether in the earth, so lately separated from heaven, there lurked still some heavenly seeds. Prometheus took some of this earth, and kneading it up with water, made man in the image of the gods. He gave him an upright stature, so that while all other animals turn their faces downward, and look to the earth, he raises his to heaven, and gazes on the stars.
Prometheus was one of the Titans, a gigantic race, who inhabited the earth before the creation of man. To him and his brother Epimetheus was committed the office of making man, and providing him and all other animals with the faculties necessary for their preservation. Epimetheus undertook to do this, and Prometheus was to overlook his work, when it was done. Epimetheus accordingly proceeded to bestow upon the different animals the various gifts of courage, strength, swiftness, sagacity; wings to one, claws to another, a shelly covering to a third, etc. But when man came to be provided for, who was to be superior to all other animals, Epimetheus had been so prodigal of his resources that he had nothing left to bestow upon him. In his perplexity he resorted to his brother Prometheus, who, with the aid of Minerva, went up to heaven, and lighted his torch at the chariot of the sun, and brought down fire to man. With this gift man was more than a match for all other animals. It enabled him to make weapons wherewith to subdue them; tools with which to cultivate the earth; to warm his dwelling, so as to be comparatively independent of climate; and finally to introduce the arts and to coin money, the means of trade and commerce.
Woman was not yet made. The story (absurd enough!) is that Jupiter made her, and sent her to Prometheus and his brother, to punish them for their presumption in stealing fire from heaven; and man, for accepting the gift. The first woman was named Pandora. She was made in heaven, every god contributing something to perfect her. Venus gave her beauty, Mercury persuasion, Apollo music, etc. Thus equipped, she was conveyed to earth, and presented to Epimetheus, who gladly accepted her, though cautioned by his brother to beware of Jupiter and his gifts. Epimetheus had in his house a jar, in which were kept certain noxious articles for which, in fitting man for his new abode, he had had no occasion. Pandora was seized with an eager curiosity to know what this jar contained; and one day she slipped off the cover and looked in. Forthwith there escaped a multitude of plagues for hapless man,—such as gout, rheumatism, and colic for his body, and envy, spite, and revenge for his mind,—and scattered themselves far and wide. Pandora hastened to replace the lid! but, alas! the whole contents of the jar had escaped, one thing only excepted, which lay at the bottom, and that was hope. So we see at this day, whatever evils are abroad, hope never entirely leaves us; and while we have that, no amount of other ills can make us completely wretched.
Another story is that Pandora was sent in good faith, by Jupiter, to bless man; that she was furnished with a box containing her marriage presents, into which every god had put some blessing. She opened the box incautiously, and the blessings all escaped, hope only excepted. This story seems more probable than the former; for how could hope, so precious a jewel as it is, have been kept in a jar full of all manner of evils, as in the former statement?
The world being thus furnished with inhabitants, the first age was an age of innocence and happiness, called the Golden Age. Truth and right prevailed, though not enforced by law, nor was there any magistrate to threaten or punish. The forest had not yet been robbed of its trees to furnish timbers for vessels, nor had men built fortifications round their towns. There were no such things as swords, spears, or helmets. The earth brought forth all things necessary for man, without his labour in ploughing or sowing. Perpetual spring reigned, flowers sprang up without seed, the rivers flowed with milk and wine, and yellow honey distilled from the oaks.
Then succeeded the Silver Age, inferior to the golden, but better than that of brass. Jupiter shortened the spring, and divided the year into seasons. Then, first, men had to endure the extremes of heat and cold, and houses became necessary. Caves were the first dwellings, and leafy coverts of the woods, and huts woven of twigs. Crops would no longer grow without planting. The farmer was obliged to sow the seed, and the toiling ox to draw the plough.
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Next came the Brazen Age, more savage of temper, and readier to the strife of arms, yet not altogether wicked. The hardest and worst was the Iron Age. Crime burst in like a flood; modesty, truth, and honour fled. In their places came fraud and cunning, violence, and the wicked love of gain. Then seamen spread sails to the wind, and the trees were torn from the mountains to serve for keels to ships, and vex the face of the ocean. The earth, which till now had been cultivated in common, began to be divided off into possessions. Men were not satisfied with what the surface produced, but must dig into its bowels, and draw forth from thence the ores of metals. Mischievous iron, and more mischievous gold, were produced. War sprang up, using both as weapons; the guest was not safe in his friend's house; and sons-in-law and fathers-in-law, brothers and sisters, husbands and wives, could not trust one another. Sons wished their fathers dead, that they might come to the inheritance; family love lay prostrate. The earth was wet with slaughter, and the gods abandoned it, one by one, till Astræa alone was left, and finally she also took her departure.
Jupiter, seeing this state of things, burned with anger. He summoned the gods to council. They obeyed the call, and took the road to the palace of heaven. The road, which any one may see in a clear night, stretches across the face of the sky, and is called the Milky Way. Along the road stand the palaces of the illustrious gods; the common people of the skies live apart, on either side. Jupiter addressed the assembly. He set forth the frightful condition of things on the earth, and closed by announcing his intention to destroy the whole of its inhabitants, and provide a new race, unlike the first, who would be more worthy of life, and much better worshippers of the gods. So saying he took a thunderbolt, and was about to launch it at the world, and destroy it by burning; but recollecting the danger that such a conflagration might set heaven itself on fire, he changed his plan, and resolved to drown it. The north wind, which scatters the clouds, was chained up; the south was sent out, and soon covered all the face of heaven with a cloak of pitchy darkness. The clouds, driven together, resound with a crash; torrents of rain fall; the crops are laid low; the year's labour of the husbandman perishes in an hour. Jupiter, not satisfied with his own waters, calls on his brother Neptune to aid him with his. He lets loose the rivers, and pours them over the land. At the same time, he heaves the land with an earthquake, and brings in the reflux of the ocean over the shores. Flocks, herds, men, and houses are swept away, and temples, with their sacred enclosures, profaned. If any edifice remained standing, it was overwhelmed, and its turrets lay hid beneath the waves. Now all was sea, sea without shore. Here and there an individual remained on a projecting hilltop, and a few, in boats, pulled the oar where they had lately driven the plough. The fishes swim among the tree-tops; the anchor is let down into a garden. Where the graceful lambs played but now, unwieldy sea calves gambol. The wolf swims among the sheep, the yellow lions and tigers struggle in the water. The strength of the wild boar serves him not, nor his swiftness the stag. The birds fall with weary wing into the water, having found no land for a resting-place. Those living beings whom the water spared fell a prey to hunger.
Parnassus alone, of all the mountains, overtopped the waves; and there Deucalion, and his wife Pyrrha, of the race of Prometheus, found refuge—he a just man, and she a faithful worshipper of the gods. Jupiter, when he saw none left alive but this pair, and remembered their harmless lives and pious demeanour, ordered the north winds to drive away the clouds, and disclose the skies to earth, and earth to the skies. Neptune also directed Triton to blow on his shell, and sound a retreat to the waters. The waters obeyed, and the sea returned to its shores, and the rivers to their channels. Then Deucalion thus addressed Pyrrha: "O wife, only surviving woman, joined to me first by the ties of kindred and marriage, and now by a common danger, would that we possessed the power of our ancestor Prometheus, and could renew the race as he at first made it! But as we cannot, let us seek yonder temple, and inquire of the gods what remains for us to do." They entered the temple, deformed as it was with slime, and approached the altar, where no fire burned. There they fell prostrate on the earth, and prayed the goddess to inform them how they might retrieve their miserable affairs. The oracle answered, "Depart from the temple with head veiled and garments unbound, and cast behind you the bones of your mother." They heard the words with astonishment. Pyrrha first broke silence: "We cannot obey; we dare not profane the remains of our parents." They sought the thickest shades of the wood, and revolved the oracle in their minds. At length Deucalion spoke: "Either my sagacity deceives me, or the command is one we may obey without impiety. The earth is the great parent of all; the stones are her bones; these we may cast behind us; and I think this is what the oracle means. At least, it will do no harm to try." They veiled their faces, unbound their garments, and picked up stones, and cast them behind them. The stones (wonderful to relate) began to grow soft, and assume shape. By degrees, they put on a rude resemblance to the human form, like a block half finished in the hands of the sculptor. The moisture and slime that were about them became flesh; the stony part became bones; the veins remained veins, retaining their name, only changing their use. Those thrown by the hand of the man became men, and those by the woman became women. It was a hard race, and well adapted to labour, as we find ourselves to be at this day, giving plain indications of our origin.
The comparison of Eve to Pandora is too obvious to have escaped [17th-century English poet John] Milton, who introduces it in Book IV. of "Paradise Lost": "More lovely than Pandora, whom the gods Endowed with all their gifts; and O, too like In sad event, when to the unwiser son Of Japhet brought by Hermes, she insnared
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Mankind with her fair looks, to be avenged On him who had stole Jove's authentic fire."
Prometheus and Epimetheus were sons of Iapetus, which Milton changes to Japhet.
Prometheus has been a favourite subject with the poets. He is represented as the friend of mankind, who interposed in their behalf when Jove [another name for Jupiter] was incensed against them, and who taught them civilization and the arts. But as, in so doing, he transgressed the will of Jupiter, he drew down on himself the anger of the ruler of gods and men. Jupiter had him chained to a rock on Mount Caucasus, where a vulture preyed on his liver, which was renewed as fast as devoured. This state of torment might have been brought to an end at any time by Prometheus, if he had been willing to submit to his oppressor; for he possessed a secret which involved the stability of Jove's throne, and if he would have revealed it, he might have been at once taken into favour. But that he disdained to do. He has therefore become the symbol of magnanimous endurance of unmerited suffering, and strength of will resisting oppression.
[Nineteenth-century English poet Lord George Gordon Noel] Byron and [19th-century English poet Percy Bysshe] Shelley have both treated this theme. The following are Byron's lines: "Titan! to whose immortal eyes The sufferings of mortality, Seen in their sad reality, Were not as things that gods despise; What was thy pity's recompense? A silent suffering, and intense; The rock, the vulture, and the chain; All that the proud can feel of pain; The agony they do not show; The suffocating sense of woe. "Thy godlike crime was to be kind; To render with thy precepts less The sum of human wretchedness, And strengthen man with his own mind. And, baffled as thou wert from high, Still, in thy patient energy In the endurance and repulse Of thine impenetrable spirit, Which earth and heaven could not convulse, A mighty lesson we inherit."
Byron also employs the same allusion, in his "Ode to Napoleon Bonaparte": "Or, like the thief of fire from heaven, Wilt thou withstand the shock? And share with him—the unforgiven— His vulture and his rock?"
Proserpine
American writer Thomas Bulfinch published The Age of Fable in 1855. His renditions of Greek, Roman, Celtic, and Scandinavian mythology, published in Bulfinch’s Mythology, became a popular resource. The following excerpt from Bulfinch’s Mythology concerns the protracted and adventurous search by Ceres (the Roman goddess of earth and agriculture, called Demeter in Greek mythology) for her missing daughter, Proserpine (in Greek mythology, Persephone). Bulfinch concluded with an allegorical reading of the myth, punctuating his remarks with relevant selections from English poets John Milton and Samuel Taylor Coleridge, and Irish poet Thomas Moore.
When Jupiter and his brothers had defeated the Titans and banished them to Tartarus [the lowest region of the underworld], a new enemy rose up against the gods. They were the giants Typhon, Briareus, Enceladus, and others. Some of them had a hundred arms, others breathed out fire. They were finally subdued and buried alive under Mount Ætna, where they still sometimes struggle to get loose, and shake the whole island [Sicily] with earthquakes. Their breath comes up through the mountain, and is what men call the eruption of the volcano.
The fall of these monsters shook the earth, so that Pluto was alarmed, and feared that his kingdom would be laid open to the light of day. Under this apprehension, he mounted his chariot, drawn by black horses, and took a circuit of inspection to
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satisfy himself of the extent of the damage. While he was thus engaged, Venus, who was sitting on Mount Eryx playing with her boy Cupid, espied him, and said, "My son, take your darts with which you conquer all, even Jove [Jupiter] himself, and send one into the breast of yonder dark monarch, who rules the realm of Tartarus. Why should he alone escape? Seize the opportunity to extend your empire and mine. Do you not see that even in heaven some despise our power? Minerva the wise, and Diana the huntress, defy us; and there is that daughter of Ceres, who threatens to follow their example. Now do you, if you have any regard for your own interest or mine, join these two in one." The boy unbound his quiver, and selected his sharpest and truest arrow; then straining the bow against his knee, he attached the string, and, having made ready, shot the arrow with its barbed point right into the heart of Pluto.
In the vale of Enna there is a lake embowered in woods, which screen it from the fervid rays of the sun, while the moist ground is covered with flowers, and Spring reigns perpetual. Here Proserpine [daughter of Ceres] was playing with her companions, gathering lilies and violets, and filling her basket and her apron with them, when Pluto saw her, loved her, and carried her off. She screamed for help to her mother and companions; and when in her fright she dropped the corners of her apron and let the flowers fall, childlike she felt the loss of them as an addition to her grief. The ravisher urged on his steeds, calling them each by name, and throwing loose over their heads and necks his iron-coloured reins. When he reached the River Cyane, and it opposed his passage, he struck the river-bank with his trident, and the earth opened and gave him a passage to Tartarus.
Ceres sought her daughter all the world over. Bright-haired Aurora, when she came forth in the morning, and Hesperus when he led out the stars in the evening, found her still busy in the search. But it was all unavailing. At length, weary and sad, she sat down upon a stone, and continued sitting nine days and nights, in the open air, under the sunlight and moonlight and falling showers. It was where now stands the city of Eleusis, then the home of an old man named Celeus. He was out on the field, gathering acorns and blackberries, and sticks for his fire. His little girl was driving home their two goats, and as she passed the goddess, who appeared in the guise of an old woman, she said to her, "Mother,"—and the name was sweet to the ears of Ceres,—"why do you sit here alone upon the rocks?" The old man also stopped, though his load was heavy, and begged her to come into his cottage, such as it was. She declined, and he urged her. "Go in peace," she replied, "and be happy in your daughter; I have lost mine." As she spoke, tears—or something like tears, for the gods never weep—fell down her cheeks upon her bosom. The compassionate old man and his child wept with her. Then said he, "Come with us, and despise not our humble roof; so may your daughter be restored to you in safety." "Lead on," said she, "I cannot resist that appeal!" So she rose from the stone and went with them. As they walked he told her that his only son, a little boy, lay very sick, feverish, and sleepless. She stooped and gathered some poppies. As they entered the cottage, they found all in great distress, for the boy seemed past hope of recovery. Metanira, his mother, received her kindly, and the goddess stooped and kissed the lips of the sick child. Instantly the paleness left his face, and healthy vigour returned to his body. The whole family were delighted—that is, the father, mother, and little girl, for they were all; they had no servants. They spread the table, and put upon it curds and cream, apples, and honey in the comb. While they ate, Ceres mingled poppy juice in the milk of the boy. When night came and all was still, she arose, and taking the sleeping boy, moulded his limbs with her hands, and uttered over him three times a solemn charm, then went and laid him in the ashes. His mother, who had been watching what her guest was doing, sprang forward with a cry and snatched the child from the fire. Then Ceres assumed her own form, and a divine splendour shone all around. While they were overcome with astonishment, she said, "Mother, you have been cruel in your fondness to your son. I would have made him immortal, but you have frustrated my attempt. Nevertheless, he shall be great and useful. He shall teach men the use of the plough, and the rewards which labour can win from the cultivated soil." So saying, she wrapped a cloud about her, and mounting her chariot rode away.
Ceres continued her search for her daughter, passing from land to land, and across seas and rivers, till at length she returned to Sicily, whence she at first set out, and stood by the banks of the River Cyane, where Pluto made himself a passage with his prize to his own dominions. The river nymph would have told the goddess all she had witnessed, but dared not, for fear of Pluto; so she only ventured to take up the girdle which Proserpine had dropped in her flight, and waft it to the feet of the mother. Ceres, seeing this, was no longer in doubt of her loss, but she did not yet know the cause, and laid the blame on the innocent land. "Ungrateful soil," said she, "which I have endowed with fertility and clothed with herbage and nourishing grain, no more shall you enjoy my favours." Then the cattle died, the plough broke in the furrow, the seed failed to come up; there was too much sun, there was too much rain; the birds stole the seeds—thistles and brambles were the only growth. Seeing this, the fountain Arethusa interceded for the land. "Goddess," said she, "blame not the land; it opened unwillingly to yield a passage to your daughter. I can tell you of her fate, for I have seen her. This is not my native country; I came hither from Elis. I was a woodland nymph, and delighted in the chase. They praised my beauty, but I cared nothing for it, and rather boasted of my hunting exploits. One day I was returning from the wood, heated with exercise, when I came to a stream silently flowing, so clear that you might count the pebbles on the bottom. The willows shaded it, and the grassy bank sloped down to the water's edge. I approached, I touched the water with my foot. I stepped in kneedeep, and not content with that, I laid my garments on the willows and went in. While I sported in the water, I heard an indistinct murmur coming up as out of the depths of the stream; and made haste to escape to the nearest bank. The voice said, 'Why do you fly, Arethusa? I am
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Alpheus, the god of this stream.' I ran, he pursued; he was not more swift than I, but he was stronger, and gained upon me, as my strength failed. At last, exhausted, I cried for help to Diana. 'Help me, goddess! help your votary!' The goddess heard, and wrapped me suddenly in a thick cloud. The river god looked now this way and now that, and twice came close to me, but could not find me. 'Arethusa! Arethusa!' he cried. Oh, how I trembled,—like a lamb that hears the wolf growling outside the fold. A cold sweat came over me, my hair flowed down in streams; where my foot stood there was a pool. In short, in less time than it takes to tell it, I became a fountain. But in this form Alpheus knew me and attempted to mingle his stream with mine. Diana cleft the ground, and I, endeavouring to escape him, plunged into the cavern, and through the bowels of the earth came out here in Sicily. While I passed through the lower parts of the earth, I saw your Proserpine. She was sad, but no longer showing alarm in her countenance. Her look was such as became a queen—the queen of Erebus [a region of the underworld into which the dead pass immediately after they die]; the powerful bride of the monarch of the realms of the dead."
When Ceres heard this, she stood for a while like one stupefied; then turned her chariot towards heaven, and hastened to present herself before the throne of Jove. She told the story of her bereavement, and implored Jupiter to interfere to procure the restitution of her daughter. Jupiter consented on one condition, namely, that Proserpine should not during her stay in the lower world have taken any food; otherwise, the Fates forbade her release. Accordingly, Mercury was sent, accompanied by Spring, to demand Proserpine of Pluto. The wily monarch consented; but, alas! the maiden had taken a pomegranate which Pluto offered her, and had sucked the sweet pulp from a few of the seeds. This was enough to prevent her complete release; but a compromise was made, by which she was to pass half the time with her mother, and the rest with her husband Pluto.
Ceres allowed herself to be pacified with this arrangement, and restored the earth to her favour. Now she remembered Celeus and his family, and her promise to his infant son Triptolemus. When the boy grew up, she taught him the use of the plough, and how to sow the seed. She took him in her chariot, drawn by winged dragons, through all the countries of the earth, imparting to mankind valuable grains, and the knowledge of agriculture. After his return, Triptolemus built a magnificent temple to Ceres in Eleusis, and established the worship of the goddess, under the name of the Eleusinian mysteries, which, in the splendour and solemnity of their observance, surpassed all other religious celebrations among the Greeks.
There can be little doubt of this story of Ceres and Proserpine being an allegory. Proserpine signifies the seed-corn which when cast into the ground lies there concealed—that is, she is carried off by the god of the underworld. It reappears—that is, Proserpine is restored to her mother. Spring leads her back to the light of day.
Milton alludes to the story of Proserpine in "Paradise Lost," Book IV.: "…Not that fair field Of Enna where Proserpine gathering flowers, Herself a fairer flower, by gloomy Dis Was gathered, which cost Ceres all that pain To seek her through the world,— … might with this Paradise Of Eden strive."
Hood, in his "Ode to Melancholy," uses the same allusion very beautifully: "Forgive, if somewhile I forget, In woe to come the present bliss; As frighted Proserpine let fall Her flowers at the sight of Dis."
The River Alpheus does in fact disappear underground, in part of its course, finding its way through subterranean channels till it again appears on the surface. It was said that the Sicilian fountain Arethusa was the same stream, which, after passing under the sea, came up again in Sicily. Hence the story ran that a cup thrown into the Alpheus appeared again in Arethusa. It is this fable of the underground course of Alpheus that Coleridge alludes to in his poem of "Kubla Khan": "In Xanadu did Kubla Khan A stately pleasure-dome decree, Where Alph, the sacred river, ran Through caverns measureless to man, Down to a sunless sea."
In one of Moore's juvenile poems he thus alludes to the same story, and to the practice of throwing garlands or other light objects on his stream to be carried downward by it, and afterwards reproduced at its emerging: "O my beloved, how divinely sweet Is the pure joy when kindred spirits meet! Like him the river god, whose waters flow, With love their only light, through caves below, Wafting in triumph all the flowery braids
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And festal rings, with which Olympic maids Have decked his current, as an offering meet To lay at Arethusa's shining feet. Think, when he meets at last his fountain bride, What perfect love must thrill the blended tide! Each lost in each, till mingling into one, Their lot the same for shadow or for sun, A type of true love, to the deep they run."
Pygmalion
In the following excerpt, first published in Thomas Bulfinch’s The Age of Fable (1855), Bulfinch retells the story of Pygmalion, a sculptor who fell in love with his own creation. Although the tale originated in Greek legend, Bulfinch selected the Roman version, which substituted Venus for the Greek goddess, Aphrodite. Not long after The Age of Fable was published, the Pygmalion story was revised for the stage and popularized in such adaptations as English dramatist Sir William S. Gilbert’s Pygmalion and Galatea (1871) and Irish-born dramatist George Bernard Shaw’s Pygmalion (1913).
Pygmalion saw so much to blame in women that he came at last to abhor the sex, and resolved to live unmarried. He was a sculptor, and had made with wonderful skill a statue of ivory, so beautiful that no living woman came anywhere near it. It was indeed the perfect semblance of a maiden that seemed to be alive, and only prevented from moving by modesty. His art was so perfect that it concealed itself and its product looked like the workmanship of nature. Pygmalion admired his own work, and at last fell in love with the counterfeit creation. Oftentimes he laid his hand upon it as if to assure himself whether it were living or not, and could not even then believe that it was only ivory. He caressed it, and gave it presents such as young girls love,—bright shells and polished stones, little birds and flowers of various hues, beads and amber. He put raiment on its limbs, and jewels on its fingers, and a necklace about its neck. To the ears he hung earrings, and strings of pearls upon the breast. Her dress became her, and she looked not less charming than when unattired. He laid her on a couch spread with cloths of Tyrian dye, and called her his wife, and put her head upon a pillow of the softest feathers, as if she could enjoy their softness.
The festival of Venus [Roman goddess of love and beauty] was at hand—a festival celebrated with great pomp at Cyprus. Victims were offered, the altars smoked, and the odour of incense filled the air. When Pygmalion had performed his part in the solemnities, he stood before the altar and timidly said, "Ye gods, who can do all things, give me, I pray you, for my wife"—he dared not say "my ivory virgin," but said instead—"one like my ivory virgin." Venus, who was present at the festival, heard him and knew the thought he would have uttered; and as an omen of her favour, caused the flame on the altar to shoot up thrice in a fiery point into the air. When he returned home, he went to see his statue, and leaning over the couch, gave a kiss to the mouth. It seemed to be warm. He pressed its lips again, he laid his hand upon the limbs; the ivory felt soft to his touch and yielded to his fingers like the wax of Hymettus. While he stands astonished and glad, though doubting, and fears he may be mistaken, again and again with a lover's ardour he touches the object of his hopes. It was indeed alive! The veins when pressed yielded to the finger and again resumed their roundness. Then at last the votary of Venus found words to thank the goddess, and pressed his lips upon lips as real as his own. The virgin felt the kisses and blushed, and opening her timid eyes to the light, fixed them at the same moment on her lover. Venus blessed the nuptials she had formed, and from this union Paphos was born, from whom the city, sacred to Venus, received its name.
Schiller [German poet, playwright, and philosopher Friedrich von Schiller], in his poem the "Ideals," applies this tale of Pygmalion to the love of nature in a youthful heart. The following translation is furnished by a friend:
"As once with prayers in passion flowing, Pygmalion embraced the stone, Till from the frozen marble glowing, The light of feeling o'er him shone, So did I clasp with young devotion Bright nature to a poet's heart; Till breath and warmth and vital motion Seemed through the statue form to dart. "And then, in all my ardour sharing, The silent form expression found; Returned my kiss of youth daring, And understood my heart's quick sound.
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Then lived for me the bright creation, The silver rill with song was rife; The trees, the roses shared sensation, An echo of my boundless life."—S. G. B.
Pyramus and Thisbe
The story of two young lovers and their tragic end is told in the ancient Babylonian story of Pyramus and Thisbe. Later writers borrowed the myth’s vivid images, and English playwright William Shakespeare included a comic version of the tale in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1595?). American writer Thomas Bulfinch recounts the tale in the excerpt below, originally published in his Age of Fable (1855).
Pyramus was the handsomest youth, and Thisbe the fairest maiden, in all Babylonia, where Semiramis reigned. Their parents occupied adjoining houses; and neighbourhood brought the young people together, and acquaintance ripened into love. They would gladly have married, but their parents forbade. One thing, however, they could not forbid—that love should glow with equal ardour in the bosoms of both. They conversed by signs and glances, and the fire burned more intensely for being covered up. In the wall that parted the two houses there was a crack, caused by some fault in the structure. No one had remarked it before, but the lovers discovered it. What will not love discover! It afforded a passage to the voice; and tender messages used to pass backward and forward through the gap. As they stood, Pyramus on this side, Thisbe on that, their breaths would mingle. "Cruel wall," they said, "why do you keep two lovers apart? But we will not be ungrateful. We owe you, we confess, the privilege of transmitting loving words to willing ears." Such words they uttered on different sides of the wall; and when night came and they must say farewell, they pressed their lips upon the wall, she on her side, he on his, as they could come no nearer.
Next morning, when Aurora had put out the stars, and the sun had melted the frost from the grass, they met at the accustomed spot. Then, after lamenting their hard fate, they agreed that next night, when all was still, they would slip away from the watchful eyes, leave their dwellings and walk out into the fields; and to insure a meeting, repair to a well-known edifice standing without the city's bounds, called the Tomb of Ninus, and that the one who came first should await the other at the foot of a certain tree. It was a white mulberry tree, and stood near a cool spring. All was agreed on, and they waited impatiently for the sun to go down beneath the waters and night to rise up from them. Then cautiously Thisbe stole forth, unobserved by the family, her head covered with a veil, made her way to the monument and sat down under the tree. As she sat alone in the dim light of the evening she descried a lioness, her jaws reeking with recent slaughter, approaching the fountain to slake her thirst. Thisbe fled at the sight, and sought refuge in the hollow of a rock. As she fled she dropped her veil. The lioness after drinking at the spring turned to retreat to the woods, and seeing the veil on the ground, tossed and rent it with her bloody mouth.
Pyramus, having been delayed, now approached the place of meeting. He saw in the sand the footsteps of the lion, and the colour fled from his cheeks at the sight. Presently he found the veil all rent and bloody. "O hapless girl," said he, "I have been the cause of thy death! Thou, more worthy of life than I, hast fallen the first victim. I will follow. I am the guilty cause, in tempting thee forth to a place of such peril, and not being myself on the spot to guard thee. Come forth, ye lions, from the rocks, and tear this guilty body with your teeth." He took up the veil, carried it with him to the appointed tree, and covered it with kisses and with tears. "My blood also shall stain your texture," said he, and drawing his sword plunged it into his heart. The blood spurted from the wound, and tinged the white mulberries of the tree all red; and sinking into the earth reached the roots, so that the red colour mounted through the trunk to the fruit.
By this time Thisbe, still trembling with fear, yet wishing not to disappoint her lover, stepped cautiously forth, looking anxiously for the youth, eager to tell him the danger she had escaped. When she came to the spot and saw the changed colour of the mulberries she doubted whether it was the same place. While she hesitated she saw the form of one struggling in the agonies of death. She started back, a shudder ran through her frame as a ripple on the face of the still water when a sudden breeze sweeps over it. But as soon as she recognized her lover, she screamed and beat her breast, embracing the lifeless body, pouring tears into its wounds, and imprinting kisses on the cold lips. "O Pyramus," she cried, "what has done this? Answer me, Pyramus; it is your own Thisbe that speaks. Hear me, dearest, and lift that drooping head!" At the name of Thisbe Pyramus opened his eyes, then closed them again. She saw her veil stained blood and the scabbard empty of its sword. "Thy own hand has slain thee, and for my sake," she said. "I too can be brave for once, and my love is as strong as thine. I will follow thee in death, for I have been the cause; and death which alone could part us shall not prevent my joining thee. And ye, unhappy parents of us both, deny us not our united request. As love and death have joined us, let one tomb contain us. And thou, tree, retain the marks of slaughter. Let thy berries still serve for memorials of our blood." So saying she plunged the sword into her breast. Her parents ratified her wish, the gods also ratified it. The two bodies were buried in one sepulchre, and the tree ever after brought forth purple berries, as it does to this day.
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Moore, in the "Sylph's Ball," speaking of Davy's Safety Lamp, is reminded of the wall that separated Thisbe and her lover: "O for that Lamp's metallic gauze, That curtain of protecting wire, Which Davy delicately draws Around illicit, dangerous fire! The wall he sets 'twixt Flame and Air, (Like that which barred young Thisbe's bliss,) Through whose small holes this dangerous pair May see each other, but not kiss."
In Mickle's translation of the "Lusiad" occurs the following allusion to the story of Pyramus and Thisbe, and the metamorphosis of the mulberries. The poet is describing the Island of Love: "… here each gift of Pomona's hand bestows In cultured garden, free uncultured flows, The flavour sweeter and the hue more fair Than e'er was fostered by the hand of care. The cherry here in shining crimson glows, And stained with lovers' blood, in pendent rows, The mulberries o'erload the bending boughs."
If any of our young readers can be so hard-hearted as to enjoy a laugh at the expense of poor Pyramus and Thisbe, they may find an opportunity by turning to Shakespeare's play of the "Midsummer Night's Dream," where it is most amusingly burlesqued.
Simonides
The following tale from the life of the Greek lyric poet Simonides of Ceos, as told by American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch, reveals two persistent themes in Greek and Roman mythology: the evils of pride and the benefits of piety. Scopas, the king of Thessaly, requested that Simonides compose a festal poem in celebration of his exploits in battle. Simonides honored Scopas with such a poem, but because his elegy also praised the Spartan warriors Castor and Pollux (also called Polydeuces), the king chose not to return the honor with full payment. Ultimately, the king’s vanity proved fatal.
Simonides was one of the most prolific of the early poets of Greece, but only a few fragments of his compositions have descended to us. He wrote hymns, triumphal odes, and elegies. In the last species of composition he particularly excelled. His genius was inclined to the pathetic, and none could touch with truer effect the chords of human sympathy. The "Lamentation of Danaë," the most important of the fragments which remain of his poetry, is based upon the tradition that Danaë and her infant son were confined by order of her father, Acrisius [king of Argos, in ancient Greece], in a chest and set adrift on the sea. The chest floated towards the island of Seriphus, where both were rescued by Dictys, a fisherman, and carried to Polydectes, king of the country, who received and protected them. The child, Perseus, when grown up became a famous hero.…
Simonides passed much of his life at the courts of princes, and often employed his talents in panegyric and festal odes, receiving his reward from the munificence of those whose exploits he celebrated. This employment was not derogatory, but closely resembles that of the earliest bards, such as [the ancient Greek poets] Demodocus, described by Homer, or of Homer himself, as recorded by tradition.
On one occasion, when residing at the court of Scopas, king of Thessaly [a region of central Greece], the prince desired him to prepare a poem in celebration of his exploits, to be recited at a banquet. In order to diversify his theme, Simonides, who was celebrated for his piety, introduced into his poem the exploits of Castor and Pollux [the twin sons of Leda, wife of King Tyndareus of Sparta]. Such digressions were not unusual with the poets on similar occasions, and one might suppose an ordinary mortal might have been content to share the praises of the sons of Leda. But vanity is exacting; and as Scopas sat at his festal board among his courtiers and sycophants, he grudged every verse that did not rehearse his own praises. When Simonides approached to receive the promised reward Scopas bestowed but half the expected sum, saying, "Here is payment for my portion of thy performance; Castor and Pollux will doubtless compensate thee for so much as relates to them." The disconcerted poet returned to his seat amidst the laughter which followed the great man's jest. In a little time he received a message that two young men on horseback were waiting without and anxious to see him. Simonides hastened to the door, but looked in vain for the visitors. Scarcely, however, had he left the banqueting hall when the roof fell in with a loud crash,
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burying Scopas and all his guests beneath the ruins. On inquiring as to the appearance of the young men who had sent for him, Simonides was satisfied that they were no other than Castor and Pollux themselves.
The Centaurs
The centaurs were mythical creatures, part man and part horse, said to have lived in Thessaly, in ancient Greece. Their brawl at a wedding was depicted in sculptures on the Parthenon, a temple in Athens, Greece. These artworks, known as the Elgin Marbles, are now in the British Museum in London, England. Nineteenth-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch related the following stories about centaurs.
These monsters were represented as men from the head to the loins, while the remainder of the body was that of a horse. The ancients were too fond of a horse to consider the union of his nature with man's as forming a very degraded compound, and accordingly the Centaur is the only one of the fancied monsters of antiquity to which any good traits are assigned. The Centaurs were admitted to the companionship of man, and at the marriage of Pirithous with Hippodamia they were among the guests. At the feast Eurytion, one of the Centaurs, becoming intoxicated with the wine, attempted to offer violence to the bride; the other Centaurs followed his example, and a dreadful conflict arose in which several of them were slain. This is the celebrated battle of the Lapithæ and Centaurs, a favourite subject with the sculptors and poets of antiquity.
But not all the Centaurs were like the rude guests of Pirithous. Chiron was instructed by Apollo and Diana, and was renowned for his skill in hunting, medicine, music, and the art of prophecy. The most distinguished heroes of Grecian story were his pupils. Among the rest the infant Æsculapius was intrusted to his charge by Apollo, his father. When the sage returned to his home bearing the infant, his daughter Ocyrhoe came forth to meet him, and at sight of the child burst forth into a prophetic strain (for she was a prophetess), foretelling the glory that he was to achieve. Æsculapius when grown up became a renowned physician, and even in one instance succeeded in restoring the dead to life. Pluto resented this, and Jupiter, at his request, struck the bold physician with lightning, and killed him, but after his death received him into the number of the gods.
Chiron was the wisest and justest of all the Centaurs, and at his death Jupiter placed him among the stars as the constellation Sagittarius.
The Golden Fleece
Following is the story of how the Greek mythical hero Jason set off on the ship Argo to recover the golden fleece of a winged ram. This excerpt also includes a section about the magic of the female sorcerer Medea, who loved Jason. In this section, Bulfinch related one of several versions of the story of Jason’s father Aeson. Works by ancient writers were the primary sources that 19th-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch used to compile the following version of these legends. Bulfinch also cited references to the golden fleece by 18th-century English poet Alexander Pope, among others.
In very ancient times there lived in Thessaly a king and queen named Athamas and Nephele. They had two children, a boy and a girl. After a time Athamas grew indifferent to his wife, put her away, and took another. Nephele suspected danger to her children from the influence of the step-mother, and took measures to send them out of her reach. Mercury assisted her, and gave her a ram with a golden fleece, on which she set the two children, trusting that the ram would convey them to a place of safety. The ram vaulted into the air with the children on his back, taking his course to the East, till when crossing the strait that divides Europe and Asia, the girl, whose name was Helle, fell from his back into the sea, which from her was called the Hellespont,—now the Dardanelles. The ram continued his career till he reached the kingdom of Colchis, on the eastern shore of the Black Sea, where he safely landed the boy Phryxus, who was hospitably received by Æetes, king of the country. Phryxus sacrificed the ram to Jupiter, and gave the Golden Fleece to Æetes, who placed it in a consecrated grove, under the care of a sleepless dragon.
There was another kingdom in Thessaly near to that of Athamas, and ruled over by a relative of his. The king Æson, being tired of the cares of government, surrendered his crown to his brother Pelias on condition that he should hold it only during the minority of Jason, the son of Æson. When Jason was grown up and came to demand the crown from his uncle, Pelias pretended to be willing to yield it, but at the same time suggested to the young man the glorious adventure of going in quest of the Golden Fleece, which it was well known was in the kingdom of Colchis, and was, as Pelias pretended, the rightful property of their family. Jason was pleased with the thought and forthwith made preparations for the expedition. At that time the only species of navigation known to the Greeks consisted of small boats or canoes hollowed out from trunks of trees, so that when Jason employed Argus to build him a vessel capable of containing fifty men, it was considered a gigantic
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undertaking. It was accomplished, however, and the vessel named "Argo," from the name of the builder. Jason sent his invitation to all the adventurous young men of Greece, and soon found himself at the head of a band of bold youths, many of whom afterwards were renowned among the heroes and demigods of Greece. Hercules, Theseus, Orpheus, and Nestor were among them. They are called the Argonauts, from the name of their vessel.
The "Argo" with her crew of heroes left the shores of Thessaly and having touched at the Island of Lemnos, thence crossed to Mysia and thence to Thrace. Here they found the sage Phineus, and from him received instruction as to their future course. It seems the entrance of the Euxine Sea was impeded by two small rocky islands, which floated on the surface, and in their tossings and heavings occasionally came together, crushing and grinding to atoms any object that might be caught between them. They were called the Symplegades, or Clashing Islands. Phineus instructed the Argonauts how to pass this dangerous strait. When they reached the islands they let go a dove, which took her way between the rocks, and passed in safety, only losing some feathers of her tail. Jason and his men seized the favourable moment of the rebound, plied their oars with vigour, and passed safe through, though the islands closed behind them, and actually grazed their stern. They now rowed along the shore till they arrived at the eastern end of the sea, and landed at the kingdom of Colchis.
Jason made known his message to the Colchian king, Æetes, who consented to give up the golden fleece if Jason would yoke to the plough two fire-breathing bulls with brazen feet, and sow the teeth of the dragon which Cadmus had slain, and from which it was well known that a crop of armed men would spring up, who would turn their weapons against their producer. Jason accepted the conditions, and a time was set for making the experiment. Previously, however, he found means to plead his cause to Medea, daughter of the king. He promised her marriage, and as they stood before the altar of Hecate, called the goddess to witness his oath. Medea yielded, and by her aid, for she was a potent sorceress, he was furnished with a charm, by which he could encounter safely the breath of the fire-breathing bulls and the weapons of the armed men.
At the time appointed, the people assembled at the grove of Mars, and the king assumed his royal seat, while the multitude covered the hill-sides. The brazen-footed bulls rushed in, breathing fire from their nostrils that burned up the herbage as they passed. The sound was like the roar of a furnace, and the smoke like that of water upon quick-lime. Jason advanced boldly to meet them. His friends, the chosen heroes of Greece, trembled to behold him. Regardless of the burning breath, he soothed their rage with his voice, patted their necks with fearless hand, and adroitly slipped over them the yoke, and compelled them to drag the plough. The Colchians were amazed; the Greeks shouted for joy. Jason next proceeded to sow the dragon's teeth and plough them in. And soon the crop of armed men sprang up, and, wonderful to relate! no sooner had they reached the surface than they began to brandish their weapons and rush upon Jason. The Greeks trembled for their hero, and even she who had provided him a way of safety and taught him how to use it, Medea herself, grew pale with fear. Jason for a time kept his assailants at bay with his sword and shield, till, finding their numbers overwhelming, he resorted to the charm which Medea had taught him, seized a stone and threw it in the midst of his foes. They immediately turned their arms against one another, and soon there was not one of the dragon's brood left alive. The Greeks embraced their hero, and Medea, if she dared, would have embraced him too.
It remained to lull to sleep the dragon that guarded the fleece, and this was done by scattering over him a few drops of a preparation which Medea had supplied. At the smell he relaxed his rage, stood for a moment motionless, then shut those great round eyes, that had never been known to shut before, and turned over on his side, fast asleep. Jason seized the fleece and with his friends and Medea accompanying, hastened to their vessel before Æetes the king could arrest their departure, and made the best of their way back to Thessaly, where they arrived safe, and Jason delivered the fleece to Pelias, and dedicated the "Argo" to Neptune. What became of the fleece afterwards we do not know, but perhaps it was found after all like many other golden prizes, not worth the trouble it had cost to procure it.
This is one of those mythological tales, says a late writer, in which there is reason to believe that a substratum of truth exists, though overlaid by a mass of fiction. It probably was the first important maritime expedition, and like the first attempts of the kind of all nations, as we know from history, was probably of a half-piratical character. If rich spoils were the result it was enough to give rise to the idea of the golden fleece.
Another suggestion of a learned mythologist, Bryant, is that it is a corrupt tradition of the story of Noah and the ark. The name "Argo" seems to countenance this, and the incident of the dove is another confirmation.
Pope, in his "Ode on St. Cecilia's Day," thus celebrates the launching of the ship "Argo," and the power of the music of Orpheus, whom he calls the Thracian: "So when the first bold vessel dared the seas, High on the stern the Thracian raised his strain, While Argo saw her kindred trees Descend from Pelion to the main. Transported demigods stood round, And men grew heroes at the sound."
In Dyer's poem of "The Fleece" there is an account of the ship "Argo" and her crew, which gives a good picture of this primitive maritime adventure: "From every region of Ægea's shore The brave assembled; those illustrious twins
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Castor and Pollux; Orpheus, tuneful bard; Zetes and Calais, as the wind in speed; Strong Hercules and many a chief renowned. On deep Ioclos' sandy shore they thronged, Gleaming in armour, ardent of exploits; And soon, the laurel cord and the huge stone Uplifting to the deck, unmoored the bark; Whose keel of wondrous length the skilful hand Of Argus fashioned for the proud attempt; And in the extended keel a lofty mast Upraised, and sails full swelling; to the chiefs Unwonted objects. Now first, now they learned Their bolder steerage over ocean wave, Led by the golden stars, as Chiron's art Had marked the sphere celestial," etc.
Hercules left the expedition at Mysia, for Hylas, a youth beloved by him, having gone for water, was laid hold of and kept by the nymphs of the spring, who were fascinated by his beauty. Hercules went in quest of the lad, and while he was absent the "Argo" put to sea and left him. Moore, in one of his songs, makes a beautiful allusion to this incident: "When Hylas was sent with his urn to the fount, Through fields full of light and with heart full of play, Light rambled the boy over meadow and mount, And neglected his task for the flowers in the way. "Thus many like me, who in youth should have tasted The fountain that runs by Philosophy's shrine, Their time with the flowers on the margin have wasted, And left their light urns all as empty as mine."
Medea and Æson
Amid the rejoicings for the recovery of the Golden Fleece, Jason felt that one thing was wanting, the presence of Æson, his father, who was prevented by his age and infirmities from taking part in them. Jason said to Medea, "My spouse, would that your arts, whose power I have seen so mighty for my aid, could do me one further service, take some years from my life and add them to my father's." Medea replied, "Not at such a cost shall it be done, but if my art avails me, his life shall be lengthened without abridging yours." The next full moon she issued forth alone, while all creatures slept; not a breath stirred the foliage, and all was still. To the stars she addressed her incantations, and to the moon; to Hecate, the goddess of the under-world, and to Tellus the goddess of the earth, by whose power plants potent for enchantment are produced. She invoked the gods of the woods and caverns, of mountains and valleys, of lakes and rivers, of winds and vapours. While she spoke the stars shone brighter, and presently a chariot descended through the air, drawn by flying serpents. She ascended it, and borne aloft made her way to distant regions, where potent plants grew which she knew how to select for her purpose. Nine nights she employed in her search, and during that time came not within the doors of her palace nor under any roof, and shunned all intercourse with mortals.
She next erected two altars, the one to Hecate, the other to Hebe, the goddess of youth, and sacrificed a black sheep, pouring libations of milk and wine. She implored Pluto and his stolen bride that they would not hasten to take the old man's life. Then she directed that Æson should be led forth, and having thrown him into a deep sleep by a charm, had him laid on a bed of herbs, like one dead. Jason and all others were kept away from the place, that no profane eyes might look upon her mysteries. Then, with streaming hair, she thrice moved round the altars, dipped flaming twigs in the blood, and laid them thereon to burn. Meanwhile the cauldron with its contents was got ready. In it she put magic herbs, with seeds and flowers of acrid juice, stones from the distant east, and sand from the shore of all-surrounding ocean; hoar frost, gathered by moonlight, a screech owl's head and wings, and the entrails of a wolf. She added fragments of the shells of tortoises, and the liver of stags—animals tenacious of life—and the head and beak of a crow, that outlives nine generations of men. These with many other things "without a name" she boiled together for her purposed work, stirring them up with a dry olive branch; and behold! the branch when taken out instantly became green, and before long was covered with leaves and a plentiful growth of young olives; and as the liquor boiled and bubbled, and sometimes ran over, the grass wherever the sprinklings fell shot forth with a verdure like that of spring.
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Seeing that all was ready, Medea cut the throat of the old man and let out all his blood, and poured into his mouth and into his wound the juices of her cauldron. As soon as he had completely imbibed them, his hair and beard laid by their whiteness and assumed the blackness of youth; his paleness and emaciation were gone; his veins were full of blood, his limbs of vigour and robustness. Æson is amazed at himself, and remembers that such as he now is, he was in his youthful days, forty years before.
Medea used her arts here for a good purpose, but not so in another instance, where she made them the instruments of revenge. Pelias, our readers will recollect, was the usurping uncle of Jason, and had kept him out of his kingdom. Yet he must have had some good qualities, for his daughters loved him, and when they saw what Medea had done for Æson, they wished her to do the same for their father. Medea pretended to consent, and prepared her cauldron as before. At her request an old sheep was brought and plunged into the cauldron. Very soon a bleating was heard in the kettle, and when the cover was removed, a lamb jumped forth and ran frisking away into the meadow. The daughters of Pelias saw the experiment with delight, and appointed a time for their father to undergo the same operation. But Medea prepared her cauldron for him in a very different way. She put in only water and a few simple herbs. In the night she with the sisters entered the bed chamber of the old king, while he and his guards slept soundly under the influence of a spell cast upon them by Medea. The daughters stood by the bedside with their weapons drawn, but hesitated to strike, till Medea chid their irresolution. Then turning away their faces, and giving random blows, they smote him with their weapons. He, starting from his sleep, cried out, "My daughters, what are you doing? Will you kill your father?" Their hearts failed them and their weapons fell from their hands, but Medea struck him a fatal blow, and prevented his saying more.
Then they placed him in the cauldron, and Medea hastened to depart in her serpent-drawn chariot before they discovered her treachery or their vengeance would have been terrible. She escaped, however, but had little enjoyment of the fruits of her crime. Jason, for whom she had done so much, wishing to marry Creusa, princess of Corinth, put away Medea. She, enraged at his ingratitude, called on the gods for vengeance, sent a poisoned robe as a gift to the bride, and then killing her own children, and setting fire to the palace, mounted her serpent-drawn chariot and fled to Athens, where she married King Ægeus, the father of Theseus.…
The incantations of Medea will remind the reader of those of the witches in "Macbeth." The following lines are those which seem most strikingly to recall the ancient model: "Round about the cauldron go; In the poisoned entrails throw. . . . . . Fillet of a fenny snake In the cauldron boil and bake; Eye of newt and toe of frog, Wool of bat and tongue of dog, Adder's fork and blind-worm's sting, Lizard's leg and howlet's wing; . . . . . Maw of ravening salt-sea shark, Root of hemlock digged in the dark," etc. Macbeth, Act IV. Scene I.
And again: Macbeth.—What is't you do? Witches.—A deed without a name.
There is another story of Medea almost too revolting for record even of a sorceress, a class of persons to whom both ancient and modern poets have been accustomed to attribute every degree of atrocity. In her flight from Colchis she had taken her young brother Absyrtus with her. Finding the pursuing vessels of Æetes gaining upon the Argonauts, she caused the lad to be killed and his limbs to be strewn over the sea. Æetes on reaching the place found these sorrowful traces of his murdered son; but while he tarried to collect the scattered fragments and bestow upon them an honourable interment, the Argonauts escaped.
In the poems of Campbell will be found a translation of one of the choruses of the tragedy of "Medea," where the poet Euripides has taken advantage of the occasion to pay a glowing tribute to Athens, his native city. It begins thus: "O haggard queen! to Athens dost thou guide Thy glowing chariot, steeped in kindred gore; Or seek to hide thy damned parricide Where peace and justice dwell for evermore?"
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The Myrmidons
According to ancient Greek mythology, the Myrmidon people came from the island of Aegina in central Greece. In the ancient Greek poet Homer’s epic the Iliad, they fought with the Greek hero Achilles in the Trojan War. In the following excerpt from Bulfinch’s Mythology, 19th-century American writer Thomas Bulfinch recounted the story of how the Myrmidons were created after the goddess Hera (Latin name Juno), queen of the gods, destroyed the island’s former inhabitants with a plague. Bulfinch relied on an account passed down by the Roman poet Ovid for his description of the plague.
The Myrmidons were the soldiers of Achilles, in the Trojan war. From them all zealous and unscrupulous followers of a political chief are called by that name, down to this day. But the origin of the Myrmidons would not give one the idea of a fierce and bloody race, but rather of a laborious and peaceful one.
Cephalus, king of Athens, arrived in the island of Ægina to seek assistance of his old friend and ally Æacus, the king, in his war with Minos, king of Crete. Cephalus was most kindly received, and the desired assistance readily promised. "I have people enough," said Æacus, "to protect myself and spare you such a force as you need." "I rejoice to see it," replied Cephalus, "and my wonder has been raised, I confess, to find such a host of youths as I see around me, all apparently of about the same age. Yet there are many individuals whom I previously knew, that I look for now in vain. What has become of them?" Æacus groaned, and replied with a voice of sadness, "I have been intending to tell you, and will now do so, without more delay, that you may see how from the saddest beginning a happy result sometimes flows. Those whom you formerly knew are now dust and ashes! A plague sent by angry Juno devastated the land. She hated it because it bore the name of one of her husband's female favourites. While the disease appeared to spring from natural causes we resisted it as we best might, by natural remedies; but it soon appeared that the pestilence was too powerful for our efforts, and we yielded. At the beginning the sky seemed to settle down upon the earth, and thick clouds shut in the heated air. For four months together a deadly south wind prevailed. The disorder affected the wells and springs; thousands of snakes crept over the land and shed their poison in the fountains. The force of the disease was first spent on the lower animals—dogs, cattle, sheep, and birds. The luckless ploughman wondered to see his oxen fall in the midst of their work, and lie helpless in the unfinished furrow. The wool fell from the bleating sheep, and their bodies pined away. The horse, once foremost in the race, contested the palm no more, but groaned at his stall and died an inglorious death. The wild boar forgot his rage, the stag his swiftness, the bears no longer attacked the herds. Everything languished; dead bodies lay in the roads, the fields, and the woods; the air was poisoned by them. I tell you what is hardly credible, but neither dogs nor birds would touch them, nor starving wolves. Their decay spread the infection. Next the disease attacked the country people, and then the dwellers in the city. At first the cheek was flushed, and the breath drawn with difficulty. The tongue grew rough and swelled, and the dry mouth stood open with its veins enlarged and gasped for the air. Men could not bear the heat of their clothes or their beds, but preferred to lie on the bare ground; and the ground did not cool them, but, on the contrary, they heated the spot where they lay. Nor could the physicians help, for the disease attacked them also, and the contact of the sick gave them infection, so that the most faithful were the first victims. At last all hope of relief vanished, and men learned to look upon death as the only deliverer from disease. Then they gave way to every inclination, and cared not to ask what was expedient, for nothing was expedient. All restraint laid aside, they crowded around the wells and fountains and drank till they died, without quenching thirst. Many had not strength to get away from the water, but died in the midst of the stream, and others would drink of it notwithstanding. Such was their weariness of their sick beds that some would creep forth, and if not strong enough to stand, would die on the ground. They seemed to hate their friends, and got away from their homes, as if, not knowing the cause of their sickness, they charged it on the place of their abode. Some were seen tottering along the road, as long as they could stand, while others sank on the earth, and turned their dying eyes around to take a last look, then closed them in death.
"What heart had I left me, during all this, or what ought I to have had, except to hate life and wish to be with my dead subjects? On all sides lay my people strewn like over-ripened apples beneath the tree, or acorns under the storm-shaken oak. You see yonder a temple on the height. It is sacred to Jupiter. O how many offered prayers there, husbands for wives, fathers for sons, and died in the very act of supplication! How often, while the priest made ready for sacrifice, the victim fell, struck down by disease without waiting for the blow! At length all reverence for sacred things was lost. Bodies were thrown out unburied, wood was wanting for funeral piles, men fought with one another for the possession of them. Finally there were none left to mourn; sons and husbands, old men and youths, perished alike unlamented.
"Standing before the altar I raised my eyes to heaven. 'O Jupiter,' I said, 'if thou art indeed my father, and art not ashamed of thy offspring, give me back my people, or take me also away!' At these words a clap of thunder was heard. 'I accept the omen,' I cried; 'O may it be a sign of a favourable disposition towards me!' By chance there grew by the place where I stood an oak with wide-spreading branches, sacred to Jupiter. I observed a troop of ants busy with their labour, carrying minute grains in their mouths and following one another in a line up the trunk of the tree. Observing their numbers with admiration, I
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said, 'Give me, O father, citizens as numerous as these, and replenish my empty city.' The tree shook and gave a rustling sound with its branches, though no wind agitated them. I trembled in every limb, yet I kissed the earth and the tree. I would not confess to myself that I hoped, yet I did hope. Night came on and sleep took possession of my frame oppressed with cares. The tree stood before me in my dreams, with its numerous branches all covered with living, moving creatures. It seemed to shake its limbs and throw down over the ground a multitude of those industrious grain-gathering animals, which appeared to gain in size, and grow larger and larger, and by and by to stand erect, lay aside their superfluous legs and their black colour, and finally to assume the human form. Then I awoke, and my first impulse was to chide the gods who had robbed me of a sweet vision and given me no reality in its place. Being still in the temple, my attention was caught by the sound of many voices without; a sound of late unusual to my ears. While I began to think I was yet dreaming, Telamon, my son, throwing open the temple gates, exclaimed: 'Father, approach, and behold things surpassing even your hopes!' I went forth; I saw a multitude of men such as I had seen in my dream, and they were passing in procession in the same manner. While I gazed with wonder and delight they approached, and kneeling hailed me as their king. I paid my vows to Jove, and proceeded to allot the vacant city to the new-born race, and to parcel out the fields among them. I called them Myrmidons, from the ant [Greek myrmêkes, “ants”] from which they sprang. You have seen these persons; their dispositions resemble those which they had in their former shape. They are a diligent and industrious race, eager to gain, and tenacious of their gains. Among them you may recruit your forces. They will follow you to the war, young in years and bold in heart."
This description of the plague is copied by Ovid from the account which Thucydides, the Greek historian, gives of the plague of Athens. The historian drew from life, and all the poets and writers of fiction since his day, when they have had occasion to describe a similar scene, have borrowed their details from him.
The Phoenix
American writer and mythologist Thomas Bulfinch offers the following ancient Greek and Roman descriptions of the phoenix, a powerful bird of Egyptian mythology, often associated with the sun. Beginning with accounts of the phoenix by classical historians such as Tacitus and Herodotus, Bulfinch goes on to cite the resurrection of the symbolic bird by poets and writers of the English Restoration.
[The ancient Roman poet] Ovid tells the story of the Phoenix as follows: "Most beings spring from other individuals; but there is a certain kind which reproduces itself. The Assyrians call it the Phoenix. It does not live on fruit or flowers, but on frankincense and [other] odoriferous gums. When it has lived five hundred years, it builds itself a nest in the branches of an oak, or on the top of a palm tree. In this it collects cinnamon, and spikenard [a fragrant ointment], and myrrh [an aromatic gum resin], and of these materials builds a pile on which it deposits itself, and dying, breathes out its last breath amidst odours. From the body of the parent bird, a young Phoenix issues forth, destined to live as long a life as its predecessor. When this has grown up and gained sufficient strength, it lifts its nest from the tree (its own cradle and its parent's sepulchre), and carries it to the city of Heliopolis in Egypt, and deposits it in the temple of the Sun."
Such is the account given by a poet. Now let us see that of a philosophic historian. Tacitus [Cornelius Tacitus, an ancient Roman historian] says, "in the consulship of Paulus Fabius (A.D. 34) the miraculous bird known to the world by the name of the Phoenix, after disappearing for a series of ages, revisited Egypt. It was attended in its flight by a group of various birds, all attracted by the novelty, and gazing with wonder at so beautiful an appearance." He then gives an account of the bird, not varying materially from the preceding, but adding some details. "The first care of the young bird as soon as fledged, and able to trust to his wings, is to perform the obsequies of his father. But this duty is not undertaken rashly. He collects a quantity of myrrh, and to try his strength makes frequent excursions with a load on his back. When he has gained sufficient confidence in his own vigour, he takes up the body of his father and flies with it to the altar of the Sun, where he leaves it to be consumed in flames of fragrance." Other writers add a few particulars. The myrrh is compacted in the form of an egg, in which the dead Phoenix is enclosed. From the mouldering flesh of the dead bird a worm springs, and this worm, when grown large, is transformed into a bird. [The ancient Greek historian] Herodotus describes the bird, though he says, "I have not seen it myself, except in a picture. Part of his plumage is gold-coloured, and part crimson; and he is for the most part very much like an eagle in outline and bulk."
The first writer who disclaimed a belief in the existence of the Phoenix was [17th century physician and essayist] Sir Thomas Browne, in his "Vulgar Errors," published in 1646. He was replied to a few years later by [17th century writer and mythologist] Alexander Ross, who says, in answer to the objection of the Phoenix so seldom making his appearance, "His instinct teaches him to keep out of the way of the tyrant of the creation, man, for if he were to be got at, some wealthy glutton would surely devour him, though there were no more in the world."
[The 17th century English poet John] Dryden in one of his early poems has this allusion to the Phoenix: "So when the new-born Phoenix first is seen Her feathered subjects all adore their queen,
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And while she makes her progress through the East, From every grove her numerous train's increased; Each poet of the air her glory sings, And round him the pleased audience clap their wings."
[The 17th century English poet and scholar John] Milton, in "Paradise Lost," Book V., compares the angel Raphael descending to earth to a Phoenix: "… Down thither, prone in flight He speeds, and through the vast ethereal sky Sails between worlds and worlds, with steady wing, Now on the polar winds, then with quick fan Winnows the buxom air; till within soar Of towering eagles, to all the fowls he seems A Phoenix, gazed by all; as that sole bird When, to enshrine his relics in the sun's Bright temple, to Egyptian Thebes he flies."
The Sphinx
The sphinx of Greek mythology was a monster with the head and breasts of a woman, the body of a lion, and the wings of a bird. American writer Thomas Bulfinch included the story of the sphinx in his collection of myths, first published as The Age of Fable (1855).
Laius, king of Thebes, was warned by an oracle that there was danger to his throne and life if his new-born son should be suffered to grow up. He therefore committed the child to the care of a herdsman with orders to destroy him; but the herdsman, moved with pity, yet not daring entirely to disobey, tied up the child by the feet and left him hanging to the branch of a tree. In this condition the infant was found by a peasant, who carried him to his master and mistress, by whom he was adopted and called OEdipus, or Swollen-foot.
Many years afterwards Laius being on his way to Delphi, accompanied only by one attendant, met in a narrow road a young man also driving in a chariot. On his refusal to leave the way at their command the attendant killed one of his horses, and the stranger, filled with rage, slew both Laius and his attendant. The young man was OEdipus, who thus unknowingly became the slayer of his own father.
Shortly after this event the city of Thebes was afflicted with a monster which infested the highroad. It was called the Sphinx. It had the body of a lion and the upper part of a woman. It lay crouched on the top of a rock, and arrested all travellers who came that way, proposing to them a riddle, with the condition that those who could solve it should pass safe, but those who failed should be killed. Not one had yet succeeded in solving it, and all had been slain. OEdipus was not daunted by these alarming accounts, but boldly advanced to the trial. The Sphinx asked him, "What animal is that which in the morning goes on four feet, at noon on two, and in the evening upon three?" OEdipus replied, "Man, who in childhood creeps on hands and knees, in manhood walks erect, and in old age with the aid of a staff." The Sphinx was so mortified at the solving of her riddle that she cast herself down from the rock and perished.
The gratitude of the people for their deliverance was so great that they made OEdipus their king, giving him in marriage their queen Jocasta. OEdipus, ignorant of his parentage, had already become the slayer of his father; in marrying the queen he became the husband of his mother. These horrors remained undiscovered, till at length Thebes was afflicted with famine and pestilence, and the oracle being consulted, the double crime of OEdipus came to light. Jocasta put an end to her own life, and OEdipus, seized with madness, tore out his eyes and wandered away from Thebes, dreaded and abandoned by all except his daughters, who faithfully adhered to him, till after a tedious period of miserable wandering he found the termination of his wretched life.
The Trojan War
According to Greek legend, a golden apple launched the Trojan War. American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch began his account of the conflict that resulted in Troy’s devastation with Eris, the goddess of discord, who threw the troublesome apple. He went on to cover the mythological figures and events that directly preceded the Trojan War, including the judgment of Paris, the desertion of King Menelaus by his beautiful wife Helen of Troy, and the sacrifice of Iphigenia in Aulis.
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Minerva was the goddess of wisdom, but on one occasion she did a very foolish thing; she entered into competition with Juno [Roman queen of the gods] and Venus [Roman goddess of love and beauty] for the prize of beauty. It happened thus: At the nuptials of Peleus [mythological king of the Myrmidons] and Thetis [a sea nymph] all the gods were invited with the exception of Eris, or Discord. Enraged at her exclusion, the goddess threw a golden apple among the guests, with the inscription, "For the fairest." Thereupon Juno, Venus, and Minerva each claimed the apple. Jupiter [Roman ruler of the gods], not willing to decide in so delicate a matter, sent the goddesses to Mount Ida, where the beautiful shepherd Paris was tending his flocks, and to him was committed the decision. The goddesses accordingly appeared before him. Juno promised him power and riches, Minerva glory and renown in war, and Venus the fairest of women for his wife, each attempting to bias his decision in her own favour. Paris decided in favour of Venus and gave her the golden apple, thus making the two other goddesses his enemies. Under the protection of Venus, Paris sailed to Greece, and was hospitably received by Menelaus, king of Sparta. Now Helen, the wife of Menelaus, was the very woman whom Venus had destined for Paris, the fairest of her sex. She had been sought as a bride by numerous suitors, and before her decision was made known, they all, at the suggestion of Ulysses, one of their number, took an oath that they would defend her from all injury and avenge her cause if necessary. She chose Menelaus, and was living with him happily when Paris became their guest. Paris, aided by Venus, persuaded her to elope with him, and carried her to Troy, whence arose the famous Trojan war, the theme of the greatest poems of antiquity, those of Homer and Virgil.
Menelaus called upon his brother chieftains of Greece to fulfil their pledge, and join him in his efforts to recover his wife. They generally came forward, but Ulysses, who had married Penelope, and was very happy in his wife and child, had no disposition to embark in such a troublesome affair. He therefore hung back and Palamedes was sent to urge him. When Palamedes arrived at Ithaca Ulysses pretended to be mad. He yoked an ass and an ox together to the plough and began to sow salt. Palamedes, to try him, placed the infant Telemachus before the plough, whereupon the father turned the plough aside, showing plainly that he was no madman, and after that could no longer refuse to fulfil his promise. Being now himself gained for the undertaking, he lent his aid to bring in other reluctant chiefs, especially Achilles. This hero was the son of that Thetis at whose marriage the apple of Discord had been thrown among the goddesses. Thetis was herself one of the immortals, a sea nymph, and knowing that her son was fated to perish before Troy if he went on the expedition, she endeavoured to prevent his going. She sent him away to the court of King Lycomedes [ruler of Skyros], and induced him to conceal himself in the disguise of a maiden among the daughters of the king. Ulysses, hearing he was there, went disguised as a merchant to the palace and offered for sale female ornaments, among which he had placed some arms. While the king's daughters were engrossed with the other contents of the merchant's pack, Achilles handled the weapons and thereby betrayed himself to the keen eye of Ulysses, who found no great difficulty in persuading him to disregard his mother's prudent counsels and join his countrymen in the war.
Priam was king of Troy, and Paris, the shepherd and seducer of Helen, was his son. Paris had been brought up in obscurity, because there were certain ominous forebodings connected with him from his infancy that he would be the ruin of the state. These forebodings seemed at length likely to be realized, for the Grecian armament now in preparation was the greatest that had ever been fitted out. Agamemnon, king of Mycenæ, and brother of the injured Menelaus, was chosen commander-in-chief. Achilles was their most illustrious warrior. After him ranked Ajax, gigantic in size and of great courage, but dull of intellect; Diomede, second only to Achilles in all the qualities of a hero; Ulysses, famous for his sagacity; and Nestor, the oldest of the Grecian chiefs, and one to whom they all looked up for counsel. But Troy was no feeble enemy. Priam, the king, was now old, but he had been a wise prince and had strengthened his state by good government at home and numerous alliances with his neighbours. But the principal stay and support of his throne was his son Hector, one of the noblest characters painted by heathen antiquity. He felt, from the first, a presentiment of the fall of his country, but still persevered in his heroic resistance, yet by no means justified the wrong which brought this danger upon her. He was united in marriage with Andromache, and as a husband and father his character was not less admirable than as a warrior. The principal leaders on the side of the Trojans, besides Hector, were Æneas and Deiphobus, Glaucus and Sarpedon.
After two years of preparation the Greek fleet and army assembled in the port of Aulis in Boeotia. Here Agamemnon in hunting killed a stag which was sacred to Diana [Roman goddess of the moon and the hunt], and the goddess in return visited the army with pestilence, and produced a calm which prevented the ships from leaving the port. Calchas, the soothsayer, thereupon announced that the wrath of the virgin goddess could only be appeased by the sacrifice of a virgin on her altar, and that none other but the daughter of the offender would be acceptable. Agamemnon, however reluctant, yielded his consent, and the maiden Iphigenia was sent for under the pretence that she was to be married to Achilles. When she was about to be sacrificed the goddess relented and snatched her away, leaving a hind [a deer] in her place, and Iphigenia, enveloped in a cloud, was carried to Tauris, where Diana made her priestess of her temple.
Tennyson, in his "Dream of Fair Women," makes Iphigenia thus describe her feelings at the moment of sacrifice: "I was cut off from hope in that sad place, Which yet to name my spirit loathes and fears; My father held his hand upon his face;
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I, blinded by my tears, "Still strove to speak; my voice was thick with sighs, As in a dream. Dimly I could descry The stern black-bearded kings, with wolfish eyes, Waiting to see me die. "The tall masts quivered as they lay afloat, The temples and the people and the shore; One drew a sharp knife through my tender throat Slowly,—and—nothing more."
The wind now proving fair the fleet made sail and brought the forces to the coast of Troy. The Trojans came to oppose their landing, and at the first onset Protesilaus [mythological king of Phylace, in Thessaly] fell by the hand of Hector. Protesilaus had left at home his wife, Loadamia, who was most tenderly attached to him. When the news of his death reached her she implored the gods to be allowed to converse with him only three hours. The request was granted. Mercury led Protesilaus back to the upper world, and when he died a second time Laodamia died with him. There was a story that the nymphs planted elm trees round his grave which grew very well till they were high enough to command a view of Troy, and then withered away, while fresh branches sprang from the roots.
Wordsworth [English romantic poet William Wordsworth] has taken the story of Protesilaus and Laodamia for the subject of a poem. It seems the oracle had declared that victory should be the lot of that party from which should fall the first victim to the war. The poet represents Protesilaus, on his brief return to earth, as relating to Laodamia the story of his fate: "'The wished-for wind was given; I then revolved The oracle, upon the silent sea; And if no worthier led the way, resolved That of a thousand vessels mine should be The foremost prow impressing to the strand,— Mine the first blood that tinged the Trojan sand. "'Yet bitter, ofttimes bitter was the pang When of thy loss I thought, beloved wife! On thee too fondly did my memory hang, And on the joys we shared in mortal life, The paths which we had trod,—these fountains, flowers; My new planned cities and unfinished towers. "'But should suspense permit the foe to cry, "Behold they tremble! haughty their array, Yet of their number no one dares to die?" In soul I swept the indignity away: Old frailties then recurred: but lofty thought In act embodied my deliverance wrought.' ...... "…upon the side Of Hellespont (such faith was entertained) A knot of spiry trees for ages grew From out the tomb of him for whom she died; And ever when such stature they had gained That Ilium's walls were subject to their view, The trees' tall summits withered at the sight, A constant interchange of growth and blight!"
The Unicorn
Representing holiness and chastity, the legendary unicorn was a frequent symbol in the art and literature of the Middle Ages. Although the 19th century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch noted some similarities between the
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fabled beast and certain animals, his own beliefs concurred with those who concluded that the unicorn was merely the product of imaginative invention.
Pliny [Pliny the Elder], the Roman naturalist, out of whose account of the unicorn most of the modern unicorns have been described and figured, records it as "a very ferocious beast, similar in the rest of its body to a horse, with the head of a deer, the feet of an elephant, the tail of a boar, a deep, bellowing voice, and a single black horn, two cubits in length, standing out in the middle of its forehead." He adds that "it cannot be taken alive"; and some such excuse may have been necessary in those days for not producing the living animal upon the arena of the amphitheatre.
The unicorn seems to have been a sad puzzle to the hunters, who hardly knew how to come at so valuable a piece of game. Some described the horn as movable at the will of the animal, a kind of small sword, in short, with which no hunter who was not exceedingly cunning in fence could have a chance. Others maintained that all the animal's strength lay in its horn, and that when hard pressed in pursuit, it would throw itself from the pinnacle of the highest rocks horn foremost, so as to pitch upon it, and then quietly march off not a whit the worse for its fall.
But it seems they found out how to circumvent the poor unicorn at last. They discovered that it was a great lover of purity and innocence, so they took the field with a young virgin, who was placed in the unsuspecting admirer's way. When the unicorn spied her, he approached with all reverence, crouched beside her, and laying his head in her lap, fell asleep. The treacherous virgin then gave a signal, and the hunters made in and captured the simple beast.
Modern zoologists, disgusted as they well may be with such fables as these, disbelieved generally the existence of the unicorn. Yet there are animals bearing on their heads a bony protuberance more or less like a horn, which may have given rise to the story. The rhinoceros horn, as it is called, is such a protuberance, though it does not exceed a few inches in height, and is far from agreeing with the descriptions of the horn of the unicorn. The nearest approach to a horn in the middle of the forehead is exhibited in the bony protuberance on the forehead of the giraffe; but this also is short and blunt, and is not the only horn of the animal, but a third horn, standing in front of the two others. In fine, though it would be presumptuous to deny the existence of a one-horned quadruped other than the rhinoceros, it may be safely stated that the insertion of a long and solid horn in the living forehead of a horse-like or deer-like animal is as near an impossibility as anything can be.
Theseus
Nineteenth-century American mythologist and writer Thomas Bulfinch arranged these stories about the mythical figures Theseus, the legendary king and hero of Athens, Greece, and Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos of Crete. Bulfinch relied mainly on the works of the ancient Roman poets Ovid and Virgil in creating his retellings of myths from antiquity.
Theseus was the son of Ægeus, king of Athens, and of Æthra, daughter of the king of Troezen. He was brought up at Troezen, and when arrived at manhood was to proceed to Athens and present himself to his father. Ægeus on parting from Æthra, before the birth of his son, placed his sword and shoes under a large stone and directed her to send his son to him when he became strong enough to roll away the stone and take them from under it. When she thought the time had come, his mother led Theseus to the stone, and he removed it with ease and took the sword and shoes. As the roads were infested with robbers, his grandfather pressed him earnestly to take the shorter and safer way to his father's country—by sea; but the youth, feeling in himself the spirit and the soul of a hero, and eager to signalize himself like Hercules, with whose fame all Greece then rang, by destroying the evil-doers and monsters that oppressed the country, determined on the more perilous and adventurous journey by land.
His first day's journey brought him to Epidaurus, where dwelt a man named Periphetes, a son of Vulcan [god of fire]. This ferocious savage always went armed with a club of iron, and all travellers stood in terror of his violence. When he saw Theseus approach he assailed him, but speedily fell beneath the blows of the young hero, who took possession of his club and bore it ever afterwards as a memorial of his first victory.
Several similar contests with the petty tyrants and marauders of the country followed, in all of which Theseus was victorious. One of these evil-doers was called Procrustes, or the Stretcher. He had an iron bedstead, on which he used to tie all travellers who fell into his hands. If they were shorter than the bed, he stretched their limbs to make them fit it; if they were longer than the bed, he lopped off a portion. Theseus served him as he had served others.
Having overcome all the perils of the road, Theseus at length reached Athens, where new dangers awaited him. Medea, the sorceress, who had fled from Corinth after her separation from Jason, had become the wife of Ægeus, the father of Theseus. Knowing by her arts who he was, and fearing the loss of her influence with her husband if Theseus should be acknowledged as his son, she filled the mind of Ægeus with suspicions of the young stranger, and induced him to present him a cup of poison; but at the moment when Theseus stepped forward to take it, the sight of the sword which he wore discovered to his
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father who he was, and prevented the fatal draught. Medea, detected in her arts, fled once more from deserved punishment, and arrived in Asia, where the country afterwards called Media, received its name from her. Theseus was acknowledged by his father, and declared his successor.
The Athenians were at that time in deep affliction, on account of the tribute which they were forced to pay to Minos, king of Crete. This tribute consisted of seven youths and seven maidens, who were sent every year to be devoured by the Minotaur, a monster with a bull's body and a human head. It was exceedingly strong and fierce, and was kept in a labyrinth constructed by Dædalus, so artfully contrived that whoever was enclosed in it could by no means find his way out unassisted. Here the Minotaur roamed, and was fed with human victims.
Theseus resolved to deliver his countrymen from this calamity, or to die in the attempt. Accordingly, when the time of sending off the tribute came, and the youths and maidens were, according to custom, drawn by lot to be sent, he offered himself as one of the victims, in spite of the entreaties of his father. The ship departed under black sails, as usual, which Theseus promised his father to change for white, in case of his returning victorious. When they arrived in Crete, the youths and maidens were exhibited before Minos; and Ariadne, the daughter of the king, being present, became deeply enamoured of Theseus, by whom her love was readily returned. She furnished him with a sword, with which to encounter the Minotaur, and with a clue of thread by which he might find his way out of the labyrinth. He was successful, slew the Minotaur, escaped from the labyrinth, and taking Ariadne as the companion of his way, with his rescued companions sailed for Athens. On their way they stopped at the island of Naxos, where Theseus abandoned Ariadne, leaving her asleep. His excuse for this ungrateful treatment of his benefactress was that Minerva [goddess of the arts and trades, Roman name for the patron goddess of Athens] appeared to him in a dream and commanded him to do so.
On approaching the coast of Attica, Theseus forgot the signal appointed by his father, and neglected to raise the white sails, and the old king, thinking his son had perished, put an end to his own life. Theseus thus became king of Athens.
One of the most celebrated of the adventures of Theseus is his expedition against the Amazons. He assailed them before they had recovered from the attack of Hercules, and carried off their queen Antiope. The Amazons in their turn invaded the country of Athens and penetrated into the city itself; and the final battle in which Theseus overcame them was fought in the very midst of the city. This battle was one of the favourite subjects of the ancient sculptors, and is commemorated in several works of art that are still extant.
The friendship between Theseus and Pirithous was of a most intimate nature, yet it originated in the midst of arms. Pirithous had made an irruption into the plain of Marathon, and carried off the herds of the king of Athens. Theseus went to repel the plunderers. The moment Pirithous beheld him, he was seized with admiration; he stretched out his hand as a token of peace, and cried, "Be judge thyself—what satisfaction dost thou require?" "Thy friendship," replied the Athenian, and they swore inviolable fidelity. Their deeds corresponded to their professions, and they ever continued true brothers in arms. Each of them aspired to espouse a daughter of Jupiter [ruler of the gods]. Theseus fixed his choice on Helen, then but a child, afterwards so celebrated as the cause of the Trojan war, and with the aid of his friend he carried her off. Pirithous aspired to the wife of the monarch of Erebus [the underworld]; and Theseus, though aware of the danger, accompanied the ambitious lover in his descent to the underworld. But Pluto [god of the dead] seized and set them on an enchanted rock at his palace gate, where they remained till Hercules arrived and liberated Theseus, leaving Pirithous to his fate.
After the death of Antiope, Theseus married Phædra, daughter of Minos, king of Crete. Phædra saw in Hippolytus, the son of Theseus, a youth endowed with all the graces and virtues of his father, and of an age corresponding to her own. She loved him, but he repulsed her advances, and her love was changed to hate. She used her influence over her infatuated husband to cause him to be jealous of his son, and he imprecated the vengeance of Neptune upon him. As Hippolytus was one day driving his chariot along the shore, a seamonster raised himself above the waters, and frightened the horses so that they ran away and dashed the chariot to pieces. Hippolytus was killed, but by Diana's assistance Æsculapius restored him to life. Diana [goddess of the moon and the hunt] removed Hippolytus from the power of his deluded father and false stepmother, and placed him in Italy under the protection of the nymph Egeria.
Theseus at length lost the favour of his people, and retired to the court of Lycomedes, king of Scyros, who at first received him kindly, but afterwards treacherously slew him. In a later age the Athenian general Cimon discovered the place where his remains were laid, and caused them to be removed to Athens, where they were deposited in a temple called the Theseum, erected in honour of the hero.
The queen of the Amazons whom Theseus espoused is by some called Hippolyta. That is the name she bears in [17th-century English playwright and poet William] Shakespeare's "Midsummer Night's Dream,"—the subject of which is the festivities attending the nuptials of Theseus and Hippolyta.
[British poet Felicia] Hemans has a poem on the ancient Greek tradition that the "Shade of Theseus" appeared strengthening his countrymen at the battle of Marathon.
Theseus is a semi-historical personage. It is recorded of him that he united the several tribes by whom the territory of Attica was then possessed into one state, of which Athens was the capital. In commemoration of this important event, he instituted the festival of Panathenæa, in honour of Minerva, the patron deity of Athens. This festival differed from the other Grecian
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games chiefly in two particulars. It was peculiar to the Athenians, and its chief feature was a solemn procession in which the Peplus, or sacred robe of Minerva, was carried to the Parthenon, and suspended before the statue of the goddess. The Peplus was covered with embroidery, worked by select virgins of the noblest families in Athens. The procession consisted of persons of all ages and both sexes. The old men carried olive branches in their hands, and the young men bore arms. The young women carried baskets on their heads, containing the sacred utensils, cakes, and all things necessary for the sacrifices. The procession formed the subject of the bas-reliefs which embellished the outside of the temple of the Parthenon. A considerable portion of these sculptures is now in the British Museum among those known as the "Elgin marbles."…
Ariadne
We have seen in the story of Theseus how Ariadne, the daughter of King Minos, after helping Theseus to escape from the labyrinth, was carried by him to the island of Naxos and was left there asleep, while the ungrateful Theseus pursued his way home without her. Ariadne, on waking and finding herself deserted, abandoned herself to grief. But Venus took pity on her, and consoled her with the promise that she should have an immortal lover, instead of the mortal one she had lost.
The island where Ariadne was left was the favourite island of Bacchus, the same that he wished the Tyrrhenian mariners to carry him to, when they so treacherously attempted to make prize of him. As Ariadne sat lamenting her fate, Bacchus [the god of wine] found her, consoled her, and made her his wife. As a marriage present he gave her a golden crown, enriched with gems, and when she died, he took her crown and threw it up into the sky. As it mounted the gems grew brighter and were turned into stars, and preserving its form Ariadne's crown remains fixed in the heavens as a constellation, between the kneeling Hercules and the man who holds the serpent.
[Sixteenth-century English poet Edmund] Spenser alludes to Ariadne's crown, though he has made some mistakes in his mythology. It was at the wedding of Pirithous, and not Theseus, that the Centaurs and Lapithæ quarrelled.
"Look how the crown which Ariadne wore Upon her ivory forehead that same day That Theseus her unto his bridal bore, Then the bold Centaurs made that bloody fray With the fierce Lapiths which did them dismay; Being now placed in the firmament, Through the bright heaven doth her beams display, And is unto the stars an ornament, Which round about her move in order excellent."
Venus and Adonis
In Roman mythology Venus (called Aphrodite in Greek mythology) was the goddess of love and beauty. Among her many lovers was a handsome young man named Adonis. The story of his death, retold by the 19th century American writer Thomas Bulfinch, describes how the grieving Venus memorialized him in the form of a blood-red flower called the anemone.
Venus, playing one day with her boy Cupid, wounded her bosom with one of his arrows. She pushed him away, but the wound was deeper than she thought. Before it healed she beheld Adonis, and was captivated with him. She no longer took any interest in her favourite resorts—Paphos, and Cnidos, and Amathos, rich in metals. She absented herself even from heaven, for Adonis was dearer to her than heaven. Him she followed and bore him company. She who used to love to recline in the shade, with no care but to cultivate her charms, now rambles through the woods and over the hills, dressed like the huntress Diana; and calls her dogs, and chases hares and stags, or other game that it is safe to hunt, but keeps clear of the wolves and bears, reeking with the slaughter of the herd. She charged Adonis, too, to beware of such dangerous animals. "Be brave towards the timid," said she; "courage against the courageous is not safe. Beware how you expose yourself to danger and put my happiness to risk. Attack not the beasts that Nature has armed with weapons. I do not value your glory so high as to consent to purchase it by such exposure. Your youth, and the beauty that charms Venus, will not touch the hearts of lions and bristly boars. Think of their terrible claws and prodigious strength! I hate the whole race of them. Do you ask me why?" Then she told him the story of Atalanta and Hippomenes, who were changed into lions for their ingratitude to her.
Having given him this warning, she mounted her chariot drawn by swans, and drove away through the air. But Adonis was too noble to heed such counsels. The dogs had roused a wild boar from his lair, and the youth threw his spear and wounded the animal with a sidelong stroke. The beast drew out the weapon with his jaws, and rushed after Adonis, who turned and ran; but the boar overtook him, and buried his tusks in his side, and stretched him dying upon the plain.
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Venus, in her swan-drawn chariot, had not yet reached Cyprus, when she heard coming up through mid-air the groans of her beloved, and turned her white-winged coursers back to earth. As she drew near and saw from on high his lifeless body bathed in blood, she alighted and, bending over it, beat her breast and tore her hair. Reproaching the Fates, she said, "Yet theirs shall be but a partial triumph; memorials of my grief shall endure, and the spectacle of your death, my Adonis, and of my lamentation shall be annually renewed. Your blood shall be changed into a flower; that consolation none can envy me." Thus speaking, she sprinkled nectar on the blood; and as they mingled, bubbles rose as in a pool on which raindrops fall, and in an hour's time there sprang up a flower of bloody hue like that of the pomegranate. But it is short-lived. It is said the wind blows the blossoms open, and afterwards blows the petals away; so it is called Anemone, or Wind Flower, from the cause which assists equally in its production and its decay.
Milton [John Milton, 17th century English poet] alludes to the story of Venus and Adonis in his "Comus": "Beds of hyacinth and roses Where young Adonis oft reposes, Waxing well of his deep wound In slumber soft, and on the ground Sadly sits th' Assyrian queen;" etc.