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Home , Aegae (Achaea), Aegae (Euboea), Apollo, Coronis (mythology), Dardanus (Greek myth), Dardanus (son of Zeus)

The Male Olympians

Chris Mackie The Male Olympians

The three brothers The younger generation

• • • • • •

Chris Mackie The Olympian Family TRee

IMAGE: http://www.buzzle.com/images/zeus-family-tree.jpg Chris Mackie Zeus ()

• Birth • Relationships with the other Olympians as brother or father • The division of the world

Zeus with his bolt and . Attic Red Figure attributed to the Painter, c.470 - 460 BCE Chris Mackie http://www.theoi.com/image/K1.1Zeus.jpg Zeus

• Zeus as of the and mountains • Zeus in the story of in the on and Mount • Interaction with the world of via intermediaries or in theriomorphic (ie wild animal) form • Note especially Hermes and

Zeus and feasting on Olympos, served by or Iris. Attic Red Figure Amphora Attributed to the Nikoxenos Painter, c.500 BCE: Chris Mackie http://www.theoi.com/image/K18.2Hebe.jpg Zeus

• The sexual encounters of Zeus with mortal women are incredibly numerous. They include: • Danae () • () • The unnamed mother of , the founder of Troy • (). Note the Zeus asumes the form of a shower of gold to famous poem by W.B. impregnate Danae. (Lucanian?) Red Figure , c 450 - 425 BCE: Yeats http://www.theoi.com/image/K1.14Zeus.jpg Chris Mackie Zeus

• Note also Zeus’s homosexual relationship with , the young Trojan boy. Zeus comes down from as an eagle and takes the boy up Above: Ganymede serves to Zeus. Attic to Olympus where he Red Figure Krater,.attributed to the becomes his cup Eucharides Painter c. 490 bearer - 480 BCE: http://www.theoi.com/ image/ O24.6Ganymedes.jpg LEFT: Zeus abducts Ganymede. Clay group from Olympia. c.470 BCE: Chris Mackie http://www.beazley.ox.ac.uk/dictionary/Dict/image/GanymedeSmall.jpg Zeus and the house of DArdanus • Note Zeus and the world of Troy • Zeus has considerable interaction with Troy across the generations, especially with Dardanus, , Ganymede, , and • Troy is the sacred city

Trojan family tree. http://t1.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcThhZyGfStRiMJneUFKxTy4m7xKqMIp_JcB45rKBhEtU2cd6ZiRKcdvKhmC Zeus • Note the limitations of Zeus’s power. He is not omniscient and he is not omnipotent. • The story of and the story of

Zeus, attended by () and Persuasion, takes the shape of a to seduce Leda. Apulian Red Figure attributed to the Painter of MNB 1148, c. 350 - 340 BCE: http://www.theoi.com/image/K1.11Zeus.jpg Chris Mackie Poseidon ()

"I begin to sing about Poseidon, the great god, mover of the and fruitless , god of the deep who is also lord of Helicon and wide . O Shaker of the Earth (Ennosigaios), to be a tamer of horses and a saviour of ships! Hail Poseidon Holder of the Earth (gaienokhos), dark-haired lord! O blessed one, be kindly in heart and help those who voyage in ships!“

Homeric Hymn 22 to Poseidon (trans. “Neptune and ” Evelyn-) Giovanni Lorenzo Bernini, c. 1622-1623. http://culturextourism.com/wp-content/uploads/2012/01/Ancient-Greek-Gods-Poseidon- Chris Mackie His-History-and-MythologyAncient-Greek-Gods-Poseidon-His-History-and-Mythology.jpg Poseidon

• Not that prominent in • God of the earth and the sea • God of the elemental force of nature (the tsunami, the horse) • Strongly associated with • Often cruel and nasty Poseidon, holding his , rides a . Attic archaic black figure cup • Built the walls of Troy attributed to the Krokotos Group or to the and was betrayed by the Leagros Group: IMAGE: http://www.theoi.com/image/K2.4Poseidon.jpg Trojan king of the day (Laomedon) Chris Mackie Poseidon and

• Notice that poetry, like the Iliad, the , and the , is anchored to the idea of a god having a very considerable hatred for the epic • Poseidon is the god who hates Odysseus with a considerable passion. This occurs after the blinding of the

Odysseus and his companions blind by Odysseus and the cyclops Polyphemus, a monstrous his men. son of Poseidon. -Attic Black Figure Amphora, c.650 BCE Chris Mackie http://www.utexas.edu/courses/ancientfilmCC304/lects2012/lecture5/images/16polyphemus.jpg HADES ()

• The third brother with Poseidon and Zeus • Got the as his portion. People forget about him (Hades=‘the unseen one’) • The abduction of is the major Hades abducts Persephone in his . C4th BCE Greek fresco myth involving Hades from a tomb in Vergina, Macedonia. http://www.theoi.com/image/F14.1Haides.jpg Chris Mackie

• The Underworld is the place where Hades has his house. The dead don’t go to Hades but to the house of Hades, which is guarded by

Tarantine Greek red figure vase showing the dog . Hades and Persephone in the Underworld. , a judge of the dead, sits to their right. Cerberus in the foreground, with to his left and to his right Chris Mackie http://i551.photobucket.com/albums/ii459/history_of_macedonia/Sun%20of%20Vergina/greek_underworld.jpg Apollo (Apollo)

• Child of (born at ) • Twin brother of • God of and the (note the connection) • Healer and destroyer. The plague god. Miasma and catharsis • God of prophecy. Note the

Apollo plays the lyre and pours a importance of as a Attic Red Figure (White Ground) cult site. attributed to or to Manner of Pistoxenos Painter c.470 BCE Chris Mackie http://www.theoi.com/image/K5.2Apollon.jpg Apollo

• Apollo hates much as Poseidon hates Odysseus. We don’t see that much of this in the Iliad. • It is quite common in for a god to hate a mortal that Apollo and Artemis slay the children of . Cw. , Iliad resembles him/her 24.602-617. Attic Red Figure calyx Krater, Niobid Painter, c. 475 - 425 BCE. Chris Mackie http://www.livius.org/a/turkey/magnesia/niobe_louvre.jpg Apollo

• God of the beautiful male (‘’ figure), but for all that he is very unlucky in love (eg and ) • The Greek are rather ambivalent about physical beauty (compare At Delphi, Apollo (with laurel branch and Helen and , both sacrificial piglet) purifies (seated). beautiful in a physical Apulian Red Figure Krater attributed to the Eumenides Painter, c. 380 - 370 BCE. sense) http://www.theoi.com/image/T40.6Erinyes.jpg Chris Mackie Hermes ()

• Child of Zeus and . Born in a cave • When he is a baby he steals Apollo’s cattle in the dark of night and some of them (theft/darkness/cattle) • He strikes a deal with Apollo and enters Olympus Hermes with travellers cloak and , staff and winged sandals. Attic Red Figure attributed to the (reciprocity) Tithonus Painter, c. 500 - 450 BCE. http://www.theoi.com/image/K11.11Hermes.jpg Chris Mackie

Hermes

• Borders and Boundaries • Messenger (Movement!) • Exchange and Reciprocity • Theft and trickery • Inventor • Guide into the beyond

Sleep, Hermes and with the and through darkness. corpse of . Calyx-krater • (guide of signed by Euphronios and Euxitheos souls to Hades) c.515 BCE. ARTSTOR Digital Library • Young men http://www.theoi.com/image/N12.1Thanatos.jpg Chris Mackie Hermes

• Hermes is almost always and kindly and positive kind of god, especially to mortals • I can think of no narrative in which he is cruel and nasty. He is often described as kindly or a Apollo confronts his infant brother Hermes about the theft of his cattle. Caeretan ‘helper’ Black Figure , c. 520 BCE. • Note Iliad 24 is an http://www.theoi.com/image/T23.1Maia.jpg excellent source for

Hermes Chris Mackie Dionysus (, )

• Born from Zeus’s thigh after the violent rupture of the foetus from • Quite a few rejection myths where Dionysus has to struggle to be The birth of Dionysus from the thigh of Zeus. Dionysus holds a vine and a recognised as a god cup. Attic Red Figure Volute Krater by the Altamura Painter, c. 460 BCE. http://www.theoi.com/image/K12.27Dionysos.jpg Chris Mackie Dionysus

• The most famous rejection myth sources are Homer, Iliad 6, 132-7; Homeric Hymn to Dionysus no 7 (pirates turn on Dionysus, and he turns them into ; and ’ Bacchae (king of rejects Dionysus and is ultimately torn apart When pirates try to kidnap Dionysus, he physically by Bacchic transforms them into dolphins (cw. Homeric Hymn to Dionysus 6. 44): Attic Black Figure women) Kylix signed by , c. 540 BCE. Chris Mackie http://www.theoi.com/image/K12.16Dionysos.jpg

Dionysus

• Wine and revelry • Dance • • Music • Sexuality • Transformed states of mind and changed identity (ecstasy)

Dionysus, some draped in • Self-abandonment vines and panther skins, and a worried rabbit. Attic Black Figure Neck Amphora by The Amasis Painter, c. 540 - 530 BCE. Chris Mackie http://www.theoi.com/image/K12.28Dionysos.jpg Dionysus

• says that Dionysus represents the ‘wet element’ • This is presumably reference to the raw force of and the procreative powers – Hermes delivers the infant Dionysus into the foster care of Silenos and the blood, sap, semen, Nysiades. Attic Red Figure, White wine, juice) Ground kalyx krater, attr. to the Phiale Painter, c. 440 - 435 BCE. Chris Mackie http://www.theoi.com/image/K12.19Dionysos.jpg Conclusion

• Zeus has a connection to all of the Olympian gods that ensures his power, as much as that is possible. Even then, there are attempted coup d’etats (including one by , Hera and Poseidon, as mentioned in Iliad 1) • In a sense Poseidon is ‘Zeus of the land and sea’ as Hades is ‘Zeus of the Underworld’. In , the three brothers often look alike • The three sons of Zeus, Apollo, Hermes, and Dionysus, are all complex gods, and they can be contrasted and connected in various ways (eg. Dionysus and Apollo as gods of nature and culture).