Brief Descriptions of Olympian Gods

Total Page：16

File Type：pdf, Size：1020Kb

Brief Descriptions of Olympian Gods Created by Nancy Sultan, Professor of Greek & Roman Studies, IWU ROMAN GOD PARENTAGE SPOUSE FUNCTIONS SANCTUARIES ANIMAL ATTRIBUTE EPITHETS EQUIVALENT King of gods, Guardian of Olympian, State, Savior, Father, Olympia & thunderbolt, ZEUS Cronos & Rhea Hera Guardian of eagle JUPITER Thundering, Dodona scepter Justice, Cloud Guardian of Gathering strangers Queen of Cow-eyed, gods, cow, Ox-eyed, HERA Cronos & Rhea Zeus seasonality, Argos & Samos veil, crown JUNO peacock Argive, marriage, White-armed childbirth dolphin, sea, horses, POSEIDON Cronos & Rhea Amphitrite Sounion bull, trident NEPTUNE Earthshaker earthquakes horse agriculture, DEMETER Cronos & Rhea (Zeus) Eleusis ---- staff of wheat CERES Lady cereal Pythian, flocks, music, Phoebus, poetry, lyre, laurel Delphi, Delos, Delphinius, APOLLO Zeus & Leto ---- archery, ---- wreath, APOLLO Didyma Musagetes, medicine, bow/quiver (leader of prophesy, sun muses) hunt, animals, Ephesus, Delos, bow/quiver, Polymastos, ARTEMIS Zeus & Leto ---- fertility, bear, stag DIANA Brauron crescent Cyntha childbirth Crafts, Pallas, wisdom, owl, armor, spear, Tritogenia, ATHENA Zeus (& Metis) ---- protectress of Athens MINERVA snake aegis (shield) Owl-eyed, Athens & Nike heroes moon HESTIA Cronos & Rhea ---- hearth fire ---- ---- ---- VESTAL ---- messengers, heralds, Psychopompus merchants, caduceus ('carrier of thieves, (staff), souls'), HERMES Zeus & Maia ---- magic, ---- ram petasus (hat), MERCURY Argeiphontes herdsman, winged ('slayer of dead souls, hat/boots gods'), mediation, Cyllenian translation forge, forceps, HEPHAISTOS Hera & Zeus Aphrodite Lemos, Athens ---- VULCAN Mulciber metallurgy double axe ARES Zeus & Hera ---- war Thrace wolf armor MARS Enyalios Cypria, Zeus & Dione love, sex, dove, spindle, Cytheria, APHRODITE or testacles of Hephaistos Paphos, Cythera VENUS beauty swan cupids Golden, Ouranos Ourania thyrsus, wine, drama, Bromios, Zeus & Delphi, Athens, maenads, DIONYSOS ---- consciousness, bull BACCHUS Iacchus, Alkmene Lydia silenes, satyrs, fertility Dithyrambos fawn skin .

Copy Link

Recommended publications

An Echo of Delphi: the Pythian Games Ancient and Modern Steven Armstrong, F.R.C., M.A
An Echo of Delphi: The Pythian Games Ancient and Modern Steven Armstrong, F.R.C., M.A. erhaps less well known than today’s to Northern India, and from Rus’ to Egypt, Olympics, the Pythian Games at was that of kaloi k’agathoi, the Beautiful and PDelphi, named after the slain Python the Good, certainly part of the tradition of Delphi and the Prophetesses, were a mani of Apollo. festation of the “the beautiful and the good,” a Essentially, since the Gods loved that hallmark of the Hellenistic spirituality which which was Good—and for the Athenians comes from the Mystery Schools. in particular, what was good was beautiful The Olympic Games, now held every —this maxim summed up Hellenic piety. It two years in alternating summer and winter was no great leap then to wish to present to versions, were the first and the best known the Gods every four years the best of what of the ancient Greek religious and cultural human beings could offer—in the arts, festivals known as the Pan-Hellenic Games. and in athletics. When these were coupled In all, there were four major celebrations, together with their religious rites, the three which followed one another in succession. lifted up the human body, soul, and spirit, That is the reason for the four year cycle of and through the microcosm of humanity, the Olympics, observed since the restoration the whole cosmos, to be Divinized. The of the Olympics in 1859. teachings of the Mystery Schools were played out on the fields and in the theaters of the games.
[Show full text]
Greek Art in Motion Studies in Honour of Sir John Boardman On the Occasion of His 90Th Birthday
Greek Art in Motion Studies in honour of Sir John Boardman on the occasion of his 90th birthday edited by Rui Morais, Delfim Leão, Diana Rodríguez Pérez with Daniela Ferreira Archaeopress Archaeology © Archaeopress and the authors, 2019. Archaeopress Publishing Ltd Summertown Pavilion 18-24 Middle Way Summertown Oxford OX2 7LG www.archaeopress.com ISBN 978 1 78969 023 1 ISBN 978 1 78969 024 8 (e-Pdf) © Archaeopress and the individual authors 2019 Cover: Head of Alexander in profile. Tourmaline intaglio, 25 x 25 mm, Ashmolean (1892.1499) G.J. Chester Bequest. Photo: C. Wagner. All rights reserved. No part of this book may be reproduced, or transmitted, in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying or otherwise, without the prior written permission of the copyright owners. Printed in England by Oxuniprint, Oxford This book is available direct from Archaeopress or from our website www.archaeopress.com © Archaeopress and the authors, 2019. Contents Preface ��1 John Boardman and Greek Sculpture ��3 Olga Palagia Sanctuaries and the Hellenistic Polis: An Architectural Approach ��14 Milena Melfi ‘Even the fragments, however, merit scrutiny’: Ancient
[Show full text]
The Myth of the Messenger Jules Cashford
ARAS Connections Issue 3, 2011 Figure 1 The Etruscan Hermes. Terracotta statue head. Museo Nazionale di Villa Giulia, Rome. C. 500 BC. The Myth of the Messenger Jules Cashford The images in this paper are strictly for educational use and are protected by United States copyright laws. Unauthorized use will result in criminal and civil penalties. 1 ARAS Connections Issue 3, 2011 The German novelist Thomas Mann, in his address on the occasion of Freud’s 80 th birthday, spoke of myth as offering a “smiling knowledge of eternity” – such, perhaps, as is evoked by this Etruscan Hermes of 500 BC (1936, p. 89) It is impossible to define Imagination since the only definition we can make is that we are far from it when we talk about it. It is perhaps a power so ultimate that only its own numinous images can call it forth, as though we have, as it were, to ask the Imagination to imagine itself. We might say that whenever there is numinosity – a coming alive of divine presence – literally, the “nod” or “beckoning” of a god – whenever an image becomes translucent to a reality beyond itself, we are in the presence of Imagination. The images that come towards us – as divinities, daimons, soul-birds, angels, geniuses, muses – are all figures who bring messages from afar or beyond, from the heights or the depths – the realms where consciousness may not go, yet on which it rests and through which it grows. “Wisdom first speaks in images,” W. B. Yeats, says (1961, p. 95). The role of “the messenger” is to go between, and so to connect, two terms – gods or persons or worlds or states of being.
[Show full text]
1 BRITISH SCHOOL at ATHENS 47Th Annual Course For
1 BRITISH SCHOOL AT ATHENS 47th Annual Course for Undergraduates The Archaeology and Topography of Ancient Greece 18th August – 7th September 2019 PROVISIONAL ITINERARY DATE DAY TIME SITE AUGUST 08.30-23.30 Arrival at the BSA Sunday 18 1 20.00 Informal dinner Monday 19 2 08.00-09.30 Breakfast 09.30-10.15 Introductory Session in Finlay Common Room 10.15-11.00 Library and Archive Tour 11.00-11.30 Coffee Break in Finlay 11.30-13.00 Key Themes I: The history of archaeology and the archaeology of history in Greece (Museum) 13.00-14.00 Buffet Lunch in Dining Room 14.00-15.30 Key Themes II: Ways of approaching archaeological sites (Museum) 15.30-17.00 Key Themes III: Archaeological Science (Fitch) 19.30 BBQ on the Finlay Terrace Tuesday 20 3 07.30-08.30 Breakfast 08.30 The Acropolis (including the interior of the Parthenon) (Lunch – self bought) The south Slope of the Acropolis Wednesday 21 4 07.30-08.30 Breakfast 08.30 The Athenian Agora and Museum The Areopagos, Philopappos Hill, The Pnyx (Lunch – self bought) The Acropolis Museum Thursday 22 5 07.30-08.30 Breakfast 08.30 Kerameikos Library of Hadrian (Lunch – self bought) Roman Agora, Little Metropolis, Arch of Hadrian, Temple of Olympian Zeus Friday 23 6 07.30-08.30 Breakfast 08.30 The National Archaeological Museum I (Mycenaean gallery, Pottery collection) (Lunch – self bought) The National Archaeological Museum II (Sculpture collection) Saturday 24 7 08.00-09.00 Breakfast 09.00 Piraeus Museum FREE AFTERNOON Sunday 25 8 FREE DAY 2 Monday 26 9 07.30-08.30 Breakfast 08.30 BSA Museum Cycladic
[Show full text]
The Nature of Hellenistic Domestic Sculpture in Its Cultural and Spatial Contexts
THE NATURE OF HELLENISTIC DOMESTIC SCULPTURE IN ITS CULTURAL AND SPATIAL CONTEXTS DISSERTATION Presented in Partial Fulfillment of the Requirements for The Degree of Doctor of Philosophy in the Graduate School of The Ohio State University By Craig I. Hardiman, B.Comm., B.A., M.A. ***** The Ohio State University 2005 Dissertation Committee: Approved by Dr. Mark D. Fullerton, Advisor Dr. Timothy J. McNiven _______________________________ Advisor Dr. Stephen V. Tracy Graduate Program in the History of Art Copyright by Craig I. Hardiman 2005 ABSTRACT This dissertation marks the first synthetic and contextual analysis of domestic sculpture for the whole of the Hellenistic period (323 BCE – 31 BCE). Prior to this study, Hellenistic domestic sculpture had been examined from a broadly literary perspective or had been the focus of smaller regional or site-specific studies. Rather than taking any one approach, this dissertation examines both the literary testimonia and the material record in order to develop as full a picture as possible for the location, function and meaning(s) of these pieces. The study begins with a reconsideration of the literary evidence. The testimonia deal chiefly with the residences of the Hellenistic kings and their conspicuous displays of wealth in the most public rooms in the home, namely courtyards and dining rooms. Following this, the material evidence from the Greek mainland and Asia Minor is considered. The general evidence supports the literary testimonia’s location for these sculptures. In addition, several individual examples offer insights into the sophistication of domestic decorative programs among the Greeks, something usually associated with the Romans.
[Show full text]
MYTHOLOGY MAY 2018 Detail of Copy After Arpino's Perseus and Andromeda
HOMESCHOOL THIRD THURSDAYS MYTHOLOGY MAY 2018 Detail of Copy after Arpino's Perseus and Andromeda Workshop of Giuseppe Cesari (Italian), 1602-03. Oil on canvas. Bequest of John Ringling, 1936. Creature Creation Today, we challenge you to create your own mythological creature out of Crayola’s Model Magic! Open your packet of Model Magic and begin creating. If you need inspiration, take a look at the back of this sheet. MYTHOLOGICAL Try to incorporate basic features of animals – eyes, mouths, legs, etc.- while also combining part of CREATURES different creatures. Some works of art that we are featuring for Once you’ve finished sculpting, today’s Homeschool Third Thursday include come up with a unique name for creatures like the sea monster. Many of these your creature. Does your creature mythological creatures consist of various human have any special powers or and animal parts combined into a single creature- abilities? for example, a centaur has the body of a horse and the torso of a man. Other times the creatures come entirely from the imagination, like the sea monster shown above. Some of these creatures also have supernatural powers, some good and some evil. Mythological Creatures: Continued Greco-Roman mythology features many types of mythological creatures. Here are some ideas to get your project started! Sphinxes are wise, riddle- loving creatures with bodies of lions and heads of women. Greek hero Perseus rides a flying horse named Pegasus. Sphinx Centaurs are Greco- Pegasus Roman mythological creatures with torsos of men and legs of horses. Satyrs are creatures with the torsos of men and the legs of goats.
[Show full text]
Archaic Eretria
ARCHAIC ERETRIA This book presents for the first time a history of Eretria during the Archaic Era, the city’s most notable period of political importance. Keith Walker examines all the major elements of the city’s success. One of the key factors explored is Eretria’s role as a pioneer coloniser in both the Levant and the West— its early Aegean ‘island empire’ anticipates that of Athens by more than a century, and Eretrian shipping and trade was similarly widespread. We are shown how the strength of the navy conferred thalassocratic status on the city between 506 and 490 BC, and that the importance of its rowers (Eretria means ‘the rowing city’) probably explains the appearance of its democratic constitution. Walker dates this to the last decade of the sixth century; given the presence of Athenian political exiles there, this may well have provided a model for the later reforms of Kleisthenes in Athens. Eretria’s major, indeed dominant, role in the events of central Greece in the last half of the sixth century, and in the events of the Ionian Revolt to 490, is clearly demonstrated, and the tyranny of Diagoras (c. 538–509), perhaps the golden age of the city, is fully examined. Full documentation of literary, epigraphic and archaeological sources (most of which have previously been inaccessible to an English-speaking audience) is provided, creating a fascinating history and a valuable resource for the Greek historian. Keith Walker is a Research Associate in the Department of Classics, History and Religion at the University of New England, Armidale, Australia.
[Show full text]
Greek Characters
Amphitrite - Wife to Poseidon and a water nymph. Poseidon - God of the sea and son to Cronos and Rhea. The Trident is his symbol. Arachne - Lost a weaving contest to Athene and was turned into a spider. Father was a dyer of wool. Athene - Goddess of wisdom. Daughter of Zeus who came out of Zeus’s head. Eros - Son of Aphrodite who’s Roman name is Cupid; Shoots arrows to make people fall in love. Demeter - Goddess of the harvest and fertility. Daughter of Cronos and Rhea. Hades - Ruler of the underworld, Tartaros. Son of Cronos and Rhea. Brother to Zeus and Poseidon. Hermes - God of commerce, patron of liars, thieves, gamblers, and travelers. The messenger god. Persephone - Daughter of Demeter. Painted the flowers of the field and was taken to the underworld by Hades. Daedalus - Greece’s greatest inventor and architect. Built the Labyrinth to house the Minotaur. Created wings to fly off the island of Crete. Icarus - Flew too high to the sun after being warned and died in the sea which was named after him. Son of Daedalus. Oranos - Titan of the Sky. Son of Gaia and father to Cronos. Aphrodite - Born from the foam of Oceanus and the blood of Oranos. She’s the goddess of Love and beauty. Prometheus - Known as mankind’s first friend. Was tied to a Mountain and liver eaten forever. Son of Oranos and Gaia. Gave fire and taught men how to hunt. Apollo - God of the sun and also medicine, gold, and music. Son of Zeus and Leto. Baucis - Old peasant woman entertained Zeus and Hermes.
[Show full text]
ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE GRADE 9 Reading a Myth: Persephone
ENGLISH HOME LANGUAGE GRADE 9 Reading a myth: Persephone MEMORANDUM 1. This myth explains the changing of the seasons. Which season is your favourite and why? Learners own response. Winter/Autumn/Spring/Summer✓ + reason.✓ 2. Myths are stories that explain natural occurrences and express beliefs about what is right and wrong. What natural occurrence does the bracketed paragraph explain? The paragraph relates to earthquakes and volcanos✓ that shake the earth’s core. It suggests that “fearful’ fire-breathing giants” presumably volcanos✓, heave and struggle to get free, which causes the earthquakes. ✓ 3. How do the Greeks explain how people fall in love? Eros (Cupid) the god of love✓, shoots people in the heart with a love-arrow✓ that makes them fall in love. 4. Who is Pluto? He is the “dark monarch” king of the underworld✓ otherwise known as hell. 5. A cause is an effect or action that produces a result. A result is called an effect. What effect does Eros’s arrow have on Pluto? Eros’s arrow fills Pluto’s heart with warm emotions. ✓He sees Persephone and immediately falls in love with her. ✓ 6. What is the result of Demeter’s anger at the land? The ground was no longer fertile. ✓ Nothing could grow anymore. Men and oxen worked to grow crops, but they could not. ✓ There was too much rain ✓ and too much sun✓, so the crops did not grow. The cattle died✓ due to starvation. All of mankind would die✓ of starvation. 7. How do the details that describe what happened to the earth explain natural occurrences? The paragraph suggests that drought✓ is caused by Demeter who is angry✓ with the land.
[Show full text]
The Hercules Story Pdf, Epub, Ebook
THE HERCULES STORY PDF, EPUB, EBOOK Martin W. Bowman | 128 pages | 01 Aug 2009 | The History Press Ltd | 9780752450810 | English | Stroud, United Kingdom The Hercules Story PDF Book More From the Los Angeles Times. The god Apollo. Then she tried to kill the baby by sending snakes into his crib. Hercules was incredibly strong, even as a baby! When the tasks were completed, Apollo said, Hercules would become immortal. Deianira had a magic balm which a centaur had given to her. July 23, Hercules was able to drive the fearful boar into snow where he captured the boar in a net and brought the boar to Eurystheus. Greek Nyx: The Goddess of the Night. Eurystheus ordered Hercules to bring him the wild boar from the mountain of Erymanthos. Like many Greek gods, Poseidon was worshiped under many names that give insight into his importance Be on the lookout for your Britannica newsletter to get trusted stories delivered right to your inbox. Athena observed Heracles shrewdness and bravery and thus became an ally for life. The name Herakles means "glorious gift of Hera" in Greek, and that got Hera angrier still. Feb 14, Alexandra Dantzer. History at Home. Hercules was born a demi-god. On Wednesday afternoon, Sorbo retweeted a photo of some of the people who swarmed the U. Hercules could barely hear her, her whisper was that soft, yet somehow, and just as the Oracle had predicted to herself, Hera's spies discovered what the Oracle had told him. As he grew and his strength increased, Hera was evermore furious.
[Show full text]
Hesiod Theogony.Pdf
Hesiod (8th or 7th c. BC, composed in Greek) The Homeric epics, the Iliad and the Odyssey, are probably slightly earlier than Hesiod’s two surviving poems, the Works and Days and the Theogony. Yet in many ways Hesiod is the more important author for the study of Greek mythology. While Homer treats cer- tain aspects of the saga of the Trojan War, he makes no attempt at treating myth more generally. He often includes short digressions and tantalizes us with hints of a broader tra- dition, but much of this remains obscure. Hesiod, by contrast, sought in his Theogony to give a connected account of the creation of the universe. For the study of myth he is im- portant precisely because his is the oldest surviving attempt to treat systematically the mythical tradition from the first gods down to the great heroes. Also unlike the legendary Homer, Hesiod is for us an historical figure and a real per- sonality. His Works and Days contains a great deal of autobiographical information, in- cluding his birthplace (Ascra in Boiotia), where his father had come from (Cyme in Asia Minor), and the name of his brother (Perses), with whom he had a dispute that was the inspiration for composing the Works and Days. His exact date cannot be determined with precision, but there is general agreement that he lived in the 8th century or perhaps the early 7th century BC. His life, therefore, was approximately contemporaneous with the beginning of alphabetic writing in the Greek world. Although we do not know whether Hesiod himself employed this new invention in composing his poems, we can be certain that it was soon used to record and pass them on.
[Show full text]
The Shield of Heracles (Hes
chapter 4 The Shield of Heracles (Hes. Sc. 139–320) 4.1 Introduction The next extant ekphrasis in ancient Greek Literature is found in the pseudo- Hesiodic Shield. The Shield is a small-scale epic poem of 480 hexameters, named after its central section which deals with Heracles’ shield. The poem is usually dated to the first third of the sixth century BC. It narrates an episode from the life of Heracles: the killing of Cycnus, a son of Ares. Heracles is por- trayed throughout the poem in a positive light: Zeus has fathered Heracles as a protector against ruin for gods and for men (ὥς ῥα θεοῖσιν / ἀνδράσι τ’ ἀλφηστῇσιν ἀρῆς ἀλκτῆρα φυτεύσαι, 28–29).1 By killing Cycnus, who robs travellers on their way to Delphi, Heracles lives up to this purpose. The poem is generally regarded as a product of an oral tradition.2 The fact that the Shield is oral poetry has consequences for its understanding. Thus, the idea that the Shield is a mere imitation of Achilles’ shield in Il. 18.478–608— a verdict that goes back to Aristophanes of Byzantium—must be rejected.3 It is doubtful whether in the sixth century BC fixed texts of the Iliad existed, to which another text, that of the Shield, could refer.4 This is very much a Hellenis- tic point of view. Rather, it is more plausible that both texts came into being in a still-fluid oral tradition, which contained certain stock formulae and themes.5 One common element in the tradition might well have been a shield ekphrasis, which could serve as a showpiece of the poet.6 The poet of the Shield has indeed composed his shield ekphrasis as a show- piece: Heracles’ shield is noisier, more sensational, more gruesome, but above all bigger than Achilles’ shield.
[Show full text]