The pantheon of Greek gods is represented not only by strong and powerful gods, but also by goddesses.
Titanides- goddesses of the second generation, six sisters:
Mnemosyne - the goddess who personified memory; Rhea - goddess, mother of the Olympian gods; Theia is the first lunar goddess; Tethys is the goddess who gives life to everything that exists; Phoebe is the goddess, nurse of Apollo, Themis is the goddess of justice.
Olympians - third generation goddesses:
Hera is the goddess of marriage and family, Aphrodite is the goddess of love and beauty, Athena is the goddess of wisdom, crafts and art, Artemis is the goddess of hunting, fertility and female chastity, Hestia is the goddess of the hearth and sacrificial fire, Demeter is the goddess of fertility and agriculture.
Minor Greek goddesses:
Selene - goddess of the Moon; Persephone - goddess of the kingdom of the dead and fertility; Nike - goddess of victory; Hebe - goddess of eternal youth; Eos - goddess of the dawn; Tyche - goddess of happiness, chance and luck; Enyo - goddess of furious war; Chloris - goddess of flowers and gardens; Dike (Themis) - goddess of justice, justice; Nemesis is the winged goddess of revenge and retribution; Iris - goddess of the rainbow; Gaia is the goddess of the earth.
Detailed description of Greek goddesses
Aurora is the goddess of the dawn. The ancient Greeks called Aurora the ruddy dawn, the rose-fingered goddess Eos. Aurora was the daughter of the titan Hipperion and Theia. According to another version of the Sun - Helios and the Moon - Selene).
Artemis is the daughter of Zeus and Lethe, the sister of Apollo, among female deities the same as her brother among male ones. She gives light and life, she is the goddess of childbirth and the goddess-nurse; accompanied by forest nymphs, hunts through forests and mountains, protects herds and game. She has never submitted to the power of love, and, like Apollo, she does not know the bonds of marriage. In Roman mythology - Diana.
Athena is the daughter of Zeus who had no mother. Hephaestus cut the head of Zeus with an ax, and Athena jumped out of his head in full armor. She is the personification of the prudence of Zeus. Athena is the goddess of intelligence, war, sciences and arts. In Roman mythology - Minerva
Aphrodite is the daughter of Zeus and Diana, so called because she allegedly came from sea foam. She is the goddess of beauty, happy love and marriage, surpassing all goddesses in charm and grace. In Roman mythology - Venus.
Venus - in Roman mythology, the goddess of gardens, beauty and love, was identified with Aeneas' mother Aphrodite. Venus was not only the goddess of beauty and love, but also the patroness of the descendants of Aeneas and all Romans.
Hecate is the goddess of the night, ruler of darkness. Hecate ruled over all ghosts and monsters, night visions and sorcery. She was born as a result of the marriage of the titan Persus and Asteria.
Graces - in Roman mythology, beneficent goddesses, personifying the joyful, kind and eternally youthful beginning of life, daughters of Jupiter, nymphs and goddesses. In ancient Greek mythology - Charites.
Diana - in Roman mythology, the goddess of nature and hunting, was considered the personification of the moon. Diana was also accompanied by the epithet “goddess of the three roads,” interpreted as a sign of Diana’s triple power: in heaven, on earth and under the earth.
Iris is the personification of the rainbow, connecting heaven with earth, a messenger of the gods, a mediator in their relations with each other and with people. This is the messenger of Zeus and Hera and the servant of the latter.
Cybele, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, the wife of Kronos, was considered the great mother of the gods. She is the personification of the principle that organizes the elemental natural forces.
Minerva - in Roman mythology, the goddess of wisdom, art, war and cities, the patroness of artisans.
Mnemosyne is the goddess of memory in Greek mythology, the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, a Titanide. Mother of the Muses, whom she gave birth to from Zeus. According to the number of nine nights that Mnemosyne gave to Zeus, there were nine muses.
The Moirai are Lachesis (“the giver of lots”), Clotho (“the spinner”) and Atropos (“the inevitable one”), daughters of Nyx. The Moiras are the goddesses of fate, natural necessity, eternal and immutable world laws.
Muses are goddesses and patrons of the arts and sciences. The Muses were considered the daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne.
Nemesis is the goddess of vengeance. The duties of the goddess included punishment for crimes, overseeing the fair and equal distribution of goods among mortals. Nemesis was born by Nikto as punishment for Kronos.
Persephone is the daughter of Zeus and Demeter, or Caecera, the wife of Pluto, or Hades, a formidable mistress of shadows, ruling over the souls of the dead and over the monsters of the underworld, listening, together with Hades, to the curses of people and fulfilling them. In Roman mythology - Proserpina.
Rhea is a Greek goddess in ancient mythology, one of the Titanides, daughter of Uranus and Gaia, wife of Kronos. The cult of Rhea was considered one of the most ancient, but was not widespread in Greece itself.
Tethys is one of the most ancient deities, a Titanide, the daughter of Gaia and Uranus, the sister and wife of the Ocean, the mother of streams, rivers and three thousand oceanids, was considered the goddess who gives life to everything that exists.
Themis is the goddess of justice. The Greeks also called the goddess Themis, Themis. Themis was the daughter of the sky god Uranus and Gaia. Her daughters were the goddesses of fate - the Moiras.
The Charites, the daughters of Zeus and the oceanid Eurynome, embodied a joyful, kind and eternally young beginning. The names of these beautiful goddesses were Aglaya (“shining”), Euphrosyne (“well-meaning”), Thalia (“blooming”), Cleta (“desired”) and Peyto (“persuasion”).
Eumenides - merciful, benevolent goddesses - one of the names of female deities, most known under the name Erinyes, among the Romans the Furies, which means angry, furious, avenging goddesses.
Erinyes are the daughters of Earth and Darkness, terrible goddesses of curse, revenge and punishment, who rebelled against criminals and punished them only for the sake of restoring moral order in the world; they mainly acted as avengers for the violation of family rights sanctified by nature. In Roman mythology - Furies
Goddesses of ancient Greece
Artemis– Goddess of the moon and hunting, forests, animals, fertility and childbirth. She was never married, diligently guarded her chastity, and if she took revenge, she knew no pity. Her silver arrows spread plague and death, but she also had the ability to heal. She protected young girls and pregnant women. Her symbols are cypress, deer and bears.
Atropos- one of the three moiras, cutting the thread of fate and ending human life.
Athena(Pallada, Parthenos) - daughter of Zeus, born from his head in full military armor. One of the most revered Greek goddesses, the goddess of just war and wisdom, the patroness of knowledge.
Athena. Statue. Hermitage Museum. Athena Hall.
Description:
Athena is the goddess of wisdom, just war and patroness of crafts.
Statue of Athena made by Roman craftsmen of the 2nd century. Based on a Greek original from the late 5th century. BC e. Entered the Hermitage in 1862. Previously it was in the collection of the Marquis Campana in Rome. It is one of the most interesting exhibits in the Athena Hall.
Everything about Athena, starting from her birth, was amazing. Other goddesses had divine mothers, Athena - one father, Zeus, who met with the daughter of Ocean Metis. Zeus swallowed his pregnant wife because she predicted that after her daughter she would give birth to a son who would become the ruler of heaven and deprive him of power. Soon Zeus had an unbearable headache. He became gloomy, and seeing this, the gods hastened to leave, for they knew from experience what Zeus was like when he was in a bad mood. The pain did not go away. The Lord of Olympus could not find a place for himself. Zeus asked Hephaestus to hit him on the head with a blacksmith's hammer. From the split head of Zeus, announcing Olympus with a war cry, an adult maiden jumped out in full warrior clothes and with a spear in her hand and stood next to her parent. The eyes of the young, beautiful and majestic goddess shone with wisdom.
Aphrodite(Kytherea, Urania) - goddess of love and beauty. She was born from the marriage of Zeus and the goddess Dione (according to another legend, she came out of the sea foam)
Aphrodite (Venus Tauride)
Description:
According to Hesiod’s “Theogony,” Aphrodite was born near the island of Cythera from the seed and blood of Uranus castrated by Kronos, which fell into the sea and formed snow-white foam (hence the nickname “foam-born”). The breeze brought her to the island of Cyprus (or she sailed there herself, since she did not like Cythera), where she, emerging from the sea waves, was met by the Ora.
The statue of Aphrodite (Venus of Tauride) belongs to III century BC e., now it is in the Hermitage and is considered his most famous statue. The sculpture became the first antique statue of a naked woman in Russia. Life-size marble statue of bathing Venus (height 167 cm), modeled after the Aphrodite of Cnidus or the Capitoline Venus. The hands of the statue and a fragment of the nose are missing. Before entering the State Hermitage, she decorated the garden of the Tauride Palace, hence the name. In the past, “Venus Tauride” was intended to decorate the park. However, the statue was delivered to Russia much earlier, even under Peter I and thanks to his efforts. The inscription made on the bronze ring of the pedestal recalls that Venus was given by Clement XI to Peter I (as a result of an exchange for the relics of St. Brigid sent to the Pope by Peter I). The statue was discovered in 1718 during excavations in Rome. Unknown sculptor of the 3rd century. BC. depicted the naked goddess of love and beauty Venus. A slender figure, rounded, smooth lines of the silhouette, softly modeled body shapes - everything speaks of a healthy and chaste perception of female beauty. Along with calm restraint (posture, facial expression), a generalized manner, alien to fractionality and fine detail, as well as a number of other features characteristic of the art of the classics (V - IV centuries BC), the creator of Venus embodied in her his idea of beauty, associated with the ideals of the 3rd century BC. e. (graceful proportions - high waist, somewhat elongated legs, thin neck, small head - tilt of the figure, rotation of the body and head).
Aphrodite (Venus). Statue. Hermitage
Description:
Statue of Aphrodite - goddess of beauty and love
Roman copy based on a Greek original from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC.
In 1851, through the Venetian antiquarian A. Sanquirico, the Hermitage received a beautiful statue of Aphrodite, which had previously been part of the collection of the Venetian Nani family. In a rare publication from the era of the Napoleonic Wars - "Collection of all antiquities stored in the Venetian Museum of Nani" - we read about this sculpture: "It lay prostrate for a long time in neglect ... but was recalled from oblivion when Mr. Jacopo Nani saw it and placed it in his famous museum, presenting it to the judgment of the famous Canova, who strongly praised the new acquisition." The statue of Aphrodite is distinguished by the complexity of body movement and exquisite harmony of proportions. It reflects the trends of Hellenistic art, characteristic of the art of the Antonine dynasty (96-193).
Aphrodite (Venus) and Cupid
Description:
Aphrodite (Venus) and Cupid.
The sculpture perhaps talks about a tragic moment. The rose, a flower sacred to Venus, was originally white, but, according to one traditional view, at the moment when Venus was hurrying to her lover, a thorn dug into her leg and drops of blood fell on the white petals, staining them. While they were pulling out the splinter, a wild boar killed her beloved Adonis - the young beautiful god of spring, personifying the annual dying and revival of nature.. Venus is usually depicted sitting, she is trying to remove the splinter from her leg, Cupid helps her.
Aphrodite on a dolphin. Sculpture. Hermitage
Description:
Aphrodite, as the goddess of love, was dedicated to myrtle, rose, poppy and apple; as the goddess of fertility - a sparrow and a dove; as a sea goddess - a dolphin; The swallow and the linden tree were dedicated to her. According to legend, the secret of her charm was hidden in a magic belt.
Venus in the shell. Sculpture. Hermitage Museum.
Description:
Venus in the shell.
Sculpture by Carlo Finelli (Finelli, 1782-1853) - Italian sculptor, one of the most gifted followers of the classical movement.
Aphrodite (Greek) - Venus (Roman)
Classical Aphrodite emerged naked from the airy sea foam. The breeze on the shell brought it to the shores of Cyprus.
Hebe- daughter of Zeus and Hera, goddess of youth. Sister of Ares and Ilithyia. She served the Olympian gods at feasts.
Hecate- goddess of darkness, night visions and sorcery, patroness of sorcerers.
Gemera- goddess of daylight, personification of the day, born of Nikta and Erebus. Often identified with Eos.
Hera- the supreme Olympian goddess, sister and third wife of Zeus, daughter of Rhea and Kronos, sister of Hades, Hestia, Demeter and Poseidon. Hera was considered the patroness of marriage.
Hestia- goddess of the hearth and fire.
Gaia- mother earth, foremother of all gods and people.
Demeter- goddess of fertility and agriculture.
Dryads- lower deities, nymphs who lived in trees.
Ilithia- patron goddess of women in labor.
Iris- winged goddess, assistant of Hera, messenger of the gods.
Calliope- muse of epic poetry and science.
Kera- demonic creatures, children of the goddess Nikta, bringing troubles and death to people.
Clio- one of the nine muses, the muse of history.
Clio. Muse of History
Description:
Clio is the muse of history in ancient Greek mythology. Depicted with a papyrus scroll or a case for scrolls. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne - goddess of memory. According to Diodorus, it received its name from the fact that chanting in poetry gives great glory to those praised (kleos).
Clotho(“spinner”) - one of the moiras that spins the thread of human life.
Lachesis- one of the three Moira sisters, who determine the fate of every person even before birth.
Summer- Titanide, mother of Apollo and Artemis.
Mayan- a mountain nymph, the eldest of the seven Pleiades - the daughters of Atlas, the beloved of Zeus, from whom Hermes was born to her.
Melpomene- muse of tragedy.
Melpomene (Muse of Tragedy)
Description:
Statue of Melpomene. Roman copy according to the Greek model of the 2nd century. BC e.
In ancient Greek mythology, the muse of tragedy (Greek: “singing”). At first, Melpomene was considered the muse of song, then of sad song, and later she became the patroness of theater in general, the personification of tragic stage art. Daughter of Zeus and Mnemosyne, mother of the terrible sirens.
She was depicted as a woman with a bandage on her head and a wreath of grape or ivy leaves, in a theatrical robe, with a tragic mask in one hand and a sword or club in the other (a symbol of the inevitability of punishment for a person who violates the will of the gods).
Metis- goddess of wisdom, the first of the three wives of Zeus, who conceived Athena from him.
Mnemosyne- mother of nine muses, goddess of memory.
Moira- goddess of fate, daughter of Zeus and Themis.
Muses- patron goddess of the arts and sciences.
Naiads- nymphs-guardians of waters.
Nemesis- daughter of Nikta, a goddess who personified fate and retribution, punishing people in accordance with their sins.
Nereids- fifty daughters of Nereus and the oceanids Doris, sea deities.
Nika- personification of victory. She was often depicted wearing a wreath, a common symbol of triumph in Greece.
Nymphs- lower deities in the hierarchy of Greek gods. They personified the forces of nature.
Nikta- one of the first Greek deities, the goddess is the personification of the primordial Night.
Orestiades- mountain nymphs.
Ory- goddess of the seasons, peace and order, daughter of Zeus and Themis.
Peyto- goddess of persuasion, companion of Aphrodite, often identified with her patroness.
Persephone- daughter of Demeter and Zeus, goddess of fertility. The wife of Hades and the queen of the underworld, who knew the secrets of life and death.
Polyhymnia- the muse of serious hymn poetry.
Tethys- daughter of Gaia and Uranus, wife of Ocean and mother of the Nereids and Oceanids.
Rhea- mother of the Olympian gods.
Sirens- female demons, half-woman, half-bird, capable of changing the weather at sea.
Waist- the muse of comedy.
Terpsichore- muse of dance art.
Terpsichore. Muse of dancing
Description:
The statue of "Terpsichore" is a Roman copy of a Greek original from the 3rd - 2nd centuries. BC.
Terpsichore was considered the muse of choral singing and dance, and was depicted as a young woman in the pose of a dancer, with a smile on her face. She had a wreath on her head, in one hand she held a lyre, and in the other a plectrum. She is “enjoying round dances.”
Tisiphone- one of the Erinyes.
Quiet- goddess of fate and chance among the Greeks, companion of Persephone. She was depicted as a winged woman standing on a wheel and holding a cornucopia and a ship's rudder in her hands.
Urania- one of the nine muses, patroness of astronomy.
Themis- Titanide, goddess of justice and law, second wife of Zeus, mother of mountains and moira.
Charites- goddess of female beauty, the embodiment of a kind, joyful and eternally young beginning of life.
Eumenides- another hypostasis of the Erinyes, revered as goddesses of benevolence, who prevented misfortunes.
Eris- daughter of Nyx, sister of Ares, goddess of discord.
Erinyes- goddesses of vengeance, creatures of the underworld, who punished injustice and crimes.
Erato- Muse of lyrical and erotic poetry.
Eos- goddess of the dawn, sister of Helios and Selene. The Greeks called it “rose-fingered.”
Euterpe- muse of lyrical chant. Depicted with a double flute in her hand.
Ancient Greece is full of myths, legends, and most of them feature the gods of Olympus. Each of the gods has its own meaning, is endowed with a certain character and reflects the way of life of Greece itself at that time. Questions of faith have always been extremely sensitive, but in this country the gods were often divided.
The choice of the god to be worshiped depended on many things, in particular, on the lifestyle of the townspeople. It could be that the male part recognizes only Zeus, but the female part gives all honors to Hera, the crowned wife of the father of the gods. At the same time, this situation was considered absolutely normal and it should be noted that one side could easily insult the other, which sometimes became the cause of real tragedies.
Thus, in Thebes, seven boys of a noble man who worshiped Zeus were slaughtered. The reason for such atrocity was that during the feast the man insulted Hera, which the priestesses of the goddess could not bear. Believing that the goddess Hera was telling them to wash away the insult, the priestesses entered the house without pity and killed the boys.
In general, the gods and goddesses of Ancient Greece have several generations. Initially, Chaos was the supreme god, Gaia was the mother of the earth, Nyukta was the mother of the night, Tartarus was the lord of the dark abyss, Erebus was the father of eternal darkness and darkness. Further, already in the second generation, their children: Kronos, the son of the god Uranus and mother Gaia, the prophetic goddess of fate Moira and a galaxy of supernatural beings. But then they were not gods, they belonged to the powerful and invincible titans.
But the mother predicted to Kronos that one of his children would overthrow him into the depths of Tartarus and the supreme god, the first of the named divine beings, began to simply kill those children that his wife Rhea brought to him. But Rhea could not part with her last child: the mother’s tormented soul suffered too much. Kronos swallowed a stone instead of Zeus, and hid his little son Rhea in the thickets of virgin Crete, where he was raised by nymphs.
The prophecy came true: Zeus killed his father and thereby freed his brothers and sisters, who were swallowed by their hated father.
Every goddess, every god of Olympus was a patron for man, temples and sacrificial altars grew and multiplied throughout the country and beyond.
Names of goddesses of Ancient Greece. List
Hera, guardian of marriage bonds and devotion
The royal wife, daughter of Kronos and Rhea, inherited the character of her mother. An innocent creature of extraordinary beauty, possessing meekness, attracted the attention of the Thunderer. But no matter how cunning Zeus was, Hera did not want to become the mistress of a spoiled deity. And then the ruler of heaven and earth had to give his word to marry, but the cunning Hera asked him to swear by the sacred waters of the underground Styx. She knew: even the flighty supreme god would not dare to break such an oath. The underground river is always mentioned in mythology when it comes to any unbreakable oath.
But over time, the Thunderer began to cheat on her, and the birth of Hercules from a mere mortal completely embittered the goddess. She began to ruin the life of Hercules’ mother and the young man himself in every possible way, even under fear of the wrath of Zeus. That is why in some chronicles Hera is spoken of as an evil and vengeful goddess.
Hera became the mother of the war god Ares, whom his father did not really like for his love of blood and murder. In revenge for the adventures, Hera gave birth to Hephaestus with an innocent conception, but he was so ugly that the goddess threw him from the top of Olympus.
But Hera loved Zeus, although his behavior offended her as the goddess of marriage. She was especially angry at the birth of Zeus's beloved daughter: the majestic Pallas Athena.
Athena, goddess of wisdom and victory, patroness of men
The birth of Athena has several variations: according to some myths, the maiden was born somewhere in Macedonia and her father is Poseidon, according to others, she is a wandering girl who swore an oath of allegiance to Zeus himself. But more often another version of the birth of Athena is told, according to which she is a demigoddess.
Zeus seduced an earthly girl, taking on the guise of a simple guy. But Hera, having learned about another affair of her restless husband, decided to punish him. She took the form of a girl and told the whole truth to the future mother of Athena that her lover is the father of the gods himself. And in order to convince her of her words, she convinced her to talk to Zeus and ask him to appear to her in his true form. This destroyed the curious girl, but before her death she gave birth to a little girl, whom the Thunderer took pity on and sewed into his thigh.
After a while, Zeus felt severe pain in his head, then Hephaestus cut off his head to look at the cause of this phenomenon. And from her father’s head, in shining armor, came Athena, the goddess whose name will inspire reverence and awe.
Pallas Athena patronized men; her brother, the god of war, Ares, was constantly in conflict with her. But the wisdom of the goddess always prevailed over ardor. Athena was revered by artisans; men did not begin important work unless they made a sacrifice to the goddess. But Athena is an unusual goddess in that there are almost no legends about her.
Only one legend about Arachne, who dared to weave the sins of the Thunderer, is known to the world. According to her, an angry warrior maiden turned the weaver into a spider to punish her for her insolence. Odysseus is her favorite and his campaign would not have been so successful if not for the patronage of the wise goddess. The cult of Athena was comparable to the cult of Zeus himself, but at the same time, the daughter’s special obedience to her father was noted everywhere. Athens set this quality as an example for girls, so that they would also honor their parents.
Aphrodite, goddess of love
Born from the foam of the sea, the beautiful Aphrodite had almost limitless power. Only three goddesses were outside the power of the goddess of love, the rest were subject to her. Aphrodite was always depicted surrounded by luxurious flowers and birds, she was surrounded by forest and sea nymphs. It is believed that Aphrodite had a small son: the playful Eros, the god of intimate pleasures, who was subordinate only to his mother.
By order of the father of the gods, the beautiful goddess was to become her brother's wife supreme god Poseidon. But before the wedding, she disappeared into the foam of the sea laughing. It is noteworthy that this did not anger Zeus and Poseidon; a little later Aphrodite married Hephaestus, which amazed everyone. A colorful marriage: the ugly and lame god of fire and the most beautiful of goddesses. Although it was believed that the goddess also had a favorite: young Adonis, who died by chance.
Temples of Aphrodite were in many cities, she was revered as Venus Romans. Luxurious holidays were held in her honor and sacrifices were made to her. Orgies were held in her temples, participation in which was a great honor.
Artemis, goddess of the hunt in Ancient Greece, patroness of childbirth
Artemis is always depicted in skin and with a bow, and is officially considered the goddess of the hunt. At the same time, she has pity for animals and can severely punish for hunting in those places where she likes to relax.
The daughter of Latona and the sister of the golden-haired Apollo may be a gentle daughter, but she can also bring death to people. In the legends, the legend about how the mortal Niobe insulted her mother stands out especially clearly. Niobe had 14 beautiful children and thought that Latona was defective since she gave birth to only two. Angry Apollo and Artemis killed all her children, despite the repentance of the unfortunate mother.
Artemis protected women in labor, young mothers came to the temple of the goddess for protection and help in childbirth. If a child died or was born sick, it was believed that Artemis herself was angry and punished the mother through the child. But at the same time, the silver-eyed goddess could also heal: many people constantly flocked to her temples in attempts to be cured of deadly diseases.
Demeter, goddess of fertility in Ancient Greece
Demeter was the sister of the thunderer Zeus and provided protection to farmers. They prayed to her so that the harvest would be born and the earth would bear fruit. Demeter had an only daughter and joy - the beautiful Persephone. But she liked the gloomy and formidable god of the world of the dead. The brother of Zeus himself, the stern Hades, kidnapped the daughter of Demeter. To which the goddess responded by leaving Olympus and vowing never to return if her daughter was not returned to her.
At first, Zeus refused his sister, but without Demeter the earth stopped bearing fruit, and the livestock began to die of hunger. Gradually, people stopped making sacrifices to the gods, because there was nothing to eat: everything was dying. Then Zeus made a Solomonic decision: Persephone lived with Hades for six months and with her mother for six months. Hades was forced to obey: on the same day Persephone returned to her mother.
From then on, the time when the daughter and mother are together, the earth blooms and produces harvests, is summer and spring. And when Persephone returns to her husband, Demeter goes away to mourn and autumn and winter begin.
Ancient Greece before the arrival of the Greeks was inhabited by Pelasgian peoples. They never assimilated further with the Greeks, disappearing into oblivion. Thanks to them, according to Herodotus, the ancient Hellenes arose a religion with the gods of Ancient Greece in its modern understanding.
Characteristic features of the religion of Ancient Greece.
With the emergence of the first statehood of Hellas, approximately 3000 BC, religion began to play an increasingly important role in the life of the ancient Greeks. The main gods were the titans, who personified the elements of nature.
The supreme god of the Titans, Kronos, killed his father in a struggle for power. He feared the same fate and therefore devoured his sons. One of them was saved by Rhea, the wife of Kronos. His name was Zeus. When Zeus grew up, he forced his father to return his swallowed sons from his womb and, joining forces with other gods, began the fight against the Titans.
Elder Gods
In these numerous battles, according to the myths of Ancient Greece, the gods led by Zeus won. After the victory, they divided power and went to live on sacred mountain Olympus.
- Zeus began to rule the sky, lightning and thunder. He became the main one in the pantheon of twelve elder gods. All other gods obeyed him and considered him the most fair. The ancient Greeks erected a statue of Zeus; it was located on the island of Poseidon and reached 15 meters.
Rice. 1. Statue of Zeus on the island of Poseidon.
- He began to rule the seas and oceans Poseidon . He was married to the goddess Amphitrite, from whom was born a son, Triton. In anger, this god was terrible: he could cause a flood, or destroy a seaport with waves. Where Poseidon walked on the ground, spring water began to flow. This god was revered by all sea travelers and sailors.
- Hades did not want to rule the earthly world and went to Tartarus, where he began to rule the kingdom of the dead. On a chain at the entrance to the underworld sat his faithful three-headed dog Cerberus, who did not allow the living into Tartarus. Hades stole his beloved niece Persephone from Zeus and forced her to marry him. The ancient Greeks sacrificed a black bull to Hades. Usually it was placed in front of crevices or the entrance to a cave, which personified the entrance to the kingdom of the dead.
- The main female goddess among the Greeks was considered Hera . The last wife of Zeus was the patroness of marriage and severely punished married people for adultery. The ancient Greeks worshiped her and asked for the birth of strong and healthy children.
- He was the god of sunshine and the crown of male beauty. In addition to spiritual purity, this god was endowed with the abilities of a healer. Later, the ancient Greeks revered him as a patron of the arts, including music.
Rice. 2. Apollo.
The religion of ancient Greece did not carry symbols of immortality; the gods, like people, had completely human traits: they fell in love, suffered, were capable of mercy or betrayal. In the minds of the ancient Greeks, the gods conquered the world from the natural elements, made this world a better place and became its patrons and protectors.
- The god of all borders separating one from another and roads was Hermes . He had a sharp mind and resourcefulness, because he was the patron of trade, knew several languages and stood out with brilliant manners. In addition to merchants, this god was revered by shepherds and travelers.
- Hephaestus - the god of fire - patronized the blacksmith's craft, and was himself considered an unsurpassed blacksmith. He was lame on both legs because, according to legend, he was thrown down by Zeus for helping Hera get out of her shackles.
- Ares - God of unjust wars. He was the son of Zeus and Hera. Zeus secretly hated him for his wild and unbridled temper. Ares loved wild games and could start a conflict without any reason. He was married to Aphrodite.
All Olympian gods and goddesses led a pleasure lifestyle, indulging in intrigue and passion. Each of the gods was powerful in its own way, so feuds very often ended in compromise.
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Lesser Gods
The elder gods had children, this generation was more numerous than the previous one, some of them:
- Dionysus - god of fertility and winemaking. He patronized grape growing and dancing. According to the legends of Ancient Greece, Hera hated Dionysus and drove him crazy. Wherever Dionysus appeared, he was accompanied by unbridled drunkenness, causeless fun and even murder.
- Helios - Sun God. This god performed the same functions as Apollo, was a solar deity, and at the same time the eyes of Zeus: he knew what and where was going on in the mortal world of people. In Greece, many statues were erected in honor of Helios, one of them is called the Colossus of Rhodes and was one of the Seven Wonders of the World. The statue reached 33 meters and stood on the island of Rhodes in the Aegean Sea.
Rice. 3. Colossus of Rhodes.
- Iris carried out small and large orders of the gods. She carried messages and news about the gods of Olympus to people. The ancient Greeks also revered her as the goddess of the rainbow.
- Themis - goddess of justice, protector of the unjustly accused. Helped Zeus start the Trojan War. The Greeks depicted this goddess blindfolded, which meant her impartiality. The cornucopia in the hands of Themis meant the measure of retribution for those who appeared before her fair trial.
According to the religion of Ancient Greece, you can recreate a picture of the life of the ancient Greeks.
The following table provides a short list and description of the gods of Ancient Greece:
|
God's name |
What did he manage? |
Characteristic |
|
Sky, lightning and thunder |
He was the first of the gods to instill in people the concepts of honesty, conscience and shame. He had punitive powers. |
|
|
Poseidon |
Seas and oceans |
He was depicted with an angry face. He did not tolerate objections, did not tolerate insults. |
|
Underground Kingdom of the Dead |
Often portrayed as generous and hospitable. |
|
|
Homely |
Jealous and power-hungry Hera cruelly punishes for adultery. |
|
|
Artemis |
He loves animals, although he patronizes hunting. |
|
|
Patron of the art of blacksmithing, he made lightning bolts for Zeus himself, because he himself was an unsurpassed master blacksmith. |
||
|
Vegetation |
He patronized theaters, winemaking and dancing. |
|
|
Justice |
She was the first prophetess. She convened the gods of Olympus for a council. She was considered the most impartial and fair judge. |
The veneration of the god Dionysus, which came from the north of the Balkans, developed separately from the rest of polytheism. Over time, this worship became monotheistic (monotheism - one god). Historians generally believe that the worship of Dionysus was the first harbinger of the formation of the Christian religion.
What have we learned?
The religion of Ancient Greece, which is studied in grade 5, unlike other religions, endowed the gods with human traits, which brought them closer to people and allowed contemporaries to better understand the life of the ancient Greeks. In addition, although the Greeks believed in afterlife, but this did not serve as the basis for them to worship the gods.
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According to the myths about the gods of Ancient Greece, the basis of the universe was Chaos - the original emptiness, world disorder, from which, thanks to Eros - the first active force - the first ancient Greek gods were born: Uranus (sky) and Gaia (earth), who became spouses. The first children of Uranus and Gaia were hundred-armed giants, surpassing everyone in strength, and one-eyed Cyclopes (Cyclopes). Uranus tied them all up and threw them into Tartarus - the dark abyss of the underworld. Then the Titans were born, the youngest of whom Kronos castrated his father with a sickle given to him by his mother: she could not forgive Uranus for the death of her firstborns. From the blood of Uranus, Erinyes were born - a terrible-looking woman, the goddess of blood feud. From the contact of a part of the body of Uranus, thrown into the sea by Kronos, with sea foam, the goddess Aphrodite was born, who, according to other sources, is the daughter of Zeus and the Titanide Dione.
Uranus and Gaia. Ancient Roman mosaic 200-250 AD.
After the god Uranus separated from Gaia, the titans Kronos, Rhea, Oceanus, Mnemosyne (goddess of memory), Themis (goddess of justice) and others came to the surface of the earth. Thus, the titans turned out to be the first creatures to live on earth. The god Kronos, thanks to whom his brothers and sisters were freed from imprisonment in Tartarus, began to rule the world. He married his sister Rhea. Since Uranus and Gaia predicted to him that his own son would deprive him of power, he swallowed his children as soon as they were born.
Gods of Ancient Greece – Zeus
See also separate article.
According to ancient Greek myths, the goddess Rhea felt sorry for her children, and when her youngest son Zeus was born, she decided to deceive her husband and gave Kronos a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed. And she hid Zeus on the island of Crete, on Mount Ida, where he was raised by nymphs (deities personifying the forces and phenomena of nature - deities of springs, rivers, trees, etc.). The goat Amalthea fed the god Zeus with her milk, for which Zeus subsequently placed her in the host of stars. This is the current star of Capella. Having become an adult, Zeus decided to take power into his own hands and forced his father to vomit out all the child gods he had swallowed. There were five of them: Poseidon, Hades, Hera, Demeter and Hestia.
After this, the “Titanomachy” began - a war for power between the ancient Greek gods and the Titans. Zeus was helped in this war by the hundred-armed giants and the Cyclopes, whom he brought out of Tartarus for this purpose. The Cyclopes forged thunder and lightning for the god Zeus, an invisibility helmet for the god Hades, and a trident for the god Poseidon.
Gods of Ancient Greece. Video
Having defeated the titans, Zeus cast them into Tartarus. Gaia, angry with Zeus for killing the Titans, married the gloomy Tartarus and gave birth to Typhon, a terrible monster. The ancient Greek gods shuddered with horror when a huge hundred-headed Typhon emerged from the bowels of the earth, filling the world with a terrible howl, in which the barking of dogs, the roar of an angry bull, the roar of a lion, and human voices were heard. Zeus incinerated all one hundred heads of Typhon with lightning, and when he fell to the ground, everything around began to melt from the heat emanating from the monster’s body. Typhon, overthrown by Zeus into Tartarus, continues to cause earthquakes and volcanic eruptions. Thus, Typhon is the personification of underground forces and volcanic phenomena.
Zeus throws lightning at Typhon
The supreme god of Ancient Greece, Zeus, by lot cast between the brothers, received the sky and supreme power over all things. The only thing he has no power over is fate, personified by his three daughters, the Moiras, who spin the thread of human life.
Although the gods of Ancient Greece lived in the air space between heaven and earth, their meeting place was the top of Mount Olympus, about 3 kilometers high, located in northern Greece.
There are twelve main ones named after Olympus ancient greek gods are called Olympian (Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, Demeter, Hestia, Apollo, Artemis, Hephaestus, Ares, Athena, Aphrodite and Hermes). From Olympus the gods often descended to earth, to people.
The visual arts of Ancient Greece represented the god Zeus in the form of a mature husband with a thick curly beard and shoulder-length wavy hair. His attributes are thunder and lightning (hence his epithets “thunderer”, “lightning striker”, “cloud-catcher”, “cloud-collector”, etc.), as well as an aegis - a shield made by Hephaestus, by shaking which Zeus caused storms and rains (hence the epithet of Zeus “ egiokh” – aegis-power). Sometimes Zeus is depicted with Nike - the goddess of victory in one hand, with a scepter in the other and with an eagle sitting at his throne. In ancient Greek literature god Zeus often called Kronid, meaning "son of Kronos".
"Zeus from Otricoli". Bust of the 4th century BC
The first time of the reign of Zeus, according to the concepts of the ancient Greeks, corresponded to the “silver age” (in contrast to the “golden age” - the time of the reign of Kronos). In the “Silver Age” people were rich, enjoyed all the blessings of life, but lost their imperturbable happiness, because they lost their former innocence and forgot to pay due gratitude to the gods. By this they incurred the wrath of Zeus, who exiled them to the underworld.
After " silver age“, according to the ideas of the ancient Greeks, the “copper” age came - the age of wars and devastation, then the “iron” age (Hesiod introduces the age of heroes between the copper and iron ages), when the morals of people were so corrupted that the goddess of justice Dick, and with her Loyalty, Shyness and Truthfulness left the earth, and people began to earn their livelihood through hard work and sweat.
Zeus decided to destroy the human race and create a new one. He sent a flood to the earth, from which only the spouses Deucalion and Pyrrha were saved, who became the founders of a new generation of people: at the behest of the gods, they threw stones behind their backs, which turned into people. Men arose from stones thrown by Deucalion, and women from stones thrown by Pyrrha.
In the myths of Ancient Greece, the god Zeus distributes good and evil on earth, he established social order, and established royal power:
“Rolling thunder, sovereign lord, rewarding judge,
Do you like to have conversations with Themis, sitting bent over?”
(from Homer’s hymn to Zeus, vv. 2–3; trans. V.V. Veresaev).
Although Zeus was married to his sister, the goddess Hera, other goddesses, nymphs, and even mortal women became the mothers of his many children in ancient Greek legends. Thus, the Theban princess Antiope gave birth to twins Zetas and Amphion, the Argive princess Danae gave birth to a son Perseus, the Spartan queen Leda gave birth to Helen and Polydeuces, and the Phoenician princess Europe gave birth to Minos. Many such examples could be given. This is explained by the fact that, as mentioned above, Zeus supplanted many local gods, whose wives began to be perceived over time as the beloved of Zeus, for whose sake he cheated on his wife Hera.
On especially solemn occasions or on very significant occasions, they brought a “hecatomb” to Zeus - a great sacrifice of one hundred bulls.
Gods of Ancient Greece - Hera
See separate article.
The goddess Hera, considered in Ancient Greece to be the sister and wife of Zeus, was glorified as the patroness of marriage, the personification of marital fidelity. In ancient Greek literature, she is portrayed as a guardian of morality, brutally persecuting its violators, especially her rivals and even their children. So, Io, the beloved of Zeus, was turned by Hera into a cow (according to other Greek myths, the god Zeus himself turned Io into a cow to hide her from Hera), Callisto - into a bear, and the son of Zeus and Alcmene, the mighty hero Hercules, was pursued by Zeus' wife his entire life, starting from infancy. Being the protector of marital fidelity, the goddess Hera punishes not only the lovers of Zeus, but also those who try to persuade her to be unfaithful to her husband. Thus, Ixion, taken by Zeus to Olympus, tried to win the love of Hera, and for this, at her request, he was not only thrown into Tartarus, but also chained to an ever-rotating fiery wheel.
Hera is an ancient deity, worshiped on the Balkan Peninsula even before the Greeks arrived there. The birthplace of her cult was the Peloponnese. Gradually, other female deities were united in the image of Hera, and she began to be thought of as the daughter of Kronos and Rhea. According to Hesiod, she is the seventh wife of Zeus.
Goddess Hera. Hellenistic period statue
One of the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods tells how Zeus, irritated by Hera’s attempt on the life of his son Hercules, hung her in chains from the sky, tying heavy anvils to her feet, and subjected her to scourging. But this was done in a fit of strong anger. Usually Zeus treated Hera with such respect that other gods, visiting Zeus at councils and at feasts, showed high respect to his wife.
The goddess Hera in Ancient Greece was assigned such qualities as lust for power and vanity, which pushed her to deal with those who put their own or others’ beauty above hers. So, throughout the entire Trojan War, she assists the Greeks in order to punish the Trojans for the preference given to Aphrodite by the son of their king Paris over Hera and Athena.
In her marriage to Zeus, Hera gave birth to Hebe, the personification of youth, Ares and Hephaestus. However, according to some legends, she gave birth to Hephaestus alone, without the participation of Zeus, from the scent of flowers, in revenge for the birth of Athena from his own head.
In Ancient Greece, the goddess Hera was depicted as a tall, stately woman, dressed in a long dress and crowned with a diadem. In her hand she holds a scepter - a symbol of her supreme power.
Here are the expressions in which the Homeric hymn glorifies the goddess Hera:
“I glorify the golden-throned Hera, born of Rhea,
An ever-living queen with a face of extraordinary beauty,
Loudly thundering Zeus's own sister and wife
Glorious. All on the great Olympus are blessed gods
She is reverently revered on a par with Kronidou
(v. 1–5; trans. V.V. Veresaev)
God Poseidon
The god Poseidon, recognized in Ancient Greece as the lord of the water element (he received this destiny by lot, like Zeus - the sky), is depicted very similar to his brother: he has the same curly, thick beard as Zeus, and the same wavy shoulder-length hair , but he has his own attribute by which he can be easily distinguished from Zeus - a trident; with it he sets in motion and calms the waves of the sea. He rules over the winds; Obviously, the idea of earthquakes was associated with the sea in Ancient Greece; This explains the epithet “earth shaker” used by Homer in relation to the god Poseidon:
“He causes the land and the barren sea to sway,
It reigns on Helikon and on the wide Eglas. Double
Honor, O Earth Shaker, has been granted to you by the gods:
To tame wild horses and save ships from wrecking"
(from Homer’s hymn to Poseidon, vv. 2–5; trans. V.V. Veresaev).
The trident, therefore, is needed by Poseidon in order to cause a shaking of the earth, and in order to, by moving apart the mountains, create valleys abundant in water; The god Poseidon can hit a rock with a trident, and a bright spring of clean water will immediately flow out of it.
Poseidon (Neptune). Antique statue of the 2nd century. according to R.H.
According to the myths of Ancient Greece, Poseidon had disputes with other gods over the possession of this or that land. Thus, Argolis was poor in water because during the dispute between Poseidon and Hera, the Argive hero Inachus, appointed as a judge, transferred this land to her, and not to him. Attica was flooded due to the fact that the gods decided the dispute between Poseidon and Athena (who should own this country) in favor of Athena.
She was considered the wife of the god Poseidon Amphitrite, daughter of Ocean. But Poseidon, like Zeus, also had tender feelings for other women. Thus, the mother of his son, the cyclops Polyphemus, was the nymph Foos, the mother of the winged horse Pegasus - the gorgon Medusa, etc.
The magnificent palace of Poseidon was located, according to ancient Greek legends, in the depths of the sea, where, in addition to Poseidon, there lived numerous other creatures that occupied secondary places in the world of the gods: the old man Nereus– ancient sea deity; Nereids (daughters of Nereus) - sea nymphs, among whom the most famous are Amphitrite, who became the wife of Poseidon, and Thetis- mother of Achilles. To inspect his possessions - not only the depths of the sea, but also islands, coastal lands and sometimes even lands lying in the depths of the mainland - the god Poseidon set out in a chariot drawn by horses that had fish tails instead of hind legs.
In Ancient Greece, the Isthmian Games on the Isthmus, the Isthmus of Corinth, by the sea, were dedicated to Poseidon, as the sovereign ruler of the seas and the patron of horse breeding. There, in the sanctuary of Poseidon, there was an iron statue of this god, erected by the Greeks in honor of their victory at sea when the Persian fleet was defeated.
Gods of Ancient Greece – Hades
Hades (Hades), called in Rome Pluto, received the underworld by lot and became its ruler. The ancients’ idea of this world is reflected in the ancient Greek names of the underground god: Hades - invisible, Pluto - rich, since all wealth, both mineral and plant, is generated by the earth. Hades is the lord of the shadows of the dead, and he is sometimes called Zeus Katakhton - the underground Zeus. Considered in Ancient Greece to be the personification of the rich bowels of the earth, it was no coincidence that Hades turned out to be the husband Persephone, daughter of the fertility goddess Demeter. This married couple, who had no children, in the minds of the Greeks, was hostile to all life and sent a continuous series of deaths to all living things. Demeter did not want her daughter to remain in the kingdom of Hades, but when she asked Persephone to return to earth, she replied that she had already tasted the “apple of love,” that is, she had eaten part of the pomegranate she received from her husband, and could not return. True, she still spent two-thirds of the year with her mother at the behest of Zeus, because, yearning for her daughter, Demeter stopped sending the harvest and taking care of the ripening of the fruits. Thus, Persephone in the myths of Ancient Greece personifies the interaction between the goddess of fertility, who gives life, forcing the earth to bear fruit, and the god of death, who takes away life, dragging all the creatures of the earth back into her bosom.
The kingdom of Hades had in ancient Greece different names: Hades, Erebus, Orc, Tartarus. The entrance to this kingdom, according to the Greeks, was either in southern Italy, or in Colon, near Athens, or in other places where there were failures and chasms. After death, all people go to the kingdom of the god Hades and, as Homer says, they drag out a miserable, joyless existence there, deprived of the memory of their earthly life. The gods of the underworld preserved full consciousness only for a select few. Of the living, only Orpheus, Hercules, Theseus, Odysseus and Aeneas managed to penetrate Hades and return to earth. According to the myths of Ancient Greece, at the entrance to Hades sits an ominous three headed dog Cerberus, snakes move on his neck with a menacing hiss, and he does not allow anyone to leave the kingdom of the dead. Several rivers flow through Hades. The souls of the dead were transported across the Styx by the old boatman Charon, who charged a fee for his work (therefore, a coin was placed in the mouth of the deceased so that his soul could pay Charon). If a person remained unburied, Charon did not allow his shadow into his boat, and it was destined to wander the earth forever, which was considered the greatest misfortune in Ancient Greece. A person deprived of burial will forever be hungry and thirsty, since he will not have a grave at which relatives would make libations and leave food for him. Other rivers of the underworld are Acheron, Pyriflegethon, Cocytus and Lethe, the river of oblivion (having swallowed water from Lethe, the deceased forgot everything. Only after drinking sacrificial blood, the soul of the deceased temporarily regained its former consciousness and the ability to speak with the living). The souls of a very few chosen ones live separately from other shadows in Elysia (or on the Champs Elysees), mentioned in the Odyssey and in the Theogony: there they remain in eternal bliss under the protection of Kronos, as if in the Golden Age; later it was believed that everyone initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries went to Elysia.
Criminals who have offended the ancient Greek gods in any way suffer eternal torment in the underworld. Thus, the Phrygian king Tantalus, who offered the meat of his son as food to the gods, eternally suffers from hunger and thirst, standing up to his neck in water and seeing ripe fruits next to him, and also remains in eternal fear, because a rock is hanging over his head, ready to collapse . The Corinthian king Sisyphus is forever dragging a heavy stone up the mountain, which, barely reaching the top of the mountain, rolls down. Sisyphus is punished by the gods for self-interest and deceit. The Danaids, daughters of the Argive king Danaus, forever fill a bottomless barrel with water for the murder of their husbands. The Euboean giant Titius lies prostrate in Tartarus for insulting the goddess Latona, and two kites eternally torment his liver. The god Hades administers his judgment over the dead with the help of three heroes famous for their wisdom - Aeacus, Minos and Rhadamanthus. Aeacus was also considered the gatekeeper of the underworld.
According to the ideas of the ancient Greeks, the kingdom of the god Hades is immersed in darkness and inhabited by all sorts of terrible creatures and monsters. Among them are the terrible Empusa - a vampire and a werewolf with donkey legs, Erinyes, Harpies - the goddess of the whirlwind, the half-woman, half-snake Echidna; here is the daughter of Echidna, the Chimera, with the head and neck of a lion, the body of a goat and the tail of a snake, and here are the gods of various dreams. The three-headed and three-body daughter of Tartarus and Night, the ancient Greek goddess Hecate, rules over all these demons and monsters. Her triple appearance is explained by the fact that she appears on Olympus, on earth, and in Tartarus. But, predominantly, she belongs to the underworld, is the personification of the darkness of the night; she sends people painful dreams; she is invoked when performing all kinds of witchcraft and spells. Therefore, the service to this goddess was performed at night.
The Cyclopes, according to the myths of Ancient Greece, forged an invisibility helmet for the god Hades; Obviously, this thought is associated with the idea of the invisible approach of death to its victim.
The god Hades is depicted as a mature husband, sitting on a throne with a rod or bident in his hand, with Cerberus at his feet. Sometimes the goddess Persephone with a pomegranate is next to him.
Hades almost never appears on Olympus, so he is not included in the Olympic pantheon.
Goddess Demeter
The ancient Greek goddess Pallas Athena is the beloved daughter of Zeus, born from his head. When Zeus's beloved oceanide Metis (the goddess of reason) was expecting a child who, according to prophecy, was supposed to surpass his father in strength, Zeus with cunning speeches made her shrink in size and swallowed her. But the fetus with which Metis was pregnant did not die, but continued to develop in his head. At the request of Zeus, Hephaestus (according to another myth, Prometheus) cut his head with an ax, and the goddess Athena jumped out of it in full military armor.
The birth of Athena from the head of Zeus. Drawing on an amphora from the second half of the 6th century. BC
"Before the aegis-powerful Zeus
She quickly jumped to the ground from his eternal head,
Shaking with a sharp spear. Under the heavy jump of the bright-eyed one
The great Olympus hesitated, they groaned terribly
Around the lying lands, the wide sea trembled
And it boiled in crimson waves..."
(from the Homeric hymn to Athena, vv. 7–8; trans. V.V. Veresaev).
As the daughter of Metis, the goddess Athena herself became "Polymetis" (many-minded), the goddess of reason and intelligent war. If the god Ares revels in all bloodshed, being the personification of a destructive war, then the goddess Athena introduces an element of humanity into the war. In Homer, Athena says that the gods do not leave unpunished the use of poisoned arrows. If the appearance of Ares is terrifying, then the presence of Athena in battle disciplines, inspires and brings reconciliation. Thus, in her person the ancient Greeks contrasted reason with brute force.
Being an ancient Mycenaean deity, Athena concentrated in her hands the control of many natural phenomena and aspects of life: at one time she was the mistress of the heavenly elements, and the goddess of fertility, and a healer, and the patroness of peaceful labor; she taught people how to build houses, bridle horses, etc.
Gradually ancient greek myths They began to limit the activities of the goddess Athena to war, introducing rationality into the actions of people and women's craft (spinning, weaving, embroidery, etc.). In this respect, she is related to Hephaestus, but Hephaestus is the elemental side of the craft, associated with fire; For Athena, reason prevails even in her craft: if to give nobility to the art of Hephaestus, his union with Aphrodite or Charita was needed, then the goddess Athena herself is perfection, the personification of cultural progress in everything. Athena was revered everywhere in Greece, but especially in Attica, which she won in a dispute with Poseidon. In Attica, she was a favorite deity; the main city of Attica was named Athens in her honor.
The name "Pallada" apparently appeared after the fusion of the cult of Athena with the cult of the ancient deity Pallant, who in the minds of the Greeks was a giant defeated by Athena during the war of the gods with the giants.
As a warrior she is Pallas, as a patroness in peaceful life - Athena. Her epithets are “blue-eyed”, “owl-eyed” (the owl, as a symbol of wisdom, was the sacred bird of Athena), Ergana (worker), Tritogenea (an epithet of unclear meaning). In Ancient Greece, the goddess Athena was depicted in different ways, but most often in a long sleeveless robe, with a spear and shield, wearing a helmet and with an aegis on her chest, on which is mounted the head of Medusa, given to her by Perseus; sometimes with a snake (a symbol of healing), sometimes with a flute, since the ancient Greeks believed that Athena invented this instrument.
The goddess Athena was not married, she is not subject to the spell of Aphrodite, therefore main temple her, located in the acropolis, was called “Parthenon” (parthenos - maiden). A huge “chryselephantine” (that is, made of gold and Ivory) statue of Athena with Nike in right hand(works by Phidias). Not far from the Parthenon, inside the walls of the acropolis stood another statue of Athena, a bronze one; the shine of her spear was visible to the sailors approaching the city.
In the Homeric hymn, Athena is called the defender of the city. Indeed, during the period we studied ancient greek history Athena is a purely urban deity, unlike, for example, Demeter, Dionysus, Pan, etc.
God Apollo (Phoebus)
According to the myths of Ancient Greece, when the mother of the gods Apollo and Artemis, the beloved of Zeus, Latona (Leto) was supposed to become a mother, she was cruelly persecuted by Hera, the jealous and merciless wife of Zeus. Everyone was afraid of Hera's wrath, so Latona was driven away from everywhere she stopped. And only the island of Delos, wandering like Latona (according to legend, it was once floating), understood the suffering of the goddess and accepted her to his land. He was, moreover, seduced by her promise to give birth to a great god on his land, for whom a sacred grove would be laid out and a beautiful temple erected there, on Delos.
On the land of Delos the goddess Latona gave birth to twins - the gods Apollo and Artemis, who received the epithets in his honor - Delius and Delia.
Phoebus Apollo is the oldest deity of Asia Minor origin. Once upon a time he was revered as the guardian of herds, roads, travelers, sailors, as the god of medical art. Gradually he took one of the leading places in the pantheon of Ancient Greece. His two names reflect his dual essence: clear, bright (Phoebus) and destructive (Apollo). Gradually, the cult of Apollo replaced the cult of Helios in Ancient Greece, originally revered as the deity of the sun, and became the personification of sunlight. The rays of the sun, life-giving, but sometimes deadly (causing drought), were perceived by the ancient Greeks as the arrows of a “silver-bowed”, “far-striking” god, therefore the bow is one of Phoebus’s constant attributes. His other attribute of Apollo - the lyre or cithara - is shaped like a bow. God Apollo is a most skilled musician and patron of music. When he appears with the lyre at the feasts of the gods, he is accompanied by the muses - the goddesses of poetry, arts and sciences. The Muses are the daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne. There were nine muses: Calliope - the muse of epic, Euterpe - the muse of lyricism, Erato - the muse of love poetry, Polyhymnia - the muse of hymns, Melpomene - the muse of tragedy, Thalia - the muse of comedy, Terpsichore - the muse of dance, Clio - the muse of history and Urania - the muse of astronomy. Mounts Helikon and Parnassus were considered the muses' favorite places to stay. This is how the author of the Homeric hymn to Apollo of Pythia describes Apollo-Musagetes (leader of the muses):
“The clothes of the immortals are fragrant on God. Strings
Passionately under the plectrum they sound golden on the divine lyre.
Thoughts quickly transferred from earth to Olympus, from there
He enters the chambers of Zeus, the assembly of other immortals.
Immediately everyone has a desire for songs and lyres.
The beautiful Muses begin the song in alternating choirs..."
(vv. 6–11; trans. V.V. Veresaev).
The laurel wreath on the head of the god Apollo is a memory of his beloved, the nymph Daphne, who turned into a laurel tree, preferring death to the love of Phoebus.
Apollo's medical functions gradually passed to his son Asclepius and granddaughter Hygieia, the goddess of health.
In the archaic era, Apollo the Archer became the most popular god among the ancient Greek aristocracy. In the city of Delphi there was the main sanctuary of Apollo - the Delphic oracle, where both private individuals and government officials came for predictions and advice.
Apollo is one of the most formidable gods of Ancient Greece. The other gods are even a little afraid of Apollo. This is how it is described in the hymn to Apollo of Delos:
“He will pass through the house of Zeus - all the gods, and they will tremble.
They jumped up from their chairs and stood in fear when he
He will come closer and begin to draw his shiny bow.
Only Leto remains near the lightning-loving Zeus;
The goddess opens the bow and covers the quiver with a lid,
From Phoebus's powerful shoulders he removes weapons with his hands
And a golden peg on a pillar near the seat of Zeus
Hangs up the bow and quiver; Apollo sits in a chair.
In his golden cup, welcoming his dear son,
Father serves nectar. And then the rest of the deities
They also sit in chairs. And Summer's heart rejoices,
Rejoicing that she gave birth to a bow-bearing, powerful son"
(Art. 2–13; trans. V.V. Veresaev).
In Ancient Greece, the god Apollo was depicted as a slender young man with shoulder-length wavy curls. He is either naked (the so-called Apollo of Belvedere has only a light covering falling from his shoulders) and holds a shepherd's crook or bow in his hands (Apollo of Belvedere has a quiver of arrows behind his shoulders), or in long clothes, in a laurel wreath and with a lyre in his hands - this is Apollo Musagetes or Cyfared.
Apollo Belvedere. Statue by Leochares. OK. 330-320 BC.
It is noteworthy that although Apollo was the patron of music and singing in Ancient Greece, he himself plays only stringed instruments - the lyre and the cithara, which the Greeks considered noble, contrasting them with the “barbaric” (foreign) instruments - the flute and pipe. It was not for nothing that the goddess Athena refused the flute, giving it to a lower deity - the satyr Marsyas, since when playing this instrument her cheeks puffed out unsightly.
Gods of Ancient Greece – Artemis
God Dionysus
Dionysus (Bacchus), in Ancient Greece - the god of the plant forces of nature, the patron of viticulture and winemaking, in the 7th–5th centuries. BC e. gained enormous popularity among the common people as opposed to Apollo, whose cult was popular among the aristocracy.
However this fast growth The popularity of Dionysus was, as it were, the second birth of God: his cult existed back in the 2nd millennium BC. e., but then was almost forgotten. Homer does not mention Dionysus, and this indicates the unpopularity of his cult in the era of the dominance of the aristocracy, at the beginning of the 1st millennium BC. e.
The archaic image of Dionysus, the way God was thought to be, apparently, before the change in the cult, is a mature man with a long beard; in the V–IV centuries. BC e. the ancient Greeks depicted Bacchus as a pampered, even somewhat effeminate young man with grapes or an ivy wreath on his head, and this change appearance God indicates a change in his cult. It is no coincidence that in Ancient Greece there were several myths that told about the struggle with which the cult of Dionysus was introduced, and about the resistance that met its appearance in Greece. One of these myths forms the basis of Euripides' tragedy The Bacchae. Through the mouth of Dionysus himself, Euripides very plausibly tells the story of this god: Dionysus was born in Greece, but was forgotten in his homeland and returned to his country only after he had gained popularity and established his cult in Asia. He had to overcome resistance in Greece, not because he was a stranger there, but because he brought with him an orgasm alien to Ancient Greece.
Indeed, Bacchic festivities (orgies) in the classical era of Ancient Greece were ecstatic, and the moment of ecstasy was obviously the new element that was introduced during the revival of the cult of Dionysus and was the result of the fusion of the cult of Dionysus with the eastern deities of fertility (for example, the cult coming from the Balkans Sabasia).
In Ancient Greece, the god Dionysus was considered the son of Zeus and Semele, daughter of the Theban king Cadmus. The goddess Hera hated Semele and wanted to destroy her. She convinced Semele to ask Zeus to appear to his mortal lover in the guise of a god with thunder and lightning, which he never did (when appearing to mortals, he changed his appearance). As Zeus approached Semele's house, lightning slipped from his hand and struck the house; Semele died in the flames of a fire, giving birth to a weak child who was unable to live. But Zeus did not let his son die. Green ivy grew from the ground and protected the child from the fire. Zeus then took the rescued son and sewed him into his thigh. In the body of Zeus, Dionysus grew stronger and was born a second time from the thigh of the thunderer. According to the myths of Ancient Greece, Dionysus was raised by mountain nymphs and the demon Silenus, whom the ancients imagined as an eternally drunk, cheerful old man, devoted to his pupil-god.
The secondary introduction of the cult of the god Dionysus was reflected in a number of stories not only about the god’s arrival in Greece from Asia, but also about his travels on the ship in general. Already in the Homeric hymn we find a story about the move of Dionysus from the island of Ikaria to the island of Naxos. Not knowing that God was in front of them, the handsome young man was seized by robbers, tied with rods and loaded onto a ship to sell him into slavery or receive a ransom for him. But on the way, the fetters of Dionysus’s hands and feet fell off of their own accord, and miracles began to happen before the robbers:
“Sweet, first of all, is everywhere on a fast ship
Suddenly fragrant wine began to gurgle, and ambrosia
The smell rose all around. The sailors looked in amazement.
Instantly they reached out, clinging to the highest sail,
The vines hither and thither, and the clusters hung in abundance...”
(Art. 35–39; trans. V.V. Veresaev).
Turning into a lion, Dionysus tore the pirate leader to pieces. The rest of the pirates, with the exception of the wise helmsman, whom Dionysus spared, rushed into the sea and turned into dolphins.
The miracles described in this ancient Greek hymn - the spontaneous falling off of shackles, the appearance of fountains of wine, the transformation of Dionysus into a lion, etc., are characteristic of ideas about Dionysus. In myths and fine arts In ancient Greece, the god Dionysus was often represented as a goat, bull, panther, lion, or with attributes of these animals.
Dionysus and the satyrs. Painter Brigos, Attica. OK. 480 BC
The retinue of Dionysus (thyas) consists of satyrs and bacchantes (maenads). The attribute of the Bacchantes and the god Dionysus himself is the thyrsus (a stick entwined with ivy). This god has many names and epithets: Iacchus (screaming), Bromius (wildly noisy), Bassareus (the etymology of the word is unclear). One of the names (Liey) is obviously associated with the feeling of liberation from worries experienced when drinking wine, and with the orgiastic character of the cult, freeing a person from ordinary prohibitions.
Pan and the forest deities
Pan was in Ancient Greece the god of forests, the patron of pastures, herds and shepherds. The son of Hermes and the nymph Dryope (according to another myth - the son of Zeus), he was born with goat horns and goat legs, because the god Hermes, caring for his mother, took the form of a goat:
“With the light nymphs he is goat-legged, two-horned, noisy
Wanders through the mountain oak groves, under the dark canopy of trees,
Nymphs from the tops of rocky cliffs call him,
They call upon the lord with curly, dirty fur,
God of merry pastures. The rocks were given to him as his inheritance,
Snowy mountain heads, paths of flinty cliffs"
(from the Homeric hymn to Pan, vv. 2–7; trans. V.V. Veresaev).
Unlike satyrs, who had the same appearance, Pan was depicted by the ancient Greeks with a pipe in his hands, while satyrs were depicted with grapes or ivy.
Following the example of the ancient Greek shepherds, the god Pan led a nomadic life, wandering through the forests, resting in remote caves and instilling “panic fear” in lost travelers.
There were many forest gods in Ancient Greece, and in contrast to the main deity, they were called paniskas.