Mythology – the 12 gods

At a time when scientific answers were not yet available, mankind had begun to ask questions about creation, death, natural elements and forces that affected life but which could not be mastered, people used imagination together with knowledge and experience to justify things that they did not fully understand.

Man’s need to explain certain phenomena that made him feel powerless and vulnerable in a world that had no boundaries, made him create ‘myth’. An explanation was attached to events that took place around man, both within his immediate environment but also in neighbouring and distant lands. Many myths were created out of real events and based on fundamental truths; because of this mythology is seen as an invaluable source of information about the history of people in those distant times.

With the passing of time more and more myths were contrived, some based on true events and others as variations of an already existing story. So, when we try to decipher the history of a place through the mythology surrounding it, it is essential to look at the core from which the myths emerged.

The Twelve Gods of the Olympian Pantheon

Zeus

In ancient Greek religion Zeus was the first and foremost, father of gods and humans. Zeus was regarded as the sender of thunder, lightning, rain and winds and his traditional weapon was the thunderbolt.

According to myth, his father Cronus upon learning that one of his children would dethrone him and reign in his place swallowed all his children at birth. His wife Rhea substituted Zeus’s body with a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes and hid the infant in the Idaean cave in Crete. Here he was looked after by the nymph (or goat) Amalthaea and the Curetes who were young warriors that danced wildly around the baby in order to smother its cries for fear that Cronus would hear them. When Zeus grew up he led the gods in war against the Titans. Zeus with his mighty thunderbolts emerged victorious and divided dominion over the world. He, as the supreme god would rule over sky and earth, his brothers Poseidon, over the sea, and Hades over the underworld.

Zeus, from his exalted position on Mt Olympus was thought to observe the affairs of men, seeing everything and governing all, rewarding good behaviour and punishing evil. In the Iliad he is portrayed with the golden scales in his hands during Achilles and Hector’s fight, the tipping of the scales indicates Hector’s death. He was also seen as the protector of cities, of the home, property, strangers, guests and supplicants. Again, in Homer’s Iliad, Athena and Hera hated Troy because Paris spurned them but Zeus destroys the city because Paris violated the laws of hospitality.

The power of this almighty god was manifest not only in battles but also in exhaustible sexual potency, which created a perpetual dissension with his wife Hera. A scandalous catalogue of mistresses is contained in the Iliad. Equally infamous is the list of ruses and metamorphoses which Zeus attained in order to achieve his goal such as that of a cuckoo when he charmed Hera, a swan when he visited Leda, a bull when he carried off Europa and golden rain to captivate Danae. Zeus is the only god whose offspring can be immortal but even those born to mortal women, although usually not immortal except in the case of Helen and Polydeuces, are all extraordinary and powerful. Notable among his children were the twins Apollo and Artemis by Leto, Helen and the Dioscouroi by Leda of Sparta, Persephone by the goddess Demeter, Athena who was born from Zeus’ head after he swallowed the Titaness Metis (probably the most unorthodox birth in the kingdom of the gods), Dionysus by the goddess Semele and Ares by Hera.

Zeus stood above all; it was not possible to claim him simply as a city god like Athena of the citadel or Apollo of the marketplace. Zeus was worshipped everywhere; the largest temples were built in his honour and his festival shone above all others: the sacrifice and the games at Olympia. Zeus was recognised as the god of all Greeks. At his festival in Olympia one had to be a Hellene to participate, it was of utmost political significance when later Macedonian and Roman participants were allowed to contest.

In art Zeus was represented as a dignified, mature, bearded man of strong build; he was seen as a striding warrior with his right hand raised ready to hurl a thunderbolt or as an enthroned king holding a sceptre. His direct epiphany was lightning and most prominent symbols were the thunderbolt and the eagle.

Hera

Hera was the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, sister-wife to Zeus and queen of the Olympian gods. In Homer she represents the jealous and rancorous wife of Zeus, a model of marital strife rather than connubial affection. However, she is, everywhere, the goddess of weddings and marriage. In Olympia, Oenomaus’ daughter, Hippodameia instituted a festival in her honour as thanks for her own marriage to Pelops. Every four years sixteen chosen maidens ran races in the stadion, the prize for the winner was a branch of olive and a portion of the cow slaughtered for Hera.

Hera was worshipped as the goddess of consummated marriage and as protector of the life of women and childbirth. Strangely, one feature of marriage is definitely missing from her life, that of motherhood. She is not portrayed as a devoted mother; conversely, her womanhood is restricted to her relationship with her husband. Hera is dangerous, vengeful and intractable in her rage. She punishes the daughters of King Proetus who mocked her image in Tyrins by condemning them to charge across the Peloponnese like mad cows, also Io, her priestess at Argos, is driven mad and raves across the world in the shape of a cow. Her capacity to inflict evil is even turned on to her own husband and her stepchildren. |She held much resentment towards Hercules, Hephaestus and Dionysus.

Her cult had two major centres, the sanctuary between Argos and Mycenae, at Tyrins, and on the island of Samos. In art she is represented as a beautiful and majestic, youthful matron. The animal sacred to Hera was the cow and first the cuckoo and later the peacock were especially linked to her cult.

Poseidon

Poseidon was traditionally the son of Cronus and Rhea, brother of Zeus. After the war against the Titans he was allotted the sea. The Greeks believed that he was due honour on two accounts: as tamer of horses and as rescuer of ships.

As god of the sea he naturally enjoyed popularity with the Greeks and many of his sanctuaries were built close to the shore. His sanctuary at the Isthmus can be seen in the context of Corinth’s position controlling the seas and the beautiful temple of Poseidon at Cape Sounion first greeted ships sailing into Athens.

At the same time he was also regarded as a god of the earth. In mythology many disasters were attributed to him, also, natural catastrophes such as the earthquake at Sparta in 464BC were considered to be his work. When such things occurred people would sing his paean (hymn) and invoke him as the god of steadfastness, Asphaleios.

In addition, he was closely associated with horses. According to myth he was the father of the winged Pegasus. When Perseus beheaded the Gorgon Medusa, with whom Poseidon had lain, Pegasus and Chrysaor (an armed warrior) leapt from her body. In the cult of Poseidon Petraios (Rock Poseidon) at Collonus Hippios (of horses) in Athens, Poseidon is said to have spilled his semen on a rock from which the first horse sprang.

Poseidon was also associated with freshwater springs; the great springs at Lerna burst forth for Amymone, daughter of Danaus after she had lain with the god. His children were generally giants and grim creatures such as Orion, Antaeus and Polyphemus but Linear B tablets also reveal him as the principal god of Pylos and myth genealogically connects him to Pylos by making him father of Neleus, king of Pylos.

In Homer, Poseidon was the embodiment of elemental force, sea storms and earthquakes were the most violent forms of energy encountered by man and the horse was the strongest energy which man managed to control. In art he is frequently shown with fish or a dolphin in his hand, added to these he is usually attributed the almighty trident.

Artemis

Artemis was also known as the Mistress of the Animals, potnia theron. She was a Mistress of the whole of wild nature, of the fish of the water, of the birds of the air, lions and stags, goats and hares; she herself was uncanny and wild. Artemis was also the goddess of hunters and hunting, of vegetation, of chastity and of childbirth.

The most definitive picture of Artemis comes from the Odyssey when Nausica playing with her friends by the stream, is likened to her: Artemis with her swarms of nymphs, hunting, playing, singing and dancing in the mountains and valleys.

Dances of maidens representing dryads (tree nymphs) were especially common in the worship of Artemis as goddess of the tree cult, a role popular in the Peloponnese. Throughout the Peloponnese her epithets Limnaea and Limnatis (Lady of the Lake) showed that she supervised waters and lush wild growth and naiads (nymphs of wells and springs) attended her.

The beautiful and innocent picture of Artemis also had a darker side. The virginal goddess was cruel – her arrow threatened every girl fulfilling her womanly destiny. Women who died in childbirth were direct victims of Artemis and service at her temple in Brauron was regarded as an advance purchase of freedom from the goddess. Her cruelty is evident in myth when she demands the sacrifice of Agamemnon’s daughter Iphigeneia in propitiation for a stag that he had killed in her sacred grove. In the Iliad this had the function of opening war. Artemis frequently demanded brutal and bloody sacrifices. At the Ortheia festival in Sparta blood was made to flow when in an endurance test young men were flogged, to death sometimes, before a tourist audience.

Artists avoided Artemis’ malicious wrath; she was usually pictured as a young lithe girl, wearing a short chiton and a girlish hairstyle, carrying a bow and a quiver of arrows.

Athena

Athena is the citadel and city goddess, goddess of war, handicraft and practical reason.

Her association with cities is expressed by her epithets Polias, Poliouchos, and her temples are very frequently found at elevated positions in cities. The most famous being the Parthenon, which dominates Athens, others are found in the cities of Argos, Sparta, Lindos and Gortyn. In modern times she is closely associated with Athens to which she, possibly, gave her name. Her birth and contest with Poseidon for the suzerainty of the city were depicted on the frieze of the Parthenon. According to myth, Metis (Wisdom) was Athena’s mother and she was born from Zeus’ head. Another version of this myth claims that Athena had no known mother and Zeus produced her on his own. She was associated with birds but particularly the owl that was the city’s own symbol and which eventually came to symbolise knowledge.

As goddess of war, Athena wore the aegis (goatskin). Whenever she rose the aegis her enemies were overtaken by panic and soon fled. In the Iliad she was ever present during the struggles and war; she was the first to bellow out the war cry, she swept through the Greek flanks rousing and exciting the warriors and in the noise and excitement the soldiers believed that they perceived the goddess herself. She also represented the civilised and intellectual side of war and the virtues of justice and skill. In the Iliad alongside the ferocious warrior goddess she also became the goddess of good counsel, of prudent restraint and of practical insight.

Athena was the inventor and patroness of the spindle and loom. During her most important festival in Athens, the Panathenaea, the peplos (robe), which was woven throughout the year by well-chosen maidens of the city, was handed over to her. She was also the goddess of other crafts such as carpentry; she was famous for helping to construct the Wooden Horse that allowed the Achaeans to penetrate the walls of Troy, which resulted with the Trojans defeat.

The olive was sacred to Athena, in particular the sacred olive tree on the acropolis of Athens. In the contest with Poseidon over the Attic land Athena won by causing this tree to grow while Poseidon, after striking a rock and producing a salt water spring, was forced to stand down.

Athena was traditionally portrayed wearing a body of armour and a helmet while she carried a shield and a lance. One of the most glorious images of Athena was the chryselephantine statue made by Pheidias of the victorious goddess with shield and helmet, carrying the winged goddess of victory, Nike, in her right hand, which stood within the Parthenon.

Apollo

A god of diverse function and meaning he was the most influential and revered of Greek gods. Apollo communicated through divine distance; he was the god who made men aware of their guilt and purified them of it; he presided over religious laws and constitutions of cities and spoke to man through prophets and oracles; he was also the god of healing. Terror and death were summoned in his bow but a softer side of his nature was shown in his other attribute, the lyre.

The bow was his most dangerous weapon. With the help of his twin sister, Artemis, he killed all of Niobe’s children because she offended their mother, Leto, by boasting of her many offspring. Achilles died at the arrow of Apollo and his son Neoptolemos died at the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. He was also famous for slaying monsters and particularly for slaying the serpent Python, son of Earth and Lord, at Delphi.

Music was always present at all Apollo festivals; the Pythian festival included a musical agon (competition). For the Greeks the Muses were the daughters of Zeus and Mnemosyne but Apollo was their leader, the Mousagetes.

Central in his cult was his worship as the god of healing. A magnificent, surviving, example of Apollo’s worship in this context is the temple of Epicurean Apollo at Bassae erected following the plague in 430BC. Also, Asclepius was known as the son of Apollo and he himself is granted the epithet Doctor, Iatros.

Apollo was most famous as the god of purification and cryptic oracle. Prophets and seers stood under his protection. He was called Apollo Loxias (Oblique) because of his cryptic and obscure utterances through his medium, which were often intentionally misleading and unclear. Through the cultic prescriptions emanated at Delphi he emerged as the god of purification. At Delphi emerged the understanding that murder demanded atonement but also that it was possible to overcome catastrophe with retribution. Everyone was subject to this code including Apollo himself who, after the slaying of the serpent Python, was banished from Delphi and made to seek purification in the Vale of Tempe. This was re-enacted during the Delphic festival of Stepterion, in which a young boy slew the Python and was then temporarily banished to distant Tempe.

In art, Apollo was represented as a beardless youth, the ideal of the treasured akme (prime) of physical development, either naked or robed, often holding a bow or a lyre.

Aphrodite

Aphrodite’s sphere of activity is immediately apparent: aphrodisia as a verb denotes the act of love; Aphrodite is the goddess of the joyous consummation of sexuality. The noun for sexual desire eros, which is masculine by gender, became the god, her son Eros. Hesiod recounts that when the husband of Gaia, Uranus, refused to allow his children to see the light of day, his son Cronus chopped off his father’s genitals and threw them into the sea. A white foam formed around them as the sea swept them away and within it grew a maiden. She was carried by the waves to Cythera and then on to Cyprus where, the gloriously beautiful Aphrodite stepped on to the shore near Paphos. In epic she was known as the daughter of Zeus and Dione.

Aphrodite was frequently mentioned in epic poetry. The story of how Aphrodite outdid Athena and Hera in the Judgement of Paris and how this led to the abduction of Helen and to the outbreak of the Trojan War is very well known. In the Iliad, Homer described how Aphrodite swept Paris away from his defeat by Menelaus to his nuptial bed and brought Helen to him.

Of Aphrodite’s mortal lovers the most important was the Trojan shepherd Anchises, by whom she became mother of Aeneas and Adonis. During the Trojan War she tried to protect her son Aeneas from Diomedes: Diomedes wounded her in the hand and as the blood flowed he laughed telling her to stick to love and not try to dabble in war.

Aphrodite’s main centres of worship were at Paphos in Cyprus and on the island of Kythera. Corinth was the chief centre on the mainland. She was widely worshipped as a sea goddess and as a goddess of war, especially at Sparta, Thebes and Cyprus.

In art the early naked oriental figure was replaced by the representation of the goddess in long, sumptuous robes and the high crown. Later came the famous representations of Aphrodite, naked or semi-naked, the embodiment of all womanly charms.

Hephaestus

Hephaestus was the god of fire. Unlike the other Olympian gods he was far from perfect being crippled at birth. According to myth he was cast from Mt Olympus by his mother Hera because he was a disappointment to her.

Hephaestus was an astonishing smithy and craftsman; glorious works of art came from his hands including the famous Shield of Achilles, on which he portrayed the whole world of man. In epic he was represented in his workshop at the anvil, black with soot and covered with sweat and in art he was portrayed as a bearded man wearing a short sleeveless tunic and tight cap on his unruly hair.

Hermes

Son of Zeus and Maia, his name was probably derived from herma: a heap of stones used to mark boundaries within the city or as landmarks. People passing the herms would add a stone to mark their presence. Pisistratos introduced stone herms to Athens to mark the midway points between the Attic villages and the Agora. These were stone pillars with a membrum virile and a bearded head; they were known as Hermes.

The earliest centre of his cult was on Mt Kyllene in Arcadia where, reputedly, he was born. At Kyllene in Elis he was worshipped as a phallus. Hermes was associated with the protection of cattle and sheep and often closely connected to deities of vegetation such as Pan and the nymphs. As the god of boundaries and the transgression of boundaries Hermes was the patron of herdsmen as herdsmen lived in mountainous border areas and were constantly coming into conflict with their neighbours. Added to this, in the context of the transgression of boundaries, stealing cattle was acceptable as long as one wasn’t detected! He was regarded as the god of gain: anything found casually was a gift from him, a hermaion and any stroke of good luck was attributed to him.

In the Odyssey he appeared as the messenger of the gods and the conductor of the dead to the underworld, the psychopompos. In Homer’s Odyssey Hermes appears repeatedly as the messenger of Zeus carrying his kerykeion, the herald’s staff. He was sent to the island of Calypso in order to convince her to allow Odysseus to leave, also on Circe’s island he comes again to Odysseus’s aid and in the Iliad when Achilles continues to violate Hector’s body the gods considered sending Hermes to steal the body away.

In archaic art, aside from the herms, he was portrayed as a bearded man wearing a cap and winged boots sometimes holding the kerykeion and occasionally carrying a sheep on his shoulders. Later, a youthful, nude and beardless athlete represented him. The most famous masterpiece of this new form is the statue of Hermes created by Praxiteles at Olympia.

Demeter

Daughter of Cronus and Rhea and sister of Zeus, Demeter was the goddess of agriculture but more specifically the goddess of corn and grain.

In order to define the picture of Demeter one must look at the myth surrounding her. This myth introduced Persephone, Zeus and Demeter’s daughter, as a maiden playing with other girls her age, they decided to leave the house and go out to the meadow to collect flowers. Persephone bent down to pick a particularly beautiful flower and the earth suddenly opened and out leapt the god of the underworld with horses and chariot. He picked up Persephone and carried her away. Demeter heard her cries and sped off to help her, she searched for her over the whole world pushed by anger and pain, but was unable to find her daughter. As long as Demeter was in mourning and could not find Persephone the land lay fruitless, seeds did not germinate and nothing grew. Demeter had to be appeased otherwise everyone would perish. It was probably Hermes that brought the girl back but while in the underworld she tasted the pomegranate so was bound to the underworld. She was forced to always return and it was agreed that she would spend one third of each year there. Since antiquity this myth has been seen as a nature allegory: Persephone is the corn that must descend into the earth so that it may germinate; her ascent is the yearly return of the corn when the land flourishes. Demeter was primarily the corn goddess but her domain extended to vegetation generally.

In Sparta she was worshipped as a goddess of the underworld and ancient secret cults of Demeter, the Mysteria, were found in Arcadia, Messenia and Eleusis. Demeter also appeared as the goddess of birth, marriage and health and she was the patron goddess of the Amphictyonic League in connection with the temple at Delphi. The most important festival in her honour were the Thesmophoria at Athens a women’s festival where pigs were sacrificed in underground pits.

In art she was represented as a beautiful, mature, woman with a wreath of ears of corn and with more corn in her hand. Sometimes she was portrayed with her daughter, Persephone.

Hestia

Believed to be the daughter of Cronus and Rhea she was the goddess of the hearth, the centre of house and family. Myth tells us that after turning down Apollo and Poseidon she vowed to remain a maiden forever. Zeus honoured her decision by making her the goddess of all sacrifices.

She was worshipped primarily as the goddess of the family hearth but as the city communities were essentially a family union on large scale, a communal hearth stood in a temple or at the Prytaneion (town hall). The hearth was a place for libations and small food offerings.

Hestia was closely associated with Zeus in relation to hospitality and family unity and with Hermes, contrasting domestic life and business life outside the family home.

The power represented in the hearth never really developed into a person so Hestia was never seen in the procession of the gods.

Ares

Ares was the god of war and, according to Homeric epic, the son of Zeus and Hera. Not one of the most popular gods in Greece as he represented the nastier side of war, conflict, and destruction, not even his parents and fellow deities were very fond of him. He was the ultimate embodiment of everything that was hateful in war.

Traces of his worship have been found in northern Greece and in Sparta. In epic Menelaus and the Danaans were followers of Ares, Menelaus in particular was very dear to Ares and he also fought in battle like the god himself. At Athens there was a temple to Ares at the foot of the Areios Pagos (Areopagus).

In art Ares was represented as a typical armed warrior, sometimes on a chariot led by his sons Phobos (fear) and Deimos (Terror)