CC303/Myth
Outline 1/29
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(names in parentheses are Roman) Many of these images are from Bowman's online myth encylopedia. You can also go directly to Bowman's index of Olympian gods or Mythmedia's index of gods. |
terms/names:
polytheism (poly + theos)
Mt Olympus
chthonic
epithet
I. THE OLYMPIANS
The most important gods of the Greek pantheon are often called
Olympians, because they are viewed as living atop Mt Olympus in
northern Greece. The assembly of the gods in council is often shown
in art, as on this vase
painting (ca. 550 B.C.) with description,
showing Zeus, Hermes, Poseidon; or relief
sculpture of Nike, Hera, and Zeus from the Parthenon, Athens (ca.
438-432 B.C.)
1) Zeus (Jupiter, Jove): Sky and weather god, especially rain, lightning
King and father of the gods, he legitimates cosmic and human order; Zeus protects human social and political institutions such as contracts, law, oaths, and the laws and rituals of hospitality.
Iconography: Zeus is depicted as a physically powerful, mature adult male, bearded and with flowing hair. Early (preclassical) images often show in him the act of hurling a thunderbolt. By the classical period he is more often shown seated on a throne. Attributes: thunderbolt, scepter, scales, ram, lion.
Zeus and Typhon on an Athenian vase painting, ca. 550-530 B.C. (slide from class)
Important sites:
2) Hera (Juno): Sister/wife of Zeus and queen of heaven.
Goddess of weddings/marriage and (sometimes under other aspects/goddesses) concerns of women such as childbirth. Hera is more important in cult and ritual than in myth.
Iconography: a beautiful and regal mature woman with hair put up (in the normal fashion of an adult Greek woman). Often shown enthroned alone or beside her husband. Attributes: crown or polos (conical headdress), wedding veil, various birds (usually not before Hellenistic period) but traditionally the peacock; cow.
The sacred marriage of Zeus and Hera: bronze
votive statuette from ca. 800-700 B.C.
Clay
statuette showing Hera wearing a polos and holding a small horse,
6th century B.C. (from class)
Juno
by the Dutch painter Rembrandt, 1660-1665.
Important sites: Argos, Samos, Olympia, Corfu
3) Poseidon (Neptune): Embodies the elemental forces of nature; god of water, both the sea and freshwater springs; earthquakes; horses. Like Hera, more important in cult than in myth.
Iconography: Mature, bearded adult male, indistinguishable from Zeus without his attributes: trident; dolphin or fish; horse; bull, prow of ship.
Coin
from the island of Salamis, showing Poseidon with trident,
306-283 B.C. (from class)
Sculpture
of Poseidon and Triton (a minor sea deity), by Italian Renaissance
sculptor Bernini, about 1620
Important sites: Isthmia (Panhellenic sanctuary); Temple at Sounion in Attica
4) Demeter (see chthonic gods)
5) Athena (Minerva): Born from Zeus' head; just as she was born without a mother, Athena remains eternally virgin.
Goddess of the polis and of war. Thus she protects the polis and the crafts that make civilized life possible, both women's and men's: cloth production such as weaving and spinning, carpentry, bronze working, etc. Also the goddess of intelligence and practical wisdom.
Iconography: Represented as a beautiful but not sexual young woman; when shown without her armor and helmet, her hair is up and she wears ankle-length robes as an adult woman does. Generally, however, she is depicted as a warrior maiden, with helmet, spear, shield and/or aegis, Nike; also lamp, spindle; owl, snake, olive tree.
Birth
of Athena from the head of Zeus, assisted by Hephaistos. Black
figure vase, ca. 550 B.C. (from class)
Armed
Athena with typical high-crested helmet and shield, Archaic black
figure vase, ca. 530 B.C.
Important sites: Athens (Panhellenic festival); Temple of Athena Aphaia on island of Aegina
6) Apollo (Apollo): Twin brother of Artemis by Leto; god of prophecy, disease and healing, and the civilized arts: music, poetry, dance. Not originally a sun god, but often connected with the sun by the classical period. Also protects domestic animals and flocks.
Iconography: always depicted as a young man without beard (Greek "ephebe"), but may range from adolescent to advanced "teens"; his portraits represent the Greek ideal of young male beauty. Attributes: bow and/or arrows; lyre; tripod (as prophet); wreath of laurel leaves; hawk or raven; fawn. In literature (occ. artistic depictions) often associated with the Muses (not necessarily all nine at once), shown as young women with musical instruments or reading/writing materials.
Vase
painting ca. 530-520 B.C. showing (L-R) Hermes, Artemis, Apollo
(with lyre), Leto, Poseidon
Bronze
statue of Apollo from Piombino, Italy, ca. 480 B.C.
Vase painting of Apollo
with lyre, pouring a libation at an altar
Important sites:
7) Artemis (Diana): Twin sister of Apollo; goddess of wild animals, hunting; also the goddess of young, virgin women, and is called upon by women in childbirth. Sometimes associated with the moon but not properly a moon goddess; by the classical period she is often linked with the chthonic goddess Hecate, who is associated with Selene, the personified moon.
Iconography: depicted as an athletic maiden, more attractive and erotic than Athena, less voluptuous than Aphrodite; wears short (thigh-length) hunting dress. Attributes: bow and arrows or quiver; hair ribbon; deer or wild goat, bear, quail; torch. Sometimes soft leather hunting boots.
Important sites: Island of Delos, sanctuary at Brauron (Attica)
Artemis in Mistress
of the Animals (Potnia Theron) pose, vase painting, ca. 680 B.C.
(from class)
Another Mistress
of the Animals from the Francois vase, ca. 570-569 B.C. (from
class)
The divine twins Artemis
and Apollo attack a helmeted giant, gigantomachy from Delphi, ca.
525 B.C.
Apollo,
Artemis, and Zeus(?), vase painting ca. 490 B.C.
Artemis
and Apollo slaying the Niobids, vase painting ca. 460-450 B.C.
(from class)
Sculpted metope: the
death of Actaeon, ca. 470-460 B.C., Temple of Hera at Selinus,
Sicily (from class)
Vase painting: Artemis
and Actaeon, late classical.
Hellenistic/Roman sculpture of Artemis
with deer, "the Diana of Versailles". (from class)
Auguste Renoir, painting of Diana
the Huntress, 1867.
8) Aphrodite (Venus): Goddess of love, sexual desire, beauty; secondarily fertility.
Iconography: Aphrodite is depicted as a desirable, voluptuous woman, and is the only goddess regularly shown nude. She represents the ideal of feminine beauty for Greeks: soft features, smallish/medium breasts, not as slender as the hunter Artemis or warrior Athena. Attributes: mirror; apple; dove or swan; fine clothing and cosmetics; gold. Often she holds a flower.
Sites: Island of Cyprus, especially city Paphos; island of Kythera
off the southern coast of Peloponnesus
The
birth of Aphrodite sculpture (the Ludovisi Throne), ca. 470-460
B.C. (from class)
Aphrodite
riding a swan or goose, holding a flower. Interior of a drinking
cup, ca. 460 B.C. (from class)
Aphrodite
and Pan, with Eros and a swan, from the back of a mirror. 4th
century B.C. (from class)
Birth
of Aphrodite from the sea, terracotta statuette, 4th century
B.C.
Aphrodite
nursing Erotes (multiples of Eros) from a treasure chest, vase
painting
Marble
statue of Aphrodite (the Venus of Arles) from an original of
about 360 B.C. (from class)
The
Birth of Venus, painting by Botticelli, 15th century Italian.
(from class)
9) Hermes (Mercury): Son of Zeus and Maia. Hermes is a trickster and thief. He is the patron of those who cross borders and boundaries: the traveller, herald/ambassador, merchant/trader, and thief. He also crosses the boundaries between worlds: divine, human, and the dead. As such he is the messenger god and often is said to convey the souls of the newly dead to the underworld. Like Apollo, he watches shepherds and domestic flocks --which, in Mediterranean lands, are wandering, not fenced -- and their music: the pipes and lyre. (The Roman Mercury is a much more commercial god, a protector of merchants and marketplaces.)
Iconography: Hermes is a young beardless man, like Apollo in most art, however the herm (statue representing a boundary marker) is normally bearded. Attributes: broad-brimmed hat, herald's staff or caduceus, sandals (sometimes with wings), short cloak; lyre; ram, shepherd's staff.
Hermes
leads away Apollo's cattle, vase painting ca. 500 B.C.
Bronze votive statuette of Hermes
holding a ram, 5th century B.C.
Early classical silver coin with head
of Hermes on one side, goat
on the other.
Hermes' son Pan
pursuing a goatherd with erotic intent (note the herm behind Pan);
here a more
complete image
Sculptured
votive with three nymphs, Hermes and Pan approached by
worshippers, Athens, 4th cent. B.C.
Statuette of Mercury by Johann Gregor von der Schardt, ca. 1530
10) Dionysos/Bakkhos (Dionysus/Bacchus/Liber):
God of vegetable life and vitality, especially grape and ivy. As such he is the god of wine, fertility, and also a god of poetry (both song and drama). He is a god of altered states, madness (perceived as possession by the god) as well as drunkeness, and his powers disrupt the social order.
Iconography: Preclassical Dionysos is often bearded, but classical and later Dionysus is often a beardless young man, often "unathletic", with a sensual appearance. Dionysus is also the only Olympian who is depicted as a baby, often in the arms of another deity: Hermes, Silenus (a fat old man who is the god's clownish companion in drunken revels) and occasionally women who are his nurses in myth.
Because of this variability, his attributes are often most diagnostic, and represent the god even when he is not depicted himself: grapes or vines, ivy, kantharos (wine cup); wild animals like deer or leopards, or their skins; the thyrsos (a staff topped by ivy or a pine cone), and the phallos. Sometimes the god is represented by a theatrical mask, bearded and staring. The god is often depicted with satyrs, pans, maenads/Bacchantes (possessed women), and wild animals; occasionally goats.
Sites: Thebes; sanctuary of Dionysos at Athens
Dionysus in procession of Hephaistos to Olympus, with
drinking vessels, animal skins and vines
Dionysus
holding vines and a drinking horn
Dionysus
(left, with cup) and the return of Hephaistos (on donkey) to
Olympus
Dionysus
with satys and maenads
Statue
of Hermes with the infant Dionysus, from Olympia (from class)
Statue of
Silenus with the infand Dionysus in his arms
11) Ares (Mars): The son of Zeus and Hera, he is the god of war, though from Homer on, his role in myth has been largely usurped by Athena. More important in cult than in myth, he is sometimes made husband of Aphrodite. He is rarely depicted outside specific mythical scenes (often with Aphrodite), as an armed man. He often has as companions personified aspects of war, such as Fear (Phobos), Terror (Deinos), and Strife Eris)
Aphrodite
and Ares, Greek vase painting ca. 510 B.C.
Mars and Venus, Roman
wall painting from Pompeii. ca 70 A.D. (shown in class): note --
large JPEG
Mars
and Venus, painting by Bottocelli, 15th century Italian painter
12) Hephaistos (Hephaestus/Vulcan/Mulciber): The son of Zeus and Hera, he is the smith-god (with Athena) and patron of some other men's handicrafts. Also worshipped as god of volcanoes and fire.
Iconography: adult bearded male, shown as lame (with a twisted foot or one leg shorter); smith's leather apron, hammer or axe, anvil, bellows, forge, fire.
Classical vase paintings:
Hephaistos assisting in the birth
of Athena from Zeus' head (shown in class)
Athena
and Hephaistos preparing Pandora for wedding to Epimetheus
Hephaistos returning
to Olympos with Dionysus, on a donkey (note his club foot)
Martin van Heemskirk, 1536, Mars and Venus caught in net by Vulcan and exposed to the other gods
Sites: Temple of Hephaistos in the Agora, Athens; Lipari Islands (volcanic) off the coast of Sicily
II. Chthonic divinities
Hades/Pluton (Pluto or Dis): As brother of Zeus he is an Olympian but does not live in heaven, but the underworld, which he rules. He is also a god of fertility and wealth (from the hidden riches of the earth, such as precious metals and buried treasure).
Iconography: Adult bearded male like Zeus and Posiedon, but rarely depicted except for a single specific mythical scene (the rape of Persephone, with a chariot). Otherwise enthroned, often with his wife Perseophone/Kore.
Attributes: scepter, throne, chariot with horses; in some scenes a rooster or sheaf of wheat (traditional sacrifices) may also be shown.
Terracotta relief of Hades and Persephone enthroned, with wheat, rooster offerings, from Locri (Greek colony in Italy), ca. 480 B.C. (from class)
Demeter (Ceres): Goddess of grain and agriculture, also a fertility goddess. Shown as a mature "maternal" woman, often with her daughter Persephone/Kore. Attributes/symbols are: a sheaf of grain or head of wheat; a conical headdess called a polos; scepter; torch; sacrificial bowl. Persephone/Kore when depicted with Demeter is a younger woman, otherwise resembles Demeter.
Demeter gives grain to Triptolemos, Red figure vase, ca.440-430 B.C.
Important site: Sanctuary of Demeter at Eleusis, central Greece (near Athens)
III. Minor gods and goddesses
Hestia (Vesta): Goddess of the personified hearth, a virgin; rarely depicted except in group scenes of the gods on Mt Olympus.
Iris: Usually thought of as the rainbow personified, she is not a major deity, but nevertheless a resident of Olympus. She is a messenger of the gods, especially Zeus and Hera. Iconography: a young woman, often with wings and staff.
Eleithyia: A very ancient goddess (gifts to her shrine on Crete are mentioned in Linear B tablets at Knossos ca. 1200 B.C.) but does not have much myth or iconography attached to her. She is appealed to by women in childbirth and is sometimes merged with Hera.
Hebe: Usually called a daughter of Zeus and Hera, she is a cupbearer to the gods on Olympus and a patron of youth (Hebe means "youthfulness"). Later she is wife of the deified Herakles.
Nike: Not so much a goddess as personified Victory (victory in Greek - "nike"). Shown as a young woman, usually winged, often very small in relation to other figures. Sometimes holds out a wreath or crown over another figure's head, or pours a libation from a bowl. Often accompanies Athena, Zeus.
Nike with Poseidon, on a vase painting ca. 475-470 B.C.
IV Study and review
1) Many gods are further described by epithets, which may sometimes serve as a substitute for their names (e.g. Tritogeneia = Athena in the Theogony). Some of these are associated with certain geographical areas, or aspects of the gods' powers. (e.g. Aphrodite is "the Cyprian", from the island of Cyprus, or Zeus is the Cloudgatherer.) Begin to keep track of these gods' epithets (you can add them to this chart if you like), since they will be important when you read the Metamorphoses and the Homeric epics.
2) Comparative mythology: Are there aspects of the cosmos which you view as important that are not addressed by the Olympic pantheon? What other pantheons (from other religions or myths) are you familiar with? How are they organized (i.e. by family, or any other way)? Are they shown interacting with each other in myth?
