Theseus and the Minotaur, Part III

Greetings, Greek mythology fans!  Theseus has just killed the Minotaur!  Phew!  But, oh no!  He's still inside the Labyrinth created by that most daedalian and clever inventor, Daedalus!  But wait!  He still has the key to get out!  All he has to do is follow the golden glowing thread all the way back to the great double bronze doors where the 13 other children await his return.

I will not trouble you with the byzantine, winding, anfractuous, perplexing,  twisty-turny, dare I say topsy-turvy trip back to them.  Suffice it to say, Theseus finally makes it back, after grabbing a horn of Asterion, the great Minotaur, for himself, and safely arrives back to the doors.  The children all breathe a sigh of huge relief, begin to all talk at once, but Theseus is tired, and tells them to hush.

He knocks thrice upon the huge doors, and Ariadne, his new bride, opens the doors, and off they run, quickly and silently, to the ship with the black and white main sail, and off they sail before King Minos and Queen Pasiphae are even aware that they are leaving.  For how could they escape the inescapable?  No one pays any attention.  And so off they go, free, alive, smelling the fresh air of the open sea, so, so different than the close smell of death within the lair of the horrible Minotaur's now tomb.

Ariadne smiles upon Theseus, but he, alas, broods.  What could be wrong?  Hasn't he done the heroic thing?  Hasn't he saved them all?  Does he not have a beautiful princess as a wife?  Does he not have the incredible trophy of the horn of the Minotaur?  Yet he frowns.  Perhaps he is merely tired, thinks Ariadne. Perhaps he is homesick, for it is now the middle of September, and they have been gone since the 6th of April.

One day, at long last, Theseus is smiling.  He walks up to Ariadne and tells her that he is tired of  the ship, and needs a break from the children, who are making way too much noise.  He tells Ariadne that they have not yet had a chance to have time to themselves, to have a proper honeymoon.

     "Lo, see yonder island, my love?  Shall we weigh anchor and just the two of us spend a few days alone together upon the island, which looks so pleasant?" asks Theseus.
     "Yes, my beloved, that would be wonderful," beams Ariadne, delighted at this sudden turn of events.

And so they disembark from the ship, leaving the children with the sailors.  Theseus is in such a good mood! Finally, after much talk of love they settle down for a nap, or so Ariadne thinks.  Theseus waits until Ariadne falls asleep under a beautiful oak tree, and then he quickly jumps up, runs off to the ship, and tells the captain to set sail. The captain looks puzzled, but Theseus gives the command once again, in the name of his father King Aegeus, and off they sail.

A little while later, as the sun is heading towards the horizon, Ariadne wakes up, sees that Theseus is nowhere to be seen, and calls out for her love.  Silence answers her, and then the calling of birds.  She runs towards the shore, a panic of suspicion rising within her, and finds not the ship.  She screams, runs to the nearest tree, and hangs herself.

Ah!  There is an alternate ending to this myth, much the better.  For the island was Naxos, the isle of Dionysus, the god of wine.  Dionysus hears Ariadne calling for her love, and so he himself answers, falls madly in love with Ariadne, and marries her himself. What a turn of events!  To be married to a man who really does not love you, and then the next day to be married to a god who really does!  Ariadne, abandoned, now becomes Ariadne the beloved of a divinity.  Maybe change, which appears bad, really isn't so bad after all.  At least in some cases.

Theseus, meanwhile, is really most pleased with himself.  He begins to gloat over his success ... the Minotaur horn shines in the setting sun, and he is heading home.  In fact, Theseus is so pleased with himself these days that he forgets to do something of paramount importance.

King Aegeus, the father of Theseus, has arrived once again upon the cliff where he has been looking for the return of his son and the other Athenian youths, hoping against hope that Theseus indeed has slain the Minotaur.  It is the morning of October the 8th, over 6 months since the ship has set sail to Crete.  The day is dawning, and as he looks out with hope upon the horizon towards the south he sees a ship!  Could it be the ship of Theseus?  Is the white sail up?  Is he alive?  Can he relay good news to the families of those children who were sent off to be eaten?  At first he cannot look, but as the sun gets stronger and the light gets brighter and the sun gets closer he, he cannot believe ... it's the black sail!  Aegeus, in despair, jumps off the cliff into the sea to his death, thinking that all has been lost.

For Theseus, of course, had forgotten to turn around the sail to the white.

*Interesting Fact*  The ancient people of Crete were known as the Minoans, named after their king, Minos.  A cretin, on the other hand, is someone who is stupid and foolish, and has nothing to do with the island of Crete.

*Interesting Fact* The Aegean Sea, that sea that lies between the countries of Greece and Turkey, is named after King Aegeus.  When a word is created from someone's name, it is called an eponym.  There are all kinds of mythological eponyms, such as Europe, the Hellespont, the Pillars of Hercules, daedalian, hector, etc.

**Book Corner**
       Want to learn a little more about historical Crete and the legend behind the Labyrinth and the Minotaur?  Take a look at In Search of Knossos: The Search for the Minotaur's Labyrinth. 





Interested in English vocabulary and its Latin and Greek roots?  Take a look at
www.wordempire.com, a site which describes the most comprehensive dictionary available based on English derivatives that come from Latin and Greek root words.

Theseus and the Minotaur, Part II

Greeting, Greek mythology fans!  My last post concentrated on approximately the first half of the story of Theseus and the Minotaur.  I will now continue this fascinating tale.
     As you will most likely recall, we last left Theseus having arrived in Athens and having learned that 14 children are to be sent to the horrible Minotaur in Crete to be eaten.  Theseus, wanting none of this, storms off to find his father (who, mind you, he does not even know).  When he finds King Aegeus he runs up to him, and hesitates; Aegeus recognizes him because he is only wearing one sandal, a prophecy come true.  The two embrace, father to son, and Theseus immediately informs his father that he is going to be one of the 14 children sent to the Minotaur, except for the fact that he is going to slay that horrible beast.

     Aegeus:  "No you're not."
     Theseus:  "Yes, I am."
     Aegeus:  "No, You're NOT."
     Theseus:  "Yes, I AM!!"

Aegeus realized that he would get no further with his son, with whom he was secretly pleased, and so he told him that he could go, only that he must promise to do something for him.  Aegeus would provide Theseus with a ship that had a sail the color black on one side, and white on the other.  Aegeus would watch every day from a nearby cliff for the return of Theseus--if Theseus had been successful, Aegeus instructed him to have the white part of the sail facing forward, if not, the black.  In this way Aegeus would be able to tell whether or not the mission had been successful, or if all the children and Theseus had been devoured by the hungry Minotaur.

And so, according to mythological sources, Theseus, another 13 somewhat less doomed children, and the sailing crew set forth on the 6th of April.  Usually myths aren't that specific, but nevertheless, the 6th of April it was.  Soon they arrived at the port at Crete, where Ariadne, the beautiful daughter of King Minos came to greet them.  As soon as she cast her eyes on Theseus she knew that she had met her doom.  She immediately fell in love with him.

That night, at a huge feast set forth to fatten up the children to further delight the Minotaur, Ariadne sat next to Theseus, glancing over at him many a time, waiting for him to speak.  Ariadne was dazzlingly beautiful, and was used to much attention placed upon her.  When Theseus did not appear particularly interested (how could he be when he was to come face to face the next day with a beast that towered over him and was treble his strength?), Ariadne spoke up:

Ariadne:  "You know, Theseus, even if you manage to kill my step brother Asterion, you'll never get out of the Labyrinth alive."
Theseus:  (casting his widening eyes upon Ariadne as if seeing her for the first time)  "How's that?"
Ariadne:  "Because you'll never find your way out again, and die of hunger."
Theseus: (in typical male fashion does not answer)
Ariadne:  "You know Theseus, you can either die ... or you can marry me and I'll give you the secret of the Labyrinth."
Theseus: (thinking quickly to himself:  death or drop down dead gorgeous princess to marry?  death ... or beautiful princess?  hmmm ... ).  "Will you marry me?"

And so the next morning, as the procession of children was led to the huge double bronze doors of the Labyrinth, Ariadne snuck a magically glowing golden ball of thread to Theseus, which he promptly hid in his tunic.  (Ariadne had procured this key to the Labyrinth from Daedalus himself the night before, who was remaining at the court of King Minos).  As soon as the children and Theseus were led inside the Labyrinth, they heard the terrible grinding and booming close of the bronze doors, and then a deafening silence, and then a horrible roar, a horribly hungry roar, a borborygmic bellowing way off somewhere in the darkness and depths of the horrible Labyrinth.

Keeping his wits about him, Theseus told the children to stay put, to stay by the door, lest they become lost forever.  The children had no trouble complying with this order!  Theseus set down the magical ball of golden thread, which began to unwind by itself, first taking Theseus left, then right, then left, then right, then right, then yet another right, then back to the left, then straight for some time, then right yet again, then left, left, left, then right, right, right, right, then left yet again, then left, straight for seemingly forever (because the hunger pangs of the Minotaur began to become louder and louder), then left, left, right, right, right, right, left, half-right, half-left, diagonally, then ... whoa!!!!!!!!!!

What Theseus saw before him made him gasp.  Imagine a floor piled with human bones.  Imagine a 30' tall looming figure with huge horns of a bull standing in the center of those bones, bellowing with hunger, and flexing its enormous muscles.  Asterion, the great Minotaur, had caught the scent of Theseus, and with no further ado, came crashing after him, crunching on all those human bones.

A goner, you say?  Theseus held his ground until the very last second, then nimbly leapt out of the way, which caused the befuddled Minotaur to smash into the wall.  However, quick as lightning Asterion pulled away, and ran after Theseus once again, who feigned (or maybe not so!) to be running away, far to the other wall of this central chamber of the Labyrinth, again waiting until the very last second ... and dodging out of the way.  This time it took a second more for the Minotaur to disengage its horns which had hit with terrible force into the wall of the Labyrinth, just enough time for Theseus to leap onto his back!  And then, nimble wrestler that he was, he was barely able to encircle his arms around the terrifically strong Minotaur's neck, gave a mighty, heroic twist, and broke his neck!

Stay tuned for my next post, Theseus and the Minotaur, Part III, which will conclude the exciting story of Theseus defeating the Minotaur. Will he find his way back?  Will he save the children?  Will he and Ariadne remain happily married? What will King Minos do once he realizes that Asterion is dead?  Ah, so many questions to be answered ...

*Book Corner*  A wonderful fully illustrated graphic novel, Theseus: Battling the Minotaur: A Greek Myth, is available from Amazon that fully delineates and illustrates this fabulous Greek myth.  


Interested in English vocabulary and its Latin and Greek roots?  Take a look at
www.wordempire.com, a site which describes the most comprehensive dictionary available based on English derivatives that come from Latin and Greek root words.

Theseus and the Minotaur--Part I

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about Hades, Hephaestus, and Ares, I'm going to take a break from the major Olympians and tell some of fabulous tales of the heroes, beginning with Theseus. 
     Aethra, Queen of Athens, has given birth to a baby boy, Theseus!  A joyful event to be sure, except for the fact that Athens, led by her husband, King Aegeus, is at war with King Minos of Crete.  King Aegeus and Queen Aethra together determine that it is not safe for Theseus to remain in war-torn Athens, so Aethra, with a retinue of slaves, departs for the countryside to the land of Troezen, where she raises Theseus.
     Theseus grew into a very powerful young man.  Not only was he good at hunting, throwing the spear, and wielding the sword, but he could out wrestle anyone else his age.  One day, upon his 16th birthday, Theseus begged his mother Aethra to tell him where and who his father was.  Relenting, she led him out into a field in which there was a huge boulder.  She said that if Theseus could roll aside the boulder, he would be old enough to know who his father was.  Theseus, excited by this proclamation, did not roll aside the boulder, but picked it up and hurled it away instead!
     Theseus found, to his great astonishment, a pair of sandals and a sword lying underneath, ancient symbols of royalty.  Theseus looked towards his mother in puzzlement.  Aethra told Theseus that his father had given these to her for safe keeping, and were not to be given to him until he had reached the age of manhood.
     The goodbye was heart-wrenching for Aethra, but Theseus was more than thrilled to set off for Athens to discover his long-lost father.  The journey, however, was not to be easy, in fact it was not easy at all.  The Labors of Theseus were four, and required not only strength to complete, but also brains.
     The countryside through which Theseus was traveling alone was beset by thieves and robbers.  The great oaf Corunetes first attacked Theseus with his great brazen (bronze) club.  Although Theseus did not match Corunetes in strength, he was more agile than he was, and soon Corunetes was panting with exhaustion; Theseus easily finished him off, and commandeered his club, which he kept with him ever after.
     Theseus next was walking innocently along when all of a sudden he heard a slight sound beneath him—it was a trap!  Because Theseus had such great dexterity he was able to leap out of the way of a rope just in time.
The rope would have encircled him, stretching him to the breaking point as two pliant pine trees snapped upwards, holding the victim of the trap at full arms’ length, and then some, spreadeagled and unable to move.  Theseus managed to reset the trap, and then lured Sinis, the creator of the trap, into it.  The second robber was thus defeated by his own diabolical trap.
     Theseus continued along, quite pleased with himself, until he was walking along a cliffside, the sea roaring beneath him.  Suddenly he came upon an old man, Sciron by name, who asked him if he would help him tie his sandal as he had a hard time bending over due to a bad back.  Theseus gladly acquiesced, his back to the cliff.  Suddenly the old man tried to kick Theseus over the cliff, but luckily Theseus was so dexterous and agile that he managed to dodge and fling Sciron over the cliff instead!  There he saw that a huge turtle devoured the robber, who was in league with the turtle: Sciron would kick unwary travelers over the edge of the precipice, the turtle would eat them, but would spit out all their valuables, which Sciron gathered for his own.  The third labor was completed.
     Theseus, tired after a long journey, approached an inn.  There he met an innkeeper, whose name was Procrustes.  Procrustes said that he had a special bed for Theseus that he would certainly enjoy after his long journey.  Unbeknownst to Theseus, Procrustes would tie sleeping travelers to this bed, and cut off their legs if they were too long for the bed, or stretch them until their limbs popped if they were too short.  Luckily Theseus was a light sleeper; as soon as Procrusted snuck into the room where he was sleeping and started tying on the bonds, Theseus figured out what he was up to and dodged him nimbly.  He tied Procrustes to his own iron bed, leaving him to rot.
     Theseus at long last reached Athens, a little bit disenchanted with the world.  As he walked into the city, he noticed that everyone was sad, wearing black clothes of mourning.  Puzzled, he approached an old man, who told him this sad tale:
     “Today is the day that 7 youths and 7 maidens are to be chosen to be sent to Crete to be eaten by the Minotaur, a horrible half-man, half-bull.  No one knows for sure how the horrible Minotaur came to live at the palace of King Minos at Knossos; some say that Pasiphae gave birth to this man monster, others that it was sent as a curse by the gods.  The toddler Minotaur was an absolute terror, running about the palace and ramming his horns into everything, smashing everything into smithereens.  Finally both Minos and Pasiphae had had enough, so they hired Daedalus, the great inventor, to create a home for the Minotaur.  Daedalus invented the Labyrinth, a place that one could never escape from after entering because of its winding passages that completely confused those who entered.  After the Minotaur was placed within the Labyrinth, no amount of food could satisfy his hunger.  He would wail and caterwaul and cry so loudly that everyone in the palace was going insane.  Whole cows, huge sows, enormous boars were fed to him, but nothing availed.  Until one day, one of Minos’s slaves died, and, in his desperation, King Minos fed the corpse to the Minotaur, and he was quiet for a month.
      After King Aegeus lost the war to King Minos, one of the conditions of the treaty was that the Athenians must send 7 youths and 7 maidens to be eaten by the Minotaur once every 9 years.  This is now the 3rd time we have to do it.  This horrible condition was for the payment of the death of King Minos’s son, Androgeos.  So today is that same fateful day.  Alas and alack!”

What will Theseus do?  How much tougher can life get?  4 nasty robbers!  A man-eating Minotaur!  His father’s city in mourning, having to send away 14 of its children!  Stay tuned for my next blog post as I continue the mighty story of Theseus and the Minotaur!!


Book Corner:  Check out Rick Riordan's new book, The Heroes of Olympus, Book One: The Lost Hero.  My students all say they love it! 


*Interesting Fact*  The people of Crete were known as the Minoans, after their traditional King Minos.
*Interesting Fact*  The Minotaur comes from two different words: Mino- comes via Minos, and taur comes from the Latin taurus, bull, or Greek tauros, bull.  Hence, the Minotaur was the Bull of Minos.
*Interesting Fact* The palace of King Minos at the capital of Crete, Knossos, was labyrinthine in form, with many winding halls and many,many rooms in which it was easy to get lost.

*Interesting Fact*  The Minoans were into bull-leaping or bull-vaulting , in which the bull vaulter would valiantly run forth head on towards a bull, leap into the air, place his hands between his horns (hence becoming one with the bull, or a half-man, half-bull for a fraction of a second) and gracefully leap over the bull, just as the modern vault is performed today in gymnastics.  And you thought that today's gymnastics were difficult!

*Interesting Fact*   The word “Procrustean” refers to someone who deliberately and forcefully tries to make others conform to existing modes of thought, even in a violent fashion.  What is the connection between the meaning of this word (a mythological eponym) and the robber Procrustes?

*Interesting Fact* The personal name of the Minotaur was Asterion or Asterius.

Interested in English vocabulary and its Latin and Greek roots?  Take a look at
www.wordempire.com, a site which describes the most comprehensive dictionary available based on English derivatives that come from Latin and Greek root words.

Ares: Greek God of War

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about Persephone, Hades, and Hephaestus, I will now move on to the brother of Hephaestus, Ares.  Since Hephaestus was the son of Zeus and Hera, so too would Ares be the sibling of Hephaestus (the only other child of Zeus and Hera was Hebe, the cupbearer of the gods, who married Heracles).  The symbol of Ares was this:  ♂.  This symbol depicts the shield and spear of Ares (or Mars, the Roman name for Ares), which has become a symbol for man, just as the hand mirror of Aphrodite (♀) became the symbol for women.
     Ares, despite the fact that he was the god of war, was quite cowardly.  He would not think twice about switching sides during a battle if the other side were winning.  He would also not think twice about killing a rival.  In the story of Adonis and the boar, the beautiful goddess Aphrodite was madly in love with Adonis, probably the most handsome of all mortals.  Before this, of course, up on Mt. Olympus, Aphrodite was in love with Ares, despite the fact that she was married to Hephaestus.  We must keep in mind that we are dealing with gods, and gods do not behave like (most) mortals do.  Everything seems pretty crazy, but that's only because we're not gods!  Anyway, Aphrodite decided to get married to Adonis, and settle down with him on Earth, leaving Mt. Olympus itself.  Adonis must have been one amazingly handsome guy. But then, of course, Aphrodite would do anything for love since she was, after all, the goddess in charge of that overwhelming emotion!
    Aphrodite and Adonis were living simply a peaceful, beautiful life until the friends of Adonis began bugging Adonis to go hunting with them.  Adonis had once loved to go hunting, but Aphrodite, once getting married to him, would no longer let Adonis go on the hunt since he might get injured, or perhaps die.  In those days, hunters would go after boars, terribly large pigs with great tusks that could easily gore and kill a human.  Hunters hunted only with spears in those days, so they had to get close to their prey (unlike today, where you can comfortably shoot prey from a tree, or from half a mile away).  Boars, terribly strong (even my Vietnamese pot-bellied pigs are enormously strong, and they are relatively small ... I had to move one once from my garden to its enclosure, and it almost killed me!), would often rip through hunters, eviscerating them on the spot.  One can little wonder then why Aphrodite was nervous about Adonis going after such a ferocious creature.
     But one day the friends of Adonis had had enough.  They hadn't seen him for months, and they missed their hunting buddy, so one morning, very early before Aphrodite got up, they knocked on the door of Adonis and asked him if he'd like to go hunting with them, since there was a terribly ferocious boar that had just wandered into that neck of the woods, and the hunt for him would be fine and highly exciting.  When Adonis hesitated, his friends began to taunt him; you can imagine them calling him "chicken" and "hen-pecked" and "boar bullied" and things that were probably less nice than that.  Adonis, young and foolish, caved, hoping that Aphrodite wouldn't find out. Off he went on the hunt.
     And did not return.  Unfortunately, the boar had killed Adonis.  Aphrodite found his dead body, abandoned by his friends (no one wanted to face her wrath).  Aphrodite mourned and mourned, but eventually returned to Mt. Olympus and Ares (oh, and Hephaestus, when she wanted some new jewels).
     Aphrodite never discovered that the boar had actually been Ares in disguise.

*Interesting Fact* The goddess Athena, Goddess of Wisdom and Battle, was so much more powerful than Ares that a mere glance from her could cast aside the great spear of Ares when he hurled it at her.

*Interesting Fact* Another enormous boar, the Calydonian Boar, was the subject of another even more famous hunt, which I shall write about when I discuss the heroine Atalanta.  Yet another boar, the Erymanthian Boar, was the 4th Labor of Heracles.

*Interesting Fact*  Mars, the Roman name of Ares, is nicknamed the "Red Planet" because of its red sands.  The planet was so named Mars because it resembled the color of blood, much of which is shed during war.  Note that the names of the planets (Mercury, Venus, Mars, Jupiter, Saturn, Uranus, Neptune, and Pluto --  yes, yes, I know that Pluto was demoted, but really ...) are named after the Roman names of Greek gods.

*Interesting Fact* The month March was also named after Mars.  Martial campaigns would take a break during the winter months, but when spring began in March, armies would once again go off to war.

*Interesting Fact* The Latin name for our day "Tuesday" is Martis, or "Day of Mars."  This crossed directly over into Spanish Martes, French Mardi, and Italian Martedi.  All, apparently, good days for war.  Our day Tuesday, in fact, is named after the Norse god of war, Tiw.  So, "Tiw's Day," or "Tuesday."

*Mythology Book Corner*   The story of the Erymanthian Boar is nicely told and depicted in a stunningly illustrated graphic novel entitled Hercules: The Twelve Labors: A Greek Myth.  All the other 12 Labors of Heracles are described as well.  For those of you who love to read myths and love to see pictures as well, this book is certainly for you!

Interested in English vocabulary and its Latin and Greek roots?  Take a look at
www.wordempire.com, a site which describes the most comprehensive dictionary available based on English derivatives that come from Latin and Greek root words.

Hephaestus, Olympian Blacksmith

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about Aphrodite,  Persephone, and Hades,  I shall now move on to one of the more troubled gods, Hephaestus (Vulcan in Roman, also known as Mulciber).  Hephaestus was one of only three children of Zeus and Hera (the other two being Ares and Hebe), and his troubles began at birth.  You might ask immediately why it would be such a bad thing to be born an immortal god (ah!  an oxymoron!  all gods are immortal!  whoops!  except for Pan, the god of the satyrs, who was reported to have died in the 1500s ... but let's move on), but sadly enough for Hephaestus, it was (well, kind of).  When Hera gave birth to him, he was weak with a pitiful appearance, so his mother, highly displeased, simply tossed him off of Mt. Olympus!  That would make a great modern-day American short story!  Hera, fortunately, had quite the arm, so he did not fall upon the hard land, but fell into the sea, quite the distance from Mt. Olympus.

Having landed, thankfully unscathed, into the sea, he was found by the goddess Thetis.  One of the innate talents of Hephaestus was to make beautiful jewelry, and so he, in gratitude, began to bedeck Thetis with gorgeous necklaces and splendid, shining diamond rings.  This he did for a full nine years.  One day, however, Hera discovered that Thetis had better jewelry to wear than she did, in fact, Thetis had better jewelry than any of the Olympians (more on this fact later), so Hera asked Thetis where she had gotten it.  Finally she wrested the fact that her very son Hephaestus was making those pretty, priceless baubles for her, and the trick was up.  Soon enough, Hephaestus was reentered into the good graces of his mother, and was "allowed" to return to Mt. Olympus so he could make things now, in "gratitude," for his mother (one might think for a moment about what Hephaestus thought about all of that!).

Things went "swimmingly" for a while up on Mt. Olympus until one day Hephaestus and his father Zeus got into a bit of a tiff, and Zeus promptly threw him off the other side of Mt. Olympus!  This time Hephaestus didn't fare so well ... he landed, splat!, upon the hard earth, and broke every bone in his body.  His legs were especially affected by the fall, as was his back--he would be kyphotic, or hunch-backed, ever after, and he would have trouble walking.  One might imagine the appearance of Quasimodo from Victor Hugo's Hunchback of Notre Dame when one thinks of Hephaestus.  Later on, he was once again "pardoned," and allowed to return, albeit in much rougher shape than the first time he returned!

Because Hephaestus was now so ugly and deformed, limping along and bent over because of his horribly disfigured back, he decided to dwell within the depths of Mt. Olympus, and there established a forge where he made made items with his great skill as a blacksmith.  He made himself golden leg supports to help him walk.  He made golden mechanical women that came to life to help him in his smithy.  He also fashioned 20 three-legged tables with golden wheels that would move by themselves to transport items around his stygian, or gloomy, smithy. The Cyclopes, or one-eyed giants, also helped out in his forge.  With all this assistance, he was able to forge some of the greatest weapons of the gods and heroes, including the winged shoes and helmet of Hermes,  the shield of Achilles, the aegis (the shield of Athena that bore the head of Medusa), the golden chariot of Helios, and the bow and arrows of Eros, the god of love (Roman Cupid), to name a few. 

Hephaestus, despite the fact that he was the ugliest of the Olympians, did manage to marry Aphrodite, the most beautiful of the goddesses.  Can you guess why?  Consider the fact that Aphrodite loved to gaze at herself in her hand mirror ... ah, now you have it.  The gorgeous, shining, beauty-enhancing jewelry!  Yep, that's right, this was not a marriage for love (marriages for love were unknown for the most part in the ancient world; that concept really did not have its origin until the troubadours in the Middle Ages).  Aphrodite's interest in Hephaestus was purely in the sense of being a trophy wife ... he made her beautiful, beautiful items, which she accepted with evident and rapacious glee. In fact, he made her the cestus, a girdle that made her simply even more irresistible to men.  Why he did that we'll probably never know!  He probably wasn't the jealous type, I guess.

Hephaestus, besides being the god of blacksmiths, was also the god of fire, volcanoes, sculptors, metal, metallurgy, and technology.  From the depths of Olympus to Dell.  Isn't life interesting? 

Mythology Book Corner:  This book corner suggests great mythology reads.   Probably one of the best books on Greek mythology ever written was by Edith Hamilton, a book simply called Mythology.  It's been around forever ... you know that because I read it as a kid.  It's fabulous!



*Interesting Fact* A sailor reported that Pan had indeed died.  No one knows the name of that sailor. But he was really sure about that.

*Interesting Fact* The word "volcano" and "vulcanize" come from the Roman name for Hephaestus, Vulcan.

*Interesting Fact* The thunderbolts of Zeus were fashioned by the Cyclopes, not Hephaestus.

Hades, King of the Underworld

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about Aphrodite and Persephone, I promised that I would discuss Hades (Roman name Pluto) in this post. Since it certainly seems to be as hot as Hades today, I have decided to do just that. Hades, as you will no doubt recall, was the brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia, hence the son of Cronus and Rhea. After the Titanomachy had concluded in which the gods defeated the Titans, Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades all picked straws to see who would rule what part of the world. Hades, to his great detriment, picked the short straw, hence was sent down deep into the Underworld where he brooded; he never set foot upon Mount Olympus. Hades not only refers to the god, but also the Kingdom of Hades, that is, the Greek Underworld. I guess it would be really strange to refer to the Underworld as "Zeus" or "Poseidon": sizzling as Zeus or piping hot as Poseidon just sounds peculiar--or parching as Poseidon? Maybe it was linguistic destiny decreed by the Fates (Clotho, Lachesis, Atropos) that Hades would rule the dark realm, ousting its resident ruler, Hecate, the original ruler of the Underworld, a being with the bodies of a mare, lion, and dog, who was between 90 and 105 feet tall. You'd have to be daunting and formidable once you find out what the Underworld was like.

Despite all silly assurances by animated movies out there, Hades was not evil. He just couldn't be particularly cheery when he was in the dark all day. Imagine a land that was only lit by asphodel, or dimly glowing flowers. Imagine a land that had five rather ominous rivers: the Styx, or River of the Unbreakable Oath or Hate; the Phlegethon (or Pyriphlegethon), the River of Fire (whoa!); the Lethe, the River of Forgetfulness; the Acheron, or River of Woe or Pain (starting to get the picture here?); and the Cocytus, the River of Lamentation. Hard to be cheery if you're the guy who is in charge of these wonderful liquid topographical features. I mean we're not talking the Mississippi river where peaceful steamboats sail about, or the beautiful Danube flowing gracefully throughout Europe towards enticing ports of call!

Oh, and, did I mention the denizens of the Underworld? The Greeks believed that once you died, you were ferried across the river Acheron by Charon, the ferryman of the dead (but only if you were buried with the proper obol, or coin, under your tongue, otherwise you'd be forced to wander about on the wrong side of the Underworld for eternity). Then you would pass Cerberus, the three-headed guardian of the Underworld, who instead of fur on his back had the flickering tongues of snakes, and instead of normal barks, had thunderclaps issuing from all three of his cavernous maws. After Cerberus certified that you were indeed dead, you had to undergo the scrutiny of Minos and Rhadamanthus, the terrible judges of the Underworld, who would send you to one of three places: the Elysian Fields (Elysium), Tartarus, or Limbo (more in a moment on those). Oh, and of course the Erinyes (Roman Furies) had their dwelling in Hades; Alecto, Tisiphone, and Megara would certainly add a bit of atmosphere as they winged about looking for victims to slice and dice.

So, if you were a Greek and died, and presumably underwent the proper burial (coin under tongue as fee for Charon and all), what did you have to look forward to?

The Elysian Fields were only open to heroes, so practically no one could go there. It was a perfect place in which to spend the rest of eternity. Boring, maybe, but probably better than the other two options listed below. That, of course, leaves you out, unless of course you've recently killed a Minotaur, Gorgon, Chimera, Hydra, or some such fearsome beastie.

Tartarus was the land of eternal torment; it was guarded by a pitch black hydra with fifty heads that breathed out black acidic fire. Really, really bad dudes went there, or people who made the gods particularly mad (especially Zeus, who had an amazingly short temper). Some of the famous inhabitants of Tartarus included Ixion, Sisyphus, Tantalus, and the Titan Tityus. If you're one of those guys, don't tell anybody you read this blog.

Limbo is where most of the dead would go, and where you would, with all probability, end up. When judged thus, you were compelled to drink from the river Lethe and would forget everything about what and who you were in your previous life. You would then turn into a mane, or shade of the Underworld, and simply wander about aimlessly for the rest of eternity; you couldn't even talk to any of your dead friends because you both wouldn't recognize each other and you would have forgotten how to talk. No cell phone companies or Facebook or Google chat in the Underworld! However, Plato does mention in the Republic that reincarnation was possible, a certainly preferable condition to complete and under mindlessness (perhaps you know some people already who are half-mane?).

It is no wonder then that Hades, ruling in his deep, dark land in his gloomy palace wanted a companion, and so abducted Persephone. After all, imagine one moment in time, that silly drawing of a short straw (I mean, shouldn't there have been at least a long, involved contest, or a pretty intense interviewing process) that set the life of Hades forever. How unfair is that? Life's unfair, but in the case of Hades, death was unfair too. Let's have some Pluto pity.

**Interesting Fact** Despite the fact that Pluto's planethood officially came to an end in 2006 after 76 glorious years (I could make several horrible puns on Pluto: R.I.P. Pluto, which would be particularly delicious for a god of the dead who can't die, but I won't at this point), I, for one, still recognize it as such. Hasn't Pluto (Hades) already suffered enough without a pointless demotion to a mere icy large rock in space?

**Mythology Book Corner**  This recommendation include Heroes, God, and Monsters of the Greek Myths, a great introduction to Greek mythology.  Receives rave reviews at Amazon as a quick but captivating and enthralling read. 

Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.

Persephone--Goddess of Spring

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about Aphrodite, I promised that I would discuss Hades in this post. However, school has just gotten out, summer is fully in the air, and I have realized that I have given short shrift to the season of spring; after all, it is not yet the season summer. I also rationalized that since Persephone is intimately acquainted with Hades I would discuss Persephone first before moving on to the Lord of the Underworld.
Maybe.
Persephone, or Roman Proserpina, was the daughter of Zeus and Demeter. One day the young woman Persephone was out picking poppies with her handmaidens, enjoying a beautiful spring day, when all of a sudden a swift chariot drawn by black dragons with flaming eyes and leathern wings erupted from the earth. A terrifying god wearing an iron crown swooped upon her, caught her up before she could flee. She was swiftly taken down to the realm of Hades, uttering terrifying cries as her handmaidens looked on with horror.
Demeter, having soon noticed that her daughter did not return from her daily gambol in the poppy-strewn meadows, frantically searched for her, but could not locate her. To this period in history, Demeter, enjoying always the company of her beloved daughter, always attended to the Earth; recall that Demeter is the Goddess of the Earth, or she who gave it the power to grow and multiply. Demeter, for the first time in the history of humankind upon the Earth, did not attend to her duties. Crops began to fail; people began to go hungry. Humans experienced cold weather for the first time. Since preservation of food was never considered a necessity for humans since it was always summer, everyone was in big trouble. Like a blizzard coming to Hawaii.
Demeter went straight to Zeus, and demanded his aid; but he wasn't particularly helpful. Demeter decided to engage the help of Hecate, the original ruler of the Underworld, a being with the bodies of a mare, lion, and dog, who was between 90 and 105 feet tall. The formidable and horrifying Hecate forced Helios, or the god who drove the chariot of the sun, to tell her what happened to Persephone (a great god to ask since he saw absolutely everything that went on in his daily trips across the sky; he did have the best seat, as it were, in the Big House). Helios told Hecate, who in turn informed Demeter, that it was the diabolical Hades who had kidnapped Persephone.
Straightway Demeter and Zeus sped down to the Underworld to see what their brother Hades had done. Persephone's parents found her weeping in dejection on a great throne set in black marble, right next to the glowering Hades himself; imagine going from sunshine and poppies to gloom and asphodel (the ghostly phosphorescent flowers that grew in the Underworld). Zeus demanded that Hades return Persephone at once; Hades, however, had already gotten a taste of what it was not to be so lonely in the dark, so he was not about to let her go. He also mentioned that Persephone had eaten of some fruit of the Underworld, and so she could not leave. Zeus countered that Persephone had eaten but six seeds of a pomegranate, and so would only have to stay in the Underworld for six months of the year. Hades acquiesced, and all was well. At least for six months of the year!
And so the cycle of the seasons was explained. Persephone would remain in the Underworld for fall and winter; during this time the Earth would die, as Demeter mourned for the disappearance and loss of her daughter. However, as soon as the six months had elapsed, Persephone would once again return, exert her dominance as goddess of Spring, her mother would rejoice, and once again the Earth would flourish for the spring and summer months.
Yes, and now, indubitably, my next post will discuss the god Hades. With a stint on the Underworld and all its ghastliness to follow.
Maybe!

**Interesting Fact** The Eleusinian Mysteries were major festivals in ancient Greece that honored both Demeter and Persephone, and which lasted for over two millennia. Most of the rituals and ceremonies were kept secret, although there was a lot of it that had to do with pigs.

**Mythology Book Corner** One of my all-time favorite youngish children's books on mythology is the D'Aulaires' Book of Greek Myths.  This book, meant for 3rd-6th grade (at the most), is richly illustrated and tells many of the key tales of Greek mythology, and also has a very nice drawing of Olympian/Titanic genealogy on the frontispiece to the book.  Note that the hardcover edition is not much more expensive than the paperback!  There is also a version for the Norse myths (Thor, Odin, Loki, etc.).  Highly entertaining. 

Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.

Aphrodite--Goddess of Love and Beauty

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Artemis, Hestia, and Apollo, with a serpentine digression upon Medusa, I promised that I would discuss Hades in this post. However, since this is supposed to be a gloomy, saturnine, and rather cloudy week, I thought that I would brighten and certainly spice things up a bit with the luminous goddess of love and beauty, Aphrodite. Aphrodite was not one of the original six Olympians, but rather predated them; most sources consider her to be the great aunt of Zeus (although some consider her to be the child of Zeus and Thalassa, the sea). Aphrodite was born, fully grown (just like Athena), from the foam of the sea (her name comes from the Greek word aphros: "sea foam"). Her father was Ouranos, the original god of the sky; she had no mother, unless one considers it to be the sea from which she arose. A very famous picture by Botticelli entitled the "Birth of Venus" pictures Venus (the Roman name of Aphrodite) riding upon the shell of a scallop.

Aphrodite was said to possess a magical girdle (the cestus) that made her irresistible to all men; they could not help but fall in love with her. She married the ugliest of the gods, Hephaestus; a strange pairing, one might think, but Aphrodite was extremely vain (she was always looking in a hand mirror, which was one of her symbols, and today is a symbol for women: ♀) and Hephaestus did make the very best of jewelry, being blacksmith of the gods. His sparkling and scintillating gold and diamond necklaces only enhanced her already incredible beauty, and fed her vanity. Other primary symbols of Aphrodite included the rose and the dove. The most beautiful celestial object in the sky is the planet Venus, which shines the most brightly, like a clear diamond of brilliant hue.

Although Aphrodite was the wife of Hephaestus, she really just married him for his money; she was actually passionately in love with Ares, the god of war (one might think that a marriage between the two of them would certainly test the adage that "all is fair in love and war!"). Perhaps they were attracted as opposites attract: love and war don't really mix, but they do tend to make things exciting. Perhaps they were both attracted because of their favorite color, red; Mars, the red planet, is the Roman name for Ares; red roses, again, were the symbol of Aphrodite. I like to think of them as just swept away by irrational forces; true love rarely makes any sense whatsoever. After all, Men are from Mars and Women are from Venus, and yet here we all are despite it all, and on a completely different planet to boot (the Roman name for which, by the way, is Terra).

Aphrodite's primary son was the god Eros, the god of love (Roman name Cupid). Eros had a powerful set of arrows that would make people fall in love at will. He would shoot them through their eye with his light of love arrows, and they would fall madly and passionately in love with the next person or creature that came across their vision --highly problematic in some cases! The father of Eros is contested: it was either Zeus, Ares, or Hermes. Other more well known children included Aeneas, the hero of Vergil's Aeneid, whose descendant, Romulus, eventually founded Rome; and the three Graces: Aglaia (Beauty), Euphrosyne (Joy), and Thalia (Good Cheer).

Just as love does today, Aphrodite played a large part in many tales, full versions of which will be the subject of future posts. Nevertheless, here are short takes from a few:

**The Judgment of Paris: Hera, Athena, and Aphrodite quarreled over an irresistible golden apple from the Garden of the Hesperides that was cleverly marked (by Eris, the goddess of Discord) as "For the Fairest." Aphrodite offered Paris, in return for the apple, the most beautiful woman in the world to have as his wife. Hera said that Paris could be lord of all Asia and the richest man alive, whereas Athena offered him the power to not only win all battles, but also be both the handsomest and wisest man. Paris was young and romantic, and so chose Helen of Troy, the most beautiful woman in the world, who was unfortunately already married to Menelaus, the King of Sparta. Thus began the Trojan War.

**Aphrodite at one point left Mt. Olympus to be with Adonis, an extremely handsome youth. Ares became so inflamed with jealousy that he turned himself into a wild boar and killed the handsome youth, just so Aphrodite would return to Mt. Olympus. Another one of those very salutary aspects of that overwhelming force called love.

**In the story of Cupid and Psyche, Venus is seen as a rather vindictive goddess since people were paying more attention to Psyche than to her (heaven forfend!). This jealousy manifests itself in quite a few nasty ways ... but more of this in a future post. As with Artemis, if one messed with Aphrodite, there was sure to be trouble. Big trouble. One is also reminded of Athena being challenged by Arachne to a weaving contest ... no one wins versus the gods ... even if one wins.

**In the story of Atalanta, both Atalanta and Hippomenes (or Melanion) forget to thank Aphrodite for providing the golden apples which allowed the two to marry (Atalanta lost a footrace because she was tempted and slowed down by those apples). Aphrodite turns to one of her best friends, Cybele (a kind of female Dionysus), who changes them into lions, forcing them to draw her chariot for the rest of their lives.

**Finally, in a more favorable story, Aphrodite transformed the statue Galatea, which Pygmalion had made (he could find no suitable women to marry, so he made one instead), into a living, breathing woman, and presumably they lived happily ever after. However, the story ends at the point of their marriage. Shakespeare's point entirely. But that doesn't make it real, of course ... it's literature.

Please stay tuned for my next post, where I shall this time finish with the last of the 6 major Olympian gods, Hades. I will probably speak a bit about the Underworld in a subsequent post. It will be, after all, summer vacation at that point, full of sun and fun ... far away from the depths of Tartarus.

*Interesting Fact: The Greek name "Aphrodite" may be the origin of the month "April" (or it could come from a Latin word meaning "second"). April used to be the second month of the year, but it is also a month of the season spring, when love plays such a large part in baby animals being born. Do bees fall in love with flowers?*

*Interesting Fact: Strangely enough, the siblings of Aphrodite included, of all creatures, the Erinyes (Furies): Tisiphone, Alecto, and Megara! This might explain some of the more vengeful actions of Aphrodite ... *

*Interesting Fact: See a picture of Aphrodite's Rock in Cyprus where Aphrodite first stepped on land.*

**Mythology Book Corner**  A very promising new compendium of all things Greekly mythological (I know that's a weird phrase but it sounds right) is Oh My Gods!: A Look-it-Up Guide to the Gods of Mythology.  This would probably be more digestible for the youngish/teen reader than Pierre Grimal or Robert Graves.  Certainly give it a looksee if you love Greek myths!

Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.

Hestia--Goddess of the Hearth

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, Artemis, and Apollo, with a serpentine digression upon Medusa, I will now return to another of the six primary Olympians, Hestia. Hestia was the goddess of the hearth, or fireplace. Her Roman name was Vesta. She was also a child of Cronus and Rhea. Of all the six major Olympians, Hestia has the fewest stories written about her since she never went anywhere or did much of anything. After all, the hearth, or fireside, is immovable, and hence Hestia did not stray far from being a homebody. She never married, never had any children, and was sometimes pictured as a kindly old aunt.

Despite Hestia's vanilla, rather dull character, nevertheless she was extremely important to the security of the people of Greece and Rome. To show their gratitude for protecting them, they granted her the first fruits of every sacrifice in order to keep the "home fires burning." Considering the fact that fire can be so beneficial and yet so destructive, it is no wonder that perhaps this was the goddess who seemed closest to the Greeks and to the Romans, as there was an altar (i.e. the hearth) to Hestia in every Greek and Roman household. The hearth fire of a Roman or Greek household was never allowed to go out, and if it did, a ritual had to be completed to relight it. No flipping a switch to start a fire in the ancient world!

Hestia was both the oldest and youngest of the Olympian gods. She was the first born, and hence swallowed first by Cronus (who swallowed all of his children, except for Zeus). However, she was also the youngest because she was the last one to re-emerge from Cronus's stomach once he was tricked by Zeus into throwing up all the gods once again.

In the great Forum in the City of Rome, the round temple of Vesta housed an eternal flame. The Romans believed that if the Vestal Virgins, or 6 priestesses who tended that flame, were ever to let the fire go out, then Rome would fall. Apparently the priestesses did a pretty good job, as the power of Rome lasted from 753 BCE to 410 CE. Each Vestal virgin could never marry (just as their patron goddess Vesta never married). Each priestess was trained for 10 years to tend the flame, then tended that eternal flame for another 10 years, and then taught new trainees for another 10 years before their service to Rome ended. This 30-year commitment was held in very high regard by all Romans.

**Mythology Book Corner**  Another excellent mythology resource is the comprehensive tome by Pierre Grimal, which is simply laden with Greek mythological facts.  It is in the form of a dictionary, with highly readable entries which tell just about everything there is to know about Greek Myths.  This book, The Dictionary of Classical Mythology, has a handy index as well.  If you memorize this book, you'll know just about all there is to know about Greek myth.

*Interesting fact: the Latin word for hearth is focus. As the hearth was the center of classical homes, so too do we mentally center when we "focus."*

Next week I will discuss the last of the six Olympians: Hades, the god of the Underworld.

Apollo--Renaissance God

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Poseidon, and Artemis, with a serpentine digression upon Medusa, I will now return to the twin brother of Artemis, the god Apollo. Apollo was probably the god with the most attributes. One might wonder, even with his godlike status, how Apollo could be the god of light, music, archery, civilization, law, medicine, prophecy, truth, poetry, and even the "arts;" how did he even have time to breathe? Even with the blood of the gods, ichor, flowing through his veins, and imbibing nectar, the drink of the gods, and eating ambrosia, the food of the gods, you'd think he wouldn't have enough energy. All the arts??? Might I suggest that today Apollo would be the god of multitasking?

Apollo was the twin son of the god Zeus and the Titan Leto. Apollo's Roman name is very difficult to remember, as it is often confused with his Greek name. Take a moment now to breathe as I present this difficult name to thee. OK. Now. "A" "P" "O" "L" "L" "O".

On to simpler matters.

Apollo probably had the most influential oracle of the ancient world. His shrine at Delphi (at Mount Parnassus in the Phocis valley), of which he was the patron, was visited by people in the ancient world who just had to know what was going to happen (life in the ancient world was highly unpredictable). The seeress (or the Oracle) Pythia would sit upon a tripod over a crack in the earth at Delphi, where she would interpret the messages from Apollo for those wanting to know their future by breathing in the fumes from the depths of the earth. Delphi itself was founded when Apollo slew the monster Python (and hence the name of the seeress). Delphi was considered by the Greeks to be the omphalos of their culture, or the very spiritual center of the Greek world. By the bye, omphaloskepsis is the meditation upon one's navel, the "center" of one's body, or torso.

Of course, some of the prophecies or prognostications by Pythia went rather awry. When Acrisius heard that his grandson would one day kill him, he imprisoned his only daughter Danae in a tower of bronze, the shining light of which unluckily caught the eye of Zeus. Perseus never would have been born had Acrisius not tried to either counteract the prophecy, or had not gone to Delphi in the first place. Years later, Perseus was in a discus-throwing contest, threw the discus so far that it sailed out of the arena, and hit ... guess who on the head, killing him at once. Some believed that the voice of the Oracle (Pythia) brought about mortals creating their own destiny.

Once Apollo had his beautiful cattle stolen by his mischievous half-brother Hermes (after being just born, no less). Apollo complained to Maia, the mother of Hermes, who said that Hermes couldn't have stolen the cattle since he had remained sleeping by her side all night, wound up in swaddling clothes (Hermes was VERY sneaky, being the god of thieves); Hermes began to play his lyre, soothing the arguing gods, and Apollo offered all his cattle for the lyre that Hermes had invented from the intestines of a cow + the shell of a tortoise. So that is how Apollo got his lyre, with which he is often pictured as god of music. Hermes also traded the pan pipes and flute (which he also invented) for Apollo's caduceus. The caduceus was a magical wand with two snakes entwining on a rod with two wings sprouting from the top. It is NOT a medical symbol, which is properly the rod of Asclepius, the god of healing, which only has one snake entwining on a rod.

Although Apollo is often referred to as the god of the sun, he is actually the god of the light of the sun, or the power behind its radiance; in much the same way, his sister, Artemis, is the goddess of the light of the moon, whereas Selene was the goddess of the moon proper. Note that the god of the sun was Helios (whence helium, the product of fusion which fuels the sun). The Greeks envisioned the sun as a flaming chariot driven by two horses, with Helios as its charioteer.

There are many tales about Apollo, but probably the most famous is that of the nymph Daphne. Apollo was madly in love with Daphne, who would have nothing to do with him. One day, frustrated in his love for her, Apollo began to chase her through the woods; Daphne screamed in terror to her father, the river Peneus, who rose up, took human form, and transformed Daphne into a laurel tree. Apollo decided to use the laurel as his sacred tree, and put a wreath of its leaves on his head. Besides the laurel wreath, his other symbols were the bow and arrow, lyre, and raven.

The direct opposite of Apollo was the god Dionysus. Whereas Apollo was interested in law and order, Dionysus was most concerned with lawlessness and disorder (and probably wasn't as stiff and certainly had much more fun). More about Dionysus in the future. Philosophers, such as Nietzsche, love to bandy about the terms Apollonian and Dionysian to describe states of order vs. chaos.

**Mythology Book Corner**  Speaking of the Apollo of mythographers, Robert Graves has written what is definitely the most comprehensive guide to Greek mythology today, entitled:  The Greek Myths.  It is available in both hardcover and paperback.  The hardcover edition of The Greek Myths is hard to find these days.

My next post will feature another of the primary 6 Olympians: the goddess Hestia, about whom there are the fewest number of stories (great pitch, huh?).


Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.

Artemis--Cold Goddess of the Hunt, Chastity, and the Moon

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, Demeter, and Poseidon, and with a serpentine digression upon Medusa, one of the children of Poseidon, I will now return to the Olympian goddess Artemis, twin of Apollo. Artemis (Roman name Diana) was the child of Zeus and the Titaness Leto (Roman Latona). Artemis was the goddess of the hunt, chastity, and the moon (that is, the light of the moon; Selene was the goddess of the moon itself, just like Apollo was the god of the light of the sun, whereas Helios was the god of the sun chariot). She was probably the most unforgiving goddess or god for that matter; if you got on her bad side, you were doomed, often for the slightest offenses.

Consider the story of Actaeon. Actaeon was an innocent hunter out with his hunting dogs one day. He had no luck all morning long, and it was a hot day. Becoming thirsty, he went off to look for a cool drink, and came upon a pool in which the goddess Artemis happened to be taking a bath along with her handmaidens. Artemis immediately detected the innocent Actaeon, and became so enraged that she turned him into a stag; at that point Actaeon's hunting dogs, no longer recognizing their master, began to bay and chased after the stag, which they soon cornered, caught, and tore to pieces. Good grief.

Unfair, you say? Well, yes. Artemis can easily be viewed as a goddess who embodies the unfairness of life. She is cold (consider the light of the moon which gives no heat, the idea of chastity, and the idea of killing in cold blood during the hunt). Stone cold. In fact, she symbolizes those times during one's life when nothing seems to go right, when, in fact, a string of horrible occurrences happen for seemingly meaningless reasons. I remember one year in my life when my wife miscarried twins (5 months along), my wife's brother fell off a cliff, my father died, my grandfather died, and I suffered from a career-ending injury to my leg. I hope that Diana does not decide to frown upon me again for quite some long time, or upon you either, for that matter.
Another example of her cold nature is in the story of Niobe. Niobe, a queen of Thebes at the time, had fourteen wonderful children. One day she met Leto, the mother of Artemis and Apollo; they struck up a conversation, in which it was revealed that Leto only had two children. Niobe rather made fun of her (the more children one had in that time and culture the better) for having so few children (making fun of a deity is never a good idea, by the bye), so Leto, in her rage, sent Apollo and Artemis to slaughter those 14 children with their arrows (Apollo was the god of archery, and Artemis also possessed a silver bow, similar to the crescent of the silver moon); only one child remained after the twin god's killing spree, the daughter Chloris.
Like mother, like daughter.

The deer and the cypress tree were sacred to Artemis; since she was the goddess of chastity she never got married, nor did she bear any children. It was thought that she once fell in love with Orion, but please don't tell her that I said that (Orion preferred Eos, the goddess of the dawn, to her). She did kill Orion--you can tell her that, because she still might be proud of that part of the story.

Artemis was also the goddess who sent the Calydonian Boar to ravage the kingdom of King Oeneus. King Oeneus had forgotten to offer the first fruits of the harvest to her. This precipitated the great hunt for the Calydonian Boar, whom Atalanta at last vanquished.
And so, let us leave the cheery goddess Artemis behind for now.
My next post will focus upon her twin brother, the god Apollo.

**Mythology Book Corner**  If you simply cannot get enough of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series, why not delve deeper and read Percy Jackson and the Olympians: The Ultimate Guide?  Of course, there's also the fabulous book on tape, Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief.  If you have a long drive to work everyday like I do, it's the perfect remedy to shrink time.

Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.

Poseidon: Sovereign of the Sea

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, and Demeter, with a serpentine digression upon Medusa, I will now return to the Olympian god Poseidon, brother of Zeus, Hades, Demeter, Hera, and Hestia. Poseidon helped the gods win the Titanomachy, or war between the gods and the Titans, with his great trident, or fabulous three-pronged fork, which could whip up huge storms on the sea, earthquakes on land (Poseidon was known as "Earth Shaker"), and make huge rifts in the land into which the sea flowed. After the god's victory, he drew the second best straw and became lord of all the oceans on the planet. In Greek mythology, all rivers had their own god, who could take human form at will, and, of course, father children (for instance, Nike, the goddess of victory, was the child of the Titan Pallas and the river Styx), but Poseidon was the chief god of the big waters.

Poseidon rode about on the ocean's and sea's waves in a great chariot drawn by hippocampi, or half-horse, half-fish. He would wield his great trident above his head, and his son Triton would blow upon a huge conch shell to announce the arrival of his great father so that mere mortals might prepare for his awesome sight upon their shores.

Poseidon, besides being the god of the sea, was also god of horses and earthquakes. His wife was generally considered to be the nymph Amphitrite, with whom he fathered Triton, his primary son. To the Athenians, Poseidon was only considered to be second of the great Olympians to Athena herself, who gave the city of Athens its name. At one time there had been a contest between Poseidon and Athena as to who should be the tutelary, or protective deity, of Athens; Poseidon offered a spring of water, which unfortunately was salty, whereas Athena offered the olive tree. One can easily see why Poseidon lost!

Poseidon was the father of some rather unseemly children. He was the father of Polyphemus, the great Cyclops that so troubled Odysseus and his men until Odysseus tricked him by blinding him (more of that in a future post). He was the father of Pegasus and the giant Chrysaor, who sprung forth from the neck of Medusa after the hero Perseus cut off her head. He was also the father of the only other winged horse in mythology, Arion (Arion's mother was none other than Demeter!). Some sources claim that he was the father of Theseus, but most claim that Aegeus was his father (whose name gave rise to the Aegean Sea). The giants Otus and Ephialtes were also his children.

**Mythology Book Corner**  How can one not read the last of the Percy Jackson and the Olympians books, appropriately entitled The Last Olympian?  Or, for that matter, own all five of them, which are available in a boxed set?  Truly they are fantastic reads, probably the best fiction that incorporates Greek mythology within them.  I save this dedication to the post on Poseidon, since Percy Jackson was, after all, the son of the god Poseidon.  Note that Perseus, however (which sounds like Percy), the great hero that slew Medusa, was the son of Zeus.  

Interested in improving your vocabulary? Find out how the Greek and Latin languages gave rise to most of the English language at www.wordempire.com.

My next post will focus upon the goddess Artemis.

Medusa, the Mortal Gorgon

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the Olympians Zeus, Hera, and Demeter, I would now like to take a break from the Olympian gods and move on to Medusa. Medusa, who lived in the Land of the Hyperboreans with her immortal sisters Stheno and Euryale, was the only mortal Gorgon. A Gorgon was variously pictured as either a hideous or beautiful woman who had venemous, writhing serpents for hair, possibly the lower body of a reptile, and claws or hands made of bronze; her gaze would turn people to stone (but only if those undergoing petrifaction had gazed upon her as well).

Even though Stheno and Euryale could not die, Medusa could; in fact, she was eventually decapitated by the hero Perseus, the son of Zeus and Danae. More of Perseus in a later post. She was the mother of both Pegasus, the winged horse (there was a second winged horse in mythology as well, named Arion, whose color was black vs. the white of Pegasus, and who was owned by the hero Adrastus; for a time, Bellerophon controlled Pegasus by means of the golden bridle of Athena), and Chrysaor, the golden giant; but of her children were born from her neck when it was severed by Perseus's extremely sharp sword that he had received as a present from the gods.

Medusa was once a very beautiful woman with long, flowing tresses that shone like gold in the sun. One day, however, she made the mistake of kissing Poseidon in the temple of Athena; Athena didn't like that sort of thing going on in her temple, so in her rage she transformed Medusa into a Gorgon, the worst sort of punishment for a woman with such beautiful hair: not only would her hair now be unruly and not able to be combed, but she would always have a bad hair day!

The name "Medusa" means "ruling female wisdom." A "Medusa" was once worshiped by the Amazons as a serpent goddess, some time before the legend of the Greek Medusa began. Her sisters' names meant the following: Stheno (forceful) and Euryale (far-roaming). Stheno, Euryale, and Medusa were all the daughters of the marine deities Phorcys and Ceto.

**Mythology Book Corner**: My recommendation this post is Book IV in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians Series, entitled The Battle of the Labyrinth.  The Minotaur, another horrible monster like Medusa, was half-man, half-bull; he, of course, lived within the confines of the labyrinth in Greek mythology, which was designed by Daedalus.  Watch out for a future post just on the Minotaur!!

Please stay tuned for my next blog post which will discuss the god Poseidon.

Demeter, Goddess of the Earth

Greetings fans of Greek and Roman mythology! After having recently written about the twins Zeus and Hera, I would now like to continue with their sister Demeter (Roman Ceres, root of our word "cereal"). Demeter, coming from the Greek word meter: "mother," was the goddess of the Earth. Her forerunner was Gaia, the original Mother Earth (it was Gaia and Ouranos, the Sky God, who gave birth to twelve Titans, including Cronus and Rhea, the mother of Demeter, not to mention the three Cyclopes: Brontes, Steropes, and Arges; and the three Hecatoncheires, or 100-handed ones: Cottus, Briareus, and Gyges).

Most of the stories centering around Demeter included her mystery cult (the Eleusinian Mysteries) and her daughter Persephone (Roman: Proserpina), the Goddess of Spring. Demeter loved Persephone very much, but one day she went missing. Demeter, unaware that her brother Hades (you'll recall that the original six Olympians, all children of Cronus and Rhea, were Zeus, Hera, Demeter, Hades, Poseidon, and Hestia) had kidnapped Persephone and taken her down to the Underworld to be his wife, became very sad because she missed her daughter so much. Due to her absence, Demeter forgot about her duties towards the Earth, the life on which began to slowly die. People had never experienced death and cold prior to this capture of Persephone, and were bewildered about what to do.

Zeus, when he saw people beginning to starve because they had no food (no one had learned the art of storing up food or really even harvesting it because it was always the growing season), was very upset because he knew that soon all the humans would die, and that no one would be left to worship him! Secondary in Zeus's mind was the fact that Persephone was his daughter as well. So he got together with Demeter, and they engaged Hecate, the original ruler of the Underworld (she had 3 bodies and 3 heads: a lion, dog, and mare; she was between 90 to 105 feet tall, and was the original master of Cerberus, the three-headed dog that guarded the Underworld) to help find the lost Persephone. Hecate forced Helios, the god of the sun (Apollo was the god of the light of the sun, but Helios was the god who drove the chariot of the sun) to tell her what had happened to Persephone (Helios, of course, would see everything that happens on Earth below).

Helios told Hecate who told Demeter and Zeus that Hades had kidnapped Persephone in his black chariot drawn by black dragons when she was innocently out picking poppies. Enraged by this untoward cheeky and brazen behavior on the part of Hades (who could blame Uncle Hades for such asocial behavior? You hang around in the dark for centuries with only dead mute people, the manes, walking around and see how sparkling your personality becomes!!) Zeus sped down to the Underworld to demand Persephone back as people continued to die on Earth ... those prayers weren't wafting up very quickly and in such large numbers any more! Hades, of course, liked being not so lonely, and Persephone certainly was beautiful, although she did tend to cry quite a bit and screech about missing her mother, which was getting on his nerves a little bit. Zeus demanded her back; Hades countered that since Persephone had eaten food in the Underworld, namely a pomegranate, she would have to remain there for eternity. Zeus and Hades argued contentiously, until finally a compromise was reached: since Persephone had eaten 6 seeds of the pomegranate, she would remain for 6 months each year in the Underworld, but after those 6 months she would spend the other 6 on Earth.

The Greeks explained the cycles of the seasons (Horae: originally Thallo, Auxo and Carpo, then Dike, Eunomia, Eirene; daughers of Zeus and Themis, one of the original twelve Titans) in the following way: Persephone, the Goddess of Spring, would cause spring to happen when she returned from the Underworld since her mother Persephone would no longer be so upset and therefore neglectful of her duties towards bringing life to the Earth. Demeter would rejoice in the presence of her daughter all spring and summer; but, when the dreadful contract was due for the eating of the Underworld fruit, Persephone would have to descend once again to the grim realm of her husband Hades, throwing Demeter into mourning, a state which would make her forget all about bringing life to the planet, hence precipitating the slow death of plant life, which we know as autumn; winter would be the worst of it, as Demeter would simply be in a horrible depression as she felt that her beloved daughter would never return.

Mythology Book Corner:  This book corner suggests great mythology reads.  I've already recommended (highly) both The Lightning Thief and The Sea of Monsters by Rick Riordan; this wonderful series continues with book 3,  The Titan's Curse. 

My next post will discuss a supremely horrific monster from the Land of the Hyperboreans: Medusa and her lovely Gorgonic sisters.

Hera, Queen of the Gods

Greetings, fans of Greek mythology! After having spoken somewhat at length about Zeus, let's talk about his twin sister, Hera.
Hera, one of the original six Olympians (Demeter, Zeus, Hestia, Hades, Poseidon), was born as Zeus's twin from her mother Rhea's womb, but was immediately consumed by Cronus, who was in the habit of swallowing all of his just-born children so that he needn't fear being supplanted by them, as he had conquered his own father Ouranos (Uranus). After Zeus had returned from Crete, and had given Cronus the emetic that caused him to belch forth all of his children, Hera helped defeat the Titans in the Titanomachy, or War between the Gods and the Titans.
After Zeus became king of the sky and supreme ruler amongst the gods, he promptly fell in love with Hera. To us mere mortals, this might seem a bit, well, strange, since Hera was after all his twin sister, but things are very different for the gods. Hera wanted nothing to do with Zeus, and refused his offer of marriage. Not to be outdone, Zeus planned a clever ruse to trick Hera into marrying him.
Hera's favorite bird was the cuckoo, which sang a pretty little "cuckoo, cuckoo." One day, a marvelous cuckoo bird landed on Hera's shoulder and began cooing oh so sweetly; Hera had had quite the day with Zeus badgering her, so she said, perhaps with not enough foresight, "If only you were Zeus, I'd marry you in a heartbeat." Imagine Hera's surprise when the sweet little cuckoo bird suddenly transformed into the commanding Zeus himself, who immediately held her to her promise!
And thus Hera was forced to marry Zeus. The gods could never renege on a promise or even a hint of a promise that they had made; it seemed as if the river Styx, or the river of the Unbreakable Oath, were always nearby.
Zeus and Hera had three children together, including Hephaestus (Roman: Vulcan); Ares (Roman: Mars), and Hebe, the goddess of youth. Hera spent her life being, well, displeased with Zeus since he had many other children as well, but again, the life of the gods, especially the king of the gods, was different than with mortals. In fact, Hera was so disgruntled with her life as the wife of Zeus that, when she asked the Theban prophet Teiresias, who had lived life as both a man and a woman (after seeing an oroboros, which had changed him from a man into a woman for nine years), whether it was better to be a man or a woman, and Teiresias had responded that it was much better to be a woman, she struck him, in a fury, blind.
Hera was the goddess of marriage. We see that today through Hera's Roman name, Juno, from which English derived its month name "June." June, then as now, was considered the best month in which to get married because of the pleasantness of its weather: neither too cold nor too hot.
Hera's symbol was the peacock, her favorite bird. This derives from the story of Io. Io was a young girl with whom Zeus fell madly in love. Hera was suspicious, so one day she found out that Zeus was meeting Io under a tree, and she stormed off to confront him. When she arrived, however, all she saw was Zeus with a white cow; being even more suspicious, Hera set her guard, Argus Panoptes, a gruesome monster who had 100 eyes (centoculated) to watch over the supposed cow. Zeus, in turn, sent Hermes to try to put the unsleeping Argus to sleep with a very boring tale that lasted for a very long time...and in fact, when all of the eyes of Argus did at long last close, Hermes promptly chopped off his head. Hera, sad for the death of her favorite watchman, transferred the eyes of Argus into the tail of the peacock, which we can still see today.
Stay tuned for my next blog post, which will discuss the sister of both Zeus and Hera, Demeter, the goddess of the Earth and the harvest.

Mythology Book Corner:  This book corner is devoted to great reads on mythology.   In my last post on Zeus, I suggested the first book in The Lightning Thief series.  Once getting hooked on that one, you would be hard pressed not to continue!  And so, the sequel to The Lightning Thief is The Sea of Monsters, a great read.  Check it out!

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Zeus, King of the Greek Gods

Greetings, mythology fans! Let's begin our mythological musings with the King of the Greek Gods, Zeus himself.
The Greek god Zeus, or Jupiter or Jove to the Romans, was the last child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. He was the twin of Hera, the goddess of marriage. Cronus (Saturn to the Romans) was afraid that his children (Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Poseidon, and Hera) would someday conquer him, so he ate them all (a neat and handy trick); Rhea, however, in turn tricked Cronus into swallowing a stone before he could swallow Zeus, thus saving him from the fate of spending eternity in his father's stomach (not a pleasant thought!).
The infant Zeus was whisked away by Rhea to the island of Crete to be raised by Amalthea, a magical goat whose horn gave Zeus all the food he could ever want to eat. One of Zeus's favorite toys was a golden ball with deep blue rings that left a track like a shooting star when he threw it, something which surely amused him greatly, being able to throw it from one end of the island to the other. When he had finally grown up, he went back to humbly serve his father Cronus, and promptly tricked him into swallowing wine that had an emetic poison in it, which caused him to throw up all of Zeus's brothers and sisters that he had swallowed: Demeter, Hades, Hestia, Poseidon, and Hera. This led to a huge war (imagine floating about in gastric juices for years and you can understand why the gods rebelled against the Titans) called the Titanomachy, or the war between the gods and the Titans. The gods won (more later on this most monstrous of battles). Zeus was installed as supreme ruler, but only because he drew the longest straw (imagine getting a job for an eternity by a silly game of straws) of the three drawn; Poseidon's lot fell to the seas of the world, and the unlucky Hades had to dwell within the dark of the Underworld.
The symbols of Zeus were the lightning bolts (which the Cyclopes, or great one-eyed giants, fashioned for him in their forge), the huge oak trees (the largest of trees in Greece, and also because they attract lightning), and the eagle, mightiest of birds (Zeus's eagle is still seen today on the back of the US dollar bill). The word "Zeus" represents the sound of a lightning bolt cutting and sizzling through the air, just as the word "Jupiter" mimics the sound of lightning striking the Earth.
Zeus could defeat any god, but he could not kill them, since they were immortal (Latin for "deathless"). He also possessed an elixir or magic potion that could heal someone if he were at death's door, but not if she or he had already passed into the real of Hades, the grasping god of the dead. As Lord of the Sky, he had a blue nimbus encircling his head, representing his power over all other gods.
Stay tune for my next post when I will discuss Hera, the goddess of marriage and disgruntled wife of Zeus!

Mythology Book Corner: this corner will be devoted to great books on mythology!  Let's start out with the wonderful Lightning Thief series by Rick Riordan.  The first book of which is The Lightning Thief, a fabulous read filled with modern day encounters of the Greek gods.  You might even encounter, well, Mr. Brunner!  Cheers!  

*Interesting fact*: the stone that Cronus swallowed ended up at Delphi, the omphalos or center of the Greek mythological world (where Apollo predicted the future through the seer Pythia)
*Interesting fact*: the horn of the magical goat Amalthea gave rise to our idea of the cornucopia, or horn of plenty.
*Interesting fact*: all three of Zeus's symbols are in some way related: lightning is the most powerful of the forces in the sky, just as the oak and the eagle are respectively the most powerful of the trees and the birds; lightning is also attracted to oak trees (it hits those trees more often than any other).
*Interesting fact*: The god Pan, king of the satyrs (half men, half goats), was once rumored to have died, despite the fact that he was immortal. Myths can be highly irrational!

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