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.
Monday, May 17, 2010
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
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.
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.
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