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.