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;
MANUAL
OP
MYTHOLOGY
.x^
GREEK y4ND ROM/IN
NORSE y4ND OLD GERMAN, HINDOO AND
EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY
By
ALEXANDER S. MURRAY
DBPARTMBNT OF GKEBK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES. BRITISH MUSBUM
WITH NOTES, REVISIONS AND ADDITIONS
BY
WILLIAM H. KLAPP
HEADMASTER OF THE EPISCOPAL ACADEMY PHILADELPHIA,
MEMUER OF THE AMERICAN PHILOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION,
UNIVERSITY ARCHiBOLOGICAL ASSOCIATION, ETC., BTC.
WITH
^ / TWO HUNDRED ILLUSTRATIONS, AND
\ A COMPLETE INDEX.
\ J
PHILADELPHIA
HENRY ALT'EMUS .'
1898
t »
■A
' ■• ^ • ^ - 4 r \ •*
i » - » . ■> c
J »
* » > '
' V;i'' :.b/// vap^ ;
873331
Copyright, 1897
By henry ALTEMUa
*• * • .A * • '
• • . ' •• » • • • .
PREFACE.
The rapid sale of the first edition of The Manual of
Mythology was so signal an assurance of public favor, that
in preparing the second edition, which is now called for,
every effort has been made to render it efficient as a stand-
ard text-book. The descriptions of the Greek deities have
been largely re-written, and at the end of each has been
added, in smaller type, an account of the most memorable
works of art in which each deity is or was represented.
Among the legends of the Greek heroes, those of the labors
of Hercules have been re-written and greatly enlarged. The
chapters on the Eastern and Northern Mythology are en-
tirely new, and have been further made more readily com-
prehensible by the addition of new illustrations.
With these alterations, it is hoped that the Manual will
now justify its claims to be a trustworthy and complete class-
book for Mythology. This much it may also claim : to be
no longer described as founded on the works of Petiscus,
Preller, and Welcker. Not that in its new form it owes
less to the splendid researches of Preller and Welcker. On
the contrary, it owes more than ever to them, but this time
as masters whose works have rather been an assistance
which it is a pride to acknowledge, than models to copy
with exactness.
AMERICAN EDITOR'S PREFACE.
It seems hardly necessary to offer an apology in present-
ing a new edition of Murray's Manual of Mythology to the
public. The work itself is an invaluable one to whoever
would understand the religions of antiquity, and of equal
importance to the student of our own literature, and,
indeed, to any one who expects thoroughly to enjoy the
accepted English classics. Though widely known through-
out Great Britain, it has had but a limited circulation in
America, and this sphere it is now designed to enlarge by
presenting a revised and handsomely illustrated text.
Naturally the religions of Greece and Rome play a more
prominent part than the Asiatic, Egyptian, or Norse, and
consequently more space is devoted to them. Additions
have been made when necessary, but nothing has been
omitted ; the whole text has been thoroughly revised.
Here arose a question as to the spelling of the Greek
proper names — whether, following the movement initiated
by Grote and amplified by Gladstone and the purists, the
proper names should be transliterated, or whether the old
spelling derived through the Latin should be adopted?
Personally, transliteration is preferred, but the difficulty of
reproducing certain sounds and the unfamiliarity of the
general reading public with the Greek forms were powerful
•'
vi AMERICAN EDITOR'S PREFACE,
factors against it. It was finally determined to adopt the
Latin spelling throughout the book. Almost all the Greek
names can be found in some Latin author, and consistency
at least is thereby obtained. The book is not intended for
profound scholars, who are as familiar with the Greek as
with the Latin forms, but for the younger students and for
those who wish to familiarize themselves with the grand and
interesting myths of antiquity, which have had unbounded
influence on the literature of Greece and Rome, and in no
less degree upon our own.
The editor desires to express his obligations for many
valuable suggestions to Professors John William White, of
Harvard University ; Bernadotte Perrin, of Yale Univer-
sity; B. L. Gildersleeve, of Johns Hopkins University;
and W, A, Lamberton, of the University of Pennsylvania.
The engravings have been prepared with great care, and,
it is believed, will prove a valuable and artistic aid to the
proper understanding and enjoyment of the text. A full
and careful index has been prepared, without which a book
like this is practically useless, and especial attention has
been paid to the orthography, W. H. K.
OCTOBEB, 1897*
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
MuRRAY^s Manual of Mythology has been known to the
American public thus far only through the English edition.
As originally published, the work was deficient in its ac-
count of the Eastern and Northern Mythology ; but with
these imperfections it secured a sale in this country which
proved that it more nearly supplied the want which had long
been felt of a compact hand-book in this study than did any
other similar work. The preface to the second English
edition indicates the important additions to, and changes
which have been made in, the original work. Chapters upon
the Northern and Eastern Mythology have been supplied,
the descriptions of many of the Greek deities have been re-
written, accounts of the most memorable works of art in
which each deity is or was represented have been added,
and a number of new illustrations have been inserted. This
American edition has been reprinted from the perfected
work. Every illustration given in the original has been
carefully reproduced ; and the new chapters upon Eastern
and Northern Mythology were thoroughly revised by Prof.
W. D. Whitney, of Yale College, who corrected some
minor inaccuracies which had escaped ohaetv^tvov^ \s\ HJo^fc
viii PUBLISHERS' NOTK.
EngliHli Mlitiou. Tlio volume in it« roviatHi foriii i« with-
out a rival among luuiuialH upon tliin iutvrcHtiiiK Hiilijont.
For the piir{X)3e of a text-lxwk in litgli mihootH mul oolle^t-H,
nnd a guide to the art utudotit or (^noml reiuler, it will Ihi
found iiivuluable.
Thu ARmpriUR at Athuiw.
CO NT E NTH.
PAGE
iNTKODlJCmON 1
(xKKKK AND KoMAN MyTIIOI/XIY —
The (Creation of the World 20
DeitioH of tho IlighcHt Order ' 25
Inferior DeitieH ^^ 142
DeinigodH or Ileroets *^ 228
NoKHK AND OiJ> Okrman Mytholooy . . . 35G
Mytiiolooy and Kklkhon of thk Hindoos —
The Vedie (JodH 871)
The Urahmaiiie (lodH 388
Mythology and Uelkjion of Egypt. . . . 394
Indkx 409
v^^
Capitol and Temple of Jupiter.
LIST OF ILLU8TKATION8.
FULL PAGE PLATES.
Aphrodite, or Vekus
Apollo
Apollo Belvedere .
Abes, or Mars .
Ares, or Mars .
Artemis, or Diana .
Dionysus, or Bacchus
Hera, or Juno .
Hermes, or Mercury
Laoooon
NiOBE ....
Pallas Athene, or Minf
Phoebus Apollo
Poseidon, or Neptune
Satyr, A . .
Zeus, or Jupiter
RVA
Facing jxige
96
Front iiipiece.
Faring page
272
80
256
120
208
40
144
344
;{20
232
176
56
160
24
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Achilles aod Chiron, 333
Acropolis at Athens, viii
Aesculapius, 205
Agni, 385
Ajax Bearing the Body of PatrocluSj
337
Amazons, 341, 343
Amphion and Zethus, 25i)
Amphitrite, 57
Amun, 397
Andromeda, 245
Aphrodite, or Venus, 93
Apis, 403
Apollo and Hyacinthus, 107
Apollo, Pan, and Midas, 115
Archemorus, Death of, 321
Ares, or Mars, 82
Argo, Building the, 309
xii ALPHABETICAL LIST OF TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS.
Argus, 137
Ariadne Abandoned, 245
Artemis, or Diana, 119
Asiatic Artemis, 12(>
Astraea, 46
Atlas, 174
Aurora, 1
Bacchus, 129
Bellerophon, 251
Bellerophon, Pegassus, and the Chi-
maera, 253
Boreas Carrying off Orithyia, 184
Brahma and Saraswati, 389
Buddha, 393
Cadmus Slays the Dragon, 256
Calliope, 177
Capitol and Temple of Jupiter, in
Bome, z
Centaur, 263
Chiron, 265
Circe, 353
Clio, 176
Council of the Gods, 25
Cronus and Rhea, 28
Cupid and Psyche, 189
Curetes Guarding Zeus, 29
Daedalus and Icarus, 275, 277
Danaides, 63
Demeter, or Ceres, 71, 75
Deucalion and Pyrrha, 233
Diana and Endymion, 123
Diana's Temple at Ephesus, 124
Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux;, 329
Echo and Narcissus, 172
Eiren, 211
Eos, or Aurora, 185
Eos and Cephalus, 186
Erato, 180
Erinys, One of the, 217
Eros, of Praxiteles, 22
Euterpe, 178
Faunus, or Fatuus, 152
Fenris, The Wolf, 369
Fortuna, 208
Freija, 359
Freyr, 367
Frigg, 362
Gaea. 21
Ganymedes, 200. 202
Girdle of Hippolyte, 291
Graces, The, 197
Hades Throned, 59
Harpies, 218
Hebe. 200, 201
Hecate, 76
Hector and Andromache, 339
Helios, or Sol, 104, 117
Hephaestus, or Vulcan, 87
Hera, or Juno, 48
Hercules, 281
Hercules and Cerberus, 297
Hercules and Hebe, Marriage of, 301
Hercules and the Lemean Hydra,
287 ^
Hercules and the Nemean Lion, 285
Hercules and Omphale, 299
Hermes, or Mercury, 133, 139
Heroes of the Trojan War, 324
Hestia, or Vesta, 78
Hora, or Flora, 144
Horae, One of the, 142
Horae, or Hours, 143
Hygea, Aesculapius, and Teles-
phorus, 207
Hymen, or Hymenaeus, 196
In the Brave Days of Old, 355
Indra, 381
lo and Zeus, 138
Iphigenia, 335
Iphigenia, Sacrifice of, 334
Iris, 182
Isis, 406
Ixion, 62
Janus, 147
Jupiter, 37
Kamadeva, 392
Leto, or Latona, 112
Mars and Venus, 83
Marsyas, 113
Medea, 315
Medea, Jason, and the Golden Fleece,
313
Medusa, The Dying, 220
Meleager, 307
Melpomene, 176
Mercury Before Pluto and Proser-
pina, 135
ALPHABETICAL LIST OF TEXT ILLUSTRATIONS, xiii
Moerae, The, 212
Mother of the Muses, 175
Nereid, A, 162
Nike, or Victoria, 209
Nile God, The, 167
Odin, 361
Oedipus and Antigone, 319
Olympus, 20
Orestes Slaying Aegisthus, 319
Orpheus and Eurydice, 267
Orpheus, Eurydice, and Hermes, 269
Osiris, 401, 402
Palladium, The, 102
Pallas Athene, by Phidias, 99
Pan and Apollo, 151
Pandora, m
Pandora and Her Box, 237
Paris and Helena, 327
Pegasus and the Nymphs, 169
Persephone, Abduction of, 68
Persephone, or Proserpina, 66
Perseus, 247
Phaethon, 126
Phrixus and Helle, 311
Pluto and Persephone, 67
Polyhymnia, 179
Polyphemus Hurling the Eock, 351
Poseidon, or Neptune, 53
Procris, Death of, 187
Psyche at the Couch of Cupid, 191
Psyche in the Lower World, 193
Pthah, 396
Bhea, 34, 35
Bomulus and Bemus, 354
Satumus, 32
Satyr, 155
Serapis, 404
Serapis Throned, 405
Silenus, 159
Silvanus, 157
Siren, 165
Sisyphus, 62
Siva, 391
Tantalus, 62
Terpsichore, 181
ThaUa, 177
Themis, 141
Theseus, 303
Theseus and the Minotaurus, 273
Thor, 363, 364
Tiber, The Father of the, 167
Trimurti, the Hindoo Trinitv, 388
Triptolemus, 73
Tritons, 164
Ulysses and Telemachus, 330
Ulysses Discovers Achilles, 331
Urania, 178
Valkyrior, 371
Venus, "The Most Beautiful," 325
Vestal, A, 79
Vishnu, 390
Vishnu, The Incarnation of, 377
Zeus, or Jupiter, 36
Zeus and Hera, Marriage of, 41
Zeus Carrying off Europa, 255
Zeus' Temple in Olympia, 45
.«
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INTRODUCTION.
Therr is a charm in the nameo! ancient Greece; there is
glory ill every p^e of her history; there is a fascination in
tiie remains of lier literature, and a sense of unapproachable
beauty in her works of art; there ia a spell in her climate
still, and a strange attraction in her ruins. We are familiar
with the praises of her beautiful islands; our poets aing of
her lovely genial sky. There is not in all the land a moun-
tain, plain, or river, nor a fountain, grove, or wood, that is
not hallowed by some legend or poetic tale. The names of
her artists, Phidias, Praxiteles, Apelles, and Zeuzis ; of her
poets, Homer, Pindar, Aeschylus, Sophocles, Euripides; of
her philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus; the names of her
statesmen and (trators, Periclea and Demosthenes; of her
historians, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon; of her
mathematicians, Archimedes and Euclid, are familiar to us
a^ household words. We look back over a period of more
than two thousand years with feelings of wonder at her
achievements on the battle-field and in the arts of peace.
We emulate her in many ways, but always confess to fail-
ure ; and when we have no desire of emulation, we are still
ready in most cases to admire.
1 v^^
2 INTRODUCTION,
How far we may find just cause for admiration or the con-
trary with regard to her religion remains to be seen. Bat
whichever way it be, we shall at any rate find abundant
evidence of the intense hold it had upon the great mass of
the people, and of the important influence it was calculated
to exercise on their civilization. For it was in the firm belief
of his interests being the special care of a deiiy that the hus-
bandman sowed his seed, and watched the vicissitudes of its
growth; that the sailor and trader entrusted life and prop-
erty to the capricious sea. The mechanic traced the skill
and handicraft which grew unconsciously upon him by prac-
tice to the direct influence of a god. Artists ascribed the
mysterious evolution of their ideas, and poets the inspiration
of their song, to the same superior cause. Daily bread and
daily life, the joy and gladness that circulated at festal gath-
erings, were duly acknowledged as coming from the same
high source. Everywhere in nature was felt the presence of
august invisible beings : in the sky, with its luminaries and
clouds; on the sea, with its fickle, changeful movements; on
the earth, with its lofty peaks, its plains, and rivers. It
seemed that man himself, and everything around him, was
upheld by Divine power; that his career was marked out for
him by a rigid fate which even the gods could not alter,
should they wish it on occasion. He was indeed free to act,
but the consequences of all his actions were settled before-
hand.
These deities to whom the affairs of the world were en-
trusted were, it was believed, immortal, though not eternal
in their existence, as we shall see when we come to read the
legends concerning their birth. In Crete there was even a
story of the death of Zeus, his tomb being pointed out; and,
further, the fact that the gods were believed to sustain their
existence by means of nectar and ambrosia, is sufficient proof
of their being usually deemed subject to the infirmities of
age. Being immortal, they were next, as a consequence,
supposed to be omnipotent and omniscient. Their physical
INTR OD UCTION. 3
strength was extraordinary^ the earth shaking sometimes
under their tread. Whatever they did was done speedily.
They moved through space almost without the loss of a
moment of time. They knew all things, saw and heard all
things with rare exceptions. They were wise, and commu-
nicated their wisdom to men. They had a most strict sense
of justice, punished crime rigorously, and rewarded noble
actions, though it is true that they were less conspicuous for
the latter. Their punishments came quickly, as a rule; but
even if late, even if not till the second generation, still they
came without fail. The sinner who escaped retribution in
this life was sure to obtain it in the lower world ; while the
good who died unrewarded enjoyed the fruit of their good
actions in the next life. To many this did not appear a
satisfactory way of managing human affairs, and hence there
frequently arose doubts as to the absolute justice of the gods
and even the sanctity of their lives. These doubts were
reflected in stories, which, to the indignation of men like the
poet Pindar, represented this or that one of the gods as
guilty of some offence or other, such as they were believed
to punish. Philosophers endeavored to explain these stories,
some as mere fictions of the brain, others as allegories under
which lay a profound meaning. But the mass of the people
accepted them as they came, and nevertheless believed in the
perfect sanctity of the gods, being satisfied that human wick-
edne^ was detested and punished by them.
Whether the gods were supposed to love the whole of
mankind, or only such as led good lives, is not certain. It
would seem, however, from the universal practice of offering
sacrifice and expiation on the occasion of any wrong, that
they were believed to be endowed with some deep feeling of
general love, which even sinners could touch by means of
atonement. At all events they were merciful. They hated
excessive prosperity among individual men, and would on
such occasions exercise a Satanic power of leading them into
sin. They implanted unwritten laws of right and wron^ia
4 INTR OD UCTION.
the human breast. Social duties and engagements were under
their special care, as were also the legislative measures of
states.
There were tales of personal visits and adventures of the
gods among men, taking part in battles, and appearing in
dreams. They were conceived to possess the form of human
beings, and to be, like men, subject to love and pain, but
always characterized by the highest qualities and grandest
form that could be imagined. To produce statues of them
that would equal this high ideal was the chief ambition of
artists; and in presence of statues in which success had been
attained, the popular mind felt an awe as if in some way the
deity were near. But while this was the case with regard
to the renowned examples of art, such as the statue of Zeus
at Olympia, by Phidias, it was equally true with regard to
those very ancient rude figures of deities which were believed
to have fallen from heaven, and were on that account most
carefully preserved in temples, the removal or loss of such a
figure being considered an equivalent to the loss of the favor
of the deity whose image it was. This was idolatry. At the
same time, owing to the vast number of beautiful and grand
statues of gods, there gradually arose a feeling of the deifi-
cation of man and a struggle to become more and more like
these beings of nobler human form and divine presence. For
it is one of the advantages of having gods possessed of
human form that mankind can look up to them with the feel-
ing of having something in common, and the assurance of
pity and favor. This was a powerful element in the Greek
religion, and led more than any other to the extraordinary
piety of the Greek race, in spite of all the awkward stories
which we are accustomed to ridicule.
It would seem that the gods were not looked on, at any
rate popularly, as having created the world. Perhaps the
mass of the people cared nothing for speculation as to the
origin of what actually existed, their chief thoughts being
concentrated in the changes that took place in what existed
INTRODUCTION, 6
and directly affected their interests. In this spirit they
looked on the gods as only maintaining and preserving exist-
ing order and system of things according to their divine wis-
dom. Hence it was that the Greeks never arrived at the
idea of one absolute eternal God, though they very nearly
approached that idea in the case of Zeus, who occasionally
exercised control or sovereignty over the other gods who pre-
sided in particular departments in the management of the
world. Their natural tendency to polytheism may have been
further aggravated by the peculiar circumstances of their
early history as a race. It has been suggested with much
plausibility that a number of their deities, as Dione, Hera,
Graea, and Demeter, resemble each other so much*as to war-
rant the reasonableness of the conclusion that their separate
existence in the mythology was due to a coalescence at some
remote early time of distinct tribes of the Greek race, each
possessing beforehand a god or gods of their own, with sepa-
rate names and slightly different attributes, though in the
main capable of identification and a common worship. It is
probable that, in consequence of such amalgamation, some of
the earliest gods have disappeared altogether ; while others,
who in after times, as in the case of Dione, held subordinate
positions, may have originally been deities of the first order.
At the time with which we are here concerned, the Greek
nation inhabited the country still known by the name of
Greece, though its present population has small claim to be
descendants of the ancient race. It was spread also in col-
onies over the islands of the Archipelago and Mediterranean,
along the coasts of Asia Minor and the Black Sea, in the
Crimea, on the north coast of Africa, and on the south coast
of France. In many of its features the mainland of Greece
may be compared with England, both having the same com-
paratively vast extent of sea coast, very few parts of the
country being out of sight of the sea. Both are well sup-
plied with mountains that invigorate the climate and stir the
spirit of adventure. In both cases it may be that this prox-
6 INTRODUCTION,
imity of the greater part of the population to the sea, with
its horizon tempting young minds to penetrate beyond its
ever-receding line, was the main cause of the general desire
of commerce and distant colonization. At any rate, the nat-
ural features of Greece, her beautiful bays, the vivid lines of
her mountain peaks, her delightful groves and valleys, made
a deep impression on the people; and colonists, wherever they
spread, retained the warmest recollection of them; of snow-
clad Olympus, where the gods lived; of the lovely vale of
Tempe; of the smiling banks of the Peneus; of the sacred
grove at Delphi; of peaceful Arcadia, with its pastoral life;
of the broad plain of Olympia, with its innumerable temples,
statues, and treasure-houses of costly presents to the gods;
of Corinth, with its flag that ruled the sea; of Athens;
of Thebes, with its ancient citadel founded by Cadmus; of
Eleusis, and many other places.
We propose now to examine more particularly the religious
belief of the Greeks and Romans, with the view of prepar-
ing the way for the descriptions that follow of the gods indi-
vidually. But first of all let us explain the meaning of the
word " mythology.'^ According to its derivation from the
Greek mythos^ a, tale, and logos, an account, it would mean
'^ an account of tales," the tales in this case being confined
to the origin, character, and functions of the ancient gods, to
the origin of mankind, and the primitive condition of the
visible world. To understand these stories we must try to
understand the circumstances under which they were in-
vented, and must endeavor to comprehend the condition and
circumstances of a nation in the early stage of its existence.
For this purpose we can compare the early tales relating to
the gods of other nations, of the Indian on the one hand,
and the German on the other; or we may also compare the
condition of races at present in an uncivilized state. From
these sources it would seem that the youth of a nation, like
that of an individual, is the period at which the activity of
imagination and fancy is greatest in proportion as knowledge
INTRODUCTION. 7
is least. The mystery of surrounding nature strikes forcibly
on the mind, its phenomena on the senses. There is a feel-
ing of alarm when thunder crashes on the ear, of gladness in
the warm light of day, of terror in the darkness of night,
and of a strange dread at the darkness of death. The acci-
dents of daily life bind men together, and repel the rest of
the animal creation, over which the human superiority soon
becomes known. Men learn to know each other when as
yet they know nothing else. They know their own passions
and instincts. They measure everything by themselves, by
feet, paces, palms, and ells; and when they seek to fathom or
measure the cause of the phenomena of nature they have
no standard to employ at hand, except themselves They
might, it is true, imagine the cause of the thunder under the
form of a great invisible lion; but in that case they could
not commune with and implore the thunderer for pity, as
they are moved to do. He must, therefore, be conceived as
fashioned like a man, endowed with the highest imaginable
qualities of a man. As knowledge and civilization advance,
those qualities become higher and higher. It seems probable
that the first phenomena that appealed to the miod were those
of the change of weather, of seasons, the revolving day and
the revolving year. At any rate, the earliest deities, as well
as we can trace them, appear to be those who presided over
the movements of the celestial sphere.
We seem to recognize the influence of such phenomena in
the chief characteristics of mankind in a primitive stage of
existence — the sense of order and regularity, the feeling of
fatality, the conviction that whatever temporary disturbances
might arise, the course of human life obeyed some fixed law,
coming with bright light, and departing in darkness, but
only to commence another day of happy life elsewhere. We
know that the name of the highest god of the ancients signi-
fied the ^^ light of the world,'' in a literal sense. In time, as
the perceptive faculties expanded and the wants of men mul-
tiplied, the other phenomena of the world became the subject of
8 INTRODUCTION.
inquiry, and were, as usual, ascribed to the direct influence of
deities. The singular part, however, of this process of in-
venting deities is, that having, at the commencement, obtained
one great powerful god, they did not simply extend his func-
tions to all the departments of nature, instead of finding a
new god to preside over each. It may be that the apparent
conflict frequently observed between the elements of nature
was hostile to such an idea, while on the contrary nothing
was more readily imaginable than a quarrel among different
gods as the cause of such phenomena. By a similar process
the combination of different elements, as, for example,
warmth and moisture, was appropriately described from the
human point of view as a prolific union or marriage of two
deities. The sun and moon were called brother and sister.
Another opinion, somewhat at variance with this, is, that
the primitive stage of all religions is a universal belief in one
great god — such a belief, it is said, being as natural to man
as the use of his arms and legs. But this earliest and pure
form of belief became, they say, in course of time debased
into a belief in the existence of many gods, originating in
such a method of explaining the phenomena of nature as we
have described.
On the other hand, the oldest religious records we know
of — the Vedas — speak of hosts of divine beings: while in
the primitive religion of the American Indians the Great
Spirit is surrounded by a crowd of lesser spirits, who repre-
sent the various phenomena of nature. It would seem that
when the notion of one god did arise, it was of the one true
God as opposed to the other and false gods, and this did not
take place till a high stage of civilization was reached. In
the best times of Greece, no doubt, thinking men acknowl-
edged but one supreme being, and looked on the crowd of
other gods as merely his servants, and in no sense really
different from our idea of angels.
In due time the religion of the ancients became a polythe-
ism on a very extensive scale; every phase of nature, sky.
INTRODUCTION. 9
sea, and earth, every phase of human life, its habits, accidents,
and impulses, being provided with a special guardian and
controlling deity. In all the varying circumstances of life
men turned to one or other of these divine persons in grati-
tude or for help. Temples, sanctuaries, altars, were erected
to them everywhere, one being worshipped with special favor
here, and another there; one with special favor at one season
of the year, another at another season. Many of them were
only known and worshipped in particular localities; as, for
instance, marine deities among people connected with the sea.
Others belonged to particular periods of the national his-
tory. This limitation, however, with regard to local differ-
ences, applies only to the vast number of minor deities whose
names and attributes have come down to our times; for a
belief in the superior order of gods was the common property
of the whole nation, whether learned or unlearned, and of
whatever occupation. The mysteries of Eleusis united the
people in honor of Demeter; the national festivals united
them in honor of other gods, as of Zeus at Olympia. Every
one believed in the oracular power of Apollo, in the might of
Poseidon, in the grim character of Hades, that Hera was the
wife of Zeus, that Athene was his daughter, that Aphrodite
was the goddess of love, Artemis of the moon, and Ares the
god of war.
It was believed that these higher deities inhabited Olym-
pus, living together in a social state which was but a magni-
fied reflection of the social system on earth. Quarrels, love
passages, mutual assistance, and such incidents as characterize
human life, were ascribed to them. It must, however, be
borne in mind that these human attributes, aod the stories
connected with them, whether they represent admirable qual-
ities or the reverse, were not in the first instance ascribed to
the gods out of a desire to make their resemblance to man
more complete, but were the natural result of identifying the
gods with the elements of nature over which they were sup-
posed to preside, of conceiving and representing the combi-
10 INTRODUCTION.
nation or conflict of elements visible in nature as the result
of the combination of invisible beings of human form. In
later times of higher civilization and greater refinement^ when
the origin of the gods as personifications of natural phenom-
ena was lost sight of, many of these stories came to be viewed
as disgraceful, and by being made the subject of public ridi-
cule in plays tended largely to uproot the general faith in the
gods. Philosophers attempted to explain them as allegories.
Others, who did not themselves see their way to believing
them, yet advised that the popular faith in them should not
be disturbed. But we who live in other times, having no
need of a religion that has long since passed away, and desir-
ing only to trace its origin and the source of its long and
deep influence on a great nation, may look at them in a
calmer mood. It is our part to admire as far as possible,
and not to condemn without first taking into account every
extenuating circumstance.
Turuing now to the rites and ceremonies by which the
Greeks and Romans expressed their belief in and entire de-
pendence on the gods, we would call attention first to the
offering of sacrifices. These were of two kinds, one consist-
ing of fruits, cakes, and wine; the other of animals, which
were led to the altar decked with garlands and ribbons, after
various ceremonies slain, and part of the flesh consumed upon
the altar fire, the smell of it being supposed to rise agreeably
to the gods. It was necessary that the animals selected for
this purpose should be spotless and healthy, that the persons
participating in the ceremony should be cleanly in person and
in mind; for no costliness could make the offering of a sinner
acceptable to the gods. The color, age, and sex of the animal
were determined by the feeling of appropriateness to the
deity for whom it was slain. The time chosen for the cere-
mony was the morning in the case of the gods of heaven, the
evening in the case of the gods of the lower world. To these
latter deities the victim was always offered entire, as it was
not deemed possible that they could share in a feast in com-
INTRODUCTION. H
pany with men. The fire on the altar was considered holy,
and special care was taken that it should be fed with wood
that gave a pure flame. In early times it would seem that
even human beings were offered as sacrifices to certain gods,
the victims in such cases being occasionally, to judge from the
instance of Iphigenia, closely connected by ties of blood and
affection with the person required to make the sacrifice. But
these were, perhaps, mostly cases in which the will of the
gods was specially communicated through a seer or prophet;
whereas sacrifice generally was a spontaneous gift to the gods,
either for the purpose of expressing gratitude for the bless-
ings bestowed by them, or of atoning for some sin of which
the person sacrificing was conscious. Sacrifices were not pre-
sented intermittently and at mere pleasure, but regularly
when occasion offered, as at harvest time, when the fruits of
the fields and garden were gathered in. The herdsman sac-
rificed the firstlings of his flock, the merchant gave part of
his gain, and the soldier a share of his booty in war. The
gods to whom all prosperity and worldly blessings were due
expected such offerings, it was thought, and punished every
instance of neglect.
There was, however, another class of sacrifices, springing
from a different motive, and with a different object in view;
for example, to obtain by means of an examination of the
entrails of an animal an augury as to the issue of some enter-
prise — ^a form of sacrifice which was held of great importance
at the commencement of a battle; or to sanctify the ratifica-
tion of a treaty, or some important bargain between man and
man; or to obtain purification for some crime. In this last
case it was supposed that the victim took the sin upon its
own head, and that both perished together. Hence no part
of such victims was eaten.
How the gods were supposed to partake of the share of
sacrifices allotted to them is not always clear, though in the
case of burnt offerings they may be imagined to have been
satisfied with the smell that rose in the air, and in the case
12 INTRODUCTION.
of libations with the aroma of the wine. With regard to
the sacrifices in honor of the deities of the lower world, it
seems to have been the belief that the blood of the victim,
if poured into a hole in the ground, would sink down to
them, and be acceptably received. In the same hole, or near
by, were buried the ashes that remained on the altar on which
the victim was consumed. The portions assigned to marine
or river deities were sunk in deep water.
It was the duty of the priests to perform the ceremony of
offering up the sacrifices brought to the gods in whose service
they were. The first part of the ceremony was to take a
basket containing the sacrificial knife, some corn, and perhaps
also flowers, and to pass it, along with a vessel containing
water, round the altar from left to right. The water was
next purified by dipping a brand from the altar in it. There-
upon the people who had brought the sacrifice sprinkled them-
selves and the altar, and taking a handful of com from the
basket, scattered it on the head of the victim as it approached.
The priest then, after shearing a lock of hair from the head
of the animal, and distributing it among the bystanders to be
thrown on the altar fire, commanded silence, prayed that the
offering might be acceptable to the god, and slew the victim.
The blood, except in the case of the deities of the lower
world, as has been observed, and the entrails, were mixed
with wheat, wine, and incense, and placed upon the fire.
The strong feelings of piety, gratitude, dependence, or con-
sciousness of guilt, which gave rise to such offerings, gave
rise also to a universal habit of prayer, and a desire to fre-
quent on all possible occasions the temples and altars of the
gods. Morning and evening, at the beginning of meals, at
the opening of business in the courts of justice and public
assemblies, a prayer was offered up, now to one god, now to
another, or, if no particular deity appeared to be an appro-
priate guardian for the time and occasion, to the gods gener-
ally. There was this peculiarity in the Greek prayers, which
we must not omit to mention, that after calling on a deity by
INTRODUCTION, 13
his usual name a clause was added to save the suppliant from
any possible displeasure of the deity at the name employed;
for how could man know the true name of a god ? We have
an example of such a prayer in Aeschylus : '^ Zeus, whoever
thou art, and by whatever name it please thee to be named,
I call on thee and pray.'' In praying to the gods above it
was the custom of the Greeks to lift the hands and turn the
face toward the east; of the Romans, to turn toward the
north. A suppliant of the sea gods stretched out his hands
toward the sea, and a suppliant of the gods of the lower
world beat the earth with his hands. When a prayer was
offered up in a temple the rule was to turn toward the sacred
image. In cases of great distress the suppliant would carry
an olive branch, or a rod with wool twined round it, throw
himself on the ground before the sacred image, and embrace
its feet. Pythagoras, the philosopher, taught his follow-
ers to pray with a loud voice; but loud prayers do not
appear to have been customary. On the contrary, it hap-
pened not unfrequently that the prayers were written on
tablets, sealed, and deposited beside the image of the god,
that no human being might be aware of the request contained
in them. Here is a specimen of what seems to have been
the usual form : '^ Zeus, our lord, give unto us whatever is
good, whether we ask it of thee or not; whatever is evil keep
far from us, even if we ask it of thee."
Besides sacrifice and prayer there is still another class of
ceremonies, in which we recognize the deep piety of the
Greeks : first, the custom of consulting oracles, especially
that of Apollo at Delphi, in times of great perplexity; and
secondly, the universal practice, in cases of less or more sud-
den emergency, of trying to interpret the will of the gods
by means of augury or divination in a vast variety of ways.
Sometimes the augury was taken from the direction in which
birds were observed to fly overhead. If to the right of the
augur, who stood with his face to the north, good luck would
attend the enterprise in question; if to the left, the reverse.
1 4 INTB OD VCTION.
At other times an animal was slain, and its entrails carefully
examined^ the propitiousness of the gods being supposed to
depend on the healthy and normal condition of these parts.
But the gods were also believed to communicate their will to
men in dreams, by sending thunder and lightning, comets,
meteors, eclipses, earthquakes, prodigies in nature, and the
thousand unexpected incidents that occur to men. As few
persons were able to interpret the bearing of these signs and
wonders, there was employment for a large class of people
who made this their particular business.
Finally, we must not forget to mention as a proof of the
wide-spread religious feelings of the Greeks the national fes-
tivals, or games, as they are called, established and main-
tained in honor of certain gods. While these festivals were
being celebrated it was necessary to suspend whatever war
might be going on between separate states, and to permit
visitors to pass unmolested even through hostile territory.
These festivals were four in number: the Olympian, Pythian,
NemeaUy and Isthmian.
The first mentioned was held in honor of Zeus, on the
plain of Olympia, in Elis. It occurred every fifth year, and
the usual method of reckoning time was accordiag to its re-
occurrence, by Olympiads, as we say. The games with which
it was celebrated consisted of running, wrestling, boxing, a
combination of the two latter, horse-racing, either with chariots
or only with riders. The prize of victory was simply a
wreath of olive, and yet athletes trained themselves labori-
ously and travelled great distances to compete for it. Kings
sent their horaes to run in the races, aad counted a vic-
tory among the highest honors of their lives. The fellow-
townsmen of a victorious athlete would raise a statue in his
honor. Occasionally writers, as we are told of Herodotus,
took this occasion of a vast assemblage of their countrymen
to read to them part of their writings. The Pythian games
were held in honor of Apollo, in the neighborhood of Delphi,
and occurred every fifth year, there being competition in
INTR OB UOTION. 1 6
music as well as in athletics. The prize was a wreath of
laurel. At the Nemean games, which were held in honor of
Zeus, the prize was a wreath of ivy. The Isthmian games
were held in honor of Poseidon, on the Isthmus of Corinth,
and occurred every third year; the prize was a wreath of pine.
It is remarkable and surprising, that with all the piety and
religious ceremonies of the ancients, there existed among them
no established means of instruction for the mass of the peo-
ple, as to the character and functions of the gods whom they
worshipped. There was, indeed, a regular priesthood, whose
duty it was to conduct the public ceremonies, to offer up
sacrifices, and to perform other offices peculiar to the god in
whose service they were. But there their duties ceased.
These ceremonies had been handed down from time imme-
morial, and that was perhaps sufficient guarantee of their
importance to make the ordinary Greek assiduous in his
observance of them. At any rate, this assiduity is not trace-
able to a clear and explicit knowledge of the character of the
gods derived from public instruction. In regard to that,
whatever unanimity existed was unquestionably due in the
first instance to the influence of poets like Homer and Hesiod,
and in the second, to the exertion of the persons connected
with the oracle at Delphi. The effect of this state of things
was a great amount of confusion in the popular mind, and
not only in the popular mind but also in the minds of men
like Socrates, who confessed that he did not know whether
there was one Aphrodite or two, and wondered why Zeus,
who was believed to be one god, had so many names.
The preceding remarks, it should be here observed, apply
for the most part only to the mythology of the Greeks, and do
not extend to that of the Romans, except so far as they refer
to the most primitive class of myths, such as those concern-
ing the origin of the world. For the practice of identifying
the mythologies of those two nations has no foundation in
fact. Both races, it is true, belonged to one and the same
great branch of the human family, and from that source
16 INTRODUCTION.
derived a common kernel of religious belief. But before
this kernel had developed far the two nations parted, and
formed for themselves distinct and isolated settlements in
Europe. In the long period of isolation that followed, the
common seed of religious belief with which both started
grew up, was propagated under quite different circumstances
and assumed a very different aspect. The Romans — in the
early periods of their history a pastoral, agricultural, simple,
and more or less united people — had no need of a various
multitude of deities, such as the Greeks found necessary,
scattered and separated as they were into a variety of tribes
with a variety of occupations.
From this, among other casues, it happens that many, even
of the very early Greek myths, were quite foreign to the
Romans. To this class belong, for instance, the myths that
describe the conflict between Uranus and his sons: Cronus
devouring his children to escape, as he thought, being de-
throned by them, and Zeus placing his father, Cronus, in
durance in Tartarus. No less strictly peculiar to the Greeks
were those accounts of quarrels among the gods, wounds, and
occasionally the banishment of certain gods to a period of
service on earth. To these we may add the carrying off of
Persephone by Pluto, and several other stories. With regard
to the ceremonies which accompanied the worship of certain
gods, we observe the same great difference between the two
nations, and would cite as an example the wild unrestrained
conduct of those who took part in the festivals of Dionysus,
remarking that when in later times of luxury a festival of
this kind was introduced into Italy in honor of Bacchus, the
Roman equivalent for the Greek Dionysus or Bacchus, the
new festival was forbidden, and those who took part in it
were viewed as persons of unbridled desires. Nor did Mer-
cury ever obtain the widespread worship and honor paid to
Hermes in Greece; and even Satumus, in spite of the Roman
poets, was a very different god from the Greek Cronus.
At the time when the Roman poets began to write, ^^Greece
INTBOD UCTION, 1 7
captured was leading her captor captive/' Greek literature
was the usual means of education; Greek philosophy, Greek
art — everything pertaining to the Greeks — constituted the
principal pursuit of educated men. Many would rather
employ the Greek than their own language in writing.
Poets, constructing their poems often in close imitation of
Greek models, replaced the names of gods that occurred in
the Greek originals by names of native deities possessing some
similarity of character, and told a Greek story of a native
Italian god; or, failing such, employed the Greek name in a
Latin form. At the same time no real adaptation or coales-
cence of the two religious systems ever took place. The
Boman ceremonies and forms of worship remained for the
most part distinct from the Greek, and peculiar to the race.
In modem times, however, the literature (especially the
poetry) of the ancient Romans was more familarly known
than the facts relating to their ceremonies and forms of wor-
ship. It was more early and familiarly known than the
literature of Greece, and instead of upon the latter, the mod-
ern notions of Greek mythology were founded on the state-
ments of the Roman poets. Hence arose a confusion which
our own poets, especially those of the last century, only made
worse confounded. To meet this confusion we shall give the
accredited Roman equivalent by the side of the Greek gods,
throughout our descriptions, and point out as far as possible
the differences between them.
Thus far our observations have been confined to the my-
thology and religious ceremonies of the Greeks and Romans,
especially of the former. We have had very little to say of
the Romans, because, though equal perhaps to the Greeks in
their piety and trust in the gods, they appear to have been
very deficient in that quality of imagination which could
readily invent some divine personification for every phenome-
non of nature that struck the mind. As, however, it is our
intention to include a description, even if very brief, of the
mythology of the Indian and Teutonic or Germanic races, it
2
1 8 INTR OD UCTION.
may be well to call attention here to the fact, now clearly
ascertained, that these races are sprung from the same com-
mon family or human stock to which the Greeks and Bomans
belonged, and that at least certain ideas concerning the origin
and primitive condition of the world are common to the
mythologies of them all. From this it is reasonable to con-
clude that these ideas were arrived at previous to the separa-
tion of this great Indo-Germanic family, as it is called, and
its development into distinct and isolated nations, as we find
it at the dawn of historical times. From the Ganges to
Iceland we meet with traces of a common early belief that
the wild features of the earth had been produced by some
long past convulsive conflict of Titanic beings, whom, though
invisible, the stormy elements of nature still obeyed. We
find that everywhere, within these limits of space and time,
there existed among men the same sensitiveness to the phe-
nomena of nature — to light and darkness, to heat and cold,
to rain and drought, to storms and peacefulness — and the
same readiness and power of imagining invisible beings of
human form, but loftier attributes, as the cause of these phe-
nomena. To these beings actions and habits of life were
ascribed, such as were suggested by the phenomena which they
were supposed to control; and in no case, it should be borne
in mind, was any feeling of morality or immorality intended to
be conveyed. For instance, when we find the natural process
by which the clouds pour out their rain upon the earth, and
are again filled from the sea, described as Hermes (the god of
rain) stealing the cattle (clouds) of Apollo, we cannot attach
to the story the idea of criminality which it at first suggests.
Similar interpretations we must be prepared to see throughout
the mythologies of the Indo-Germanic races.
It may now be asked, from what source is this knowledge
derived of the mythology of the ancients? To this we
reply, from the works of ancient writers, poets, historians,
philosophers, and others, to whom the religious belief of their
countrymen was a subject of great importance, and whose
INTRODUCTION. 19
writings have survived to our times; in the second place,
from the representations of gods and mythological scenes on
the inmiense number of ancient works of art that still exist,
whether in the form of statues in marble and bronze, painted
vases, engraved gems, or coins. These are the sources of
our knowledge, and without becoming more or less familiar
with them it is perhaps impossible to understand fully the
spirit of these ancient myths; and contrariwise, to be able to
appreciate at its real worth the beauty of ancient works,
whether in literature or in art, it is necessary to become
acquainted with the mythology and the religious spirit which
guided their authors; and if that be not sufficient temptation
to follow our descriptions of the various deities and heroes
of ancient times, we can still appeal to this — ^that a great part
of our grandest modern poetry and works of art can only be
intelligible to those who know the ancient mythology.
Drawing near, as we are now, to the details of our sub-
ject, we become anxious to guard against all feelings of im-
propriety in what we may have occasionally to relate. We
would, therefore, remind the reader of the principles of inter-
pretation which we have endeavored to explain in the pre-
ceding pages. We would also repeat that we have here to
do with a system of religious belief which, whatever its
apparent or real shortcomings may have been, exercised enor-
mous influence on the education of at least two of the most
civilized nations of the earth.
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
In thinking of the origin of the world in which they lived,
the Greeks for the most part, it would appear, were satisfied
with the explanation given by the poet Hesiod — that in the
beginning the world was a great shapeless mass or chaos, out
of which was fashioned first the spirit of love, Eros (Cupid),
and the broad-cheated earth, Gaea; then Erebus, darkneBS,
and Nox, night. From a union of the two latter sprang
Aether, the clear sky, and Hemera, day. The earth, by
virtue of the power by whieh it was fashioned, produced in
turn, Uranus, the firmament which covered her with its
vault of brass, as the poets called if, to describe its appear-
ance of eternal duration, the mountains, and Pontas, the
unfruitful sea. Thereupon Eros, the oldest and at the same
time the youngest of the gods, began to agitate the earth and
all things on it, bringing them together, and making pairs
of them. First in importance of these pairs were Uranos
and Gaea, heaven and earth, who peopled the earth with a
host of beings, Titans, Giants, and Cyclopes, of far greater
physical frame and energy than the races who succeeded them.
(20)
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 21
It is a beautiful idea, that of love making order out of
cliaos, bringing oppu'iite elttments tugethor, and prejuiring a
world to receive mankind.
Another apparently older, aod certainly obscure notion, is
that expressed by Homer, which ascrit>es the origin of the
world to OceanuB, the ocean. How the earth and heavens
sprang from him, or whether they were conceived as co-
existing with him from the beginning, we are not told. The
numerous ancient stories, however, concerning floods, after
which new generations of men sprang up, and the feet that
the innumerable fertilizing rivers and streams of the earlh
were believed to come from the ocean, as they were seen to
return to it, and that all the river gods were accounted the
offspring of Oceanus, surest the prevalence of such a form
of belief with regard to the origin of the world in (imes pre-
vious to Hesiod. We are told that the ocean encircled the
earth with a great stream, and was a region of wonders of
all kinds; that Oceanus lived there, with his wife Tath.'sa\
22 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
tliat there were the islands of the blest, the gardens of the
gods, the sources of the uectar and ambrosia od which the
gods lived. Within this circle of water the earth lay spread
out like a disk with mouutaiQs rising from it, and the vault of
heaven appearing to rest on its outer edge all around. This
outer edge was supposed to be slightly raised, so that the
water might not rush in and overflow the laud. The space
betweeu the surface of the earth and the heavens was seen to
be occupied by air and clouds, and above the clouds was sup-
posed to be pure ether, in wliich the sun, moon, and stars
moved. The sun rising in the eastern sky in the morning,
traversing the celestial arch during the day, and sinking at
evening in the west, was thought to be under the guidance of
a god in a chariot drawn by four splendid horses. After
sinking into Ooeanus, it was supposed that he took ship and
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 23
? 'j? led during the night round to the east, so as to be ready
^^ begin a new day.
^2 tX In the region of air above the clouds moved the higher
der of gods; and when, for the sake of council or inter-
urse they met together, the meeting place was the summit
I one of those lofty mountains whose heads were hid in the
ouds, but chief of all, the inaccessible Olympus in Thessaly.
ound the highest point of it was the palace of Zeus, with the
rone on which he sat in majesty to receive such visits as
ose of Thetis (Iliad i. 498) when she came to plead for her
m. On plateaus or in ravines lower down were the man-
sions of the other gods, provided, as was thought, with the
convenience of store-rooms, stabling, and all that was usual
n the houses of princes on earth. The deities who thus
nhabited Olympus, and for that reason were styled the
Olympian deities, were twelve in number. We do not, it is
true, always find this number composed of the same gods,
but the following may be taken as having been the most
usual : Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno), Poseidon (Neptune),
Demeter (Ceres), Apollo^ Artemis (Diana), Hephaestus
(Vulcan), Palla^s, Athene (Minerva), Ares (Mars), Aphro-
dite (Venus), Hermes (Mercury), and Hestia (Vesta).
Though allied to each other by various degrees of relation-
ship, and worshipped in many places at altars dedicated to
them as a united body, they did not always act together in
harmony, a most memorable instance of their discord being
that (Iliad viii. 13-27) in which Zeus threatened to hurl the
others into Tartarus, and challenged them to move him from
Olympus by letting themselves down with a golden chain
and pulling with all their might. Should they try it, he
said, he could easily draw them up with earth and sea to the
bargain, fasten the chain to the top of Olympus, and let the
whole hang in mid air. The name of Olympus was not
confined to the Thessalian mountain, though it may have had
the earliest, as in after times it had the principal, claim to
the title, but was applied to no less than fourteen mountains
24 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
in various parts of the Greek world, each of which appears
to have been regarded as an occasional meeting place, if not
a permanent seat of the gods. Finally, the word was used
to designate a region above the visible sky, from which, to
express its height, it was said that once a brazen anvil fell
nine days and nine nights before it reached the earth. At
an equal distance beneath the surface of the earth was Tar-
tarus, a vast gloomy space walled in with brass, where the
Titans lived in banishment.
The lower order of deities, having naturally no place in
Olympus, were restricted to the localities on earth where they
exercised their powers — as, for instance, the Naiades, or
Nymphs of fountains, to the neighborhood of fountains and
springs; the Oreades, or mountain Nymphs, to the moun-
tains and hills; and the Dryades, or Nymphs of trees, to
trees. With regard to the place of residence of the heroes
or semi-divine beings after their translation from earth, there
existed considerable variety of opinion, of which we shall
afterward have occasion to speak.
Kepresentations of the deities assembled in Olympus for a partic-
ular occasion — as at the birth of Athene from the head of her father
Zeus — occur not unfrequently on the Greek painted vases. This was
the subject chosen by Phidias for the sculptures in one of the pedi-
ments of the Parthenon now in the British Museum. The loss, how-
ever, of many of the figures renders it impossible to say now who
were the deities he selected, or whether he even adhered to the usual
number of twelve. At one end of the pediment the sun rises in his
chariot from the sea, at the other the moon rides away. The event
must, therefore, have taken place at the break of day. The same fact
is to be observed in the scene at the birth of Aphrodite, in presence
of the assembled deities, with which Phidias adorned the base of his
statue of Zeus at Olympia, and of which we have still the description
in Pausanias (v. 403). At one end was the Sun stepping into his
chariot, next to him Zeus and Hera, then Hephaestus (?) and Charis,
then Hermes and Hestia. In the centre was Eros receiving Aphro-
dite as she rises from the sea, and Peitho crowning Aphrodite ; then
Apollo and Artemis, next Athene and Hercules, then Poseidon and
Amphitrite, and lastly the Moon (Selene) riding away. The deities
are thus grouped in pairs of male and female, those of greater impor-
ted ce beJn^ toward either end of the composition.
ZEUS, OR JUPITER.
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
URANUS
Is a perBOniSoation of the ekj as the ancients saw and uadeiv
stood its phenomena, and with him, according to the version
of mytholc^y usually accepted by the Greeks, commences
the race of gods. Next succeeded Cronus, and lastly, Zeus
(Jupiter). With regard to this triple succession of supreme
rulers of the world, we should notice the different and pro-
gressive signification of their three names, Uranus signifying
the heavens viewed as husband of the earth, and by his
warmth and moisture producing life and vegetation every-
where on it; Cronus, his successor, being the god of harvest,
who also ripened and matured every form of life; while in
the person of Zeus (Jupiter), god of the light of heaveu, as
his name implies, enlmtnated the organization and perfectly
wise and just dispeu^tion of the affairs of the universe.
Uranus, as we have already observed, was a son of Q-aea
(the earth), whom be afterward married, the fruit of that
26 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
union being the Titans, the Hecatoncheires, and the
Cyclopes.
The Hecatoncheires, or Centimani, beings each with a hun-
dred hands, were three in number : Gottus, Gy^es or Gyes,
and Briareus, and represented the frightful crashing of waves
and its resemblance to the convulsion of earthquakes. The
Cyclopes also were three in number : Brontes with his thun-
der, Steropes with his lightning, and Ar^es with his stream
of light. They were represented as having only one eye,
which was placed at the juncture between nose and brow.
It was, however, a large flashing eye, as became beings who
were personfications of the storm-cloud, with its flashes of
destructive lightning and peals of thunder. From a similar-
ity observed between the phenomena of storms and those of
volcanic eruptions, it was usually supposed that the Cyclopes
lived in the heart of burning mountains, above all, in Mount
Aetna, in Sicily, where they acted as apprentices of He-
phaestus (Vulcan), assisting him to make thunderbolts for
Zeus, and in other works. Uranus, it was said, alarmed at
their promise of fierceness and strength, had cast the Heca-
toncheires and Cyclopes at their birth back into the womb of
the earth from which they had sprung.
The Titans were, like the Olympian deities, twelve in num-
ber, and grouped for the most part in pairs : Oceanus and
Tethys, Hyperion and Thia, Crius and Burybia, Goeus
and Phoebe, Cronus and Rhea, Japetus and Themis.
Instead of Eurybia we find frequently Mnemosyne. Their
names, though not in every case quite intelligible, show that
they were personifications of those primary elements and
forces of nature to the operations of which, in the first ages,
the present configuration of the earth was supposed to be due.
While Themis, Mnemosyne, and Japetus may be singled out
as personifications of a civilizing force in the nature of things,
and as conspicuous for having offspring endowed with the
same character, the other Titans appear to represent wild,
powerful, and obstructive forces. In keeping with this
CRONUS. 27
character we find them rising in rebellion first against their
father and afterward against Zeus.
In the former experiment the result was that Uraniis, as
we learn from the poetic account of the myth, threw them
into Tartarus, where he kept them bound. But Gaea, his
wife, grieving at the hard fate of her offspring, provided the
youngest son, Cronus, with a sickle or curved knife, which
she had made of stubborn adamant, and told him how and
when to wound his father with it irremediably. The enter-
prise succeeded, the Titans were set free, married their
sisters, and begat a numerous family of divine beings, while
others of the same class sprang from the blood of the wound
of Uranns as it fell to the ground. Of these were the
Giants, monsters with legs formed of serpents; the Melian
nymphs, or nymphs of the oaks, from which the shafts used
in war were fashioned; and the Brinys, or Puriae, as the
Komans called them — Tisiphone, Me^aera, and Alecto —
'creatures whose function it was originally to avenge the shed-
ding of a parentis blood. Their form was that of women,
with hair of snakes and girdles of vipers. They were a
terror to criminals, whom they pursued with unrelenting
fury.
The whole of these divine beings, however, with the excep-
tion of the Brinys, who were worshipped at Athens under
the name of the ** venerable deities," were excluded from
the religion of the Greeks, and had a place only in the my-
thology, while among the Komans they were unknown till
later times, and even then were only introduced as poetic
fictions, with no hold upon the religious belief of the people.
CKONUS,
"The ripener, the harvest god,'' was, as we have already
remarked, a son of Uranus. That he continued for a long
time to be identified with the Roman deity, Satumus, is a
mistake which recent research has set right, and ^^Q.Q.Tivw^^
28 DEITIES OF TBE HIGHEST ORDER.
we shall devote a separate chapter to each. Uranus, deposed
from the throne of the gods, was succeeded by Cronus, who
married his own sister Rhea, a daughter of G-aea, who bore
him Pluto, Poseidon (Neptune), and Zeus (Jupiter), Hestia
(Vesta), Demeter (Ceres), and Hera (Juno). To prevent
the fulfilment of a prophecy which had been communicated
to him by his parents, that, like his father, he too would be
dethroned by his youngest son, Cronus swallowed his first
five children apparently an each came into the world. But
when the sixth child appeared, Rhea, his wife, determined to
save it, and succeeded in duping her husband by giving him
a stone (perhaps rudely hewn into the figure of an infant)
wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed, believing
he had got rid of another danger.
CBONUS. 29
Wbile the huabaod was being deceived in this fosliioD,
Zeus, the newly born child, was coDveyed to the island of
Crete, and there concealed in a cave on Mount Ida. The
nymphs Adrastea and Ida tended and nursed him, the goat
Amalthea supplied him with milk, bees gathered honey for
him, and in the meantime, lest his Infantile cries should reach
the ears of Cronus, Rhea's servants, the Coretes, were ap-
pointed to keep up a continual noise and din in the neighbor-
hood by dancing and clashing their swords and shields.
Tbe Ciu«t«e guartlDR Zeoi.
When Zeos had grown to manhood he succeeded by the
aid of Gaea, or perhaps of Metis, in persuading Cronus to
yield back into the light the sons whom he had swallowed
and the stone which had been given him in deceit. The
stone was placed at Delphi as a memorial for all time. The
liberated gods joined their brethren in a league to drive their
father from the throne and set Zeus in his place. This was
done; but the change of government, t "
30 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
by the principal deities, was not to be brooked hy the Titans,
who with the exception of Oceanus proceeded to war. The
seat of war was Thessaly, with its wild natural features sug-
gestive of a conflict in which huge rocks had been torn from
mountain sides and shattered by the violence with which they
had been thrown in combat. The party of Zeus had its posi-
tion on Mount Olympus, the Titans on Mount Othrys. The
struggle lasted many years, all the might which the Olym-
pians could bring to bear being useless until, on the advice
of Gaea, Zeus set free the Cyclopes and Hecatoncheires, of
whom the former fashioned thunderbolts for him, while the
latter advanced on his side with force equal to the shock of
an earthquake. The earth trembled down to the lowest
Tartarus as Zeus now appeared with his terrible weapon and
new allies. Old Chaos thought his hour had come, as from
a continuous blaze of thunderbolts the earth took fire and
the waters seethed in the sea. The rebels were partly slain
or consumed, and partly hurled into deep chasms, with rocks
and hills reeling after them, and consigning them to a life
beneath the surface of the earth. The cause of Cronus was
thus lost forever, and the right of Zeus to rule established
for all time.
The island of Crete, where civilization appears to have
dawned earlier than elsewhere in Greece, and where the story
of the secret up-bringing of Zeus was made the most of, was
the principal centre of the worship of Cronus. Here, how-
ever, and in Attica, as well as in several other districts of
Greece, it was less as the grim god who had devoured his
children that he was worshipped than as the maturer and
ripener, the god of the harvest, who sends riches and bless-
ings, prosperity and gladness. So it happened that his
festivals in Greece, the Cronia, and the corresponding Sat-
urnalia in Italy, were of that class which imposed no re-
straint on the mirth and pleasure of those present, and
seemed like a reminiscence of an age when under the rule of
Cronus there had been a perpetual harvest time on earth.
8ATUBNU8. 31
As the devourer of his children Cronus bears some resem-
blance to the Phoenician Moloch, and it is highly probable
that this phase of his character originated in Crete, where
the influence of Phoenician settlers had been felt from very
remote times. It is also to be noted that his wife Rhea
enjoyed a very early and widespread worship in Asia Minor.
The scene where Rhea presents the stone carefully wrapped up to
her husband as he sits on his throne, was the subject of a sculpture
executed for Plataea by Praxiteles (Pausanias ix. 2, 7), from which it
is possible that the relief may have been made which is represented in
our illustration, and is now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. The
thoughtful attitude of Cronus, and especially the veiled head, seem
to indicate a plotting mind, while the sickle in his left hand is em-
blematical of his function as god of the harvest, and at the same time
a memorial of the deed he wrought upon his father Uranus. The
war with the Titans (Titanomachia) was superseded in popular esti-
mation as early as the time of Euripides by the Gigantomachia, or
war of Giants, which will be described in connection with Zeus.
Artists following the popular taste neglected the former altogether as
a source of subjects.
SATURNUS,
According to the popular belief of the Romans, made his
first appearance in Italy at a time when Janus was reigning
king of the fertile region that stretches along the banks of the
Tiber on either side. Presenting himself to Janus, and being
kindly received, he proceeded to instruct the subjects of the
latter in agriculture, gardening, and many other arts then
quite unknown to them : as, for example, how to train and
nurse the vine, and how to tend and cultivate fruit-trees.
By such means he at length raised the people from a rude
and comparatively barbarous condition to one of order and
peaceful occupations, in consequence of which he was every-
where held in high esteem, and in course of time was selected
by Janus to share with him the government of the kingdom,
which thereupon assumed the name of Satiirnia, ^^ a land
of seed and fruit. '* The period of Saturn' a ^o\^tVL\fiL<e«L\.
32 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
was in later times sung of by poets as a happy time when
sorrows aad cares of life were unkDown, when ionocence,
freedom, and gladness reigned throughout the land, in such
a degree as to deserve the title of the golden age. Greek
mythology also has its
golden age, said to have
occurred duringthe reign
of Cronua, and this,
perhaps, more than any
other circumstance, led
to the identification of
Saturnus and Cronus,
in spite of the real dif-
ference between the two
deities. The name of
Saturn's wife was Ops.
Once a year, in the
month of December, the
Romans held a festival
called Saturnalia in
bis honor. It lasted from
five to seven days, and
was accompanied by
amusements of all kinds.
During those days the or-
dinary distinctions were
done away with between
master and servant or
slave. No assemblies
Z^j^ were held to discuss pub-
^;;^^;^ lie affairs, and no pun-
ishments for crime were
inflicted. Servants or slaves went about dressed like their
masters, and received from them costly presents. Children
received from their parents or relatives presents of pictures,
probably of a gaudy type, purchased in the street where the
BHEA, 83
picture dealers lived. Mommsen has shown that even during
the Empire the Saturnalia proper was a single day, Decem-
ber 19th. It was the great holiday of the Roman year, not
unlike our Christmas, and people greeted each other with the
words ^^ bona Saturnalia.^' Lucian tells us that the receiver
of a book at that time was in honor bound to read it, no
matter how long or uninteresting it might be.
There was a temple of Saturn in Rome, at the foot of the
Capitoline Hill, containing a figure of liim with his feet
wrapped round with pieces of woollen cloth, which could only
be removed during the festival of the Saturnalia. In one
hand he held a curved garden-knife, as a sign of his having
been the first to teach the people how to trim the vine and
olive. In this temple were preserved the state chest and the
standards of the army.
RHEA.
As Uranus, the representative of the fertilizing force in
nature, was superseded by Cronus, the representative of a
ripening force, so Gaea, the primitive goddess of the earth
with its productive plains, gave way to Rhea, a goddess of
the earth with its mountains and forests. Gaea had been
the mother of the powerful Titans. Rhea was the mother
of gods less given to feats of strength, but more highly gifted:
Pluto, Poseidon (Neptune), and Zeus (Jupiter), Hera (Juno),
Demeter (Ceres), and Hestia (Vesta). Her titles — as, for
example, Dindymene and Bereoynthia — were derived for
the most part from the names of mountains in Asia Minor,
particularly those of Phrygia and Lydia, her worship having
been intimately associated with the early civilization of these
countries. There her name was Oybele or Cybebe, which
also, from its being employed to designate her sanctuaries
(Cybela) in caves or mountain sides, points to her character as
a mountain goddess.
The lofty hills of Asia Minor, while sheltering on tlvev^
3
34 DEITIES OF TBE HIGHEST ORDER.
cavernous aides wild animala, such as the panther and lion,
which it was her delight to tame, also looked down on many
flourishing cities which it was her duty to protect. Id this
latter capacity she wore a mural
crown, and was styled Mater tur-
rita. But though herself identified
with peaceful civilization, her wor-
ship was always distinguished by
wild and fantastic excitement, her
priests and devotees rushing through
the woods at night with torches
burning, maiming and wounding
each other, and producing all the
din that was possible from the
clashing of cymbals, the shrill notes
of pipes, and the frantio voice of
song. To account for this peculiarity
of her worship, which must have
' been intended to commemorate some
great sorrow, the story was told of
how she had loved the young Phrygian shepherd, Attis,
whose extraordinary beanty had also won the heart of the
king's daughter of Fessinus; how he was destined to marry
the princess, and how the goddess, suddenly appearing,
spread terror and consternation among the marriage guests.
Attis escaped to the mountains, maimed himself, and died
beside a pine tree, into which his soul transmigrated, while
from his blood sprang violets like a wreath round the tree.
The goddess implored Zeus to restore her lover. This could
not be. But so much was granted that his body should
never decay, that his hair should always grow, and that his
little finger should always move. The pine was a symbol
of winter and sadness, the violet of spring and its hopeful
beauty.
The first priests of Ehea-Cybele were the Curetes and
Corybantes, for whom it was also claim-id that they bad been
RHEA. 35
the first beings of mere human form and capacity that had
appeared on the earth, having sprung from the mountain side
like trecB. The great centre of her worship was always at
Fessinus in Phrygia, under the shadow of Mount Diudymon,
OD which was a cave containing what was believed to \k the
oldest of her sanctuaries. Within this sanctuary was the
tomb of Attis, and an ancient im^e of the goddess in the
shape of a atone, which was said to have fallen from heaven.
The first temple at Fessinus had been erected, it was said,
by King Midas. Successive rulers of Phrygia maintained
and endowed it so liberally that it continued to be a place
of importance long after Fhrygian civilization had sunk.
Spreading from this centre, the worship of Cybele took hold
first in the neighboring towns of Sardis, Mt^neeia, Smyrna,
Ephesus, Lampsacus, and Cyzicus; thence to Athens, and in
later limes to the moun-
tainous district of Arca-
dia, where it was locally
believed that Zeus had
been bom and that the
creation of mankind had
taken place. The worship
of Cybelo was introduced
into E.omc during the
second Punic war, because
the Sibylline fates had an- ^^■
nounced that if her image was brought to Rome a foe would
be expelled ; this was done in the shape of the small black
stone, mentioned above, which was placed in the Temple of
Victory. The M^alegia began on April 4th and lasted six
days.
In &Tt Rhea appears as the goddess of motmtaia tops, riding on a
lioQ, &nd holding a aceptre in one hand and a cymbal in the other ;
beside her the moon and a star. At other times she is seated on a
throne with a lion in her lap, or with a lion at each side, or in a
chariot drawn by liona or panthers.
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDEB.
ZEUS, OR JUPITER.
Third and last on the throne of the highest god sat ZeuB.
The fertile imaginatioa of early times had, as we have seen,
placed his abode on Mount Olympus in Thessaly, But a
later and more practical age usually conceived him as inhab-
iting a region above the sky, where the source of all light was
supposed to be. He was god of the broad light of day, as
ZauB, or Jupiler,
his name imi)Iios, had control of all the phenomena of the
heavens, and accordingly sudden changes of weather, the
gathering of clouds, and, more than all, the burst of a thun-
der-storm made his presence felt as a supernatural being
interested in the affairs of mankind. Hence such titles as
"cloud-gatherer," "god of the murky cloud," " thun-
derer," and " mighty thunderer," were those by which he
was most frequently invoked. On the other hand, the seren-
ity and boundless extent of the sky, over which he ruledj
ZEUS. OB JUPITER. 37
combined with the nevcr-failiog recurrence of day, led him
lo be regarded as an everlasting god : "Zeus who was and is
and shall be." To indicate this feature of his character he
was styled Cronides or Cronion, a title whicli, though appar-
ently derived from hie
father Cronus, must
have assumed even at
a very early time a
special significance;
otherwise we should
expect to find it ap-
plied also to his
two brothers, Posei-
don (Neptune) and
Hades (Pluto).
The eagle soaring t
beyond vision seemed /
to benefit by its ap- >
proach to Zeus, and
came to be looked
on as sacred to him.
Similarly high moun-
tain peaks derived a
sanctity from their
nearness to the region
of light, and were
everywhere in Greece
associated with his
worship, many of them
furnishing titles by
which he was locally
known — as, f lyr in-
stance, AetnseuB, a title derived from Mount Aetna in
Sicily, or AtabyrluB, from a mountain in Rhodes. Altars
to him and even t«mples were erected on hill tops, to reach
which ly long toiling, and then to see the «aTO[i ?i^x«;a&. waJi.
38 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
small beneath, was perhaps the best preparation for ap-
proaching him in a proper spirit. In contrast with this, and
as testimony to the saying of Hesiod that Zeus Cronides
lived not only in the pure air but also at the roots of the
earth and in men, we find the low ground of Dodona in
Epirus viewed with peculiar solemnity as a spot where
direct communion was to be enjoyed with him. A wind
was heard to rustle in the branches of a sacred oak when
the god had any communication to make, the task of in-
terpreting it devolving on a priesthood called Selli. A
spring rose at the foot of the oak, and sacred pigeons
rested among its leaves, the story being that they had first
drawn attention to the oracular powers of the tree. It
should here be noted that the real importance of this worship
of Zeus at Dodona belonged to exceedingly early times, and
that in the primitive religion of the Italian, German, and
Celtic nations the oak was regarded with similar reverence.
As the highest god, and throughout Greece worshipped as
such, he was styled the father of gods and men, the ruler and
preserver of the world. He was believed to be possessed of
every form of power, endued with wisdom, and in his domin-
ion over the human race partial to justice, and with no limit
to his goodness and love. Zeus orders the alternation of day
and night, the seasons succeed at his command, the winds
obey him ; now he gathers, now scatters the clouds, and bids
the gentle rain fall to fertilize the fields and meadows. He
watches over the administration of law and justice in the
slate, lends majesty to kings, and protects them in the exer-
cise of their sovereignty. He observes attentively the gene-
ral intercourse and dealings of men — everywhere demand-
ing and rewarding uprightness, truth, faithfulness, and
kindness; everywhere punishing wrong, falseness, faithless-
ness, and cruelty. As the eternal father of men, he was
believed to be kindly at the call of the poorest and most
forsaken. The homeless beggar looked to him as a merciful
guardian who punished the heartless, and delighted to reward
ZEUS, OR JUPITER. 39
pity and sympathy. To illustrate his rule on earth we would
here give a familiar story:
Philemon and Baucis^ an aged couple of the poorer class,
were living peacefully and full of piety toward the gods in
their cottage in Phrygia, when Zeus, who often visited the
earth, disguised, to inquire into the behavior of men, paid a
visit, in passing through Phrygia on such a journey, to these
poor old people, and was received by them very kindly as a
weary traveller, which he pretended to be. Bidding him
welcome to the house, they set about preparing for their
guest, who was accompanied by Hermes (Mercury), as excel-
lent a meal as they could afford, and for this purpose were
about to kill the only goose they had left, when 2ieus inter-
fered; for he was touched by their kindliness and genuine
piety, and that all the more because he had observed among
the other inhabitants of the district nothing but cruelty of
disposition and a habit of reproaching and despising the gods.
To punish this conduct he determined to visit the country
with a destroying flood, but to save Philemon and Baucis,
the good aged couple, and to reward them in a striking man-
ner. To this end he revealed himself to them before opening
the gates of the great flood, transformed their poor cottage
on the hill into a splendid temple, installed the aged pair as
his priest and priestess, and granted their prayer that they
might both die together. When after many years death
overtook them they were changed into two trees, that grew
side by side in the neighborhood — an oak and a linden.
While in adventures of this kind the highest god of the
Greeks appears on the whole in a character worthy of admi-
ration, it will be seen that many other narratives represent
him as laboring under human weaknesses and error. The
first wife of Zeus was Metis (Cleverness), a daughter of the
friendly Titan Oceanus. But as Pate, a dark and omnis-
cient being, had predicted that Metis would bear Zeus a son
who should surpass his father in power, Zeus followed in a
mianner the example of his father Cronus, by swallowing
40 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
Metis before she was delivered of her child^ and then from
his own head gave birth to the goddess of wisdom, Pallas
Athene (Minerva). Next he married, it is said, but only
for a time, Themis (Justice), and became the father of
Astraea and the Horae. His chief love was, however,
always for Hera (Juno), with her many charms, who, after
withstanding his entreaties for a time, at length gave way,
and the divine marriage took place amid great rejoicing, not
on the part of tlie gods of heaven alone, for those other dei-
ties also, to whom the management of the world had been in
various departments delegated, had been invited, and went
gladly to the splendid ceremony.
Hera became the mother of Hebe, Ares (Mars), and Heph-
aestus (Vulcan). Zeus did not, however, remain constant and
true to the marriage with his sister, but secretly indulged a
passion for other goddesses, and often, under the disguise of
various forms and shapes, approached even the daughters of
men. Hera gave way to indignation when she found out
such doings. From secret intercourse of this kind Demeter
(Ceres) bore him Persephone (Proserpina); Leto (Latona) be-
came the mother of Apollo and Artemis (Diana); Dione, the
mother of Aphrodite (Venus); Mnemosyne, of the Muses;
Burynome, of the Charites (Graces); Semele, of DionysuB
(Bacchus); Maia, of Hermes (Mercury); Alcmene, of Her-
cules ; several of the demigods, of whom we shall afterward
speak, being sons of Zeus by other and different mothers.
These numerous love passages of Zeus (and other gods as
well), related by ancient poets, appear to us, as it is known
they appeared to the right-thinking men amongst the ancients
themselves, unbecoming of the great ruler of the universe.
The wonder is how such stories came into existence; unless,
indeed, this be accepted as a satisfactory explanation of their
origin — that they are simply the different versions of one
groat myth of the marriage of Zeus, peculiar in early times
to the different districts of Greece, each version representing
him as having but one wife, and being constant to her. Her
HERA, OR JUNO.
ZEVS, OR JUPITER.
41
name aud tbe stories connected with their married life would
be more or less different in each case. In after time, when
the varioua tribes of the Greeks became united into oue peo-
ple, and the various myths that had sprung up independently
^^
„^ /I
ii^hj Jfe»^
f^m^r^
^m
/A/P'^\
^s
-T^^3^^'^^^V^"/C#IIilF^
¥ uH
Klml'^^^i'l
l)|
a
^x
lii
1
t
Sm
1
1
^^^^^
Tbe Hacrlage of Zeus ftLd Hera.
concerning Zeus came, through the influence of poets and by
other means, to be known to the wliole nation, we may imag-
ine that tlie only way that presented itself of uniting them
all into one consistent narrative was by degrading all the
wives, except Hera, to the position of temporaCY asR^w^.V
42 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
ances. It is, however, unfortunate that we cannot now trace
every one of his acquaintances of this sort back to a primi-
tive position of sufficiently great local importance. At the
same time, enough is known to justify this principle of inter-
pretation, not only with regard to the apparent improprieties
in the conduct of Zeus, but also of the other deities wherever
they occur. Properly Zeus could have but one wife, such
being the limit of marriage among the Greeks.
Of the several localities in Greece where the worship of
Zeus was conducted with unusual ceremony and devotion, the
two most deserving of attention are Athens and Olympia.
In Athens the change of season acting on the temperament
of the people seemed to produce a change in their feelings
toward the god. For from early spring and throughout the
summer they called him the friendly god (Zeus Meilichius),
offered public sacrifices at his altars, and on three occasions
held high festival in his honor. But as the approach of
winter made itself felt, thoughts of his anger returned, he
was called the cruel god (Zeus Maemaotes), and an endeavor
was made to propitiate him by a festival called Maemacteria.
At Olympia, in Elis, a festival, which from an early period
had assumed national importance, was held in his honor in
the month of July (Hecatombaeon) every fifth year — that
is, after the lapse of four clear years. It lasted at least five
and perhaps seven days, commencing with sacrifice at the
great altar of Zeus, in which the deputies from the various
states, with their splendid retinues, took part. This cere-
mony over, a series of competitions took place in foot-racing,
leai)ing from a raised platform with weights (halterea) in the
hands to give impetus, throwing the disk (a circular plate of
metal or stone weighing about eight pounds), boxing with
leather thongs twisted around the arm and sometimes with
metal rings in the hands, horse-racing, chariot-racing with
two or four horses, and lastly, a competition of musicians and
poets. The lists were open to all free-born Greeks, except
such as had been convicted of crime, or such as had entailed
ZEUS, OB JUPITER, 43
in former contests the penalty of a fine and had refused to
pay it. Intending competitors were required to give sureties
that they had gone through a proper course of trainings and
that they would abide by the decision of the judges. Slaves
and foreigners might look on^ but the presence of married
women was forbidden. The entire management of the fes-
tival was in the hands of a board elected from their own
number by the people of Elis. The plain of Olympia, where
this national meeting in honor of Zeus was held^ is now a
waste; but some idea may still be gathered from the descrip-
tion of Pausanias of its magnificent temple and vast number
of statues that studded the sacred grove. Within the temple
was a statue of the god, in gold and ivory, the work of Phi-
dias, the most renowned of ancient sculptors. It was forty
feet in height, and for its beauty and grandeur was reckoned
one of the Seven Wonders* of the ancient world.
As some would have it, these games had been established
by Zeus himself to commemorate his victory over the Titans,
and even the gods in early times are said to have taken part
in the contests. The people of Elis maintained that the fes-
tival had been founded by Pelops, while others ascribed that
honor to Hercules. The usual method of reckonins: time
was by the interval between these festivals, one Olympiad
being equal to four years. The first festival from which the
reckoning started, as ours does from the birth of Christ,
occurred in the year 776 B. C.
The birth and early life of Zeus, up to the period, when,
after a long and fierce war around Olympus, he defeated the
Titans and established his right to reign in the place of his
• The seven wonders of the ancient world were (1 ) The Pyramids of Egypt ; (2) The
Walls of Babylon ; (3) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon ; (4) The Temple of Diana at
Ephesus; (5) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia; (6) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus;
(7) The Colossus at Rhodes ; all monuments of art of extraordinary beauty or stupen-
dous dimensions. In statues of gold and ivory, such as that of Zeus at Olympia, and
many others, the fieuie and nude parts of the body were made of ivory, while the hair
and drapery were reproduced in gold, richly worked in parts with enamel. We ob-
tain an idea of the expense of such splendid statues, from the statement that a single
lock of the hair of Zeus at Olympia cost about $1250.
44 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
father Cronus, has already been related. That his two broth-
ers, to whose assistance he had been greatly indebted during
the war, might have a share in the management of the world,
lots were cast; and to Poseidon (Neptune) fell the control of
the seas and rivers, while Hades (Pluto) obtained the govern-
ment of the world under the earth. Opposition, however,
on the part of the kindred of Cronus had not yet ceased, and
the new dynasty of gods had to encounter a fresh outbreak
of war even more terrible than had been that of the Titans,
the enemy being in this case the Q-iants, a race of beings
sprung from the blood of Uranus. The Giants took up their
position on the peninsula of Pallene, which is separated from
Mount Olympus by a bay. Their king and leader was Por-
phyrion, their most powerful combatant Alcyoneus, against
whom Zeus and Athene took up arms in vain. Their mother
Earth had made the Giants proof against all the weapons of
the gods — not, however, against the weapons of mortals; and
knowing this Athene brought Hercules on the scene. Sun
and moon ceased to shine at the command of Zeus, and the
herb was cut down which had furnished the Giants with a
charm against wounds. The huge Alcyoneus, who had hurled
great rocks at the Olympians, fell by the arrows of Hercules;
and Porphyrion, while in the act of seizing Hera, was over-
powered. Of the others, Pallas and Enceladus were slain
by Athene, the boisterous Polybotes fled, but on reaching
the island of Cos was overtaken by a rock hurled at him by
Poseidon (Neptune) and buried under it, while Ephialtes
had to yield to Apollo, Rhoetus to Dionysus, and Olytius to
Hecate or Hephaestus (Vulcan). To the popular mind this
war with the Giants had a greater interest than the Titano-
machia. Ultimately the two were confounded with each
other.
These wars over, there succeeded a period which was called
the Silver Age on earth. Men were rich then, as in the
Golden Age under the rule of Cronus, and lived in plenty;
but still they wanted the innocence and contentment which
ZEUS, on JUPITER. 46
were the true sources of haman happiness in tlie former ^e;
and, accordingly, while living in luxury and delicacy, they
became overbearing in their manners to the highest degree,
were never satistied, and forgot the gods, to whom, in their
confidence of prosperity and comfort, they denied the rev-
erence they owed. To punish them, and as a warning against
Buch habits, Zeus swept them away and concealed them under
]f the Temple of Zeui Id Olrmida.
the earth, where they continued to live as demons or spirits,
not so powerful as the spirits of the men of the Golden Age,
but yet respected hy those who came after them.
Then followed the Bronae Agre, a period of constant quar-
relling and deeds of violence. Instead of cultivated lands
and a life of peaceful occupations and orderly habits, there
came a day when everywhere might was right; and men, big
and powerful as they were, became physically worn out, and
46 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
sank into the lower world without leaving a trace of their
having existed, and without a claim to a future spiritual life.
Finally came the Iron Agre, in which enfeebled mankind
had to toil for bread with their hands, and, beat on gain,
did their best to overreach each other. Dike or Aatraea,
the goddess of justice and good faith, modesty, and truth,
turned her back on such scenes, and retired to Olympus,
while Zeus determined to destroy the human race by a great
ZEUS, OB JUPITER. 47
flood. The whole of Greece lay under water, and none but
Deucalion and his wife Psnrrha were saved. Leaving the
summit of Parnassus, where they had escaped the flood, they
were commanded by the gods to become the founders of a
new race of men — that is, the present race. To this end, it
is said, they cast around them, as they advanced, stones, which
presently assumed the forms of men, who, when the flood had
quite disappeared, commenced to cultivate the land again,
and spread themselves in all directions; but being little better
than the race that had been destroyed, they, too, often drew
down the displeasure of Zeus and suffered at his hands.
Among the Romans Jupiter held a place of honor corre-
sponding in some degree to that held by Zeus among the
Greeks. His favorite title was Optimus Maximus. His
name being of the same derivation as that of Zeus, indicates
his function as god of the broad light of day and armed with
the weapon of lightning. Temples and altars were erected
for the purpose of his worship, statues were raised, and public
festivals held in his honor. As to sacrifice, both he and Zeus
delighted most in bulls. To both the eagle, the oak, and
the olive were sacred.
The growth of religious feeling precedes the development of artistic
faculty in man, and accordingly we find that in the earliest ages the
presence of a god was symbolized only by some natural object. In the
case of Zeus this was an oak-tree, while in the case of Bhea-Cybele
it was, as we have seen, a stone which was believed to have fallen
from heaven. The first artistic efforts to reproduce the image of a
god were called zoana, and consisted of a pillar rudely shaped like
a human figure seen at a distance, the artist's attention being mostly
directed to the head. Of this kind was the figure of Zeus Labran-
deus as represented on the coins of Caria, the figure of Zeus with
three eyes at Argos, and the figure of him without ears at Crete.
Piety caused those rude and strange images to be retained till long
after the art of sculpture had become equal to the production of im-
posing figures. The gold and ivory statue of Zeus at Olympia, of
which mention has already been made, represented him seated on his
throne, and some small idea may still be gained of it from what is
no doubt a copy of it on the coins of Elis. The bust known as the
Zeus of Otricoli is perhaps the best existing example of the face ot
48 DEITIES OF THE BIOHEST ORDER.
Zeua as conceived by the Greek sculptors. The attribates of Zeua
are the eagle, a eceptre, a tbunderbolt, and, Id the case of an ancient
image in Caria, an axe. He is represented sometimes with Heia by
bin side, aometimes with Athene, or with both, or with Athene and
Hercules. When be leaves his throne it is generally to riae in might
against an enemy such aa the Giants, and in these cases be b always
armed with the thunderbolt, and either stands in the act of hurling
it, or drives in a chariot attended by other gods, as he is frequently
to be seen on the ancient painted rases. Another favorite subject on
these vases is the birth of Athene from the bead of Zeus. In works
of art no distinction is made between Zeua and Jupiter, for this
reason, that Rome had no distinctive sculpture of its own.
HERA, OR JUNO,
Was a divine personification of what may be called the female
povcer of the heavens — that is, the atmosphere, with its fickle
and yet fertilizing properties; while
Sieus represented those properties of
the heavens that appeared to be of a
male order. To their marriage were
traced all the blessings of nature,
and when they met, as on Mount
Ida, in a golden cloud, sweet fra-
grant flowers sprangup around them.
A tree with golden apples grew up
) at their marriage feast, and streams
of ambrosia flowed past their couch
in the happy island of the west.
That marriage ceremony took place,
it was believed, in spriug, and to
keep lip a recollection of it, an an-
nual festival was held at that season
in her honor. Like the sudden and
Molent storms, however, which in
Hem orjano certain scasons break the peaceful-
ness of the sky of Greece, (he meetings of this divine pair
often resulted in temporary quarrels and wrai^ling, the
HERA, OB JUNO. 49
blame of which was usually traced to Hera; poets, and most
of all Homer, in the Iliad, describing her as frequently jeal-
ous, angry, and quarrelsome, her character as lofty and proud,
cold, and not free from bitterness. Of these scenes of discord
we have several instances, as when (Iliad i. 586) Zeus actu-
ally beat her, and threw her son Hephaestus (Vulcan) out of
Olympus; or (Iliad xv. 18) when, vexed at her plotting
against Hercules, he hung her out of Olympus with two
great weights (earth and sea) attached to her feet, and her
arms bound by golden fetters — an illustration of how all the
phenomena of the visible sky were thought to hang dependent
on the highest god of heaven; or again (Iliad i. 396) when
Hera, with Poseidon (Neptune) and Athene, attempted to
chain down Zeus, and would have succeeded had not Thetis
brought to his aid the sea giant Aegaeon. As goddess of
storms, Hera was consistently described as the mother of
Ares (Mars), herself taking part in war occasionally, as
against the Trojans, and enjoying the honor of festivals,
accompanied by warlike contests, as at Argos, where the prize
was a sacred shield.
Her favorite companions, in periods of peace, were the
Charites (Graces) and the Horae (Seasons), of which the
latter are also found in company of her husband. Her con-
stant attendant was Iris, goddess of the rainbow. The pea-
cock, in its pride and gorgeous array, and the cuckoo as herald
of the spring, were sacred to her. In the spring-time occurred
her principal festival, at which the ceremony consisted of an
imitation of a wedding, a figure of the goddess being decked
out in bridal attire, and placed on a couch of willow branches,
while wreaths and garlands of flowers were scattered about,
because she loved them. Another singular festival was held
in her honor every fifth year at Olympia in Elis, the cere-
mony consisting in the presentation of a splendidly embroid-
ered mantle (pepliLs) to the goddess, and races in which only
girls and unmarried women took part, running with their
4
50 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST OBDEB.
hair streamiDg down, and wearing short dresses — ^the judges
on the occasion being sixteen married women.
The character, however, in which Hera was most generally
viewed was that of queen of heaven, and as the faithful wife
of Zeus claiming the highest conceivable respect and honor.
Herself the ideal of womanly virtues, she made it a principal
duty to protect them among mortals, punishing with severity
all trespassers against her moral law — but, naturally, none
so much as those who had been objects of her husband's
affections — ^as, for instance, Semele, the mother of Dionysus,
or Alcmene, the mother of Hercules. Her worship was
restricted for the most part to women, who, according to the
various stages of womanhood, regarded her in a different
light : some as a bride, styling her Pa.rthenia ; others as a
wife, with the title of Qamelia, Zygria, or Teleia ; and others
again in the character of Ilith3ria, as helpful at childbirth.
Of these phases of her life that of bride was obviously asso-
ciable with the phenomena of the heavens in spring-time,
when the return of dazzling light and warmth spread every-
where affectionate gaiety and the blooming of new life. As
queen of heaven and wife of Zeus she will be found, in con-
nection with the legends of Argos and its neighborhood, pos-
sessed, from motives of jealousy, of a hatred toward the
nocturnal phenomena of the sky, and especially the moon,
as personified by the wandering lo, whom she placed under
the surveillance of Argus, a being with innumerable eyes,
and apparently a personification of the starry system.
The town of Argos, with its ancient legends, which clearly
betray some powerful sensitiveness to the phenomena of light,
was the oldest and always the chief centre of this worship of
Hera. There was her principal temple, and within it a statue
of the goddess by Polyclitus, which almost rivalled in gran-
deur and beauty the Zeus at Olympia, by Phidias. Next
came Samos, with its splendid temple erected for her by
Polycrates. In Corinth also, in Euboea, Boeotia, Crete, and
even in Lacinium,in Italy, she had temples and devotees.
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE. 61
Juno, the Roman equivalent of Hera, was mostly regarded
from the maternal poiiit of view, and in accordance with that
frequently styled Lucina, the helper at childbirth. Temples
were erected and festivals held in her honor — of the festivals
that called Matronalia being the chief. It was held on
March 1 of each year, and could only be participated in by
women, who went with girdles loose, and on the occasion
received presents from husbands, lovers, or friends, making
presents in turn to their servants. The spirits that guarded
over women were called in early times Junones.
The image of Hera is said to have consisted at first of a long pillar,
as in Argos, and in Samos of a plank, and to have assumed a human
form only in comparatively late times. The statue of her by Poly-
clitus, mentioned above, was of gold and ivory and of colossal size.
It represented her seated on a throne, holding in one hand a pome-
granate, the symbol of marriage, and in the other a sceptre on which
sat a cuckoo. On her head was a crown ornamented with figures of
the Charites (Graces) and Horae. We can still in some measure
recall the appearance of the statue from the marble head known as
the Juno Ludovisi, from the coins of Argos, and from several ancient
heads in marble of great beauty. Praxiteles made a colossal statue
of her in the character of the protectress of marriage rites, and also
a group of her seated, with Athene and Hebe standing beside her.
On the painted vases the scene in which she most frequently occurs
is that where she appears before Paris to be judged of her beauty.
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE.
It has already been told how, when all resources had failed
which the Titans could bring to bear for the restoration of
Cronus to the throne, the government of the world was divided
by lot among his three sons, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades. To
Zeus fell, besides a general supremacy, the control of the
heavens; and we have seen how he and his consort Hera,
representing the phenomena of that region, were conceived
as divine persons possessed of a character and performing
actions such as were suggested by those phenomena. To
Poseidon (Neptune) fell the control of the element of water,
52 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
and he in like manner was conceived as a god^ in whose
character and actions were reflected the phenomena of that
element, whether as the broad navigable sea, or as the cloud
which gives fertility to the earth, growth to the grain and vine,
or as the fountain which refreshes man, cattle, and horses.
A suitable symbol of his power, therefore, was the horse, ad-
mirably adapted as it is both for labor and battle, whilst its
swift springing movement compares finely with the advance of
a foaming wave of the sea. ^^ He yokes to the chariot,''
sings Homer in the Iliad, ^^ his swift steeds, with feet of
brass and manes of gold, and himself clad in gold, drives
over the waves. The beasts of the sea sport around him,
leaving their lurking places, for they know him to be their
lord. The sea rejoices and makes way for him. His horses
speed lightly, and never a drop touches the brazen axle."
It may have been to illustrate a tendency of the sea to
encroach in many places on the coast, as well as to show the
importance attached to a good supply of water, that the myth
originated which tells us of the dispute between Poseidon
and Athene for the sovereignty of the soil of Attica. To
settle the dispute, it was agreed by the gods that whichever
of the two should perform the greatest wonder, and at the
same time confer the most useful gift on the land, should be
entitled to rule over it. With a stroke of his trident Posei-
don caused a brackish spring to well up on the Acropolis of
Athens, a rock 400 feet high, and previously altogether with-
out water. But Athene in her turn caused the first olive tree
to grow from the same bare rock, and since that was deemed
the greatest benefit that could be bestowed, obtained for all
time sovereignty of the land, which Poseidon thereupon
spitefully inundated.
A similar dispute, and ending also unfavorably for him,
was that which he had with Hera concerning the district of
Argos. But in this case his indignation took the opposite
course of causing a perpetual drought. Other incidents of
the same nature were his disputes with Helios for the pos-
POSEIDON, OB NEPTUNE. 53
session of Coriath, with Zeus for Aegina, with Dionysus
for Naxos, and with Apollo for Delphi. The most obvious
illustrations, however, of the encroaching tendency of the
sea are the monsters which Poseidon sent to lay waste coast
lands, such as those which Heeione and Andromeda were
offered to appease.
In the Iliad Poseidon appears only in his capacity of ruler
of the sea, inhabiting a brilliaot palace in its depths, travers-
ing its surface in a chariot, or stirring the powerful billows
till the earth shakes as they crash upon the shore. This
limitation of his functions, though possibly to be accounted
for by the nature of the poem, is remarkable for this reason,
that among the earliest myths associated with his worship
are those in which he is represented in connection with well-
watered plains and valleys. In the neighborhood of Lema,
in the parched district of Argos, he had struck the earth
with his trident, and caused three springs to well up for love
of Amymone, whom he found in distress, because she could
not obtain the water which her father Danaus had sent her
to fetch. In Thessaly a stroke of his trident had broken
54 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
through the high mountains, which formerly shut in the whole
country and caused it to be frequently flooded with water.
By that stroke he formed the pleasant vale of Tempe, through
which the water collecting from the hills might flow away.
A district well supplied with water was favorable to pasture
and the rearing of horses, and in this way the horse came to
be doubly his symbol, as god of the water of the sea and on
the land. In Arcadia, with its mountainous land and fine
streams and valleys, he was worshipped side by side with De-
meter, with whom, it was believed, he begat that winged and
wonderfully fleet horse Arion. In Boeotia, where he was
also worshipped, the mother of Arion was said to have been
Brinys, to whom he had appeared in the form of a horse.
With Medusa he became the father of the winged horse
Pegasus, which was watered at springs by Nymphs, and
appeared to poets as the symbol of poetic inspiration. And
again, as an instance of his double capacity as god of the sea
and pasture streams, the ram, with the golden fleece for which
the Argonauts sailed, was said to have' been his offspring by
Theophane, who had been changed into a lamb. Chief
among his other offspring were, on the one hand, the giant
Antaeus, who derived from his mother Earth a strength
which made him invincible, till Hercules lifting him in the
air overpowered him, and the Cyclops, Polyphemus ; on the
other hand, Pelias, who sent out the Argonauts, and Neleus,
the father of Nestor.
To return to the instances of rebellious conduct on the part
of Poseidon, it appears that after the conclusion of the war
with the Giants a disagreement arose between him and Zeus,
the result of which was that Poseidon was suspended for the
period of a year from the control of the sea, and was further
obliged during the time to serve, along with Apollo, Laome-
don the King of Troy, and to help to build the walls of that
city. Some say that the building of the walls was voluntary
on the part of both gods, and was done to test the character
of Laomedon, who afterward refused to give Poseidon the
POSEIDON, OB NEPTUNE. 5S
reward agreed upon. Angry at this, the god devastated the
land by a flood, and sent a sea monster, to appease which
Laomedon was driven to offer his daughter Hesione as a
sacrifice. Hercules, however, set the maiden free and slew
the monster. Thus defeated, Poseidon relented none of his
indignation toward the Trojans, and would have done them
much injury in after times, when they were at war with the
Greeks, but for the interference of Zeus.
Though worshipped generally throughout Greece, it was in
the seaport towns that the most remarkable zeal was displayed
to obtain his favor. Temples in his honor, sanctuaries, and
public rejoicings were to be met with in Thessaly, Boeotia,
Arcadia, at Aegae, and Helice, on the coast of Achaea, at
Pylos in Messenia, at Elis, in the island of Samos, at Cor-
inth, Nauplia, Troezen, in the islands of Calauria, Euboea,
Scyros, and Tenos, at Mycale, Taenarum, Athens, and on the
Isthmus — that belt of land which connects Peloponnesus with
the rest of Greece. In the island of Tenos an annual festival
was held in his honor, at which he was worshipped in the
character of a physician. People crowded to the festival
from neighboring islands, and spent the time in banquets,
sacrifice, and common counsel. But chief of all the gather-
ings in his honor was that held on the Isthmus of Corinth
in the autumn, twice in each Olympiad — z, festival which
had been established by Theseus, and in reputation stood
next to the Olympian games, like them also serving the pur-
pose of maintaining among the Greeks of distant regions the
consciousness of their common origin. The Corinthians had
the right of arranging and managing them, the Athenians
having also certain privileges. It was in his double capacity
of ruler of the sea and as the first to train and employ horses
that the honors of this festival were paid to him. His tem-
ple, with the other sanctuaries, stood in a pine grove, a
wreath from which was the prize awarded to the victors.
The prize had originally been a wreath of parsley. In this
sacred pine grove was to be seen the Argo, the ship of the
56 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
Argonauts, dedicated to Poseidon as a memorial of the
earliest enterprise at sea ; and there also stood the colossal
bronze statue of the god, which the Greeks raised to com-
memorate the splendid naval victory gained over the Per-
sians at Salamis. Horses and bulls were sacrificed to him,
the method of performing the sacrifice being to throw them
into the sea. It was the practice of fortunate survivors of
shipwreck to hang up some memento of their safety in one
of his temples. The Temples of Isis in particular, whom
they worship in Greece as Pelagia, were thus adorned in
Rome, even in Republican times. Horace, Vergil, and other
poets make frequent mention of hanging their wet garments,
in which they had been saved when shipwrecked, as a votive
offering, usually accompanied by a tablet with perhaps name
and date.
The Romans, living mostly as herdsmen and farmers in
early times, had little occasion to propitiate the god of the
sea, and it was probably, therefore, rather as the father of
streams that they erected a temple to Neptunus in the Cam-
pus Martins, and held a festival in his honor attended with
games, feasting, and enjoyment like that of a fair.
Between Zeus and Poseidon there is, in works of art, such likeness
as would be expected between two brothers. But Poseidon is by far
the more powerful of the two physically — his build, like that of
Hercules, expressing the greatest conceivable strength. But unlike
Hercules, his attitudes and especially his head, are those of a god,
not of an athlete. His features, one by one, resemble those of Zeus,
but his hair, instead of springing from his brow, falls in thick masses
over his temples, and is matted from the water. His attributes are a
trident and dolphin. Possibly the sacred figures of him in his tem-
ples represented him seated on a throne, and clad in the Ionian chiton.
But in the colossal statues of him erected on promontories and in
harbors, to secure his favor, he was always standing wearing only a
slight scarf, which concealed none of his powerful form, holding out
a dolphin in his left, and the trident in his right hand, often with one
foot raised on the prow of a vessel. In works of art not connected
directly with his worship he was figured traversing the sea in a car
drawn by Hippocampi, or other fabulous creatures of the sea. In one
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE.
HADES, OR PLUTO. 67
of the pediments of the Parthenon the diepute between him and
Athene was represented.
AMPHITRITE,
The rightful wife of Poseidon (Neptune), was the goddess
of the sea, had the care of its creatures, could stir the great
waves, and hurl them against rocks and cliffs. She was the
daughter of Ooeanus and Tethys, or, according to another
report, of Nereus and Doris. Usually she was represented
with flowing hair and the toes of a crab protruding from her
temples; sometimes seated ou the back of a triton or other
creature of the deep, alone among sea-animals and seaweed,
or accompanying Poseidon. She may be compared with the
sea-goddess of the Romans, Salacia, Neverita, and Venilia.
HADES, OR PLUTO.
We have seen how Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon came to be
conceived as the three great deities who between them con-
trolled the elements of heaven, sky, and sea, and how a char-
acter came to be ascribed to each of them such as was most
naturally suggested by the phenomena of the provinces of
58 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER,
the world in which they respectively ruled. But there still
remained a region which could not escape the observation of
people like the Greeks, gifted with so keen a sense of the
various operations of nature. That region was, however,
itself invisible, being under the surface of the earth. The
growth of vegetation was seen to be steadily upward, as if
impelled by some divine force below. The metals which
experience showed to be most precious to mankind could only
be obtained by digging into that dark region under the earth.
Thither returned, after its day on earth was spent, every
form of life. In conceiving a god who should be supreme
in the management of this region, it was necessary to attrib-
ute a double character to him : first, as the source of all the
treasures and wealth of the earth, as expressed in his name
Pluton (Pluto); and secondly, as monarch of the dark realm
inhabited by the invisible shades of the dead, as expressed
in his name of Aides (Hades).
While by virtue of his power of giving fertility to vegeta-
tion, of swelling the seed cast into the furrows of the earth,
and of yielding treasures of precious metal, he was justly
viewed as a benevolent deity and a true friend of man, there
was another and very grim side to his character, in which
he appears as the implacable, relentless god, whom no cost of
sacrifice could persuade to permit any one who had once passed
his gates ever to return. For this reason, to die, to go to
Hades' s house, to pass out of sight, to be lost in the dark-
ness of the lower world, was looked forward to as the dismal
inevitable fate awaiting all men. Yet there must have been
some consolation in the belief that the life thus claimed by
him had been originally his gift, as were the means of com-
fort and pleasure in life thus cut off. In later times, when
the benevolent side of his character came more into view,
assuring hopes arose concerning a future happy life that
robbed death of its terrors. To impart such hopes was the
purpose of the Eleusiman Mysteries.
It seems to have been to make this union of two such
HADES, OS PLUTO.
59
opposite powers in the persoa of one god more explicit that
the myth concerning hia marriage with Persephone orig-
inated, she being, as we shall afterward see, a personification
of young blooming life. The grim god of the dead carries
off by force a young
goddess full of life.
But no new life is-
sues from the mai^
riage. Yet she loved
him, it would seem;
forwhen hermother,
Demeter (Ceres),
implored her to come
back to earth, her
answer was that she
had accepted from
her husband the half
of a pomegranate, or
apple of love as it
was called, and had
eaten it. It is ap-
parently in reference
to this that both
Hades and Perseph-
one are represented
in works of art hold-
ing each a fruit.
Hades, being a
SOD of Rhea and
Cronus, was enti-
tled, after the dethronement of the latter, to a share along with
his two brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, in the management of
the world. They cast lots, and to Hades fell the dominion
over the lower world. The importance assigned to his domin-
ion may be judged from the fact of its monarch being a
Hades TbroDed.
60 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
brother of Zeus, and styled, too, sometimes, *^Zeus of the
lower world/'
With regard to the region where the realm of Hades was
to be looked for we find the ancient authorities at variance,
some representing it as in the under-world proper — ^that is,
under the crust of the earth, others in the remote west, in
Ocean us, where were the gloomy groves of Persephone. It
was entered from the upper world by any spot of sufficiently
sombre or wild natural aspect, particularly chasms with dark
waters such as inspire terror. The most celebrated place of
this kind was Lake Avemus, at Cumae in Italy, of which
it was said, as of the dead sea, that no bird tried to fly across
it but fell lifeless in its waters. Beyond these entrances was
an open gate through which all comers had to pass, and
having passed could not, as a rule, retrace a step. Excep-
tions to the rule were made in favor of heroes such as Her-
cules and Orpheus, who were permitted to visit the home of
the dead, and return alive. The entrance was guarded by
the dog of Hades, the dreaded Cerberus, a monster with
three heads and a serpent's tail, fawning on those who
entered, but showing his horrible teeth to those who tried to
pass out. But besides by this gateway, the lower was sepa-
rated from the upper world by rivers with impetuous tor-
rents, of which the most famous was the Styx, a stream of
such terrible aspect that even the highest gods invoked it as
witness of the truth of their oaths. Across this river the
departed were conveyed by an aged ferryman appointed by
the gods, and called Charon, but not until their bodies had
been buried in the earth above with all due ceremony of sac-
rifice and marks of affection. Till this was done the souls
of the departed had to wander listlessly about the farther
bank of the Styx, a prospect which was greatly dreaded by
the ancients. For the ferry Charon exacted a toll (naulon),
to pay which a piece of money (danake) was placed in the
mouth of the dead at burial.
The other rivers of the under-world were named Acheron
HADES, OB PLUTO. 61
— that is, the river of ^^ eternal woe;^^ Pyriphlegethon, the
stream of **fire;'^ and Cocytus, the river of ^* weeping and
wailing/^ To these is added by a later myth, Lethe, the
river of "forgetfulness'^ — so called because its waters were
believed to possess the property of causing the departed who
drank of them to forget altogether their former circumstances
in the upper world. The purport of this myth was to explain
and establish the idea that the dead could not take with them
iuto the realm of everlasting peace the consciousness of the
pains and sorrows of their lot on earth. In the waters of Lethe
they drank a happy oblivion of all past suffering, wants, and
troubles — an idea of the means of forgetting sorrow which
later poets have made frequent use of.
In the last book of the Odyssey the souls of the slain
suitors, conceived as small winged beings, are described as
being conducted to the realm of Hades by Hermes (Mer-
cury) in his capacity of Psychopompos. The way is dark
and gloomy. They pass the streams of Oceanus, the white
rock, the gates of Helios, the people of dreams, and at last
reach the Asphodel meadow, where the spirits of the dead
inhabit subterraneous caves.
With regard to the condition of the dead under the domin-
ion of Hades, the belief was that they led a shadowy sort of
apparent life, in which, as mere reflections of their former
selves, they continued as in a dream, at any rate without dis-
tinct consciousness, to perform the labors and carry on the
occupations to which they had been accustomed on earth.
It was only to favored individuals like the Theban seer,
Tiresiaa, of whom we have more to say afterward, that the
privilege of complete consciousness was granted. Such was
the sad condition of the dead; and how they bore it may be
guessed from the complaint of Achilles to Odysseus, in the
Odyssey: ^^ I would rather toil as a day-laborer on the earth
than reign here a prince of dead multitudes.^ ^ Occasionally
the shades of the dead were permitted to appear to their
friends on earth. It was also possible to summon them by
62 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
a sacrifice, the blood of which, when they had drunk of it,
restored conBcIousness aud speech, so as to enable them to
commiiDlcate with the living.
We must, however, clearly distinguish between this under-
world as the abiding place of the great mass of the dead,
and two other regions where spirits of the departed were to
be found — the one Elysium (the Elysian Fields), with the
islands of the blest, and the other Tarta.ruB. The former
region was most commonly placed in the remotest West, and
the latter as far below the earth as the heavens are above it.
In early times it appears to have been beUeved that Elysium
and the happy islands were reserved less for the virtuous
and good than for certain favorites of the gods. There,
under the sovereignty of Oronus, they lived again a kind of
second golden age of perpetual duration. But in later times
there spread more and more the belief in a happy immor-
tality reserved for all the good, and particularly for those
who had been initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries. Tar-
tarus, on the other hand, was the region where those were
condemned to punishment who had committed any crime
against the gods while on earth. What was the misery of
their condition we shall be able to judge from the following
HADES, OB PLUTO.
accouDt of a few of the beat known of those condemned to
such punishmeut, as Tantalus, Izion, Sisyphus, Tityus,
and the Danaides.
Tantalus, once a king of Phrygia, had given offence to
the gods by his overbearing and treachery, as well as by the
cruelty which he had practised on liis own eon. For this he
was doomed to Tartarus, and there to suffer from an unceasing
dread of being crushed by a great rock that hung above his
head, he the while standing up to the throat in water, yet
possessed of a terrible thirst which he could never quench,
and a gnawing hunger which he tried in vain to allay with
the tempting fruits that hung over his head but withdrew at
every approach he made.
Ixion, once a sovereign of Thessaly, had, like Tantalus,
outraged the gods, and was, in consequence, sentenced to Tar-
tarus, there to be lashed with serpents tu a wheel which a
strong wind drove continually round and round.
Sisyphus, once king of Corintli, had by treachery and
hostility incurred the anger of the gods in a high d^ee, and
was punished in Tartarus by haviug to roll a huge stone up
a height, which he had no
sooner done, by means of
his utmost exertion, than it
rolled down ^ain.
Tityus, a giant who once '
lived in Euhoea, had mis-
used his strength to outrage
Leto (the mother of Apollo
and ArtemlB), and was con-
demned by Zeus to Tartarus, ?/ |
where two enormous vul- ,^i i.
tures gnawed continually it^Vt^T^
his liver, which always grew
again.
The Danaides, daughters of Danaus, king of Argos, were
sentenced to Tartarus for the murder of their husbands. The
The Danaides.
64 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER,
punishment prescribed for them was to carry water, and con-
tinue to pour it into a broken cistern or vase^ the labor being
all in vain, and going on forever.
Hades (Pluto) and Persephone (Proserpina), however,
were not only rulers over the souls of the departed, but were
also believed to exercise the function of judges of mankind
after death. In this task they were assisted by three heroes
who while on earth had been conspicuous for wisdom and
justice — ^Minos, Bhadamanthus, and Aeacus, the last being
also, apart from this, the gate-keeper of the lower region,
according to a later opinion.
Both among the Greeks and Romans the worship of Plu-
ton-Hades was wide-spread, and the honors paid him great.
In Greece, his principal temples were at Pylos, Athens, and
Olympia in Elis. The cypress, narcissus, and boxwood were
sacred to him. In Rome a great festival was held in his
honor in the month of February, at which sacrifices {febru-
ationes) of black bulls and goats were offered, and the offici-
ating priests wore wreaths of cypress, the whole ceremony
extending over twelve nights. The Saecular Games, which
were held once in a century, were in his honor, and as a
tribute to the dead. Their origin was lost in antiquity even
in the time of Augustus. It is said, however, that the first
celebration took place in the consulship of Valerius Publi-
cola, to avert a plague; the last was celebrated in the reign
of Philippus, A. D. 248.
In works of art Hades is represented as having inherited the same
type of face as his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, differing only in a
certain grimness of expression. His hair shades his brow in heavy
masses. In attitude he is either seated on a throne with Persephone
by his side, or standing in a chariot and carrying her off. His attri-
butes are a sceptre like that of Zeus, and a helmet, which, like the
cloud cap of Siegfried in German mythology, made its wearer invis-
ible. His attendant is the three-headed dog Cerberus. On the painted
vases scenes of torment in Tartarus are not unfrequent — such, for
example, as the Danaides pouring water into the broken vase, or Ixion
bound to the wheel, or Sisyphus pushing up the stone : Hercules car-
PERSEPHONE, OR PROSERPINA. 65
rying off Cerberus, and Orpheus on his memorable visit to bring back
Eurydice, are also represented on the vases.
PERSEPHONE, OE PROSERPINA,
Or Persephoneia, also called Cora by the Greeks, and by
the Romans Libera, was a daughter of Zeus and Demeter,
and the wife of Aides (Hades), the marriage being childless.
Struck with the charms of her virgin beauty. Hades had
obtained the sanction of his brother Zeus to carry her off by
force; and for this purpose, as the myth relates, he suddenly
rose up from a dark hole in the earth near to where she was
wandering in a flowery meadow not far from Aetna in
Sicily, plucking and gathering the narcissus, seized the lovely
flower-gatherer, and made off with her to the under-world in
a chariot drawn by four swift horses, Hermes (Mercury) lead-
ing the way. Persephone resisted, begged, and implored
gods and men to help her; but Zeus approving the transac-
tion let it pass. In vain Demeter (Ceres) searched for her
daughter, traversing every land, or, as other myths say, pur-
suing the escaped Hades with her yoke of winged serpents,
till she learned what had taken place from the all-seeing and
all-hearing god of the sun. Then she entreated with tears
the gods to give her daughter back, and this they promised
to do provided she had not as yet tasted of anything in the
under-world. But by the time that Hermes, who had been
sent by Zeus to ascertain this, reached the under-world, she
had eaten the half of a pomegranate which Hades had given
her as an expression of love. For this reason the return of
Persephone to the upper-world for good became impossible.
She must remain the wife of Hades. An arrangement was,
however, come to, by which she was to be allowed to stay
with her mother half the year on earth and among the gods
of Olympus, while the other half of the year was to be spent
with her husband below.
In this myth of Persephone-Cora, daughter of Zeus, the
god of the heavens, which by their warmth and rain ^ro-
5
66 bEItlMS OP THE HIGHEST ORDER.
duce fertility, and of Demeter (Ceres), the matenial goddess
of the fertile earth, we see that she was conceived aa a diviDC
persooificatioD of the process of vf^tatioD — in summer
Penepbone, or Fraserplnn.
appearicg beside lier mother in the light of the upper world,
but ID the autumn disappearing, and in winter passing her
time, like the seed, under the earth with the god of the lower
world. The decay observed throughout Nature iu autumn.
PERSEPHOyE, OB PROSERPINA. 67
the suspensioQ of vegetation in winter, impressed the ancients,
as it impresses us and strikes modem poetti, as a moral of
Flalo and Persephone.
the transitoriness of all earthly life; and hence (he carrying
off of Persephone appeared to be simply a symbol qI d»B}ila..
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
But the mytli at the same time su^esta hope, and proclaimg
tlie belief that out of death springs a new life, but appareutly
TI18 AWucUou of FKreephone.
not a productive life, aud that men carried off hy the god of
tue uudcr-world will not forever remaiu in the unsubstantial
DEMETER, OR CERES. 69
region of the shaden. This at least appears to have been the
sense in which the myth of Persephone and her mother was
presented to those initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries,
which, as we have remarked before, held out assuring hopes
of the imperishableness of human existence, and of an eternal
real life to follow after death.
As queen of the shades Persephone had control over the
various dreaded beings whose occuaption, like that of the
Sirens, was to beguile men to their death, or like that of the
Brinys, to avenge murder and all base crimes. She shared
the honors paid to her husband in Greece, lower Italy, and
especially in the island of Sicily. Temples of great beauty
were erected for her in the Greek Locri, and at Cyzicus on
the Propontis. The principal festivals held in her honor in
Greece occurred in the autumn or in spring, the visitors at
the former appearing dressed in mourning to commemorate
her being carried off by Pluto, while at the spring festival
all wore holiday garments to commemorate her return.
There remains, however, the important phase of her char-
acter in which she returns to the upper-world and is asso-
ciated with her mother Demeter. But this it will be more
convenient to consider in the next chapter. The attributes
of Persephone were ears of com and poppies. Her attribute
as the wife of Hades was a pomegranate; her sacrifice con-
sisted of cows and pigs. In works of art she has a more
youthful appearance, but otherwise closely resembles her
mother Demeter. The Roman Proserpina, though the name
is clearly the same as Persephone, appears to have had no
hold on the religious belief of the Roman nation, their god-
dess of the shades being Libitina.
DEMETER, OR CERES,
A daughter of Cronus and Rhea, was the goddess of the
earth in its capacity of bringing forth countless fruits, the
all-nourishing mother, and above all the divine being who
to DEITIES OP TBE BtQHEST ORDER.
watched over the growth of grains and the various products
of vegetation most important to man. The first and grand
thought in. her worship was the mysterious evolution of life
out of the seed which is cast into the ground and suffered to
rot — ^a process of nature which both St. Paul (1 Corinthians
XV. 35) and St. John (xii. 24) compare with the attainment
of a new life through Christ. The seed left to rot in the
ground was in the keeping of her daughter Persephone, the
goddess of the lower world, the new life which sprang from
it was the gift of Demeter herself; and from this point of
view the two goddesses, mother and daughter, were insep-
arable. They were regarded as ^^ two in one,^^ and styled
^^ the great deities. ^^
From being conceived as the cause of growth in the grain
Demeter next came to be looked on as having first introduced
the art of agriculture, and as being the source of the wealth
and blessings which attended the diligent practice of that art.
When Hades carried off her young loved daughter, Dem-
eter, with a mother's sorrow, lit her torch, and mounting her
car drawn by winged snakes, drove through all lands search-
ing for her, leaving, wherever she rested and was hospitably
received, traces of her blessing in the form of instruction in
the art of agriculture. But nowhere in Greece did her bless-
ing descend so richly as in the district of Attica; for there
Celeus, of Eleusis, a spot not far from Athens, had received
her with most cordial hospitality. In return for this she
taught him the use of the plough, and before departing pre-
sented to his son, Triptolemus, whom she had nursed, the
seed of the barley along with her snake-drawn car, in order
that he might traverse all lands, teaching by the way man-
kind how to sow and to utilize the grain, a task which Trip-
tolemus performed faithfully, and so extended the art of
agriculture to most distant lands.
In Arcadia, Crete, and Samothrace we find her associated
with a mythical hero called Jasion, reputed to have been the
first sower of grain, to whom she bore a child, whose name
DEMETER, OR CERES.
of FlutuB shows him to be a personiGcatioD of the wealth
derived from the cultivation of grain. In Thessaly there was
a legend of her hostility to a hero Bometimes called Erysich-
thon "the earth upturner," or "the ploughman," and some-
times Aethon, a personification of famine. Again we find a
72 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER,
reference to her function as goddess of agriculture in the
story that once, when Poseidon threatened with his superior
strength to mishandle her, Demeter took the form of a horse
and fled from him;, but the god, taking the same shape, pur-
sued and overtook her, the result being that she afterward
bore him Arion, a wonderful black horse of incredible speed,
and gifted with intelligence and speech like a man. Pain
and shame at the birth of such a creature drove her to hide
for a long time in a cave, till at last she was purified by a
bath in the river Ladon, and again appeared among the other
deities. From the necessities of agriculture originated the
custom of living in settled communities. It was Demeter
who first inspired mankind with an interest in property and
the ownership of land, who created the feeling of patriotism
and the maintenance of law and order.
The next phase of her character was that which came into
prominence at harvest time, when the bare stubble-fields
reminded her worshippers of the loss of her daughter Per-
sephone. At that time two kinds of festivals were held in
her honor, the one kind called Haloa or Thalysia, being
apparently mere harvest festivals, the other called Thesmo-
phoria, which was significant of the introduction of civiliza-
tion, of which Demeter always stood as an exponent. As
conducted in the village of Halimus in Attica, we know that
it was held from the 9th to the 13th of October of each year,
that it could only be participated in by married women, that
at one stage of the proceedings Demeter was hailed as the
mother of the beautiful child, and that this joy afterward
gave way to expressions of the deepest grief at her loss of
her daughter. At night orgies were held at which mysteri-
ous ceremonies were mixed with boisterous amusements of
all sorts. The Thesmoi or ^^ institutions'^ from which she
derived the title of Thesmophoros appear to have referred
to married life.
We have no means of knowing to what extent the ancient
Greeks based their belief in a happy existence hereafter on
DEMETER, OR CERES. 73
the mysterious evoIutioQ of life from the seed rotting in the
ground, which the early Christians adopted as an illustration
of the grand change to which they looked forward, Bnt
that the myth of the carrying off of Persephone, her gloomy
existence under the ground, and her cheerful return, orig-
inated in the contemplation of this natural process, is clear
from the fact that at Eleusis Demeter and Persephone always
retained the character of seed goddesses, side by side with
their more conspicuous character as deities in whose story
>rere reflected the various scenes through which those mortals
would have to pass who were initiated into the Mysteries of
BleuBiB. These mysteries liad been instituted by D^ms.iRt.
74 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER,
herself, and whatever rites they may have consisted in, we
know from the testimony of men like Pindar and Aeschylus,
who had been initiated, that they were well calculated to
awaken most profound feelings of piety and a cheerful hope
of better life in future. It is believed that the ceremony of
initiation consisted, not in instruction as to what to believe or
how to act to be worthy of her favor, but in elaborate and
prolonged representations of the various scenes and acts on
earth and under it connected with the myth of the carrying
ofE of Persephone. The ceremony took place at night, and
it is probable that advantage was taken of the darkness to
make the scenes in the lower world more hideous and impres-
sive. Probably these representations were reserved for the
Epoptae or persons in the final stage of initiation. Those
in the earlier stages were called Mystae. Associated with
Demeter and Persephone in the worship at Eleusis was Dio-
nysus in his youthful character and under the name of Jao-
chus. But at what time this first took place, whether it was
due to some affinity in the orgiastic nature of his worship,
or rather to his local connection with Attica as god of the
vine, is not known.
Two festivals of this kind, Bleusinia, were held annually
— the lesser in spring, when the earliest flowers appeared, and
the greater in the month of September. The latter occupied
nine days, commencing on the night of the 20th with a torch-
light procession. Though similar festivals existed in various
parts of Greece and even of Italy, those of Eleusis in Attica
continued to retain something like national importance, and
from the immense concourse of people who came to take part
in them, were among the principal attractions of Athens.
The duties of high priest were vested in the family of Eumol-
pidae, whose ancestor Eumolpus, according to one account,
had been installed in the office by Demeter herself. The
festival was brought to a close by games, among which was
that of bull-baiting.
In Italy a festival founded on the Eleusinian Mysteries and
DEMETER, OB CEBES. 75
conducted in the Greek manner was held in honor of
Bacchus and Ceres, or Liber and Libera as they were tailed.
It appears, however,
to have never com-
manded the same
respect ae the origi-
nal. For we find
Romans who had
visited Greece, and
like Cicero been in-
itiated at EleoBis,
returning with a
strong desire to see
the Eleusinian cere-
monies transplanted
to Bome. Alto-
gether it is proba-
ble that the Eoman
Ceres was but a
weak counterpart of
the Greek Demeter.
The attributes of
Demeter, like those
of Persephone, were
ears of corn and
poppies ; on her head
she wore a modius or
com measure as a symbol of the fertility of the earth. Her
sacrifice consisted of cows and pigs.
Statoes that can positively be asaigned to Demeter are very rare,
the best by far being that found at Cnidos and now in the British
Museum, which represents her seated, draped, and with a veil falling
from the back of her head. On her head is neither the modiua nor
the crown which she also wears sometimes. On the painted vases,
however, figures of her are leaa rare. On a vase in the British
Museum she appears beside Triptolemus, who is seated in the winged
car which she gave him. On another vase, also in the na.tvoa«X <^^V-
Demetar, oi Ceres.
76
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
lection, we find the scene at the ioBtitution of the Eleusinian Mys-
■ teriefi. In the centre is Triptolemus seated in the car ; before him
Persephone (here called Pherephatta, a more ancient form of her
name), and a rigure called Eieiisis ; behind him Demeter and Eumol-
pus ; on the other side of the vase are Zeus, Dionysus, Poseidon, and
Amphitrite. A marble relief, found at Eleunis, represents, it is be-
lieved, Demeter, Persephone, imd the youthful Jacchua.
HECATE,
Thougb, properly speaking, not oue of the supreme order of
deities, is entitled to be placed here on account of a resem-
blance to Persephone in
her mysterious f uctions
both in the upper and
lower world. She is a
goddess of Titanic ori-
gin, daughter of Tar-
tarus and Niffht. or of
Perses and Asteria
(Starry-Night), the sis-
ter of Leto, according
to other accounts. The
stories current among
the ancients concerning
her vary greatly, and
often confuse her with
other deities, especially
those of the night, such
as Selene or Luna, the
goddess of the raoon,
while standing to Per-
sephone in the relation
of servant orcompanion.
She belongs to the class
of torchbearing deities, like Artemia, and was conceived as
carrying a burning torch, to suit the belief that she was the
HESTIA, OR VESTA. 77
nocturnal goddess of the moon, and a huntress who knew
her way also in the realm of spirits. All the secret powers
of nature were at her command, it was thought. She had
a control over birth, life, and death, and enjoyed great honor
among the gods of Olympus as well as in the under-world.
To express her power in the three regions of nature, heaven,
earth, and the under-world, she was represented as of triple
form, and named Triformis. Dogs were sacred to her. Her
character being originally that of a mysterious deity, it hap-
pened that more prominence was always given in the con-
ception of her to her gloomy and appalling features, her chief
function being held to be that of goddess of the nether
world, of night and darkness, mistress of all the witchcraft
and black arts which were believed in as much in antiquity,
as in the middle ages. Accordingly her festivals were held
at night, worship was paid her by torchlight, and sacrifices
of black lambs presented with many strange ceremonies.
Her presence was mostly felt at lonely cross-roads, whence
she derived the name of Trivia. Here her statue was placed
so that she could look down all three roads at once, and
here she was especially worshipped.
A mysterious festival was held in her honor every year on
the island of Aegina, in the Saronic Gulf. Beside the lake
of Avemus, in lower Italy, was a dark grove sacred to her.
HESTIA, OR VESTA,
Sister of Demeter, and daughter of Cronus and Rhea, was
worshipped both by Greeks and Romans as the goddess of
the home-fire, or hearth, the name of which was identical
with her own. She was properly, therefore, the guardian of
family life; her altars were everywhere, the hearth of every
house being her sanctuary, and when the family gathered
round it daily it was with feelings of regard for that goddess.
Every meal prepared on the fire at home revived a grateful
sense of the common enjoyments of family life. In every
78
DEITIES OF THE BIOHEST ORDER.
building of public resort she had a sanctuary in the shape of
a fire; and when in Greece a body of colonists were about
to emigrate to new and distant homes, one of their chief
cousideratiouB was to take
with them some portion of
fire sacred to Hestia, in
order to carry with them
the favor of the goddess ;
for the Greeks looked upon
the state as a great family,
with an altar of Hestia as
its central point ; and thus,
by taking with them to
their new homes a portion
of the fire from that altar,
or state hearth, the colony
retained its interest and
participation in the public
affairs of their parent state.
No enterprise was com-
menced without sacrifice
and prayer at her altar;
and when the fire of one
of those holy places chanced
to be extinguished, it could
only be rekindled by a light from some other sanctuary, not
by ordinary and impure fire.
As the goddess of a pure element, Hestia despised love,
aud, though pressed to consent both by Poseidon and Apollo,
obtained from Zeus the privilege she prayed for, of remain-
ing in a single state. Her spotless purity fitted her pecu-
liarly to be the guardian o£ virgin modesty.
Though zealously worshipped throughout Greece, there waa
no temple especially devoted to her. Her proper sanctuary
waa, as we have said, by the fire of every house where people
gathered together. She had a share in all the sacrifices offered
HewU, or Vesin.
HESTIA, OB VESTA.
79
at the temple of other gods, and at every buFDt-ofiEering her
preseace was rect^nized as goddess ot the sacred hearth and
altar flame, as it was also id the libatioas of water, wine, oil,
and in the prayers addressed to her. At the same time she
had her own peculiar sac-
rifices, consisting of young
shoots of grain, the first
fruits of the harvest, and
young cows. Hor priest-
esses had to remain vir-
^ns.
In Rome, however,there
was a temple to Vesta that
had been built by Numa
Pompiliua. It was of a
round shape, and con-
tained in its centre her
symbol of an altar, with a
fire that was never allowed
to go out. This temple,
which stood open by day
but was closed by night,
contained, besides other
very old figures of deities,
the Palladium, a small
wooden image of Minerva ■* ^«>'"'-
(Pallaa Athene), which, according to the myth, originally
fell from heaven upon the citadel of Troy, and was carried
thence to Greece, and afterward to Rome. Upon the pres-
ervation of this figure depended, the people believed, the
safety and existence of the Roman empire. Her priest-
esses, six in number, were called vestal virp^ins, their duty
being to feed the sacred flame of her temple, and to pre-
sent sacrifices and prayers for the welfare of the state.
To this office they were chosen by the high priest, who was
styled Pontifex maximus. They wore robes of white, with
80 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
a fillet round the hair, and a veil, additional ornaments
being permitted in later times. It was necessary that the
girls selected for this service should be between six and
ten years of age, and that they should take a vow of chas-
tity, and serve in the temple for thirty years. After that
period they were permitted to leave it, and even to marry,
though neither proceeding was viewed with pleasure by
the public, who feared the goddess to whom they had been
devoted might take ofEence in either case. While engaged in
the services of the temple the vestal virgins enjoyed great
esteem and important privileges. Their person was invio-
lable, they were free from paternal control, and had the right
of disposing of their own property. In their festal proces-
sions through the streets of Rome they were preceded by
lictors (or officers of justice), who carried with them the/<a»ce8
— that is, a number of twigs tied together into a bundle, out
of which an axe projected as a symbol of sovereign power —
an honor which, besides them, only the consuls or highest
magistrates of Rome were entitled to. And in the course of
the procession, should they meet a criminal on his way to
expiate his crime by death, they had the prerogative of order-
ing him to be set free.
With all this respect and esteem, they were very severely
dealt with when guilty of neglect of duty, such as permitting
the sacred flame of the altar of Vesta to die out, which
could only be rekindled by means of a burning-glass held
up to the rays of the sun. A priestess guilty of this was
condemned by the high priest of the goddess to a dark cham-
ber, and there flogged. For the crime of forfeiting her chas-
tity she was conveyed to a place called the Campus Scelera-
tiis, or ^^ criminals^ field," and there placed in a subterranean
chamber provided with a bed, a lighted lamp, and some bread
and water. The chamber was then closed upon her, the
earth thrown over it and made smooth, and the unfortunate
priestess left to die a most agonizing death. Her seducer
was publicly scourged to death. The whole city was sor-
ARES, OR Jft^RS.
ABES, OB MAB8. 81
rowf 111, and sacrifice and long and earnest prayers were offered
up to appease the injured goddess. The procession, in which
the condemned priestess was carried to her crypt, tied down
on a litter, and so closely covered up that even her screams
could not be heard, was a spectacle that raised a shudder, and
caused that day to be remembered as one of the greatest pain
and grief throughout the city.
At first there were only two vestal virgins, this number
being afterward increased to four, and again by King Servius
to six. They were chosen always from the noblest families
of Rome. If the legend concerning the foundation of the
city of Rome be true, even Romulus and Remus, the
founders of that city, were sons of a vestal priestess named
Rhea Silvia and Mars.
The sacred fire on the hearth of the goddess, and the laurel
that shaded it, were renewed on March 1 of each year; on
June 15 her temple was cleaned and repaired. But pre-
vious to this, on June 9, a festival was held in her honor,
called the Vestalia, only women being admitted to the tem-
ple, and these barefooted, and in the character of pilgrims.
ARES, OR MARS,
A son of ZetLS (Jupiter) and Hera (Juno), according to the
belief of the Greeks, was originally god of the storm and
tempest, and more particularly of the hurricane; but this his
natural meaning was lost sight of at an earlier period, and
more completely than in the case of most of the other gods,
the character in which he appears to us being exclusively that
of *^god of the turmoil and storms in human affairs,^' in
other words, ^^ god of dreadful war,^^ or more correctly, ^^ of
the wild confusion and strife of battle. ^^ Of all the upper
gods he was the most fierce and terrible, taking pleasure in
slaughter and massacre.
In this respect he forms a striking contrast to Pallas
Athene, the goddess of well-matched chivalrous fights, whom
6
82 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
we often find opposed to him in m^hical narr&tives. When
fighting she was invulnerable, and always on the side of the
victor; while Ares (Mars) being not only god of battle but
also a personification of war, with
its double issue of victory and de-
feat, was sometimes wounded, and
even taken prisoner. When assist-
ing the Trojans in their war with
the Greeks, in tlie course of which
be took under hia special protection
their leader, Hector, he was wound-
I ed by the Greek hero Diomedea,
' aided by the goddess Athene. He
fell — so Homer describes the event
in the Iliad (v. 853)— with a
thundering crash to the ground,
like the noise of ten thousand
warriors engaged in battle. Again
(Iliad xxi. 400) he was wounded
by Athene and fell, his armor
clanking, and his body covering
with his fall seven acres of ground
— an obvious reference to the roar
and destruction attending a great
storm. He was once captured by Otus and Ephialtos, the
giant sons of Aloeus the planter, aud kept imprisoned in a
great bronze vase (Iliad v. 385) for thirteen months — a space
of time which, when we remember that the names of the two
heroes are derived from husbandry, seems to indicate a full
year of peaceful agriculture. Like him.gelf, his offspring
were distinguished for their prowess or delight in strife; as,
for example, Meleager, the prince of Calydon, who speared
the Calydoaian boar; Cycnus, whom Hercules slew, and
for this would have been avenged by Ares had not Zeus
stopped the conflict of his two powerful sons by a flash
of lightnit^; then Paxthenopaeus, one of the seven leaders
ABBS, OR MARS.
83
in the assault on the town of Thebes; Oenomaeua, aod
others. The expression, "a son or offshoot of Ares
(Mars)," frequently applied to other heroes, must not
be oDderstood literally, but merely as indicating physical
strength and valor equal to
that of hie actual descend-
ants.
Eris, the personification
of fatal strife, was usually
by his side, Dread and
Alarm (DeimoB and Phobos)
attended on his steps. On
the other hand, we find him,
even in the Iliad (v. 356
and zxi. 416), where his
general character is that of
a huge fierce combatent, as-
sociated with Aphrodite, the
goddess of love. In the
Odyssey (viii. 266) the story
is told of his secret visit to
her, when he was detected
by Helios (the Sun), who
informed Hephaestus (Vul-
can) of the fact, whereupon
the latter devised a cunning
net, and catching the two
tc^tber uader it exhibited them to the gods of Olympus,
and called upon Zeus to bring them to trial. This relation
of Ares (Mars) to Aphrodite (Venus), who was even wor-
shipped as his proper wife in Thebes, indicates very probably
the peace and rest that follow the turmoil of war.
It is true that Ares was worshipped in Greece, but not as
a great protecting deity, such as he was deemed by the
Romans. In Athens the Areopagus, or "Mars' Hill,"
on which was held a court of justice for the decision of cases
84 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
involving life and death, derived its name from him, the
story being that he had once appeared before it in a cause
against Poseidon. The warlike people of Tegea, the Spar-
tans, who had a very ancient temple in his honor, the Athe-
nians, for whom Alcamenes the sculptor, a contemporary and
rival of Phidias, made a statue of him, and the El cans, all
worshipped him with more or less zeal. But the real home
and centre of his worship was Thrace, with its wild warlike
population and its stormy tempestuous sky. It was in Rome,
however, with its conquests and pride of military power, that
he enjoyed under the name of Mars the highest honor, rank-
ing next to Jupiter as guardian of the state. The Romans
considered themselves to be actual descendants of Mars, on
the ground of his having been, as was believed, the father of
Romulus and Remus, styling him Marspiter — that is. Mars
Pater, their father Mars. At Reate, in Italy, he had even
an oracle. In Rome there was a field consecrated to him,
and named the ^* Field of Mars/' where military exercises
and manoeuvres took place, athletic competitions, called ^ ^mar-
tial games,'' were held, and public assemblies were summoned
to consider important questions of the state. The race-course
and the temples of the god were there; and there every five
years, called a lustrum, were held the census and muster of
citizens liable to be called into the field in the event of war.
On this occasion a sacrifice was presented to him, called the
^^ Suovetaurilia," consisting of a pig, a sheep, and an ox,
which were led three times around the assembled multitude,
while during the ceremony a prayer was offered up that the
immortal gods might still enlarge and ennoble the Roman
empire more and more, or, as it was expressed in later times,
that they might give stability and endurance to the Roman
state. Chariot races were held there twice a year, at the
beginning of March and in October; the ceremony of sacri-
ficing to Mars the off-horse of the biga that won the race —
the October horse as it was called — being performed at the
latter. In the ^^ Field of Mars" was dedicated the booty
HEPHAESTUS, OB VULCAN. 85
brought back from campaigns^ and no Roman general went
to war without first proceeding to the temple of Mars, to
swing the sacred shield and spear^ adding the words, ^^ Watch
over me, O Mara ?^ This shield (anoile) was believed to have
fallen from heaven at the time when Numa Pompilius was
king of Rome, and, like the Palladium in the temple of
Vesta, was looked on with veneration. The haruspices of
Numa' 8 time having declared that the Roman state would
last as long as this shield remained in Rome, eleven other
shields exactly like it were made, in order that the sacred
one might have small chance of being stolen. These and a
sacred spear were preserved in the temple of Mars, under
the custody of priests, who were called Salii, and whose duty
it was every year to celebrate a festival of thanksgiving for
this important present from the gods. In the earliest times
the sacrifices ofEered to Mars consisted of human beings, par-
ticularly those who had been taken prisoners in battle; but
in later times this custom was abandoned, and horses, rams,
dogs, and a portion of the booty captured from enemies,
offered instead. Besides these animals, the wolf, cock, and
woodpecker were sacred to him.
The attributes of Ares were a spear and a burning torch,
such as, according to ancient custom, his priests carried when
they advanced to give the sign of battle to opposing armies.
The animals chosen as his symbols were the dog and the
vulture, the constant visitants of battle-fields.
In works of art Ares is represented generally as of a youthful but
very powerful build, armed with helmet, shield, and spear. At other
times he is bearded and heavily armed. A favorite subject was his
meeting with Venus.
HEPHAESTUS, OR VULCAN,
Was the divine personification of the fire that burns within
the earth and bursts forth in volcanic eruptions — fi.ce ^Vsisfc.
86 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER,
has no connection with the sun or the lightning of heaven;
and such being his character, we can readily understand the
mutual dislike which existed between him and the god of
the light of heaven. He was indeed the son of Zeiis and
Hera, the supreme deities of heaven; but he was bom to be
a cause of quarrel between them, and alternately at enmity
with both. Once, when he took his mother's part, Zeus
seized him by the heels anti tossed him out of Olympus
(Iliad i. 560). Through the air he fell for one whole day;
at evening, as the sun went down, reaching the island of
Lemnos, where he was found by some Sintian people, and
taken under friendly care. The place where he was found,
and where in after times was the principal centre of his
worship, was the neighborhood of the burning mountain
Mosychlus.
Another version of the myth has it that Hera, ashamed
of the decrepit form which he presented at his birth, threw
him with her own hands from Olympus. Falling into the
sea, he was picked up by Thetis and Burynome, was cared
for by them, remained for nine years in the abode of the
sea-gods, none but they knowing his whereabouts, and exe-
cuted there many wonderfully clever examples of handi-
work. It may be that this belief originated in observing
the nearness of volcanic mountains to the seashore, and the
fact of whole islands, like the modern Santorin, being sud-
denly thrown up from the sea by volcanic force. Among
the works which he fashioned in the palace of the sea-gods
was a cunningly devised throne, which he presented to Hera,
as a punishment for casting him out of heaven, knowing that
when she sat down on it she would be locked within its secret
chains so firmly that no power but his could free her. This
happened, and Ares went to bring him by force to her assist-
ance, but was compelled to retreat in fear of the firebrand
with which Hephaestus assailed him. At last Dionysizs
(Bacchus), the god of wine, succeeded by his soft conciliatory
speech in restoring friendship between mother and son, and
HEPHAESTUS, OR YVLGAN.
87
her bonds were forthwith undone. Perhaps it is from
this intimacy with Dionyeus that he is said to have once
appeared as cup-bearer in Olympus, on which occasion
the assembled deities
could not contain them-
selves with laughter at
the droll figure limping
from couch to couch.
It seems to be the un-
steady flicker of flame
that is represented in
the lameness of the fire-
god, and it may have
been the genial influ-
ence of the hearth which
was the source of the
quaint stones about
him.
From being originally
the god of fire, Hpphae-
stus naturally devel-
oped into god of those
arts and industries de-
pendent on fire, especially the arts of pottery and working in
metal. He was the artist god who worked in a smoky
smithy down in the heart of the burning mountains, and pro-
duced clever works of dazzling beauty, which he gave freely
away to gods and to favorite heroes. For Zeus he made the
dreaded aegis and a sceptre; for Achilles and Menmon their
armor; tor himself two wonderful handmaidens of gold, who,
like living beings, would move about and assist him as he
walked; and when Homer has to describe any bronze work
of great beauty, his highest praise is always that it was the
work of Hephaestus. The throne which he made for Hera,
and the net in which he caught Aphrodite and Ares, have
already been mentioned.
Hephaestns, c
88 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
From being god of the warmth within the earth — of vol-
canic fire — Hephaestus came also, when the fertility of a
volcanic soil became known by experience, to be looked on
as one who aided the spread of vegetation, this function of
his being recognized most in the spread of the vine, which
thrives and bears its best fruit on volcanic soil. It was from
knowledge of this fact, no doubt, that the idea arose of the
close friendship between him and the wine-god Dionysus,
which we find exemplified partly in the joint worship of
these two deities, and partly in the story already told, of how
Dionysus led Hephaestus back to Olympus, and smoothed
his dififerences with the other gods.
His worship was traceable back to the earliest times, Lem-
nos being always the place most sacred to him. There, at
the foot of the burning mountain Mosychlus, which is now
extinct, stood a very ancient temple of the god — on the very
spot, it was said, where Prometheus stole the heavenly fire,
and for the theft was taken away among the Caucasus moun-
tains, there nailed alive to a rock by Hephaestus, and com-
pelled to suffer every day an eagle sent by Zeus to gnaw his
liver, which daily grew afresh. A somewhat gloomy cere-
mony of expiating this theft of fire took place annually in
the island, all fires being put out, and forbidden to be relit
until the return of the ship that had been despatched to the
sacred island of Delos to fetch new fire. Then, after being
nine days extinguished, all the fires in dwelling-houses and
in workshops were rekindled by the new fiame.
Next to Lemnos, perhaps the most important seat of his
worship was Athens, where the unusually large number of
persons employed in the potteries and in metal-working
recognized him as their patron god, and associating him with
Athene, held annually in October a festival called Chalkeia,
in honor of both. In the same month occurred the festival
Apaturia, at which, by the side of Zeus and Athene a prom-
inent place was assigned to Hephaestus in his capacity of
god of the hearth, and protector of the domestic life which
HAPHAESTU8, OB VULCAN, 89
gathered around it. On this occasion sacrifices were ofiFered
at the hearth; and a public procession took place of men clad
in festival garments^ carrying lighted torches and singing
songs in his praise. Again, the torch race, which formed
part of the Panathenaic games, was intended to commemo-
rate the theft of fire by Prometheus. In connection with
this community of worship existing between Athene and
Hephaestus at Athens, it was said that he once endeavored
to obtain the love of the goddess, and that even though this
failed she had devoted special care to Erichthonius, the
offspring of his intercourse with Gaea, the goddess of the
earth.
In Sicily Hephaestus had a temple on Mount Aetna, which
was watched by dogs possessed of the faculty of distinguish-
ing the pious from the impious and profane, whose approach
they fiercely resisted. His worship had also spread to lower
Italy and the Campania.
In Rome it was said that Vulcan had a temple as early as
the time of Romulus, who, in fact, caused it to be erected,
and instituted the festival called Vuloanalia, which was
wont to be held on August 23, the ceremony consisting of a
sacrifice for the purpose of averting all the mishaps that arise
from the use of fire and lights; for the days were then begin-
ning to be noticeably short<3r, and the necessity of light to
work by in the evenings to be felt.
The wife of Hephaestus, according to the Iliad, was
Charts, but the popular belief of later times assigned that
place to Aphrodite. By neither had he any children.
In works of art Hephaestus is represented as an aged bearded man,
with serious furrowed face, wearing a short chiton, and a pointed cap
or pUoBj the mark of workmen or fishermen (which Odysseus also
wears), hammering at an anvil, his attitude showing the lameness of
which the myth speaks. On the early coins of Lemnos he appears
without a beard. One of the favorite subjects both of the poets and
artists was the story of his catching Hera in the throne which he gave
her, the ludicrousness of it making it an attractive subject for the
90 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
aacient comedy. On a painted vase in the British Museam is a scene
from a comedy in whien Hera appears seated on the throne, while
Ares and Hephaestus are engaged in combat before her. Another
scene which frequently occurs on the painted vases is that in which
Hephaestus appears on his way back to Olympus in a state of intox-
ication, riding on a mule, or walking, and accompanied by Dionysus,
Sileni, and nymphs. At the birth of Athene it was he who split
open the head of Zeus to let the goddess come forth, and in the fre-
quent representations of this scene on the vases he appears hammer
in hand. At other times we find him fashioning the armor of Achilles,
or fastening Prometheus to the rock.
APHRODITE, OR VENUS,
Was the goddess of love in that wide sense of the word which
in early times embraced also the love of animals, and the love
which was thought to be the cause of productiveness through-
out nature. Accordingly we find in her character, side by
side with what is beautiful and noble, much that is coarse
and unworthy. In the best times of Greece the refined and
beautiful features of her worship were kept in prominence,
both in poetry and art; but these, when times of luxury suc-
ceeded, had to give way to impurities of many kinds.
The feelings awakened by observing the productive power
of nature had, it would seem, given rise to a divine personi-
fication of love in very remote early times among the nations
of the East. The Phoenicians called this personification
Astarte, and carried her worship with them wherever they
established factories or markets in Greece, in the islands of
the Mediterranean, and on to Italy. The early Greeks com-
ing in contact with these traders, and obtaining from them a
knowledge of coinage, weights, measures, and other neces-
saries of commerce and trade — including, it is said, a system
of writing — appear to have transferred some of the functions
of the oriental goddess to their own Aphrodite, as, for instance,
the function of protecting commerce. The earliest known
Greek coins — those of Aegina — the weights of which corre-
APHRODITE, OR VENUS. 91
spond accurately with the oriental standard, have the figure
of a tortoise, the well-known symbol of Aphrodite.
How much else of the character of their goddesa the Greeks
may have derived from the Phoenicians it would be impossi-
ble to say. But the extraordinary zeal with which she con-
tinued to be worshipped in Cyprus, Cythera, CJorinth, Car-
thage, Sicily, and wherever in early times the Phoenicians
had made settlements, may signify that others of her functions
besides that of protecting commerce had been borrowed from
the oriental goddess. The older Aphrodite worshipped in
Greece previous to the introduction of Phoenician elements
in her character i^ described as a daughter of Zeua (Iliad v.
312) and Dione, and through her mother was associated with
the ancient worship at Dodona,
The younger goddess, on the other hand, is described (He-
siod, Theogony, 188-206) as the offspring of Uranus, born
among the foam of the sea, first stepping on land in Cyprus,
and styled Anadyomene, or ^^she who came out of the
sea.'^ Under the title of Urania she was regarded as a per-
sonification of that power of love which was thought to unite
heaven, earth, and sea into one harmonious system, and as
such was distinguished from Aphrodite Pandemos, the per-
sonification of love among men. As the goddess born of the
foam of the sea, she naturally came to be held in veneration
by the fishermen and sailors on the coast as the goddess of
the smiling sea, and the cause of prosperous voyages. Hence
it was the custom in the island of Aegina to follow up the
sacrifice and banquet in honor of Poseidon with a festival of
great rejoicing and excitement in honor of Aphrodite. In
Cnidus she was styled and worshipped as goddess of the
peaceful sea; a character which is symbolized by the dolphin
frequently given her as an attribute. The island of Cythera
(Cerigo) derived its name from one of her titles, Cytherea,
the belief being that she had appeared there before landing
on Cyprus.
The earlier and pure Greek phase of her Gha.^^<iXfc\^ Vxjl
92 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
which she is called a daughter of Zeus and Dione, was that of
a goddess who presides over human love; she is described as
accompanied by her son Eros (Amor, or Cupid), the Char-
ites (Graces), the Horae, Himeros (God of the desire of
love), Pothos (God of the anxieties of love), and Pitho
(Suadela, or the soft speech of love). But her special favorite
was the young rosy shepherd Adonis; her grief at his death,
which was caused by a wild boar, being so great that she
would not allow the lifeless body to be taken from her arms
until the gods consoled her by decreeing that her lover might
continue to live half the year, during the spring and sum-
mer, on the earth, while she might spend the other half with
him in the lower world, beside Persephone (Proserpina) ;
a reference to the change of seasons, which finds its explana-
tion in the fact of Aphrodite being also goddess of gardens
and flowers. Her presence in nature was felt in spring, her
absence in winter. This change of the seasons was further
observed and celebrated by a festival in honor of Adonis, in
the course of which a figure of him was produced, and the
ceremony of burial, with weeping and songs of wailing, gone
through; after which a joyful shout was raised, ^^ Adonis
lives, and is risen again !" She was called Adonai and
Adonias, with reference to this love passage. Next to
him her chief favorite was Anchises, to whom she bore
Aeneas, who through his son Ascanius, or Julius, became,
as the story goes, the founder of the great Julian family in
Rome.
With regard to the story of Pygrmalion, the Adonis of
Cyprus, into whose statue of her she breathed life on the
occasion of one of her festivals, perhaps the same meaning is
intended to be conveyed as in the alternate life and death of
Adonis — that is, the alternate fervor and coldness of love,
or the alternate bloom and frost of nature.
The husband of Aphrodite was Hephaestus (Vulcan),
whose manner of punishing her when he found her in com-
pany of Ares has already been related. Among her children^
APHRODITE, OR VENUS.
Apbrodlle oiVenua
94 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
but not by Hephaestus, were Eros (Amor), and Anteros,
Hymen, and Hennaphroditus.
But if she had favors for some she had strong antipathies
for others, and proved this spirit on Hippolytus, whom she
slew; on Polyphonte, whom she changed into an owl; on
Arsinoe, whom she turned to stone; and Myrrha, whom she
transformed iato a myrtle tree. Of her strife and competi-
tion with Hera and Atheue for the prize of beauty, which
the Trojan prince, Paris, awarded to her, we shall give an
account later on in connection with the narrative of the
Trojan war.
As a result of her power to unite by means of love all
beings, whether in heaven, or earth, or in blackest Tartarus,
she came to be viewed as a goddess presiding over married
life and marriage ceremonies. She had a number of temples
on the island of Cyprus, but none of them so splendidly
decorated as that in the town of Paphus, whither thousands
of visitors streamed to take part in the annual festival and
rejoicings in her honor. There also she had an oracle, and,
as Urania, was worshipped jointly with Ares (Mars); the
latter fact showing that her connection with this god was
founded in the religious belief of the people. At times, and
particularly in her very ancient sanctuary in the island of
Cythera, as also in Sparta, Argos, and on the Acropolis of
Corinth, she was represented armed.
The worship of Venus did not become general in Rome
till later times. A festival, called Veneralia, was held in
her honor every year, a great part of the ceremony consisting
of nocturnal dances and passionate enjoyment in gardens
among blooming arbors. She had a temple on the Capitol,
and one of the Colli ne gates was consecrated to her. The
month of April was held sacred to her, for then the flowers
bud and plants shoot; or, as the Greek myth expresses it,
Adonis comes back from the under-world.
The symbols of Aphrodite were the dove, ram, hare, dol-
phin, swan, and tortoise, with the rose as a flower, the myrtle
PALLAS ATHENE, OR MINEAVA. 95
tree, and other beautiful plants^ the apple, and fruits of vari-
ous kinds.
In Paphus the earliest form or image under which she was wor-
shipped was that of a ball or a pyramid, surrounded with burning
torches or candelabra, as is to be seen on the coins of Cyprus ; but
gradually, as art advanced, she took a finer form, fresh charms being
continually added, till all the resources of expressing imperious,
overpowering beauty were exhausted. In the best days of art she
was always represented draped, in later times nude, and in various
attitudes. The scene of her birth from the sea was represented by
Phidias, on the base of the statue of Zeus at Olympia, as taking
place in presence of the gods of Olympus, she being received first by
Eros, who elsewhere is called her son. One of the most famous pic-
tures of Apelles represented her as rising out of the sea. To indicate
her connection with Ares she was represented as Venus Victrix,
standing with one foot on a helmet and with both arms raising a
shield. Of this type are the Venus of Capua and the Venus of Milo.
In a temple erected to her as Euploia or goddess of prosperous voy-
ages, in Cnidus, was a statue of her by Praxiteles, which was cele-
brated above all her other statues in ancient times ; and of which
the so-called Medicean Venus is believed to be a free copy.
PALLAS ATHENE, OR MINERVA,
Called also Tritogreneia or Tritonia and Athenaea, is usually
described, in the myths concerning her birth, as having sprung
into life, fully armed, from the head of Zeus, with its thick
black locks, all heaven and earth shaking meanwhile, the sea
tossing in great billows, and the light of day being extin-
guished. Zeus, it was said, had previously swallowed his wife
Metis (Intelligence), to prevent her giving birth to a son.
The operation of laying his head open, that Pallas might come
forth, was performed by Hephaestus (Vulcan), or, according
to other versions of the story, Proraetheus. There is, how-
ever, another myth, which ascribes her origin to a connection
of Poseidon (Neptune) with the nymph Tritonis, adding
that Zeus merely adopted her as his daughter. But this seems
to have had no foundation in the general belief of the
people, and to have been only an invention of later times,
96 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
when her name, Tritogeneia or Tritonia, had become unin-
telligible.
No being connected with the earth, whether deity or moiv
tal, had part in her birth. She was altogether the issue only
of her father, the god of heaven, who, as the myth very
plainly characterizes it, brought her into being out of the
black tempest-cloud, and amidst the roar and crash of a
storm. Her character must, therefore, be r^arded as form-
ing in some way a complement to his. The purpose for
which she was brought into existence must have been that
she might do what he would plan, but as the supreme and
impartial god, could not carry out. She is at once fearful
and powerful as a storm, and in turn, gentle and pure as the
warmth of the sky when a storm has sunk to rest and an
air of new life moves over the freshened fields.
To express both these sides of her character — terrible and
mighty as compared with open, gentle, and pure — she had the
double name of Pallas Athene : the former was applied to
her function of goddess of storms — she who carried the aegis
or storm-shield of her father. And further, as Pallas, she
became the goddess of battle — valiant, conquering, frighten-
ing with the sight of her aegis whole crowds of heroes when
they vexed her, and even driving Ares before her with her
lightniug-spoar. At the same time the soft, gentle, and
heavenly side of her character took from her functions, as
goddess of battle, that desire of confused slaughter and mas-
sacre which distinguished Ares, and formed the contrast we
have already mentioned between the two deities of war.
Pallas presides over battles, but only to lead on to victory,
and through victory, to peace and prosperity.
When the war has been fought out, and that peace estab-
lished which — whether it be amid the political life of nations
here on earth, or whether it be amid the passions of individ-
ual men — is always the result of conflict and war, then it is
that the goddess Athene reigns in all gentleness and purity,
teaching mankind to enjoy peace, and instructing them in all
APHRODITE, OR VENUS.
PALLAS ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 97
that gives beauty ta human life, in wisdom and art. If we
observe and keep clearly before our minds these two sides of
her character, the inseparable union of both, and their action
and reaction upon each other, we shall see that this goddess,
PaJlas Athene, is one of the most profound conceptions of
a deep religious feeling — a being into whose hands the pious
Greek could, with due reverence, commit his keeping.
The mutual relation of these two sides of her character is
sufficiently obvious in the various myths relating to the god-
dess. The principal of these we shall proceed to narrate.
But, first, we must call attention to this point, that Athene
is represented in the myths as forever remaining a virgin,
scorning the afiFections which are said to have been frequently
offered to her. Instead of suggesting her liability, in the
smallest degree, to earthly passions and foibles, the myth
shows admirably that she was a divine personification of
mind, always unfettered in its movements; a personification,
at the same time, of the origin of mind from the brain of
the supreme Divine Being : a proof that mind is neither of
a male nor of a female order, but a single and independent
power at work throughout the whole of nature.
In the course of the war with the Giants Pallas rendered
most valuable assistance to Zeus, both by advice and deed;
being, in fact, the cause of his calling in the aid of Hercules,
and thus completing successfully the subjugation of the rebels.
Single-handed she overpowered the terrible giant Enceladus ;
but when Zeus' rule was at last firmly established, she took
up the task of assisting and protecting those heroes on earth
whom she found engaged in destroying the grim creatures
and monsters upon it. In this capacity she was the constant
friend of Hercules in all his hardships and adventures, and
of Perseus, whom she helped to slay the Gorgon Medusa,
whose head she afterward wore upon her aegis, and for this
reason obtained the name of Gorgrophone, or Gorgon slayer.
Along with Hera she protected the Argronauts, while to her
assistance was due the success with which Theseus overcame
98 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
and slew monsters of all kinds. She stood hj the Greeks in
their war against Troy, which we shall describe afterward,
and devised the scheme by which, after ten years^ duration,
it was brought to a close.
But, in times of peace, her power as goddess in all kinds
of skill and handicraft, of clearness like that of the sky, and
of mental activity, was uniformly exercised, as has been said,
for the general good and prosperity. The arts of spinning
and weaving were described as of her invention. She taught
how to tend and nurse newly-born infants; and even the
healing art was traced back to her among other gods. The
flute, too, was her invention. As became the goddess of war,
it was her duty to instruct men in the art of taming horses,
of bridling and yoking them to the war-chariot — a task which
we find her performing in the story of Bellerophon, for whom
she bridled the winged horse Pegasus; and in the story of
Brichthonius, at Athens, the first mortal who learned from
her how to harness horses to chariots. In a word, she was
the protectress of all persons employed in art and industry,
of those whose business it was on earth to instruct and edu-
cate mankind, and, therefore, to help forward the general
happiness.
The principal scene of her influence and actions was Attica,
that district of Greece which, according to the myth related
above, she obtained as her special and peculiar province,
after a contest for it with Poseidon, the god of the sea.
There her worship and honor surpassed that of all other
deities, and from her was named the chief town of the land.
The visible proof and testimony of her guardianship of Attica
was the olive on the Acropolis of Athens, which she created
in the contest with Poseidon, and from which the Athenians
believed all the olive trees of Attica to have spread. In the
produce of the olives consisted the chief wealth of the land.
Ancient writers relate a touching story concerning this olive
tree on the Acropolis, which reveals how firmly the belief of
their goddess was rooted in the minds of her people. When
PALLAS ATHENE, OR MINERVA.
Athene. bjPMaiBa,
100 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
the Persians advanced with their overwhelming forces against
Greece, it is said that Athene presented herself at the throne
of her father, and begged for the preservation of her city.
But fate had otherwise decreed : Athens must perish, in
order that a better and nobler city might rise from its ruins,
and accordingly Zeus was obliged to refuse the prayer of his
beloved daughter. The Athenians took to their fleet, aban-
doning altogether the city, which the Persians then entered,
and destroyed utterly with fire and sword, not even sparing
the sacred olive of the goddess. But, lo ! as a sign that she
had not forsaken her city even in ruins, there sprang sud-
denly from the root which remained a new shoot, which, with
wonderful quickness, grew to a length of three yards, and
was looked on as an emblem of the regeneration of the city.
With the aid of their goddess the Athenians fought foremost
of all the Greeks in the famous sea-fight that ensued at Sala-
mis, in which the Persian fleet, though vastly superior in
numbers, was wholly destroyed, while the troops on the
mainland were compelled to escape with shame and immense
losses from Greece.
Among the great variety of her titles, some derived from
her functions as a goddess, and others from the localities
where her worship had a special hold on the people, we find
Athene at Elis styled ^^ mother,'' in consequence of her care
over the nursing children; in Athens and several other places,
Polias, the ^^ protectress of cities;'' Soteira, the ^' saviour;"
Glauoopis, ^^blue-eyed goddess;" Parthenos, ^^ the virgin;"
Hippia, ^^ tamer of horses;" Ergane, ^^ mistress of indus-
try;" Nike, the ^^ victorious; " and Meohanitis, ^^ ingenious."
Every year a festival lasting several days, and called Panath-
enaea, was held in her honor at Athens, to commemorate
the part she had taken in the war against the Giants : every
fourth year — that is, every third year of the current Olym-
piad — it was celebrated with redoubled splendor. This fes-
tival is said to have been instituted by Theseus, or at least to
have first derived its importance from him; in any case it
PALLAS ATHENE, OB MINERVA. 101
was a festival of very great antiquity. Festal processions
were formed, athletic games were held, while sacrifices and
banquets took place on a large scale — all the Athenians,
whether at home or abroad in colonies, having the privilege
of taking part. The prizes in the games consisted of large
painted earthenware vases filled with pure olive oil, the pro-
duct of the tree sacred to Athene. Of these vases a small
number have been preserved down to our times. On one
side is painted a figure of the goddess striding forward in
the attitude of hurling her spear, with a column on each side
of her, to indicate the race-course. On the reverse side is a
view of the contest in which a particular vase was won. But
perhaps the chief attraction of the festival was the procession
in which a new robe or peplos, woven and embroidered for
the goddess by a select number of women and girls in Athens,
was carried through the town spread like a sail on a mast,
placed on a wagon in the form of a ship. In this procession
it appears as if the whole population of Attica took part, the
youth of the nobility on horseback or in chariots, the soldiery
in arms, and the burgesses with their wives and daughters in
holiday attire. The new robe was destined for the very
ancient statue of Athene which was preserved in the Erech-
theum. This custom of placing actual drapery on statues
appears to have been handed down from remote times, when
the art of sculpture was unequal to the task of imitating the
human figure, and it is not improbable that the statue of
Athene, of which we are speaking, date<l from that early
time. The magistrates of Athens offered sacrifices to her at
the commencement of spring. The services of her sanctuary
were conducted by two virgins elected for the period of one
year.
In Bome the worship of Minerva was conducted with as
much zeal as that of Athene at Athens, her character as
goddess of wisdom and serious thought being admirably cal-
culated to attract a people like the Romans. She was the
protectress of their arts and industries, of tVv^ Aavsifc^NivR, o.^^-
102
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
atioos ctf spiDniag and weaviog and etnbroidering, just as
she Has among the G-reeks la Rome she had several tem-
ples, ODe of the oldest of them being that on the Capitol.
A festival, which lasted
from March 19tk to 23d,
was annually held io her
honor. But the object
connected with her, which
the Romans venerated
above all things else, was
the Palladium, or an-
cient fip;ure of the god-
dess, the story cd which
was that it had onginally
fallen from heaven, and
had thereupon become the
property of the royal
family of Troy, the pos-
session of it being from
that time always con-
sidered an assurance of
the safety of that city.
But in the course of the
war between the Greeks
and Trojans it was se-
cretly carried off by Dio-
medes and OdjrsseUB,
upon which followed the
capture of the town by
means of the wooden
Another version of the story has it that Aeneas took
Tbe PalUdlnm
horse
it with him when he fled from the city; and in consequence
of this incon-'i'^tcney in the story it happened in later times
that more than one city claimed the possession of the real
Palladium — as, for example, Ai^s, Athens, and Rome.
Wherever it was believed to be, there the firm convictioD
PALLAS ATHENE, OB MINERVA. 103
existed that the endurance of the city depended on the pos-
session of the image, and so it happened afterward that the
expression Palladium was employed in a wider sense to ob-
jects thought to be of similar importance; and when, for
instance, we hear of the *^ Palladium of Freedom being
carried off,'' we understand that the principal provision and
security of freedom has been lost. The symbols of Athene
were the owl, the cock, the snake, and the olive tree.
In works of art Athene generally appears as a virgin of serious
aspect, armed with helmet, shield, and spear, wearing long, full drap-
ery, and on her breast the aegis, with a border of snakes, and the face
of Medusa in the centre. She is often accompanied by an owl. Of
the many statues of her, the two most famous in antiquity as works
of art were those by the sculptor Phidias : the one of gold and ivory
stood in her great temple at Athens, the Parthenon.
The other was of bronze, colossal in size, and stood on the Acrop-
olis, towering above the temple just named, the crest of her helmet
and point of her spear being visible from the sea as far away as Cape
Sunium, the most southern point of Attica. Her attitude was that
of preparing to hurl the spear, and the title she bore, that of Proma-
chos, or '* Van of Battle.'* A representation of the statue is to be
seen on the coins of Athens on which a view of the Acropolis is given.
The last record we have of the statue of gold and ivory is in the
year 375 A. D., how and when it perished remaining still a mystery.
The attitude of the bronze statue exists, it is believed, in several
small statuettes, of which there is one in the British Museum, which
was found in Athens. On the painted vases we find many represen-
tations of her birth, of her contest with the Giants, of her assisting
heroes, such as Perseus and Hercules, in their exploits. The subjects
of the sculptures, now in the British Museum, which decorated the
pediments of the Parthenon, were, in the front, her birth, and at the
back, her contest with Poseidon. In the Erechtheum at Athens was
an ancient figure of the goddess, believed to have fallen from heaven ;
while another ancient figure of her, the Palladium properly so-called,
was preserved in the city under the care of a priestly family named
Byzigi. It also was believed to have fallen from heaven. In its
presence was held a court for the trial of cases of bloodshed.
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
PHOEBUS APOLLO, HELIOS, OR SOL.
From the sua comes our physical light, but that light is
at the same time aa emblem of all mental ilium inatioti, of
knowledge, truth, and right, of all moral purity; and in this
respect a distinction was made between it as a mental and a
physical pheno-
menon — a dis-
tinction whioh
placed Pho»<
bus Apollo on
k. one side and
H Helios on the
'otlier. Accord-
ingly Phoelms
Apollo is the
oracular god
who throws
light on the
dark ways of
the future, who
slays the Py-
thon, that mon-
ster of darkness
which made the
oracleat Delphi
inaccessible.
He is the god
of music and
song, which arc only heard where light and security reign
and the possession of herds is free from danger. Helios,
on the other hand, is the physical phenomenon of light,
the orb of the sun, which, summer and winter, rises and sets
in the sky. His power of bringing secrets to light baa
been already seen in the story of Vulcan and Venus.
PHOEB US APOLLO, HELIOS, OB SOL. 105
The myth of Apollo is, like that of Aphrodite, one of
the oldest in the Greek system, but, unlike the latter, which
is at least partly traceable to oriental influence, is a pure
growth of the Greek mind. No doubt certain oriental
nations had deities of the sun and of light similar in some
points to Apollo, but this only proves the simple fact that
they viewed the movements of the sun and the operations of
light in a general way similarly to the Greeks. We have
seen in the preceding chapters how the sky, earth, sea, and
lower world were personified by divine beings of a high
order, while in the same way other forces and powers in
nature were imagined as beings. In the myth of Apollo
we shall find represented the various operations of the eternal
light of the sun.
It is the sun's rays, or the arrows of Apollo, that every-
where, as the fields and gardens teach us, quicken life, and
foster it toward ripeness; through them a new life springs all
around, and in the warmth of their soft, kindly light the
jubilant voice of nature is heard and awakens an echo in the
human soul. At the same time these arrows destroy the life of
plants and animals; even man falls under them in southern
climates, such as Greece. Their light penetrates to dark
corners, and is capable of reaching to inmost recesses. All
these ideas are represented in the myth of Apollo, who is
therefore conceived in various ways corresponding to the
genial radiance of the sun, with all its friendly influences :
(1) as the personification of youth and beauty; (2) as god of
earthly blessings; (3) as god of the herds that graze on the
fields which are warmed by him — a character in which he
appeared herding the cattle of Laomedon, which multiplied
largely under his care, and when alone piping on his flute,
till the wild beasts were attracted from their dens; (4) as god
of medicine, who provided for the growth of healing plants;
(5) as god of music, for everywhere were heard happy, joyful
sounds, when his kindly beams spread light and warmth over
nature ; (6) as god of oracles which reveal the secrets of tha
106 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
future, as the light of heaven dispels all darkness^ and detests
nocturnal gloom.
The sun appears ever young and powerful in the heavens^
and so also must eternal youth^ strength^ and endurance be
ascribed to Apollo. For this reason he came to be a pro-
tector of youth when engaged in athletic contests, as well as
iu war. But summer heat produces plagues, and so it was
necessary to view Apollo as the cause of the same, as the
god of death, whose unerring arrows carry destruction with
them. In this latter phase of his character we find him
styled Oameius, and worshipped with particular zeal in
Sparta, a festival being held annually in his honor in the
month of August, the entire population withdrawing from
the town and for sev^eral days encamping in tents in the
neighborhood, like a besieging army — ^the object being, by
living in tents, to avoid the injurious effects of the intense
heat of the dog-days. The name of this festival was Cax-
neia. As a religious ceremony, the intention of it was to
appease the dreaded god, and accordingly it was attended
with great reverence in Sparta, and from thence transplanted
to Cyrene, a Greek colony on the north coast of Africa, to
the islands of Rhodes and Sicily, and to the Greek cities in
lower Italy — such as Tarentum and Sybaris. The finest of
the temples in honor of this Apollo was at Amyclae.
Another phase of his character, in which his destroying
power is combined with his function as god of youth and
blooming vegetation, is represented in the myth from which
he derived the title of Hyacinthus, and enjoyed a form of
worship which was for the most part peculiar to the Pelo-
ponnesus, the modern Morea, extending over the whole of
the south coast of it, to Sicyon, Messenia, Amyclae, and
Sparta. It was accompanied by laments sung from place to
place, and by poetic competitions, the idea to be conveyed in
thd whole ceremony being the transitoriness of nature and
the return of life again in course of time. In this spirit
the festival of the Hyacinthia was celebrated annually at
PHOEBUS APOLLO, HELIOS, OB SOL. 107
Sparta in July, aad lasted nine days, commeaciDg with sad-
ness aod expressions of grief, and ooncludiag with joyous
excitement.
The myth to which this festival related tells how Apollo
accidentally killed, in throwing his disc, the beautiful H^a-
ointhuB, whom he dearly loved,
the youngest son (d Amyclas; or,
iu another version, how Zephy-
ruB, the wind-god, who also loved
the boy, hurled back the disc at
the head of Hyacinthus, out of
jealousy toward Apollo. The sor-
row at the beginning of the festival
of the Hyacinthia was to com-
memorate his death, while the
belief that he had been trans-
formed into the flower which
sprang up where his blood fell,
and bears his name, gave occasion
afterward to happy feelings of
confidence in his return. Clearly
the object of the myth, like that
of Persephone, was to point to U
the alternating decay and return ApoiioanaHy>rfnthu&
of life in nature, which in this
instance is conceived under the form of a youth, the disc of
Apollo being equally clearly a symbol of the sun, which
scorches up vegetation.
A similar idea seems to run through the story which relates
how Apollo and Artemis, taking offence at Niobe because,
with a mother's pride, she had boasted herself higher than
Leto as the mother of beautiful children, shot down her
children — Apollo the sons, and Artemis the daughters.
When one after another had fallen before the angry deities,
all but the youngest daughter, Niobe, with the child elinging
to her, implored them in anguish to spare the last ol K^kc
108 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST OBDEB.
many children, but could not avert the fatal shaft. When
it struck, her mother's heart became like a stone, and she
refused to murmur or complain. She was transformed, it
was said, into a rugged rock, down which tears trickled
silently.
While sometimes bringing a pleasant death with his arrows,
Apollo at other times, as during the Trojan war, when he took
part against the Greeks, appears to exercise his destroying
power with irresistible fury. Whole ranks of fighting men
fall dead when he shakes his aegis, and the walls raised by
the Greeks tumble like structures of sand made by children
at play.
As god of the sun in its friendly influence upon the face
of nature, we find Apollo styled Thargelius, and a festival,
called Thargelia, being held in his honor at Athens in the
month of May, to celebrate the ripening of the fruits of the
field under the warmth of the sun, and at the same time to
serve as a festival of expiation in memory of the human
sacrifices of ancient days. In August occurred another fes-
tival at Athens, called Metageitnia, at which Apollo, as god
of harvest and plenty, was thought of as entertaining the
other gods and encouraging neighborly feelings among his
worshippers. In October the first-fruits of the field were
presented to him as a sacrifice, and in September was held a
festival at which he was invoked as a helper in battle.
Under the title of Nomius he was regarded by herdsmen as
their patron god. But the genial influence of the sun is
felt on the sea as well as on land, and for this reason he was
styled Delphinius, and in this capacity worshipped, among
other places, at Athens, where his temple, called the Delphi-
nian, was in early times a place of refuge and a court for
the trial of capital crimes. An annual festival was held in
May, called Delphinia, to commemorate the tribute of seven
boys and seven girls, whom Athens had been compelled in
remote times to send every year to Crete to be offered as
sacrifices to the Minotaur.
PHOEBUS APOLLO, HELIOS, OR SOL. 109
As a god of the sun in its annual course^ Apollo wa^
thought to spend the winter away in a northern region among
a mythical people called Hyperboreans, to whom it was
always light. As the winter approached poets sang farewell
to him. At his birth Zeus had given him a mitra (or cap),
a lyre, and a car drawn by swans, in which he was to pro-
ceed to Delphi, but the swans carried him off to the bright
land of the Hyperboreans. When the summer came the
priests of Delphi hailed his return in festal songs. The
voice of the nightingale welcomed him back. A peculiar
festival, the Daphnephoria, was held at Thebes every eighth
year in honor of Apollo Ismenius, the ceremony consisting
of a procession in which was carried a branch of olive hung
with wreaths and representations of the sun, moon, stars, and
planets, and called the Oopo. From the statement that the
number of wreaths was 865, to indicate the days of the year,
it may be gathered that the festival as we know it was not
of very high antiquity, symbols so obvious as this being
usually of late origin. On the other hand, it may be sup-
posed, from the character of Apollo as sun-god, that the
ceremony had existed in a simpler form in early times. The
number seven was sacred to him. Sacred swans made a circle
seven times round the island of Delos at his birth, which
occurred on the seventh day of the month. From this he
took the title of Hebdomeius.
One of the oldest forms of his worship appears to have
been that in which he was regarded simply as god of light,
and styled Lyoius, the original centre of this worship being
Lycia in the southwest of Asia Minor.
Turning now to that phase of his character in which he
represents the light of the sun as the symbol of an all-seeing
and all-knowing power, we find Apollo regarded as the great
god of oracles, with Delphi as the principal centre of his
activity. His oracles were there communicated through a
priestess, with the title of Pythia, who sat aloft on a sacred
tripod of gold which stood above the opening of a chasm in
110 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
the rock. Out of this chasm rose a continuous stream of
cold vapor, which drove the priestess into a state of frenzy
when she sat above it. Her method of prophesying was by
uttering in her frenzy single words or sounds, which persons
educat€Ki for the purpose caught up and put into verse, gen-
erally in such a cunning way as to have, instead of a clear
incontrovertible meaning, a double and easily mistaken im-
port.
To give one example : the oracle, when consulted by the
Athenians for advice as to how to meet best the approach of
the Persian force, returned as its answer, ^^ Trust to your
citadel of wood.'' This the Athenian sages misunderstood,
and proceeded to have the Acropolis protected with wooden
bulwarks, which naturally could not for a moment resist the
enemy. Themistocles, however, and the younger men of the
day, declared that the words referred to the fleet, and suc-
ceeded in persuading the people to take to the ships, the
result of which was the glorious victory of Salamis. Had
the interpretation of the sages been accepted generally, the
oracle would have had the answer ready, that it meant the
fleet. It was only by such tricks that the oracle of Delphi,
clever and far-seeing as the priests were, could have main-
tained its reputation for unerringness and its vast influence.
Of the same nature, but apparently older, were the oracles
of Apollo in Asia Minor; as, for instance, those of Colophon
and Didymi near Miletus, the latter of which was in the
hands of the priestly family of Branchidae. Sometimes the
god exercised the power of communicating the prophetic gift
to mortals, as he did to Cassandra, and to Deiphobe, a
daughter of Glaucus. The latter lived in a grotto beside
the town of Cumae, in the Campania of Italy, and was
known by the name of the Oumaean Sibyl. It was from her
that Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome, acquired the
three Sibylline books which contained important prophecies
concerning the fate of Rome, and were held in great rever-
ence by the Romans. They were preserved carefully in the
PHOEB US A POLL 0, HELIOS, OB SOL. 1 1 1
Capitol down to the time of SuUa^ when they perished in a
fire. In Greece also was a famous seer or prophet, and
favorite of Apollo Epimenides, of whom the myth reports
that when a herdsman he fell asleep in a grotto, slept for
fifty-six years, and on awakening found himself endowed
with the prophetic gift in a high degree.
Connected with his gift of prophecy was his power of
music. For not only were the oracles expressed in verse,
but the strains of music, when spontaneous, were thought to
originate in an inspired foresight into the future. As god
of music he was leader of the Muses, Musagretes ; and him-
self played on a wonderful lyre which Hermes had made for
him.
At Delphi he was styled Apollo P3rthius, and enjoyed
several annual festivals, such as the Theophania, to cele-
brate his return from the Hyperboreans, and the Theoxenia,
at which, it being harvest time, he was supposed to receive
the other gods at his hospitp,ble table. The principal festival,
however, was that at which the Pythian Games were held.
The games had been instituted to commemorate the victory
of Apollo over the dragon Python, which resisted his entrance
upon his duties as oracular god at Delphi. They were held
at first every seventh, afterward every ninth, and latterly
every fifth year.
As being himself possessed of eternal youth, and of the
fiaest conceivable athletic form, Apollo came to be regarded
as a patron of the athletic contests of youth, and in this
capacity ranked with Hercules and Hermes (Mercury). He
was the god also to whom persons polluted either with disease
or crime turned for purification, and on this account his high
power was brought home frequently and seriously to a great
part of the people. He was, therefore, properly viewed as
the father of Aesculapius, the god of medicine.
The story of the birth of Apollo is that he, with his twin
sister Artemis, was a son of Zeus and Leto (or Latona);
that Leto, after wandering long hither and thither pursued
112
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST OBDER.
by the jealous Hera, at last fouod shelter in the island oF
Delos, io the Aegean Sea, and there was delivered. It was
said that hitherto that island had been only a waste rock
driven ahout in the sea, but that it became fixed in its present
position on the oc-
casion of the birth
of Apolloand Arte-
mis, an event which
was celebrated by a
blazeof golden light
shed over the isl-
and, while sacred
swans flew around
encircling it seven
times. This was in
May, and for that
reason his festival
at Delos, the Delia,
was held in that
month. But Leto
was compelled, through the pursuit of Hera, to abandon
her children. They were entrusted to Themis, a name which
signifies "justice," and indicates here the indisputable sense
of right present with Aijollo from his birth. By her he was
fed on ambrosia and nectar, upon which he grew so stroi^,
and that, too, so quickly, that within only a few hours after
his birth he was a youth of dazzliug appearance, and escaped
his divine nurse, proclaiming that his destiny was to be a
bowman, a player on the lyre, and to give truthful oracles to
mankind.
To accomplish the end of his ambition he set out at once
on a pilgrimage to search for a suitable place for an oracle,
neither too public nor too retired. After searching through
many districts of Greece he arrived at the quiet rocky valley
of Delphi, or Pytho, which he recognized as the desired spot,
on account of its peaceful position in the heart of Greece.
Leto.i
FSOBSUa APOLLO, HELIOS, OR SOL.
Moreover, there had
been an oracle of
Themis there from a
remote early time, and
she was willing to
baud over her duties
to the young god. A
terrible dragon, how-
ever, called Python,
stood in the way, re-
fused entrance, and
tried to repel him; but
in vain, for the young
god, confident in the
unerring aim of his
arrows, attacked the
monster, and slew it
after a short combat.
In this way he ac-
quired his world-
famed oracle, and from
his victory over the
dragon obtained the
title of PsrthiuB,
f'rum that time for-
ward, with one ex-
ception, Apollo re-
mained in undisputed
possession of thesacred
tripod and oracle at
Delphi, and that was
when he had to take up
their defence against
Heroulee, who, be-
cause the acting priest-
ess did not prophesy as
he wished, offered her
114 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
violence aud carried off the tripod. Apollo hastened to the
aid of his priestess, and Zeus had to settle the quarrel be-
tween his two sons, who thereafter lived in the closest
friendship.
Amongst the other incidents of his life, it is related that
Apollo once incurred the severe displeasure of Zeus, and was
driven for a time out of Olympus, through having shot
at some of the Cyclopes in revenge for Zeus having struck
Aesculapius, a son of Apollo, with a thunderbolt. During
his exile on earth, he acted as a herdsman to his friend
Admetus, the king of Pherae, in Thessaly, and again in the
same capacity to Laomedon, prince of Troy. In vexation
at his banishment he joined with Poseidon in an attempt to
dethrone Zeus. But the scheme failed, and both deities were
in consequence sentenced to assist in building the walls of
Troy. Laomedon refused to give them the payment agreed
on for the service, and Apollo revenged himself by sending a
dreadful pestilence which depopulated the town and neigh-
borhood of Troy. During the time of his servitude he had
also a quarrel with Pan, who insisted that the flute was a
better instrument than the lyre. The decision, which was
left to Midas, a king of Lydia, was given in favor of Pan,
for which Apollo punished Midas by causing his ears to grow
long like those of an ass. Marsyas, too, had boasted that
he could surpass Apollo in the art of playing on the flute,
and for this had to suffer the cruel punishment of being
flayed alive.
In Rome the worship of Apollo was not established till
320 B. C, a temple being raised to him in that year in con-
sequence of a pestilence that had visited the city. After-
ward a second temple to him was erected on the Palatine
hill. The ApoUinarian Games were instituted during the
second Punic war.
No distinction was made by the Greek poets of later times
between Apollo and the sun-god, Helios. As little did the
Romans distinguish between Apollo and Sol. In both cases
PHOEBUS APOLLO, HELIOS, OR SOL.
115
the confusion arose from the fact that the fundamental ides
of both deities was that of sun-gods. The title of Phoebus
plainly designated Apollo as god of pure streaming light,
particularly of the light of heaven, and this phase of his
character was made more conspicuous by the fact of his
Apollo, Pan, and
mother'a name being Leto, " darkness," strictly " goddess
of the dark night." But this, his original signification,
came in time to be lost sight of in the variety of other func-
tions which he assumed. Helios, or Hyperion, on the con-
trary, remained, properly speaking, only the orb of the sun
which is visible in the heavens by day, and disappears by
night in a r^ular course. That was the only signification
he had. The number seven was sacred to him, as it was to
Apollo, and in the island of Trinacia, supposed to be Sicily,
it was said, he had seven herds of cows and seven herds of
Iambs, fifty in each herd, which never increased or dimiu.-
116
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
ished in numbers. It was one of his pleasi
grazing when he rose in the morDiDg
JQ the evening.
Of the sons of Helios the most
whom it is said that he once had a
with Epaphns, a son of Zeus and
begged Helios, if he really was his
such by granting one request; upon
river Styx to witness that he would
lures to see them
and when he descended
famous is Phaethon, of
dispute about his origin
lo, and in consequence
father, to prove himself
which Helios called the
not refuse to grant it.
The request was, that he, Pliaethon, should l>e permitted for
one day to drive the chariot of the sun. Helios, astonished
at the boldness of the request, and alarmed at the danger
that threatened his son in such an uudertaking, endeavored
\n move him from his determination. But Phaethon only
clung to the bargain all the more firmly, and Helios, finding
himself bound by his oath, instructed his son how to drive
and manage the horses, and handed over to him the task tot-
one day. The youth, however, through being unused to tiie.
PHOEBUS APOLLO, HELIOS, OR SOL. 117
work, and iinacquamted with the right way, soon beoame
cODfused, aod lost his strength and his senses. The spirited
horses, named Pyroses, Ecus, Aethon, and Phlegon, wheeled
out of the right course, and brought the chariot of the siin
so near to the earth tliat in some places
the latter took fire, fountains were
dried up, rivers began to boil, and part
of the human race became black in
color. Zeus, alarmed at the unexpected
danger in which both heaven and earth
were thus placed, slew Phaethon wilh
a stroke of lightning, and cast him
from the chariot o£ the sun down into
the river Eridanus. The three sisters
of Phaethon, Heliades, as they were
called — ^that is, daughters of Helios,
Phaethusa, Aegrle, and Lampetia,
wept for him for a long lime, and
finally became transformed into larch
trees, that overhang the river's bank,
the tears that continually flowed from
them being changed by the sun into amber {deUron). Phae-
thon's friend CyonuB mourned his loss deeply, and was
transformed into a swan, while Helios was so grieved at his
son's death that only the entreaties of the gods could prevail
on him to resume the reins of the chariot of the sun.
The symbols of Helios were horses' heads, a crown of
seven rays, a cornucopia, and a ripened fruit. The symbols
of Apollo were the wolf, swan, raven, stag, dolphin, laurel,
and lyre.
In works of art Apollo ia usually represented as having the figure
of a youthful athlete — perhaps the finest existing statnc of him being
the Apollo Belvedere of the Vatican, His hair is long, and uanally
tied, like that of his aister Arteniia, in a large knot above the fore-
bead. In the character of Musagetea he weara long ample drapery
girt at the waiat, a diadem round his head, and long treaaea &UiQ.%
118 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
on his shoulders. Though the general representation of him is that
in which he is engaged in playing on the lyre, or resting from doing
so, we find him also with bow and arrows, as Sauroctonos, killing a
lizard, holding forth his aegis to destroy his enemies, and present at
the flaying of Marsyas.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA.
Originally Artemis was the divine personification of the
moon, just as her brother Apollo was originally god of the
sun. But by degrees, as the moon came to be viewed like
the sun, on the one hand as a mere illuminating orb, and on
the other as possessing a real or apparent and generally be-
lieved influence upon vegetation, and on human as well as
animal life, there grew up a distinction between moon-
goddesses of two kinds, corresponding to the sun gods of
two kinds. The one was Selene, or Luna, whose significa-
tion was merely that of goddess of the orb of night, as
Helios, the sun, was of the orb of day. The other was
Artemis, or Diana, who embraced in her character all the
other functions exercised by the moon on earthly life; and
accordingly, like Apollo, became the subject of a largely
developed religious belief; while the myth of Selene, on the
contrary, like that of Helios, was but little and sparingly
improved upon.
Great as was the variety of the real and fancied influences
of the moon upon natural life, proportionately great was the
variety in the myth of Artemis — a locality of worship some-
times, at other times a particular point of view of her char-
acter determining the phase of it. And further, it should be
observed that many peculiar features in the myths of Arte-
mis are traceable to the fact of her being twin-sister of
Apollo, whose inner and spiritual qualities she was believed
to share.
It was observed that the vegetation of warm southern ^
lands spread and flourished most under the quickening influ-
ence of the coolness of night and the fall of dew, which
ABTEMIS, OB DIANA; AND SELENE, OB LUNA. 119
often for whole months was a eubstitute for the misaing raios.
It was known by experience that ttie fall of dew is most
copious when the sky is clear and the moon sheds her pure
light — and hence to Artemis was ascribed the cause of fer
tility in this direction. Hence she was believed to roam by
night through woods and groves, over hills and valleys,
accompanied by the nymphs of the fountains; beside rivers,
fountains, and marshes her presence was felt. Bat iSoR, Yt«»i-
120 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
ence of the moon in the heavens gave security to travellers
and to herds, especially from the attacks of wild animals,
whose enemy Artemis was, therefore, thought to be. Under
the title of Agrrotera she was the patron goddess of hunts-
men, her favorite hunting-ground being Arcadia, with its
many heights and glens well- wooded and well- watered.
Here she was worshipped under the form of a bear, and
called Calliste, the Arcadians, or bear-people, boasting their
descent from her. On the other hand, the r^ularly recur-
ring absence of the moon from the heavens, which could
only have been regarded as due to a voluntary act on the
part of the goddess, showed that though opposed to wild
animals, she could also employ them for the purpose of pun-
ishing men, and to illustrate this, the story was told of her
having sent among the Aetolians the so-called Calydonian
boar, which laid waste their fields, till after a great hunt it
was slain by Meleagrer and Atalanta. As a huntress her
favorite animal was the stag, because its swiftness gave the
best opportunity for her method of capture, which was by
bow and speed of foot. As an instance of how severely she
would punish the wanton slaying of the stag, there is a story
of how for such a crime on the part of Agramenmon she
detained the Greek fleet, on its way to Troy, in the harbor
of Aulis, and exacted from him the sacrifice of his daughter
Iphigenia. Actaeon, the huntsman, had seen the goddess
bathing, and for this offence to her modesty was transformed
into a stag, and devoured by his own hounds — a story which
appears to illustrate the destructive influence of the dog-star,
Sirius. Another hunter whom she slew with her sweet
arrows was Orion, a personification of the bright constella-
tion, which at the beginning of summer is seen in early
morning in the east, where it remains until extinguished by
the morning light. To express this in the form of a myth,
Orion was said to have been too pressing in his advances
toward Bos, the morning, and for this the goddess of the
moon slew him.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA. 121
From the coincidence observed between the courses of the
moon and the ebb and flow of tides^ Artemis came to be
viewed as a goddess who protected the occupation of the
fishermen^ not only on the shore and on arms of the sea^ but
also on lakes and rivers. In this character she bore the
name of Dictynna, or Britomaxtis, and was worshipped
with zeal among other places in the island of Crete, where,
to account for the former of her two names, the story was
told of her having, to escape the pursuit of Minos, thrown
herself from a rock into the sea, upon which she was caught
in a fisherman's net.
From the joyous feelings awakened by calm moonlight,
and perhaps partly from her relationship to Apollo, she was
described as fond of music and the dance — a view of her
character which appears to have presented itself in strong
light to the people of Arcadia.
By whatever process the belief was arrived at, whether
from some comparison which suggested itself between the
life of man and the waxing and waning of the moon, or
whether because mankind at birth seemed to come out of
night into the light of day, we find Artemis represented as
the guardian and helper of childbirth, with the title of
Bilithyia, Ilithyia,* or Bleutho. She was throughout
looked upon as a goddess of the female productive power in
nature, and accordingly the care and nursing of children
through their illness were placed under her supervision. A
festival, accompanied by the dancing of young girls, was
held in her honor as the goddess of youth, in Messenia,
Laconia, Elis, and elsewhere in Greece. Similarly from
the notion that mankind after death seems to sink into night
again, she came to be viewed as goddess of death, particu-
larly of that manner of death which could not be assigned
to a known cause — it being said of those who were stricken
suddenly, without an ostensible cause, such as an injury or
* Both names are also assigned to Hera, while mthyla herself is described as a
daughter of Zeus and Hera.
122 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
wound, that Apollo or Artemis had laid them low with a
kindly arrow ; and in these cases the death of men was
ascribed to Apollo, and of women to Artemis, as a rule.
From the fact that the moon, with its pure serene light,
naturally suggested, as it does to us also, the idea of a modest
pure virgin, Artemis, as her name implies, the " modest,
spotless goddess/' came to be looked on as a virgin, and as
having under her special care all shy and modest youths,
whether boys or girls, from whom she received presents of
wreaths of flowers in the springtime. When girls had
reached an age at which her care was no longer necessary, it
was customary for them to dedicate their girdles to the god-
dess. Young girls were sometimes called " bears," in allu-
sion to their patron goddess, and her symbol of a bear. She
was worshipped in Athens, Corinth, and Thebes as goddess
of strict upbringing, of good fame, of upright mind, and of
sensibility in the affairs of ordinary life. She chased and
fired her arrows at all wild and unchecked creatures and
actions.
When only a maiden of tender age she resolved, and
obtained Zeus' consent, to remain always in a single state,
and, like Athene, continued constant and true to her resolve,
punishing with great severity every offence against this prin-
ciple on the part of the nymphs who accompanied her, as we
see in the examples of Daphne, whom she transformed into
a laurel tree, and Callisto into a bear.
It may have been from the same motiv^e which assigned
the bear as a symbol, that in early times her worship was
attended with human sacrifice. Of this kind was the wor-
ship of the Tauric Artemis, at first peculiar to the countries
on the shores of the Black Sea, the Crimea being the prin-
cipal centre of it. From the Crimea, it is said, Orestes
brought an image of the goddess, and transplanted her wor-
ship to Greece, where it took root, among other places, at
Sparta. There she was styled Orthia or Orthosia. The
sacrifices of human beings were, however, in later times,
ABTEMia, OB DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA. 123
oommuted for the well-known ceremony of flogging youths
at her altar, said to have been introduced by the Spartan
legislator Lycurgus.
As goddess of marshes she was styled Limnaea, and as a
river goddess Potamia. In this latter capacity she took
under her protection the nymphs of fountains, as, for exam-
ple, Arethusa, whose beauty had attracted the river-^od
Alpheua, and made her the object of his constant pursuit,
till Artemis, to elude him, caused the water of the spring
which she represented to flow under ground. As Munyohia,
or moon-goddess, she was worshipped at the harbor of Ath-
ens, and enjoyed an annual festival, at which cakes of the
shape of a full moon, with lights stuck in them, were pre-
sented to her. As Brauronia, with the symbol of a bear,
she had a sanctuary on the Acropolis of Athens, In Euboea
she was styled Ama-
rynthia, and was wor-
shipped with great
ceremony.
Selene, or Luna, it
has already been said,
stood as goddess of the
moon, in the same re-
lation to Artemis as
did Helios to Phoebus
Apollo, inasmuch as
she merely represented
the orb of the moon,
while Artemis repre-
sented the inflaence
exercised on nature by maoa. and EudTmion.
night, the symbol of
which was the moon, as the sun was symbol of day. Ac-
cordingly, as compared with Helioe, the rising star of day,
Selene represents evening and night, carrying a torch, and
clad in long, heavy robes, with a veil covering the back of
124
DEITIES OF THE BI0HE3T ORDER.
her head. On her brow ahe wears a half-moon (less fre-
quently horns), and leans forward, as if moving with speed,
in a chariot drawn by two horses; or she rides on a mule.
The story of her love for the beautiful young Endynuon,
whom she found asleep on a hillside, and, enamoured of
his loveliness, descended to him, is the best known of the
myths concerning her, and may be taken as a symbolical
representation of the gentle influence of the goddess of night,
who watches the slumbers of uocoDscious creatures. Among
the Eomans Luna had a handsome temple, founded by
King Servius Tnllius, on the Aventine hill, another on the
Capitol, and a third on the Palatine.
Compared with the Artemis whom we have up to now
been describing, the so-callgd Ephesian Artemis, or Diana
of EphesuB, presents so very different and strange an aspect,
that at first sight we are completely at a loss to understand
how by any possibility the term of a vii^in could be applied
to her. Her appearance altogether wants the simplicity,
humanily, and truth to nature which characterized the Greek
deities, and, what is more, bears the most obvious signs of
maternity. It would seem that the Greeks, who settled as
colonists in very early times on the coast of Asia Minor,
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA. 126
Diana nfEphcsua.
found this goddess being worshipped by the native popula-
tion of that land, and adopted ber in the ^\aKi% oV k.'c\)&m%.
126
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
who, leaving out the fact of her being a virgia, was prob-
ably identi^ with the Asiatic goddess in respect to her
divine power over fertility, childbirth, the mooo, and hunting.
The worship of Diana of
Ephesus extended through-
out the part of Asia Minor
colonized by Greeks, and
thence spread to other
places — never, however, ob-
taining a £rm footing in
Greece proper. At Ephesus
she had a temple, which,
for the grandeur of its archi-
tecture, its size, splendor,
and wealth, was reckoned
one of the seven wonders
of tlie ancient world. On
the night on which Alex-
ander the Gr£&t was born
it was set fire to and almost
completely destroyed by a
man named Herostratus,
whose object, being simply
to hand down his name in
history, was gained. After-
ward, when Alexander had
acquired renown by his
extraordinary conquests in
Asia, this coincidence was
remarked, and accepted as
having been an omen of his
future fame. Whether he himself believed so or not, he
gladly assisted in the rebuilding of the temple, so that when
finished it was more magnificent than before. Diana was
still being worshipped zealously when the Apostle Paul went
to Ephesus to preach Christianity, and accordingly he was
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA, 127
received with hostility, especially by the silversmiths and
goldsmiths, whose trade consisted largely in the production
of small shrines or representations of the front of the temple
of Diana, to be sold among her worshippers and devotees.
Feeling that the success of Paul's preaching would ruin their
trade, they raised so great an opposition to him and his fol-
lowers that they were obliged to leave the town. Neverthe-
less the new religion found converts, who from that time
forward formed a Christian community there. This Artemis
was also worshipped under the title of Leucophryna in
Asia Minor, and as such had a splendid temple at Mag-
nesia on the Maeander.
Among the Romans the worship of Diana appears to have
been of native growth, and not, as was the case with that of
many of the other deities, imported from Greece. A temple
had been erected to her in Rome on the Aventine hill as early
as the time of King Servius Tullius. Her sacrifices con-
sisted of oxen and deer; and these, as well as the fruit pre-
sented to her, had to be perfectly clean and faultless, as
became offerings to a virgin goddess. Stags, dogs, and the
first-fruits of the fields were sacred to her.
In works of art Artemis was usually represented as a huntress,
either in the act of running with speed in pursuit of her game, or
resting, and presenting the picture of a youog virgin, fleet of foot,
her dress girt high, and unencumbered except by bow and arrows.
In type of face she resembles her brother Apollo so closely that, from
the face alone, it is sometimes difficult to distinguish them. Her
hair, Hke his, is gathered into a large knot above the forehead. The
most celebrated of the statues of her that have come down to us is
the so-called Diana of Versailles. In early works of art, and in some
of the later — ^as, for example, a marble statue in the British Museum
— her drapery reaches to her feet, but in these cases also she is repre-
sented as in active movement, like the moon hastening through the
clouds. Of the incidents in which she figured we find that of Actaeon
being transformed into a stag and devoured by his hounds, in a sculp-
tured group, on a painted vase, and on the fragment of a cameo in
the British Museum. The hunt of the Calydonian boar occurs on
painted vases.
The Ephesian Artemis was represented with a mural crown on her
128 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
head. Behind the crow a is a disc, as symbol of the fall moon ; on
her breast, like a necklace, a garland of flowers, as a sign of her influ-
ence in springtime, while above it are figures of maidens, to indi-
cate her patronage of young girls ; lions cling to her arms ; as mother
of wild beasts, she has many breasts ; her legs are closely bandaged
and ornamented with figures of bulls, stags, lions, and gryphons ; at
the sides are flowers and bees. How far this figure may have resem-
bled the original image of the goddess which had fallen from heaven,
it is impossible to say.
Selene or Luna is represented as riding on a mule or a horse ; on
the pediment of the Parthenon it is a horse. On a painted vase in
the British Museum there occurs a representation of sunrise ; Helios
is seen rising in his chariot, the stars, in the form of youths, dive
headlong into the sea, and the moon (Selene) rides away over the
hilltops on a horse, and as she departs is bayed at by a dog.
DIONYSUS, OR BACCHUS,
Having more titles than any of the other deities, was styled,
to increase their number, '* God of the many names,'' of
these the most familiar being Bromius, Lyaeus, Dithy-
rambus, and Bacchus. The belief in the existence and
powers of this god appears to have been borrowed by the
Greeks in its primitive form from oriental mythology, to have
been developed by them, and in later times communicated
to the Romans. His original signification was that of a
divine being whose power might be noticed operating in the
sap of vegetation; and, accordingly, spring was a season of
gladness and joy for him, and winter a season of sorrow.
From this sprung his double character of god of the vintage
and its gay accompaniments, and god of the ecstatic and
mystic ceremonies in which his sufferings during winter were
deplored. As time went on he came to be viewed chiefly as
the source of the happiness and mirth which arise from the
enjoyment of tlie noble fruit of the vine; while afterward,
from the fact that his festivals in spring and summer, with
their gaiety and mirth, gave occasion to the first attempts at
dramatic parformances, he added the function of god of the
theatre to that of god of the vine.
DIONTSUS, OS BACCHUS.
He was bora, it was commoDly believed, at Thebes, and
was a son of Zeus and Semele, a daughter of Cadmus, the
founder of that town, a son of Agenor, and grandson of
Poseidon. Of his birth poets relate how Hera, indi^jo&ob
130 DEITim OF THB BIGBEST OMDEB.
at this rival in her husband's affections^ determined to get
rid of her; and to this end, assuming a disguise, went to
Thebes, and presented herself to Semele; how she succeeded
in winning her confidence, and thereupon took occasion to
propose that she should ask Zeus to visit her for once in all
the plenitude of his majesty as a god of thunder, how Zeus,
who, without waiting to listen, had hastily sworn, " by the
black waters of the Styx,'' to grant whatever she should ask,
was vexed when he heard the foolish request, from granting
which no power could absolve him; how one day he appeared
before the luckless Semele with a display of thunder and
lightning which caused her death. So far the desire of ven-
geance on the part of Hera was satisfied. But Semele, at
the moment of her death, gave birth to a male child, whose
life Zeus fortunately restored. That was the child Bacchus.
To prevent its suffering at the hands of Hera, Hermes, the
messenger of the gods, was secretly dispatched with the
infant to a place called Nysa, where were certain nymphs,
to whom, along with Silenus, the charge of bringing up the
child was entrusted. His title of Dithyrambus, it is said,
means '^ twice born," and refers to the incident of his life
being restored by Zeus. In after times it was applied to a
species of song in honor of the god of wine, of which Arion
of Methymna was the reputed originator.
The childhood of Dionysus was spent in innocence and
happiness among the nymphs, satyrs, sileni, herdsmen, and
vine-tenders of Nysa. But when he arrived at manhood he
set out on a journey through all known countries, even into
the remotest parts of India, instructing the people, as he
proceeded, how to tend the vine, and how to practise many
other arts of peace, besides teaching them the value of just
and honorable dealings. He was praised everywhere as the
greatest benefactor of mankind. At the same time, it is
said, apparently with reference to the fierce and stubborn
mood which in some cases follows copious indulgence in
wine, that he met occasionally with great resistance on his
DIONYSUS, OB BACCHUS. 131
journey, but always overcame it and punished those who
opposed him most severely. As an instance of this, we will
take Lyourgus, the king of Thrace, whom, for his resistance,
Dionysus drove mad, and caused to fell his son, mistaking
him for a vine-plant, and afterward to kill himself in despair.
Or, again, Pentheus, a king of Thebes, whom he caused to be
torn to pieces by his own mother and her following of women,
because he had dared to look on at their orgiastic rites.
Nowhere was the knowledge of how to utilize the vine
appreciated more than in Attica, where the god had commu-
nicated it to Icarus, whose first attempt to extend the benefit
of it to others brought about his own death, an event which
was deeply grieved for afterward. In December a festival,
with all manner of rustic enjoyments, was held in honor of
Dionysus in the country round Athens. In January a fes-
tival called Lenaea was held in his honor in the town, at
which one of the principal features was a nocturnal and
orgiastic procession of women. Then followed in February
the Anthesteria, the first day of which was called " cask-
opening day,'^ and the second ^' pouring day.'' Lastly came
the great festival of the year, the Great Dionysia, which
was held in the town of Athens, and lasted from the ninth
to the fifteenth of March, the religious part of the ceremony
consisting of a procession in which an ancient wooden image
of the god was carried through the streets from one sanctuary
to another, accompanied by excited songs. The theatre of
Dionysus was daily the scene of splendid dramatic perform-
ances, and the whole town was astir and gay.
His worship extended to Lemnos, Thasos, and Naxos,
where the story was told of his turning the Tyrrhenian
pirates into dolphins, and where he found the beautiful Ari-
adne, when she had been abandoned by Theseus. It spread
to Crete, the home of Ariadne, and into Asia Minor. In
Phrygia he was worshipped with wild ceremonies, called
Sabazia, and in Thrace and Macedonia, called Cotyttia.
As the god who had advanced through Asia Minor and oi\ tft
132 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
India, accompaDied by his wild and clamorous following, he
was styled the Indian Dionysus, and in this character was
represented as advanced in years.
The sufferings which the god was supposed to endure in
winter led him to be associated with Demeter in the mys-
teries of Eleusis, the purpose of which was, as has been said,
to celebrate the grief of the goddess in winter, and her pros-
pects of joy in the coming spring.
The vine, ivy, and pomegranate were sacred to this god;
his sacrifices consisted of goats and pigs.
In works of art Dionsrsus was represented under a variety of forms ;
of these, however, two are to be specially noticed. The one called
the '^ Indian Bakchos," represents him as a man of years, with worthy
aspect, a long beard, a diadem on his brow, and long drapery sweep-
ing to his feet. In another figure he is represented as a beautiful
youth with an almost feminine appearance, beardless, his hair falling
in long tresses, and adorned with a wreath of ivy or vine tendrils,
sometimes wearing the skin of a stag over his shoulders, or with
small horns on his brow, and often in a car drawn by panthers or
lions, or riding on one of these beasts.
At other times he appears as a child, and that sometimes when he
is being handed over by Hermes to the care of Silenus and the
nymphs of Nysa. The youthful Dionysus is frequently represented
in the company of Ariadne, while the elder Dionysus is usually
accompanied by Sileni and Satyrs, as when he visited Icarus and
taught him the use of the vine, a scene which occurs on several
ancient reliefs, of which two are in the British Museum. On his
journey to India he rides on a camel, and on other occasions he is
attended by panthers. His staff is a thyrsus — a rod with a pine cone
at the top. In his hand is often a drinking-cup. The movement
and excitement of the persons who were associated with Dionysus
was a great attraction to Praxiteles and the sculptors of his time, and
it is probable that the many sculptures of Dionysiac subjects which
we now possess come from that school either as originals or direct
imitations.
HERMES, OR MERCURY,
A son of Zeas and Mala, a daughter of Atlas, was r^arded
in the first instance as the special deity to whom was due the
prolificness and welfare of the animal kingdom. In conse-
HEBMES, OB MEBCUSY. 133
quence, however, of the fact that in early times the chief
source of wealth coasiBted in herds of cattle, the prolificneBa
of which was traced to him, it came to pass in time that he
was considered generally to be the first cauae of all wealth,
come whence it might. But
as civilization advanced, and
it became known by experi-
ence that there was no
means of acquiring wealth so
rapidly as by trade, his prov-
ince was extended to trade
and the protection of traders.
Agun, since the main condi-
tioa of prosperity in trade
was peace and undisturbed
commerce by land and sea,
he came to be viewed as
guardian of commerce. And,
further, assuming that all
who took part in trade were |
qualiJied to look after their
own interests, shrewd and
prudent, the function of protecting prudence, shrewdness,
and even cunning, was assigned to him. In certain aspects
of trade, if not in the best, it was reckoned a great point to
talk over and cajole purchasers, and from his protection of
this method of doing business, Eermea came to be god of
" persuasive speech" or oratory. Finally, it being only a
short step from this to cunning and roguery, we must not
be surprised to iind him described as protector of thieves
and rascals, though uo doubt this task was assigned him
more in joke than in earnest.
His office of messenger and herald of the gods, in partic-
ular of Zeus, appears to have originated partly in the duty
assigned to him of protecting commerce, the success of which
depend^ largely on the messengers and envoys employed in
134 D^ITIMS OP TBE HIGHEST ORDER.
it, and partly in other functions of his which would lead us
too far to explain. As messenger and envoy of Zens,
Hermes conducts the intercourse between heaven and earth,
announcing the will of the gods to men, and from this office
was further derived his character of a god of oracles. In
the capacity of messenger or herald he had access even to the
under-world, whither, under the title of Psychopoxnpos,
he guided the souls of the departed, crossing in Charon's
bark, and placing them before the throne of the deities
below. From the shadowy world of spirits to that of sleep
and dreams is a short step for the imagination^ and accord-
ingly we find Hermes described as Oneiropoxnpos, guide of
dreams. As the swift messenger of the gods he readily came
to be looked on as a model for the youth practising in the
palaestra, in which capacity he had the title of Enagronios,
In proportion to the variety of tasks which he had to per-
form was the variety of mythical stories about his actions
and life, some of them taking us back to the very day of
his birth. For it was not an uncommon practice in the early
myth-making age to ascribe to the infancy of a god some
instance of the peculiar qualities by which he was afterward
distinguished. So it happened with Hermes.
His birth having taken place on the fourth of the month,
that day became sacred to him. Bom, as it was believed,
during the darkness of night, in an unfrequented, lonesome
cave on Mount Cyllene, in Arcadia, and on this account
styled Cyllenius, he was only a day old when a remarkable
example of his cunning and knavery occurred. Slipping out
of the couch in the cave where he was left asleep as was sup-
posed, the night being dark and cloudy, he found a herd of
cattle belonging to his brother Apollo (as sun-god), and stole
a number of them. When the morning came Apollo searched
in vain for the missing cattle; for the infant god had cleverly
succeeded in obliterating all traces of them by fastening
bunches of broom to their hoofs, and in this condition driv-
ing them backward into a cave at Pylos, so as to produce the
HERMES, OR MEROURT.
136
impr^Bion that they had left instead of entered the cave.
After this adveuture he slunk back to his couoh, and feigned
to be asleep. He had, however, been observed by a rustic
named Battue, who informed against him, whereupon Apollo,
angry at such a daring piece of robbery, dragged him out
of his couch, and took him off to the throne of Zeus to be
punished and made an example of. But Hermee was irre-
pressible, took up a lyre which he had made the day before
out of the shell of a tortoise, and proceeded to play on it, to
MercucT before Plalo and Pniaerpiaa.
the amusement and delight of both Zeus and Apollo, and
further ingratiated himself with his brother by giving him
the lyre, inventing for his own use a shepherd's pipe. The
cattle of the sun-god were the clouds, and Hermes was a
god who presided over the fertility of nature. The signifi-
cation of the story of his stealing some of these cattle on a
dark night would, therefore, seem to be simply that of clouds
discharging fertilizing showers by night.
The two brothers, having thus made their peace, continued
from that time forward on the best of terms, Apollo attesting
his good disposition toward Hermes by giving him in return
186 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
for the lyre a present of a golden divining-rod, and also the
power of prophecy. This condition, however, was attached
to the gift, that he was not to communicate his revelations of
the future by words as did Apollo, but by signs and occur-
rences. That is to say, that persons revolving some under-
taking in their mind were to be guided by certain unexpected
sights, accidents, or incidents, and were to recognize in them
the favor or displeasure of the gods, with reference to the
enterprise in question — ^a method of proceeding common
enough in modern superstition. These signs and incidents
were believed to be sent by Hermes, whose counsel in other
cases of doubt, as to whether to do or not do a thing, was
sought for by recourse to dice, the belief being that a high
throw signified his approval, and a low throw the reverse.
The cunning and adroitness, the same good humor and
ready answer which he gave proof of in the first days of his
infancy, were often afterward and with like success displayed
by him — as, for example, when he stole the sceptre of Zeus,
Aphrodite's girdle, Poseidon's trident, the sword of Ares,
the tongs of Hephaestus, or Apollo's bow and arrows, in
each case managing to make up matters, and smooth away
the indignation of his victims. But the most celebrated
instance in which his brilliant talents were fully displayed,
was the affair of Argrus with the hundred eyes, whom Hera
had appointed to watch over lo, one of the favorites of Zeus,
whom the latter, that she might escape the vengeance of the
jealous Hera, had transformed into a cow, a trick which the
goddess had perceived.
Well, Hermes being commanded by Zeus to release lo
from the surveillance of Argrus, and in doing so to use no
force, found the task no easy matter, seeing that the watch-
man had a hundred eyes, of which, when in his deepest sleep,
only fifty were closed. Hermes succeeded, however, and in
this fashion. Presenting himself to Argus, he commenced
to amuse him by telling all kinds of tales, and having by
these means fairly gained the watchman^ s confidence, he next
HERMES, OB MEBOUBY.
137
Aiga&
produced a shepherd^ s pipe^ and played on it various tunes
of such sweetness that thej gradually lulled Argus into so
deep a sleep that one by one all
his hundred eyes closed. The
moment the last eyelid drooped
Hermes slew him, and at once
released lo, and led her away.
For this service he rose high in
the estimation of Zeus, and from
that time the name of ^^Argus-
slayer/' Argriphontes, was the
proudest title which he bore.
As a memorial of Argus, Hera,
it was said, set his eyes in the
tail of her favorite bird, the
peacock. But these and such-like instances of his knavery
and cunning do not by any means express the whole character
of Hermes ; for his skill was also directed frequently to pur-
poses of useful invention. It was he, for example, who in-
vented Apollo's lyre, as well as that one by which the
Theban musician, Amphion, did such wonders; and it was
he who taught Palamedes to express words in writing.
And, besides, wherever danger that required skill and dex-
terity as much as courage presented itself, he was always
present to assist. He acted as a guide to heroes in their
dangerous enterprises, and in that capacity frequently, as in
the case of Hercules, was associated with Athene. To
travellers who had lost their way he was a ready guide, and
to exiles a constant and willing helper in strange lands and
among ill-disposed people.
In the primitive form of his worship Hermes was, as has
been said, the god who gives prolificness to flocks and herds.
In this character we find him in what appears to have been
the oldest centre of his worship in Greece — that is, in Samo-
thraee and the neighboring islands of Imbros and Lemnos,
where he bore the title of Cadmilus or Casmibifi. Hx^
138 DUTIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
usual title among berdsmea was either Homlus or Epi-
meliua,
A messeuger himself, it became his office to aid human
messeogers and travellers, and to this end it was he who
inspired the idea of erecting sign-posts at cross-roads with
directions as to whither each road led. These sign-posts took
the form of statues, it they may be so called, consisting of
a pillar running narrower toward the foot, and surmouuted
by a bead of Hermes, and called Hermse. It was the duty
of travellers on passing one of them to place a stone berade
it, a custom which not only lai^ely helped toward clearing
the fields of stones, but also led to improvement in the roads
themselves, and hence to increased facilities for commerce.
If more than two roads crossed, a corresponding nomber of
heads were placed on the pillar, one facing each way. Sim-
ilar figures were also found outside houses in Athens for the
purpose of cheering parting travellers.
BESMES, OB MERCURY. 139
The attributes of HermeB were tJie eadneetts or keryeeum —
that is, a short staff with a pair of wings and a knotted snake
attached to it, and the petama or winged cap. Beside him
sometimes is a cock or a goat. For sacrifice he delighted in
the tongues of animals, a suitable sacrifice to the god of
oratory.
The Roman Mercorius appears to luive possessed in com-
mon with Hermes only tbe character of god of trade and
oratory. Roman traders held a festival to him on May 25.
140 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
la the earlier works of art Hermes appears bearded and about
middle age, frequently carrying a sheep or a kid over his shoulders.
His form is athletic. In more recent works we find him of a youth-
ful figure, such as became his office as messenger of the gods. He
wears ihepetams^ and sometimes wings at his heels, carries the cadu-
ceuSy and sometimes, as a god of trade, a purse. Among the incidents
of his life, one which occurs frequently on the painted vases is that
in which he appears presenting the three goddesses to Paris, who had
to decide their claims as to which of them was the most beautiful.
Sometimes he is represented in sculptures as a mere boy. Many of
the Hermae described above have come down to our times.
THEMIS,
A daughter of Uranus and Gaea, was the personification of
that divine law of right which ought to control all human
affairs, of that highest and noblest sense of right which is
subject to no human influences. In this capacity she came
to be viewed also as goddess of the rites of hospitality. She
was a personification of divine will as it bore upon the affairs
of the world, and accordingly the Delphic oracle had been
under her control before it was yielded to Apollo, to whom^
as her successor, she communicated the prophetic art. A long
time passed before Zeus could persuade her to become his
wife — his first wife, as some myths have it; his second,
according to others, which say that Metis was his first. To
him she bore the Horae, Moerae or Parcae, and Astraea,
the goddess of justice, of whom we have already told how
she forsook the earth during the Bronze Age. The proper
home of Themis was Olympus, and hence she was styled
Urania. But during the war with the Titans she descended
to earth, and there, throughout the Golden Age, taught man-
kind the exercises of right and moderation. When, after-
ward, the human race sank into degradation, she returned
again to Olympus.
In consequence of the profound wisdom and open truth-
fulness which formed the essential features of the character
THEMIS.
141
of Themis, even the supreme go(l8 consulted and acted on her
advice; as, for example, did Zeus, when he declined to marry
Thetis, because of the prediction of
Themis, that a son would be the
issue of the marriage, who would
excel even his father in might. We
shall afterward have to relate how
Thetis was ^ven in marriage to
PeleuB, a mortal, in order that her
son might not be a source of danger
to the gods. The worehip of Themis
extended to many districts of Greece,
where temples, altai's, and statues
were raised in her honor. The prin-
cipal centres of it, however, were
Athens, Troezen, the island of
Aegina, Thebes, and Olympia.
Ancient artists represented her aa
a woman of mature age, with lai^
open eyes; while modem artists —
and they alone, it must be observed — figure her s
illustration.
She is further represented holding a sword and chain in
one hand and a balance in the other, to indicate the severity
and the accuracy with which justice is to be meted out and
admiaietered.
i in the
INFEBIOB DEITIES.
HiTHEEtTO our descriptions have been confined to those
deities of the Greeks and Romans who, because their func-
tions were subordinate to no god but Zeus, were styled of
the superior order, or Olympian deities, Hadee and Perse-
phone being included, though their realm was the under-
world, not Olympus. We proceed now to the inferior order,
such as occupied subordinate positions in the system of gods,
but were nevertheless worshipped independently, if not so
universally as the others.
We begin with the
HORAE,
The goddesses of the " seasons," daughters of ZeoB and
Themis, Their number was variously estimated according
to the variety of the divisions of year into periods — winter,
however, not being reckoned as one,
because it was the season of sleep and
death in nature. Thus we find the
worship of only two goddesses of
seasons in Athens, the one called
Thallo, or goddess of " blossoming,"
and the other Oarpo, or goddess of
*' harvest and fruit" But elsewhere
in Greece the usual number was
three, and as such they were repre-
sented in works of art with the attri-
butes of the seasons : Spring with
9 flowers, Summer with its grain^
one of the Horao, and Autumn with its grapes and fruit.
(142)
HOBAE. 143
Occasionally we find a fourth season, that erf Winter, rep-
resented in the act of returaing with booty from the chase;
but, unlike her sisters, she is nameless. As deities of the
kindly seasons which bring about the budding and growth of
nature, they were directly under the control of tlie superior
deities, especially of Zeus and Hera. At times they are to
be seen along with the Charltes (Graces) in the company of
Aphrodite, and sometimes along with the Muses in the com^
pany of Apollo ; for it is in the happy seasons of the year
that the joyous voice of nature is heard.
In the capacity of goddesses who watched over the bless-
ings of the fields, it became their duty, further, to regulate
changes of the weather, now opening and now shutting the
gates of heaven, alternately sending rain and suDshioe as
suited best the increase of vegetation. Tender and glad-
some, moving in mazy dances, wilh crowns of gold and of
flowers, they were always good and faithful to mankind, and,
though sometimes seeming to be impatient to oom^ \»^^
144
INFERIOR DEITIES.
always bringing with them somettiing sweet and beautiful,
never proving untrue or deceitful.
Our first illustratioD represents a Hora dancing, with a
wreath of palm-leaves on her head. The dish of fruit in her
left hand probably in-
dicates that she is the
Hora of Autumn.
Such were their f uno-
tione in nature. In
consequence, however,
of the great and plea-
teous blessings that were
observed to flow from
the unchangeable and
orderlysuccessioDof the
seasons, tbeHcmie were
also supposed to watch
over good order and
propriety in human life
and morality — a task
which seems to have
given rise to the belief
that they were daugh-
ters of Themis, Their
names, in the cases
where the three appear
bother, have been ad-
mirably chosen to suit
this metaphorical notion
of their character : as,
Banomia (wise I^is-
lation), Dike (justice),
and Eirene (peace).
Eunomia's services were mostly directed to political life, the
results being warmly praised by poets, and her worship never
Delected by the State. Dike's sphere of operations was
HERMES, OR MERCURY,
VERTUMNUS. 145
more among the incidents of the lives of individuals, inform-
ing, it was said, her father Zeus, of every injustice done on
earth. Eirene, finally, being the most cheerful of the three
sisters, was said to have been the mother of Plutus — that is,
of riches, the gay companion of Dionysus, and guardian
goddess of songs and festivities.
The goddess of spring was also especially worshipped as a
Hora under the title of Chloris, which corresponds to the
Roman Flora. She was the goddess of buds and flowers,
of whom Boreas, the north winter wind, and Zephyrus, the
west spring wind, were rival lovers. She chose the latter,
and became his faithful wife.
POMONA
Was goddess of garden fruits, and was represented wearing
a wreath composed of such, or holding in her hand a horn of
plenty full of them, with a dog by her side. Her appear-
ance was that of a virgin in rustic garments. It was said
that she had been orginally a Hamadryad, but had yielded
her affections to Vertumnus. Her worship was confined to
the Romans. She had a priest, styled flamen pomonalis,
specially devoted to her service.
VERTUMNUS,
The husband of Pomona, was worshipped by the Romans
as a deity of the second order, who watched over the seasons
as well as the garden fruits, and was represented with attri-
butes similar to those of Pomona. In October an annual
festival, resembling a harvest thanksgiving, was, held in his
honor, the offerings brought him on that occasion consisting
of first-fruits from the garden, and wreaths of flowers of all
kinds. Like Pomona, he, too, had a priest of his own. At
times he was represented, like Saturn, with a pruning-knife
in his hand, and a wreath composed of ears of corn on his
10
146 INFERIOR DEITIES.
head. Originally he was worshipped under the form of a
rough wooden post^ but had afterward a beautiful bronze
statue made by a Roman artist.
JANUS
Was a deity unknown to the Greeks, but from the earliest
times held in high estimation by the Romans, who placed
him on almost an equal footing with Jupiter, even giving
his name precedence in their prayers, and invoking the aid
of both deities previous to every undertaking. To him they
ascribed the origin of all things, the introduction of the system
of years, the change of season, the ups and downs of fortune,
and the civilization of the human race by means of agricul-
ture, industry, arts, and religion. According to the popular
belief, Janus was an ancient king who had come in remote
early times from Greece to Latium, there instituted the wor-
ship of the gods and the erection of temples, and himself
deserved high honors like a god, for this reason, that he had
conferred the greatest good upon mankind by his instructions
in many important ways. In some of the stories he is con-
founded with Saturn. In others it is said that Saturn, driven
out of Greece, took refuge with Janus in Latium, and shared
the government with him.
It is easy to explain the great honor paid to Janus by a
people like the Romans, who, as a rule, had this peculiarity
of pondering well the prospects of an undertaking before
entering upon it. The beginning of everything was a matter
of great importance to them, and Janus was the god of a
^^ good beginning.'^ It is in this spirit that the Roman poet,
Ovid, makes Janus say, ^^ Everything depends on the begin-
ning.^^ Even when Jupiter had consented to an enterprise,
prosperity in carrying it out was believed to be under the
control of Janus, and, accordingly, great stress was laid on
the circumstances attending the commencement of any pro-
ject. Janus opened and closed all things. He sat, not only
JAIfUS. 147
on the confines of tbe earth, bnt also at the gates of heaven.
Air, sea, and land were in the hollow of his hands. The
world moved on its hinges at hie command.
In accordance with this belief, he was represented seated,
with two heads, one being that of a youth, to indicate " be-
^nning," the other that
of an old man, to indicate
the " end," whence he
was styled BlEVone (two-
headed). In his left hand
is a key, to show that he
opens at the beginning,
and shuts at the end; tbe
sceptre in his right is a
sign that be controls the
progress of every under-
taking.
The first day of Jan-
uary, a month named after
him, being the first day of _
a new year, was the occa-
sion of a celebration in Janug.
his honor. At the banning of every month the priests
offered sacrifice to him at twelve altars. He was invoked
every morning as the beginner of a new day. Evea at the
sacrifices to other gods he was remembered, and received
offerings of wine and cakes, incense, and other things. The
husbandman prayed to him at tbe beginning of seed-time.
When war was declared he was invoked.
The public worship of Janus as a god was introduced into
Home as early as the time of Numa Pompilius, a foundation
for its establishment having been previously laid daring the
reign of Bomulus. The story runs, that, the Sabiues having
once made an assault on the newly built toyra of Rome, a
spring of boiling water suddenly appeared, and was the means
c^ destroying these enemies. On this spot a tem^U ^tra^
148 INFERIOR DEITIES,
erected in honor of Janus^ the gates of which stood open so
long as Rome was at war, and were closed with great cere-
mony and rejoicing only in times of general peace. Rome
was, however, so continually engaged in war that, in the
course of the first seven hundred years after the foundation
of the city, the gates of the temple were closed only three
times — in the reign of Numa Pompilius, after the first Punic
war, and during the reign of Augustus. Hence the temple
of Janus with its gates shut came to be a very emphatic
symbol of peace.
TERMINUS
Was the god of boundaries, and had, when represented in
art, the figure of a boundary stone or pillar surmounted by
a head, as in the case of the figures of Hermes by the way-
side in Greece. Such figures of Terminus were occasionally
surmounted by the head or bust of another god, as, for ex-
ample, of Apollo or Athene, and in such cases were styled
Hermapollo, Hermathene. Pan and Priapus, both rural
deities, were also frequently represented in such form.
Numa Pompilius is said to have erected the first altar to
this boundary god. Terminus, and to have instituted his wor-
ship among the Romans. To accustom his subjects to respect
the boundaries of their neighbors, he ordered them to be
marked off with figures of the god, and a festival to be held
in his honor annually in February. It was called the Tenn-
inalia. Boundary stones were adorned with flowers on the
occasion, and a general sacrifice offered, accompanied by lively
songs.
PRIAPUS,
Called also Lutinus by the Romans, was a son of Dionysiis
and Aphrodite. He was a god of the fertility of nature,
and| in this capacity, also guardian of vineyards^ gardens^
PAN. 149
and cultivated fields. The idea of representing the produc-
tive power of nature under the form of a god is traceable
back to a very great antiquity, but in later and depraved
times it came to be misused for the purpose of giving expres-
sion to coarse sensuality and lust. This accounts for the
diversity of his representations, of which, however, that is
the most correct in which he appears as a man of years hold-
ing a pruning-knife in his hand and fruit in his lap. The
principal centre of his worship was Lampsacus, a town in
Asia Minor, on the Hellespont, whence it spread over Greece.
His symbols were, like those of Dionysus, a drinking-cup, a
thyrsus, or a spear. At the festivals in his honor the sacri-
fices consisted of milk, honey, and asses.
PAN
Was looked upon by the pastoral inhabitants of Greece, par-
ticularly in Arcadia, as the god who watched over the
pasture-fields, herdsmen, and herds. Woods and plains,
hunting and fishing, were under his immediate care and
patronage, and on this account he was differently described
as a son now of Zeus, now of Hermes, his mother being in
each case a nymph. As god of green fields he was associated
with the worship of Dionysus (Bacchus), and as mountain
god with that of Oybele. He was fond of sportive dances
and playing on the shepherd^ s pipe, which afterward took its
name of Pan's pipe from him, the story being that he was
the inventor of it. It seems that a coy nymph named Syrinx,
whom he loved and followed, was transformed into a reed,
that Pan cut it and fashioned it into a pipe (syrinx) with
such sweet notes, when skilfully played, that he once ventured
to challenge Apollo to a competition.
The judge selected was Midas, who awarded the prize to
Pan, and was, in consequence, punished by Apollo, who made
his ears grow like those of an ass.
150 INFERIOR DEITIES.
As a god of herdsmen and country people^ he journeyed
through woods and across plains^ changing from place to
place like the nomadic or pastoral people of early times^ with
no fixed dwelling, resting in shady grottoes^ by cool streams,
and playing on his pipe. Hills, caves, oaks, and tortoises
were sacred to him.
The feeling of solitude and lonesomeness which weighs
upon travellers in wild mountain scenes, when the weather
is stormy, and no sound of human voice is to be heard, was
ascribed to the presence of Pan, as a spirit of the moun-
tains^ a sort of Number Nip. And thus anxiety or alarm,
arising from no visible or intelligible cause, came to be called
'^Panic fear,'^ that is, such fear as is produced by the agi-
tating presence of Pan.
His common companions were Nymphs and Oreades, who
danced to the strains of his pipe, and were not unfrequently
pursued by him with violence. It is said that he rendered
important service to the gods during the war with the Titans,
by the invention of a kind of trumpet made from a sea-shell,
with which he raised such a din that the Titans took fright,
and retreated in the belief that some great monster was
approaching against them. Another story is, that Dionysus,
being once seriously attacked by a hostile and very numerous
body of men on his way to India, was freed from them by a
sudden terrible shout raised by Pan, which instantly caused
them to retreat in great alarm. Both stories appear to have
been invented to give a foundation for the expression of
^^ Panic fear,^' which has been explained above.
Pan, also called Hylaeus or forest god, was usually repre-
sented as a bearded man with a large hooked nose, with the
ears and horns and legs of a goat, his body covered with hair,
with a shepherd's pipe (syrinx) of seven reeds, or a shepherd's
crook in his hand.
From Greece his worship was transplanted among the
Romans, by whom he was styled Inuus, because he taught
them to breed cattle, and Lupercus, because he taught them
to employ d<^ for the purpose of protectJog the herds f^inst
wolves. The other forest deities, who were represeoted like
Pan with goat's legs, '
Puiisci.
e called Aegipanes, and sometimes
INFERIOR DEITIES.
FAUNUS, OB FATUUS,
Was a purely Romao deity, originally resembling the Greek
Pan, as is implied ia the name, which is only another form
of the same word. In process of time, however, his character
passed through many
changes, and became
different in many re-
spects from that of the
Greek god. It was
not till late times,
when the religion and
myths of the Greeks
emigrated into Italy,
that the comparison
of him with the Arca-
dian Pan was revived ,
and the identity of
both asserted. The
Roman poets fre-
quently call the Greek
Pan by the Roman
name of Faunue. But
the latter had certain
myths peculiar to him-
self, and is represented
by them as a son of
Picus, and a grandson
of SatumuB, or, ac-
cording toanotber ver-
sion, a SOD of Mars,
and originally an an-
cient king of Latium,
who, for the good he did his people, by introdnciDg agri-
cnlture and civilization, came to be worshipped after his
Faanna, or C^uung.
PICVS, PICUMNUS, AND PIL UMNUS. 153
death as a prophetic deity of forest and field, under the name
of Fatuus. His oracles were delivered in groves, and com-
municated by means of dreams, which those desiring them
obtained by sleeping in sacred places on the hides of animals
tliat had been offered as sacrifices. Fauna also delivered
oracles, but only to women.
As god of the husbandman and patron of agriculture and
cattle-rearing, an annual festival, the Lupercalia, or Faiin-
alia, was celebrated in his honor by the Romans on Decem-
ber 5. It was accompanied by sacrifices of goats, offerings
of milk and wine, banquets, and dancing in the open air in
meadows and at cross-roads. In the middle of February
also sacrifice was presented to him. He had two temples in
Home. Artistic representations of him are rare, and not
easily distinguished from those of Pan. The plural form of
the word, Fauni, is merely a Roman expression for what the
Greeks called Panisci or Panes.
PICUS, PICUMNUS, AND PILUMNUS.
Pious was also a pure Roman deity, a son and a successor
of Satumus, father of Faunus, and husband of Ganens. He
was an ancient prophet and forest god. Another story has it
that he loved and married Pomona. Circe, the witch, was
attracted by his beauty, and finding her affection not returned,
revenged herself by changing him into a woodpecker — a bird
which was held to be a sacred symbol of prophecy by the
Angurs or Roman priests, whose oflSce was to foretell coming
events by observing the flight of birds and by various other
phenomena. In early times his figure consisted of a wooden
pillar with a woodpecker on it, which was afterward ex-
clianged for a figure of a youth with a woodpecker on his
head, the Romans generally considering the appearance of that
bird to be a sign of some special intention of the gods. Pious,
beside being worshipped as a prophet and a god, was ^Ws
154 INFERIOR DEITIES.
looked upon as one of the first kings of Italy, and must not be
confounded with Pioumnus, who, with his brother Piluninus,
formed a pair of Roman deities whose office was to watch over
married life. It was the custom to spread a couch for them at
the birth of a child. Pilumnus, it was said, would drive away
all illness from the childhood of the newly born infant with
the club (pilum) with which he used to pound the grain;
while Picumnus, who had introduced the manuring of land,
would give the child growth. Stories were told of the two
brothers, of famous deeds in war and peace, such as were
ascribed to the Dioscuri (Castor and Pollux).
FAUNA, OR FATUA,
The wife or, according to other myths, the daughter of
Faunus, was a Roman goddess, whose origin and significa-
tion have been rendered very obscure by the variety of stories
about her. She was identified with the goddess Ops, with
Oybele, with Semele, the mother of Dionysus (Bacchus),
with Mala, the mother of Hermes, with Gaea, Hecate, and
other goddesses. In the earliest times she was called simply
the ^^ kind goddess, '' her proper name as well as her origin
being given out as a mystery. Her festival took place on
the first night of May, and was celebrated with wine, music,
merry games, and mysterious ceremonies, at which only
women and girls were permitted to be present. Fauna
obtained the name of the ^^ kind goddess '^ because, as some
thought, her benevolence extended over the whole creation,
in which case it was not strange that she should be identified
with other deities. As Fatua she was represented with the
appearance sometimes of Juno, sometimes of Cybele, but
commonly as an aged woman, with pointed ears, holding a
serpent in her hand.
The offspring of Fatua and Fatuus were the Fatui, who
were considered to be prophetic deities of the fields, and
THE SATTltS.
156
sometimes evil genii, who were the caose of nightmares and
such like. The name and obscure significations of this god-
dess seem to have given rise to the fantastic creations of
modern times, which recall Fays — that is, beings with the
power of witchcraft and prophecy, and possessed now with
good, now with bad qualities — now useful and helping to
men, now mischievous.
THE SATYRS,
Like the Koman Silvanus, belong to the order of forest
deities, and are often confounded with the Panes and Fauni,
though quite distinct from them. They represented the genial
luxuriant life in Nature, which, under
the protection and with the aid of
Dionysus (Bacchus), spreads over
fields, woods, and meadows, and were,
without doubt, the finest figures in
all his company. As such at least
they appear in the art of the best
times, being never figured, like the
Panes or Panisci, as half man, half
animal, but at most exhibit only such
s^ns of an animal form as small goat' s
horns, and a small goat's tail, to show
that their nature was only a little
inferior in nobility to that witliiu the
divine or pure human form.
The Satyrs constitutea laige family,
and may be distinguished into several
classes, the highest of which were '
those who nearly resembled their god
(Dionysus) in appearance, and whose occupation was either
to play on the flute for his amusement, or to pour out his
wine. To another class belonged those older figures, dis-
tinguished by the name of Sileni; and to a.tV^\iA, 'Cm&nqx^
156 INFERIOR DEITIES,
juvenile so-called Satyrisci. The figure given in the illus-
tration is that of a satyr of the highest order. He is repre-
sented as a slender youth leaning carelessly on the trunk of
a tree, resting from playing on a flute. His hair is shaggy ;
on his brow are very small goat's horns. His countenance
has a touch of animal expression in it. He wears nothing
but a panther's skin thrown over his shoulder.
The life of the Satyrs was spent in woods and on hills, in
a constant round of amusements of all kinds : hunting,
dancing, music, drinking, gathering and pressing the grapes,
or in the company of the god, whirling in wild dances with
the Maenades. Their musical instruments were the syrinx,
flute, and cymbals.
We may remark in passing, that the term '' satire,'' com-
monly applied to poems of abuse, has nothing whatever to
do with the Satyrs, and for this reason should not be written
*^ satyre," thougli derived from satura. The latter is an old
Latin word, which signified originally a poetic dialogue or
gossip, which from its nature was admirably adapted for
conveying criticism and indirect abuse, or satire in our sense
of the word.
COMUS
Was worshipped as guardian of festal banquets, of mirthful
enjoyments, of lively humor, fun, and social pleasure, with
attributes expressing joy in many ways. On the other hand,
he was represented frequently as an illustration of the conse-
quences of nightly orgies, with torch reversed, in drunken
sleep, or leaning against something.
SILVANUS,
Like Faunus, was purely a Koman god, whose function also
was to watch over the interests of herdsmen, living in woods
and fields, and taking care to preserve boundary lines and
SILVANU8.
167
bauks of rivers. It was aaid that he erected the first boun-
dary Btoaes to mark oS tlie fields of different possessors from
each other, and thus be-
came the founder of a
regular system of land-
owning. He was dis-
tinguished according to
the three departments of
hisactivity^houae, field,
and wood. Iq works of
art Silvanus appears
alti^ether as a purely
human figure — a cheer-
ful aged man holding a
shepherd's pipe (for he,
like the other deities of
wood and field, was
given to music), and
carrying a branch of a
tree to mark him spe-
cially as god of the
forest. This branch,
which sometimes is that
of acypress, isexplaiued
as referring to his love
for the beautiful Csrpa-
rissus, whom he is si
to have changed into a
cypress. There was a figure of Silvanus in Eome beside
the t«mple of Saturn, and two sanctuaries dedicated to him.
Women were excluded from his worship. The myths are
not clear about his origin. Some of them describe him as a
son of Saturn.
158 INFERIOR DEITIES.
PALES
Was worshipped originally in Sicily, and afterward by the
Romans, as a deity of cattle-rearing, being, according to
some, male, according to others, female. A merry festival,
called Peililia, was held in honor of this deity every year on
April 21, the day on which the foundation of the city of
Rome was said to have been laid. Offerings of milk and
must were presented to her, while pipes were played and
cymbals beat round a blazing fire of hay and straw. An ox
was driven through this blazing fire, the herdsmen rushing
after it, a ceremony intended for a symbol of expiation.
This festival, because of its falling on the anniversary of the
foundation of the city, served also to commemorate that event.
This ancient deity was represented as an aged woman lean-
ing on a leafless branch of a tree, or holding a shepherd's
crook in her hand, and was frequently identified with Fauna,
sometimes with Oybele, and even with Vesta.
SILENUS, AND THE SILENI.
In some of the myths Silenus is represented as a son of
Hermes (Mercury), in others of Pan and a nymph, the
latter statement accounting for his being figured with the
tail and ears of a goat, while the rest of his form was purely
human. He was usually described as the oldest of the Satyrs
— of whom, indeed, all those well advanced in years were
styled Sileni. Owing to his age, he came to be looked upon
as a sort of paternal guardian of the light-headed troops of
Satyrs, though with regard to mythological signification he
was quite different from them. One myth traces his origin,
along with the worship of Dionysus (Bacchus), to Asia
Minor, and particularly to the districts of Lydia and Phry-
gia, the original centre of the worship of Cybele (Rhea). In
SILEJfUS, AND THE SILENI. 169
that quarter he was looked on as a sprite or demon of (er*
tilizing fountains, streams, marshy land, and luxuriant gai^
dens, as well as the inventor of such music as was produced
by the syrinx (Pan's pipe) and the double flute which was
used in the worship of Bhea and Dioay&\]e.
160 INFERIOR DEITIES.
According to other stories^ he was born in and was the
first king of Nysa, but which of the many places of that
name remains untold. It was most probably Nysa in Thrace;
for Silenus, with the help of local nymphs^ nursed and tended
the infancy of Dionysus^ as works of art show^ and this^
according to the myths, was spent in Thrace.
To the Greek mind he appeared specially as a companion
of Dionysus, one who knew how to press the grapes for wine,
and so much loved that liquid as readily to indulge in it to
excess, in which case the Satyrs kept him steady on his ass,
or else he would have fallen. To express this feature of his
character, he was figured with a wreath of vine tendrils on
his head, with a drinking-cup or wine-skin in his hand, or
intoxicated and supported by two Satyrs. He was a short,
round-bellied, hairy old man, with a bald head.
The ass or mule he used to ride was described as a most
intelligent beast, and said to have distinguished itself at the
time of the war with the Giants, in which its master, as com-
panion and body-servant, a sort of Sancho Panza, to Diony-
sus, took part, by braying so loudly as to alarm the Giants,
and help to put them to flight.
OCEANUS, TETHYS, PROTEUS.
Oceanus, son of Uranus and Gaea, was god of the sea,
and, like Nereus, was looked upon as the father of a large
family of marine deities who went by the general name of
Oceanides. He was figured like Nereus, but with the
addition of a bull's horn, or two short horns, a sceptre in
his hand to indicate his power, riding on a monster of the
deep, or sitting with his wife, Tethys, by his side in a car
drawn by creatures of the sea. He is said to have been the
most upright of his brother Titans, and to have had no share
in the conspiracy against Uranus. For this reason he re-
tained his office, while the other Titans were consigned to
NEBEUS AND THE NEREIDES. 161
Tartarus. It was under the care of Oceanus and his wife
that Hera grew up, and to them she turned for safety during
the war with the Titans. So quickly had his offspring spread
among the rivers, streams, and fountains of the earth, that
the sons alone were reckoned as three thousand in number.
He was also identified with the great stream, Oceanus, which
was supposed to flow in a circle around the earth, and to be
the source of all rivers and running waters. His daughters,
the Oceanides, were, like all marine deities, represented with
crowns of sea-weeds, strings of corals, holding shells, and
riding on dolphins. Painters rendered them as half human
and half fish in shape ; but poets described them as beings of
purely human form, giving their number very differently.
Proteus was a son of Oceanus and Tethys, whose proper
dwelling-place was the depths of the sea, which he only left
for the purpose of taking the sea-calves of Poseidon to graze
on the coasts and islands of the Mediterranean. Being an
aged man, he was looked on as possessed of prophetic power
and the secrets of witchcraft, though he would not be per-
suaded to exercise the former except by deceit or under threat
of violence. Even then he made every effort to evade his ques-
tioners, changing himself into a great variety of shapes, such
as those of a lion, panther, swine, or serpent, and, as a last
resource, into the form of fire or water. This faculty of
transformation, which both Proteus and Thetis possessed,
corresponds with the great changeability in the appearance
of the sea.
NEEEUS AND THE NEEEIDES,
Or Derides, as they were sometimes called, are frequently
confounded in mythology with Oceanus and his daughters^
the Oceanides, all of them being marine deities of a lower
order.
Nereus was looked on as an ancient sea-god, a son of
Pontus and Gaea, who, when the dominion of the aea.l'^V^
11
162 INFERIOR DEITIES.
Poseidon, obtained a position under him, and along with it
tbe power of prophecy. With Doria, his wife, he had as
offspriug fifty, or, according to other accounts, a hundred
daughters, called Nereides or Derides, of whom Amphitrite
and Thetis, and next to them Panope and OaJatea, were
the most famous, the first mentioned having become the wife
of Poseidon, while even Zeus desired to marry the second.
But the Fates having announced that from this marriagt
would issue a son who would surpass his father in might,
Zeus relinquished his wish, and gave Thetis in nmrrif^ to
Pelens, to whom she bore AohilleB, and thereafter returned
to live among her sisters of the sea.
NereuB is represented in works of art as an old man with
a look of dignity, hia daughters as sweet, beautiful maidens.
Poets described them as modest nymphs dwelling in a splen-
did cave at the bottom of the sea, now riding on dolphins or
other creatures of tbe deep, now swimming, sporting, splash-
ing about in troops on the sea, sometimes accompanying the
sea-bom Aphrodite, or playing in the warm Bunshine on the
TRITON AND THE TRITONS. 163
shores of bays and at rivers' mouths, drying their wet tresses.
In such places they were duly worshipped. To the pious
feelings of the Greeks the whole of nature appeared in some
way divine, and was accordingly viewed with reverence and
sanctity. In this spirit the phenomena of the sea were viewed
under the form of divine personifications called Nereides, the
peaceful shimmering light upon its gently moving bosom be-
ing represented by Galene and Glauce, the play of fantastic
waves by Thoe and Halie, the impetuous rush of billows on
island shores by Nesaee and Actaea, the &scination of the
gaily rising tide by Pasithea, Erato, and Euneice, the
swell and impulse of mighty waves by Pherusa and Dyna-
mene, who all followed in the train of Amphitrite.
It may be that these myths gave rise to the modem legends
of mermaids.
TRITON AND THE TRITONS.
Triton, sometimes said to be a son of Poseidon and Am-
phitrite, sometimes of Oceanus and Tethys, was a marine
deity of a lower order, and the herald of Neptune, in which
capacity he was represented using a long twisted shell as a
horn to blow a loud blast from when the sea was to be agi-
tated with storms, and a gentle note when a storm was to
be hushed into rest. When Neptune travelled on the waves,
it was Triton who announced his approach and summoned
the other marine deities. The Tritons were like him in
figure, and had similar duties to perform. Occasionally we
find him described in stories as a monster who, by his wan-
tonness and voracity, rendered the seashore dangerous, and
was, in consequence, attacked by Dionysus and Hercules.
In the war with the Giants he rendered considerable ser-
vice to Zeus, by raising such a frightful din with his shrill
trumpet, that the Giants, fearing the approach of some pow-
erful monster or some fresh danger, retired.
Triton and the Tritons were represented in works of art
164
INFERIOR DEITIES.
as beings o£ human form down to the hips, covered with small
scales, holding a sea-sbell in their hands, the lower part of
them formed by the body and tail of a dolphin. Triton was
also described as driving on the sea in a chariot drawn by
horses.
Oar illustration represents a family group of Tritons with
a dolphin in the background.
In the early myths concerning Triton, he appears as the
personification of the roaring sea, and, like Neptune and
Amphitrite, lived in a golden pala<:e in the depths of the
ocean.
LEUCOTHEA
Was regarded by sailors and those who travelled on the sea
as their special and friendly goddess, a character which she
displayed in her timely assistance of Odyaseua (Ulysses) in
his dangerous voy^e. She is said to have been a daughter
of Cadmus, the great^randson of Poseidon. Originally
the wife of Athamas, in which capacity she bore the name
of Ico, she had incurred the wrath of Hera, because she had
THE SIRENS. ICfi
suckled tJie iafant Bacchus, a sod of her sister Semele and
of Zeus, and for this was pursued bj her raving husband,
and thrown, along with her youngest son, Melicertes, into
the sea, from which both mother and child were saved by a
dolphin or by Nereides. From that time she took her place
as a marine deity, and, under the name of Leuoothea, was
kaown as the protector of all travellers by sea, while her son
came to he worshipped as god of harbors, under the name of
Falaemon. Her worship, especially at Corinth, the oldest
maritime town of importance in Greece, and in the islands
of Khodes, Tenedos, and Crete, as well as in the coast towns
generally, was traced back to a high antiquity.
THE SIRENS,
According t« one version of the myth, were daughters of the
river-god Achelous (hence their other name, AcheloidsB)
and a Muse. According to
another version, they were
daughters of Phoroys. In
either case they had been ,
nymphs and playmates of
Persephone, and, for not
protecting her when she was
carried off by Pluto, were
transformed by Demeter
into beings half woman and
half bird at Erst, and lat-
terly with the lower part of
the body in the shape of
a fish, so that they had some
resemblance to marine dei-
ties such as the Tritons.
Our illustration repre- '"™°'
sents a Siren, half bird and half woman in form,
on a double flute.
166 INFERIOR DEITIES.
In the Homeric poems their number is not specified. In
later times the names of three of them are commonly given :
Parthenope, Ligea, and Leucosia. It is said that once^
during the time when the greater part of their body was that
of a bird, they challenged the Muses to a competition in sing-
ing, but failed, and were punished by having the principal
feathers of their wings plucked by the Muses, who decked
themselves with them.
The common belief was that the Sirens inhabited the cliffs
of the islands lying between Sicily and Italy, and that the
sweetness of their voices bewitched passing mariners, com-
pelling them to land only to meet their death. Skeletons lay
thickly strewn around their dwelling; for they had obtained
the right to exercise this cruel power of theirs on men so
long as no crew succeeded in defying their charms. This
the Argonauts, of whom more will be said hereafter, were
the first to accomplish, by keeping their attention fixed on
the unsurpassably sweet music of their companion, Orpheus.
The next who passed safely was Odysseus (Ulysses). He
had taken the precaution, on approaching, to stop the ears of
his crew, so that they might be deaf to the bewitching music,
and to have himself firmly bound to the mast, so that, while
hearing the music, he would not be able to follow its allure-
ments. In this way the power of the Sirens came to an end,
and in despair they cast themselves into the sea, and were
changed into cliffs.
This transformation helps to explain the signification of
the myth of the Sirens, who were probably personifications
of hidden banks and shallows, where the sea is smooth and
inviting to the sailor, but proves in the end the destruction
of his ship. The alluring music ascribed to them may either
refer to the soft, melodious murmur of the waves, or be
simply a figurative expression for allurement.
TBE RIVER-GODS.
THE RIVER-GODS
Were, as a rale, looked upon as bods of Ooeanua, ezercisiDg
The Nile Ood.
a dominion over individual rivers. They v
presented
■ muMiu,
Tbe Father of Ihe Tiber.
an bearded men, crowned with sedge, and often with horns
on their heads, reclining and resting one hand on & caddsx^
168 INFERIOR DEITIES.
the other on a vase, out of which water flows, to indicate the
constant flow of a river.
The names of many of them have been handed down in
ancient myths, the most important being Alpheus, Achelous,
Peneus, Asopiis, Cephissus. Of Alpheus, it is said that
he loved Arethusa, one of the myths in the train of Artemis,
and so persistently followed her, though his affections were
not returned, that Artemis interfered, and changed the
nymph, to avoid his pursuit, into a fountain, the waters of
which, notwithstanding, were said to join those of Alpheus.
NYMPHS.
The restless and fertile imagination of the ancients peopled
with beings of a higher order than themselves every moun-
tain, valley, plain, and forest, every thicket, bush, and tre^,
every fountain, stream, and lake. These beings, in whose
existence both Greeks and Romans firmly believed, were
called Nymphs, and resembled in many respects the mermaids
and fairies of modern superstition.
Generally speaking, the Nymphs were a kind of middle-
beings between the gods and men, communicating with both,
loved and respected by both; gifted with the power of making
themselves visible or invisible at pleasure; able to do many
things only permitted to be done by the gods; living like the
gods, on ambrosia; leading a cheerful, happy life of long
duration, and retaining strength and youthfulness to the last,
but not destined to immortality, like the gods. In extraor-
dinary cases they were summoned, it was believed, to the
councils of the Olympian gods, but usually remained in their
particular spheres, in secluded grottoes and peaceful valleys,
occupied in spinning, weaving, bathing, singing sweet songs,
dancing, sporting, or accompanying deities who passed
through their territories, hunting with Artemis (Diana),
rushing about with Dionysus (Bacchus), making merry with
JfTMPBS. 169
Apollo or Hermes (Mercury), but always in a hostile atti-
tude toward the wantoa and excited Satyrs.
Even the earliest of the ancient myths abound with ac-
couDts of tlie various things done by nymphs, while poetic
fancy in later times delighted to play with such creations.
The Greeks, the great mass of them at any rate, believed
firmly in the existence of a vast number of nymphs, and
attested their belief by erecting frequently very costly altars
in places where the presence and influence of these beings
were felt — as by fountains, or in moist meadows, in woods,
and on hills. Grottoes and caves where water dripped or
flowed, and where the bees hummed, were sacred to them.
Sanctuaries, called Hymphae, were also erected for their
special honor in well watered valleys, caves, and even in
towns, those in towns being particularly splendid in ap-
pearance, and commonly employed for the ceremonies of
marriage. The sacrifices presented to them consisted of
goats, lambs, milk, and oil, wine being forbidden.
170 INFERIOR DEITIES.
As to the origin of the Nymphs, the stories are so many
and so different that they cannot be all given here. Very
many of these beings, it would seem, were the offspring of
Zeus and Thetis. Separating them in the most convenient
manner, according to their local habitations or reputed origin,
we have the following classes :
1. Dryades, or Hamadryades, also called Alseides,
nymphs of woods and trees, inhabiting groves, ravines, and
wooded valleys, fond of making mefry with Apollo, Hermes
(Mercury), and Pan, and very attractive to the Satyrs. Some-
times they appeared as rustic huntresses or shepherdesses.
2. Oreades, or mountain-nymphs, sometimes also named
after the particular mountains which they haunted, as Peli-
ades (from Pelion), Idaean (from Ida), Cithaeroni^n (from
Cithaeron), etc.
3. Limoniades, or Leimoniades, nymphs of meadows
and flowers.
4. Napaeae, or Auloniades, nymphs of the mountain vales
in which herds grazed. The last three families of nymphs
were usually found in the company of Pan, rushing gaily
and merrily over hills and valleys, through woods and mead-
ows. A favorite and lovely nymph of the vales was Bury-
dice, who, being bitten by a snake, and dying in consequence,
was mourned by all her sisters, and sung by Orpheus in most
touching melancholy strains.
5. Oceanides, daughters of Oceanus, nymphs of fountains
and streams, and named according to the characteristics of
streams, as Prymno, ^^ like a cascade which falls over an
abrupt height ;'' Hippo, ^^ like a swift current ;'' Plexaure,
^^ like a dashing brook;'^ Galaxaure, ^^ like the refreshing
coolness of a shady stream;" Calypso, ^Mike the hidden
tide;" Rhodia, ^^ flowing among rose-trees;" Oallirrhoe,
^*like a beantiful stream;" Melobosis, ^^like a river that
waters the meadows;" Telesto, ^^ nymph of the cool
springs," which the Greeks piously used for cleansing and
purification.
NYMPHS. 171
6. Nereides, daughters of Nereus, sometimes also called
Dorides^ after their mother (see Nereus).
7. Naiades — generally speaking, nymphs of the liquid
element, daughters of Zeus. They were styled ^^ fostering '^
nymphs, and for this reason were commonly found in the
company of Zeus, Poseidon, and Dionysus, as well as of
Demeter, Persephone, and Aphrodite, and besides were
looked on as deities of marriage and sacred rites.
8. Potameides, nymphs of the rivers.
9. Limnades, nymphs of lakes, marshes, and swamps, most
dangerous beings, who allured and misled travellers by their
songs or mimic screams for help.
10. Pleiades, seven daughters of Atlas and Pleione, sis-
ters of the HySides.
11. Atlantides, offspring of Atlas, and belonging to the
same order as the last mentioned.
12. Hyades, according to the myth, daughters of Atlas
and Aethra ; sisters, or, according to other versions, daugh-
ters of Hyas. Languishing of grief at the death of Hyas,
which was caused by a wild animal, they were changed into
stars, being the seven stars which form the head in the con-
stellation of the Bull (Taurus). Their ascension takes place
from May 17th to 21st, and usually indicates rain, for which
reason they were often called the rainy stars. They were
also called Dodonides, and described as the nurses of Zeus
of Dodona. One of them was called Thyene.
All the most prominent of the nymphs had names of their
own.
They were represented as damsels of wonderful beauty,
with attributes suitable to their respective avocations.
Our illustration represents three of them tending Pegrasus
at a fountain. All three have their hair bound with sedge;
two of them have vases.
INFERIOR DEITIES.
ECHO: NARCISSUS.
Echo was a mountain-nymph, and at the same time a ser-
vant of Hera, according lo one account, but had to be kept
Ecbo and NarcUsua.
at a distance on account of her talkativeness. In other
acGountB she is described as a beautiful nymph whom the
forestrgod Pan loved. Happening to meet the beautiful
THE HESPEBIDES. 173
Narcissus, a son of the river-god Cephissus^ she con-
ceived a very tender passion for him, which he unfortunately
did not return. Echo grieved in consequence, and pined
away day by day till at length her voice was all that was
left of her. She then took to the mountains and woods
which Pan frequented, and occupied herself in mimicking
every vocal sound she heard.
Narcissus was a personification of the consequences of
self-conceit in the matter of personal appearance, his vanity
being such that he used to idle by the brinks of clear foun-
tains, and gaze upon the reflection of his own face, till at last
he languished in his unretumed love for it. Other stories
affirm that he was punished for this conduct by the gods, by
being changed into a flower which still bears his name.
THE HESPERIDES
Were daughters of Atlas, an enormous giant, who, as the
ancients believed, stood upon the western confines of the
earth, and supported the heavens on his shoulders. Their
mother was Hesperis, a personification of the ^^ region of the
West," where the sun continued to shine after he had set on
Greece, and where, as travellers told, was an abundance of
choice delicious fruits, which could only have been produced
by a special divine influence. The Gardens of the Hesper-
ides with the golden apples were believed to exist in some
island in the ocean, or, as it was sometimes thought, in the
islands on the north or west coast of Africa. They were
far-famed in antiquity; for it was there that springs of nectar
flowed by the couch of Zeus, and there that the earth dis-
played the rarest blessings of the gods : it was another Eden.
As knowledge increased with regard to western lands it be-
came necessary to move this paradise farther and farther out
into the Western Ocean.
As to the origin of these precious golden apples, there is a
myth which says that among the deities who attended the mar-
ISFERIOB DEITIES.
riage ceremony of Zeus aad Hera, briD^Dg various presente
ivith them, waa Titaea, a goddess of the earth, whose gift
conasted in her causing a tree to spring up with golden apples
on it. The care of this tree, which highly pleased the newly
TBE MUSES.
176
wedded pair, waa entrusted to the HeeperideB. But, as they
could not resist the temptation to pluck and eat its fruit, it
became neceesaiy to place the serpent I^adon to watch it.
Hercules, among his other adventures, slew this serpent and
carried off some of the apples, which, however, were after-
ward returned to the Hesperidea, through the kindness of
Athene.
The common account speaks of only three Hesperidee —
Aegle, Erytheis, and Heepera. Arethusa was afterward
added, and in time three more, so that they were seven in all.
THE MUSES,
Or Fierides, as they were also styled, were r^rded as
nymphs of the springs that bickered down the sides of
Mount Helicon and Mount Parnassus,
called Oastalia, Agranippe, and Pimpla or
Pimplea, the waters of which were thouglit
to have the property of inspiration. Their
origin was traced to Zeus and the Titanic
nymph MnemOBjne, the name of Fierides
being applied to them from Fieria, on Mount |
Olympus, the reputed place of their birth,
a locality which appears to have been origin-
ally the principal centre of their worship, '
whence it spread first and most coDspiou-
ously to Mount Helicon, in Boeotia, and
&ther to Athens, Sparta, Troezen, and
elsewhere. It was usual to ascribe this ex-
tension of the worship of the Muses to a
Thracian named Pierus, of whom it was
also said that, having nine daughters, he
named them eaeh after one of the Muses, uotber ot the u
and challenged the latter to a competition
in music, the upshot of which was that hie daughters lost the
award, and were, as punishment for their daring, transformed
176 INFERIOR DEITIES.
into singiog-birda. The worship of the Maees on Mount
Helicon was celebrated ia a grove, in which were the gaored
fountains of Aganippe
and Hippocrene, with
many monuments of art
dedicated to the Muses,
contests called Musea
being associated witli
the ceremonies.
The nine Muses wHom
we are accustomed to
read of in the Greek
and Homan mjthol-
o^, were looked upon
as the patron goddesses of music and
song, of poetry, and of the fine arts
generally, that tended to promote
the civilization of mankind. Their
local habitation was on the summits I
of Mounts Helicon, Parnassus, and
Pindus. They would, however, fre-
quently visit Olympus, to gladden
the blessed existence of the gods
there by the exercise of their arts,
especially by mnsic and the recital
of songs, the burden of which was
probably, as on most other occasions,
the glory and omnipotence of Zeus.
Sometimes they would lend their
presence also to enliven happy incidents in the lives of favor^
ite mortals — such, for example, as the marriage of Cadmus.
PHOEBUS APOLLO.
TBE MVSES.
177
and Harmonia, or that of Peleiis and Thetis; and sometimes
even at momenta of great sorrow, as at the death of Achilles,
they would descend to mourn in
strains which drew forth tears
from gods and men. Their leader
was Apollo, who in that capacity
bore the title of Musacretes. But
tliougb generally associated with
Apollo, and probably, therefore,
imbued with the form of inspira-
tion peculiar to the god of oracles,
they are also found to have been
connected with the worship of
Dionysus, whose inspiration is
known to have been of a wild
and excited nature. As nymphs
of the sacred streams on the
mountains where they lived,
their music and song must,
for the sake of harmony, have
repeated the rushing movement
of water, and it may be to this
that their association with Dio-
nysus is due.
In addition to the usual nine
. we bear of three other Muses —
Melete, Mneme, and Aoede,
who are described as daugh-
ters of Uranus, and supposed to have existed from the
earliest tjmes. As, however, both Homer and Hesiod appear
12
INFERIOR DEITIES.
178
to know only the number nine, we may aasume that the be-
lief in the existence of the other three muat have originated
in the speculations of com-
paratively later times.
In works of art of the
earlier period the Muses
were always represented
tc^ther in company, all
wearing the same kind of
dress, and all provided
with attributes in the
forms of musical instru-
ments — such as the lyre,
harp, and flute, or with
rolls of manuscript. The custom
of collecting in such rolls literary
works produced under the auspices
of the Muses was the first founda-
tion of libraries and museums,
such as they exist in modern times,
and thus the word " museum" car-
ries us back to the early worship of
the Muses, and to the early civili-
zation so far as it was due to their
inspiration.
The nine Muses were represent-
ed according to their various avo- Euterpe.
cations in the following manner:
1. Clio, the muse of History, seated wearing a wreath of
laurel, and holding out a half-open inscribed parchment roll;
THE MUSES.
179
beside her a cylindrical box, containing more of these manu-
Bcripts. In o^er cases she appears standing, holding a roll of
manuscript in one hand,an instrument for writing in the other.
2. Melpomene, the muse of Tn^edy, a serious, digoified
figure, standing with her left foot raised on a rock, holding
in her right hand a mask, such as was worn by tn^edians,
and in her left apparently a small roll of a part in a play;
her long robe or tunic is girt under her breast, and falls in
wide folds; from her shoulder a mantle
or peplos falls carelessly. In other cases
she wears a diadem or a wreath of
cypress, and holds a short sword or a
olub in her hand.
3. Thalia, the muse of Comedy and [
Burlesque, standing, clad in a robe or
tunic, over which is a mantle, with a
fringe, tJirown over the left shoulder,
and wrapped round the legs, leaving
the right arm free; in her right hand
is a shepherd's crook, in the other a
mask, such as was worn by actors in
the Satyric plays.
4. Calliope, the muse of Heroic
Poems, and looked on as the chief of
the Muses, on which account she some-
times appears as their representative;
seated, holding a writing tablet and a
stylue. In other cases she is standing, crowned with a wreath,
and holding a manuscript roll in her hand, or a pipe {tuba)
round which a branch of laurel is twined.
6. Urania, the muse of Astronomy, seated beside a globe,
holdii^ a pair of compasses in one hand, while with the other
she points upward toward the heavens. In other cases she
wears a crown of stars, and holds a lyre, her eyes turned
toward the stars, and pointing out at the same time something
on a globe beside her.
180 INFERIOR DEITIES.
6. Euterpe, the muse of the art of Masic, the " giver
of pleasure," as her name impliee, standing, plajing on a
double flute. In other cases she plays on other instru-
ments.
7. Polyhymnia, or Polymnia, the muse of Song and of
Oratoiy, her name signifying " rich in song," was also de-
scribed as the inventor of myths, on which account she was
represented in the attitude of contemplation, with one finger
raised to her lips; on her head a laurel
wreath. In other cases she appears
in a quiet, attentive, observant mood,
leaning forward on a pillar, her arms
concealed under her drapery, and
wearing at tjmes a veil, to indicate
the hidden truths within the myths,
while her posture was intended to in-
dicate the process of revolving the
meaning of them. For this reason
she was also viewed as the godded
of serious and sacred poems and
hymns.
8. Erato, the muse of Love and
Marriage Songs, wearing a wreath,
and playing on a large lyre with many
strings. In other cases she appears
Eraio. holding a lyre by her side in one
hand, and in the other an arrow or a wreath of myrtle and
roses.
9. Terpsichore, the muse of Dancing, wearing a wreath,
and playing on a lyre. At other times she holds cym-
bals, has her robe girt up, and appears in the attitude of
dancing.
The mother of the Muses was called, as has already been
stated, Mnomoeyne, that is, " Memory," and especially the
memory or recollection of great events, such as the war with
the Titans, that was said to have occurred at the oommenoe-
IRIS. 181
ment of the world's history, and must continue to occur until
the universe is brought into perfect harmony. In later times
she came to be viewed merely as god-
dess of memory, and worshipped along
with the Muses.
In art she is represented standing
in a quiet, thoughtful attitude, both
arms under her drapery, to indicate
the silent mysterious action of mim-
ory.
It was the custom of the Muses to
play under the leadership of Apollo,
at the banquets and marriage cere-
monies among the gods, while the
Horae, Charites (Graces), Aphrodite,
and other deities given to mirth and
gaiety, danced. In this fashion the
ancients represented under the form of
persons the union of joy, music, poetry,
dance, and merriment.
IRIS,
Goddess of the rainbow, was a daughter of Thaumas and
Electra, a grand-daughter of Ooeanus and Oaea, and a
sister of the Harpies. As messenger of Hera and Zeus, she
lived among the other deities of Olympus, which she only
left for the purpose of conveying the divine commands to
mankind, by whom she was looked on as a guide and adviser.
She travelled with the speed of wind always, from one end
of the world to the other, could penetrate to the bottom of
the sea, or to the Styx, and in this respect formed a female
counterpart of Hermes (Mercury) in his capacity of messen-
ger of the gods, she holding much the same position toward
Hera as he did toward Zeus.
It was Iris, the ancipnts believed, who charged the clouds
182 INFERIOR DEITIES.
with water from lakes and rivers, in order that they mi^t
let it fall again upon the earth in gentle feitiliziog showers;
and, accordingly, when her bow
appeared in the clonds the
farmer welcomed it as a sign
of rain to quicken his fields,
\ and gladly paid honors to the
j goddess whose presence he rec-
ognized in the rainbow with its
splendid colors.
She was represented as a
beantifnl vir^n with wings of
varied hue, in robes of bright
colors, and riding on a rain-
bow; at other times with a
nimbus on her head, in which
the colors of the rainbow were
reflected.
Our figure represents her
^"^ standing, clad in a long robe,
holding in one hand a herald's staff, such as Hermes also
carries (eaduoeu»), and in the other a helmet.
AEOLUS
Was the son of a king named Hippotes, and lived on one of
the abrupt rocky Lipara islands close to Sicily, along with
his offspring, six sons and six daughters, who were married
in pairs, and made life merry with their music. In the
caves of the island were imprisoned the winds, Aeolus letting
them out in gales, or in a soft favoring breeze, at the will of
the higher gods.
The idea of the winds being thus kept in a cavern under
the restraint of a divine person, appears to have suggested
itself to the ancients from the strong draught that is felt ou
THE WIND-OODS. 183
entering a cave or subterraneous passage; but whether the
belief in the existence of such a personage reached back to
primitive times^ when mankind lived to a great extent in
places of that kind^ is not certain. The influence of Aeolus
was felt both genially and the reverse on land and on sea, but
principally on sea, which he could more readily command
from the island where he lived.
As an instance of his kindliness to travellers by sea, we
may here mention his hospitable reception of Odysseus
(Ulysses) on that errant homeward voyage of his. On de-
parting, Aeolus gave him a great bag containing all the con-
trary winds, putting it on board the ship, so that he might
reach Ithaca with a fair wind. Odysseus himself remained
steadily and anxiously at the helm for several days, but his
native land coming at length in sight, he sank overpowered
with sleep. His followers observing this proceeded to indulge
their curiosity to see the costly presents which they fancied
the bag contained, opened it, and out burst the imprisoned
wind with a roar and a force that drove the ship again far
out of her course.
But besides this conception of the winds as mere elements
in the hands of Aeolus, there was another which represented
them as each personified by a separate divine being, living
apart, and being directly under the control of Zeus and
Poseidon.
THE WIND-GODS,
Of whom the principal were Boreas, the north wind, Eurus,
the east wind, Notus, the south wind, and Zephyrus, the
west wind, were, as we have previously said, the offspring of
Bos and Astraeus, the parentage of fierce, destructive winds
being assigned to Typhon. According to another report,
neither the origin nor the number of the deities of the winds
was known, the prevalence in particular districts of winds
blowing from this or that point between the four chief quar-
184 ISFBBIOB DEITIES.
ters, naturally giving rise to a set of personifications such as
northwest wind, southwest wind, and others.
The character and appearance ascribed to each of these
deities was, as usual in Greek mythology, such as was sug-
gested by the phenomena of each wind — as, for example, the
strength and fury of the north wind, or the genial warmth
of the southwest. Some were thought to be male, some
female, and all winged. Eurus, who brought warmth and
rain from the east, was represented holding a vase inverted,
carry [ng oB Odlbyla.
as if pouring rain from it. Lips, who from the southeast
wafted home the ships as they neared the harbor of Piraeus
at Athens, held the ornament from a ship's stern in her
hands. Zephyrus, coming from the warm, mild west, was
lightly clad, and carried a quantity of fiowers in his scarf.
Apeliotes, the southeast wind, carried fniita of many kinds,
wore boots, and was not so lightly clad as the last mentioned.
So they were represented on the " Tower of the Winds" at
Athens.
Though the winds were looked on as each under the coo-
BOS, OB AVROSA: LUCIFER. 185
trol of a separate divine being, whose favor it was necessary
to retain by sacrifice, no particular story or myth is told of
any one of these persons excepting Boreas and Zephyrue, the
rival lovers of Chloris (Flora), Zephyrus being the success-
ful suitor. Boreas carried off, it was said, Orithyia, the
beautiful daughter of Cecrops, king of Attica; and remem-
bering this, the Athenians in their distress, when the Persians
advanced the first time against Greece, called upon him for
aid, which he rendered by sending a terrible north wind,
which overtook the Persian fleet near the promontory of
Athos, scattering and lately destroying it. From that time
the Athenians had an altar to him, and offered sacrifice at it
for their preservation.
The scene of Boreas carrying off Orithyia is represented
on a beautiful bronze relief found at Calymna, and now in
the British Museum. The wind-god is powerful in form,
bearded, but still young, and wearing thick, high boots, and
a mantle thrown across his body.
EOS, OR AUBOEA: LUCIFER.
Eos was a daughter of the Titan pair, Theia and Hyper-
ion ; the latter, to judge from the meaning of his name,
having been at one time god of the sun, " who travels high
above earth." Helios and Selene, the deities of sun and.
186 INFERIOR DEITIES.
moon, were her brother and sister, while she herself was a
personification of the dawn of morning. A fresh wind was
felt at her approach, the morning star still lingered in the
sky, and ruddy beams " shot the orient through with gold;"
and because these beams appeared like outspread fingers, she
was called " rosy-fingered Morn." The star and the winds
of the morning, Zephyrus, Boreas, Notus, and Eutub, were
ner offspring by Astraeus, the god of Btarlight, The moon
and the other stars vanished gradually as she advanced, but
Helios followed her closely. To poets she seemed to lift the
veil of night with rose-tinted fingers, and to rise in the east
oat of the ocean in a car with four white steeds, shedding
light upon the earth. Others imagined her coming riding
on the winged horse, Pegasus, which Zeus had given her
after Bellerophon'e failure to ride on it up to Olympus.
She loved all fresh young life, and showed special favor to
those persons whose active spirit led them abroad in the
morning to hunt or to make war. When struck with the
beauty of a youth she would carry him off, and obtain im-
mortal life for him, as she did with CleituB, Orion, Gepha-
EOS, OS AVJtOBJ.! LVCZFEB.
187
lua, aud Tithonus. So it appeared to the Greeks, who
rax^ized in the brief duration of the freahness aod glow
of morQing a comparisoD with the early death of promiBing
and beautiful youth, and from the comparisoa proceeded to
construct a myth which should trace both to the same divine
cause.
Tithonus became her husband, and she lived with him
pleasantly beside the Oceanus so long as his youth and beauty
lasted. Unfortunately, in obtaining immortality for him
from Zeus, she had omitted to add to her request, "and
eternal youth," When white hairs showed themselves on
The Death of PiociIh.
his head she was not the same to him aa before, though sdll
supplying him with ambrosia and fine raiment. But he
became quite helpless at last, and, to avoid the sight of his
desorepitude, she shut him up in a chamber, where only his
voice was heard like the chirp of a grasshopper, into which
creature, it was said, he became transformed. By the story
of Tithonus we would understand day, in its eternally return-
ing course, fresh and beautiful at dawn, wearied and worn at
the close.
Of Oephalua it is said that from love to his wife, Prooris,
he resolutely withstood the advances of Aura, the goddess ctf
188 INFEBIOB DEiTtES.
the morning wind, and that the latter in revenge stirred up
discord between him and his wife. Another version of the
story is, that Aura caused him to kill his wife by mistake
when out on the chase. Procris, it would seem, jealous
of her husband's meetings with the goddess, had secreted
herself in a thicket to watch them; but happening to stir,
Cephalus caught the noise, and suspecting it to be caused
by some lurking animal, hurled his spear, and slew his
wife.
Eos and Tithonus had two sons, Memnon and Emathion,
the former widely celebrated for his beauty, and mourned for
his early death at the hands of Achilles. His dead body was
carried by his weeping mother to Aethiopia; and at Thebes,
in Egypt, she erected in his memory, so the story goes, that
wonderful monument which, when the first rays of the morn-
ing sun touched it, gave forth a sound like the snapping of
a harp-string.
In art she was represented as a spirited maiden, with lai^
wings, clad in robes of dazzling white and purple, a star or
cap on her head, a torch in her hand, and driving in a chariot
with four horses, or riding on Pegasus; at other times she
appeared floating in the air, and pouring morning dew from
a vessel down to the earth.
In our illustration (p. 185) she is figured driving a quad-
riga with great speed, as is indicated by the flow of her drapery.
The bulPs head signifies that the moon and stars are still in
the sky. Lucifer precedes her with a torch. Flowers and
plants, quickened by her dew, wake and raise their heads.
In the British Museum is a beautiful example of early
gem engraving, representing a head of her.
In other representations we find Hermes advancing before
her, a duty which Lucifer, the morning star, and a favorite
of Aphrodite and Hera also, most usually performs.
EROS, OR AMOR: PSYCHE.
EROS, OR AMOR: PSYCHE.
Amor, or Gupido, as he was also called, was not, it should
be noticed, a native Romaa deity, but had been introduced
from the mythology of the Greeks by poets, his name being
Cupid and Peycbe.
a direct translation of the Greek Eros. It should further be
observed that this translation presents an instance of the
difference in character of these two ancient races; the word
190 INFERIOR DEITIES.
for ^Move^' among the Greeks being feminine, while its
Roman equivalent was masculine.
We must at the outset distinguish the double character of
Eros; first, as we find him described taking part at the crea-
tion of the world out of Chaos, and. secondly, as a mere god
of love, a son of Aphrodite and Zeus, or Ares, as some said,
or even of Uranus. In the former phase of his character
he is represented as sorting the shapeless mass of the world,
with its conflicting elements, into order and harmony, dis-
pelling confusion, uniting hitherto jarring forces, and making
productive what was barren before. In the latter pliase he
is the deity who sways the passions of the heart both of gods
and men. In the one case he was conceived as having
existed before the other gods, as being the god of that love
which operates in nature; and in the other case as the young-
est born of them all, the god of that love which holds the
hearts of men in tyranny. It seems to have been as a com-
bination of both characters that Pliidias* represented him at
the birth of Aphrodite, receiving her as she rose out of the
sea, in presence of the assembled deities of Olympus.
The chief and oldest centre of his worship was Thespiae,
in Boeotia, where a festival called Erotidia was celebrated in
his honor, and continued to be a source of attraction down
to Roman times. Thence his worship spread to Sparta,
Athens, Samos, and Crete, the Spartans and Cretans having
a custom of sacrificing to him previous to the commencement
of a battle, in the belief that he was also the god of that
patriotism or love of country which best unites an army. In
Athens there was an altar to him and his counterpart, An-
teros.
In early times his worshippers at Thespiae were content
with a rude stone as an image. But in later times, and in
contrast with this, we find him the most attractive figure
among the works of the second Attic school of sculptors, the
* On the base of the statue of Zeus at Olympia.
EBOS, OR A^OS: PSrCHE. 191
school of Scopas and Praxitelea,* both of whom directed
tbeir spIeDdid talents to adding fresh grace and beauty to
Fsyclie at the Coach of Cupid.
his form. While artists rivalled each other to this end, poets
were no less zealous in singing his praises. In daily life his
192 iNFMRtOB DEI TIMS.
influence became more generally acknowledged. In the
gymnasia where the youth practised athletics his statue was
set up between Hermes and Hercules; for he was then repre-
sented as lithe of limb and graceful of form — a model of
ripening youth. As time went on, however, his figure be-
came more and more that of the chubby boy who plays all
manner of tricks with the hearts of men, with which we 2^
most familiar. He was supposed to exercise his influence
over the hearts of deities as well; and to show him in this
light, he was represented at times now with the symbol of
one god, now of another.
To the later age of Hellenistic and Roman poetry and art
belongs the touching story of Psyche — a personification, as
she appears to have been, of a soul filled with the passion
of love, and as such conceived under the form of a small
winged maiden, or, at other times, as a butterfly which bore
the same name. Psyche, the story runs, was a king^s
daughter, and most beautiful. The fame of her beauty
awoke the jealousy of Aphrodite, who to get rid of her rival
charged her son Cupid to visit the princess, and inspire her
with love for some common man. Cupid obey^ so far as
to pay the visit, but being himself struck with the maiden's
beauty, carried her off to a fairy palace in a vale of paradise,
where they spent happy hours together, with only this draw-
back, that she was not permitted to look upon her lover with
her mortal eyes. Even this she would not have considered
a drawback, had not her envious sisters stirred up her curi-
osity in the matter. Yielding to their temptation, she took
one night a lamp, and stole into the chamber where the god
lay asleep. Alarmed at the discovery she had made, she let
a drop of hot oil fall upon his shoulder. He awoke, and
charging her with disobedience to his express command, left
her alone to her despair. She searched for him everywhere
in vain, finding her way at last to the palace of Aphrodite,
who, after subjecting her to menial service of various kinds,
finally ordered her to go down to the lower world, and fetch
ESOS, OS AMOR: PSYCHE.
194 INFERIOR DEITIES.
a box of beauty^ s ointment from Persephone. This most
painful task she accomplished; but, on opening the box^ sank
overpowered by its odor. Cupid could resist no longer^ ran
to her help, and brought her back to life. The anger of
Aphrodite was appeased, and the marriage of Cupid and
Psyche was forthwith celebrated with great rejoicings, in
presence of the higher gods, Psyche obtaining immortality.
The purpose of the story is obviously to illustrate the three
stages in the existence of a soul — its pre-existenoe in a
blessed state, its existence on earth with its trials and anguish,
and its future state of happy immortality.
The engraving represents the two embracing tenderly.
Eros has laid aside his bow and quiver, with its dangerous
arrows; roses are strewn on the ground before them, and a
shoot of a rose-tree grows behind to symbolize the sweetness
and beauty of young love.
In works of art he is frequently to be seen in company of
his mother Aphrodite, or playing with the Muses and Graces,
or struggling with his opposite Anteros, or accompanied by
Pothos, whose name, like the Koman Cupido, signifies a
"desire of love'' — that is, a "desire of union in love,'
and Himeros, a " soft yearning for love.'' In later times
artists often surrounded Aphrodite, and occasionally also
Dionysus, with troops of little winged figures of children,
which we call Erotes or Amorettes.
The word Psyche, signifying originally the " soul," came
afterward to mean also a "butterfly" — ^a likeness being
observed between the manner in which a soul and a but-
terfly, freed from the body or chrysalis in which they have
been confined on earth, rise on wing, and waft themselves in
the light. The flame of love which often scorched the soul
was compared with the torch which attracts the butterfly to
its doom. When this happened, Eros turned away his &oe
and wept
HYMEN, OR HYMENAEUS. 195
HYMEN, OR HYMENAEUS,
Was worshipped as the god of marriage both by the Greeks
and the Romans. His origin is variously stated to have
been now from Apollo and Calliope, now from Dionysus and
Aphrodite, while at other times he is said to have been by
birth a mortal, and afterward deified. Properly speaking,
he is a personification of the marriage song. There are vari-
ous accounts of his life and deification, and among them the
following :
Young, and of a soft delicate beauty, so that he might be
mistaken for a girl, Hymen loved a young Athenian maiden,
whom, however, because of his poverty, he could not hope
to obtain for his wife. To be near her, he once joined a
troop of maidens, among whom she was engaged in celebrat-
ing a festival to Demeter at Eleusis. Suddenly a band of
robbers appeared from a hiding-place, carried the maidens off
to their ship, and set out with the intention of selling them
as slaves in some distant country. But landing on the way
on a dreary island, the robbers indulged so copiously in wine
that they all fell into deep slumber. Hymen, seizing the
opportunity, incited his fellow-captives to take the weapons
from the robbers and slay them all, which they did. There-
upon he set off to Athens in the ship, and finding the people
there in great distress, presented himself to the parents of
the maiden he loved, and undertook to bring her back un-
harmed on condition of their giving her to him as his wife.
This was readily promised. Finding a crew he at once set
sail for the island, and speedily returned with all the maidens
on board. For this he obtained the title of Thalassius, as
well as the wife that had been promised him. So happy was
his wedded life that at marriage ceremonies generally his
name was on the lips of all the company, and he himself in
course of time came to be looked on as a god, and the founder
and protector of marriage rights. At bridal festivities a
INFERIOR DEITIES.
eacrifice was offered to tim, festal songs were sung, and flow-
ers and wreaths strewn.
Hymeu, or Hjrmenaeui.
THE CHARITES, OR GRACES. I97
As a deity he was placed among the playmates of Eros
and in the company of Aphrodite. Hia home, it was be-
lieved, was among the Muses on Mount Helicon in Boeotia.
There is a story which says that he lost his voice and his life
in sioging the marriage song of Dionysus and Ariadne or
Althaea. He is always a picture of youthful beauty, and of
the charms of love and song.
Hymen was represeated as a beautiful youth with a mantle
of a golden color — sontetJmes nude — and carrying a torch.
THE CHARITES, OR GRACES,
Were looked upon by the Greeks as the goddesses of the
gracefulness and the charms of beauty, and of cheerful
amusement, which were observed both in nature and in the
intercourse with men. As such,
their worship dated from a very early
time in Orchomenus in Boeotia, in
Sparta, Athens, and Crete; the games
held in their honor in the last^men-
tioned place being said to have ex-
isted even in the time of the pre-
historic king Minos. Their oldest
sanctuary was said to be that at
Orchomenus. It contained images of
them in the form of rude stones
which were supposed to have fallen '
from heaven.
The manifold beauty which the
works of nature, especially in springtime, display, would
seem to have given rise in very early times to a belief in the
existence of certain goddesses at first simply as guardians
of the vernal sweetness and beauty of nature, and afterward
as the friends and protectors of everything graceful and
beautiful — an idea which the poets further developed.
198 iNFtinion DEITIES.
Pindar, in one of his most delightful songs of victory, sing-
ing of the Graces, associates with them the source of decorum,
of purity and happiness in life, of good will, beneficence and
gratitude among men.
They were represented as beautiful young modest maidens,
winning and charming, always dancing, singing, and run-
ning, or bathing in fountains, or decking themselves with
early flowers, especially with roses; for the rose was sacred
to them, as well as to Aphrodite (Venus), in whose com-
pany, and doing her many a service, according to the myth,
they were usually to be found. Their home was among the
Muses in the neighborhood of Olympus, where they often
appeared as companions of Aphrodite, and danced before the
other deities.
Their origin is variously stated — now Zeus and Eurynome,
an Oceanid, being assigned as their parents, now Dionysus
and Aphrodite. There is a difference also in the statements
of their names and number. From Orchomenus, it would
seem, come Aglaea, Euphrosyne, and Thalia. In Sparta
and in Athens there were only two, the pair worshipped in
the former town being called Cleta (clang) and Phaenna
(glimmer), in the latter town, Auxo and Hegemone. In
the Iliad a whole race of them is mentioned, old and young
— the youngest being Pa.sithea. According to another ac-
count, the youngest was Aglaea, the wife of Hephaestus
(Vulcan), the object in assigning him such a wife being
probably to indicate the perfect beauty of the works of art
produced by that god. Beauty and sweetness, the best charm
of poetry, oame from the Graces. Athene (Minerva) called
in their aid in the serious business of life over which she
presided, because without gracefulness all labor was in vain,
the Greeks believed. They assisted Hermes (Mercury) in
his capacity as god of oratory. From these instances of
their activity it will be seen how highly the Greeks prized
this quality of gracefulness.
In Greece there was a number of temples and beautiful
HEBE. 199
groups of statuary in their honor, sometimes devoted to them
alone, sometimes to them in common with other deities; as,
for example, Aphrodite, Apollo, and the Muses. Annual
festivals, called Charitesia, accompanied with games, music,
and dance, were held in their honor. It was the custom also
to call upon them in taking an oath, and at banquets the first
cup of wine was offered to them.
In early times they were represented in art as draped
figures, but in later times as quite nude, or but sparingly
clothed, and occupied in a dance. Their attributes were the
rose, the myrtle, and dice, as a symbol of cheerful amuse-
ment. At other times they hold apples or perfume-vases, or
ears of corn, or heads of poppies, or musical instruments —
such as the lyre, flute, and syrinx.
PITIIO, OR SUADA,
Or Suadela, was the goddess of persuasion, and, like the
Graces, formed part of the escort of Aphrodite, whose
daughter she was said to be.
Her worship, along with Aphrodite, was introduced into
Athens by Theseus, at the time when he succeeded in per-
suading the various isolated tribes inhabiting Attica to unite
into one people, with Athens as their chief town. But she
had temples in other places also, and was looked on as a deity
to whose influence much was due.
HEBE,
Or Ganyxneda, or Dia, as she was called in the vine-growing
districts of Phlius, where she was worshipped as the prin-
cipal deity, was daughter of 2ieus and Hera, and was the
goddess of youth, herself remaining always young, and
warding off age, like the other deities, by means of nectar
200
INFERIOR DEITIES.
and ambrosia,. Her Dame among the Komans was JuventoB.
In Olympus she held the office of cap-bearer to the gods, for
which it is supposed that she
was peculiarly adapted, first,
because of her association
with the vine^rowere of
Phlius, and, secondly, because
she was the youngest daugh-
ter of the r^al ptur of Olym-
pus, and as such, on the
analogy of human arrange-
ments, would be expected
to wait upon the divine
guests, as Briseis did on Achilles,
or Hippodtimia on Oenomaus, or
OA, in real life, Melissa, the
daughter of Procles, king of
Epidaurus, poured out wine for
her father's men with a grace
which captivated Periander. The
difficulty of explaining how Hebe
and Ganymedes would both bold
the same office was met in various
ways, of which one was to assume
her to have been cup-bearer in
generaland htm cup-bearer to Zeusin particular, while another
supposed that Hebe only held the office while Ganymedea
was absent from Olympus during the Trojan war, so as
to avoid witaessiag (he misfortunes of his native country.
Among her other duties she had to assist Hera to yoke her
car. When Apollo and the Muses played she danced with
other deities. At times she accompanied Aphrodite. But the
202 INFERIOR DEITIES.
character id which she was best knowti and most admired
was that of the bride and wife of Heroulea when he was
raised to Olympus in re-
ward for his extraordinary
labors on earth. This
union of Hebe, the favor-
ite daughter of Hera,
with Hercules, whom she
had constantly persecuted
whileon earth, is unknown
to the Iliad. The charac-
ter of the myth, howevei^
appears to point to a very
early origin. The sin-
gular climax of events
which made Hercules the
guest of the gods of Olym-
pus and the husband of
tbe most attractive of the
goddesses was a snbjeot
which was made the most
of by the comic poets.
Representations of the
marriage procession, and
of Hercules receiving a
cup of wine from Hebe,
occur in ancient sculpture.
In other cases she appears
in the company of her
mother Hera, or alone, or
iu the character of Oany-
atnymede^ ^^ fondling the eagle
of Zeus, or giving it drink from a cup, as occurs not infre-
quently on engraved geme.
At the town of Phlius, in the district of Alalia, there
was, in a fine grove, a celebrated temple in her honor, which
QANYMEDE8. 203
served as a place of refuge or asylum, in which slaves who
had been set free hung up their chains among the cypresses
sacred to the goddess.
In Eome Juventcus had two sanctuaries, one on the
Capitol, the other beside the great race-course. It was the
custom— dating, it was said, as far back as the time of
Servius TuUius — to pay into the temple of Juventas a piece
of money for every boy who lived to enter the stage of youth.
When the young Roman assumed the toga mriliSf he went
up to the Capitol and prayed to Jupiter and Juventas. At
the beginning of every year sacrifice was offered to both
deities in behalf of the youth of the city.
GANYMEDES
Was a son of the Trojan king Tros and Callirhoe, and was,
therefore, great-grandson of Dardanus, the founder of Troy.
Zeus finding him on Mount Ida, and admiring his beauty,
carried him off to Olympus, where he appears to have suc-
ceeded Hebe in the ofiBce of cup-bearer to the gods.
He was represented as possessed of eternal youth and
extraordinary beauty, wearing a Phrygian cap to indicate his
birthplace. The cup in his hand indicates his office of cup-
bearer, while the eagle of Zeus by his side shows that that
office was performed among the gods of Olympus.
AESCULAPIUS
Was, according to the most common version of the myth, a
son of Apollo and Coronis, a daughter of a Thessalian prince
— whence his title Coronides. At his birth his mother died,
struck by the arrows of Artemis; but the father saved the
child, and taking it to Mount Pelion, gave it in keeping to
the famous physician, Chiron, who carefully instructed the
boy from early youth onward in the mysteries of the healing
204 INFERIOR DEITIES.
art, training him at the same time to expertness in the chase.
In the former the pupil soon excelled the master^ curing the
most malignant diseases^ and working real miracles with his
art. There was but one whom his success could injure, and
that was Pluto, the monarch of the lower world, who urged
his complaint before Zeus. The latter, astonished at the
boldness of a mortal in thus defying the decrees of fate,
felled the great doctor with a thunderbolt, to the indignation
of Apollo, who was only silenced by banishment from Olym-
pus for some time. After his death Aesculapius was looked
upon as a god in Greece; festivals called Asclepiea were held
in his honor, and temples were erected to him, of which the
most celebrated was that of Epidaurus, in the Peloponnesus.
Thither even the Romans sent ten deputies once, to inquire
the will of the oracle with regard to a pestilence that was
raging in Rome. The deputies had hardly entered the tem-
ple, when from behind the gold-and-ivory statue of the god
a serpent appeared, the symbol of Aesculapius, and followed
them through the streets of the town, on to the harbor, and
into their ship. They received it joyfully as a happy por-
tent, and set out homeward. On reaching Italy the serpent
left the ship, and proceeded to a temple of Aesculapius, in
the town of Antiura, but afterward returned to the ship, and
did not leave it again until, on going up the Tiber, it stopped
at an island. Thereupon the pestilence ceased, and the temple
was erected on the island to Aesculapius, to commemorate
the event. Thither patients were conveyed and cured — ^a
short statement of the symptoms of each case, and the remedy
employed, being inscribed on tablets, which were hung up in
the temple, and were found to be a great boon to posterity.
Beside the serpent, he frequently has as an attribute a
cock — that animal being also sacred to him. The serpent,
by its periodic change of skin, indicates rejuvenescence; the
staff marks him as wandering from place to place, to give
help; while the dish, which he sometimes holds, is a symbol
of his healing potions. It was the custom of invalids to
AESCULAPIUS.
205
Bscrifice a cock to him, as Socrates did after drinking the
cup of poison, as a token that he did not fear death, but
rather looked upon
it as a cure and a
convalescence.
Among the chil-
dren of Aesculapius,
Hygea is speciallj'
mentioned. The
name of his wife
was Epigone^* 'the
soothing." Like
many other deities
of the lower order,
in common with he-
roes, he was in after
times placed as a star
in the skj.
In art the god of
medicine is repre-
sented as a man of
years, bearded, gen-
tle, and earnest,
draped, and resting
on a staff, round
which a serpent^ as
an emblem of reju-
venescence, is coiled.
Hia type of face re-
sembles that of Zeus
BO much that in the
case of the fine mar-
ble head in the Brit-
ish Museum absolute
agreement has not yet been arrived at as to which of the
two gods it was intended to represent The head in ques-
Aesculapliii.
206 INFERIOR DEITIES.
tion was found in the island of Melos, on the site of what
is supposed to have been a temple to Aesculapius^ from the
discovery in the same place of a native tablet, dedicated to
the god and to his daughter Hygea. A person who had
recovered from a local illness would dedicate a sculptured
representation of the part that had been affected. Of such
sculptures there are a number of examples in the British
Museum.
HYGEA.
Hygrea was, as we have just said, the daughter of Aescu-
lapius, and the goddess of health. Others said she was the
wife of Aesculapius.
She was represented as a young, active, smiUng goddess, in
whom Apollo took a special interest. In art she appears
draped, and holding a serpent — which, as in the case of Aes-
culapius, is the symbol of health. She feeds it from a plate
or paiera.
At other times she is figured wearing a wreath of laurel, or
of plants known for their medicinal properties— a jpo^era in
her hand, a serpent coiled round her arm or body.
MEDITRINA
Passed in Rome for a sister of Hygea and a goddess of health,
a festival called Meditrinalia being annually held in her
honor at the beginning of October, the ceremony consisting
in drinking some old and some new wine together, and ex-
claiming, ^* I drink the new and the old wine — ^with new and
old wine I heal infirmities.^'
The distinction between the two goddesses of health lay in
this, that while Hygea preserved good health, Meditrina
restored it. The Greek goddess Jaso appears to have been
identical with Meditrina.
TELESPHOnva.
TELESPHORU8
Was looked upon as a geniua or deity of that secret and
mysterious vitality which BustaiDB the coavalesoent. He was
HjgeK, Aeuulapioa, and Telespbonu.
represented by the side of Aesculapius, or standing between
him and Hygea, as a small barefooted hoy, wrapped closely
in a maotle, witli a hood on his head. This careful wrapping
up seems tu indicate the secret shrouded nature of the vital
force which he personifies, and may also have been meant to
express the care in wrapping up bo essential to convalescence.
The principal centre of his worship was on the coast of Asia
Minor.
INFERIOB DEITIES.
TYCHE, OR FOETUNA.
Tlie idea that a great part of the incidents and circom-
stances of life was due to chance had taken hold of the mind
in very early times, and had come to be personified in the
form of a goddess of luck,
whom the Greeks called Tyche
and the Bomans Fortuna. She
was the daughter of Zeus.
The Parcae, or Fates, were
her sisters. It was believed
that she guided the career of
men, whether prosperously or
the reverse; and to show her
in this capacity she was
figured holding a double rud-
der in her hands — the one to
steer the barque of the lucky,
the other that of the unlucky.
In later times she was repre-
sented with wings, or with her
eyes bound, standing on a ball
or a wheel, to indicate that
luck rolls like a ball, without
choice, undoing all the efforts
of this one, and overwhelming that one with wealth and
prosperity. Sometimes she was represented with a ball on
her head, or with a cornucopia in her hands.
In art she appears draped, her arms bare, a horn of plenty
in one hand and a rudder in the other — the ball beside the
rudder indicating the rapid turna of fortune.
Tyche was worshipped in many places in Greece, but espe-
cially at Atliena, wliere she was popularly believed to reside
constantly as a favoring deity. In Italy the worship of
Fortuua was widespread, and a general feslival held in her
DIONYSUS, OR BACCHUS.
NIKE, OB VIOTORIA. 209
hooor annually on June 24, Her principal worshippers,
however, were newly married women. She had an oracle of
considerable &me in the towns of Praeneste and Antium.
NIKE, OR "VICTORIA;
The goddess of victory, was a
daughter of the giant Pallaa
and the Oceanid nymph Styx,
and was regarded by the
Grreeks as inseparable from
Zeus and Athene Except in
works of art of an early
period, she was represented
with wings. Her attnbutes
were a palm-branch, a wreath,
and a trophy of armor Some-
times she carried a staff {cadtL-
ceua) like that of Hermes
(Mercury), as a sign of her
power, and floated in the air
with outspread wings, or ap-
peared coming down to earth
— now pointing the way to a
victor, now reaching a wreath
down t« his brow, or driving
his horses. As goddess of
victories by sea, suitable em-
blems were assigned to her.
In art she appears standing
on a globe, draped, winged,
holding a wreath and a palm-
branch. On coins apparently
struck to commemorate vic-
tories, or, as it sometimes hap-
Nlke,orVIcloila.
210 INFERIOR DEITIES.
pened^ success in the national games — on engraved gems,
sculptures — figures of Nike are of frequent occurrence. She
is also draped^ and of a youthful appearance : a favorite
subject^ to judge from the repetition of it on gems^ seems to
have been that in which she was represented in the act of
sacrificing an ox.
EIRENE, OR PAX,
The goddess of peace, was also represented holding a palm-
branch. At other times she stood with armor under her feet
or was engaged in closing the temple of Janus. In Greece
she was reckoned one of the Horae — ^the most cheerful,
indeed, of the three sisters. In Rome she had a temple, and
enjoyed the honor of an annual festival on January 30.
FATE,
The Greek name being Ananke, the Roman Fatum, was a
personification of the unalterable necessity that appeared to
control the career of mankind and the events of the world.
Gods, as well as men, were subject to its unchanging decrees.
This deity was the offspring of Night and Erebus. Her
sentences were carried out by the Parcae, who, however, were
also looked upon as independent deities of fate. She was
represented standing on a globe, and holding an urn.
MOERAE, OR PARCAE.
In very early times the management of the world in regard
to social matters involving right and reason was supposed
to be directly under the control of a goddess called Moera,
who, in her own province, acknowledged the superiority of
no other deity, not even of Zeus, the ruler of the world,
MOEBAE, OR PARCAB. 211
who, as supreme god, could not be thought to insist on any-
thing unreasonable or wrong. In later times, we find, instead
212
INFERIOR DEITIES.
of this dDgle deity, three Moerae (or Farcae), aDsweruig
respectively to the three stages of humaD life — birth, years,
and death. In this form, however, they no longer retained
the high position of superiority to Zeus, hut^ like the other
deities, became subject to him, thus showing that he poaseesed
in its highest form the consciousness of right and reason, and
was entitled to be called Moeragetee, or leader of the
Moerae.
They were described as daughters of Night— to indicate
the darkness and obscuri^ of human bte — or of Zeas and
Themis — that is, " daughters of the just heavens." Another
story has it that it was they who united Themis and Zeus
in marriage, the same ceremony, according to another version
of the myth, having been performed by them to Zeus and
Hera. It was natural to suppose the goddesses of fate present
and taking part at marriages and births.
The names of the three sisters were Clothe, Laohesis)
and Atropos. To express the influence which they were
believed to exercise on
human life from birth
to death, they were
conceived as occupied
in spinuing a thread
of gold, silver, or
wool; now tightening,
now slackening, and
at last cutting it off.
T This occupation was
lo arranged among the
^ three, that Clotho, the
youngest, put the wool
round the spindle,
Laohesis spun it, and Atropos, the eldest, cut it off when a
man had to die. Tyche, or Fortuna, has been taken as a
fourth sister, on account of the similarity of her functions.
It is not, however, bo.
nemesis: 213
They were represented in art as serious maidens^ always
side by side, and in most cases occupied as we have men-
tioned, there being instances, however, in which Atropos, the
'* unalterable,'^ is represented alone.
They were worshipped very seriously both in Greece and
Italy : sacrifices of honey and flowers, sometimes of ewes,
were offered to them, while in Sparta and in Rome they had
temples and altars.
NEMESIS,
Called also Adra.8tea and Bhamnusia, from Rhamnus in
Attica, the principal centre of her worship, was a personifica-
tion of the vengeance which appeared to overtake every act
of wrong. She was the goddess of punishment, and as such
a figure of her was placed beside the bench of the judges.
A mysterious power, watching over the propriety of life, she
was conceived as shaping the demeanor of men in their times
of prosperity, punishing crime, taking luck away from the
unworthy, tracking every wrong to its doer, and keeping
society in equipoise. She was represented as a thoughtful,
beautiful figure of queenly aspect, with a diadem or crown
on her head, winged, except in the case of early sculptures,
or driving in a car drawn by gryphons. Among her several
attributes were a wheel, to indicate the speed of her punish-
ments, a balance, a bridle, a yoke, a rudder, a lash, a sword,
and an apple-branch. Special festivals, called Nemesia,
accompanied by public sacrifices to assure her good will,
were held annually in Athens and in Smyrna.
Now Erebus, now Oceanus, is mentioned as her father,
while Zeus is said to have been her lover, and Helena their
daughter.
To execute her commands she had three attendants — ^Dike,
Poena, and Erinys (respectively justice, punishment, and
vengeance). She was a terror to evil-doers. At the same
time her endeavors to preserve an equal balance in the attL-
214 INFERIOR DEITIES.
tude of man to man were recognized as springing from a
deep-seated love, and therefore she was placed beside the
Graces. In Smyrna several winged beings of her type were
worshipped.
ERIS,
Called by the Romans Discordia, the goddess of strife, was
employed by the other gods to stir up fierce disputes and
mortal quarrels among men. It was she who caused the
dispute between Hera (Juno), Athene (Minerva), and Aphro-
dite (Venus) for the possession of the golden apple, the prize
of beauty, which she threw among the company assembled at
the marriage of Peleus.
Terrible in form and aspect, with attributes like those of
the Eumenides, with whom her home was in the realms
below, she was looked on as the sister and companion, some-
times as the wife, of Ares, the god of massacre. Her daughter
was
ENYO,
Whom the Romans called Bellona, now believing her to be
the wife and now the sister of Mars. Similarly among the
Greeks, Enyo, the murderous goddess of war, delighting in
devastation, was associated with Ares, who also bore the title
of Bnyalios, either driving his chariot or rushing in front of
it to battle. The peculiar fierceness and fury with which
she spread terror and alarm in a battle distinguished her
from Pallas Athene. She was represented as of frightful
aspect, with flowing hair, rushing wildly hither and thither,
with a lash in her hand, and armed with shield and spear.
Her most celebrated temple was~ that at Comana, in Asia
Minor.
At the close of the war against the Samnites a temple was
erected to her in Rome by Appius Claudius. There the
ATE. 215
Senate used to meet when they had to deliberate with an
embassy from a hostile power, or when they had to decide
whether the honor of a triumphal entry into the city should
be bestowed upon a general. At the entrance to the temple
stood a pillar, which, on the occasion of declaring war, was
viewed as marking the boundary between Boman and hostile
territory. The ceremony of declaring war was to throw a
spear over this pillar — that is, into the territory of the enemy.
There festivals of din and wild excitement were held in her
honor. Her priests were styled Bellonarii.
PHEME, OR FAMA,
The goddess of fame or report, whether good or bad, was
said to be a daughter of Graea, and born at the time of her
great indignation at the overthrow of the Giants. Sleepless,
always prying, swift of foot, Pheme announced whatever she
saw or heard of, at first in a whisper addressed only to a few
persons, then by degrees louder and to a larger circle, until
finally she had traversed heaven and earth communicating it.
She was represented as a tender, gentle figure, winged, and
holding a trumpet.
ATE
Was the goddess of infatuation, mischief, and guilt, mislead-
ing men to actions that involved them in ruin. For this her
father, Zeus, cast her in anger from Olympus, and from that
time she wandered about the earth in search of victims to
her malignant influence. She was spoken of as powerful in
person and swift of foot, running before men to mislead them.
Her sisters were the
216 INFERIOR DEITIES.
LITAI,
Sweet-natured goddesses, whose special duty was to recom-
pense the persons whom Ate had reduced to distress and
ruin. Their name signifies ** prayers of the penitent/' and
the allegory in this case is not far to seek. Prayers atone
and make amends for what a man does to the harm of
others in thoughtlessness or from infatuation, without wicked
thought or design. In the Homeric poems they are described
as lame, wrinkled, and squinting — those deformities being
caused by the trouble they had in making good the harm done
by Ate. Penitent prayers were at best but sorry aid in
making good the evil done from infatuation or carelessness.
The Litai were supposed to be daughters of Zeus, and to
place before him the prayers of those who invoked his assist-
ance.
THE ERINYS, OR FURIAE,
Called also Dirae, Eumenides, or Semnae — that is, the
'^ revered" goddesses — were daughters of Night, or, accord-
ing to another myth, of the Earth and Darkness, while a
third account calls them offspring of Cronus and Eurynome.
They were attendants of Hades and Persephone, and lived
at the entrance to the lower world. Their first duty was to
see to the punishment of those of the departed who, having
been guilty of some crime on earth, had come down to the
shades without obtaining atonement from the gods. At the
command of the higher gods, sometimes of Nemesis, they
appeared on earth pursuing criminals. Nothing escaped
their sharp eyes as they followed the evil-doer with speed
and fury, permitting him no rest.
A sad instance of this is the story of Orestes, the son of
Agramemnon, who slew his mother, Glytaeninestra, to
avenge his father's death. The atrocity of the crime com-
THE ERINT8, OR FUBIAE.
217
mitted by Clytaemnestra was held hy Zeus and Apollo to
be DO excuse for the act of Orestes, and accordingly he was
subjected to the long and cruel pursuit of the Furies, from
which he was at length freed by bringing, on the advice of an
oracle of Apollo, an image of Artemis from Taurus to At^ios.
Id the illustration one of the Erinys is represented as pur-
suing Orestes; the face reflected on the mirror which she holds
is perhaps that of Clytaemneetra.
The number of the Erinyes, varying in early times, was
afterward fixed to three : Timphone (the avenger of mur-
der),Alecto (the unwearied
persecutor], and Megaera
(the grim). They were rep-
resented as female figures
of odious aspect, clad in
black, sometimes winged,
with hair formed of vipers,
aod carrying a serpent, a
knife, or a torch in their
hands. Id time this grim
conception of them fell
away, and they came to be
represented as beautiful,
serious maidens, clad some-
thing like Artemis is
divine beings, whose ofBce
it was to punish neglect of
duty, breach of faith, and . ,,v „^
.•' ' One ofttie ErlnyB.
crimes committed agaiDSt
parents, they came to be looked upon as aidmg the preser-
vatioD of a high morality, and were called Eumemdes, or
the " well-minded goddesses." When sacrifices were offered
to them, the place chosen for the occasion was of a wild
character, the time night, and the animals sacrificed, black.
Id Greece there were several temples aDd solemn groves dedi-
cated to them — as, for example, at Colonus, close by Atheos.
INFERIOR DEITIES.
THE HARPIES,
Also were creatures employed, according to the belief of the
Greeks and Romans, by the higher gods to carry out the
punishment of crime. They were three in number : Aello,
OoTpeto, and Oelaeno, or Podarge; and were said to be
daughters of the giant Thaumae and the Oceanid nymph
Eleotra. Their body was that of a bird, their head that of
a woman; and it would seem that they were originally god-
desses of the storm, which carries everything along with it.
Their manner of punishing those whom they were sent to
punish was to carry oft all the food set before their victim,
and devour it, or failing that, to render it uneatable. Among
others who were punished in this way was PhineuB, a king
of Thrace, hb crime having been cruelty toward his own sou
and contempt of the gods. For showing the Argonauts the
way to Colchis he was, however, freed from their persecution
by Calais and Zetea, the winged sons of Boreas, who, in
gratitude, killed them. At other times, as in the case of the
THE OOEOONS. 219
daughters of Pandareus, they are described as carrying oflf
their victims bodily from the earth; while, on the so-called
Harpy tomb in the British Museum, they appear to be repre-
sented as demons of death carrying away the souls of deceased
persons.
THE GORGONS,
By name Stheino, Euryale, and Medusa, were daughters of
Phoroys and Ceto. Two of them were believed to be im-
mortal, while the third. Medusa, the youngest and most
beautiful of them, was mortal. She loved Poseidon, and
having met him once in the temple of Athene, to the dese-
cration of that building, was punished by having her beau-
tiful hair turned into snakes, thus making her appearance
more ghastly than that of her sisters. Her face was terrible
to behold, turning the spectator into stone. At last Perseus,
finding her asleep, cut oflf her head with his curved sword,
and presented it to Athene, who had assisted him in the
enterprise, to be worn on her aegis or shield as a terror to
her enemies.
The ancient poets describe the Gorgons generally as hor-
rid, aged women, and frequently place them by the side of
the Furies. In early times there was only one Gorgon —
Medusa — instead of the three of later times. The winged
horse, Pegasus, was the offspring of her and Poseidon.
In art Perseus is represented standing with sword in one
hand and the head of Medusa in the other, turning his face
away to avoid seeing it (see page 247). The subject of Per-
seus cutting off the head of Medusa occurs in one of the
earliest examples of Greek sculpture— one of the metopes of
the oldest temple at Selinus, in Sicily; and from the conven-
tional manner in which her face is represented, compared
with the other parts of the sculpture, it is agreed that the
type must have been familiar for some time to Greek art.
To possess a representation of a Gorgon's face was tft Vife^^^?^*-
INFERIOR DEITIES.
vided with a charm against ills, and accordingly it was fre-
quently employed as a personal oroameDt. ALmy hundreds
of such faces worked in thin gold, and intended to be stitched
down on garments, were found in the tomb of a priestess of
NYX, OB NOX. 221
Demeter in Certch, and are now in the hermitage of St
Petersburg. A representation of Perseus escaping after cut-
ting ofE the Gorgon's head, and being pursued by her sisters,
occurs on a small vase in the British Museum, where also is
to be seen, on a fragment of a terra-cotta relief, Athene hold-
ing up the shield, the polished surface of which reflected her
face, and thus guided Perseus to the spot without his encoun-
tering its deadly stare.
THE GRAEAE,
Daughters of Phoroys and Ceto, were three in number;
Deino, Pephredo, and Enyo ; their names meaning respec-
tively *' alarm,'' ''dread," and ''horror." Sisters and at
the same time guardians of the Gorgons, they were conceived
as misshapen hideous creatures, hoary and withered from
their birth, with only one eye and one tooth for the common
use of the three, and were supposed to inhabit a dark cavern
near the entrance to Tartarus. The belief in their existence
seems to have been originally suggested by the gray fog or
mist which lies upon the sea and is a frequent source of dan-
ger to the mariner. It is said that Perseus obtained from
them the necessary information as to the dwelling of the
Gorgons by seizing their solitary eye and tooth, and refusing
to return them until they showed him the way.
NYX, OR NOX,
Was, it will be remembered, a daughter of Chax>s. She
became the wife of Erebus (darkness), and bore to him two
children. Aether (the pure air) and Hemera (day). In the
earliest form of the myth she was one of the seven elements
that constituted the world — fire, water, earth, sky, sun, moon,
and night.
222 INFERIOR DEITIES.
In time the lively imagination of the ancients associated
with this mysterious goddess of night a control over illness^
sufferings, dreams, misfortunes, quarrels, war, murder, sleep^
and death, everything inexplicable and frightful that befell
men being personified and described as her offspring.
She was supposed to inhabit a palace in the lower world
jointly with Day. When the latter entered the palace,
Night rode out in a chariot drawn by two black steeds, and,
accompanied by many stars, traversed the heavens till day-
break, when she returned to the palace.
She was represented as a serious figure clad in long heavy
drapery, on her head a black star-spangled veil; with black
wings, and carrying two children in her arms (one of them
being white to personify Sleep, the other black, to personify
Death), or riding in a black chariot, holding an extinguished
torch inverted.
HYPNOS, OR SOMmJS,
Was, as we have just said, a son of Night, twin brother of
Thanatos (death), with whom he lived in deep subterranean
darkness at the entrance to Tartarus. His influence extended
to gods as well as men, and by the latter he was viewed as a
special benefactor, giving the weary refreshing rest, and suf-
ferers alleviation of their pain.
He was represented in different forms and attitudes, with
different attributes — now nude, or lightly or heavily clad,
now standing, or striding hastily, or reposing heavily; or as
a powerful youth holding a poppy or a horn, from which
sleep trickled down on those reposing; or as a child, and
sometimes as a bearded, aged man. On his head were the
wings of a hawk or a night bird, and beside him frequently
a lizard. He was looked on as a favorite of the Muses^
apparently because of the dreams he was supposed to com-
municate to men.
In the British Museum is a very beautiful bronze head oE
MOMUS. 223
Hypnos, with the wings of a hawk growing out from the
temples. In the Iliad^ Hera commands him to take the form
of the bird which men call a hawk. How the idea originated
of attaching wings to the temple is uncertain.
ONEIROS AND MORPHEUS
Are two different forms of the god of dreams. According
to the meaning of their names, the office of the latter would
be to fashion dreams^ as the gods desired them to be sent to
men. In this task he was assisted by Icelus, who fashioned
those dreams that had all the appearance of reality, by Pho-
betor, the author of alarming dreams, and Phantasus, who
tricked sleepers with innumerable and strange phenomena.
But we find Morpheus also represented in the capacity of a
sort of watchman and guardiaii of dreams, as Aeolus was of
the winds.
Oneiros was properly a personification of dreams, whether
idle or deceptive or really prophetic. Dreams of the former
class were supposed to issue from the ivory gates, those of
the latter class from the horn gate, of the palace where they
were kept, beside the Western Ocean us. They were called
children of Night, sometimes children of Sleep, and were
directly under the control of the superior order of gods, who,
as they pleased, despatched deceptive or prophetic dreams to
men.
MOMUS
Was a deity whose delight and occupation was to jeer bit-
terly at the actions both of gods and men, sparing no one
with his insinuations except Aphrodite, in whom he could
find nothing to blame, and vexed himself to death in conse-
quence. As an example of his behavior, it is said that he
224 INFERIOR DEITIES.
complained of the man that Prometheus had made, because
there was not a window in his breast through which his
thoughts might be seen.
THANATOS, OR MORS,
The god of death, was, as we have said, a son of Night and
twin brother of Sleep. He was, however, also described as
a son of Earth and Tartarus, to whom it was his office to
introduce, some time or other, the whole of mankind. The
relentless severity with which he discharged the task caused
him to be frequently regarded with pain, and to be repre-
sented as of a powerful figure, with shaggy beard and fierce
countenance, with great wings to his shoulders, and resem-
bling, on the whole, the figure of Boreas, the god of the wild
north wind of winter. This form, in the case of both deities,
was expressive of the violent nature of their functions.
Thanatos was, however, more frequently regarded with
submission, or as coming opportunely, and in such cases was
represented in the form of a quiet, pensive youth, winged,
standing with his legs crossed, often beside an urn with a
wreath on it, and holding an extinguished torch reversed.
Or, as a personification of endless repose, he appeared in the
form of a beautiful youth leaning against the trunk of a tree,
with one arm thrown up over his head — an attitude by which
ancient artists usually expressed repose. It was probably
owing to the spread of the belief that death was a transition
from life to Elysium, that in later times this more attractive
representation of the god of death took the place of the
former repulsive representations, whether as a powerful and
violent god, or as a black child in the arms of his mother.
Night. Among the figures sculptured on the chest of Cypse-
lus, a description of which we have still in Pausanias, was
that of Night carrying twin children in her arms — the one
white, representing Sleep, and the other black, representing
DAEMONS, OR OENIL 225
Death. On Roman sarcophagi. Mors, or the genius of death,
was represented in the form of a winged boy, resembling
Cupid, resting and holding a torch. In the Alcestis of
Euripides he is described as armed with a sword.
DAEMONS, OR GENII,
Were an order of invisible beings, one of whom was as-
signed by Zeus to every man, to attend, protect, and guide
him. They were nameless, and, like the multitude of man-
kind, innumerable. Some of them acted as personal attend-
ants to deities of a higher order, and in that case were repre-
sented under particular forms, and enjoyed distinctive names,
while others were believed to watch over particular districts,
towns, or nations. While the Greeks regarded these Daemons
as deities of an inferior order, the Romans believed them to
be a sort of intermediate beings linking mankind to the gods.
The Daemons assigned to women were supposed to be fem-
inine.
To every man was assigned a Daemon at his birth. Iden-
tifying itself with him, it endeavored, throughout his life, to
guide him in a wise course, and at his death died with him.
To be of a cheerful mood, and to be careful of prolonging
life, was to live in obedience to a man^s Daemon or Genius.
To be sad and vexed, or to shorten life by recklessness, was
to wrong the attendant spirit. On birthdays it was usual to
offer a sacrifice of wine, milk, flowers, or incense to the
Genius, while at most meals some unmixed wine was poured
out to the ^' Good Daemon '' (Agathodaemon).
The usual representation of a being of this class was in
the form of a youth holding a horn of plenty and a dish in
one hand, and some heads of poppies and ears of grain in
the other. The presence of a Daemon was also symbolized
by the figure of a serpent.
Besides the general family of Genii, the Romans had one
15
226 INFERIOR DEITIES.
great Genius whom they reckoned among the gods of the
second rank, and esteemed highly, believing that he had some
control over the others.
LARES AND PENATES
Were beings peculiar to the religion of the Eomans. Every
household was supposed to be under the protection of one
Lar and several Penates, whose presence was symbolized by
images in the form of a youth wearing a short tunic, girt at
the waist, and holding a horn of plenty in one hand, and a
patera, or flat circular dish, in the other. Such images of
the Lares and Penates were kept in a particular part of the
house called the Lararium^ received constant offerings of
incense and libations, and were decked with garlands of vio-
lets and rosemary. When a slave obtained his freedom, it
was the custom of his former master to hang a chain upon
the figures of his Lares. When a youth left the paternal
roof he prayed : '' Ye Penates of my fathers, and you, Lar,
father of our family, I commend to you my parents, that you
may protect them. Other Penates and another Lar I must
now seek.''
Beside these private household deities there were also
public Lares, who were recognized as the protecting spirits
of whole states and towns. Of these there were originally
two in Rome, and later three — the spirit of Julius Csesar
having been added as the third; for the Lares were consid-
ered to be the spirits of deceased persons who continued to
watch over and influence the living. The other two were,
however, regarded sometimes as sons of Mercury and a
nymph called Lara. Statues and temples were erected in
their honor. Sacrifice and prayers for the safety of the state
were offered up at their altars, which in spring and in sum-
mer were frequently decked with flowers. They were pro-
tectors of highways and travellers, and in this capacity had
THE MANES. 227
the honor of a festival called Gompitalia, which was annu-
ally celebrated at cross-roads, a few days after the Satur-
nalia, and consisted of a banquet and sacrifice of cakes, the
ceremony being conducted by slaves. To the Lares who
protected the fields, sacrifices of lambs, calves, and pigs were
offered.
It was believed that the Genii of good people became after
their death kindly Lares, while the Genii of evil-doers be-
came Lemures or Larvae — that is, evil spirits who wandered
about the earth afflicting mankind with illnesses for which
there was no remedy but expiatory sacrifices to the gods.
Persons who died without expiation for every wrong they
had done were pursued by these Larvae in the lower world.
THE MANES,
Generally speaking, were the souls of the departed inhabit-
ing the realm of shadows. Survivors, however, who believed
that departed souls sustained a higher and nobler existence,
regarded them as divine beings, calling them Dii Manes,
offered sacrifice to them at tombs, and thought it possible to
call them up from the lower world.
DEMIGODS, OR HEROES.
Demigods, or heroes, were a class of beings peculiar, it
would seem, to the mythology of the Greeks. They were
regarded partly as of divine origin, were represented as men
possessed of godlike form, strength, and courage; were be-
lieved to have lived on earth in remote dim ages of the
nation's history; to have been occupied in their lifetime with
thrilling adventures and extraordinary services in the cause
of human civilization, and to have been after death in some
cases translated to a life among the gods, and entitled to sacri-
fice and worship. They were described as having been the
first sovereigns and legislators of the nation, and as the
founders of all the kingly and noble families. Monsters
that devastated particular localities were destroyed, the
oppressed were set free, and everywhere order and peaceful
institutions were established by them. They were, in short,
the adventurous knights the history of whose deeds formed
for the mass of the people the first chapter of the national
history, and that in a manner worthy both of the civilization
to which the nation had attained and of the gods to whose
influence the progress was due. The legends of their adven-
tures furnished to poets and artists an inexhaustible treasure
of striking figures, wonderful deeds, and strange events, while
they formed at the same time a most powerful element in the
national education.
It has been suggested that the belief in these beings may
have originated in later times, in an impulse to pedjple the
blank early pre-historic age with ideal figures of a sublime
order of men, to whom the nation might look back with
(228)
ORIGIN OF THE HEROES. 229
pride, or that it may have origiDated in a desire to dwell on
the memory of distinguished persons who had actaally existed,
and in time, by so doing, to exaggerate their actions to a de-
gree quite beyond human powers. But it is far more prob-
able that, like the gods, the heroes had originally been divine
personifications of certain elements of nature, and the legends
of adventures ascribed to them merely a mythical form of
describing the phenomena of these elements. The idea, for
example, of a long struggle and ultimate victory over grim
enemies, which is so characteristic of these adventures, is the
same idea that we find pervading the early myths, in which
the powers of light are represented as struggling with, and
finally overcoming the powers of darkness. But while the
gods always maintained their relationship to the elements of
nature, of which they were divine personifications — marine
deities, for instance, dwelling in the depths of the sea, and
celestial deities in the pure ether — the heroes or demigods,
on the other hand, had ceased to be identified with any par-
ticular<element, and though retaining the form, strength, and
courage of gods, came in time to be regarded as men of high
order that had once inhabited Greece, but had passed away.
The legends, which, as we have said, had been intended to
be mythical descriptions of certain natural phenomena, were
expanded so as to embrace the new variety of adventures
which imagination with its wide scope now assigned to the
heroes.
There appears to have been a time when the gods gener-
ally were in danger of being reduced in this manner to the
condition of demigods or heroes — such events, for instance,
as the war of Zeus with the Titans and Giants, the contests
of Apollo with Tityus and Python, or of Dionysus with his
enemies, being calculated, from their adventurous nature, to
present their authors more in the light of heroes than of
gods, and to form readily subjects for the epic poets, as
indeed the contests of Dionysus did. This tendency was,
however, arrested by the necessity of defining, for the pur-
230 DEMIGODS, OB HEROES.
poses of worship, the province of the various deities. From
that time the position of the gods was determined, while the
heroes became less and less distinguishable from men, the
legends concerning them assuming gradually more of a his-
torical than of an ideal character. Traditions of early
battles and victories that still lingered among the people
were made to circle round these imaginary heroes, who in
time became the centres of all the earliest national recollec-
tions, the accredited founders of most of the elementary
institutions of social life, and the guides of colonists.
It does not, however, follow that the particular elements
of nature over which the heroes or demigods had originally
presided were left after this separation unrepresented by
divine beings. For in addition to the vast number of gods
in the Greek national religion, whom we have already de-
scribed as identified with this or that department of the
universe, there must have been in the early ages a large
number of local deities, who, when the tribes to which they
were peculiar coalesced in after times into one Greek nation,
must have appeared in many cases quite identical in char-
acter, though probably very often different in regard to the
details of the deeds or adventures ascribed to them. Thus
many who have been dispensed with as gods would be re-
tained, on account of their local adventures, as heroes or
demigods.
Turning to the oldest examples of the Greek epic poetry
which we possess — the Iliad and Odyssey — we find the
heroes represented as hardly distinguishable from men.
More powerful, more beautiful, and more courageous they
certainly were than the ordinary men of their day, and on
this account were looked on as descendants of the gods; still
their ways of life were distinctly the ways of men, not of
gods.
By the time of Hesiod we find this opinion of the heroes
changed. The heroic age is lamented as a thing of the past.
The people of his time, aware of their weakness and wants.
ORIGIN OF THE HEROES. 231
looked back with reverent feelings to the happy age in which
the great heroes stood between the gods and feeble mankind.
ZeuSy it was taught by Hesiod^ had translated the heroes to
the islands of the blest^ far removed from men, where they
lived in a perpetual golden age under the sovereignty of
Cronus. The people, however, thought otherwise, believing
that the ancient tumuli in Greece and in Asia Minor were
the graves of the heroes. The imposing tumuli at the
entrance to the Hellespont, for instance, were viewed as the
tombs of Achilles, Patroclus, and Ajax. Sanctuaries and
temples were erected to heroes, their bones were searched
for, and when found regarded as a great source of strength to
the town that possessed them; all relics of their stay on
earth were hallowed, and a form of worship was specially
adapted to them.
In later times the heroes came to be identified more or less
with the Daemons. The consequence of this was that all
individuals who on account of extraordinary strength, cour-
age, beauty, talent, or seK-sacrifice, were supposed to be pos-
sessed of special Daemons, were recokoned as heroes. And
this was not confined to persons remarkable for their good
qualities, successful daring entitling a robber to this rank as
much as did the bravery of the men who fell at Marathon
and Plataea.
In still later times, as the belief gained ground that every
soul had something of the nature of a Daemon in it, and was
destined to a higher and nobler life, heroic honors were paid
to almost all the dead; so that when a man of particular dis-
tinction died, the only course left open of paying him signal
honors was to regard him as having been, after the manner
of Hercules, translated to a life among the gods, and to wor-
ship him as a god.
It is, however, only with the heroes and demigods that
occur in the mythology and the epic poetry that we have to
do. They may be divided into three classes : First, the demi-
gods, associated with the creation of mankind and the earliest
232 DEMIGODS, OB HEROES.
incidents of human history and civilization — ^the most fttrik-
ing figure among them being that of Prometheus. Secondlj^
the earlier heroes properly so called — such as Heroules^
TheseuSy Minos^ Perseus^ or Bellerophon, who were dis-
tinguished for their extraordinary adventures^ labors^ and
expeditions, such, for example, as that of the Argonauts to
Colchis. Thirdly, the more recent heroes, the tales of whose
deeds and expeditions — for instance, those against Troy and
Thebes — read more like historical traditions magnified by the
imagination of the poets, than all^orical narratives such as
those of the two preceding classes.
PALLAS ATHENE, OR NVVNERVN.
THE CREATION OF MAN.
PROMETHEUS AND THE FIRST DEMIGODS.
Among the various opinions in ancient times conceraing
the origin of maakiad, the most generally accepted one ap-
pears to have bees that in which it was asserted that man
Dencalion and PjrtTbB.
and all other forms of life had, like the gods, originally
sprung from the common mother earth. It was not sup-
posed that the whole human race could trace its lineage back
to one primeval pair; on the contrary, it was believed that a
primeval pair had been created in all the chief districts in
234 THE CREATION OF MAN.
which mankind was afterward found settled. As the natural
features of these districts varied^ so varied the opinions with
regard to the exact substance from which the first beings had
sprung. In wooded and mountainous districts^ for instance,
they were held to have sprung from rocks and trees; in val-
leys, from the moist element of nature. As to the time at
which this creation took place, and whether it took place
simultaneously throughout the various inhabited r^ons, we
have no means of knowing the current belief.
From the primitive condition of savages living like ani-
mals in the forests and caves, they advanced slowly in the
direction of civilization — sometimes visited with terrible
punishments, and sometimes assisted by the gods; the differ-
ent classes or tribes becoming in time united into two great
races — the Pelasgic and the Hellenic. The former traced its
origin to the Argive Phoroneus, and appears to have been
resident mainly in the Peloponnesus, while the latter looked
back to Deucalion as its founder, and was resident in Thes-
saly and around Parnassus. According to the story a great
flood had swept away the whole human race except one pair,
Deucalion and Pyrrha, who, as the flood abated, landed on
Mount Parnassus, and thence descending, picked up stones,
and cast them round about, as Zeus had commanded. From
these stones sprang a new race — men from those cast by
Deucalion, and women from those cast by his wife. From
Hellen, the son of Deucalion, the Hellenic race derived its
name, while its four great branches, the Aeolians, Dorians,
Aehaeans, and lonians, traced their descent and names from
four of his sons.
In such a primitive condition of life, perhaps nothing was
regarded as of greater importance, or more mysterious in its
nature, than fire. Its beam dispelled the dread of darkness,
and its warmth removed the chill of winter. The fire of
the hearth was the centre of domestic life. At the forge,
tools and weapons were fashioned. It was an emblem of the
life of man, with its flash and sudden extinction on the one
PROMETHEUS AND THE FIRST DEMIQODS. 236
hand, and the illumination of its prolonged blaze on the
other. In storms it was seen desGending from the sky, and
in volcanic eruptions it was seen issuing from the earth. The
source of it all was readily believed to be in the close keep-
ing of the gods; and how mankind came to obtain the use of
it was explained in the story of Prometheus.
Zeus, foreseeing the arrogance that would arise from the
possession of so great a blessing, had from the first refused
to transmit any portion of his sacred fire to men. Their
deplorable condition, however, owing to the want of it, found
a champion in the person of Prometheus (a son of the Titan
Japetus), who had previously identified himself with the
cause of humanity in a dispute that arose at Mecone (Sicyon)
as to the rightful share of the gods in all sacrifices offered to
them. On that occasion an ox had been slaughtered as a
sacrifice, and Prometheus, having wrapped up all the eatable
parts in the skin of the animal as one portion, and having
cleverly covered the bones and worthless parts with fat as
the other portion, asked Zeus to select what he thought the
236 THE CREATION OF MAN.
better portion for the gods. Zeus^ though perfectly aware
of the deceit, chose the worthless parts, and more firmly than
ever determined to withhold his fire from men. Prometheus,
however, resolved to obtain it for them, and succeeded in
snatching some of it from the hearth of Zeus, or, as another
version of the story has it, from the forge of Hephaestus in
Lemnos. As a punishment, he was condemned to be chained
alive to a rock in the remote Caucasus mountains, and to
submit while every day a vulture came to gnaw away his
liver, which daily grew afresh. For a long time he bore this
suffering, and, indeed, would never have been released but
for the secret which he possessed concerning the ultimate fate
of the dominion of Zeus, who, for the purpose of learning
the secret, permitted Hercules to shoot the vulture, to free
Prometheus, and bring him back to Olympus.
Meanwhile the human race enjoyed the many benefits of
fire, and continued to advance in civilization rapidly. But
that their cup of happiness might be mixed with sorrow,
Zeus ordered Hephaestus to fashion a woman of clay, of
divine beauty, but possessed of all the weaknesses as well as
charms of human nature. Athene instructed her in the
industrial occupations of women. Aphrodite gave her grace
of manners, and taught her the arts of a beauty, while
Hermes qualified her for the part of flattering and soothing.
With the help of the Graces and Horae, Athene robed her
with costly, beautiful robes, and decked her with flowers, so
that, when all was done, Pandora, as they called her, might
be irresistibly attractive to gods and men. Hermes conducted
her to Bpimetheus, who, though warned by his brother Pro-
metheus to accept no gift from Zeus, yielded to the besetting
weakness from which he obtained his name — ^that of being
wise when it was too late. He received Pandora into his
house, and made her his wife. She brought with her a vase,
the lid of which was to remain closed. The curiosity of
her husband, however, tempted him to open it, and suddenly
there escaped from it troubles, weariness, and illnesses, from
PROMETHEUS AND THE FIRST DEMIGODS. 237
which mankiad was never afterward free. All tliat remained
was Hope.
We have thus, in contrast with the general belief described
above as the spontaoeous origin of man from the earth, an
instance of a humaa being directly fashioned by the gods
Puidon and Her Box.
from clay. From this mean substance it was also asserted
the first men were made by Prometheus, Athene assisting
him by breathing life into his figures. But this was prol>'
238 THE CREATION OF MAN.
ably only a learned speculation^ indulged in to aocoont for
the zeal displayed by Prometheus in the cause of human
civilization. It is better to account for that zeal by assum-
ing Prometheus to have been originally a god of fire, who^
asserting his right to employ that element for the benefit of
mankind^ provoked the hostility of the other gods, and from
that time forward identified himself with the cause of men.
There is good ground for assuming this in the &ct that Pro-
metheus was intimately associated with Hephaestus in the
very ancient worship of that god in Lemnos and in Attica.
While the progress of civilization, as far as it had depended
on, or could be symbolized by, fire, was connected with Pro-
metheus, the progress of agriculture in primitive times was
reflected in the story of the two giants Otus and Ephialtes,
sons of Aloeus (the planter) and Iphimedia. Small and puny
at their birth, they grew quickly, living on grain, and soon
became the wonder of men for their great size and beauty.
Finding that war and agriculture could not go tc^ether, they
seized Ares, the god of war, bound and confin^ him in a
large brazen vase for thirteen months. He would have per-
ished in it had not Hermes at length heard of his imprison-
ment, and set him free. Becoming more and more arrogant
in the pride of their strength, the two brothers next deter-
mined to assail the immortal gods in Olympus itself, and for
this purpose they had placed Mount Ossa on the top of Mount
Olympus, and upon Ossa had heaped Mount Pelion, when
the shafts of Apollo felled them. They perished in youth,
ere their beards had grown.
//
THE EAKLIER RACE OF HEROES.
It will be convenient to separate, for the present, the
legends of the adventures of Hercules, together with those
that relate to combined expeditions of heroes from different
districts — such as the expedition of the Argonauts — from the
other legends of this earlier race of heroes, and to arrange
the latter class according to the localities assigned as the
principal scenes of their actions, beginning with
(a) ARGOS.
At the head of the Argive line of heroes stands Inachus,
the river-god, a son of Oceanus, like all the other river-gods.
With the nymph Melia for his wife, he became the father of
Phoroneus and lo, of whom the former, according to Argive
legends, was the first man upon the earth. Such services as
Prometheus was elsewhere believed to have rendered to early
civilization, were there ascribed to Phoroneus. He was re-
puted to have founded the town of Argos, and to have
established there the worship of Hera. With regard to lo,
we have already related (in connection with Hermes) how she
was loved by Zeus, and, to escape the jealousy of Hera, was
transformed by him into a cow — how Hera, discovering the
transformation, set a watch over lo, in the person of Argus,
a giant with a hundred eyes, and how Hermes slew the
watchman and released lo. Another version of the story
says that it was Hera who transformed lo into a cow, for the
purpose of thwarting the love of Zeus for her. Argus had
240 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
tethered her to an olive-tree in a grove sacred to Hera, be-
tween the towns of Mycenae and Argos^ and was there keep-
ing guard when Hermes arrived and slew him. Though set
free^ lo did not yet regain her human form^ but was com-
pelled to wander through distant lands in the form of a white
horned cow, goaded by a vexatious insect sent by Hera. At
last, on reaching Egypt, she obtained rest, was restored to
her human form, and became the mother of Epaphus.
lo, the white horned cow, appears to have been a personifi-
cation of the moon, like the Phoenician goddess Asteurte,
who was also represented in this form. Her wanderings
were like the wanderings of the moon. Hera, who punished
her, was the supreme goddess of the heavens. Argus, with
his many eyes, reminds us of the stars. The slaying of
Argus by Hermes was a favorite subject with ancient artists.
Epaphus became king of Egypt, and had a daughter
called Libya (after the district of that name on the shore of
the Mediterranean), who bore to Poseidon, the sea-god, two
sons — Agenor and Belus. While the former became the
head of a race that spread over Phoenicia, Cilicia, and on to
Thebes in Greece, Belus remained in Egypt, succeeded to the
throne, and marrying Anchinoe, a daughter of the Nile,
had two sons, Aegyptus and Danaus. The latter was ap-
pointed to rule over Arabia, the former over Libya. Aegyp-
tus had fifty sons, and Danaus the same number of daughters.
A dispute arose between the two families, and Danaus yield-
ing took ship with his daughters and sailed to Argos, pursued
all the way by the sons of Aegyptus. At Argos, the home
of his race, he was kindly received by the reigning king, and
protected against the pursuers.
At that time the district of Argos was suffering from a
drought which Poseidon had angrily caused. Danaus sent
out his daughters to search for a spring, and while they were
so engaged it happened that one of them, Amymone, throw-
ing her spear at a stag, missed it, and hit a Satyr who was
asleep in the brake. Pursued by the Satyr, she called on
DANA US. 241
the name of Poseidon for help, and the god instantly ap-
peared, drove off the Satyr, and for love of the beautiful
Danaid caused a perennial spring to flow at Lema, where he
met her. Amymone bore to Poseidon Nauplius, the wrecker
of Nauplia, who by false lights misled many ships to their
destruction among the rocks, and enriched himself from their
cargoes. By a singular fatality he perished in this way
himself at last. He had three sons : Palamedes, celebrated
for his inventive faculty, Oiax, the steersman, and Nausime-
don, the ship captain.
Meantime the sons of Aegyptus, it is said, having besieged
Argos for some time, at length proposed to forget their differ-
ence with Danaus, and to marry his daughters. Without
relenting in the least, he agreed to give his daughters to them
in marriage, but to each daughter he presented a knife, and
commanded them all to slay each her own husband on the
marriage night. All obeyed his order except Hypermnestra,
who, preferring to be regarded as of weak resolution than as
a murderess, spared her husband, Lynceus, and became the
mother of the Argive line of kings. While Zeus approved
the murderous deed of her forty-nine sisters, and sent Athene
and Hermes to give them expiation, Hypermnestra was cast
into a dungeon by her indignant father, her husband, Lyn-
ceus, saving himself by flight. On being brought to trial
she was, however, publicly acquitted ; her husband, returning
to Argos, succeeded Danaus on the throne, and in after times
was widely respected, among other things for having founded
the great festival in honor of the Argive Hera. The prize
of victory in the games that accompanied that festival was a'
shield, not a wreath, as was elsewhere usual; the tradition
being that on the first occasion of these games Lynceus pre-
sented his son Abas with the shield which had belonged to
Danaus.
Whether it was to obtain husbands for his daughters who
accomplished their own widowhood, or whether it was to
decide among a multitude of suitors for their hands, Danaus
16
242 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
held a kind of touraamenty the victors in which were to be
accepted as husbands. On the morning of the contest he
ranged his daughters together on the course^ and hy noon
each had been carried off by a victorious athlete, a scion of
some noble house.
It was said that after death the Danaides, with the excep-
tion of Hypermnestra, were punished in Tartarus by having
continually to carry water, and pour it in the vain endeavor
of filling a broken cistern. It may be that this form of
punishment was selected for them as the most suitable for
women, who generally in Greece were the drawers of water.
At the same time it was very suggestive of the dry parched
soil of Argos, the streams of which were always dried up in
summer.
From Abas, the son of Hypermnestra and Lyncens, sprang
the brothers Acrisius and Ftoetus, famous for their hatred
of each other from infancy onward. When they had grown
up, Proetus, finding himself constantly defeated in the fra-
ternal encounters, fled to Lycia, and was there hospitably
received by the king, lobates, and the queen, Amphianax,
whose daughter, Stheneboea, he married. With the assist-
ance of a Lycian army he was reinstated in his rights of sover-
eingty over Argos and Corinth, fortifying himself in the
citadel of Tiryns, while his brother Acrisius held out in that
of Larissa. Of both citadels the massive structures now in
ruins still bear witness to the fierce assaults which must have
been made upon them.
Proetus had three daughters, whose exceeding beauty made
them prizes which the noblest youth of the country sought
to win. But they were haughty, despised the common usages
of the times, scorned to take part in the worship of Diony-
sus, and made ridicule of the sanctity of Hera^s ancient
image and shrine. For this they were punished by a form
of insanity which drove them ever to wander restlessly among
the woods and hills of Argos and Arcadia. It is further said
that, being under the hallucination that they were cows, Hiey
DANAE. 243
lowed like kine as they wandered about. The father sum-
moned Melampus^ the prophet and priest^ to work a cure
upon his daughters, but on the prophet's stipulating a third
of the kingdom as his reward, dismissed him again. The
evil grew worse, for the other women of the country began
to yield to the infatuation of abandoning their husbands and
slaying their children. Melampus was recalled, and this
time demanded an additional third of the kingdom for his
brother, Bias. Proetus agreed, and Melampus, collecting a
body of active youths, pursued the three princesses over the
mountains, and on to Sicyon, where the eldest of the three
died, and the other two, after being purified, were given in
marriage to Melampus and Bias respectively.
This legend also would seem to have originated in con-
nection with the very ancient worship of Hera, as queen of
the heavens, at Argos; the wanderings of the three daugh-
ters of Proetus, under the imaginary form of cows, having
reference, like the similar wanderings of lo, to the moon.
Returning to Acrisius, we find him troubled at the prospect
of having no heir to his throne. To his question the oracle
at Delphi replied that a daughter would be born to him, and
that she would bear a son who would slay his grandfather,
and rule in his stead. The daughter, Danae by name, was
born, and to prevent the latter part of the oracle from being
fulfilled, she was imprisoned in a subterranean chamber.
But a shower of gold, sent by Zeus, penetrated to her, and
she became the mother of an infant destined to fulfil the
oracle and to become conspicuous among the ancient heroes.
He was named Perseus, probably with reference to his being
a son of Zeus, the great god of light, and to his having been
born in darkness, in which respect, as in several others, he
may be compared with Apollo, whose mother was Leto
(darkness), while his father was Zeus. The shower of gold
would thus signify a beam of golden light.
Acrisius, hearing the voice of the child, summoned his
daughter to the altar of Zeus to give a solemn explanation
244 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
of the circumstance. Disbelieving her story, he placed
mother and child in a dosed box, and committed them to
the waves. After rocking aboat on the bosom of the sea,
the box was at last carried toward the island of Seriphus,
and was there caught in a net belonging to a fisherman named
Dictys^ who took the waifs to his house, and aeted kindly
by them. It was a very barren island, affording little but
shelter to the families of fishermen that inhabited it. The
chief or king of it was Polydectes, a brother of Dictys, just
mentioned, and as notorious for the gaiety of his habits as was
his brother for his simplicity. Struck with the beauty of
Danae, and finding that her son Perseus stood in the way of
the fulfilment of his desires, Polydectes became anxious to
get rid of him, and gladly availed himself of the opportunity
that presented itself when Perseus, not to be outdone in pro-
fessions of loyalty, vowed that he would even fetch the head
of the Gorgon Medusa for the king, should he wish it
Perseus set forth sadly on his mission, but took courage
when Hermes and Athene, who often lent their aid in heroic
adventures, appeared to him, and led him to where the
Graeae lived — three aged women, with only one eye and one
tooth in common. Perseus, seizing the indispensable eye
and tooth, refused to give them back until they told him
where to find the nymphs who had in keeping the helmet of
Hades, the winged shoes, and the pouch necessary for his
future movements. On arriving at where the nymphs lived,
he obtained from them the objects in question, to which
Hermes added the knife (harpe) with which he had cut off*
the head of Argus. Buckling on the winged shoes, he pro-
ceeded toward the Gorgons with the speed of a bird, the
helmet of Hades making him invisible, but concealing noth-
ing from his sight. It is further said that Athene instructed
him how to approach Medusa without being petrified, as was
usual, by her stare. To this end she gave him a shield of
polished brass, on which, as in a mirror, he could see the
reflection of the Gorgon, while he himself, unseen, advanced
245
and cut off ber bead. The iDstant he had done this there
sprang from the trunk of Medusa Pegasus, the winged horse,
and Chrysaor, the father of Geryoneus. Perseus, placing
the head quickly into the pouch which the nymphs had
given him, hastened from the scene, pursued by the two
sisters of Medusa for some distance.
Among his adventures on the way back to SeripbuB were
the turning of Atlas iuto stone because the giant refused to re-
ceive him hospitably, and the release of Andromeda, whom
he found, on passing over Aethiopia, bound to a rock on the
sea-shore as a victim to a great sea-monster. She was a
daughter of Cepheus and CsiSsiopea, the king and queen of
Aethiopia. The latter, having vaunted herself equal in beauty
to the Nereides, gave offence to them and to Poseidon also,
who thereupon visited the country with a flood, and sent a
dreadful monster from the sea to destroy both men and cattle.
On appealing to the oracle of Ammon in Libya, Cepheus was
told that the evil would not abate until he exposed his beau-
tiful daughter, Andromeda, to the monster. Compelled hy
246 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
his subjects to yield^ the luckless father took her to the shore,
and chained her to a rock^ in the position in which Perseus
found her. Struck with her beauty, Perseus undertook to
save her on condition that she should become his wife.
Cepheus agreed to this, and Perseus, after slaying the mon-
ster, unchained the maiden. She had, however, been engaged
beforehand to Phineus, her father's brother, who, arriving
with a strong body of soldiers, burst in upon the marriage
feast. But the sight of the Grorgon's head turned them all
to stone, and Perseus triumphantly carried off his bride.
Arriving at Seriphus, he found that his mother and Dictys
were being persecuted by Polydectes, and obliged to seek
protection at the altars of the gods. His course was to
announce his arrival to the king, who at once assembled his
nobles to witness how the young hero had kept his word.
Perseus appeared in the assembly, and, producing the Gor-
gon's head, turned the king and all his nobles instantly to
stone. Not content with punishing in this manner the prin-
cipal persecutors of his mother, Perseus is said to have
turned the island itself into a great barren rock, and to have
spared only the excellent Dictys and the fishing population
attached to him. Even the frogs of the island became dumb,
said an ancient proverb.
Having thus fulfilled his promise, and rescued his mother,
Perseus handed over the winged shoes, the pouch, and the
helmet that made him invisible, to Hermes, to be restored to
the nymphs. The head of Medusa he gave to Athene, who
ever after wore it on her shield. Accompanied by Danae
and Andromeda, he set out for Argos to find his grandfather,
Acrisius, who, however, in the meantime having left Aigos
in consequence of an increasing dread lest the oracle should
be fulfilled regarding his death, had established himself at
Larissa in Thessaly. Thither Perseus proceeded, and found,
on his arrival, the king, Teutamias, occupied with public
games in honor of his deceased father. Perseus took part in
the games, and by a fatality which justified the oracle, the
PERSEUS. 247
disc which he threw fell upoo the foot of Acrisius, and
caused his death. After burying his grandfather honorably
at Larissa, Perseus returned to Argos to his mother and wife,
but instead of establishing him.'wlf there, exchanged Argos
for Tiryns, which was then held by Megapenthes, a son of
248 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
Proetus^ and soon after founded the ancient Mycenae, with
its massive walls.
Perseus and Andromeda had two sons — Electryon and
Alcaeus. Alcmene, the mother of Hercules, was a daughter
of the former, and her husband, Amphitryon, a son of the
latter. It was also said that before leaving the court of her
father, Cepheus, Andromeda had borne a son, whom they
called Perses, and left behind with his grand&ther. From
this Perses the Persian kings traced their lineage. The
kings of Pontus and Cappadocia, claiming the same descent,
introduced a figure of Perseus on their coins. In Tarsus
and in Egypt also were traditions of ancient benefits derived
from the Greek hero.
While the wanderings of lo remind us of the wanderings
of the moon, and lead us to connect the origin of the l^ends
concerning her with the worship of Hera at Argos, the adven-
tures of Perseus similarly suggest the apparent movement of
the sun, and the effect of his light, particularly in slaying
the dread monsters with which the imagination peoples dark-
ness. It would seem, therefore, that tiie origin of the belief
in these adventures must have had some connection with the
Argive worship of Zeus and Athene.
His adventures, either as an entire story or in parts, formed
a most attractive subject to ancient poets, and were frequently
represented in works of art, many of which we still possess.
One of the earliest examples of Greek sculpture to which an
approximate date can be assigned is a group on a temple at
Selinus in Sicily, which represents him cutting off the Gor-
gon's head, and belongs to the seventh century B. C.
In art he is figured holding the head of Medusa in one
hand and the curved sword in the other.
SISTFHUS AND ASOP^US. 249
(6) CORINTH.
Owing to its convenient situation on the isthmus between
two seas, Corinth was from very early times an important
seat of commerce; and as such being chiefly dependent for
its prosperity on the benignity of the sea-god Poseidon, had
at an early period established his worship, and exalted him
as its principal god. In the legends concerning the Corin-
thian heroes we would, therefore, expect to find decided traces
of this worship, just as in those of Argos we found traces of
the early worship of Hera.
With regard to Sisyphus, the first of these heroes, the
legend was that he had chanced to see Zeus carrying off
Aegrina, the daughter of the river-god Asopus, and having
marked the direction of their flight as toward the island of
Aegrina, determined to make capital of his knowledge, by
informing Asopus of what he had seen, on condition that
the river-god would create a spring of water on the parched
citadel of Corinth — Acrocorinth as it was called. The terms
were agreed to, and Sisyphus at once secured the afterward
famous fountain of Peirene. But Zeus could not permit the
act of treachery to pass unpunished. He sent the god or
daemon of death to claim him. Instead of yielding, Sisy-
phus bound the daemon with strong chains, and retained him,
no one dying in the meantime, till Ares arrived and broke
the chains. Sisyphus was then handed over to the daemon,
but before departing charged his wife, Merope, not to offer
the customary sacrifices for the dead, and thus to disappoint
Pluto and Persephone. Arrived in Hades, he began to
denounce this neglect on the part of his wife, and repeated
his complaint so often that he was at last allowed to return
to the upper world. Another version of the story has it
that Hercules carried him off by force from Hades. In
either case he returned to Corinth, lived to an advanced age,
and after death was punished as we have already related, by
250 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
having to roll a huge stone up a height^ which when it had
gained the summit immediately rolled back.
It may be that the idea of such a punishment was sug-
gested by the backward and forward rolling of stones by
the treacherous waves on the shore. At any rate, we find a
connection of Sisyphus with the worship of Poseidon in the
statement that he, at the command of the Nereides, received
the dead body of Melicertes from his mother, and instituted
in his honor the Isthmian games, which afterward were held
in honor of Poseidon.
More directly connected with the worship of the sea-god
is the legend of Qlaucus, the son of Sisyphus. The refer-
ence in his name to the color of the sea is strengthened by
the title of Pontius, which he bore, and yet it was not with
the sea directly, but with horses, the accredited symbols of
the waves, that he is associated. For some reason — from
having been fed on human flesh, according to one report —
his horses became furious, and tore their master to pieces.
In after times his name was a terror to equestrians in the
hippodromes, the current belief being that Glaucus survived
as an evil spirit wandering about and frightening horses.
A figure of far greater importance than Glaucus in the
legendary history of Corinth was his son Bellerophon.
Not that Corinth had been to any extent the scene of his
exploits; for, except the incident of the bridling of Pegasus,
his memorable adventures were all conducted elsewhere — in
Argos at first, and afterward in Lycia. His story was, more-
over, strangely blended with that of the Argive Perseus. It
may be that the proximity of the two towns, and the polit-
ical dependence of Corinth on Argos, wrought in time an
assimilation in the legends of the two heroes originally quite
distinct. Or, on the other hand, it may be that the differ-
ence in the pursuits and religious inclinations of the two
towns acted on the imagination in such a way as to alter a
legend originally common to both, so much that each might
in time fairly claim a separate hero of its own. Whichever
BELLBROPHON. 251
way it may have been, the Corinthians were proud of Beller-
ophon, aod in early times had a figure of his horse Pegasus,
on their coins.
With r^ard to that wonderful winged horse, we have
already related how it sprang from the neck of the Gorgon
Medusa, when Perseus cut her head off. The legend pro-
ceeds to tell how it flew through the air, and did not set foot
on earth until it reached the citadel of Corinth, where it
halted to quench its thirst at the famous fountian of Petrene.
252 !taE EARLtEk AACE OE BEE0E8.
Bellerophon, after trying in vain to catch it, applied to the
seer Polyidus for advice, and was told to lay himself down
to sleep at night beside the altar of Athene. This he did,
and in the course of his sleep dreamed that the goddess came
and gave him a golden bridle, bidding him show it to his
father, Poseidon, and at the same time sacrifice a white ox
to him. Waking, he found the bridle, sacrificed the ox, and,
on the advice of the seer, dedicated an altar to Athene. The
horse at once took the bit, and from that time proved of
great service to its master.
According to the ancient derivation, the name of Beller-
ophon signifies the ^^ slayer of Belleros,'' the story being that
he had accidentally caused the death of a person of that name,
either his own brother or a Corinthian noble. To obtain
the necessary purification, he repaired to Argos, and was
there kindly received by Proetus, the reigning king. Unfor-
tunately, however, the wife of Proetus, Stheneboea (or, as
Homer calls her, Anteia), resembled Potiphar^s wife in the
bent of her passions, and finding the young hero firm against
her temptations, resolved to accomplish his ruin, to this end
charging him before the king with an attempt to violate her.
Proetus, on hearing the charge, decided to send the youth to
Lycia, to the court of lobates, the father of Stheneboea, with
a letter written in strange characters, in which the Lycian
king was instructed to compass the death of the bearer. The
parting scene, where Bellerophon receives the letter, and
Stheneboea still gazes affectionately on him, is represented
on several ancient painted vases.
Arriving at the Lycian court, Bellerophon was entertained
hospitably for nine days. On the tenth day the king inquired
the business of his guest, and received the letter of Proetus.
Acting on the instructions of the letter, lobates despatched
him with orders to slay the Chimaera* (a monster composed
* It was represented in art as a lion with a goat's head springing from its back.
The statement of its spitting fire may have reference to the volcanic features of
Lycia.
BELLEROPHON. 263
of a lion in front, a goat in the middle, and a aerpent be-
hind), which iofested the mountains, and slaughtered all who
attacked it. But P^asns carried his master up in the ^r
beyond the reach of the monster, and yet not too far for his
apear to have deadly effect. Bellerophon returned trium-
phant. Though his acheme had not succeeded, tlie king had
at any rate got rid of a terrible enemy to his subjects, and
determined a second time to profit by the prowess of the
young hero, if he should fail in causing his death. Accord-
ingly he sent him to fight against the Solymi, a hostile neigh-
boring tribe, from which he
i^in returned victoriouB.
With like success he foaght
against the Amazons, those
warlike women of Asia
Minor, whom the ancient
poets and artists delighted
to represent as fighting
stoutly against the best he- i
roes of Greece, but always
being vanquished. With
this result they opposed, for
example, Hercules and The* „ „ ^ ^ , ._ „..
sens, and afterward, m the
Trojan war, took part against the Greeks. It would seem
from their connection with the Ephesian Artemis, among
other reasons, that the l^;ends concerning them originated
in the worship of the moon goddess.
In a last effort to secure the death of Bellerophon, the
Lycian king planned an ambush for him of his bravest
knights, all of whom, when the time came, perished at the
hands of the hero, who, it then became clear, could be no
other than the son of a god. Instead of being put to further
encounters, he received the hand of the king's daughter in
marriage, and with her the half of the kingdom. The grate-
ful Lycians bestowed on him a large estate, well wooded and
254 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
fitted for agriculture. His wife bore him three blooming
children : Isander, Hippolochus, and Laodamia. In
short, he had reached the pinnacle of happiness. But the
gods prepared a catastrophe for him. He became insane,
and wandered about sad and alone, avoiding the company of
men. His son Isander was slain by Ares, his daughter Lao-
damia, by Artemis. According to another report, repeated
success in hazardous adventures had inflamed him with the
desire to mount to Olympus on the back of his wonderful
horse. In the attempt he fell to earth, smitten by the thun-
derbolt of Zeus, and died.
(c) THEBES.
It is a relief to turn from the bloodshed and perilous adven-
tures of the Corinthian and Argive heroes to the compara-
tively tranquil tone of the Theban legends, with all their
variety of character and incident. We would not be under-
stood to say that the tales of Thebes are free from horrors,
but only that the general impression left, especially by the
earliest of them, concerns the daring and achievements of
mind rather than the exploits of physical courage.
First among the heroes of Thebes is Cadmus, the founder
of the ancient city — the Cadmeia, as it was called — who,
while rendering important services to the population gath-
ered round him there in the management of their public
affairs, is said to have conferred on Greece generally an
inestimable blessing in the form of an alphabet, or means of
communicating thoughts in writing, previously unknown in
that land. It is this alphabet, more or less modified, that
we still employ. That he found the letters of it in use
among the Phoenician traders who visited Greece in remote
early times, establishing factories in many places — ^among
others, in the neighborhood of Thebes — is probable; but to
believe, as the Greeks did, that Cadmus was a Phoenician by
CADMUS. 256
birth, and that the system of civilization which he iatroduced
was, like the alphabet, PhoeDiciaD, was only another instaace
of the readiDess with which the Greeks listeDed to stones
that traced the beginaings of their civilization back to the
influence of the more ancient nations of the East.
The genealc^y of Cadmus, according to the legend, com-
menced with the sea-god Poseidon and Libya, who had two
sons — Belne (Baal) and Agenor; the former becoming king
of Egypt, the latter of Phoenicia. By his wife, Telephassa,
ZeUB torrjing off Europtl.
Agenor had one daughter — Europa — and three sons — Cad-
mus, Phoenix, and Cilix. The sister having disappeared —
carried off, it was said, on the back of a white bull, into
which Zeus had transformed himself for love of her — the
brothers were sent to search for her in different directions.
Phoenix and Cilix, wearied of searching in vain, settled
down in the countries named after them, while Cadmus,
accompanied by his mother, proceeded through the Greek
islands northward to the coast of Thrace. There his mother
died and was buried. He proceeded to Delphi, to ask the
§5fi tS£ MARLIEn RACE OP BER0E8.
oracle conceruing his sieter. The advice was to search no
longer, but to follow a cow which should come ia his way,
aad where it lay down to rest there to fotuid a city. Leav-
iog Delphi, he saw a cow, and followed it through Boeotia,
till it reached the place where Thebes was afterward built,
and there lay dowu. Inteudiug to sacrifice the cow in honor
of Athene, his protecting goddess, Cadmus sent his attend-
ants to a fountain not far off to fetch water. It happened,
however, that the fountain was watched by a terrible dragon,
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wiiich killed his men. With the aid of Athene, Cadmus slew
the monster, and, at the command of the goddess, sowed its
teeth in the ground, from which there instantly sprang a
number of wild armed giants, called Spartae. By throwing
a stone among them, Cadmus so roused their passions that
they fell upoti each other with such fury and effect that only
five of them survived. From these five the noblest families
of Thebes afterward traced their lineage.
ARES, OR MARS.
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III
CADMUS, 257
To appease Ares, whose dragon he had slain, Cadmus was
compelled to devote himself to the service of that god for
eight years, or a ^^ long year," as it was called, the usual
period prescribed for penance in such cases. His term of
service having expired, he was raised by Athene to the throne
of Thebes; and to complete his happiness Zeus gave him
Harmonia, the beautiful daughter of Ares and Aphrodite,
for his wife. The gods of Olympus went to the marriage
feast, and made presents to the pair. The Muses sang a
marriage song. The gift of Cadmus to his wife consisted
of a splendid dress {peplos)^ which Athene had worked for
him, and the famous necklace made by Hephaestus. From
the marriage sprang four daughters — Semele, Ino, Autonoe,
Agrave — and one son — ^Polydorus.
Autonoe married Aristaeus, to whom she bore Actaeon,
the young huntsman who, for the misfortune of having once
seen Artemis bathing, was transformed into a stag, and de-
voured by his own hounds. Ino married Athamas, of whom
it is said that, being seized of a frenzy, he pursued his wife
to do her violence, and that she eluded him by leaping into
the sea, after which she was regarded as a marine goddess
under the name of Leucothea. Semele became the mother
of the wine-god Dionysus, and at the birth of her child was,
as has been already related, struck dead by the thunderbolt
of Zeus. Agave, marrying Echion, one of the five surviv-
ing Spartae, became the mother of Pentheus, who, after the
death of Polydorus, succeeded to the sovereignty of Thebes.
Semele being dead, her statement that Zeus himself was
the father of her child was disbelieved by her sisters, espe-
cially by Agave. But after her son Dionysus had grown
up, and returned to Thebes from his triumphant journey
eastward to India, Agave and the other women of Thebes
changed their minds, and embraced his worship with its
extravagant rites. Pentheus, then king of Thebes, opposed
the introduction of the new religion, but in the course of his
opposition was slain by his mother and her excited compau-
17
258 THE EAttLIEA BAC^ OF BMBOES.
ions. Labdacus^ the son of Polydorus^ succeeded to the
throne. Meantime Agave, recovering her senses under the
affliction, fled to lUyrium.
Grief at the calamities that fell so thickly on their chil-
dren at last drove Cadmus and Harmonia from Thebes.
They wandered to Illyrium, and there found peace in the
grave. Their bodies, it was believed, had been transformed
into two snakes that lay beside their tomb, while their spirits
had been placed in Elysiun by Zeus.
After Cadmus, the next figures of importance are the twin-
brothers Amphion and Zethus, who resemble in many re-
spects the ^^ great twin-brethren '^ Castor and Pollux, being
like them represented riding on white horses, and appearing
with aid in times of distress. Between the two brothers
there was a great difference of character, Amphion being
devoted to music, and excelling in the skill with which he
played the lyre given him by Hermes, while Zethus applied
himself wholly to rough life, such as hunting and herding.
What Zethus did by physical force, Amphion accomplished
by the persuasion of his strains, as was shown in the case
of their building the walls of Thebes, the population of
which had so far outgrown the limits of the old town
founded by Cadmus as to require new barriers against inva-
sion. While Zethus toiled in bringing huge stones for this
purpose, Amphion, like Orpheus, had only to strike his lyre,
and still larger stones followed whither he led the way.
Such was the story, the intention of which seems to have
originally been to point to the combination of actual strength
with harmony in placing the blocks required in good masonry.
The same idea recurs in the legend of the building of the
Trojan walls by Apollo and Poseidon, the former god corre-
sponding to Amphion and the latter to Zethus. The seven
gates of Thebes answered to the seven strings of the lyre.
The mother of the two Theban brothers was Antiope,
who, according to an early report, was a daughter of the
river-god Asopus. In the usual genealogy, however, she
AMPHION AND ZETHUS.
Ampbion and Z«tbtu.
260 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
was described as a daughter of Thebe and Nycteus (the
*^dark and stormy'^), who held the office of regent in
Thebes during the minority of Labdacus. Zeus having
approached Antiope in the form of a Satyr, she was driven
from her father^ s house, and forced to seek refuge, which
she found with Epopeus, the king of Sicyon. Under his
protection she remained some time, the father meanwhile
demanding in vain that she should be given up to him.
Ultimately she was given up to Lyous (^ Might'') the
brother of Nycteus, but, as his name implies, of quite an
opposite character. Returning with him, she gave birth to
twin boys on the way, in the neighborhood of Eleutherae.
The infants were entrusted to a herdsman to be brought up.
The mother was carried off to Thebes, where, as a contrast
to the gentle treatment she had experienced from Lycus, she
was subjected by his wife, Diroe, to relentless cruelty. After
enduring continued persecution for some years, Antiope fled
from Thebes, and taking the direction of Mount Cithaeron,
where her children had been left, at last reached the house
of the herdsman who had taken care of them. She did not,
however, recognize him, nor was she aware that the two
youths, who took kindly to her, were her sons. It happened
just then that Dirce, who had come to Mount Cithaeron to
take part in some Bacchic ceremony, detected her escaped
victim, and ordered the two young herdsmen to fetch a wild
bull from their herd, and to bind her to its horns, that she
might be dragged to death. They would have obeyed her
command, had not the old herdsman at the moment recog-
nized Antiope, and revealed her as their mother. On hear-
ing the story of her former troubles, Amphion and Zethus,
in their indignation, seized Dirce, bound her to the bull
which they had brought, and looked on while she perished
miserably. The legend adds that Dirce was transformed
into a fountain, which bore her name.
On the return of Antiope with her sons to Thebes, Lycus
abdicated in their favor, and then commenced the building
OEDIPUS. 261
of the walls, of which we have already spoken. Amphion
married Niobe, the daughter of the Lydian king Tantalus,
and had a family of sons and daughters, whose beauty, in
their mother's eyes, might measure with that of Apollo and
Artemis. How she was punishsd for her pride has already
been related. After the death of Amphion and Zethus,
caused, it was said, by the arrows of Apollo, the sovereignty
of Thebes finally passed to Labdacus, of whose reign little
is said, his fame consisting chiefly in his being the father of
Laius and grandfather of Oedipus.
This Laius married Jocasta^ a daughter of Menoeceus, and
had by her a son, Oedipus. An oracle had said that the
child, on growing to manhood, would cause the death of his
father. To avert this danger, Laius exposed the newly-born
infant on Mount Cithaeron, expecting it to perish. It was,
however, found by some herdsmen, conveyed by them to
Corinth, and there given over to the king, Polybus, whose
wife was childless, and took readily to the castaway. Arriv-
ing at years of manhood, Oedipus inquired at an oracle con-
cerning his parentage, and was told in reply to avoid the lands
of his ancestors, for otherwise he would cause his father's
death, and thereafter marry his own mother. Puzzled by
an answer so mysterious, and being uncertain whether Poly-
bus might not have been his father, he left the court at Cor-
inth, and wandered about the country. In the course of
his wanderings he met Laius travelling with a retinue. A
quarrel arose between Oedipus and some of the royal attend-
ants. Laius took the part of his men, and was slain in the
fight by his son, who, unaware of the blackness of the crime
he had committed, proceeded on his way to Thebes. There
he found great distress prevailing, in consequence of the loss
of life caused by a Sphinx — ^a monster with the body of a
lion, and the head, breast, and arms of a woman. This
creature had a riddle which she propounded to all who
approached her, and on their failing to resolve it, as always
happened, threw them from the high rock where she lived.
262 '^^E EABLtElt ttACE OF HEROES.
Not so Oedipus, who read the riddle rightly; upon which
the sphinx cast herself from the rock, and perished. The
prize offered to the man who should succeed in getting rid
of the Sphinx was the hand of Jocasta, the widow of Laius,
along with the throne of Thebes. Oedipus married her and
fulfilled the oracle.
They had two sons, Bteooles and Polynioes, and two
daughters, Antigone and Ismene, neither being aware of
the criminality of their marriage, until, on inquiring at the
oracle the cause of certain misfortunes that had befallen the
country, they received an answer which revealed the facts in
all their horror. Jocasta slew herself, while Oedipus, after
putting out his eyes, forsook Thebes, and wandered about
accompanied by his faithful daughter Antigone. His two
sons succeeded him in the government, quarrelled with each
other, however, and ultimately fell, both of them, in a per-
sonal encounter, as we shall relate afterward.
The various acts of this terrible tragedy were reproduced
on the Athenian stage with all the poetic power of Aeschylus
and Sophocles.
(d) THESSALY.
In harmony with the wild, rocky features of the country,
the early legends of Thessaly tell of furious wars, in which
the combatants fought with trunks of trees, or hurled rocks
and even hills at each other. It was there that the war of
the gods against the Giants and Titans took place. There
the brothers Otus and Ephialtes heaped hill on mountain in
their ambition to scale the heavens. There Poseidon (Nep-
tune) cleft the mountain-range asunder with his trident, and
formed the pleasant vale of Tempe. Mount Olympus, with
its clouded summit, where the gods were once supposed to
dwell, was there, and there also was lolcus, the seat of the
ancient race of the Minyae. Gyrton was the hold of the
Lapithae, and the scene of those combats between them and
THESSALV. 263
the Centaurs which formed in after times so attractive a
subject to Greek sculptors.
AmoDg the Lapithae the two principal figures are Ixion
and his son, Pirithoua, Ixion's wife was Dia, a daughter
of Deioneus. Previous to the marriage he had promised
her father, accord-
ing to ancient usage,
many valuable pre-
sents, which he af-
terward refused to
give. Deioneusen-
deavored to indem-
nify himself, but in
the course of the
attempt perished in
a great hole, full of
fire, which had been
cunningly prepared
for him by Ixion,
For this — the first
murder of a rela-
tion, it was be-
lieved, that had
taken place in the
world — Ixion was
punished with fren-
zy, and wandered
about, unable to ob-
tain expiation from
gods or men, till at
last Zeus received
him compassion-
ately, and purified him. But the purification was not so
complete as to prevent him from conceiving a passion for
the goddess Hera, who, knowing his desires, deceived him
with a cloud shaped like herself. From this union sprang
264 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
the race of Centaurs. Ixion^ being blind enough to boast
of his supposed success with Hera, was despatched by Zeus
to Tartarus, and there bound by Hermes to a winged wheel,
which constantly revolved, as an eternal example of the
punishment due to such crime.
The same passion for a goddess descended to his son Piri-
thous, who tried to carry off Persephone from Hades, for
which he was placed in chains in Tartarus. But the event
on which his fame chiefly turns was his marriage with Dei-
damia. By his invitation the Centaurs of the neighboring
mountains went to the banquet, and, being unused to the
influence of wine, could not suppress excitement. The wild
Eurytion laid hold of the bride, his fellows rushed toward
her maidens, and a scene of grand confusion took place;
Pirithous and the Lapithae, with the help of his friend
Theseus, from Attica, at last succeeded in driving the
Centaurs away.
Of Caeneus, another of the Lapithae, it is related that, hav-
ing been originally a beautiful virgin, she was changed into
a man by Poseidon, and made invulnerable, as was proved in
a fight with the Centaurs; for, in spite of the rocks and trunks
of trees which they struck him with, and heaped above him,
he remained unwounded, and sank into the earth aKve — a
scene represented in several ancient works of sculpture and
vase-painting still in existence.
With regard to the Centaurs, the usual form in which they
were represented was that of the body and legs of a horse,
with the head, arms, and body of a man down to the waist.
In early works of art, however, they have the legs of a man
in place of the forelegs of the horse.
Chiron seems to have had nothing in common with them
but his form; for he was wise and just, well-meaning and
kindly, a friend of gods and heroes, and skilled in medicine,
music, and various arts. The young Achilles was brought
up under his care and tuition, in the cave where he lived,
on Mount Pelion. So also were Jason and Aesculapius.
He was the friend of Peleus and of Hercules, and his death
was aa example of the self-sacrifice which had characterized
hie life. In trying to make peace between Hercules and the
Centaurs he had heen accidentally hit by a posioned arrow
266 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
from the bow of Hercules. The wound baffling all his skill,
and causing acute pain, he offered himself to die in the room
of Prometheus, and was accepted by the gods.
(e) THRACE.
The burden of all the early Thracian legends is the strange
divine influence of music and song. Whether the passion for
music, which may be supposed to have given rise to the
legends, originated among the ungenial northern hills and
the valleys of Thrace, or whether, as is supposed, it was
transplanted thither by immigrants from the district of
Pieria, with its ancient fountain of the Muses, it would be
hard to decide. All that is certain is, that the belief con-
cerning Orpheus, the principal figure in these legends, was
common to both regions.
Orpheus was regarded as a son of the muse Calliope and
the god Apollo. From his mother he inherited the fascinat-
ing power with which he played the lyre and sang, so that
the birds of the air, the fish in the streams, wild beasts, even
trees, rocks, and hills, gathered round him to listen. The
subject of his song was always the beautiful Eurydice, whom
he had loved and lost. She had died through the poisoned
bite of a snake that lurked in the grass over which she had
to run to esacpe from Aristaeus, who also loved her. Her
sister nymphs, accompanied by Orpheus, wandered over the
hills and valleys, filling the air with plaintive strains to call
her back again. Orpheus carried his search for her even
down to the gloomy shades of the lower world, the sweetness
of his music soothing the monsters and wicked spirits that
dwell there, and otherwise would have resisted his progress.
Even the hardened hearts of Persephone and the merciless
Erinyes were touched by his passionate grief. It was agreed
that Eurydice should be permitted to return with him to the
upper world — the only condition attached to the agreement
ORPHEUS AND ETTBYDICE.
being that he sliould not turn to look upon her ^e all the
way back. His patience, however, gave way. The bar-
Orpbeus aod Emydice.
gain became null, and Eurydiee must instantly retrace her
268 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
steps, and be lost to iiim forever. For seven months he sat
in doleful mood by the banks of the river Strymon, under
the open sky, refusing food or drink. Then he withdrew to
the higher wintry regions of the mountains Bhodope and
Haemus, to nurse his sorrow in greater solitude, but was
discovered by a band of Maenades, out upon some wild
Bacchic mission, and torn by them limb from limb. The
Muses, it was said, gathering the limbs, conveyed them to
Pieria, on Mount Olympus, and buried them there. His
head and lyre floated down the Hebrus, and were carried by
the sea, the lyre sounding sweetly with the swell and fall of
the waves, to the island of Lesbos, celebrated in after times
for its poets and musicians. There the head was buried, and
nightingales sang sweeter beside it than elsewhere in Greece.
But in Thrace also a tomb was pointed out as being that of
Orpheus, while a sanctuary was established in his honor.
In later times a religious system with mysterious rites and
ceremonies, said to have been instituted by Orpheus, and
bearing his name, was widely propagated in Greece. It may
be that his connection with the worship of Dionysus, referred
to in the legends both of Pieria and Thrace, was r^arded
as sufficient warrant for associating with his name religious
institutions having much in common with the Dionysiac
mysteries.
It is said that Orpheus accompanied the expedition of the
Argonauts, but at what period of his life we do not know.
To the same region of Thrace belongs the legend of Tha-
myris, a son of the king Philammon and the nymph Argri-
ope, distinguished for his personal beauty as well as his
minstrelsy. He was, however, inordinately vain, and on the
occasion of a visit to the court of Burytus, at Oechalia,
boasted himself not inferior to the Muses themselves, the
daughters of Zeus. But on his way homeward he was met
by them ; they put his eyes out, and took away his power of
song and music.
(/) ATTICA.
The people of Attica, generally speakiag, believed that
their first ancestors had sprang from the earth, and by some
Orpbeus, Eurfdlce, and
process been tranefomied from trees or rocks, or perhaps from
animals, into men and women. The change was not sup-
posed to have been direct and instantaneous, as we may infer
from the form ascribed to Georops, the first of the race,
which was that of a man with extremities in the shape of
270 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
snakes in place of human legs. In later times of learned
speculation this Cecrops was thought to have been an immi-
grant from Egypt. Proofs of an early immigration into
Attica are certainly not wanting, but they do not point to
Egypt as the source of it. They point to Crete, which in
the time of Minos held Attica, as it probably held other
places, as a dependency.
Cecrops, according to the legend, ruled as king over the
primitive race of Attica, established himself on Ae Acrop-
olis of Athens, and gathered a township around him, which
he called Cecropia. He gave his people laws, and taught
them to worship Zeus and Athene-Polias. It was during
his reign that the celebrated contest took place between Posei-
don and Athene for the control of Attica. Cecrops was chosen
to decide, and, arguing that the sea was common to all, while
the olive was peculiarly adapted to the soil of his country,
gave his decision in favor of the goddess. He had three
daughters — Herse, Agrraulos, and Pandrosos — all three
names apparently referring to the fertilizing fall of dew.
The last mentioned was the first priestess of Athene. Of
the other two, Herse became the mother of Oeryx, from
whom the priestly family of heralds in Attica derived their
lineage. His father was Hermes, the divine herald. Ag-
raulos bore a daughter to the god Ares. Her name was
Aloippe, and her story, that she loved Halirrhothius, a son
of Poseidon, and was slain by Ares. For that crime a court
called the Areopagrus was appointed to try the god, and con-
tinued thereafter to sit on cases of murder.
The successor of Cecrops was Brichthonius, who was de-
scribed as being altogether of the form of a snake. He was
the offspring of Hephaestus and Gaea, was the fondling of
Athene, and when he obtained the throne of Attica, taught
his people to worship the ancient wooden image of the god-
dess, and instituted in her honor the famous Panathenaic
games. The story of his infancy was that Athene handed
him in a closed box to the three daughters of Cecrops, with
ATTICA, 271
orders not to open it. Two of the sisters, Herse and Agrau-
los, yielded to curiosity, opened the box, and, on seeing a
snake within, were seized with frantic terror and threw
themselves from the rocks of the Acropolis. Erich thoni us
was brought up within the sanctuary of the goddess.
Erichthonius was succeeded by his son Pandion, and he
again by his son Ereohtheus, with whom the dynasty of the
line of Cecrops came to an end, passing over to Ion, a reputed
son of Apollo, and the ancestor of the Ionian race. Ereoh-
theus and all his family perished in a battle against Eumol-
pus, the prince of Eleusis. The result of their death, how-
ever, was that the old strife between Attica and Eleusis was
put an end to, and the two kingdoms united in one.
Besides his son Erechtheus, Pandion had two daughters,
Proone and Philomela, of whom a touching story is told.
It would seem that in the course of a war with Labdacus of
Thebes, Pandion had obtained important assistance from
Tereus, a king of Thrace, and for this offered him the hand
of his daughter Procne. Afterward the Thracian desired
her sister also, and, pretending that Procne was dead,
obtained Philomela as his wife. To prevent the former
from revealing the truth, he tore out her tongue, and placed
her in a cage in a wood. But his end was not thus gained;
for Procne contrived to send her sister a piece of drapery on
which she had embroidered a representation of the facts,
which her sister readily understood. The two sisters then
combined to execute a terrible revenge on Tereus, placing
the flesh of his son Itys, whom they killed, before him as a
dish. Tereus drew his sword, and pursued the sisters till
all three were changed into birds — he into a lapwing, Procne
into a swallow, and Philomela into a nightingale. The
Latin poets reversed the story of the two sisters, saying that
it was Philomela whose tongue was cut out, their object
being, since her name is the same as that of the nightingale,
to account for the silence of that bird except in the spring-
time.
272 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
The Attic legend of Boreas^ the wind-god, who carried
off Orithyia, has already been given, as has also that of
Cephalus and Procris. We shall, therefore, pass on to Ion,
who, when the male line of Cecrops had become extinct,
succeeded to the throne of Attica.
Ion was a son of Apollo and Greusa, a daughter of
Erechtheus, and at his birth was taken away from his
mother, who afterward married Xuthus, and remained child-
less. Going to Delphi to consult the oracle about their pros-
pects of posterity, Xuthus and Creusa were told by the god
to adopt as their son the first youth they should meet. This
happened to be Ion, who had been brought up in the temple
of Delphi, and who, agreeably to the command of the god,
was adopted by the childless pair.
According to another legend, Pandion was driven from
Attica by the sons of Metion, and took refuge with Pylus,
the king of Megara, where he found and adopted Aegeos,
who, after Pandion' s death, advanced upon Attica, and, with
the assistance of his brothers, Pallas, Nisos, and Lycus,
recovered the kingdom of his adopted father, reigned in
Athens, and became the father of the renowned hero Theseus,
whose exploits we shall relate hereafter.
ig) CRETE.
The position of the island of Crete, its extent and fer-
tility, appear to have attracted the early Phoenician traders
to its shores. They founded the towns of Gnossus and Gor-
tyn, and so developed the resources of the island as to give
it a powerful ascendency over the other islands of the Archi-
pelago, and extending to various districts of the mainland of
Greece, including Attica, as has just been said. They intro-
duced the worship of Astarte and Moloch; and when, gen-
erations afterward, the island had become completely Hel-
lenized, through the successive immigrations of Achaeans
APOLLO BELVEDtHE.
!!
CRETE. 273
and Dorians, there were still found curreut among the people
legends that could only be explained iu connection with the
religion of the Phoenicians. Of this kind were the legends
of Tslos, Itanns, and the river Jardanns. The Greek
immigrants settled in the towns that had been planted by
the Phoenicians, adapting themselves to existing arrange-
274 ^s:e earlier race of heroes.
ments, it appears, and accepting the ancient traditions of the
island as a basis for legends of a purely Greek oonstruo-
tion.
These legends commence with Europa, whom Zeua saw
and loved while she was gathering spring buds near Sidon,
where her father, Agenor (or Phoenix, as some said), was
king. The god, transforming himself into a white bull,
carried her off on his back over the sea toward the south
coast of Crete, and landed with her in the district of Gortyn
and Phaestus, where Asterion was then the reigning king.
Eiiropa gave birth there to three sons — ^Minos, Bhadaman-
thus, and Sarpedon — who grew up under the care of Aste-
rion, to whom Zeus had commended their mother. How
familiar the people of the island must have been with the
various phases of this legend may be seen from the ancient
coins of Gortyn and Phaestus, with their representations,
now of a bull alone, now of Europa riding on him, and at
other times of Europa seated among the branches of a plane-
t ree.
The oldest traditions describe Minos as ruling the island
with exemplary justice, extending its maritime power and
its supremacy over the neighboring islands and countries.
He established among his people a wise system of laws,
which formed, it was believed, in after times, the basis of the
legislation of Lycurgus. These laws, he said, were commu-
nicated to him by his father, Zeus, with whom he went every
ninth year to hold communion in a sacred cave in the island.
So high was his reputation for justice that when he died, so
people thought, he was appointed a judge in the lower world.
The wife of Minos was Pasiphae, a daughter of the sun-
god Helios and Perseis. It is necessary to bear her parent-
age in mind for the sake of obtaining a right clue to the
explanation of the legend concerning her. For, as a daughter
of Helios and Perseis, she may well have been originally a
goddess of the moon, and as such represented under the form
of a white cow. Her name, Pasiphae, would be appropriate
DAEDALUS AND ICARUS. 275
for such an office. She bore to Minos two daughters —
DaedalUB and Icai
Arisdne and Phaedra— of whom more will be told here-
after.
276 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
Minos, it was said, on being chosen king of the island^
proceeded to the sea-shore to offer, in presence of his people,
a sacrifice to his father, Zeus, calling on the sea-god Poseidon
to send up a victim for that purpose from the sea. Poseidon
heard, and sent a shimmering white bull. In this act of
compliance on the part of the sea-god, Minos perceived that
his supremacy at sea was secured. Instead, however, of
sacrificing the white bull, he placed it among his own herd
which browsed near Gortyn — 2l herd which is elsewhere said
to have belonged to the sun-god. Poseidon, taking offence
at the deceit, caused the bull to become wild, and at the same
time inflamed the queen, Pasiphae, with an unnatural desire
toward it. The bull broke from his stall, and was pursued
by Pasiphae over hills and through woods, till finally the
great artist Daedalus succeeded in holding him to the
meadow and in satisfying the desires of the queen, who
afterward gave birth to Minotaurus, a creature with the
body and limbs of a man and the head of a bull. Daedalus
had now to employ his skill in making a vast labyrinth,
with intricate winding passages, from which no one who
entered could find his way out. Within it Minotaurus was
placed, and received as victims the persons sent to Minos
periodically by tributary states. Such tribute, consisting of
seven boys and seven girls of noble families, Minos had
levied on Athens as a satisfaction for the murder of his son
Androgeos by Aegeus, the king of Attica. Every eight
years the grievous levy was despatched to Crete, till The-
seus, the son of Aegeus, put an end to it in a manner which
we shall afterward have occasion to relate.
Minos met his death at Agrigentum, in Sicily, whither he
had pursued Daedalus, who had escaped from the labyrinth,
into which he and his son loams had been thrown for making
a figure of a cow for Pasiphae so lifelike as to be mistaken
by the herd. He had escaped by means of wings which he
had made for himself and his son. The latter fell into the
sea, and was drowned, while his father, reaching Sicily in
DAEDALUS AND ICABUS.
277
safety, was received under the protection of King Cocalus,
whose daughter killed Minos by pouriug boiling water on his
head while he was in a bath. Minos was buried there, and
had a tomb erected in his memory.
On the coins of the town of Phaestus is the figure of a
youth, winged and nude, rushing with great strides, and
holding what appears to be a stone in each hand. This figure
has been identified with the legends of Talos, who is de-
scribed as having been made of bronze, a remnant of the
Daedalua and Icsnu
bronze a^s or, as others said, a living work of art produced
by Hephaestus He had been placed in Crete by Zeus, to
watch over Europa, his duty being to run round the island
three times a day, and see who landed on the ooaet.
278 TSE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
the Argonauts arrived^ he opposed their landing, but unsuc-
cessfully; for it happened that they were aMrare of the fact
that, though apparently altogether made of bronze, he still
had a vein reaching from neck to heel, and containing his
life-blood. This vein Poeas, the father of Philoctetes, man-
aged to hit with an arrow from the famous bow of Hercules.
Talos fell and died. Others said that Medea, who accom-
panied the Argonauts, overcame him by witchcraft. It had
been the practice of Talos, when he caught any one landing
on the coast, to seize his victim in his arms, to leap with him
into a fire, and press him to his buruing bosom, the while
laughing at the pain. This was the origin of the phrase
'^ Sardonic laughter,''
Though the appointment of Rhadamanthus as a judge in
the lower world was said to have been due to the sense of
justice which he had displayed on earth, the region or country
that benefited by his decisions is not given. It may be right
to assume that he acted with his brother Minos in Crete.
Sarpedon, the third of the brothers, passed over to Lycia,
and there became the founder of an illustrious line of heroes.
(h) ELIS AND ARGOS.
With Pelops commences a lineage of heroes famous in
Elis and Argos for their deeds of violence and for the retri-
bution that awaited them. How Niobe, the sister of Pelops,
was punished for her pride, we have already seen. What
his father, Tantalus, had to endure in Tartarus has also been
described. Tantalus had ruled his kingdom of Phrygia, in
Asia Minor, well, and on that account gained the esteem of
the gods, who invited him to a banquet. But he betrayed
their secrets, and, to crown all, invited them to a feast, at
which, to test their power of knowing all things that hap-
pened, he set before them the flesh of his own son Pelops.
The gods, perceiving the outrageous attempt, restored the
child to life, giving him in place of the shoulder that had
PELOPS. 279
been eaten, whether by Demeter or Thetis, a shoulder of
ivory. His father was despatched to Tartarus.
When Pelops had grown to manhood under the care of
the gods — especially of Poseidon, from whom he learned his
skill in managing horses — he resolved to win Hippodameia,
the daughter of the king of Elis, Oenomaus, a son of Ares,
and the owner of horses swift as the wind. The story was
that Oenomaus had been informed by an oracle that his death
would be caused by the husband of his daughter. Trusting
to the extraordinary speed of his horses, he freely offered his
daughters hand to any suitor who should outstrip him in a
chariot race. Those who failed, it was stipulated in the chal-
lenge, should perish at his hands. This fate had befallen
many an ardent suitor previous to the arrival of Pelops, wlio,
with a golden chariot and winged horses, given him by Posei-
don, won the race. It is said, however, that his success was
rather due to Hippodamia, who had conceived a great love
for the youth, and gave practical effect to her passion by
bribing her father's charioteer, Myrtilus, to take a spoke out
of his master's wheel.
With the hand of Hippodamia, Pelops obtained the throne
of Elis, and had, among other children, two sons, named
Atreus and Thyestes. He established, or at least greatly
promoted, the Olympian games. His grave, the house of
Oenomaus, and other monuments of his excellent rule, were
afterward gratefully pointed to at Olympia.
Atreus and Thyestes, having slain the beautiful young
Chrysippus, a son of Pelops and a nymph, were compelled
to leave Elis. They found refuge in Mycenae, establishing
themselves in the old fort of Midea, until the death of
Eurystheus, when Atreus obtained the government of Myce-
nae, the ruins of which still attest the power of its ancient
kings. Atreus married a daughter of Minos — Aerope — who
allowed herself to listen to proposals from Thyestes, and
assisted him to carry off the ram with the golden fleece, the
possession of which was supposed to secure the government
280 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
of the country. But Zeus interfered in the cause of Atreus,
the elder of the brothers^ and^ as a sign of his will, caused
the sun to rise in the west. Thyestes returned to his brother's
house, asking to be forgiven, and was received with an ap-
pearance of good- will. Instead of being forgiven, however,
he was presented, on sitting down to eat, with the flesh of
his own son. Thyestes fled in horror, and thereupon &mine
stalked over the land. On consulting an oracle with regard
to the famine, Atreus was told to find Thyestes, and take
him back. He did so, and moreover placed him in confine-
ment in Argos, at the same time trying to persuade Aegisthus,
the son of Thyestes, to kill his father. But events took a
different course, Thyestes preferring to make a victim of
Atreus. On the death of Atreus, Agamemnon succeeded to
the throne of Argos, and his brother Menelaus to that of
Sparta. Of these two brothers more shall be said in connec-
tion with the war against Troy.
HERCULES.
Though regarded sometimes as a god, and honored in the
way appointed for immortals, it was chiefly as the hero of a
long series of arduous labors, difficulties apparently insur-
mountable, and sufferings, that Hercules obtained the numer-
ous honors paid to his memory throughout Greece. In the
gymnasia, where the youth of every town were instructed in
athletic exercises, the statue of Hercules was pointed to as a
model of what a perfect athlete should be ; while the tales of
his wrestling with this or that giant were repeated as exam-
ples of fearlessness and extraordinary strength. Soldiers
going to battle thought of his fatigues and ultimate triumphs.
Laborers oppressed by toil relieved their sorrows by recalling
the laborious incidents of his life. Even the Athenians valued
the rugged, stubborn endurance of Hercules higher than the
litheness and more perfect form of their own Theseus. So far,
HEBCVLES.
Hercules was looked upon merely as an example of extraor-
dinaiy physical strength and patient toiliDg to the ead; but in
later times he came alao to be held up as an ideal of virtue
and duty, in which capacity a story invented by the sophist
Prodicus concerning him, found great applause. That story
was entitled " The Choice of Hercules," and represented him
282 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
as being met at a crossway, while yet a youth, by two figures
— Pleasure and Duty — the one promising him all possible
enjoyments, the other a life of labor and trouble, if he
would follow her. He chose to follow Duty.
According to the genealogy, Hercules was a son of Zeus
and Alcmene, the wife of Amphitryon, a descendant of
Perseus, and resident in Thebes. On the day on which he
was to have been born, Hera, to whose persecution all the
labors and sufferings of Hercules in after life were due,
obtained from Zeus, in presence of the assembled gods, a vow
that the boy to be born on that day should have power and
dominion over all that dwelt about him. Hastening to
Argos, she lent a helping hand to the wife of Sthenelus, and
enabled her to give birth to Eurystheus, a weakly seven-
months' child. Meantime she had delayed the birth of Her-
cules, who, in consequence, became the subject of Eurystheus.
With all this hostility on the part of Hera, it is curious to
compare a scene which not unfrequently occurs on ancient
painted vases, representing Hera suckling the infant Hercules.
The story was that Hermes (Mercury), at the conmiand of
Zeus, had carried the newly born child to Olympus, and put
it to Hera's breast, without her knowing whose child it was.
From this divine milk Hercules drew his godlike strength,
the first promise of which was given soon after his birth, by
his strangling the serpent sent by Hera to kill him.
His youth was spent under the instruction of the most
celebrated heroes of the day, the wise Rhadamanthus teach-
ing him to be wise and virtuous, and Linus the practice of
music. Unluckily, Linus had to punish him for some neglect,
and in doing so enraged the boy so much that he turned and
slew his master. For this Amphitryon carried his son away
to the hills, and left him under the care of herdsmen, with
whom, like Romulus, or Amphion and Zethus, he enjoyed a
wild life of hunting and exposure to climate, his limbs grow-
ing to enormous size, and his eyes sparkling with unusual
fire. At the age of eighteen he slew an enormous lion that
THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES, 283
infested Mount Cithaeron, destroying the flocks of his father,
Amphitryon, and of Thespius, the king of Thespiae. Re-
turning to Thebes from the lion-hunt, and wearing its skin
hanging from his shoulders as a sign of his success, he met
the heralds of the king of the Minyae, coming from Orcho-
menos to claim tlie annual tribute of a hundred cattle levied
on Thebes. Hercules cut off the ears and noses of the her-
alds, bound their hands, and sent them home. A war fol-
lowed, in which Amphitryon and his two sons, Hercules and
Iphicles, did wonders on the part of Thebes, and were duly
honored for the same.
But the part taken by Hercules in that war was the last
act of his own free will; for Hera, annoyed at the fast-rising
fame of the young hero, persuaded Eurystheus to exercise
the authority given him at his birth by Zeus, and to call
on Hercules to enter his service. Hercules inquired at the
Delphic oracle whether it was possible to escape the sum-
mons, but was told in reply that he must carry out success-
fully twelve tasks to be imposed on him by Eurystheus, and
that, haviug done so, he would be reckoned among the num-
ber of immortals. With this answer in his mind, he presented
himself to Eurystheus at Mycenae, and commenced the seri-
ous labor of life.
The Twelve Labors of Hercules.
It may be, as has been often suggested, that the legend of
the labors of Hercules, like those of Perseus in the service
of Polydectes, or of Bellerophon in ihat of the Lycian king,
or of Siegfried in that of the king of Burgundy, was intended
to convey an illustration of the course and operations of the
sun. His first labors are performed near home, the distance
from which increases with each new labor that is imposed, till
at last, after carrying off the golden apples of the Hesperides
in the remote west, he descends to the lower world, and brings
back with him the hated dog Cerberus. In later times the
284 THE EARLIER RAGE OF HEROES.
twelve labors were openly brought into connection wifli the
twelve signs of the zodiac. It is, however, more likely that,
originally, this number had no more signification than in the
case of the twelve higher deities of Olympus, that it was
adopted by the poets, such as Pisander and Stesichorus, who
first made these labors their theme, and that through their
influence it became stereotyped both in poetry and art. In
Homer, though the labors are known, there is no mention of
their number. In the Iliad (v. 395) Hercules is flie hero
whose unerring arrows wounded Hera and Hades. In the
Odyssey (viii. 224) Hercules and Eurytus are described as
the most celebrated marksmen of bygone times, and in early
works of art it is his character as a bowman that is prin-
cipally represented. But after the time of Pisander and
Stesichorus, a change is introduced. The club becomes his
favorite weapon; and instead of a linen garment wrapped
round his loins, he now appears either carrying the skin of
the Nemean lion over his arm, or wearing it hanging down
his back — the skin of its head fitting to his crown like a
cap, and the forelegs knotted under his chin.
1. The Nemean Hon, the offspring of Typhon and Echidna,
had been sent by Hera to devastate the neighborhood of
Nemea, and had succeeded, to the horror of the natives.
What made the matter worse was that ihe plain of Nemea
was sacred to Zeus. The lion was known to be invulnerable
— proof even against the arrows of Hercules. It was, there-
fore, necessary to adopt novel means for its destruction.
Hercules entered the cave where its lair was, closed the
entrance behind him, and at once grappling the monster in
his arms strangled it. The skin he tore off with his fingers,
and, knowing it to be impenetrable, resolved to wear it
henceforth in his own defence. To the legend as it thus
stands was added, by the Alexandrian and Roman poets, the
story of Molorchus, a native of the district, on whom Her-
cules called on his way to the cave, and who, when about to
kill his only goat to make a feast for his guest, was told by
THE TWEL VB LABORS OF HERCULES. 285
the hero to desigt aud to wait his return. It was arranged
that should he not return within thirty days Molorchua was
to sacrifice to him as to a dead person. The thirty days had
just elapsed when Hercules returned and found his friend in
the act uf preparing the sacrifice. It is possible that the
thirty days may refer to the period of greatest heat in sum-
mer, when the lion and the dog are ascendant.
Herculea nnd tbe Nem«sn Uon.
2. The Lemean hydra, also the offspring of Typhon and
Echidna, and sent by Hera. Hercules killed it with his
sword, being assisted in the enterprise by lolaus and Athene.
Tbe l^;end is given more fully by ApoUodorua, whose ver-
286 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
sioii^ though late^ is proved to have been founded on an
earlier form of it by the remains of poetry and art of high
antiquity. The hydra was a monster with nine heads^ of
which eight were mortal and the ninth invulnerable. It
lived in the marshy ground beside the fountain of Amymone^
and even the smell which spread from its poison was &tal
to any one who passed near it. Hercules arrived at the
s|)ot in a chariot, attended by lolaus, and succeeded in
driving the hydra from its hole by firing his arrows in upon
it. The fight began, and Hercules found that for every
head of it which he cut two fresh heads started up, and to
increase the difficulty a huge crab came and seized him by the
heel. It was necessary to try another form of attack. Her-
cules ordered lolaus to set the neighboring wood on fire and
to fetch him a brand from it; with the brand so obtained he
proceeded, the moment he had cut off a head, to burn it up,
and in this way destroying them one by one, he at last came
to the invulnerable head, cut it off also, and buried it under
a huge rock. He dipped his arrows in the poison of the
hydra. When his success was reported to Eurystheus, the
latter refused to reckon it as one of the labors, on the ground
that lolaus had rendered assistance. The interpretation of
the legend is that the hydra or water-snake is a symbol of
the horrors of a marshy district, and that its poison, witli its
fatal smell, represents the miasma which arises from such
districts.
3. The Erymanthian boar, like the Ceryneian stag and the
Stymphalian birds, carries us to a mountainous and wild rustic
scene. Its haunt was on Mount Erymanthus, in the north
of Arcadia. But the name of Erymanthus was also applied
to a stream which flowed down the mountain side; and it is
not improbable that the wild boar was only a legendary illus-
tration of the ravages produced in winter and early spring by
the descent of this river with swollen torrents. The orders
of Eurystheus were that the boar should be brought back
alive to Mycenae; but at the sight of Hercules returning
TME TWELVE LABORS OF BEBCULES. 287
with it alive on his shoulders, fear took possession of the
king, and he hid himself in a large bronze vessel, into which
Hercules, as frequently represented ou ancient vases, pro-
ceeded to put the boar, as the safest possible place. The
consternation of Eurystheus may be imagined. In connec-
tion with the capture of the boar is f«ld the story of a visit
which Hercules paid ou his way to the Centaur, Pholus, who
lived in a cave on Mount Pholoe. The hero was hungry,
and Pholus gave him to eat. He was also thirsty, and
required some wine. Now Pholus had at hand a lai^ vase
full of choice wine, but it was the common property of the
Centaurs who lived in other parts of the mountain. On the
other hand, the wine had been a present from Dionysus, and
had been accompanied with the command that it should not
be opened till his good friend Hercules arrived. Pholus
accordingly had no hesitation in tapping the vase, and both
drank freely from it. The strong aroma of the wine, how-
ever, reached the nostrils of the other Centaurs, who now
flocked toward the cave of Pholus in wild confusion, armed
with pine branches, rocks, axes, and torches, and fell upon
Hercules. A violent fight ensued, in which Hercules, besides
with superior numbers, had also to contend with the disad-
vantages of a flood of water sent by the clouds, who were
288 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
the mothers of the Centaurs. Ultimately he suooeeded in
wounding many and dispersing the others into the woods —
the only melancholy part of the issue being that his friend
Pholus lost his life under circumstances which remind us of
the death of that other kindly Centaur^ Chiron, who lived
on Mount Pelion, and brought up Achilles. Pholus was
stooping over a Centaur who had fallen by an arrow from
Hercules, and after drawing out the arrow, was wondering
how so small a thing could produce such an effect, when it
fell from his hands, and striking severely on his foot, its
poison entered his body, and he died. The legend appears
to have been popular both with poets and vase painters.
4. The Geryneian stagy an animal of wonderful fleetness,
with antlers of gold and hoofs of brass, was sacred to Aite-
mis, to whom it had been dedicated by Taygete, one of the
Pleiades. It took its name from the hill and hunting district
of Ceryneia, on the borders of Arcadia and Achaia; at other
times it was called the Maenalian stag. The task imposed
on Hercules was to capture and bring it back alive. The
chase lasted for a whole year, Hercules pursuing it over hills
and plains, ravines and meadows, on to the Hyperborean
region, and thence back to where it had started among the
Arcadian hills. It sought shelter in the sanctuary of Artemis,
but being dislodged was overtaken by Hercules at the banks
of the river Ladon. He would have slain it had not Apollo
and Artemis appeared on the scene. The stag running a
whole year on to the regions of the Hyperboreans, and thence
returning to where it had set out, appears to be a mythical
illustration of the course of the moon, and may be compared
with the much simpler story of the huntress Arge — ^the
^^ shimmering being ^^ who pursued a stag, crying out, ''I
will catch you should your speed equal that of Helios;*' for
which boast the angry god transformed her into a deer.
5. The Stymphalian birds. The vale of Stymphalus, lying
among the mountains in such a way as to be constantly
exposed to the floods and storms of winter, was described in
THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES. 289
a mythical form as being subject to the ravages of a number-
less flock of birds, which, with their iron talons and feathers
sharp as arrows, delighted in human flesh. From the descrip-
tion of the figures of some of them, which were preserved in
the sanctuary of Artemis, it appears that they resembled in
form the Harpies, and like them, too, they were, there is every
reason to believe, symbols of the cold, destructive storms of
winter. To get rid of them Hercules first raised an alarm
by ringing a large bell ; and when the birds came out from
the thick wood where their nests were, many were shot down
by his arrows, and the rest flew away in fright. They flew,
as it appears from the story of the Argonauts, to an island,
sacred to Ares, in the inhospitable Black Sea, where the
Argonauts sufiEered severely from the heavy falls of their
sharp biting feathers, and only obtained relief by again
frightening them by raising a great din. As the birds flew
over the sea their feathers fell like a thick snow-storm, the
flakes of which, it should be remembered, are frequently in
the legends of other peoples compared with feathers. Her-
cules, as a hero representing the influence of the sun, was
very properly called in by the myth-makers to destroy beings
of this kind, more especially as in the neighboring district of
Pheneus he had long been regarded as a beneficent hero.
The statement of his having alarmed the birds by ringing a
bell may have been suggested by a common practice of rais-
ing birds from their nests. At the same time it may also
refer to a custom which is known at any rate in more recent
times — that of ringing bells during severe storms, from a
belief that such a proceeding availed against all evil spirits
of the air.
6. The Augean stables. Augeas, the rich prince of Elis,
and his daughter Agamede, the sorceress who knew the
potency of all the herbs in the world, were known to the
author of the Iliad (xi. 701, 739). His seat was at Ephyra,
a name which occurs in connection with the worship of the
heavenly powers, while Augeas itself means ^^ a being of
19
290 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
streaming light/' Light streamed from his eyes, and it was
said expressly that he was a son of Helios. His daughter
Agamede is obviously identical in character with Dirce,
Medea, and Megamede, all of whom represented by their
witchcraft the occult powers of the moon. Another feature
of the story, which confirms the opinion that Augeas in
some way was intended to illustrate the phenomena of the
sun's light, is his possession of herds of lambs and cattle^
fabulous in numbers as are the fleecy clouds, and including
twelve bulls, white as swans, and sacred to Helios — one of
them being called Phaethou, and described as glittering like
a star. The court of Augeas was by the banks of the river
Peneus, and the task assigned to Hercules was to clear out
his endless line of stalls alone and in one day. To accom-
plish this, the hero made an opening through the wall at a
part whore the river approached it. The stream, rushing in
at the opening, swept with it, as it flowed along the stables^
their accumulated dung. Augeas had promised to reward
Hercules with a tenth of his herds; but declined to fulfil his
agreement on hearing that the task had been imposed by
Eurystheus. This refusal afterward led to a war between
Hercules and Elis.
7. The Cretan bxdl had been presented by Poseidon to
Minos, and by him placed among the herd of cattle sacred
to the sun. How it became wild, and how Pasiphae, the wife
of Minos, conceiving a passion for it, followed it over the
island, has been told in connection with the legends of Crete.
The task imposed on Hercules was to bring this bull to
Mycenae. The first difficulty was to capture and subdue it,
an act in which he is frequently represented on the painted
vases. The second was to bring it over the sea to Mycenae,
which he did by sitting on its back while it swam, as did
Europa with Zeus, in the shape of a bull. As to the fate of
the bull, it is said, that Eurystheus sacrificed it to Hera, and,
again, that it escaped, roved wildly over the Peloponnesus,
and was finally captured at Marathon l)y Theseus.
THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES. 291
8. TTie horses of IHomedes, a king of Thrace, aod reputed
to have been a son of Ares, the god of war and the personi-
ficatioQ of storm. Like the people whom he ruled, Diomedea
was fierce in war. His seat was in the neighborhood of
Abdera, where in later times the remains of his citadel was
pointed out. He was the owner of certain horses which fed
on human flesh, and by that means became furious and so
powerfal that they had to be fastened with iron chains. The
human ilesh on which they fed was generally that of persons
who had been wrecked on that inhospitable coast. Her-
cules was ordered to bring these horses to Mycenae. To
Abdera he went by sea ; and on arriving overpowered the
guards, and led the horses away to the shore, when he was
The Giidle of Blppolfte.
overtaken by a crowd of the subjects of Diomedes. A ter-
rible fight ensued, in which the king fell at the hands of
Hercules, and ^vaa himself given as food for his horses. In
the course of the combat, Abderus, a beautiful youth, of
whom Hercules was very fond, fell : and in his honor the
hero raised a mound, and instituted games in his honor,
292 HEROES.
which the people of Abdera afterward continued annually.
After the horses had been conveyed to Mycenae and pre-
sented to Eurystheus, it is said that they escaped among the
hills of Arcadia, and were there ultimately devoured by wild
beasts — probably by the wolves of Zeus Lycaeus. Their
allegorical signification is clearly that of storms and billows,
and hence the legend was located in Thrace, a country with
which we are familiar in connection with other personifica-
tions of storm — such as Ares, Lycurgus, and Boreas.
9. The girdle of Hippolyie, the queen of the Amazons, had
been a gift from Ares, and was a symbol of the power of a
rushing headlong storm. The task imposed on Hercules was
to fetch this girdle for Admete, the daughter of Eurystheus,
of whom we learn elsewhere that she was a priestess of the
Argive Hera. Hercules slew the Amazon, and returned with
the girdle. From this adventure appears to have arisen the
legend of a war conducted by Hercules against the Amazons.
10. The catUe of Geryon or Geryoneus, who was a son of
Chrysaor and the Oceanid nymph Callirrhoe. In one per-
son he had three bodies, three heads, three pairs of legs, and
six arms. He was gigantic in size, heavily armed, powerful,
and provided with wings. The great point in his character
was that he was the lord of immense herds of cattle. Con-
sidering that the possession of herds of cattle was also a
prominent feature in the character of Apollo and Helios, in
whose case the cattle represented the days of the year, and
considering further that the local habitation of Geryon,
though assigned to various localities, is always assigned to a
place in some way connected with the worship of Helios, it
may be inferred that Geryon also was an illustration of some
of the phenomena of the sky; and of these phenomena none
but those of wintry storms correspond with his personal
appearance and vehemence. Geryon keeps his cattle at
night in a dark cave in the remote west, into which Hercules
penetrates, and drives them away eastward toward the region
of morning light. The expedition had three stages : first^
THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES. 293
the journey to Erytheia, where Geryon lived, and which,
judged by the meaning of its name, seems to be connected
with the red glow of sunset; secondly, the contest with
Geryon; and, thirdly, the return to Mycenae with the cattle.
Erytheia was an island somewhere in the remote west, be-
yond the pillars of Hercules; and to reach it the hero
employed a vessel, obtained, some said, from Nereus, while
others believed that he had compelled Helios to lend him for
the occasion the cup or vessel in which he was accustomed to
sail every night round the world from west to east. On the
passage Hercules was alarmed, or at any rate disturbed, by
a storm, which was only appeased by his drawing his bow on
Oceanus. Reaching the island he placed himself on Mount
Abas, but was observed by the two-headed dog of Ger^'^on,
and attacked by it. He slew the dog, and was next attacked
by the herdsman Eurytion, who also fell at his hands. Then
Menoetius, who was there watching the cattle of Helios,
pointed out to him the cattle of Geryon, grazing in a
meadow by the river^s side. He was in the act of driving
them away, when Geryon himself, in all his strength and
fierceness, appeared on the scene. The combat was ended
by a fatal shaft from Hercules. Shipping the cattle into the
vessel of the sun, and landing them safely, Hercules com-
menced his homeward journey on foot, through Iberia, Graul,
over the Alps, and down through Italy, with many adven-
tures, in all of which he was successful. At Rome occurred
the incident with the robber Cacus, which the Romans incor-
porated among their national legends, though the elements
of it were obviously of a Greek origin. At the Phlegraean
fields, near Cumae, he fought the Giants. On the mountains
between Rhegium and Locri his rest was disturbed by the
noise of the grasshoppers, and at his prayer the gods removed
these creatures from the district forever. From the south
of Italy one of his bulls escaped across the sea to Sicily, and
as it was necessary to follow it, Hercules, holding on by the
horns of another bull, crossed with his herd to that island,
294 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES. *
til rough the length and breadth of which he appears to have
wandered, encountering giants like Eryx, experiencing kind-
ness from the nymphs of Himera and Egesta, at whose warm
springs he was refreshed, and everywhere leaving reminis-
cences of his visit. Thence he passed up the shores of the
Adriatic, round by Illyria and Epirus to Ambracia, where a
gadfly, sent by Hera, caused his cattle to run away in great
numbers to the mountains. With the remainder he reached
the Hellespont, and thence proceeded to Mycenae, where
Eurystheus sacrificed them to the goddess Hera.
1 1 . The apples of the Hesperides. According to later story,
the last labor imposed on Hercules was to procure three of
the golden apples which grew in the garden of the Hesper-
ides; and hence in works of art which represent him as
iamctusy the invincible, he appears holding the apples in his
hand. As in the case of the cattle of Geryon, here also
the chief interest of the legend resides in the adventures on
the way. As regards the locality where this wonderful garden
was to be found, there was a difference of opinion; some,
apparently under the influence of Phoenician traditions, be-
lieving it to have been in the remote west, while Aeschylus
and others conceived that Atlas and the Hesperides lived in
the northern region of the Hyperboreans. From the com-
bination of both beliefs in later times, a very wide scope was
given to the adventures of the hero on his way there and
back. Hercules himself, not knowing what direction to take,
is said to have first passed through Macedonia and on to the
Rhone, where he met certain nymphs who advised him that
Nereus, the sea-god, knew the secret, and could be made to
give it up. In spite of the many transformations of Nereus,
Hercules compelled him to tell him the way. He then pro-
ceeded to Libya, where he found Antaeus, a giant of enormous
strength, whose habit was to kill all travellers who crossed
the waste where he lived. He was a son of Poseidon and
the Earth, deriving from his mother a strength which ren-
dered him invincible to those who could not lift him from
THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES, 295
the ground, which Hercules did. The wrestling scene between
the two was a favorite subject in ancient art, and commended
itself largely to the Greek youths as they practised in the
palaestra. When he had conquered Antaeus, Hercules lay
down to rest, and in a little while found himself covered with
a host of creatures called Pygmies, who sprang up from the
waste. He wrapped them in his lion's skin and killed them.
From Libya he went into Egypt, where he was seized by the
orders of Busiris and conveyed, as were all strangers, to be
sacrificed. He burst his bonds, and offered up instead Busiris,
his son, and retinue. From Egypt he went to India, and
thence returned in a northerly direction toward the Caucasus
mountains, where he set free Prometheus, and in return for
that kindly act was told the way on through Scythia to the
region of the Hyperboreans, where lived Atlas and the Hes-
perides. Part of the arrangement was that Atlas should
pluck the three apples for him; and to relieve him for that
purpose it was necessary that Hercules should take the bur-
den of the world on his shoulders. Atlas returned with the
apples, and naively proposed that he himself should convey
them to Eurystheus. Hercules appeared to appreciate the
proposal, and only wished first to find a pad to save his head
from the weight. Atlas did not see the joke, and willingly
took the world on his shoulders again. Hercules, of course,
did not return. Another report has it that Hercules himself
entered the garden, slew the dragon which watched the tree,
and carried off the apples and returned with them to Eurys-
theus.
12. Cerberus, the three-headed dog of Hades, which
guarded the entrance to the lower world, was a symbol of
the eternal darkness of Hades. The task of bringing it to
the upper world was regarded in the earlier epic poetry as
the most difficult of the labors of Hercules. It was sup-
posed that he entered from the upper world through a chasm
near Taenarum, returning by the same way. The shades of
the dead fled in terror when they beheld him. Near the
296 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
gates he found his friends Theseus and Peirithous seated on
a rock, to which they were attached as if they had grown
from it, and in great trouble. He freed Theseus, but the
earth shook when he tried to do the same for Peirithous.
To impart life to the shades of his friends whom he freed,
he obtained blood from one of the cows of Hades, which he
killed after a severe fight with Menoetius, the herdsman. At
last he reached Pluto, who agreed that he might take Cer-
berus, provided he could do 80 without the assistance of arms
of any kind. This he succeeded in doing, and leading the
hated dog to Eiirystheus, completed his twelve labors.
The labors of Hercules were a favorite subject with the
ancient vase-painters and sculptors, and of the latter espe-
cially those of later times who worked for Roman patrons,
in whose estimation the Greek hero stood high. The man-
ner in which each of the labors was represented seldom
varied; and from this it may be assumed that the type
of each had originally been established by Greek artists of
celebrity, from whose models it would have been presump-
tion to depart.
As an instance of how these labors were represented col-
lectively, we would cite a marble sarcophagus in the British
Museum, dating probably from the third century A. D.
Without caring to follow the chronological order usually
accepted, the sculptor has chosen to dispose his groups
according to his ideas of artistic effect, or perhaps according
to his ideas of their importance. On the extreme left of the
front we find Hercules dragging Cerberus out of Hades, the
mouth of which is represented as the rocky entrance to a
cave. Among the rocks is hiding a nude diminutive figure,
which may be taken to be one of the shades of the dead, who,
as it was said, fled in terror when they beheld the hero.
Next to this is a group of Hercules removing the girdle of
the Amazon Hippolyte, who lies dead at his feet. Then we
have the scene in the garden of the Hesperides, then the
taming of the horses of Diomedes, and lastly the strangling
THE TWELVE LABORS OF HERCULES.
297
of the Netnean lion. On one end of the sarcophagus he
appears slaying the Lemean hydra, and on the other captur-
ing the Ceryneian stag. In these last three groups be is
figured represented as beardless and of a youthful figure, while
in the others his form has become colossal, and his features
marked with toil. On the lid are sculptured, on a smaller
scale, the five remaining labors, of which the first, beginning
from the left hand, is the bringing of the Erymanthian boar;
next to that we find Hercules hard at work with a pickaxe,
Hercules and Cerbenu.
making an opening, as it seems, into the wall of the Augean
stables; the third scene represents him shooting the Stympha-
lian birds; in the fourth he is engage<l in subduing the Cretan
bull; and in the fifth he fights witii the triple-bodied giant^
Geryon. These five labors are shut in on the left by the
scene where Hercules, as an infant, strangles the snake sent
by Hera, and on the right by a group representing him seated
after his labors, and receiving a cup of wine from the god-
dess Victory, while Athene stands by.
298 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
Hercules as a National Hero.
In addition to the twelve labors imposed by Eurystheus,
and apparently after the expiry of his servitude to that mon-
arch, Hercules performed many other wonderful feats, which
caused his name to be surrounded with glory. Of these it
has already been mentioned that he wrestled with and van-
quished the Giant Antaetis, who lived in Gyrene, on the north
coast of Africa, and slew all who came in his way, and that
in Egypt he slew Busiris, whose practice had been to sacri-
fice all strangers that entered his dominions. Next we find
him among the Caucasus mountains, where, having shot the
bird that gnawed the liver of Prometheus, he set the Titan
free. He saved Alcestis, the wife of Admetus, king of
Pherae, under the following circumstances : Admetus, being
sick, had caused an inquiry to be made of an oracle as to the
issue of his illness, and was told in reply that he would die
unless some one could be found to volunteer to lay down his
life for him. For this his wife, Alcestis, ofiEered herself,
and would have been carried ofiE to the shades, but for Her-
cules, who seized the god of death in his strong arms, and
held him till he promised to allow her to remain with her
husband.
He accompanied the expedition of the Argonauts in search
of the golden fleece, and took part in the first war against Troy,
along with Telamon, the father of Ajax, Peleus, the father
of Achilles, and Oicles, the father of Amphiaraus. The
cause of this war was a breach of faith on the part of Lcbo-
medon, the king of Troy, who, in consideration of Hercules
having rescued his daughter Hesione from the jaws of a
sea-monster, had promised her hand to Hercules. Laomedon
was besieged in his citadel, finally was taken prisoner, and
slain along with his sons — all except Podarces, whose life
was spared on the entreaty of Hesione. Telamon was
rewarded with the hand of Hesione. Podarces assumed the
name of Priamus, and, after the withdrawal of Hercules
HERCULES AS A NATIONAL HERO. 299
and his expedition, establislied a new dynasty in Troy. On
the way home Hercules and his companions were compelled
to take shelter from a storm at Cos, but were refused hospi-
tality by the inhabitants. For this they destroyed the town.
In an expedition against Pylos, Hercules succeeded, with
the assistance of Atnene, in overcoming Periolymenus, a
300 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
strange being, who had the power of assuming any form he
pleased. He next proceeded to Lacedaemon, to assist his
friend T3nidaretis, the rightful ruler of that state, against
the family of Hippocoontides, by whom he had been ex-
pelled — this undertaking being also crowned with success,
though it entailed the loss, among others of his companions,
of the sons of Cepheus, king of Tegea. Tyndareus was
reinstated.
Whether it was on the conclusion of the labors imposed
on him by Eurystheus, or at some other period of his life,
Hercules is said to have once returned to Thebes, exhausted
by toil, and to have fallen into violent illness, followed by
raving, in the course of which he committed many unfortu-
nate acts, among others attempting to carry off the sacred
tripod from the sanctuary of Apollo at Delphi. Being after-
ward informed by the oracle of Apollo that the crimes he
had committed through his insanity could be expiated by a
period of three years^ servitude, he offered his services to
Omphale, queen of Lydia, and there, as elsewhere, distin-
guished himself chiefly for the assistance he rendered to the
oppressed, and for the valor of his deeds.
The Death and Deification of Hercules.
Hercules, it would seem, had wooed lole, a daughter of
Eurytus, king of Oechalia, but had been ultimately refused
her hand, in spite of his having fulfilled all the conditions
laid down by her father. Turning elsewhere, he became a
suitor of Deianeira, a daughter of Oeneus, king of Calydon,
who offered his daughter in marriage to the man who should
vanquish the river-god Achelous in wrestling. Having
proved himself more than a match for the river-god, Her-
cules obtained Deianeira in marriage, and next proceeded to
punish the father of lole for his deceit. Having taken the
stronghold of Oechalia, he put the king and his children to
death, with the exception of lole, whom he carried off; but
DEATH AND DEIFICATION OF HERCULES. 301
instead of returning home directly, proceeded with her to a
The Marriage or Hsrcalee and Hebe.
promontory in Euboea, inteudiog to ofEer a sacrifice to Zeus.
Deianeira, hearing of this, and being jealous of a revival of
302 HEROES.
her husband's former love for lole, took the white robe in
which he had been accustomed to offer sacrifices^ steeped it in
some preparation given her by the Centaur Nessus^ as a charm
to bring back her husband's love^ and sent it by her son
Lichas to Hercules. She was not aware that the preparation
contained the deadliest poison. Hercules had hardly put on
the robe, when he was seized with violent pain — the poison
entering into his frame. Death appeared to be inevitable.
He caused a pyre of wood to be erected on Mount Oeta, set
fire to it, and after handing over his unerring bow and arrows
to his friend Philoctetes, mounted the fire and was consumed
in its flames. His spirit, it was said, passed away in a cloud,
and was conducted by Iris and Hermes to Olympus, where,
after being reconciled to Hera, he was married to the goddess
Hebe, and enjoyed immortality and the esteem of all the
gods. Deianeira, meantime having heard of the calamity
she had caused, put herself to death.
While ancient poets familiarized the people with the ex-
ploits of Hercules, artists found in them an endless variety
of subjects, as the collections of sculptures and painted vases
still testify. In the schools he was held up as an embodi-
ment of heroic virtue, and everywhere honor was done to
him.
THESEUS.
The friend, and in many respects the counterpart of Her-
cules, was Theseus, a son of Aegeus, king of Attica, and
Aethra, a daughter of Pittheus, king of Troezen, While
his mother was a descendant of Pelops, his father was of the
line of Erechtheus. Theseus, brought up under the care of
his grandfather, Pittheus, whose wisdom and virtue were
well known, soon gave promise of great strength and skill
in athletic exercises, such as were then prescribed for youths,
and, moreover, became a proficient in playing the lyre. His
father, Aegeus, on taking leave of his mother, Aethra, at
Troezen, had secreted faie eword and sandals under a great
rock, and told her that when the boy was able to move the
rock, he might come to him at Athens, bringing the sword
and sandals as a token. When only in hia sixteenth year,
Theseus accomplished this task, and at once set out for
Athens, where Medea, who was then living with Aegeos,
tried lo compass his death, but her plan having failed, fled.
On his way to Athens Theseus was the hero of several
exploits resembling more or less the feats which Hercules
performed in his youth. He slew Periphates, whose prao-
tice had been to crush with a blow of his iron club all trav-
ellers across the pathless district between Troezen and
Epidaurus. On the Isthmus of Corinth Theseus met and
overcame Sinis, the robber, who was the terror of the neigh-
borhood. It was to commemorate this feat, it was said, that
Theseus established the Isthmian games. At CVommyoo he
slew the wild boar that was laying waste the country round.
He threw Sciron from a high cliff into the sea — a death to
which that robber had doomed many unlucky travellers.
At Eleusis he slew the powerful Cercyon, and afterward
Damastes (usually called Procrustes), whose manner of
killing his victims was to place them on a bed which was
always either too long or too short : if too short, he would
304 Srar^ EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
cut off part of the victim to suit the bed; if too long, he
would stretch his victim to the required length.
Arriving at Athens^ Theseus was purified from all this
bloodshed by the grateful inhabitants. It happened that^
because of the long Ionian dress which he wore^ and his long
hair, which gave him the appearance of a girl, some scoffed
at him for going about alone in public. To show that he
was far from being so effeminate as he seemed, he unyoked a
laden wagon that was standing by, and threw it up in the
air, to the astonishment of all.
His next exploit was against the family of giants, fifty in
number, called Pallantides, sons of his uncle Pallas, who
were endeavoring to get rid of Theseus, in the hope of suc-
ceeding to the government of Athens at the death of their
uncle Aegeus. His extraordinary strength enabled him to
overpower them. He then proceeded to Marathon, where,
as we have already said, in connection with the labors of
Hercules, a furious bull was destroying the plains. He cap-
tured and led it off to Athens, where he sacrificed it to the
goddess Athene, who had lent him her aid in the enterprise.
But the adventure in which he gained the greatest glory
was his slaying the Minotaurus, a monster of which we have
given a description in connection with the legends of Crete,
where we have also explained why Athens was compelled to
send a tribute of young men and maidens as victims to the
Minotaurus. Theseus offered himself as a victim, and in time
arrived with the others in Crete. Before the sacrifice took
place, however, he had won the favor of Aria.dne, the
daughter of Minos, and had obtained from her a clue of
thread, by holding on to which he might find his way back
out of the labyrinth in which the Minotaur lived. The
intricacies of its passages would have otherwise been a source
of danger against which his great strength would not have
served him. On a very ancient vase in the British Museum
there is a picture in which Ariadne is represented as holding
the one end of the clue, while Theseus in the interior of the
THESEUS. 306
labyrinth is slaying the monster. Haviog by this act freed
Atheos forever from the cruel tribute, Theseus and hie com-
panions set out on the homeward voyage, accompanied also
by Ariadne. £ut at the island of Naxoe he abandoned her,
fearing to take a stranger home as his wife. Her grief on
awaking and seeing the ship far away that conveyed her lover
was intense, and has been commemorated frequently both by
poets and artists. She was found sorrowing by the young
wine-god Dionysus, by whose influence her joy returned.
Meanwhile the arrival of the ship was being ansiously
Ad&dtie Abutdoaed,
looked for at Athens. That the good news might be known
more quickly, Theseus himself had promised, when he set
out, to hoist a white flag when he sighted Attica, if success-
ful. In his joy, however, he had forgotten the promise, and
sailed toward the port with the black colors with which he
had started. On seeing this, his father, A^eus, gave way
to grief at the supposed loss of his son, and put an end to
his life.
Among the other adventures in which Theseus took part
306 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
were the expedition of the Argonauts and that of Heroules
against the Amazons. In the latter expedition he had^ as it
was said, carried off Hippolyte, whose girdle Hercules had
been commanded by Eurystheus to obtain. For the carry-
ing off of their queen, a great body of the Amazons invaded
Attica, but were repulsed by Theseus.
His warm friendship for the Thessalian prince Pirithous
gave Theseus two opportunities of displaying his heroic
qualities. The first was at the marriage of his friend — at
which, as has been previously related, the Centaurs present
at the banquet, becoming fired with wine, raised a tumult, and
would have carried off the bride but for the resistance of
Theseus. The second occasion was when Pirithous, having
conceived a passion for Persephone, audaciously resovled to
carry her away from the lower world, and was aided by
Theseus. The attempt failed, however, and both were kept
in chains in the lower world till Hercules released them.
After the death of his father Theseus succeeded to the
goveroment of Athens, lived in splendor, ruled with pru-
dence, and introduced institutions of a most liberal kind
among his people. He united the various independent and
previously hostile villages of Attica into one state, with
Athens as its head. He enriched and gave a new impulse
to the great festival of the Panathenaea, that had been
established by Erechtheus. In the island of Delos he founded
an annual festival accompanied by games, at which the prize
was a wreath of the sacred palm-tree. In Athens the festival
of Pyanepsia, in honor of Apollo, and Oschophoria, in
honor of Dionysus, were both said to have been established
by him. He met his death, it was said, at the hands of
Lycomedes, to whose court he had retired on the occasion
of a tumult in Athens. His wife was Phaedra, a daughter
of Minos, of Crete; according to another report, Antiope.
The memory of his deeds was preserved by a beautiful
temple in Athens, erected for that purpose, and called the
Theseum.
THE HUNT OF THE CALTDONIAN BOAR. 307
THE HUNT OF THE CALYDONIAN BOAR.
At the head of this expedition was Meleagrer, a son of
Ueleogei.
OeneuB, the kiog of Calydon, and his wife Althaea; Deia-
308 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
neira^ the wife of Hercules^ being a daughter of the same
pair. At the birth of Meleager the Parcae appeared to
Althaea^ it would seem^ Atropos telling her that her infant
would live as long as a brand which she pointed to on the
fire remained unconsumed. Althaea snatched it that moment
from the flames, and hid it away carefully, and thus secured
the invulnerability of her son. On growing to manhood he
took part in the Argonautic expedition, and is said to have
signalized himself by many acts of bravery; but the enter-
prise with which his fame was most associated was the suc-
cessful hunt of the ferocious boar that was laying waste the
country round Calydon, defying the spears and hounds of
ordinary huntsmen.
Meleager sent messengers round Greece to invite all its
bravest heroes to Calydon to join him in the hunt. There
came Idas and Lynceus from Messene, Ccistor and Poly-
deuces (Pollux) from Lacedaemon, Theseus from Athens,
Admetus from Pherae, Ancaeus and the beautiful Ata-
lanta from Arcadia, Jason from lolcus, Peleus from Thes-
saly, and many other well-proved heroes. After enjoying
for nine days, as was usual, the hospitality of Meleager, they
prepared on the tenth for the chase, which, with a few acci-
dents, resulted in the death of the boar by the spear of Melea-
ger, to whom accordingly fell the trophy of the monster's
head and skin.
In art he is represented standing beside an altar shaded
by a laurel-tree, holding two spears in his hand. His dog
looks up to him. The head of the boar lies on the altar.
As, however, Atalanta had been the first to wound the
boar, Meleager made that a pretext for presenting her with
its skin. But on her way homeward to Arcadia she was
met and forcibly robbed of it by the brothers of Althaea,
the mother of Meleager, who considered that they had a
superior claim to that part of the booty. A quarrel arose
on that account between Meleager and his uncles; they
fought, and the end of it was that the uncles were slaiiu
THE EXPEDITION OF THE ARGONAUTS 309
Tu avenge their death, Althaea cast the braad, which up till
then she had carefully preserved, into the fire, aad thereupOD
her brave son was seized with dreadful paio, and died.
Grief at the rashness of her act caused the mother to kill
herself.
THE EXPEDITION OF THE ARGONAUTS.
To understand the object of this expeditioD, it will be
necessary to go back a little into the genealogy of the person
at whose instance it was conducted. That person was Jaaon,
BuildEngthe Argo.
a son of AesoQ, the rightful king of lolcns in Theesaly,
and his wife Alcimede. The father of Aeaon was Aeolus
(a son of Hellen and a grandson of Deucalion), at whose
death he succeeded to the throne, but was driven from it by
Pelias, his step-brother, at whose hands he and all his rela-
tives suffered cruel persecution. The boy Jason was saved
from harm by acme of his father's friends, and placed under
the care and instruction of the Centaur Chiron. At the
age of twenty he was told by an oracle to present himself to
310 THE EARLIER RAGE OF HEROES.
Pelias, and claim his father^s kingdom. Pelias also had
learned from the oracle that a descendant of Aeolus would
dethrone him, and, moreover, that the descendant in question
would appear to him for the first time with only one sandal
to his feet. Pelias, the usurper, was, therefore, anxiously
looking out for the approach of a person in this plight. It
happened that the river Enipeus was swollen when Jason
reached it, on his way to put forth his claim against Pelias.
But Hera, the patron goddess of lolcus, taking the form of
an old woman, conveyed him across, with no loss except that
of one sandal. On his arrival at lolcus, Pelias recognized
him as the rightful heir referred to by the oracle, but, at the
same time, was unwilling to abdicate in his favor. He would
prefer that eTason should first do something in the way of
heroic enterprise, and, as a suitable adventure of that kind,
proposed that he should fetch the golden fleece from Colchis.
Jason agreed to this, and set about building the Argro, the
largest ship that had as yet sailed from Greece. The god-
dess Athene aided him with her skill and advice in the work,
as did also Hera. When the ship was ready, Jason sent
messengers to invite the foremost heroes of Greece to join
him in his enterprise. Among the many who accepted his
invitation were Hercules, Castor and Pollux, Meleager,
Orpheus, Peleus, Neleus, Admetus, Theseus, his friend Piri-
thous, and the two sons of Boreas, Calais and Zetes.
Turning now to the story of the golden fleece, the finding
of which was the object of so powerful an expedition, we
must go back to Aeolus, whom we have mentioned above as
grandfather of Jason and son of Hellen. This Aeolus had,
besides Aeson, another son, Athamas, who married Nephele,
and had two children, Phrixus and Helle. On the death of
his wife, Athamas married a second time Ino, a daughter of
Cadmus, by whom he had two sons, Learchus and Meli-
certes. The second wife, disliking her two step-children,
made several attempts on their lives. To save them from
further danger, the shade of their mother, it was said, appeared
THE EXPEDITION OF THE ARQONAUTS.
311
to Phrixiis, briaging at the same time a Urge ram with a
golden fleece, on which she proposed Phrixus and Helle
should escape over the sea. They started according to her
advice, and Phrixus reached safely the opposite shore, but
Helle fell from the ram's back into the sea and was drowned.
The name of Hellespont was in consequence given to the
Fbrlzoa and Hens.
strait which they had to cross Phnxus, having reached the
other side, proceeded to Colchis, on the farthest shore of the
Black Sea, and there sacrificed the ram to Zeus, in honor of
his safety. He hung the golden fleece up in the temple of
Ares,
Previous to starting from lotcus, Jason offered a sacrifice
to Zeus, calling upon the god for a sign of his favor, or dis-
pleasure if it should be so. Zeus answered with thunder
and lightning, which was taken as a favorable omen. The
312 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES,
expedition proceeded first to Lemnos, where the heroes were
kindly received, remained a long time^ and became the fathers
of a new race of heroes. The women of the island had, it
would seem, at the instigation of Aphrodite, slain their hus-
bands. One of the Lemnian women, Hypsipyle, bore a son
to Jason, and called him Buneus. Leaving Lemnos and its
festive life, the Argonauts continued their journey as far as
Cyzicus, where they landed for a short time, and were in the
act of leaving when Hercules, having broken his oar, left
the ship, accompanied by Hylas, to cut a new oar in the
wood. But some nymphs, admiring the beauty of young
Hylas, carried him ofiE; and as Hercules would not leave the
country without him, the expedition was compelled to pro-
ceed without the assistance and companionship of the great
hero. Their next landing was in the neighborhood of the
modern Scutari, where the reigning king. Amyous, was
famed as a boxer and for his cruelty to all strangers who
entered his territories. Seeing the Argonauts land for the
purpose of obtaining fresh water, he sent them, as was his
custom, a challenge to match him with a boxer, which Pollux
accepted, and proved the skill by which he earned his fame
upon the boastful Amycus. Proceeding on their journey,
they passed through the perilous entrance to the Black Sea
in safety, owing their escape from its dangers to the advice
of Phineus, the blind and aged king of the district, whom
they had found sufiEering great distress on account of his food
being always carried off or polluted by the Harpies just as
he sat down to eat it. This punishment, as well as his blind-
ness, had been sent upon him by the gods in consequence of
his cruelty to his wife (a daughter of Boreas) and children.
The Harpies were driven away effectually by the two sons of
Boreas, who accompanied the Argonauts; and it was in return
for this kindness that Phineus communicated his plan for a
safe passage through the Symplegades, two great cliffs that
moved upon their bases, and crushed everything that ven-
tured to pass between. His plan was first to fly a pigeon
TMB EXPEDITION OF THE ARGONAUTS.
313
tliroiigh between them, aad then the moment that the cliffs,
having closed upon the pigeon, began to retire to each side
to row the Ai^o swiftly through the passf^. It was done,
and before the cliffs could close upon her, the ship, all but
her rudder, had got clear of danger. From that time the
Symplegades were united into one rock.
After many other ad ve at urea the expedition at last reached
Colchis, where they found Aeetes, a reputed son of Helios
and Perseis, reigning as king. He refused to give up the
the Golden Fleece.
golden fieeee, except to the man who should acquit himself
to hia satisfaction in certain enterprises which he proposed.
The first was to yoke to a plough his unmanageable bulls,
that snorted fire and had hoofs of brass, and to plough the
field of Ares with them. That done, the field was to be
sown with a dragon's teeth, from which armed men were to
spring in the furrows. The hero who succeeded so far was
then to be permitted to fetch, if he could, the golden fleece,
314 THE EARLIER RACE OF HEROES.
which hung on an oak in a grove sacred to Ares, and was
watched continually by a monstrous dragon. Medea, the
daughter of Aeetes, having conceived a passion for Jason,
prepared him for these dangerous tasks by means of a witches
mixture which made him proof against fire and swoni. The
goddess Athene also helped him, and his success was com-
plete.
The Argonauts now commenced their homeward voyage,
Jason taking with him Medea. On missing his daughter,
Aeetes gave pursuit. Seeing that he was overtaking them,
Medea, to divert his course, dismembered her young brother,
Absyrtus, whom she had taken with her, and cast the limbs
about in the sea. The delay caused to Aeetes in collecting
the pieces of his child, enabled Medea and Jason to escape.
According to another report, Absyrtus had by that time
grown to manhood, and met his death in an encounter with
Jason, in pursuit of whom he had been sent by his father.
After passing through many other dangers, Jason at last
reached lolcus, and, presenting the golden fleece to Pelias,
claimed the throne as agreed upon. But Pelias still refused
to abdicate. Jason therefore slew him, and assumed the
government of lolcus, together with that of Corinth, where
Aeetes, the father of Medea, had, it is said, ruled before he
went to Colchis.
Ten years of peace followed the accession of Jason to the
throne. The origin of the troubles that fell upon the royal
house thereafter was an attachment formed by Jason for the
beautiful Creusa (or Glauce, as others called her), whom he
made his wife in Corinth. Medea, stung with jealousy,
turned to the arts of witchcraft she had learned in Colchis,
and having steeped a dress and a costly wreath in poison,
sent them to her rival, and by that means caused her death.
Not content with that, she set fire to the palace of Creou, the
father of Creusa; and further, finding Jason enraged at what
she had done, she put to death the children she herself had
borne to him, and fled to Athens, where, as we have seen.
TBE EXPEDITION OF TME ASQONAVTS. 815
she lived for r time with Aegeue. Thence also she had to
escape in consequence of an attempt on the life of Theseus.
She went back to Colchis, some believed, in a chariot drawn
by winged dragons.
Jason, it is said, depressed by his troubles, repaired to the
sanctuary on the Isthmus of Connth, where the Argo had
been consecrated in the grove of Poseidon, On approaching
the ship, part of the stern gave way, fell upon him, and
caused his death. Another version of the story says that he
took his own life.
THE YOUNGEK RACE OF HEROES, AND
THE WARS AGAINST THEBES
AND TROY.
The heroes of the succeeding age were regarded as sons
or grandsons of those whom we have just described, the great
events of the period in which they lived being the two wars
against Thebes and Troy. It has already been observed that
the accounts of these wars, though apparently having some
foundation in historical facts, are altogether mythical in their
form and interwoven with incidents of a wholly mythical
character.
These two events, more than any of the other adventures
of heroes, formed the favorite subject of the national poetry
of Greece, the incidents of each having been, as a whole or
in part, worked up into a long series of epic poems and
tragedies, of which, with two exceptions, only fragments re-
main to our times. These exceptions are the Iliad and
Odyssey — the oldest, it is believed, and at the same time
the most celebrated, of the epic poems upon the subject
of the war against Troy, the reputed author of them being
Homer. The principal epic on the expedition of the seven
heroes against Thebes was entitled Thebais, its author being
unknown. We shall relate both these great events in the
connection in which they have come down to us.
(316)
THE WARS OF THEBES AND TROY. 317
THE SEVEN HEROES WHO WENT AGAINST
THEBES.
Their Descendants, the Epigoni.
We have already alluded to the series of grim events by
which Oedipus, after killing his father, Laius, came to the
throne of Thebes, and married his own mother, Joca^sta.
It will be rememberd that from this union sprang four chil-
dren, two of them being sons, Bteocles and Polynioes, and
two daughters, Antigone and Ismene ; and that, when the
criminality of the marriage came to light, Jocasta killed her-
self, while Oedipus, after putting out his eyes, went into vol-
untary exile, accompanied only by his high-souled daughter
Antigone, who resolved to share all his adversity.
The sons, remaining in Thebes, soon fell into a warm dis-
pute concerning the succession to the throne, but at last
agreed to reign year about, Eteocles, the elder of the two,
having the first period of office. His year, however, having
expired, he not only declined to retire in behalf of his
brother, but went so far as to expel him from the city.
Polynioes, brooding revenge, betook himself to Adras-
tus, king of Sicyon, and was there hospitably received, meet-
ing also under the same roof another pretender to a throne,
Tydeus of Argos. The two youths became friends, and
bound themselves to stand by each other in the recovery of
their sovereignty. Adrastus gave them his two daughters
in marriage, and having thus allied himself to their cause,
prepared a powerful army to reinstate, first, Polynioes in
Thebes, and next, Tydeus in Argos.
Meantime both the young men visited many parts of
Greece, with the view of obtaining companions in arms, and
many a stout hero answered to their summons — such, for
example, as Gapaneus, a son of Hipponous, of Argos,
Eteoolus, son of Iphis, and Parthenopaeus, a son of Ata-
lanta and Melanion (or of Ares), from Arcadia. These
318 THE TOUNQEB RACE OF HEROES.
three, together with Polynices, Tydeus, and Adrastus, and
lastly the princely seer Amphiaraus, the son of Oioles (or
of Apollo), constituted the so-called seven heroes against
Thebes. It was, however, with extreme reluctance that
Amphiaraus took part in the expedition; for he was a man
of profound piety, and a prophet, who knew that the other
leaders of the affair had all more or less been guilty of crim-
inal acts. He foresaw that the undertaking, altogether god-
less as it was — since Polynices, though he had suffered
injustice, had no right to invade his native town with a
foreign army — would have a disastrous issue for all of them.
His warnings, however, were unheeded, and he himself, since
much was thought to depend on his presence, was forced to
take part in the adventure through the following plot :
Amphiaraus and Adrastus, finding themselves greatly at
variance in opinion concerning the projected expedition, at
last agreed to intrust the decision of the matter to Eriphyle
(the wife of Amphiaraus, who was prevailed on by the costly
presents given her secretly by Polynices to decide against
her husband, though she had been informed by him that
Adrastus alone, of all the seven, would ever return from
the expedition. On stepping into his chariot to depart for
battle, Amphiaraus turned round, and called down upon his
wife a curse, which his son, Alcmaeon, afterward fulfilled
by slaying his mother to avenge his father's death.
The army was now ready to march under its seven leaders.
We must, however, before tracing its further adventures,
return for a moment to Oedipus. After wandering about
sad and miserable here and there in Greece, he at last, under
the guidance of his faithful daugliter, Antigrone, arrived in
Attica, where, it had been predicted, he was to find a peace-
ful end to all his woes. Neither of the sons had troubled
himself about the ill-fated old man, until an oracle announced
that victory in the approaching battle would be on the side
of him who brought back Oedipus to Thebes and had him
in his camp. Thereupon both sought him, Polynices going
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 319
in person to beg for his blessing on the assault upon their
native town. Oedipus cursed the unholy enterprise. Eteo-
Oedlpua and Antlgane.
cles, as the reigning king, despatched his uncle, Creon, a
brotlier of his mother, to Attica, with commands to bring
320 THE YOUNGER RACE OF HEROES.
back Oedipus by force if necessary. But when Creon
attempted to do so, Theseus interfered and expelled him
and his followers from the land. Oedipus, after calling
down upon his undutif ul sons a curse, that they might perish
each by the hand of the other, died in the sacred grove of
the Eumenides at Colonus, near Athens, and was buried by
Theseus with pomp and ceremony. Antigone returned in
great grief to Thebes.
About the same time the expedition of the seven set out.
On reaching Nemea they found all the springs dry — ^a judg-
ment sent upon them by Dionysus, it was said, the guardian
deity of Thebes. Suffering severely from thirst, and looking
about for water, the heroes encountered Hypsipyle (see Argo-
nauts), who, because of Jason's love for her, had been sent
by the other women of Lemnos to Nemea, and there sold into
slavery to the king, Lycurgus, her duty being to tend his
young child, Opheltes. They begged her to take them to a
well, which she did; but before going off with them, had,
contrary to the oracle, laid down the child on the ground in
the wood. Returning from the well, they found the child
dead within the coils of a snake. Tydeus and Capaneus
would have slain the reptile at once, had not Amphiaraus
announced it to be a miraculous creature sent by Zeus as an
evil omen. On this account he renamed the child Arohe-
morus, which means the '^ dawn of mystery/' The heroes
appeased the angry parents by performing splendid obse-
quies to the child, the athletic contests and ceremonies of
that occasion being afterward looked on as the first celebra-
tion of the Nemean games. Hypsipyle was taken back to
her home by her son, Euneus, who had gone in search of
her.
In spite of this evil omen, the army of the seven advanced
upon Thebes, and after several less important adventures
arrived before its walls. There they pitched a camp, and as
a preliminary attempt to settle the matter amicably, sent
Tydeus into Thebes with orders to require that the govern-
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 321
meat be ceded to Polynices sccordiag to the original terms
of agreement between the brothers.
Tydeus was, however, received with boBtility, and would
have perished in the ambush laid for him by Eteocles, con-
trary to the universal usages of war, had it not been for his
extraordinary strength. Of the fifty men who surrounded
322 TBE YOVNQJSR It ACE OF HEROES.
him he spared only one to take back to Eteocles the tidings
of the affair.
The dispute must now be decided by force of arms.
Thebes was closely surrounded, each of the seven heroes
taking up his position before one of its seven gates. In a
similar manner Eteocles distributed his forces under seven
generals within each of the gates, reserving for himself the
defence of the gate which his brother was to attack. When
the battle commenced deeds of extraordinary valor were
done on both sides; but the gods were against the assailants,
the Thebans having gained the divine good-will in a special
degree by the sacrifice which Creon's son, Menoeceus, vol-
untarily made of himself with a view to save his native
town, as the oracle announced by the seer Tiresias recom-
mended. When the last and fatal day of the siege arrived,
Amphiaraus warned his companions in arms of what awaited
them and the death of all their leaders except Adrastus.
Intrusting to him tokens of remembrance for their friends,
they rushed into battle with all the courage of despair.
Matters soon began to look grave outside the walls of
Thebes. The fierce Capaneus, who had boasted that he
would take the town in spite of Zeus and all the divine por-
tents, had reached the parapet of the walls on his storming
ladder, when a lightning bolt from Zeus struck and hurled
him to the ground. A general onset of the Thebans fol-
lowed this event, the Argive army falling before them
everywhere, and their leaders being slain. Eteocles and
Poly n ices pierced each other through the body in a hand-
to-hand encounter. The earth, struck by a lightning bolt on
the spot where Amphiaraus stood, yawned and swallowed
him, from which time forward he continued to exist as a
spirit endowed with the gift of prophecy. Adrastus alone
escaped, and that by means of the winged horse Arion.
Creon, the uncle of the fallen sons of Oedipus, succeeded
to the throne of Thebes, and, as his first duty, buried Eteo-
cles with great ceremony — a rite which he at the same time
THE SEVEN AGAINST THEBES. 323
denied to the body of Polynices, on pain of death to any one
who should perform it. The kindly heart of Antigone could
not bear this sentence, which caused her brother's soul to
wander forever without rest in the lower world, and accord-
ingly she defied Creon's strict order, and buried the corpse
secretly, as she thought, but his watchman having observed
the act she was condemned to be buried alive — the fact of
her being betrothed to his son, Haemon, and the tears and
entreaties of the latter being of no avail to mitigate her
doom. Antigone was pent up in a subterranean chamber,
in which, to avoid the pangs of starvation, she hanged her-
self. Haemon, unwilling to outlive her, put an end to his
existence, and Creon's inhuman cruelty was punished by the
desolation of his house, by which the family of Oedipus
became extinct.
Thirty years having elapsed since the expedition of the
seven, their sons undertook to avenge the death of their
fathers by a second attack on Thebes. This was the so-called
war of the Epigoni (that is, ^^ offspring^' or sons), which
was entered upon with the consent of the gods, and ended
in the destruction of Thebes, which for a long time remained
a mere open space called '^ Lower Thebes.^'
THE TROJAN WAR.
The Cause op the War.
Contemporary with the contest of Thebes by the Epigoni,
which has been related above, we fiod on the throne of Troy,
or nioD, a king named Priamus, whose chief distinction
consisted in his being the father of a, noble race of sons.
His wife was Heouba. When the time approached for
another soo to be born to them, their daughter Cassandra,
OD. whom Apollo had bestowed the gift of prophecy, an-
nounced that the child would grow up to be the ruin of his
country. To prevent such a calami^ the infant was at its
birth exposed on Mount Ida, where it was found and brought
up by shepherds, in whose society and occupation Paris, or
Alexander, spent the early part of his life.
On a beautiful day, as he tended his flocks, three goddesses
(324 J
THE CA USE OF TME WAR. 325
came to him — Hera (Juno), Athene (Minerva), and Aphro-
dite (Venas), commanding him to decide which of them was
the most beautiful. Here we must explain. When Zeus
withdrew, as we have already seen, from his proposed mar-
riage with Thetis, on account of a prophecy communicated
by Themis, that the issue of such a union would be a son
who would surpass his father in might, it was ^reed to give
the sea-goddess in marriage to Peleus, a young prince of
Phthia, in Theasaly, whose piety had endeared him to the
Venus " tbe most beauunil.''
gods. " The gods came to their marri^e feast," as they
did to that of Cadmus and Harmonia, all but Eris, the god-
dess of strife. Angry at not being invited, she determined
to mar the pleasantness of the company, and to this end
threw among them a golden apple, on which was written,
" To the most beautiful." Hereupon the three goddesses
mentioned above claimed each (he prize, and Zeus referred
them to Paris, the shepherd on Mount Ida, for a decision.
326 THE TROJAN WAR.
Unwilling at first to take upon himself so much responsi-
bility, Paris was at length persuaded to decide, on being
promised the throne of Asia by Hera, immortal fame as a
hero by Athene, and the loveliest wife on earth by Aphro-
dite. He assigned the prize to the last-mentioned goddess,
and in so doing drew upon himself and his native country
the most bitter enmity of the other two.
In the meantime it happened that a sacrifice was to be
offered in Troy, for which oxen were wanted. Two of the
king's sons, Hector and Helenus, were sent to the herd on
Mount Ida, to select fitting animals. Their choice included
one that was a favorite of Paris, who boldly refused to give it
up, and followed it to the town, intending to demand its resto-
ration from the king. But a quarrel ensued on the way, and
Paris would have fallen at his brothers' hands, but for the
timely appearance of Cassandra, who revealed the story of
his birth. Then there was joy in the king's palace at the
return of the lost son, grown up as he was, to be beautiful,
handsome, and brave. The untoward prophecy was forgotten.
The sudden change from the life of a herdsman to that of
a prince surrounded by the pleasures of court and town,
made Paris oblivious of the visit of the goddesses and the
promise that had been made to him of the most beautiful
wife on earth. But Aphrodite meant to fulfil the promise,
and to this end commanded him to have ships built to sail
to Hellas, and proceed to Sparta, where, in the person of
Helena, he would find the wife in question. Paris obeyed,
and was accompanied on the journey by Aeneas, a son of
Anchises and the goddess Aphrodite.
Arriving at Amyclae, he was met and kindly welcomed by
the Dioscuri, Castor and Polydeuoes (Pollux), the brothers
of Helena. To the same family (of which Zeus and Leda
were the parents) belonged Oljrtaemnestra, the wife of
Agamemnon, who, like her brother Castor, was mortal,
while the other two, Helena and Pollux, were immortal.
Of the close attachment of the two brothers to each other
THE CA VSE OF THE WAR. 327
there is a fine instance which we shall here relate, though in
point of time it did not take place till a little later. Being
present, according to invitation, at the nuptials of LynceuB
and Idas with Phoebe and Hilaeira, the daughters of Leii-
cippus, they became enamoured of the brides, and attempted
to carry them off. A fight ensued, in which Castor, after
slaying I^ynceus, fell into the hands of Idas, whom Pollux
next slew to avenge his brother's death. Pollux then prayed
to Zeus that he might restore his brother to life, proposing
as a compensation that both should live only on alternate
days. Zeus granted the prayer with its condition. In after
times the twin-brothers were regarded as divine beings, and
328 THE TROJAN WAR.
supposed to ride on white horses in the sky, with dazzling
spears^ and each with a star above his brow. In storms,
when a mariner saw a ball of fire in the air, he was assured
that the Dioscuri were near to help him.
After spending some time with the Dioscuri, Paris^ accom-
panied by Aeneas, set out for Sparta, where he was received
by the king, Menelaus, and his wife, Helena, in the same
spirit of kindly hospitality as the brothers of the latter had
displayed at Amyclae. Of Menelaus we have already men-
tioned his descent from Atreus. The story of his marriage
and its consequences is as follows :
Such, it would seem, had been the astonishing beauty and
grace of Helena, that even as a young girl she had captivated
the hearts of men, and, among others, of Theseus, who car-
ried her off. The Dioscuri, however, soon found and brought
her back, taking with them as a prisoner, Aethra, the mother
of Theseus, and presenting her as a servant to Helena. As
Helena grew to womanhood, so numerous and so pressing
were the noble suitors for her hand that Tyndareiis, her
foster-father, became alarmed at the prospect of provoking
the hostility of so many by choosing one of them for her.
He determined, therefore, to allow her to choose for herself.
But first he called upon them all to take an oath, not only
that they would be satisfied with her choice, but would assist
her husband then and after in whatever danger or difficulty
he might be placed. She chose Menelaus, the brother of
Agamemnon, her sister's husband, and the marriage was
celebrated with great pomp. Tyndareus, however, had
omitted to offer a sacrifice to Aphrodite, who, to punish him,
made the heart of his foster-daughter readily accessible to
unbridled love.
Paris, as has been said, was kindly received by Menelaus,
and freely admitted to his hospitality and the society of his
wife, Helena, with whom he soon formed an attachment
which deepened with time and under the influence of the
costly presents of Asiatic wares which he gave her. Mene-
Tbe IHiacuil (Cutor &Dd PoUdz).
TBE CAUSE OF THE WAS. 329
laus, meanwhile suspectiiig nothing, prepared to pay a visit
to IdomeneuB o£ Crete, leaving his wife under Uie care of
his guest. With her husband safely at a distance, Helena
was readily persuaded to elope with Paris to Troy, to become
his wife, and there live in oriental Inxury and splendor.
Reaching the coast
under the cover of
night they embarked,
and after weathering
a storm sent by Hera,
the goddess of mar-
riage troth, reached
Troy in safety, and
were married with
great pomp and mag-
nificence.
To Menelaus, at the court of Idomeneus in Crete, Iris,
the divine messenger, carried the intelligence of the disgrace
that had fallen on his house. Returning at once, and having
consulted bis powerful brother Agamemnon, he proceeded
to Pylos, to seek the advice of the aged Nestor, whose repu-
tation for prudence and wisdom throughout Greece had been
acquired by his services in many wars in the course of the
two preceding generations, such was his great f^e. His
counsel on this occasion was that nothii^ short of a combi-
nation of all the armies of Greece would be sufficient to
punish the crime that had been committed and recover the
possession of Helena.
Acting on this advice, Menelaus and Agamemnon visited
all the princes and heroes of the land, to obtain pledges of
their assistance. Those who had been suitors of Helena had
been bound by an oath to assist Menelaus whenever called
upon by him to do so, and were now ready to carry out their
engagement. Others promptly offered their services, from
feelings of resentment at the vileness of the act of Paris.
Only in two cases was any difficulty experienced, but they
330 THE TROJAN WAR.
were very important cases, as it proved. The first was that
of Odysseus ^Ulysses), soq of Laertes, the king of the island
(rf Ithaca. His beautiful and &ithful wife, Penelope, had
borne him a son, TelemaohuB, and being in the enjoyment
of perfect domestic felicity, he was unwilling to exchange it
for a part in a war the issue of which appeared very dubious.
But instead of returning a blunt answer, he pretended insan-
ity, put on a fislierraan's hat, yoked a horse and an ox
together, and commenced to plough. But Palamedes, detectr
iug the sham, set the infant Telemachus on the ground in
front of the plough. In saving the child Odysseus revealed
the sobriety of his senses, and was compelled to join the
expedition. Tlie other case was that of Aobilles, the son of
Peleus and Thetis, a nymph of the sea.
Thetis, having been offered by the gods the choice, in behalf
of her son, of either a long life spent in obscurity and retire-
ment, or a few years of dazzling martial fame, chose the life
of obscurity, and with that view conveyed him, dressed aa
a girl, to the court of Lyoomedes, in the island of Scyroe.
THE CA USE OF THE WAB. 331
There he was brought up among the king's daughters, and
gained the love of one of them, Deidamia, who bore him a
son, Neoptolemua, who afterward took part in the war against
Troy. Meantime it was known to be of the highest impor-
tance for the Trojan expedition to discover the concealment
of the young son of Thetis and to enlist his services. For
^
^^
i
S^H^^
w
^M——i//^^^.-jL~
— %=
p^^^
n.^
Ulynes Dlscoren Ai^lUes.
that purpose Odysseus was sent in the dress and character of
a trader to Scyros. On the pretext of offering his trinkets
and wares for sale to the king's daughters, he obtained admit-
tance to the palace, and idlscovered Achilles, di^uised as he
was. Odysseus ordered a magnificent suit of armor to be
displayed before the youth and a call to arms to be sounded
332 THE TROJAN WAR.
on a military horn. The scheme was successful — an impulse
to achieve military glory seized upon Achilles^ who forthwith
offered his services to the projected expedition. Peleus sent
PatrocluSy the son of Menoetius^ to be a companion for his
son.
The harbor of Aulis was where the various contingents of
ships and soldiery were appointed to assemble; and when all
had arrived — more than 1000 ships^ each with at least 150
men — it was a sight such as had never been seen in Greece
before. Agamemnon, the most powerful prince in Greece,
was elected to the position of commander of the expedition.
While the fleet lay in Aulis a serpent was observed coiling
itself round a plane-tree, on which was a sparrow's nest with
nine young birds. The serpent devoured the young ones,
but on turning to the mother-bird was instantly changed into
stone. Calchas, the high priest, was summoned to divine
what the strange occurrence might betoken. He replied :
^^ Nine years we must fight round Ilion, and on the tenth
take the town." Thereafter the fleet sailed, crossed the
Aegean, and landed by mistake in Mysia, which the Greeks
prepared to lay waste. They were, however, stoutly opposed
by the king of the country, Telephus, a son of Hercules. In
the contest Patroclus proved his bravery, fighting side by
side with Achilles. He received a wound, which Achilles —
thanks to his early training under the Centaur Chiron, and
the knowledge of medicine then obtained — was able to cure.
Telephus also had received a wound from a spear of Achilles
in the engagement, and, finding that it would not heal, con-
sulted an oracle regarding it. The reply of the oracle was
that it could be healed only by him who had caused it.
Meantime another oracle was communicated to the Greeks,
to the intent that Telephus should lead them to Troy. How
this came about we shall see presently.
The Greek fleet had returned again to the harbor of Aulis.
While lying there, Agamemnon had chanced to see a beauti-
ful stag, sacred to Artemis. His passion for the chase led
THE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 333
him to draw upon the stag and kill it, while in the pride of
hie success he dared to boast that he could excel the goddess
of the chase herself, Thb was the cause of a series of mis-
fortunes that then befell him. The injured goddess first sent
a calm which detained the fieet week after week. lu ^ite
of Falamedes* invention of the game of draughts and other
means of amusement, the prolonged inactivity began to tell
upon the force and to create serious discontent. At last
^^S^^^^^^^
.V
l©l]({/ll^^^4l^te
c
^
1 — ^w\ '^^^tIIII
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4
^i
Aob iUes uid Clilion.
Calohas, being ordered to discover what the gods desired,
explained that Artemis required, on the part of Agamemnon,
the sacrifice of his daughter Iphi^nia. His fatherly feel-
ings had to yield to his sense of duty as commander of the
expedition. He sent a message to his wife Clytaemnestra,
to come to Aulis, bringing Iphigenia with her — to be mar-
ried, he said, to Achilles. They came; but it was as a victim,
not as a bride, that Agamemnon led his daughter to the altar
of Artemis. The goddess, satisfied with his intentions, sud-
denly appeared on the scene, provided a goat for the sacrifice.
334 THE TROJAN WAR.
carried off Iphigenia in a cloud to Taurus, and appointed
her to the care of her temple there. Clytaemnestra could
not foi^ive her husband for the deception he had practised.
How she avenged herself shall be afterward related.
In con8ec|ueoce of the oracle concerning the wound which
he had received from the apear of Achilles, Telephus pro-
TbeSacriflceof Ipblgenla.
ceeded to Aulis, where the Greek fleet lay, and presented
himseK iu disguise to Agamemnon, seized his infant son,
OrestGB, whom Clytaemnestra had brought with her, and
threatened to slay the child, if healing were refused him,
Odysseus interposed, and scraping some of the rust from the
spear of Achilles, applied it to the wound, and healed it.
Thereupon Telephus offered his services in leading the expe-
dition to Troy, and, the oracle being thus fulfilled, the Greeks
TSE CAUSE OF THE WAR. 335
set sail a secood time for Troy, landii^ on their way at Lem-
nos, to sacrifice at an altar raised there by Hercules; Philoc-
336 ^^^ TROJAN WAR,
tetes^ who had inherited the bow and arrows of Hercules^
was bitten in the foot bj a snake^ and suffered agonj that
made him scream continually. Unable to heal the wound^
and unwilling to endure his screams^ the Greeks left him
behind, and proceeded on their journey^ reaching at last the
Trojan shore.
The First Years op the War.
The Trojans, having received intelligence of the hostile
preparations of the Greeks, prepared on their part also to
meet the enemy, assembling in and around the city of Troy
all the forces they could obtain from neighbors and allies.
Their foremost hero, whom they chose to lead them in
assaults, was Hector, the eldest son of the king. The first
engagement of the two forces occurred while the Greeks were
in the act of landing from their ships, the result of it being
that the Trojans were driven back within their walls, but
not without inflicting considerable loss on their enemy. The
first attempt of the Greeks to take the town by storm entirely
failed, and, finding that the Trojans would not surrender
Helena to her husband, the Greek commander could see no
other means of compelling them to do so than by a siege.
Accordingly a well-fortified camp was constructed around
the ships, which had been hauled up on the shore, and, with
that camp to fall back upon, the Greek army proceeded to
lay waste the territory and towns in the neighborhood. The
Trojan forces, acknowledging the superiority of the besiegers,
did not seek a battle, and excepting such incidents as when
Achilles and Hector fought in single combat, or when Tro-
ilus, the youngest son of Priam, was captured and put to
death by Achilles, nothing of moment transpired.
In the course of the raids made by the Greeks in the
neighborhood, it happened that, having taken the town of
Pedasus, and come to divide the spoils, Agamemnon obtained
as his captive Chryseis, a daughter of Ohryses, the priest
of Apollo in the island of Chryse, while to the lot of Achilles
THE FIRST TEARS OF THE WAS. 337
fell Briseis, a maiden as beautiful as the priest's daughter.
Chryses entreated Agamemnoa to restore him his daughter,
offering a heavy ransom for her, but was met with refusal
and coutumely. Having one other resource — an appeal to
the god in whose service be was — Chryses implored the aid
of Apollo, who, being for other reasoos also hostile to the
Greeks, vtstted them with a plague which carried them off
338 ^SE TROJAN WAR.
in great numbers. Agamemnon called a muster of the army^
and inquired of the high-priest, Calchas^ by what the angry
god could be appeased. Calchas, being assured of the pro-
tection of Achilles, boldly declared that the wrath of Apollo
had been caused by the unjust detention of Chryseis, a
daughter of one of his priests. Upon this, Agamemnon,
who had borne a grudge against Calchas ever since the sao-
rifice of Iphigenia, rated the priest in reproachful terms,
charging him also in the present instance with being in
league with Achilles — a charge which the latter would have
resented with force had not the goddess Athene interposed.
Agamemnon felt his dignity as king and commander of the
army insulted by the threat of Achilles, and demanded as
satisfaction for this the person of the beautiful Briseis, appa-
rently to take the place of Chryseis, whom he had been com-
pelled to give up. Achilles, having been warned by Athene
to be calm, confessed his inability to resist the demand, and
from that time withdrew with all his men from the camp.
Thetis, having besought Zeus to take measures to compel
Agamemnon to atone for this insult to her son, obtained a
divine decree setting forth that so long as Achilles held aloof
the Greeks would be defeated in every engagement with the
Trojans. Emboldened by the intelligence of the step taken
by Achilles, the Trojans sallied from their walls, and after
numerous battles, skirmishes, and personal encounters, always
attended with serious loss to the enemy, drove the Greeks
back to the shelter of their fortified camp beside the ships.
At last, abased and humiliated by disasters, Agamemnon
sent an embassy to Achilles, offering to restore Briseis, and
in addition to bestow on him his daughter's hand, with seven
towns for a dowry. But the wrath of Achilles would not
relent, and still the need of his countrymen grew worse.
The end seemed to be near when Hector, at the head of
the Trojans, had stormed the wall of the camp, and set sev-
eral of the ships on fire. Seeing this Patroclus begged
Achilles to lend him his armor and allow him to lead the
THE FIRST YEARS OF THE WAR. 339
Myrmidons to the fight. The request being granted, Patro-
clus and his men were soon in the heat of the battle, their
sudden reapperance striking the Trojan army with terror,
and causing it to fall back. Ifot content with thus deciding
the battle, Patroclus, disregarding the advice of Achilles,
pursued the enemy till Hector, turning round, engaged him
in a hand'to-haDd fight, the issue of which was the death
of the Greek hero. Hector stripped him of the armor of
PaiUnt of Hector
Achilles, which he wore, but left the body for the Greeks
to take possession of. The grief of Achilles at the loss of
his friend was as violent as had been his anger against
Agamemnon. He called for vengeance on Hector, and with
the object in view of obtaining it, yielded to a reconciliation
which all the sufFeriogs of bis countrymen could not pre-
viously induce him to submit to. With armor more dazzling
aud superb than had ever been seen before, forged by the
340 THE TROJAN WAR.
god Hephaestus^ and brought by Thetis in the hour of her
son's need, he went forth to battle, seeking Hector in the
Trojan ranks, which everywhere hurried back like sheep
before a wolf. The Trojan hero stepped forth to meet his
adversary, but not without sad misgivings. He had said
farewell to his faithful wife, Andromache, and to his boy,
Astyanax. But even the strong sense of duty to his coun-
try which had supported him in this domestic scene deserted
him utterly when the young Greek hero approached with the
dauntless bearing of the god of war himself. Hector fled;
but Achilles, having a faster step, cut off his retreat, and
thus imbued him with the courage of despair. The combat
did not last long, the victory of Achilles being easily won.
Unappeased by the death of Hector, Achilles proceeded to
outrage his lifeless body by binding it to his war-chariot.
After dragging it thus three times around the walls of Troy
in the face of the people, he returned with it to the Greek
camp, and there cast it among dust and dirt. Displeased by
such excess of passion, the gods took care of Hector's body,
and saved it from corruption, while Zeus in the meantime
softened the heart of Achilles, and prepared him for the per-
formance of an act of generosity which was to blot out the
memory of his previous cruelty. On the one hand, Thetis
was employed to persuade her son to give up the body with-
out a ranson. On the other hand, Hermes was sent to bid
Priam go stealthily in the night to Achilles' tent, and beg
the body of his son. The aged king of Troy obeyed, and
coming to the young hero's tent, besought him, as he valued
his own father, to give him leave to take away the lifeless
body and pay to it the customary rites of burial. Achilles
was touched by the gentleness of his beseeching, raised the
old man from his knees, shared with him the hospitality of
his tent, and, in the morning, having given up the body, sent
him back under a safe escort. In the pause of hostilities
that took place theu, the Greeks buried the body of Patro-
clus with great ceremony.
THE DEATH OF ACHILLES.
The Death of Achillbb.
The loss ot Hector had so dispirited the Trojans that
without fresh succors they could not face the enemy again.
Such Buocors, however,
consisting of an army
of Amazons, under the
command of the beau-
tiful Penthesilea, ar-
rived in the interval of
moLirning for Hector in
the one camp and for
Patroclus in the other.
When hostilities com-
menced again, the val-
iant Penthesilea, being
eager to measure her
strength with that of
Achilles, and to avenge
the death of Hector, led
the Trojan army into
battle. The leaders of
the Greeks were Achil-
lea and Ajax, the ami of
Telamon. While the
latter hero was engaged
in driving back the Tro-
jan ranks, Achilles and
Penthesilea met in sin-
gle combat. He would
have spared her will-
ingly, and did not, till
compelled in self-de-
fence, strike with all his
might. Then she fell
mortally wounded, and as she fell, remembering the fate of
342 TSE TROJAN WAR.
Hector's body, implored Achilles to spare hers that disgrace.
There was no need of this; for he, to save her still, if possible,
and if not, to soothe her last moments, lifted her in his arms,
and there held her till she died. The Trojans and Amazons
made a combined rush to rescue the body of their leader;
but Achilles made a sign to them to halt, and praising her
valor, youth, and beauty, gave it to them freely — ^a kindly
act which touched friends and foes alike. Among the
Greeks, however, there was one Thersites, mean and de-
formed in mind as well as body, who not only dared to
impute a scandalous motive to Achilles, but, approaching
the fallen Amazon, struck his spear into her lightless eye.
A sudden blow from Achilles laid him lifeless on the ground.
All who saw this punishment inflicted approved of it,
except Diomedes, the son of Tydeus, a relation by blood of
Thersites, who stepped forward and demanded of Achilles
the usual reparation, consisting of a sum of money. Feeling
himself deeply wronged because his countrymen, and espe-
cially Agamemnon, did not unconditionally take his part in
the matter, Achilles abandoned for a second time the cause
of the Greeks, and took ship to Lesbos. Odysseus was sent
after him, and by dint of smooth words, cleverly directed,
succeeded in bringing him back to the camp.
What made the return of Achilles more urgent at that
time was the arrival of a new ally to the Trojans, in the
person of Memnon, a son of Eos (Aurora) and Tithonus,
who beside being the son of a goddess, as well as Achilles,
appeared further to be a proper match for him, inasmuch as
he also carried armor fashioned by Hephaestus. When the
two heroes met, and were fighting fiercely, Zeus received in
Olympus a simultaneous visit from their respective mothers,
Thetis and Eos, both imploring him to spare their sons. He
answered that the issue must abide the will of Fate, Moera,
to discover which he took the golden balance for weighing
out life and death, and placing in one scale the fate of Achilles
and in the other that of Memnon, saw the latter sink to
THE DEATH OF ACHILLES. 343
denote his death. Eoa made haste to the battle-field, but
found her son dead. She carried away his body, and buried
it in his native land, in the distant east.
A Fighting
Achilles did not long enjoy his triumph; for, animated by
success, he led on the Greeks, and would have captured Troy,
however clearly the Fates might have decreed the contrary,
had not Apollo given unerring flight to an arrow drawn by
Paris. By that shaft from an unworthy source, as far as
could be judged, Achilles fell. Ajax, the stout hero, and
344 THE TROJAN WAR.
Odysseus^ clever as well as brave^ seized his body^ and £ght-
ing all the way^ carried it back to camp^ where its burial was
attended with extraordinary pomp and ceremonial^ the Muses
chanting dolorous lays^ and the heroes who had known him
personally taking part^ as was the custom on such occasions^
in athletic competitions. The armor which he had worn in
the fight was oflEered by Thetis to the most deserving. Only
two claims were preferred^ and those were on behalf of the
two heroes who had rescued his body. The award being given
in favor of Odysseus, Ajax, from grief at what he deemed
neglect, sank into a state of insanity, in the course of which
he intentionally fell upon his sword, and died.
A cessation of hostilities was obtained on the death of
Achilles and Ajax, the two foremost of the Greek heroes.
This period of peace having expired, and the former condi-
tions of war having been resumed, the first event of impor-
tance that occurred was the capture of Helenus, a son Priam,
who, like his sister, Cassandra, was endowed with the gift of
prophecy. Odysseus, who had made the capture, compelled
Helenus to disclose the measures by which it was decreed
that the siege should be brought to a determination. The
answer was, that to take the city of Troy, and thus close the
siege, three things were necessary : 1, the assistance of the
son of Achilles, Neoptolemus; 2, the bow and arrows of
Hercules; 3, the possession of the Palladium (an image of
the goddess Pallas Athene), which was carefully preserved
in the citadel of Troy. In satisfying the first condition no
difficulty was experienced. Odysseus, always ready to be of
service for the common good, proceeded to Scyros, where he
found Neoptolemus grown to manhood, and thirsting for
martial renown. A present of the splendid armor which
his father, Achilles, had worn and which Odysseus now
magnanimously parted with, fired the youth's ambition, and
led him easily to Troy, where he distinguished himself in a
combat with Burypyliis (a son of Telephus), who had joined
the Trojan ranks.
t
i
«
'"I
THE CAPTURE OF TROY. 845
A more serious matter was the fulfilment of the second
condition^ seeing that the bow and arrows of Hercules were
then in the possession of Philoctetes^ whom^ as we have
already said, the Greeks abandoned at Lemnus, not caring to
endure the screams caused by the wound in his foot. His
feelings were known to be rancorous toward the Greeks.
Notwithstanding that, Odysseus, accompanied by Diomedes
(or, as others say, by Neoptolemus), went to Lemnus, and
successfully tricked Philoctetes into following him to Troy,
where his wound was healed by Machaon, a son of Aescu-
lapius, and a reconciliation was effected between him and
Agamemnon. The first on whom his fatal arrows were tried
was Paris, after whose death Helena married his brother,
Deiphobus. The Trojans were now completely shut up
within the town, no one daring to face the arrows of Philoc-
tetes.
There remained, however, a third condition — the seizure
of the Palladium. Odysseus, successful in the other two,
and undaunted by the greater difficulty of the new adven-
ture, proposed to steal alone within the walls of Troy in the
disguise of a beggar, and as a first measure to find out where
the Palladium was preserved. He did so, and remained
unrecognized except by Helena, who, having felt ever since
the death of Paris a yearning for Menelaus, proved to be a
valuable ally. Odysseus, in the meantime, returned to the
Greek camp to obtain the assistance of Diomedes. The two,
having made their way back to Troy, laid hold of the Palla-
dium, and, carrying it off in safety, fulfilled the third and
last condition.
The next difficulty was the plan of assault to be adopted.
It was proposed by Odysseus, on the suggestion of the god-
dess Athene, that Epeios, a famous sculptor, should make a
great wooden horse, sufficiently lai^e to hold inside a number
of the bravest Greeks, and that the horse being ready, and
the heroes concealed within it beyond detection, the whole
Greek army should embark and set sail, as if making home-
346 THE TROJAN WAR.
ward. The plan of Odysseus was agreed to^ and great was
the joy of the Trojans when they saw the fleet set sail. The
people, scarcely trusting their eyes, flocked to the abandoned
camp, to make sure. There they found nothing remaining
but a great wooden horse, about the use of which various
opinions arose — some thinking it an engine of war, and
demanding its instant destruction. But the opinion that
prevailed most was that it must have been an object of relig-
ious veneration, and if so, ought to be taken into the city.
Among those who thought otherwise was Laocoon, a priest
of Apollo, who had arrived on the scene, accompanied by his
two young sons, to offer a sacrifice to the god in whose ser-
vice he was. Laocoon warned his countrymen in no case to
accept this gift of the Greeks, and went so far as to thrust
his spear into the belly of the horse, upon which the weapons
of the heroes within were heard to clash, and the bystanders
were all but convinced of the justice of the priest's opinion.
But the gods had willed it otherwise, and, to turn the opinion
of the people against Laocoon, sent a judgment upon him in
the shape of two enormous serpents, which, while he and his
two sons were engaged in sacrificing at an altar by the shore,
issued from the sea, and casting their coils round the two
boys first, then round the father, who came to their assistance,
caused him to die in great agony. The scene is represented
in a marble group now in the Vatican. The mysterious fate
of Laocoon was readily believed to be a punishment for the
violence he had done to the sacred horse.
But to carry out effectually the stratagem of the horse,
Odysseus had left behind on the shore his friend Sinon, with
his hands bound, and presenting all the appearance of a victim
who had escaped sacrifice, which he professed to be. The
good king Priam was touched by the piteous story which
Sinon told, ordered his bonds to be struck off, and inquired
the purpose of the horse. Sinon replied that it was a sacred
object, and would, if taken into the city, be a guarantee of
the protection of the gods, as the Palladium had been before.
THE CAPTURE OF TROY. 347
The city gates being too small^ part of the wall was broken
through^ and the horse conducted in triumph toward the
citadel. This done, the Trojans, believing that the Greeks
had abandoned the siege in despair, gave way to festivity and
general rejoicing, which lasted well into the night
When the town had become perfectly quiet, the inhab-
itants, exhausted by the unusual excitement, being fast
asleep, Sinon approached the horse, and opened a secret door
in its side. The heroes then stepped out, and made a fire
signal to the fleet, which lay concealed behind the neighbor-
ing island of Tenedos, and now advanced quietly to the shore.
The troops having disembarked and made their way silently
to the city, there ensued a fearful slaughter, the surprised
inhabitants falling thickly before the well-armed Greeks.
Finally, the town was set on fire in every corner, and utterly
destroyed. Priam fell by the hand of Neoptolemus. The
same fate befell the son of Hector — not for anything that he
had done, but that he might not grow up to avenge his father's
death. Of the few Trojans who escaped were Aeneas, his
father Anchises, and his infant son Ascanius. Carrying his
aged father on his shoulders, Aeneas fled toward Mount Ida,
and thence to Italy, where he became the founder of a new race.
Menelaus became reconciled to his now penitent wife,
Helena, and took her back with him. The Trojan women
of rank and beauty were distributed among the Greek heroes
as captives in war, Neoptolemus obtaining Andromache, the
widow of Hector, and Agamemnon carrying oflE Priam's
daughter, Cassandra. The extensive booty from the king's
palaces having been divided, preparations were made for
returning home. While some — as, for example, Nestor,
Idomeneus, Diomedes, Philoctetes, and Neoptolemus — had
favorable voyages, and reached their respective homes in
safety, others, like Menelaus, were driven hither and thither
by storms, which delayed their passage for years. But the
heroes to whose return the greatest interest attaches were
Agamemnon and Odysseus.
348 THE TROJAN WAR.
AgamemnoDy returning after an absence of ten years^ found
that his wife^ Clytaemnestra^ had in the meantime accepted
as her husband Aegristhiis, a son of Thyestes, and^ therefore,
of an accursed line. These two proposed to compass the
death of Agamemnon ; and he^ though warned of their de-
signs by Cassandra, whose prophetic power enabled her to
foresee the issue, lent himself easily to their purpose, imio-
cently accepting as genuine his wife's expression of joy. He
entered the warm bath that had been prepared for him, but
on coming out of it, found himself entangled in a piece of
cloth which his wife threw over his head. In this helpless
condition he was slain by her and Aegisthus, Cassandra and
many of his followers perishing with him. His young son
Orestes, contriving to escape with the help of his sister
Electra, fled to Phocis, where he was received hospitably,
and remained several years, during which Aegisthus ruled
over Argos on the throne of Agamemnon.
A few years after the murder of Agamemnon an oracle of
Apollo was communicated to Orestes, commanding him to
revenge that foul deed, and promising the assistance of the
god. Without being recognized he arrived at Mycenae,
accompanied by his faithful friend Pylades, and there
revealed himself to his sister Electra, while to his mother
he professed to be a messenger come with intelligence of the
death of her son Orestes. Seeing her and Aegisthus rejoice
at the news, he was enraged, and slew her, while her husband
fell at the hands of Pylades.
The shedding of a mother's blood was regarded as the
blackest crime on earth; and though the fact that Orestes
had perpetrated the deed to avenge the murder of his father,
and at the instigation of Apollo, went far to exculpate him,
it did not satisfy the malignant Erinys (Furies), who pursued
him from land to land, permitting no peace to his throbbing
heart. Arriving, in the course of his wanderings, at Delphi,
Orestes complained to Apollo of his suflEerings, and was told
by the god that he might expect relief if he could fetch the
ancient Btatue of the goddese Artemis from Taurus. The diffi-
culty of the task consisted in this, that it was the practice of
the Tauric Artemis to secure the immolation of all strangers
that approached her temple. Fortunately for Orestes, as it
happened, his sister Iphigenia held the office of priestess
there, having been carried away, as we have already seen,
OresMB Slaying Aeglstbue,
by the goddess at the moment when she was to be sacrificed
by her father Agamemnon. On arriving at the temple,
Orestes, who was accompanied by Pylades, was seized, and
would have been sacrificed by the hand of his own sister
had not an accident revealed the relationship. He told her
all that had happened, and how Apollo had commanded him
to carry away the statue of the goddess. With the assistance
of Iphigenia he obtained possession of the image, and in her
company returned with it to Greece.
The task imposed by Apollo was accomplished, but still
the relentless Furies continued to persecute the unhappy
youth. Apollo then advised him to proceed to Athens, and
there to call for a trial in the Areopagus, a court appointed
to hear causes of murder, especially the murder of a relative.
(See "Ares,") The goddess Athene appealed for justice in
his behalf. Apollo defended him at the trial. The Erinys
350 THE TROJAN WAR,
appeared as plaintiffs. When the pleadings had been heard,
and the votes of the judges came to be taken, they were
found to be equally divided for and against. The right of
giving the casting vote was reserved on this occasion for
Athene, who, stepping forward, took up a white voting-
stone, and, placing it among the votes favorable to Orestes,
declared his lawful acquittal. The Erinys professed them-
selves appeased, desisted from persecution, and from that
time enjoyed the title of Eumenides. (See '* Erinys.*')
Thus acquitted and purified from the stains of crime, Orestes
ascended the throne of his father Agamemnon, in Mycenae,
married Herniione, the daughter of Helena and Menelaus,
and at their death succeeded to the dominion of Sparta also.
Turning now to Odysseus, we find him, long after the
other heroes of the Trojan expedition had reached their
homes, still being tossed about by storms, passing through
great perils, encountering strange beings, and ultimately suc-
ceeding in many unhopeful adventures. He had left Troy
with a well-manned fleet richly laden with spoil, and after
several adventures of less moment, in which, however, he
lost a number of men, reached the country of the Cyclopes —
enormous giants with only one eye. In a cave which was
the habitation of one of them, Pol3rphem\is by name, a son
of the sea-god Poseidon, Odysseus and his fellow-travellers
took shelter, while their ships lay anchored beside a neigh-
boring island. Polyphemus, who was absent at the time of
their arrival, returned with his sheep to the cave. The first
thing he did on entering was to close up the entrance with a
great stone, which a hundred men could not have moved.
The next thing was, having discovered the strangers, to eat
two of them for his supper, after which he slept soundly.
The following morning, after driving out his sheep, he re-
placed the stone at the mouth of the cave, to prevent the
escape of his victims and the consequent loss of several sup-
pers. The history of the first day having repeated itself on
the two following days, a plan of escape occurred to Odys-
THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS. ggl
eeus. The giaot having had hie OBuat supper, Odyseeus
offered him soEoe wine, which had the effect of creatiDg a
desire for more. His goblet being constantly replenished,
PolyphemoB at last sank helpless, through sleep and intox-
ication. Seeing this, Odysseus, with the help of bis com-
panions, laid hold of a great pole, and having made the end
of it red hot, let it down on the Rant's eye, and burned it
out Polyphemus sprang up in great fury, and after groping
in vain for his supple
enemies, made for the j^ ^^ ^^^ ^f^ii^ ]
doorway of the cave,
removed the stone,
and sat down in its |
place, determined
permit no one to es- I
cape. But Odysseus j
and his companions
fastened themselves
each under the belly
of one of the great
sheep within the cave,
knowingthatthegiaut I
would let them pass
out unmolested. And [
so it was; for, feeling
the fleece as they Polyphemua Uurling tlie Kock.
passed, he was quite
satisfied. Odysseus once outside the cave, and with what
remained of his crew safe in the ship, shouted jeeringly back
to the Cyclopes, telling him also his name. Polyphemus then
implored his fother, the god Poseidon, to punish Odysseus
for what he had just done. It was in answer to this prayer
that Odysseus was driven hither and thither, detained here
and there, and at last^ after ten years' wandering, and the
loss of all his men, reached home in a miserable plight. Of
the adventures that befell him after leaving the country of
352 THE TROJAN WAR.
the Cyclopes, the most important were the following: After
leaving Aeolus^ the king of the winds, and suffering the
misfortune already related (see ** Aeolus''), he reached the
habitation of the sorceress Circe (a sister of Medea, it was
said), whose first act was to transform his companions into
swine. For Odysseus himself her charms had no potency.
He compelled her to restore his men to their proper human
form. Changing her manner, Circe now exhibited a cordial
feeling toward Odysseus, entertaining him and his compan-
ions very hospitably for the period of a year, on the expiry
of which she advised him to make a journey to the lower
world, to question the shade of the seer Tiresias as to the
fate in store for him. Acting on her advice, Odysseus pene-
trated to the region of Hades, saw and conversed with the
shades of some of his former companions in the siege of
Troy, and then returned to Circe, who gave him good coun-
sel in regard to his future journey. On his voyage home-
ward he passed the Sirens safely (see '* Sirens''), passed
Scylla the sea-monster, with loss of six men, and afterward,
in spite of the warnings both of Tiresias and Circe, landed
on the island of Trinacia, where his companions plundered
the sacred flocks of the sun-god. As a punishment for this
they were afterward overtaken by a fearful storm at sea, and
all perished except Odysseus, who, clinging to a piece of his
ship for nine days, was at length driven on shore on the island
belonging to the nymph Gal3rpso, who received him kindly,
and out of love detained him as her prisoner for seven years.
Despising her love and her offer of immortality, Odysseus
sat disconsolate by the seashore, thinking of his home in
Ithaca, and yearning to see it again before he died. The
gods, taking compassion on him, prevailed on Calypso to let
him go. He made a raft, and put to sea; but Poseidon, not
yet appeased for the wrong done to his son Polyphemus, raised
a storm which shattered the small craft, and would have
caused Odysseus to perish but for the timely aid of the sea-
nymph Leucothea. Swimming to land, he found himself in
THE ADVENTURES OF ODYSSEUS. 353
the island of the Phaeacians, was discovered on the shore by
the king's daughter, Nausicaa, and entertained hospitably
by the king, Alcinous, to whom he related his adventures.
After receiving many costly presents, he was conveyed home
to Ithaca in a well-manned ship. There he found hia wife,
Penelope, still faithful to him, in spite of the incessant wooing
of all the princes of the neighboring islands in the course of
her husband's long absence.
His son, Telcmachus, whom he left an infant, had now
grown to manhood, and, having just arrived from a journey
in search of intelligence concerning his missing father, was
staying in the house of a shepherd when Odysseus arrived,
and heard the story of how suitors of Penelope were vexing
her and consuming her husband's possessions. Odysseus
and his son appeared among them in disguise, raised a
quarrel, and, with the help of Athene, slew them all. Tlien
took place the touching meeting with his wife. After crush-
ing an insurrection r^sed by the friends of the slain suitors,
Odysseus spent the rest of hia life reigning peacefully over
his island kingdom of Ithaca.
THE TROJAN WAR.
ROMULUS AND REMUS.
The Romans had no heroes in the sense ia which we have
come to r^ard that word from a study of the Greek I^ends.
Bomulus and Remus, it is true, have a legeudaiy character,
which may be compared ia some respects with that of several
Romulus and Remus.
Greek heroes. They were the offspring of a god (Mars) and
a vestal virgin. They were exposed to death at their birth,
were suckled by a ahe-wolf, were preserved and brought up
among herdsmen. On arriving at manhood, they returned
to claim their inheritance, and founded tbe city of Rome,
Romulus naming it after himself. They instituted festivals
— the Palilia and Lupercalia — the latter to commemorate
their having been nourished by a wolf. They established
the priesthood of Arval Brothers. Remus, less fortunate
in his adventures, was slain. His brother Romulus was at
last carried up bodily to heaven in the presence of the people
and in the course of a storm of thunder and lightning. A
simple hut on the Palatine hill was preserved with venera-
tion as the sanctuary of Romulus. But the demand for his-
torical truth, or the appearance of it, was too strong in Rome
BORATIUS COCLES.
to permit a poetic embelliahment of the story, sucli as it
would have experienced in Greece.
HORATIUS COCLES.
The ancient Roman ballads sang of the brave Horatiua,
who had fought bo well in the old wars raised by the exiled
royal family and their partisans. A golden statue of him
"In the Brave Dari of Old."
stood in the market-place, and beside it sacrifice was offered
in his memory. Such honors were the same as were ap-
pointed for Greek heroes. But the story of the deeds of
Horatius wanted, nevertheless, the true legendary character,
and was probably accepted by the people with more of pride
than pious feeling.
NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
Unlike their Aryan kinsfolk, the Greeks, the Teutons
were not a literary people. Their mythical tales were pre-
served not in books, but in memory. And Christianity, as
represented alike by the missionaries and by Charlemagne
himself, did its best to destroy Teutonic paganism root and
branch. Hence it happens that of the myths of the gods
and heroes of those great nations who, in pre-Christian times,
inhabited the territories now included under the general name
of Germany, no complete and systematic account has been
transmitted to modern times.
But the old Germans were of the same race with the people
of Norway, Sweden, and Denmark. Their speech was essen-
tially the same. They had the same social and domestic
customs and the same religion. Further, during the time
when Christianity was spreading over Germany and Scan-
dinavia, that exodus of the Norsemen was likewise taking
place which ended in the colonization of Iceland — or Snow-
land, as it was also named by its discoverers in the middle
of the ninth century. There, ^' on the verge,'^ as Dr.
Dasent says, ^^ of the polar circle," the Vikings established
their little independent principalities or republics; uumed-
dled with by Christian priests, and disdaining the continental
kings who were aping the customs of the new times, the
Icelandic Norsemen preserved, for five centuries more, the
pure faith of their forefathers.
Lastly, there appears to have been less antagonism, less
friction, between the two rival religions — Odinism and Chris-
tianity — in Iceland than in other countries. Its Christian
(356)
THE CREATION. 357
priests would seem to have felt the loyalty of children toward
their old faith, then dying away. Hence, in a measure, the
complete and systematic form in which the Icelanders were
able to leave a permanent record of their mythology. It
was a Christian priest — Sigmund Sigfusson — who in the
middle of the eleventh century, composed the compilation
of mythical poems known as the elder Edda. To the suc-
ceeding century belongs the younger Edda, which is merely
a prose rendering of those portions of the first work which
narrate the creation of the world and man, and the genera-
tion, adventures, functions, and ultimate fate of the gods.
As a cosmogony and theogony this Edda, or, as the word
might be paraphrased, ^^ Tales of a Grandmother, '* is as
complete even as its Greek prototype, the Theogony of
Hesiod. And as a record and expression of the spiritual
life of those Teutons, who also were the progenitors of our
English race, it is, or surely ought to be, incomparably more
interesting.
THE CREATION.
In the prose Edda, Ginki, the wise king, travels in search
of knowledge to the home of the Asia folk — the Norse gods
— each of whom supplies the visitor with some piece of special
information. The cosmogonic history thus patched up be-
tween them closely corresponds in main points with that con-
tained in the Hesiodic poem; while its special details, tone,
and coloring are the expression of special climatic conditions.
Where the earth now is there was in the beginning, says the
Edda, no sand, sea, or grass, but only an empty space (Gin-
nunga-gap), on whose north side lay the region of mist, ice,
and snow (Niflheim), and on its south side the region of
warmth and sunlight (Muspelheim). The warm breaths
from the sun-land caused the ice to melt and topple over
into Ginnunga-gap; and from the matter so accumulated
sprang the huge Ymir, ancestor of the Reimthursen, Rime,
358 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
or Frost — giants. Ymir fed on the milk of the cow Aud-
humbla, whose name, it may be observed, in the Zenda-
vesta, stands indifferently for " cow'' or mother-earth. The
cow herself lived by licking the ice-blocks ; from which, in
consequence of the licking, was produced Bori, who is alike
the fashioner of the world, and the father of Bor, who was
the father of Odin. Odin's brothers were Wili and We;
and just as in Hesiod the deities Zeus, Poseidon, and Hades
supplant Cronus, so the sons of Bori overthrow and succeed
the primitive dynasty of Ymir and the Frost Giants. Also
the dead Ymir is turned to account similarly with the dead
Cronus. His flesh becomes earth; his blood, the sea; his
bones, the mountains; his teeth, cliffs and crags; his skull,
the heavens, wherein his brains float in the form of clouds.
The heavens are supported by four Dwarves — Austri (east),
Westri (west), Nordri (north), and Sudri (south); and the
stars in it are the sparks from the fire-land of Muspelheim.
The new world thus fashioned was called Midgard, as being
placed midway between the lands of frost and fire. To
preserve it and its inhabitants from the giants who dwelt in
Jotunheim, Odin and his brother surrounded it with a fence
made from the eyebrows of Ymir. The inhabitants them-
selves were said to have been produced from two pieces of
wood which the brothers found floating on the sea, and
changed into a man, whom they named Ash, and a woman,
whom they named Embla.
From this middle world, or Midgard, arose the Norse
Olympus, or Asgard, whereon dwelt the Asa folk — Odin
and the twelve Aesir. It contained two mansions — Glads-
heim for the gods, and Vingolf for the goddesses. There
also was Walhalla, wherein Odin placed one-half of the
heroes slain in battle, the other half being received by
Freija, the wife of Odin. Beside those already named there
were, as the Edda says, other homesteads, such as Elfheim,
where the elves dwelt; Breidablick, where dwelt the bright
lind beautiful, far-seeing Baldur; Himinbiorg, or the Heaven-
LOWEB WORLD. 359
tower of the thuoder-god Thor; and Valaskialf , whence Odi
could watch all goda and men. These gods also met
daily council beneath the branches of the tree Yggdrasil,
one of whose roots grew in Asgard, the second in Niflbeim,
and the third in the realm of Hela, or death; and their way
thither lay over the hright Asa-bridge, or Bifraast, or Rain-
bow, which was said to burn all a-fire, so as to keep away
the Frost Giants of Jotunheim, Lastly, the
LOWER WORLD
Was ruled by the goddess Hel, and to it were consigned those
who had not died in battle. It was so far away that Odin's
swift horse Sleipnir took nine nights to reach it. The river
Gioll — the Norse Styx — surrounded this lower world on
every side. Nastrand was the name of the worst spot in the
360 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
Norse hell. Its roofs and doors were wattled with hissing
snakes, ejecting poison, through which perjurers and mur-
derers were forced to wade by way of punishment
THE AESIR,
Whose thrones were in Gladsheim, were twelve in number.
Their names were — Thor, Baldr, Freyr, Tyr, Bragi, Hodr,
Heimdall, Vithar, Vali, UUr, Ve, Forseti. Thus, with Odin,
the ^^AU-father,'' whose throne rose above the other twelve,
the great gods of the Norse Pantheon were thirteen in number.
ODIN.
The physical origin of the idea of Odin is evident, first
from the meaning of his name, and, secondly, from the various
attributes assigned to him. The word Odin is simply another
form of Woden, or Wuotan, which Grimm connects with
the Latin vadere. He is thus the moving, life-giving breath
or air of heaven; and as such corresponds to the Hindoo
Brahmin — Atman (German, Athem), or ever-present life and
energy. His Greek correlative is, of course, Zeus, who is
likewise spoken of as All-father. The name Zeus is derived
from a root signifying ^^ to shine,*' and thus the King of the
Greek Asgard was originally ^^the glistening ether.'* It
was but natural that Odin, as the personification of the blue
sky, should rule the rain-clouds and the sunlight; hence as
Odin the rain-giver he corresponds with Zeus Ombrios (the
showery Zeus), while as the light-god he is merely a Norse
Phoebus or Apollo, whose spear — the sun rays — disperses the
darkness. As sky-god, and god of the moving air, he was,
no less naturally or inevitably, invoked as the protector of
sailors. In this respect he corresponds or is interchangeable
with Thor. But this interchange, or overlapping, of func-
ODIN. 361
tionB is as distinctive of Norae aa of Greek mythology.
Finally, Zeas and Odtn resemble each other in their develop-
ment from purely physical into spiritual beings. Odin, the
ever-present ether, becomes the ever-present and ever-know-
ing spirit, the Father of all. And as Zeus is the father of
the Muses, so Odin is the father of Saga, the goddess of
poetry. The two ravens that sat on the shoulders of Odin,
and every morning brought him news of what was passing
in the world, were called Hunin and Munin — Thought and
Memory. Memory, or Mnemosyne, was the mother of the
Greek Muses. A trace of the worship of Odin survives
even to the present day. In one of the Orkney islands is
an Odin stone, in a hollow of which superstitious people
362 HOBSE AND OLD GERMAN MTTHOLOOT.
thrust their hauds, by way of testifying on their most eolemn
oath. The ialand of Heligoland is said to have derived ita
name from Odin, who was also named Helgi {der HeUige), or
the Holy. " Charles's Wain," as we now call it, was named
Odin's Wain; and the " Milky Way" was also known aa
Odin's Way. Unlike Zeus— the Greek All-father — Odi a
was also a god of war. Hence it was that, as already
observed, he received into Walhalla one-half of the heroes
slain in battle.
The two goddesses Frigg and Freija, who were at different
times believed to be each the wife of Odin, appear to be the
one simply a development of the other. Of all the god-
desses^ Fri^ was the best and dearest to Odin. She sat
entlironed beside him, and surveyed the world. She knew
all, and exercised control over the whole face of nature. In
art she is represented seated with the golden spindle hy her
side, with which she used to spin. She is attended hy her
handmaiden FuU or FuUa, Freija was also a goddess who
presided over smiling nature, sending sunshine, rain, and har-
vest. She was further a goddess into whose chai^ the dead
passed. As has been said, half the number of heroes who
fell in battle belonged to her. She is represented driving in
a cart drawn by two cate.
In art Odin is figured seated on his throne, and attended
by the ravens, Hunin and Munio, and the two dogs.
Or Donar, simply meant the Thunderer — der Donnerer ; and
he dwelt in the vault of heaven. As he was likewise said to
be the son of Odin, or of Heaven, it is evident that, as in
the case of the All-father, he had a purely physical origin.
As the god of thunder and lightning Thor resembles Zeus;
364
NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOQY.
and as the thunderbolts of Zeus were forged b^ the smith-
god Hephaestus, who dwelt below ground, so the hammer of
Odin was smithied by the Dwarves {zwerge), or black elves,
who dwelt within the earth. Tbor is represented driving
through the clouds in a car drawn by two goats. Among
the pagan Norsemen ThoHs hammer was held in as much
reverence as Christ's cross among Christians. It was carved
on their gravestones; and, wrought of wood, or of iron, it
was suspended iu their temples. Thor, under the symbol of
BALDB. 365
the hammer, was invoked as the deity who made marriages
fruitful. He was also the god of the hearth and of fire.
As a sky-god Thor is identical with Odin much in the
same way as Vishnu is with Indra. While the other Asa
folk ride to their try sting-place, Thor goes on foot: he is
the striding god, as Vishnu is, who traverses heaven in three
steps. Thor is perhaps identical with the Gallic god Taranis,
whose name resembles in sound the Scottish Celtic word for
thunder. Thor has also been identified with the Slavonic
god Perkunes, or Perune, whose name, according to a well-
known law of phonetic change, is thought to be connected
with the Greek worf for thunder — Ceraunos. In art Thor
is represented driving in his car drawn by two goats, with
his hammer raised to strike.
BALDR
Means the shining god. His son Brono means daylight, in
the Anglo-Saxon theogony. His home is called Breidablick
— the far or wide-shining; and the name evidently conveys
an idea similar to that suggested by such Greek words as
Euryphassa, Eurynome, and Eurydice. The story of Baldr
— the most lovely and pathetic not only in Norse but in any
mythology — leaves no doubt whatever as to its physical
origin and significance. The joy of the world in the pres-
ence of Baldr means only the gladness inspired by sunlight.
The solemn oath sworn by all living things not to hurt the
bright god, and their speechless dismay at his death, only
mean the gloom of the northern climes during the winter
months, when, in the purely concrete language of the primi-
tive race, Baldr, or the sun, was dead.
The myth says that only the mistletoe had not sworn not
to hurt Baldr; that Loki discovered the fact, and then
directed Hodr — the blind god of the winter months — ^to
shoot him with a twig of it. This mistletoe-bough is
366 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
another form of the thorn with which Odin puts to sleep
the spring maiden Brynhild, of the thorn of the Persian
Isfeudyar, or of the boar's tusk which kills the bright,
spring-like Adonis. Loki, it was said, fled from the wrath
of the gods, changed himself into a salmon, was then caught
by them in a net, and bound fast until the twilight of the
gods — or, in Christian terminology, until the judgment-day.
The unlucky Hodr was killed by Odin's son, Bali, whose
home was among the willows and in the dry grass.
FREYR,
Is likewise named Fro. The functions ascribed to him are
another instance of that interchange or overlapping to which
we have referred above, and which seems to be accounted
for by the hypothesis that whole groups of mythical beings
are in reality but personified epithets of one and the same
thing. Thus Freyr, as the cause of fruitfulness, is merely
the sun-lit and air-breathing heaven as represented by Odin.
Like Odin, he is the patron of seafarers. Not only is Freyr
repeated, so to speak, in Odin, but also — or if not the god
himself, then his servant Skirnir — in the Volsung and
Niblung heroes, Sigurd, Sigmund, and Gunnar. And as
Sigurd can win the maiden Brynhild only by riding through
the flaming fire which surrounded and guarded her dwelling,
so by the same exploit must Skirnir win Gerda for the
master. In later times, when the old religion had given
way before Christianity, and its myths were being explained
on the Euhemerist method, it was alleged that Freyr had
only been a Swedish king, whose sorrowing subjects buried
his body in a magnificent tomb, to which, for three whole
years, they continued to bring their presents, as if Freyr
were alive.
This Euhemerism is, however, inconsistent with the most
authoritative source of all — the Eddas. In Dasent's Prose
FRETR. 367
Bdda Freyr is described as the god of rain, sunshine, and
fruits — as Odin, in &ct, in another nhape. His wife was
Gredr, whose beauty — as he saw her leaving her father's
house, and shedding a lastre over air and sea — captivated
the god, and allowed him no rest till he won her.
In art Freyr is represented riding on a wild boar through
the air at a speed greater than that of the swiftest horse.
Sometimes he was drawn by it in a car. In crossing the sea
he also used a boat.
368 NOBSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
TYR
Is likewise named Ziu, and Saxnot. Our word Tuesday is
a memorial of his name. Once more, this god seems to be
an instance of personifying an epithet Ziu is identical with
the root — meaning ^^ shine ^'-^f the Sanscrit DynauSj the
Greek Zeus, and the Latin Deus. Tyr, therefore, is another
glistening god. He is pre-eminently the god of war and of
athletic sports. ^^ On him it is good for wrestlers to call.'^
Tyr had only one hand, the other having been bitten off by
the wolf Fenris, into whose mouth the god had placed it as
a pledge of security, when the wolf allowed himself to be
bound in the net that shall hold him fast till the judgment-
day.
BRAGI
Is the god of poetry and eloquence. ^^ He is famous for
wisdom, and best in tongue-wit and cunning speech.^' A
sort of counterpart of this god was his wife Iduna, who
dwelt in the underworld. She is spoken of in terms that
recall the Hindoo description of Ushas — Eos— or the Daure
goddess. For as Ushas — the Dawn — makes the world young
every new morning, so Iduna is said to preserve in a box the
golden apples which the gods ate, and so made themselves
young again.
HEIMDALL
Was the watchman of the bridge Bif rost, leading to the
underworld. The sound of HeimdalPs horn is heard over
the world, and shall be the signal for the great battle between
the gods on the day of their ending, or twilight. The name
of his horse, Gulltopr (Goldropf, or golden mare), connects
him with the sun-gods and sun-horses of classical mythology.
Heimdall was so sharp a watchman that he could even hear
HEIMDALL. 369
the grass grow on the earth and the wool on the backs of
sheep !
Vithar was next in strength to Thor, As the " twilight,"
or GSUerdammerung, Vfthar shall destroy the wolf Fenria,
the devourer of the gods, by placing one foot on the mon-
ster's lower jaw, and pushing ap the upper one — thus
wrenching them asunder. Ulle is the god of the chase; a
skilful bowman and a fast runner on stilts. Like Bragi and
Iduua, Mimir is the deity of wisdom and knowledge. He
dwelt by the ash-tree, Yggdrasil, beneath whose roots bubbled
forth the well of wisdom, Mimir's well, from whose waters ■
Mimir drank his daily draught.
Tbe Wolf FenrtB.
Loki dwelt in the land of the dead. He was the son of
the giant Farbanti, whose duty it was to ferry the dead over
the waters of the lower world. Loki had three children as
cruel and hateful as he himself was full of mischief. Que
was the huge wolf Fenris, who, at the last day, shall hurry
gaping to the scene of battle, with his lower jaw scraping the
earth and his nose scraping the sky ! The second was the
370 NOBSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
serpent of Midgard — the serpent which Odin threw into the
sea, where the monster grew to such length that it embraced
the whole world in its folds. The third was the goddess
Hel, who was half black and half blue, and lived daintily
on the brains and marrow of men.
Hel is, in fact, that dreadful Hindoo goddess Kali, who,
in these modern days, has degenerated into a Doorga of quite
a pathetic and interesting character. Loki was at the bottom
of all the mischief that ever happened in the society of the
gods. The character of this god and his close relationship
with a personage who figures conspicuously in modern the-
ology are pretty well indicated in the following adage, with
its equivalents in German and English : Loki er or bondum
— der Teufel ist frei gelassen — the devil is loose.
Of the almost countless beings who figure in Norse my-
thology we must say but very little. Like the great gods,
they appear to be representative of the good and evil powers
of nature. Among them are the Elves (Alfen, Elfen) who
live in Alfheimr (Elf-home). Their king is the Erlkonig
(Elfen Konig). In the night hours they come in troops to
dance in the grass, leaving, according to popular belief, their
traces in the form of fairy- rings. The dwarves (Zwerge),
whose father is named Ivaldr, dwell in the heart of the hills.
To them belong precious stones and metals, on which they
prove their skill in workmanship. As guardians of hidden
treasures they were propitiated by the seekers of the same
with a black goat or a black cock. An echo is called by the
Icelanders Dvvergmaal-Zwergsprache — or dwarf-voice. The
evil beings who stole the light every evening, and the sum-
mer every year, were called giants. Such were the Reifrie-
sen (Hrimthursen) who brought the winter. The giant
Hrungnir had a head of stone and a heart of stone; and a
giantess, mother of Gmir, as many as nine hundred heads.
Another giant was Thiassi, who slew Thor and cast his eyes
up to heaven, where they shone thereafter as stars. In the
extreme north dwelt the giant Hresvelgr, the motion of
HRES VELQB-S UB TB.
whose wings caused wind and tempest, in which respect he
resembles the gigantic bird of the Buddhist play, Naga-
nanda, who raises the waves of the sea by the flapping of
his wings. On the extreme south was Surtr, whose flaming
372 NOBSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
sword guarded the bounds of Muspelheim. Besides these
there were the TroUweiber (troll arvis), phantoms from the
land of the dead^ who in the dark nights rode to the earth
on a wolf bridled with snakes. The three Nomen were the
Norse Fates. The Valkyrien were fair maidens who hovered
over the field of battle, woke up the dead heroes with a kiss,
and led away their souls to fight and drink ale as of old in
the happy Valhalla.
THE TALE OF THE VOLSUNGS AND
NIBLUNGS.
The Volsunga Saga and Nibelungenlied hardly differ in
anything but the name. The one is merely the Norse, the
other the German, form of one and the same nature myth,
or epic. According to the *' Solar myth '' theorists, this epic
serves the common purpose of all Aryan nations; in India
being known under the names of Bamayana and Mahabha-
rata; in Greece as the Iliad and the Odyssey; in our more
northern lands as the Tale of the Volsungs and theNibelungen
Lay; and in England as the tale of King Arthur and his
Knights of the Bound Table. Whatever objections may
be urged against the '^ Solar myths" explanation of these
stories, it is quite indisputable that the main incidents in all
of them completely coincide. Indeed, it is not too much to
afiSrm that fully to appreciate the spirit of any one of these
great epics of the world, the student must possess some
acquaintance with its co-ordinate ones. But not only do the
main incidents in the Northern Epics coincide with those in
the Iliad and Odyssey, but they even contain episodes which
correspond in everything except the name with plots in
Greek tragedy. Gudrun, for example, is only a Norse
Medea. We now proceed to give a slight sketch of the
Volsunga Saga.
Volsung was the son of Berir, the son of the Sigi, the son
THE TALE OP THE VOLSUNOS AND NIBLUNOS. 373
of Odin. Volsung lay for seven years in his mother's
womb; and they said the youngling kissed his mother be-
fore she died. Volsung had a daughter called Signy, who
was married to Siggeir, King of Gothland. During the
marriage festivities in Volsung' s house, and as the good folk
sat round the evening fire, there entered an old man wrapped
in a cloak, who drove a sword into a log of wood right up
to the hilt, predicted great things of the hero who should be
able to draw it out again, and immediately disappeared.
The old man was Odin; and the sword was the sword of
Gram, which has its counterpart in the sword of Chrysaor,
in Boland's Durandal, and in King Arthur's Excalibur.
And as only Theseus could lift the huge stone, and none but
Ulysses could draw his own bow, so among the assembled
heroes only Sigmund the son of Volsung could pull out
Gram.
Volsung was afterward murdered in the land of Siggeir;
wherefore Sigmund avenged the death of his father by kill-
ing the children of his brother-in-law, Siggeir. After that
he returned to his own land, and married Borghild, by whom
he had two children, Helgi and Hamund. But Sigmund
was no more constant in his loves than other heroes of whom
we read in classical literature. He fell in love with Hjordis,
who was beloved by the sou of King Hunding. Between
the two heroes there ensued a fight, during which the one-
eyed man in a blue cloak, and a bill in his hand, appeared,
whereupon Sigmund was slain. The dying Sigmund com-
forted his wife Hjordis, and entrusted to her charge his sword
Gram, wishing her to preserve it for their unborn boy.
''And now," said he, ''I grow weary with my wounds, and
I ^vill go to see our kin that have gone before me.'' So
Hjordis sat over him till he died at the day dawning.
Hjordis after that married Hialprek, King of Denmark,
a character who corresponds to the Grecian Laius and Akri-
sius. At Hialprek' s court was born Sigurd, the son of
Hjordis and Sigmund — the favorite hero of Norse mythol-
374 NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY.
ogy« Sigurd was taught in all the arts and sciences by
Regin^ the cunning blacksmith^ who was also the brother of
the otter killed by Odin, and the serpent — or worm — Faf nir,
who guarded those golden treasures which, according to the
Sol^r theory, mean the gladdening and revivifying sunlight,
Faf nir himself being the evil power, the cloud, or the dark-
ness which steals the light. Kegin wished to secure the
treasure for himself, and forged a sword for Sigurd to slay
the worm with. But it shivered into pieces on its very first
trial; and Sigurd, in contempt at Regin's smithing, procures
the fragments of his paternal sword Gram, and Regin welds
them together. Gram stood every test. Sigurd drove it,
right to the hilt, into Regin' s anvil; and after that, a lock of
wool, borne on the surface of the stream, divided into two
against the motionless edge. Sigurd slew Fafnir, and pro-
cured the treasure; and next he slew Regin, who wished to
possess the whole of the prize on the plea that his forging of
the weapon had really won the victory. After that Sigurd
went to free the Valkyrie Brynhild, according to the Solar
myth, the Maiden of Spring, for whom the cold earth is long-
ing. Brynhild lay in the sleep into which she had been
thrown by the thorn of Odin — that is, by the thorn, or cold,
or frost of winter.
Sigurd, like his mythical relatives in Norse and Greek
stories, was unfaithful in his loves. He fell in love with
Gudrun, the sister of Gunnar, and that, too, in spite of those
love scenes and speeches of his with Brynhild, for the beauty
of which the Volsung Saga is perhaps unequalled by any
other epic story whatever. Brynhild had sworn to marry
only the man who could ride through the fire which sur-
rounded her dwelling. This Gunnar could not do; but
Sigurd did it in Gunnar' s shape, whereafter Brynhild agreed
to marry Gunnar. But Gudrun, in her triumph, revealed
the secret ; and just as Oenone procured the death of the
unfaithful Paris, and Deianeira that of the fickle Hercules,
so Brynhild compassed the death of Sigurd. Brynhild also,
THE TALE OF THE VOLSUNQS AND NIBLUNOS. 375
like another Deianeira^ dies, in grief, on the funeral pile of
her husband. Next, Gudruu, also grieving for Sigurd,
leaves her home; but she marries Atli, King of Hunland.
It would seem that this Atli must be another name for the
powers of darkness, for he invited his wife's brothers to his
court, in order that he might seize the golden treasure, *^ the
sunlight,'* which they had received from the dead Sigurd.
These treasures the brothers buried in the Bhine river, and
went on their way to Hunland, though they well knew they
were destined never to return. The scene in which the
brothers are slain by the treacherous Atli is unsurpassed for
power and terror by any fighting story, except, perhaps, by
that one in the Mahabharata which describes the final strug-
gle on the battle-field of Hastinapur. Next follows Gudrun's
revenge for the death of her brothers; like, as we have
already said, a Norse Medea, she slew her own and Atli's
children.
But we cannot further pursue those final tragedies in which
all the various kinsfolk die by each other's hands and in
obedience to that stern, inevitable fate which in these tales
seems to be personified in Odin, and looms so terribly in the
background of the dramas of Sophocles and Aeschylus.
We would, in conclusion, recommend the student to read
the translation of the Volsung Saga, recently published by
Morris and Magnusson, as also Dr. Dasent's translation of the
Prose Edda. Those who know German may also consult
Wilhelm Mannhardt's Die Gotter der deutschen und nor-
dischen Yblker. For an exhaustive exposition of the '^ Solar
myth" theory, alike of the subjects embraced in the fore-
going sketch and of Aryan myths in general, we recommend
the student to the work of George W. Cox on The My-
thology of the Aryan Nations,
THE MYTHOLOGY AND EELIGION OF
THE HINDOOS.
In the Veda, the earliest record of the Sanscrit language^
many of the myths common to the Aryan nations are pre-
sented in their simplest form. Hence the special value of
Hindoo myths in a study of Comparative Mythology. But
it would be an error to suppose that the myths of the Greeks,
Latins, Slavonians, Norsemen, old Germans, and Celts were
derived from those of the Hindoos. For the myths, like the
languages, of all these various races, the Hindoos included,
are derived from one common source. Greek, Latin, San-
scrit, etc., are but modifications of a primitive Aryan lan-
guage that was spoken by the early * 'Aryans" before they
branched away from their original home, wherever that may
have been, to form new nationalities in India, Greece, North-
ern Europe, Central Europe, etc. The Sanscrit language is
thus not the mother, but the elder sister of Greek and the
kindred tongues : and the Vedic mythology is, in like man-
ner, only the elder sister of the other Aryan mythologies.
It is by reason of the discovery of the common origin of
these languages that scholars have been enabled ta treat
mythology scientifically. For example, many names unin-
telligible in Greek are at once explained by the meaning of
their Sanscrit equivalents. Thus, the name of the chief
Greek god, Zeus, conveys no meaning in itself. But the
Greek sky-god Zeus evidently corresponds to the Hindoo
sky-god Dyaus, and this word is derived from a root div
or dyu, meaning ^* to shine." Zeus, then, meant ori»iialIy
*^the glistening ether;'' and the Sanscrit d^TaB|: Greek
( 376 ) "^^ ■'
MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OP THE HINDOOS. 377
theos, and Latin deus, meaning " god," are from the same
root, and aignify " shining" or "heavenly." Similarly
JM
|M
other Greek names are explained by their counterparts, or
cc^nate words in Sanscrit. Thus, the name of Zeus's wife,
Hera, belongs to a Sanscrit root svar, and originally meant
378 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS.
the bright sky^ the goddess herself being primarily the
bright air; and Erins is explained by the Sanscrit Saranyu.
In India there have been two dynasties^ as it were, of gods —
the Vedic and Brahmanic. The Vedic gods belong to the
very earliest times, appear obviously as elemental powers,
and are such as would have been worshipped by a simple,
uninstructed, agricultural people. The Brahmanic religion
was, in great part at least, a refined development of the
former; and was gradually displacing the simpler worship
of Vedism many centuries before the birth of Christ. Five
or six centuries before the last event. Dissent, under the
name and form of Buddhism, became the chief religion of
India; but in about ten centuries Brahmanism recovered its
old position. Buddhism now retains but comparatively few
followers in India. Its chief holds are in Burmah, Siam,
Japan, Thibet, Nepaul, China, and Mongolia; and its nominal
followers at the present day perhaps outnumber those of all
other religions put together.
THE VEDIC GODS.
DYAUS
Was, as we have already indicated, the god of the bright
sky, his name being connected with that of Zeus through the
root div or dyu. That the god-name and the sky-name were
interchangeable is evident from such classical expressions as
that *' Zeus rains'' (i.e., the sky rains). In such expres-
sions there is hardly any mythological suggestion ; and the
meaning of the name Dyaus — ^like those of the names Uranus
and Cronus in Greek — ^always remained too transparent for
it to become the nucleus of a myth. Dyaus, however, was
occasionally spoken of as an overruling spirit. The epithet,
Dyaus pi tar, is simply Zeus pater — Zeus the father; or, as it
is spelled in Latin, Jupiter. Another of his names, Janitar,
IS the Sanscrit for genetor, a title of Zeus as the father or
producer. Dyaus pilar , ^^ father sky,'' and prithus matar,
^^ mother earth," are generally spoken of together.
VARUNA
Is also a sky-god : but in later times he becomes god of the
waters. The name is derived from the root var, to cover, or
envelop : and so far Varuna (accent Varuna) means the vault
of heaven. Here, then, we seem to find a clue to the mean-
ing of the Greek Uranus, whom we already know to have
been a sky-god; Uranus means the coverer; but, as observed
above, the name would have remained unintelligible apart
(379)
3dO 5Piy^ VEDtC GODS.
from its reference to the Sanscrit name: The myth of
Yaruna is a wonderful instance of the readiness and com-
pleteness with which the Hindoo genius spiritualized its
sense-impressions. From the conception of the thousand-
eyed (or starred) Varuna, who overlooked all men and
things, the Indian Aryans passed to the loftier conception
of Varuna as an all-seeing god or providence, whose spies,
or angels, saw all that took place. Some of the finest pas-
sages in the Vedic hymns are those in which the all-«eeing
Varuna is addressed, as in the following verses, translated
by MuUer from the Rigveda :
'* Let me not yet, O Varuna, enter into the house of clay; have
mercy. Almighty, have mercy I
'* If I go along trembling like a cloud driven by the wind; have
mercy, Almighty, have mercy I
* * Through want of strength, though strong and bright god, have I
gone to the wrong shore ; have mercy. Almighty, have mercy I
" Thirst came upon the worshipper, tho' he stood in the midst of
the waters ; have mercy. Almighty, have mercy I
"Whenever we men, O Varuna, committed offence before the
heavenly host, whenever we break thy law through thoughtf ulness ;
have mercy. Almighty, have mercy I "
INDRA.
The connection, or identity, between Zeus and Dyaus seems
to be chiefly limited to the names. There is greater resem-
blance between Indra and Zeus than between Zeus and
Dyaus. Indra, as the hurler of the thunderbolts and as a
*^ cloud compeller,'' coincides with Zeus and Thor.
The myth of Indra — the favorite Vedic god — is a further
instance of that transition from the physical to spiritual
meaning to which we have referred, though Indra is by no
means so spiritual a being as Varuna. It is also a good
instance of the fact that, as the comparative mythologists
express it, the further back the myths are traced the more
'^ atmospheric'' do the gods become. First, of the merely
INDBA.
381
physical lodra. lodra shatters the cloud with his bolt, and
releases the imprisoned waters. His purely physical origin
is further indicated by the mythical expression that the
clouds moved in ladra as the winds in Dyaus — an ezpres-
B i o n implying
that Indra was a
name for tbe sky.
Also, the stories
told of him cor-
respond closely
with some in
classical my-
tholt^y. Like
Hermes and "
Hercules he is en-
dowed with pre-
cocious strength ;
\}ke Hermes he
gc<es in search of
the cattle, the
clokids which tbe
evil powers have
driven away ;
and like Hermes
he is assbted by the breezes — though in the Hindoo myth
by the storm-winds, rather — the Mands, His beard of
lightning is the red beard of Thor. In a land with the
climatic conditions of India, and among an agricultural
people, it was but natural that the god whose fertilizing
showers brought the com and wine to maturity should be re-
garded as the greatest of all.
" U€ who aa soon aa bora is the first of the deities, who has done
honor to tbe gods by his exploits ; he at whose might heaven and
eartb are alarmed, and who is known by the greatness of his strength ;
be, men, is Indra.
" He who fixed firm the moving e&rtb ; who tranquillized the In-
382 THE VEDIC GODS.
censed mountains; who spread the spacious firmament; who con-
solidated the heavens ; he, men, is Indra.
" He who, having destroyed Ahi, set free the seven rivers; who
recovered the cows detained by Bal ; who generated fire in the clouds ;
who is invincible in battle ; he, men, is Indra.
'' He under whose control are horses and cattle, and villages, and
all chariots ; who gave birth to the sun and to the dawn ; and who
is the leader of the waters; he, men, is Indra.
'* He to whom heaven and earth bow down; he at whose might
the mountains are appalled ; he who is the drinker of the Soma juice,
the firm of frame, the adamant-armed, the wielder of the thunderbolt ;
he, men, is Indra.
** May we envelop thee with acceptable praises as husbands are
embraced by their wives I "
The first verse in the preceding hymn from the Rigveda
perhaps refers to Indra as a sun-god, and to the rapidity with
which, in tropical climates, the newly born sun grows in
heat-giving powers. The Ahi, or throttling snake, of the
third verse, is the same as the Greek Echidna, or the Hindoo
Vritra; and is multiplied in the Rakshasas — or powers of
darkness — against which the sky-god Indra wages deadly
war. He is likewise spoken of in the same hymn in much
the same kind of language that would naturally be applied
to the creator and sustainer of the world. But so is almost
every Hindoo deity. Absolute supremacy was attributed to
each and every god, whenever it came to his turn to be
praised or propitiated.
SURYA
Corresponds to the Greek Helios. That is, he was not so
much the god of light as the special god who dwelt in the
body of the sun. The same distinction exists between Posei-
don and Nereus; the one being the god of all waters, and
even a visitor at Olympus, the other a dweller in the sea,
Surya is described as the husband of the Dawn, and also as
her son.
SAVITABSOMA. 383
SAVITAR
Is another personification of the sun. His name means the
^' Inciter or enlivener," and is derived from the root su, to
drive or stimulate. As the sun-god he is spoken of as the
golden-eyed, golden-tongued, and golden-handed; and the
Hindoo commentators, in their absurd attempts to give a
literal prosaic explanation of a highly appropriate poetic
epithet, say that Savitar cut off his hand at a sacrifice,
and that the priests gave him a golden one instead. Savitar
thus corresponds to the Teutonic god Tyr, whose hand was
cut off by the wolf Fenris. Like other gods in the Hindoo
and Norse mythologies, Savitar is regarded as all-powerful.
That Savitar is a sun-god appears from the foUowmg pas-
sages, among many others, from the Rigveda :
'' Shining forth he rises from the lap of the dawn, praised by
singers; he, he, my god Savitar, stepped forth, who never misses
the same place.
" He steps forth, the splendor of the sky, the wide-seeing, the far-
shining, the shining wanderer ; surely enlivened by the sun do men
go to their tasks, and do their work.
** May the golden-eyed Savitar arise hither I
'* May the golden-handed, life-bestowing, well-guarding, exhila-
rating, and affluent Savitar be present at the sacrifice I "
The second passage seems to identify Savitar with Odin,
who was also '^ the wanderer'^ — Wegtom, and who was one-
eyed, as Savitar was one-handed.
SOMA.
In some respects the myth of Soma is the most curious of
all. Soma, as the intoxicating juice of the Soma plant, cor-
responds to that mixture of honey and blood of the Quoasir,
which, in the Norse mythology, imparts prolonged life to the
gods. In the Rigveda the Soma is similarly described, as
also the process by which it is converted into intoxicating
384 THE VEDIC QODS.
liquid. But in the same hymns Soma is also described as an
all-powerful god. It is he who gives strength to Indra^ and
enables him to conquer his enemy Vritra, the snake of dark-
ness. He is further^ like Vishnu, Indra, and Yaruna, the
supporter of heaven and earth, and of gods and men; thus
it would seem as if the myth of the god Soma is but an
instance of that fetisbistic stage in the history of the human
kind during which men attributed conscious life and energy
to whatever hurt or benefited them. The following passages
from the Rigveda are adduced to show in what terms Soma
was spoken of as a god and as a mere plant :
" Where there is eternal light, in the world where the sun is
placed, in that immortal, imperishable world, place me, O Soma
" Where life is free, in the third heaven of heavens, where the
worlds are radiant, there make me immortal."
And again :
'* In the filter, which is the support of the world, thou, pure Soma,
art purified for the gods. The Usijas first gathered thee. In thee
all these worlds are contained.
*' The Soma flowed into the vessel for Indra, for Vishnu; may it
be honeyed for Vayu I "
AGNI
Is the god of fire, his name evidently being connected with
the Latin igiiis. He corresponds to the Greek Hephaestus.
Of this god Mr. Wheeler, in his introduction to his History
of India, thus writes : '^ To man in a primitive state of ex-
istence the presence of fire excites feelings of reverence.
Its powers raise it to the rank of a deity whose operations
are felt and seen. It bums and it consumes. It dispels
the darkness, and with it drives away, not only the imagi-
nary horrors which the mind associates with darkness, but
also the real horrors — such as beasts of prey. ... It
becomes identified with the light of the sun and moon ;
TAYU. 385
with the ligfatDing which ahoots from the eky and shatters
the loftiest trees and strikes down the strong man; with the
deity who covers the
field with grain and
ripens the harvest; with
the divine messenger
who licks up the sacri-
fiec and carries it to the
As another curious
instance of the sort of
fetishism to which we
have referred, the Veda
describes Agni as being
generated from the rub-
bing of sticks, after
which he bursts forth
from the wood like a fleet courser. Again, when excited by
the wind he rushes amongst the trees like a bull, and con-
sumes the forest as a raja destroys his enemies. Such expres-
sions, of course, prove the purely physical origin of the god
Agni; and it is hardly necessary to observe that, like Indra,
Varuna, Soma, Vishnu, etc., he is an all-powerful god, and
supporter of the universe.
VAYU
la the god of the winds, or of the air. Allied to him are
the Marnts —the storm-gods or " crushers," whose name has
been derived from a root meaning to grind, and r^rded as
connected with such names aa Mars and Ares. The same
root appears in Miolnir, an epithet of Thor, conceived as the
crashing or crushing god. The Maruts are the Hindoo coun-
terparts of the Norse Ogres — the fierce storm-beings who
toss the sea into foam, and who in the Norae Talen are repre-
386 THE VEDIC Q0D8,
seated as being armed with iron clubs^ at every stroke of
which they send the earth flying so many yards into the air.
The primary meaning of the name is clear from the Vedic
passages which describe the Maruts as roaring among the
forest trees and tearing up the clouds for rain.
Among all the personifications of Hindoo mythology, one
of the purest and most touching and beautiful is
USHAS,
Whose name is the same as the Greek Eos — or the Dawn.
The name Ushas is derived from a root U8y to burn. The
language in which the physical Ushas was spoken of was
especially capable of easy transformation into a purely spir-
itual meaning. The dawn-light is beautiful to all men, bar-
barous or civilized; and it did not require any great stretch
of poetic fancy to represent Ushas as a young wife awaken-
ing her children and giving them new strength for the toils
of the new day. It happens that the word which in San-
scrit means ^^ to awake/ ^ also means '^ to know/' and thus,
like the Greek Athene, Ushas became a goddess of wisdom.
The following passages show how Ushas was regarded by
the Vedic worshippers :
'* Ushas, daughter of heaven, dawn upon us with riches; diffuser
of light, dawn upon us with abundant food ; beautiful goddess, dawn
upon us with wealth of cattle.
'* This auspicious Ushas has harnessed her vehicles from afar,
above the rising of the sun, and she comes gloriously upon men
with a hundred chariots.
'* First of all the world is she awake, trampling over transitory
darkness; the mighty, the giver of light, from on high she beholds
all things ; ever youthful, ever reviving, she comes first to the invo-
cation."
Had we space for discussion of so interesting a subject, it
would be easy to show how naturally monotheistic conception
would grow out of the polytheism of the Vedic religion.
USHAS. 387
Meantime we content ourselves with the following monothe-
istic hymn, translated by Max MuUer :
*^ In the beginning there rose the source of golden light. He was
the only lord of all that is ; he established this earth and this sky :
who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
" He who gives life, he who gives strength ; whose blessings all the
bright gods desire ; whose shadow is immortality ; whose shadow is
death : who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
** He who through his power is the only king of all the breathing
and awakening world. He who governs all, men and beasts : who is
the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
*' He whose power these snowy mountains, whose power the sea
proclaims, with the distant river. He whose these regions are as it
were his two arms : who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacri-
fice?
** He through whom the sky is bright and the earth firm. He
through whom the heaven was established — nay, the highest heaven ;
he who measured out the light in the air : who is the god to whom
we shall offer our sacrifice ?
'* He to whom heaven and earth, standing firm by his will, look
up, trembling, inwardly ; he over whom the rising sun shines forth :
who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
'* May he not destroy us, he the creator of the earth ; or he the
righteous, who created heaven ; he who also created the bright and
mighty waters : who is the god to whom we shall offer our sacrifice ?
!
THE BRAHMANIC GODS.
Of the later Hindoo religion the chief deities are Brahma,
Vishnu, and Siva — forming the Hindoo Trinity, or Trimnrti.
These are not regarded as separate, independent gods, but
merely as ttiree manifestations or revelations or phases of the
spirit of enei^y of the supreme incomprehensihie being
Brahm. This trinity is a comparatively late formation.
The trinity of the later Vedic
writings is composed, rather, of
the representative gods of earth,
air, and sky — Agni, Vayu, and
Surya. Again, no such trinity
as the Brabmanic appears to be
known in the Mahabharata,
which represents Brahma, Vish-
nu, and Indra as being the
flona of Mahadeva, or Siva,
Perhaps, however, the reason
of this is to be found in the
Trimurtl, or Hindoo Trinity. "Utual jealousy of the tWO
great sects, Vaishnavas and
Saivas, into which the Hindoo religion catne to be divided.
To Brahm as the self-existent — of whom there is no image-
there existed neither temples nor altars. As signifying,
among other things, the principle of divinity, the name
Brahm is of the neuter gender, and the divine essence is
described as that which illumines all, delights all, whence
all proceeds, that of which all live when bom, and that te
which all must return.
(388)
BRAHMA
Is that member of the triad whose name is best known to
us, and most familiar to the Hindoos themselves. Images
of him are found ia the temples of other gods, but he
has neither temples nor altars of his own. The reason
of this is that Brahma, as the creative energy, is quiescent,
and will remain so until the end of the present age of the
world — of the Kali Yuga, that is — only a small portion of
whose 432,000 years has already passed.
Brabma and SuvBWfttl.
It appears, however, that an attempt was made to repre-
sent even the divine spirit of Brahm; for the god Narayana
means the spirit moving on the waters. Narayana ia figured
as a graceful youth lying on a snake couch which floats on
the water, and holding his toe in his mouth.
Brahma is figured as a four-headed god, bearing in one
hand a copy of the Vedas, in another a spoon for pouring
out the lustral water contained in a vessel which he holds in
a third hand, while the fourth hand holds a rosary. The
rosary was used by the Hindoos to aid them in contempla-
tion, a bead being dropped on the silent pronunciation of
390 THE BRAHMANIO OODS.
each name of the god, while the devotee mused on the attri-
bute sigDitied by the Dame.
Brahma, like each god, had his saeti, or wife, or female
couaterpart, and his vakana or vehicle, whereou he rode.
Brahma's snctt is Saraavati, the goddess of poetry, wis-
dom, eloquence, and fine art. His vafiana was the ^
kansa — in Latin, aager, in German, gans.
VISHNU
Ib the personification of the preserving power of the divioe
spirits The Vaishnavas allege that Vishnu is the paramount
god, because there is nothing distinctive in the act of anni-
hilation, but only a cessation of preservation. But of course
the argument would cut all three ways for t m ght as well
be said that creat on preservat on and destruction are at
bottom only one and the same th uf; — a fact thus pointjng to
the unity o£ God. Of the two Hindoo sects the Vaishnavas
are perhaps the more numerous. Vishnu is represented as
being of a blue color; his vakana is Graruda, the winged half-
SIVA.
391
man, half-bird, king of birds, and his 8aoti, or wife, is the
goddess Laksbmi. He is said to have four hands — one
holding a sAanMo, or shell, the second a ohakra or quoit,
the third a club, and the fourth a lotus. Our illuatration
represents Vishnu lying asleep ou Ananta, the serpent of
eternity. At tJlie end of the Kali Yuga Vishnu will rest in
that position ; from his navel will spring a lotus stalk, on the
top of which — above the surface of the waters, which at that
time will cover the world — Brahma will appear to create the
earth anew.
srvA
Is the destroyer — the third phase of Brahm's enei^. He
is represented as of a white color. His sacti is Bhavani or
Pracriti, the terrible
Doorga or Kali, and
his vahana a white
bull. Sometimes Siva
is figured with a tri-
dent in one hand, and
in another a rope or
pasha, with which he
or his wife Kali stran-
gles evil-doers. His
necklace is made of
human skulls ; ser-
pents are his ear-rings;
his loins are wrapped
in tiger's skin; and
from his head the
sacred river Ganga is
represented as spring-
ing.
Among the minor deities may be mentioned Kuvera, the
god of riches; Laksbmi, being tiie goddess of wealth; Kam-
392 THE BRAHMASIC GODS.
adeva, the god of love, who is represented as ridiog on s
dove and armed with an arrow of flowers, and a bow whose
string is formed of bees; and thirdly, QaQesha, the eon of
Siva and Prithivi, who is r^arded
as the wisest of all the gods, is
especially the god of prudence and
policy, and is invoked at ihe open-
ing of Hindoo literary works.
AVATARS OF VISHNU.
The word awUar means, in its
plain sense, Descent — that is, from
the world of the gods to the world
of men. In these descents, or in-
carnations, the purpose of Vishnu
Kamadera ^as always been a beneficent one,
His first avatar is named Matsya,
wherein, during the reign of King Satyavrata, Vishnu ap-
peared in the form of a fiah. For the world had been
deluged by water for its wickedness, and its inhabitants
had perished, except the king and seven sages, with their
families, who together with pairs of all species of animals,
entered into an ark prepared for them, and of which the fish
took care, by having its cable tied to its horn. In the second,
or Kurma avatar, Vishnu appeared in the form of a tortoise,
supporting Mount Mandara on his back, while the gods
churned the sea for the divine ambrosia. In the Varaha, or
third avatar, Vishnu appeared as a boar to save the earth
when it had been drowned a second time. The boar went
into the sea and fished the earth out on his tusks. In the
fourth he appeared as Narasingha, the man-lion, to free the
world from a monarch who, for his austerities, had been
endowed by the gods with universal dominion. In this
shape Vishnu tore the king to pieces. Subsequently he
AVATARS OF VISHNU.
393
appeared as a dwarf, then as Rama, the hero of the Rama-
yaoa, who likewise was a beneficent being. His chief incai>
nation appears in Krishna, the
god who ia most loved by the
Hindoos. Buddha, the founder
of the Buddhist religion, was
also said to be an incarnation of
Vishnu. Nice of these avatars
have already passed. In the
tenth, or Kalki Avatara, he
will appear armed with a scim-
itar, and riding on a white horse,
when he will end the present
1^ ; after which he will sleep
on the waters, produce Prama, and i
world.
I inaugurate a new
THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF
EGYPT.
Egyptian myths undoubtedly originated and were devel-
oped similarly to the myths of all other nations with which
we are acquainted. Yet an indication of the various stages
of that development, and an understanding of the system as
a whole and as it is now known to us, are far more difficult
in the case of Egyptian than of Greek, Norse, Germanic,
or Hindoo mythology. The reason of this is very evident.
The Egyptian religion seems to have reached its abstract or
metaphysical stage long before any of the religions to which
we have referred; and as its records belong wholly to that
stage, there are no means of enabling the student to bridge
over the gap between its earliest and its latest formations.
Indeed, it would appear as if precisely the same kind of
differences existed between the Egyptian and the Greek
genius as between the Greek genius and that of the Hindoos.
The temperament of the Greek was open, joyous, sensuous;
that of the other two races was self-repressive, brooding, and
mystical. The bias or mental bent of these was not so much
toward what was artistically or logically preventable, as
toward the elusive, mysterious spirit of which they imagined
all things visible and tangible to be merely the veil. The
Greek was artistically sensuous; the Hindoo was mystically
religious. Or, the difference between them may be said to
resemble that between form and color. The contrast in intel-
lectual bias between the Egyptians and their adversaries, the
Greeks, is sufficiently indicated in what Herodotus says of
the Egyptian contempt for the claims made by the Greeks of
(394)
THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT 395
•
descent from the gods. The priests of Egypt could only
laugh at the absurdity of the belief according to which a god
was said to be the sixteenth ancestor of Hecataeos. Our
gods, said they, never lived on earth.
However, it appears as if a comparison of it with other
systems shows that the mythology of Egypt is, in great meas-
ure at least, explicable by the general doctrines implied in
the title ^^ Solar Myth.'^ Even that very readiness with
which the Greeks identified the Egyptian gods with their
own aflRords, if not proof, at all events some countenance, to
the supposition that both Pantheons were, so to speak, peo-
pled after the same manner. Again, the functions and char-
acters of the Egyptian gods interchange like those of the
Greek and Norse gods. Their names have in both cases
similar physical meanings. In both cases also the birth and
genealogy of the gods appear to be but an expression of phys-
ical, visible sequences. We find in both cases the same con-
fusion, or identity, between a god's mother and his sister;
and what appears to be the same conflict between the light-
giving and the light-stealing powers of nature. The old Ger-
man religion is, perhaps, of a more spiritual character than
that of Egypt. Yet there is no doubt that the idea of the
contest between the purely spiritual powers Ormuzd and
Ahriman was originally only the idea of the contest between
the sunlight, Indra, and the clouds or darkness, Vritra. This
seems a strong indirect proof that Osiris and Typho are the
same as Indra and Vritra. The idea of dynastic overthrow
and succession common to the Aryan religions, and presented
with such weird and pathetic grandeur in Norse mythology,
is, if at all, but faintly defined in the religion of Egypt.
Yet it seems to be implied in such phrases as ^^ Osirian divin-
ities, '^ and ^^ three orders of the gods.'' Lastly, it appears
that many of the Egyptian deities are only personified attri-
butes of one and the same thing or person.
The great gods of Egypt were Neph, Amun, Pthah,
Khem, Sati, Maut, and Bubaatis.
396 "^^ MYTHOLOGY AND RELWION OF EGYPT.
NEPH
Ir also named Nuid, Nu, Nef, Coouphis, and Cenubis. Kow
Nef means spirit or breath, \a which Bense it is still retained
in Arabic. He is " the spirit of
God moving on the face of the
waters." Therefore, in this special,
physical sense Neph corresponds to
the Teutonic Woden, or Wuotan,
as also Brahma and Zeus. Neph
was worshipped in Aetbiopia and the
Thebais. He is represented as hav-
iag a ram's head with curved boms.
Hia wife, or in Hindoo phraseology
sacti, was named Auha.
PTHAH
Is only Neph under a new name; or,
to express it otherwise, he represents
a special enei^y of that god. He is
the creator, or the universal life in
action. Jamblichus calls him the
demiourgos, or artisan of tlie world;
and the Grreeks regarded him as the
counterpart of their own artisan
god, Hephaestus or Vulcan. As
the creator he was thought of as
the father and sovereign of the
gods. He was worshipped chiefly
in Memphis. He appears as a
mummy-shaped male figure; also
as the pigmy-god.
Like, the former god, ie only a special enei^ op activity of
tbe universal life. He is a personified attribute, or epithet.
He is the god (^ geaeration and reproduction, and was iden-
tified as Pan by the Greeks, who called his chief city —
398 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
Chemrais, in the Thebais — by the name of Panopolis. But
Khem not only merges into the god Nam or Neph, he also
usurps the functions of, or is the same as, the garden-god
Ranno. It was but natural that the god of reproduction
should also be a garden-god. This garden-god, Ranno, was
represented under the form of an asp, whose figure is found
on wine-presses and garden and agricultural implements. It
should here be observed tliat Priapus, the classical counter-
part of the procreative Khem, was the tutelary deity of
gardens.
AMUN
Was the chief god of Upper Egypt. From the significa-
tion of the Dame — ^' hidden '^ — it would appear that Amun
was a deity of a highly spiritual character. As in the pre-
ceding instances, he is identified or connected with various
other gods, e. g, , lie is named as Amun-ra (Ra being the sun-
god), and Amun-num (Num, the living breath or spirit).
His companion goddess was Mut or Maut; and the two
deities, with their son Khuns, formed the Trinity of Upper
Egypt.
SATI
The Greeks imagined to be the same as Hera. As such she
would be the queen of heaven; but a distinction was made
between her and
NEITH,
Who was said to be the goddess of the upper heaven (or
ether), whereas Sati was the goddess of the lower heaven (or
air). If Neith be a sky-deity, and if she be also the mother
of the sun-god, the facts are another instance from Egyptian
mythology of that same process through which the Greeks
MA UT-B UBASTIS—BA. 399
peopled their Olympus and the Norsemen their Asgard.
But further, the functions attributed to Neith seem to show
that the idea of this goddess was developed much in the
same way as that of the Greek Athene. As Athene in
Greek, and Ahana in Sanscrit, meant originally the b'ght of
the dawn, and finally, moral and intellectual light, so we find
that Neith also came to be a deity of wisdom. This goddess
was worshipped especially at Sais in the Nile delta.
MAUT,
To whom we have already referred as the second person of
the Theban Trinity, meant the Mother — Mother Nature — and
thus corresponded to the Greek Demeter.
BUBASTIS
Was chiefly worshipped in the town of Bubastus in Lower
Egypt. She was said to be the daughter of the great god-
dess Isis. She was represented with the head of a cat, the
animal specially sacred to her.
RA
Comes first in the second class of deities. The Greeks iden-
tified him with their own sun-god, Helios, and called the city
in which he was principally worshipped Heliopolis. He is
represented with a hawk's head, over which is a solar disc.
His purely physical origin seems to be proved by the myths
that Neith, or the upper air, was his mother; and that he
married Mut (Demeter), this merely signifying the interac-
tion of earth and sunlight in producing vegetation. But
again, Ra was said to have for children Athor, Mu, and
400 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
Mat. Athor was identified with Aphrodite, who was orig-
inally the goddess of light; while Mu means physical light,
and Mat moral light. Precisely the same transition in mean-
ing happens in the story of Neith, and in that of Athene,
Ahana, Ushas, and Eos. The wide prevalence of this god^s
worship shows in what importance he was held, an impor-
tance naturally attaching to the sun-god among all nations
given to elemental worship. From Ra, with the prefixed
syllable Pi, was derived the name Phrah, or, in Old Testament
spelling, Pharaoh. Every Pharaoh was thus entitled son of
the sun. All this suggests that Sabaeism, or fire-worship, was
originally practised in Egypt. Ra is also identical with Baal,
a name implying ^^ lord,'' and applied to the sun. Baalbeck
means ^^ city of the sun,'' and was so named by the Greeks
— Heliopolis.
SEB
Is said to be the son of Ra. He is a sort of Egyptian
Cronus, being represented in the hieroglyphics to be the
father of the gods. Here again we have an interchange of
functions; for it has been seen that Neph, Pthah, etc., have
been similarly described. Also, like other gods in and out
of Greek mythology, Seb marries his own sister, Nutpe.
These two were at the head of the '^ Osirian divinities" —
Osiris, Isis, Seth, Nephthys. Nutpe or Nepte has been iden-
tified with Rhea. She is supposed to coincide with Lucina,
and to preside over births and nursing. As being the
mother of Isis and Osiris, she was called the mother of the
gods.
OSIRIS,
The great deity of the Egyptians, has been by some iden-
tified with the siin, or sunlight, or the vivifying powers in
nature. According to this view the sleep or death of Osiris
means the aleep of the spring-maideD BryDhild, or the im-
prisonment of Persephone in the dark realm of Hades. His
contest with Seb (by the Greeks called Typho) would ceiv
taialy seem to be another instance
of the plausibility, at least, of this '
view. At any rate, Osiris, being
restored to life, became the judge
of the under-world. There he
listens to Thoth's tale of the char-
acter of the disembodied souls, who
are introduced to the judge by
Horue (the son of Osiris), after
their good and bad deeds have been
weighed by Anubis in the scale of
truth.
These trials in the under-world
were attended by forty officers,
called Assessors of the Dead, who
are thus described by Gardner Wil-
kinson : " These assessors were sim-
ilar to the bench of judges who
attended at the ordinary tribunals of
the Egyptians, and whose president, or arch-judge, corre-
sponded to Osiris. The assessors were represented in a
human form with different heads. The first had the head
of a hawk, the second of a man, the third of a hare, the
fourth of a hippotamus, the iifth of a man, the sixth of a
hawk, the seventh of a fox, the eighth of a man, the ninth of
a ram, the tenth of a snake, and the others according to their
peculiar character. . . . They are supposed to represent
the forty-two crimes from which a virtuous man was ex-
pected to be free when judged in a future state; or rather
the accusing spirits, each of whom examined if the deceased
was guilty of the peculiar evil which it was his province to
avenge."
The worship of Osiris was universal throughout Egypt,
402 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
where he w&b gratefully regarded as the great example of
self-sacrifice, as the manifester of good, as the opener of
truth, and as being full
of goodness and truth.
As Osiris was the per-
sonification of physical
and moral good, so bis
brother Seb (Typho)
was the personificatioD
of all evil. Of the an-
alogy between these two
on the one hand, and the
old Persian deities of
good and evil, we have
already spoken.
Another explanation
of the Osirian myth has
thus been given : Osiris
was the NUe god. The
river, in its periodical
tnundaUons, was said to
have married the earth
(Isis, Rhea), and in its
retreat to have been
killed by the g^ant of
Sterility (Seb, or Ty-
phon), who was jealous,
perhaps, of the won-
drous fruitfulness of the
marriage between the
soil and the great river.
APIS
Was the great beast-god
of Egypt. This sacred
bull was known as Apis at Memphis, and as Mnevis, or
AP^. 403
Oauphie, at Heliopolis. His worship was so prevalent and
popular, because he was regarded as an avatar, or incarn^-
tioD, of the favorite deity Osiris, whose soul had transmigrated
into the body of a bull. The sacred bull was allowed to
live for no more than twenty-five years, at the end of which it
was taken to the Nile, aod drowned in one of the sacred wells.
His death was followed by national mournings, which, how-
ever, gave place to national thank^vings, as soon as a new
Avatar, or sacred bull, discovered himself by the following'
Royal BuU, Apia.
marks : a black coat, a white triangular spot on the forehead,
a spot like a half-moon on ita right side, and under its tongue
a knot like a beetle. The following quotations from Aelian,
as given in Wilkinson, narrate the ceremonies consequent on
the rediscovery of Osiris :
"As soon as a report ia circulated that the Egyptian god
has manifested himself, certain of the sacred scribes, well
versed in the mythical marks, known to them by tradition,
approach the spot where the divine cow has deposited her
404 THE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EQTPT.
calf, and tbere, following the ancient ordinauce of Hermes,
feed it with milk during four munths, in a house facing the
rising sun. When this period has passed the aacred acribes
and prophets resort to the dwelling of Apis, at the time of
tlic new moon, and placing him in a boat prepared for the
purpose, convey him to Memphis, where he has a convenient
and agreeable abode, with pleasure grounds and ample space
for wholesome exercise. Female companions of his own
species are provided for him, the most beautiful that can be
found, kept in apartments to which he
\j^:^ has access when he wishes. He drinks
^- out of a well, or fountain of clear water :
;;!,"~ for it ie not tliought right to give him
the water of the Nile, which ia con-
sidered too fattening. . . . The
man from whose herd the divine beast
has sprung is the happiest of mortals,
and is looked upon with admiration by
all people." Cambyses, it is said, found
a set of villagers rejoicing over a new
sacred bull, and fancying they were
makiag merry over his recent defeat in
Aethiopia, the king of kings at once ran
the bull through the body and had the
priests flogged. It was considered a
good omen if the bull ate food offered
to it. Men also listened at (he ears of
Apis, then put their hands to their
own ears to prevent the escape of the
secret, which they interpreted according to the nature of the
first words they chanced to hear uttered.
SERAPIS
Was another name of Osiris, although the Greeks said that
his worship was not known in Egypt until the time of
Ptolemy Philadclplius, when it was introduced from Sinope,
imder the name of Serapis. Serapis was kDown as the judge
of the under-world.
Sempie Tbroaed.
ISIS
Was the wife of Osiris, also a counterpart of him; for, as
he was judge of the dead, so she is described as the giver
of death. She is identified with Ceres and Persephone, and,
in this view, the grief of Isis for her husband may be regarded
as an Egyptian version of the myth representing Demeter as
mourning for the loss of her daughter. Apuleius makes her
declare : " I am nature, the parent of all the gods, mistress
of all the elements, the beginning of all the ages, sovereign
of the gods, queen of the manes, and the first of the heavenly
beings." But as the mother of all she is convertible with
Mat and Nutpe. And then Apuleius proceeds: "My
406 THE MTTHOLOGT AND HELIOION OF EGYPT.
divinity, uniform ia itself, le honored under numerous forms,
various rites, and differeut names. . . . but the sun-
illumed Aethiopians, and the Egyptians renowned for ancient
lore, worship me with due ceremonies, and call me by my
real name, 'Queen Isis.' " Plutarch considers Isis to lie
Hie earth, the feminine part of nature, while Diodorus says
that the Egyptians, considering the earth to be the parent of
ANUBIS,
407
all things born, called her Mother, just as the Greeks called
earth Demeter.
ANUBIS,
With Hor, or Horus, and Har-pi-ohruti, or Harpocrates,
were the children of Osiris and Isis. The first was a jackal-
headed god; and, according to another myth, was the son of
Osiris and Nephthys, a sister of Isis, who, fearing the jeal-
ousy of Isis, concealed the child by the seashore. The office
of Anubis was to superintend the passage of souls to their
abode in the unseen world. As such he corresponded to the
Greek Hermes Psychopompos. Anubis presided over tombs;
and he is frequently introduced in
sculpture as standing over a bier on
which a corpse is deposited. Horus
was a hawk-headed god. As the
avenger of his father Osiris, who
was slain by Typhon, he was identi-
fied by the Greeks as Apollo. He
also corresponded in some degree to
the sun-god Ra, and was worshipped
by the Egyptians as representing the
vivifying power of the sun. Har-
pocrates seems to be merely another
version of Horus — he is a personi-
fication of the sun. He is repre-
sented as a child sitting on a lotus
flower, with his finger on his lips.
Under this figure he was thought of
as the god of silence. Perhaps in
placing a representation of him in
front of each of their temples, the wise Egyptians meant to
symbolize the fact that worship ought to be conducted with
silence.
Thoth.
408 TUE MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT.
THOTH
Was the god of letters, the clerk of the under-world, and
the keeper of the records for the great judge Osiris. He is
represented with the head of an ibis, and bearing a tablet,
pen, and palm-branch. So great was the respect in which
the sacred ibis was held — on account, no doubt, of its useful-
ness in destroying venomous reptiles — that any one guilty of
killing it was himself punished with death.
ANOUKE
Was the third member of the trinity of Northern Aethiopia,
the other two members being Sati and Neph.
THE SPHINX,
Unlike her Greek representative — who was a cruel monster
born of the evil powers Typhon and Echidna — was a benefi-
cent being who personified the fruit-bearing earth, and, like
the sun and sky powers we have named above, was a deity
of wisdom and knowledge. Her figure — lion-bodied, with
the head and breast of a woman — was placed before every
temple. The Egyptian Cerberus, or hell watch-dog, must
have been a more forbidding and strange-looking animal
than his Greek brother. He had the trunk and legs of a
hippopotamus, with the head of a crocodile.
INDEX.
Abas 241, 242
Abas, MouQt, 293
Abdera, 291 , 292
Abdenis, 291
Absyrtus, 314
Achaea, 65
Achaeans, 234, 272
Achaia 288
Acheloides (Sirens), 165
Achelous, 165, 168, 300
Acheron, 60
Achilles, 61, 87, 90, 162, 177, 188,
200, 231, 264, 288, 298, 330, 331,
332, 334, 336, 338, 339, 340, 341,
342, 343, 344
Acrisius, 242, 243, 246, 247
Acrocorlnth (see also Corinth), 249
Acropolis, 52, 94, 98, 103, 110, 123,
271
Actaea, 163
Actaeon, 120, 127
Admete, 292
Admetus, 114, 298, 308, 310
Adonai, 92
Adonais, 92
Adonis, 92, 94, 366
Adrastea (see also Nemesis), 29, 213
Adrastus, 317, 318, 322
Adriatic, 294
Aeacus, 64
Aegae, 65
Aeetes, 313, 314
Aegaeon, 49
Aegean, 112, 332
Aegeus, 272, 276, 302, 303, 304, 303,
315
Aegina, 63, 77, 90, 91, 141, 249
Aegipanes, 161
Aegle (see also Hesperides), 117, 175
Aegisthus, 280, 348, 349
Aegyptus, 240, 241
Aello (see also Harpies), 218
Aeolians, 234
Aeolus, 182, 183, 223, 309, 310, 352
Aeneas, 92, 102, 328, 347
Aerope. 279
Aeschylus, 1, 13, 74, 262, 294, 375
Aesculapius, 111, 114, 203, 204, 205,
206, 207, 264, 345
Aesir, 358, 360
Aeson, 309, 310
Aether, 20, 221
Aethiopia, 188, 246, 396, 404, 406,
408
Aethon, 71, 117
Aethra, 171, 302, 328
Aetna, 26, 37, 65, 89
Aetnaeus, 37
Aetolians, 120
Agamede, 289, 290
Agamemnon, 120, 216. 280, 326, 328,
329, 332, 333, 334, 336, 337, 338,
339, 342, 346, 347, 348, 349, 350
Aganippe (see also Muses), 175, 176
Agathodaemon, 225
Agave, 257, 258
Agenor, 129, 240, 265, 274
Aglaea, 198
Agni, 384, 385, 388
Agraulos, 270, 271
Agrigentum. 276
Agrotera, 120
Ahana, 399, 400
Ahi, 382
Ahriman, 396
Aides (see also Hades), 68, 65
Ajax, 231, 298, 337, 341, 343, 344
Alarm (see also Deimos), 83
Alcaeus, 248
Alcamenes, 84
Alcestis, 226, 298
Alcimede, 309
Alcmaeon, 318
Alcmene, 40, 60, 248, 282
(409)
410 a
Alcinoua, 363
Alclppe, 270
Alc70Deua, 44
Alecto (see also Erinys), 27, 217
Alexander (see abo Psru), 324
Alexander the Oreat, 126
Alfen, 370
Alfheimr. 370
All-fftthor, 360, 361, 362, 363
Aloens, 82, 238
Alpheus (see Arethusa), 123, 168
Alseides (Nymphs), 170
Altha^ 197, 307, 308, 30S
Amalthea, 29
Amaiynthia, 123
Amazons, 253, 292, 296, 306, 341
342, 333
Ammon (arBc1e\ 245
Ambracias 294
Amor, (see also Eros), 92. 94, 189
Amorettes, 194
Amphiaoai, 242
Amphiaraus, 298, 318, 320, 322
Amphion, 137, 258, 259, 260, 261
Amphitrite, 24, 57, 76, 163, 164
Amphitryon. 248, 282, 288
AmuD, 395, 397, 398
Aamn-num, 398
Amun-ra, 398
Amyclae, 106, 326, 328
Amyclaa, 107
AmyciiB, 312
Amymone, 53, 240, 241, 286
Anadyomene, 91
Ananke (see also Fate , 210
Anatila, 391
Ancaeus, 308
Anchinoe, 240
Anchises, 92, 326, 347
Androgeos, 276
Andromache, 339, 340, 347
Andromedii, 53, 245, 246, 248
Anonke, 408
Antaeus, 54, 294, 295, 298
Anteia, 252
Anteros, 94, 194
Anlhesteria, 131
Antigone, 262, 318, 319, 320, 323
Antiope, 258, 260, 306
Antium, 204, 209
Anubis, 401,407
Aoede, 177
Apaturia, 88
Ap«tioteB, 1S4
Apelles, 1
Aphrodite («ee also Venus), 9, 15,
23, 24, 40, 83, 87, 89, 90, 91, 92,
93, 94, 105, 136, 143, 148, 162,
171, 188. 190, 192, 194, 195,197,
198, 199, 201, 214, 236, 257, 312,
326, 328, 400
Apis, 402, 403, 401
Apollinariaii games, 114
Apollo (aee also Phoebas Apollo ;
Helios, and Sol), 9, 13, 14, 18, 23,
24, 40, 44, 53, 64, 63, 104, 106,
106, 107, 103, 109, 111, 112, 114,
115, 118, 122, 123, 135, 136, 140,
143, 148. 149, 151, 169, 170, 177,
181, 195, 199, 201,203,204.207,
217, 229, 238, 243, ^8, 261, 286,
271, 272, 288, 292,300,306,324,
337, 338, 343, 346, 348, 349, 360,
407, 408
Apollodorus, 285
Appius Claudius, 214
Apples of the Hesperides, 294
ApuleiuB, 405
Arabia, 240
Arcadia, 35, 54, 55, 70, 120, 121, 134,
149, 242, 286, 288, 292, 308, 317
Archemorus, 320, 321
Ares (see also Mars), 9, 23, 40, 49,
81, 82, 83, 85, 86, 87, 90, 92, 94,
96, 136, 190, 214, 238, 249, 254,
257, 270, 279, 289, 291, 292, 311,
313,314,317,349,385
Areopagus, 83, 270, 349
Arethusa, 123, 168, 175
Arge, 288
Arges, 26
Argiope, 268
Argiphontes, 137
Ai^ve, 239, 241, 248, 322
Phoroneus, 234
Hera, 241, 292
Heroes (Thebes), 254
Perseus, 250
Argo, 55, 309, 310, 313, 315
Argolis, 202
Argonauts, 54, 56, 97, 166, 218, 232,
239, 268, 278, 239, 298, 806, 303,
309, 312, 314. 320
ArgoB, 47, 49, r.O, 51, 52, 53, 63, 94,
102, 217, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243,
246, 247, 248, 249, 250, 252, 278,
280, 282, 317, 348
Argiv(
Argive
Argive
INDEX. 411
Argus, 60, 136, 137, 239, 240, 244 Atman, 360
Ariadne, 131, 132, 197, 275, 304, 305 Atreiis, 279, 280, 328
Arion, 64, 72, 130 Atropos, 212, 213, 308
Aristaeus, 267, 266 Attica, 30, 62, 70, 74, 98, 101, 103,
Arsinoe, 94 131, 199, 213, 238, 264, 269, 270,
Artemis (see also Diana), 9, 23, 24, 271, 272, 276, 305, 306, 319
40. 63, 76, 107, 111, 112, 117, 118, Attis, 34, 35
119, 120, 121, 122, 123, 124, 126, Audhumbla, 358
127, 203, 217, 254, 257, 261, 288, Augean stables, 289, 290, 297
289, 332, 333, 349 Augeas, 289, 290
Arval Brothers, 364 Augustus, 64, 148
Aryans, 356, 372, 375, 376, 380, 395 Auka, 396
Asa, 358, 359, 365 Aulis, 120, 332, 333, 334
Ascanius, 92, 347 Auloniades (Nymphs), 170
Asclepiea see (Aescalapius), 204 Aura, 187, 188
Asgard, 358, 369, 360, 399 Aurora (see also Eos), 185, 342
Assessors of the dead, 40.1 Austri, 358
Ash, 358 Autonoe, 257
Asia, 326 Auxo, 198
Asia Minor, 109, 110, 124, 126, 127, Avatar, 392, 393, 403
131, 168, 207, 214, 231, 253, 278 Aventine hill, 124, 127
Asiatic Artemis, 126 Avernus, 60, 77
Asopus, 168, 249, 258
Asphodel, 61
Astarte, 90, 240, 272 Baal, 255, 400
Asteria, 76 Baalbeck, 400
Asterion, 274 Babylon, Hanging Gardens of, 43
Astraea, 40, 46, 140 Babylon, Walls of, 43
Astraeus, 183, 186 Bacchic, 268
Astyanax, 340 Bacchus (see also Dionysus , 16, 40,
Atabyrius, 37 75, 86, 128, 129, 130, 132, 149, 154,
Atalanta, 120, 30S, 317 155, 158, 165, 168
Ate, 215, 216 Bacchus, Indian, 132
Athamas. 164, 257, 310 Bal, 382
Athem, 360 Bali, 366
Athenaea, 95 Baldr, 360, 365
Athene (see also Pallas Athene, and Baldur, 368
Minerva), 9, 24, 44, 48, 49, 51, 52, Battle, Van of, 103
67, 82, 88, 89, 90, 94, 96, 97, 99, Battus, 135
100, 101, 103, 122, 137, 148, 175, Baucis (see also Philemon), 39
198, 209, 214, 219, 236, 237, 241, Belns, 240, 255
244, 246, 248, 252, 266, 257, 270, Bellerophon, 98, 186, 232, 250, 251,
285, 297, 299, 304, 310, 314, 325, 252, 253, 283
338, 344, 345, 349, 350, 353, 386, Belleros, 252
399, 400 Bellona (see also Enyo), 214
Athens, 6, 35, 42, 55, 64, 74, 83, 100, Bellonarii, 215
122, 123, 131, 141, 175, 190, 195, Berecynthia, 33
197, 198, 199, 208, 213, 272, 276, Bhavani, 391
303, 304, 305, 306, 314, 349 Bias, 243
Athor, 399, 400 Bifraust, 359
Athos, 185 Bifrons, 147
Atlas, 132, 171, 173, 174, 245, 294, Bifrost, 368
295 Boeotia, 50, 54, 55, 175, 190, 197, 256
Atli, 375 Bor, 358
412
INDEX.
Boreas (see also Wind Gods), 145,
183, 184, 185, 186, 218, 224, 272,
292, 310, 312
BorehUd, 373
Bori, 358
Bragi, 360, 368, 369
Brahm, 388, 389, 391
Brahma, 388, 389, 391, 396
Brah manic mythology, 378, 388
Brahmin, 360
Branchidae, 110
Brauronia. 123
Breidablick, 358, 365
Briareus, 26
Brisei^ 200, 337, 338
Britonartis, 121
Bromius, 128
Brono, 365
Brontes, 26
Bronze age. 45, 140
Brynhild, 366, 374, 401
Bubastis, 395, 399
Buddha, 393
Buddhism, 378
Burgundy, 283
Busiris, 295, 298
Byzigi, 103
Cacus, 293
Cadmeia, 254
Cadmus, 6, 129, 164, 176, 254, 256,
257, 258, 310,*325
Cadmilus, 137
Caeneus, 264
Caesar, Julius, 226
Calais, 218, 310
Calauria, 55
Calchas, 332, 333, 338
Calliope (see also Muses), 177, 179,
195, 266
Callirrhoe, 170, 203, 292
Calliste, 120
Callisto, 122
Calydon, 82, 300, 307. 308
Calydonian boar, 120, 307
Calydonian hunt, 82, 127
Calymna, 185
Calypso, 170, 352
Cambyses, 404
Campania, 89, 110
Campus Martins, 56
Campus Sceleratus, 80
Canens, 153
Capaneus, 317, 320, 322
Capitol, Rome, 94, 101 124, 203
Capitoline Hill, 33
Capitoline Museum, 31
Cappadocia, 248
( lapua, Venus, 96
Caria, 47, 48
Carneia, 106
Cameius, 106
Carpo, 142
Carthage, 91
Casmilus, 137
Castalia, 175
Castor (see also Pollux), 154, 258,
308, 310, 326, 327, 329
Cassandra, 110, 326, 344, 347, 348
Cassiopea, 245
Cattle of Geryon, 292
Caucasus, 88, 236, 295, 298
Cecropia, 270
Cecrops, 185, 269, 270, 271, 272
Celaeno 218
Celeus, 70
Centaur, 263, 264, 287, 288, 302, 306,
309, 332
Centimani, 26
Cenubis, 396
Cephalus (see also Procris), 186, 187,
188, 272
Cepheus, 245, 246, 248, 300
Cephissus, 168, 173
Ceraunos, 365
Cerberus. 60, 64, 65, 283,295, 296,
297, 408
Ceres (see also Demeter), 23, 28, 33,
40, 59, 65, 66, 69, 71, 75, 405
Cerigo, 91
Certch, 221
Cercyon, 303
Ceryneia, 288
Ceryneian stag, 286, 288, 297
Ceryx, 270
Ceto, 219,221
Chalkeia, 88
Chaos, 20, 30, 190, 221
Charis, 24, 89
Charites (see also Graces), 40, 49,
51, 92, 143, 181, 197
Charitesia, 199
Charlemagne, 356
Charles's Wain, 362
Charon, 60, 134
Chimaera, 252, 253
INDEX.
413
Chiron (see also Centaur), 203, 264,
265, 288, 309, 332, 333
Chloris (see also Flora), 145, 185
Christ, 43, 70, 364
Christianity, 356
Chrysaor, 245, 292, 373
Chryse, 336
Chryseis, 336, 338
Chryses, 336, 337
Chrysippus, 279
Cicero, 76
Cilicia, 240
Cilix, 255
Circe, 153, 352, 353
Cithaeron, 170, 260, 261, 283
Cithaeronian, 170
Cleitus, 186
Cleta, 198
Cleverness, 39, 40
Clio (see also Muses), 176, 178
Clotho, 212
Clytaemnestra, 216, 217, 333, 334,
348
Clytius, 44
Cnidus, 75, 91, 96
Cnoupis, 396
Cocalus, 277
Cocytus, 61
Coeus, 26
Colchis, 218, 232, 310, 311, 313, 314,
315
CoUine Gates, 94
Colonus, 217,320
Colophon, 110
Colossus, Khodes, 43
Comana, 214
Compitalia, 227
Comus, 156
Copo, 109
Cora (see also Persephone), 65
Corinth, 6, 50, 55, 63, 91, 94, 122,
165, 242, 249, 250, 251, 261, 303,
314, 315
Corinthian heroes, 249, 251, 254
Coronides, 203
Coronis, 203
Corybantes, 34
Cos, 44, 299
Cottus, 26
Cotyttia, 131
Creation, 357
Creation of man, 233
Creon, 319, 320, 322, 323
Crius, 26
Cretan Bull, 290, 297
Crete, 2, 29, 30, 31, 47, 50, 70, 108.
121, 131, 165, 190, 197, 270, 272,
274, 277, 304, 306, 329
Creusa, 272, 314
Crommyon, 303
Cronia, 30
Cronides, 37, 38
Cronion, 37
Cronus, 16, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31,
32, 33, 37, 39, 44, 51, 59, 62, 69,
77, 156, 217, 231, 358, 399, 400
Cumae, 60, 110, 293
Cumaean Sibyl, 1 10
Cupid (see also Eros), 92, 189, 191,
192, 193, 194, 225
Cupido, 189, 194
Curetes, 29, 34
Cybebe, 33
C^bela, 33
Cybele, 33, 35, 149, 154, 158
Cyclopes, 20, 26, 30, 54, 114, 350, 351,
352
Cycnus, 82, 117
Cyllene, Mount, 134
C^rllenius, 134
Q^parissus, 157
Cypselus, 224
Cythera, 91, 94
Cytherea, 91
Cyrene, 106, 298
Cyprus, 91, 92, 94, 95
Cyzicus, 35, 69, 312
Daedalus, 275, 276, 277
Daemons (see also Genii), 225, 231,
249
Damastes (Procrustes), 303
Danae, 243, 244, 246
Danaid, 241
Danaides, 63, 64, 242
Danaus, 53, 63, 240, 241
Daphne, 122
Daphnephoria, 109
Dardanus, 203
Darkness, 216
Dawn, 368, 382, 386
Daure, 368
Day, 222
Death, 222, 225
Deianeira, 300, 301, 302, 308, 374,
375
Deidamia, 264, 331
414 lif.
DeimoB, 83
Deino, 221
Deiphobe, 110
DeipbobuB, 345
BeUa, 112
DeloH, 88,109,112,306
Delphi, 13, 15, 29, 53, 101, 110, 111.
112, 113, 140, 243, 255, 256, 272)
283, 300, 348
Delphinm, 108
Delphinion, 108
DelphiDius, 108
Demeter (see also Ceres), 5, 9, 23,
28, 33, 40, 54, 59, 65, 66, 69, 70.
71, 7^ 73, 74, 75, 77, 132, 165,
171,195,221,399,405,407
Demigodg or Heroe8,228
Demosthenes, 1
Denmark, 356
Descent, 392
DeucAlion (see also Pvrrha ) , 47 , 233,
234,309
Deus, 868
Devas, S76
Dia (see also Hebe and Ganymeda),
199, 263
Diaoa (see also Artemis), 23, 40, 43,
118, 119, 123, 124, 125, 126, 127,
168
Dictjnoa, 121
Dictys, 244, 246
Didjmi, 110
Dii Manes, 227
Dike (see also Astraea), 46, 144, 21 3
Dindymene, 33
Dindymon, 35
DiodoruB, 406
Dlomedes. 8^ 102, 291, 342, 345, 347
Dione, 5, 40, 91,92
DioDeus, 263
Dionysiac, 131, 132, 268
Dionysus (see also Bacchus 1, IG, 40,
50. 53. 74, 76, 86, 87, 88, 90, 128,
130, 131, 132, 145, 148, 141), 150.
164, 155. 158, 169, 160, U3, 168,
171, 177, 194, 196, 197, 198, 229.
242, 257, 268, 279, 287, 305, 306,
320
Dioscuri (see also Castor and Pollui ],
Dirae (see also Erinya), 216
Dirce, 260. 290
Discordia (see also Erie). 214
Dissent, 378
IHthyrambuB, 128, 130
Dodona, 38, 91, 171
Dodonides, 171
Donar (see also Thor), 3<
Doorga, 370, 391
Dorians, 234, 273
Dpridea, 161, 162,171
DorU57,]62
Bread, 83
Dryades, 24, 170
Duty, 282
Dwarves, 358, 364, 370
Dyaus, 376, 379. 380, 381
Dynamene, 163
Dynaus, 368
Eakth, 25, 30,44, 64, 216, 224, 294
Echidna, 284, 285, 382, 408
Echion, 257
Echo (see also Narcissus), 172, 173
Edda, 357, 358. 366, 375
Egesta, 294
E^pt, 43, 240, 248, 270, 295, 394,
396
Egypt, myths, 394, 395
Egypt, pyramids, 43
Egypt, religion, 394
Eirene (see also Pai), 144, 145, 210,
211
Eleans, 84
Electra, 181, 218, 348
EleuBia, 6, 9, 70, 73, 74, 75, 76, 132,
195,271.303
Eleutherae, 260
Eleutho (see also llithyia), 121
Elfen, S70
Elfheim, 358
"lis, 14, 42, 43, 49, 55, 64, lOO, 121,
278, 279, 290
Elusinia, 74
Elnsinian mysteries, 58, 62, 69, 73,
74, 75, 76
Elves, 370
Elysian fields, 62
Elysium. 62, 224, 258
Emathion, 188
Embla, 368
Enagonios, 134
Enceladus. 44, 97
Endymion, 123
Enipeus, 310
Enyo. 214, 221
Enyalios, 214
INDEX.
415
Eos (see also Aurora), 120, 183, 185,
186, 188, 342, 343, 368, 386, 400
Eous,117
Epaphus, 116, 240
Epeios, 345
Ephesian Artemis, 124, 125, 127, 253
Ephesus, 35, 43, 124, 125, 126
Ephialtes, 44, 82, 238, 262
Ephyra, 289
Epicurus, 1
Epidaurus, 200, 204, 303
Epigone, 205,
Epigoni, 317, 323, 324
Epimelius, 138
Epimetheus, 236
Epirus, 38, 294
Epopeus, 260
Epoptae, 74
Erato (see also Muses), 163, 179, 180
Erebus, 20, 210, 213, 221
Erechtheum, 101, 103
Erechtheus, 271, 272, 302, 306
Ergane, 100
Erichthonius, 89, 98, 270, 271
Eridanus, 117
EriDs, 378
Erinys (see also Furies), 27, 54, 69,
213, 216, 217, 266, 348, 350
Eris (see also Discordia), 83, 214, 325
Eriphyle, 318
ErlkoDig, 370
Eros (see also Amor, Cupid, and
Psyche), 20, 22, 24, 92, 94, 95,
189, 190, 194, 197
Erotes, 194
Erotidia, 190
Erymanthian boar, 286, 297
Erymanthus, 286
Erytheia, 293
Erytheis, 175
Erysichthon, 71
Eryx, 294
Eteocles, 262, 321, 322
Euboea, 50, 55, 63, 123, 301
Euclid, 1
Euhemerism, 366
Eumenides (see also Erinys), 214,
216, 217, 320, 350
Eumolpus, 74, 76, 271
Eunomia, 144
Euneice, 163
Euneus, 312, 320
Euphrosyne, 198
Euploia, 95
Euripides, 1, 31, 225
Europa, 255, 274, 277, 290
Eurus, 183, 184, 186
Euryale, 219
Eurybia, 26
Eurydice, 65, 170, 266, 267, 269,365
Eurynome, 40, 86, 198, 216, 365
Euryphassa, 365
Eurypylus, 344
Eurystheus, 279, 282, 283, 286, 290,
292, 294, 295, 296, 298, 300, 306
Eurytion, 264, 293
Eurytus, 268, 284, 300
Euterpe (see also Muses), 178, 180
Excalibar, 373
Fafnir, 374
Fama (Pheme), 215
Farbanti, 369
Fate, 39, 162, 208, 210, 342, 343, 372
Father of the Tiber, 167
Fatua, 154
Fatui, 154
Fatum, 210
Fatuus (see also Faunus), 152, 153
Fauna, 153, 154, 158
Faunalia, 153
Fauni, 153, 155
Faunus, 152, 153, 154, 156
Fays, 155
Fenris, 368, 369, 383
Field of Mars, 84
Flora (see Chloris), 144, 145, 186
Forseti, 360
Fortuna (see also Tyche), 208, 212
Furiae (see also Erinys), 27, 216
Furies, 217, 219, 348, 349
Freija, 359, 362, 363
Freyr(Fro), 360, 366,367
Frigg (see also Freija), 362
Frost, 358, 359
Full, Fulla, 363
Gaea, 5, 20, 21, 25, 27, 28, 29, 30,
33, 89, 140, 154, 160, 161, 181, 215,
270
Galatea, 162
Galaxaure, 170
Galene, 163
Gamelia, 50
Games, 55, 64, 89, 111, 250, 279,303
Ganga, 391
416
INDEX.
Ganymeda (see also Hebe), 199,
202
Ganymedes, 200, 202, 203
Gardens of the Hesperides, 173
Gardens, Hanging, of Babylon, 43
Garuda, 390
Gaal, 293
Genii (see also Daemons), 225,
227
Genias, 225, 226
Gerda, 366
German Mythology, 356
Geryon, 292, 293, 294, 297
Geryon, Cattle of, 292
Geryoneus, 245, 292
Giants, 20, 27, 44, 54. 97, 100, 103,
160, 163, 215, 229, 262, 292, 293,
294, 298, 358, 359, 370
Gigantomachia, 31
Ginki, 357
Ginnunga-gap, 357
GioU, 359
Girdle of Hippolyte, 291, 292
Gladsheim, 360
Glance, 163, 314
Glaucopis, 100
Glaucus, 110, 250
Gmir, 370
Gods, River, 167, 402
Golden age, 44, 45, 140
Golden fleece, 313
Graces (see also Charites\ 40, 49,
51, 92, 143, 181, 194, 197, 198, 199,
214, 236
Gnossus, 272
Goldropf, 368
Gorgons, 219, 220, 221, 244, 246,
248
Gorgon's head, 246, 248
Gorgon Medusa, 97, 244 246, 247,
248, 251
Gorgophone, 97
Gortyn, 272, 276
Graeae, 221, 244
Gram, 373, 374
Great Dionysia, 1 31
Gredr, 367
Crreece 1
GudruA, 372, 374, 375
GuUtopr, 368
Gunnar, 366, 374
Gyes, Gyges, 26
Gyrton, 262
Hades (see also Pluto), 9, 37, 44,
51, 67. 68, 69, 60, 61, 6^ 65, 69,
70, 142, 216, 244, 249, 264, 284,
295, 296, 352, 358, 401
Haemon, 323
Haemus, 268
Halicamassus, 43
Halie, 163
Halimus, 72
Halirrhothius, 270
Haloa, 72
Hamadryad, 145
Hamadryades, 170
Hamund, 373
Hanging Gardens of Babylon, 43
Harmonia, 177, 257, 258, 325
Har-pi-chniti, 407
Harpies, 181, 218, 219, 289, 312
Harpocrates, 407
Hastinapur, 375
Heaven, 363
Heaven Tower, 359
Hebdomeius, 109
Hebe (see also Dia, and Ganymeda),
40, 51, 199, 200, 201, 202, 203, 301,
302
Hebrus, 268
Hecataoes, 395
Hecate, 44, 76, 154
Hecatombaeon, 42
Hecatoncheires, 26, 30
Hector, 82, 336, 338, 339, 340, 341,
342, 347
Hecuba, 324
Hegemone, 198
Heimdall, 360, 368
Hel, 359, 360, 870
Hela, 359
Helena, 213, 327, 329, 336,345, 347,
350
Helenus, 326, 344
Helgi, 362, 373
Heliades, 117
Helice, 55
Helicon, 175, 176, 197
Heligoland, 362
Heliopolis, 399, 400, 403
Helios (see also Phoebus Apollo,
and Sol), 52, 61, 83, 104, 114, 115,
116, 117, 118, 123, 128, 185, 186,
274, 288, 290, 292, 293, 313, 382,
399
Hellas, 326
Helle (and Phrixus), 310, 311
Hellen, 234, 309, 310
Hellenic, 234
Hellenpoal, 231, 311
Hemeni, 20, 221
Hephaeitus Isee also Vulcwi), 23,
24, 26, 40, 44, 49, 83, 85, 88. 87,
88, 89, 90, 92, 94, 95. 136. 233.
238, 257, 270, 277, 340, 342, 3114,
384,396
Hera (see also Juno), 5, 9,23, 24, 33,
40, 41, 44, 4M, 49, 50, 61, 62, S7,
81, 86, 87, 89, 90, 94, S7, 112, 121,
129, 130. 13B, 137, 143, 161, 172,
174, 181, 188, 199, 201,202,212.
21^^ 223, 239, 240, 241, 242, 243,
248, 249, 263, 264, 282, 283. 284,
285, 290, 292, 294, 297, 302, 310,
325, 326, 329, 377, 398
Hercules, 24, 40, 43, 44, 48, 49, 60,
54, 55, 56, 60, 64, 82, 97, 103, 111,
113, 1S7, 163, 175, 192, 202, 231,
232, 238. 239, 248, 249, 253, 266,
266, 278, 302, 332, 335, 336, 344,
345. 374, 381
Hermae, 138, 140
Hermaphroditos, 94
Hertuapollo, 148
Henuathene, 148
Hermes (see also Mercury), 10, 18,
23, -24, 39, 40, 61, 65, 111, 130,
132, 133, 134, 133, 137, 1,SM, 139.
140, 148, 149, 154, 168, 169, 170,
181, 182, 188, 192, 198, 209, 236,
238, 239, 240, 241, 244, 246, 258,
264, 269, 270, 232, 302, 340, 381,
404,407
Hermlone. 350
Herodotus, 1, 14,394
Heroee or Demigods, 228
Heroes, Younger Race of, 316
Herostratus, 126
Heree, 270, 271
Heslod, 16, 20, 38, 91. 177, 230, 231,
357,358
Hesione, 53, 56, 298
Hespera, 175
Hesperides, 173, 175, 2S3, 294, 295,
296
Heeperides, Apples of the, 173
Hesperides, Gardeoa of the, 294
Hesperis, 173
Heatia (see also Vesta),
EX. 417
Hilaeira, 327
Himera, 294
HimeroB, 92, 194
Himinbiorg, 358
Hindoo Mythology, 383, 3SS
Hindoo Reli^iou, 388
Hindoo Trinity, 388
Hindoos, 373
Hippis, 100
Hippo, 170
Hippocampi, 56
Hippocoontides, 300
Hippocrene, 176
Hippodamia, 200, 279
Hippo lochoB, 254
Hippolyte, 296, 306
Hippolyte, Girdle of, 291, 292
Hippoljtua, 94
HippoDouB, 317
Ilippntes, 182
Hiordis, 373
Hodr, 360, 365, 336
Homer, 1, 15, 21, 49, 62, 82,87,166,
177, 216, 252, 284. 316
Hoi>e, 237
Hor. 407
Hora (see also Flora), 144, 145
Horace, 56
Horae, 40, 49, 61, 92, 140, 142, 143,
181, 210, 236
HoratiuB Coccles, 355
Horses of Diomedes, 291, 296
Horos, 401,407
Hours (see also Home), 143
Hreavelgr, 370
Hrimthursen, 370
Hrungnir, 370
Humin. 361, 363
Hunding, 373
Huuland, 375
Hyacinthia, 106, 107
Hyacinthus, 106, 107
Hyades, 171
Hjas, 171
Hydra Learnean, 285. 287, 297
Hygea (see also Aesculapius), 205,
"'■% 207
B. 77, 78
Hialprek, 378
Hjlaenj (see also Pan), 150
Hylas, 312
Hymen, 94, 196, 196, 197
HymenaeoB, 196, 106
28, HyperboresiH, 100, Ul, SSft
I HyperioD, SS, W
418
INDEX.
Hypermnestra, 241, 242" •
Hvpnos (see also Somnos), 222, 223
Hypsipyle, 312, 320
Iberia, 293
Icarus, 131, 132. 275, 276, 277
Iceland, 356, 357
Icelus, 223
Idaean, 170
Ida, Mount, 29, 48, 325, 326, 327
Ida(Nymph), 29, 170
Idas, 308, 327
Idomeneus, 329, 347
Iduna, 368, 369
Iliad, 49, 52, 53, 89, 198, 202, 223,
230, 284, 289, 316, 372
Ihon (see also Troy), 332
Ilithyia, 60, 121
Illyria, 294
lUyrium, 258
Imbros, 137
Inachus, 239
India, 132, 150, 257. 295, 378, 380 381
Indian Bacchus, 132
Intelligence (see also Metis), 95
Indra. 365, 380, 381, 382, 384, 385,
388, 395
Ino, 164, 257, 310
Inuus, 150
lo, 50, 116, 136, 137, 138, 239, 243,
248
lobates, 242, 252
lolaus, 285, 286
lolcus, 262, 308, 309, 310, 311, 314
lole, 300, 302
Ion, 271, 272
lonians, 56,234, 271,304
Iphicles, 283
Iphigenia, 120, 333, 334, 335, 338,
349
Iphimedia, 238
Iphis, 317
Isander, 254
Isfeudyar, 366
Isis (see also Osiris), 56, 400, 402,
405, 406, 407
Ismene, 262
Iris, 49, 181,182, 302, 329
Iron Age, 46
Isthmian Festivals, 14, 15
Isthmian Games, 250, 303
Isthmus of Corinth, 55
Italy, 89, 106, 110, 204, 208
Itanus, 273
Ithaca, 330, 352 353
Itys, 271
Ivaldr, 370
Ixion, 62, 63, 64, 263, 264
Jaochus (see also Dionysus), 74, 76
Jamblichus, 396
Janitar (see also Dyaus), 379
Janus, 31, 146, 147, 148, 210
Japetus, 26, 235
Jardanus, 273
Jasion, 70
Jaso. 206
Jason, 264, 308, 309, 310, 311, 312,
313, 314, 315, 320
Jocasta, 261, 262, 318
Jotunheim, 358, 359
Julian Family, 92
Julius, 92
Julius Caesar, 226
Juno (see also Hera), 23, 28, 33, 40,
48, 51, 81, 94, 214, 325, 326, 329
Junones, 51
Jupiter (see also Zeus), 23, 25, 33,
36, 37, 38, 45, 47, 48, 81, 84, 146,
203
Justice (see also Themis), 40
Juventas (see also Hebe), 2(X), 203
Kali, 370, 391
Kalki Avatara, 393
Kali Yuga, 389, 391
Kamadeva, 391
Khem, 395, 397, 398
Khuns, 398
Krishna, 393
Kurma, 392
Kuvera, 391
Labdacus, 258, 260, 261, 271
Lacedaemon, 300, 308
Lachesis, 212
Lacinium, 50
Laconia, 121
Ladon (see also Hesperides), 72, 288
Ladon (Serpent), 175
Laertes, 330
Laius, 261, 262, 317
Lakshmi, 391
Lampetia, 117
INDEX.
419
Lampsacus, 35, 149
Laocoon, 346
Laodamia, 254
Laomedon, 54, 55, 105, 114, 298
Lapithae, 262, 263, 264
Lar, 226
Lara, 226
Lararium, 226
Lares, 226, 227
Larissa, 242, 246, 247
Larvae, 227
Latium, 146, 152
Latona (see also Leto), 40, 111, 112
Learchus, 310
Learnean Hydra, 285, 286, 287, 297
Leimonaides, 170
Lemnos, 86, 88, 89, 131, 137, 236, 238.
312, 320. 335, 345
Lemures, 227
Lenaea, 131
Lerna, 53, 241
Lesbos, 268, 342
Lethe, 61
Leto, (see also Latona), 40, 63, 76,
107, 111, 112, 115, 243
Leucippus, 327
Leucophryna, 127
Leucosia, 166
Leucothea, 164, 165, 257, 352
Liber, 75
Libera, 65, 75
Libitina, 69
Libya, 240, 245, 255, 294, 295
Lichas, 302
Ligea, 166
Limnades, 171
Limnaea, 123
Limoniades, 170
Linus, 282
Lips, 184
Litai, 216
Loeri, 69, 293
Loki, 365, 366, 369, 370
Lower World, 359
Lucifer, 185, 188
Lucian, 33
Lucina, 61, 400
Luna (see also Selene), 76, 118, 124,
128
Lupercalia, 153, 354
Lupercus, 150
Lutinus 'see also Priapus), 148
Lyaeus, 128
Lycia, 109, 242, 250, 252, 253, 278
Lycomedes, 306, 330
Lycius, 109
Lycurgus (King), 131, 320
Lycurgus (Legislator), 123, 274
Lycus, 260, 272
Lydia, 33, 158, 300
Lycaeus (Zeus), 292
Lynceus, 241, 242, 308, 327
Macedonia, 131, 294
Maehaon, 345
Maeander, 127
Maemacteria, 42
Maemactes (Zeus, 42
Maenades, 156, 268
Maenalian stag, 288
Magnesia, 35, 127
Mahabharata, 372, 375, 388
Mahadeva, 388
Maia, 40, 132, 154
Maiden of the Spring, 374
Man, Creation of, 233, 234, 235, 236,
237
Mandara, 392
Manes, 227
Marathon, 231, 290, 304
Mars (see also Ares), 23, 40, 49, 81,
82, 83, 84, 85, 94, 152, 214, 354,
385
Mars, Field of, 84
Mars' Hill, 83
Marspiter (Mars Pater), 84
Marsyas, 113, 114, 118
Maruts, 381, 385, 386
Mat, 400, 405
Mater turrita, 34
Matronalia, 51
Matsya, 392
Maut, 395, 398, 399
Mecone, 235
Mechanitus, 100
Medea, 278, 290, 303, 314, 315, 352
Medicean Venus, 95
Meditrina, 206
Meditrinalia, 206
Medusa, 54, 103, 219, 220, 244, 245,
246, 247, 248
Megaera, 27, 217
Megalesia, 35
Meganede, 290
Megapenthes, 247
Megara, 272
MeUichius (Zeus), 42
420
INDEX.
Melampus, 243
Melanion, 317
Meleager, 82, 120, 307, 308, 310
Melete, 177
Melia, 239
Melian Nymphs, 27
Melicertes, 165, 250, 310
Melobosis 170
Melos, 206
Melpomene (see Muses), 176, 179
Memnon, 87, 188, 342
Memphis, 396, 402, 404
MenelauS, 280, 328, 329, 345, 347,
350
Menoeceus, 261, 322
Menoetius, 293, 296, 332
Mercurius, 139
Mercury (see also Hermes), 16, 23,
39, 40, 61, 65, 111, 132, 133, 135,
139, 158, 169, 170, 181, 198, 209,
. 226,282
Melissa, 200
Merope, 249
Messene, 308
Messenia, 55, 106, 121
Metageitnia, 108
Methymna, 130
Metion, 272
Metis, 29, 39, 40, 95, 140
Midas, 35, 114, 115, 149
Midea, 279
Midgard, 358, 370
Miletus, 110
Milo, Venus of, 95
Mimir, 369
Minerva (see also Athene and Pallas
Athene), 23, 40, 79, 95, 96, 97, 98,
99, 100, 101, 102, 103, 198, 214, 325
Minos, 64, 121, 197, 232, 270, 274,
275, 276, 277, 278, 279, 290, 304,
306
Minotaurus, 108, 273, 276, 304
Minyae, 283
Miolnir, 385
Mneme, 177
Mnemosyne (see also Muses), 26, 40,
175, 180, 361
Mnevis (see Apis and Onuphis),
402
Moloch, 31, 272
Molorchus, 284, 285
Moera, 210, 342
Moerae (see also Parcae), 140, 210,
211, 212
Moeragetes, 212
Momus, 223
More&106
Mors (see also Thanatos), 224, 225
Mosychlus, 86, 88
Mu, 399, 400
Mumin, 361, 363
Munychia, 123
Musagetes, 111, 117, 177
Af usea 176
Muses,' 40. Ill, 143, 165, 166, 175,
176, 177, 178, 179, 180, 181, 194
197, 199, 201, 222, 257, 266, 268,
361
Muses, Mother of (see also Mnemo-
syne (Memory), 40, 175, 180
Muspelheim, 357, 358, 372
Mut (see also Isb), 398, 399
Mycenae, 240, 248, 279, 283, 286,
290, 291, 292, 293, 294, 348, 350
Myrmidons, 339
Myrtilus, 279
Mysia, 332
Mycale, 55
Myrrha, 94
Mystae, 74
Mimir, 369
Memory (Mnemosyne), 361
Moon (Selene), 24, 44
Morpheus (see also Oneiros), 223
Nagananda, 371
Naiades (see also Nymphs), 24, 171
Napaeae (Auloniades), 170
Narasingha, 392
Naravana, 389
Narcissus (see also Echo), 172, 173
Nastrand, 359
Nauplia, 55, 241
Nauplius (Poseidon), 241
Nausicaa, 353
Nausimedon, 241
Naxos, 53, 131, 305
Neith, 398, 399, 400
Neleus, 64, 310
Nemea, 284, 320
Nemean Games, 14, 15
Nemean Lion, 284^ 285, 297
Nemesia; 213
Nemesis, 213, 216
Neoptolemus, 331, 344, 345, 347
Neph, 395, 396, 400, 408
Nephele, 310
Nepte, 400
Nephthja, 400, 407
Neptune (see oka Poeeidon), 23, 28,
33. 37, 44. 49, 51, 52, 53, 64, 65,
66, 57, 96, 163, 164, 262
Naptnnus, 66
Nereides (see ttUo Njmpha), 161,
16^163,165, 171,245,250
Nereus (see also Nerades), 57, 160,
161, 162, 171, 293, 294, 382
Nesaee, 163
NessOB, 302
Nestor, 54, 329, 347
Neverits, 57
NibeluDgenlled, 372
NibluDgs, 366, 372
Niflbeim, 357, 359
Nike (see Victoria), 100, 209, 210
NUa,240
NUe God, 167, 403
Niobe, 107, 261, 278
NisoB, 272
Nomius, 108, 138
Noniri, 368
Nornen, 3T2
Norse Apollo. 360
Norsemen, 356
Norae Mythology, 356, 357, 368, 360,
365, 370, 373, 383, 396
Norse Phoebus, 356
Norse Stji, 359
Norway, 356
NotiiB (see Wind Gods), 183, 186
NoK (Night), 20, 221, 222
Num, 39^ 398
Nnma Pompilios. 79, 85, 147, 148
Nntpe, 400, 405
Nycteus. 260
Nymphae, 169
Nymphs, 24, 27. 54, 150, 168, 169,
170
Nyf», 130, 132, 160
Oc&Alns&s (see also Nymphs), 161,
170, 198, 209, 218, 292
Oceanus, 21. 26, 30. 57, 60, 61, 160,
161, 163, 170, 181, 187, 213, 223,
239, 293
October Horse, 84
Ocypete, 218
Odin, 358, 359, 360, 361. 362 363,
364, 365, 366, 367, 370. 373, 374
Odin's Wain, 362
102, 164, 166, 183, 330, 331,334,
342, 344, 345, 346, 347, 350, 353
Odyssey, 51, 83, 284, 316, 372
Oechalia, 268, 300
Oedipus, 261, 262, 318, 319, 320, 322,
323
Oeneua, 300, 307
Oenomaus, 83, 200, 279
Oenone, 374
Oeta,302
Ogres, 385
Oiai, 241
Oicles, 298, 318
Olympia, 9, 14, 42, 43, 45, 46, 47, 49,
50, 64, 95, 144, 279
Olympiads, 14,43, 55, 100
Olympian Games, 56, 279
Olympus, 6, 9, 20, 23, 24, 30, 36, 44,
46, 46, 49, 65, 77, 83. 80, 87, 88,
90, 95, 114, 140, 142, 175, 176, 181,
190, 198, 200, 202, 203, 204, 216,
238, 238, 254, 257, 262, 268, 282,
284, 302, 342, 382, 399
Omphale, 299, 300
Oneiropompoa, 134
Oueiroa (see also Morphmu). 223
Onuphis (see also Apis), 403
Ophellea, 320
<.)p8, 32, 154
Orchomenus, 197, 283
Oreades (see Nymphs), 24, 150,
S,349,
170
Orestes, 122, 216, 217, 33
350
Orion, 120, 186
Orithyia, 184, 186, 272
Orkneys, 361
Orpheus (see Earydice), 60, 65, 166,
170, 258, 266, 267, 268, 269, 310
Orthia, 122
Orthosis, 122
Oschophoria, 306
Osirian Diyinities, 396, 400
Osiris (see Isia and Serapis), 395,
400, 401, 402, 403, 404, 407,
Othrys, 30
Otricoli (Zeus), 47
Otua, 82, 238, 262
Ovid, 146
422
INDEX.
Palaemon, 165
Palamedes, 137, 241, 330, 333
Palatine Hill, 114, 124, 364
Pales, 158
Palilia, 158, 354
Palladium, 79, 85, 102, 103, 344,
345,346
Palladium of Freedom, 103
Pallantides, 304
Pallas Athene (see Athene^ 23, 40,
79, 81, 95, 96, 97, 99, 100, 101 , 102,
103, 214, 344
Pan, 114, 115, 148, 149, 150, 151,
152, 153, 158, 159, 170, 172, 173,
397
Panathenaea, 100, 306
Panathenaic Games, 89, 270
Pandareus, 219
Pandion, 271, 272
Pandora, 235, 236, 237
Pandrosos, 270
Panes, 153, 155
Panisci, 151, 153, 155
Panope, 162
Panoplis, 398
Pantheon, 395
Paphus, 94, 95
Parcae (see also Moerae), 140, 208,
210 212 308
Paris,' 51, 94, 140, 325, 326, 327, 328,
329, 343, 345, 374
Parnassus, 47, 175, 176, 234
Parthenia, 50
Parthenon, 24, 57, 100, 103, 128
Parthenopaeus, 82, 317
Parthenope, 166
Parthenos, 100
Pasiphae, 274, 276, 290
Pasithea, 163 198
Patroclus, 231, 332, 337, 338, 339,
340, 341
Paul, St., 70, 126
Pausanius, 24, 31, 43, 224
Pax (see also Eirene), 210, 211
Pedasus, 336
Pegasus, 54, 98, 169, 171, 186, 188,
219, 245, 250, 251, 253
Pegasus, Medusa, 245
Peirene, 249, 251
Peitho, 24, 92, 199
Pelagia, 56
Pelasgic, 234
Peleus, 141, 162, 177, 214, 265. 298,
308, 310, 325, 330
Peliades, 170
Pelias, 54, 309. 310, 314
Pelion, 170, 203, 238, 264, 288
Peloponessus, 55, 204 234, 290
Pelops, 278, 279, 302
Penates, 226
Penelope, 330, 353
Peneus, 6, 168, 290
Penthesilea, 341
Pentheus, 131,257
Pephredo, 221
Periander, 200
Pericles, 1
Periclymenus, 299
Periphates, 303
Perkunes, 365
Perseis, 274, 313
Persephone (see also Proserpina,
Cora), 16, 40, 59, 60, 64, 65, 66,
67, 68, 69, 70, 73, 74, 75, 92, 107,
142, 165, 171, 194, 216, 249, 264,
266, 306. 401, 405
Perseus, 97, 103, 219, 221, 232, 243,
244, 245, 246, 247, 248, 251, 282,
283
Persephoneia, 65
Perses, 76, 248
Persians, 56, 100, 110, 248
Perune. 365
Pessinus, 34, 35
Phaeacians, 353
Phaedra, 275, 306
Phaenna, 198
Phaestus, 274, 277
Phaethon, 116, 117, 290
Phaethusa, 117
Phantasus, 223
Pharaoh, 400
Pheme (see also Fama), 215
Pherae, 114, 308
Pherephatta, 76
Pherusa, 163
Phidias, 1, 4, 24, 43, 50, 84, 95, 99,
103, 190
Philammon, 268
Philemon (and Baucis), 39
Philippus, 64
Philoctetes, 278, 302, 335, 345, 347
Philomela, 271
Phineus, 218, 246, 289, 312
Phlegon, 117
Phlegraean, 293
Phlius, 199, 200, 202
Phobetor, 223
I'hnboB (Alarm), 83
Phoebe, 26, 327
PhoebuH Apollo (see also Belios and
Sol), 104, 105, 106. 107, 108, 109,
110, 111, lia, 113, 114, 115, 116,
117, 1 2a
Plioenieians, 90, 81, 240, 273
Phoenir. 255, 274
Pholoe, 287
Pholufi, 287, 388
Phorcj-s, 65. 219; 221
Phoronens, 234, 239
Phrsh. 400
PhriiuH (and Helle). 310, 311
PhrygU, 33, 35, 39, 63, 131, 168,
201, 278
Phfliia, 325
Pi (lU), 400
PIcumauB. 153, 154
Picus, IM, IM
Pieria, 175, 266, 268
Pierides, 175
PieruB. 175
Pilumnus, 153, 134
Pimpla, Pimplea, 175
Pindar, 1, 3, 74. 198
Piudufl, 176
Piraeus, 184
Pirilhous, 263, 264, 296, 306, 310
Pisander, 284
PUIkj Siindn), 199
Plataeaj 31, 231
PUto, 1
Pleasure, 282
Pleiades (see also Nymphs), 171,
Pleione, 171
J'lelaure, 170
l-lutarch, 406
Pluto (see also Hades), Ifi, 23.
33, 37, 44, 57, 58, 59, 60, 61, 62,
63, 64, 67, 69, 135, 165, 204, 249,
296
Plalon (Pluto), 58
Plulon-Hades, 64
Plutua, 71, 145
Podarces (Priamus), 298
Podarge, 218
Poena. 213
Poeas, 278
Polias, 100, 270
Pollux (see Castor, Polydeaoes, and
DioBciiri), 154, 268, 308, 310, 312,
327, 328, 329
Polybotea, 44
Poiybus, 261
PoljclitUB, 50, 51
Poljcrates. 50
Polydectes, 244, 246, 283
PolydeDceB (see Castor and Pollux),
Polyidus, 252
Polymna, ISO
Folynices, 262, 317, 318, 321. 323
Polvphemua, 54, 350, 361, 362
Folyphonle, 94
Polytheism, 5
Pomona (see also Yertutonns), 145,
153
Pontifex Maximus, 79
I'onliiis, 250
Pontus, 20,161,248
Porphyrion, 44
Poseidon (see also Neptune), 9, 15,
23, 24, 28, 33, 37, 44, 49, 51, 52,
53, 54, 55, 56, 57, 59, 64, 72, 76.
78, 84, 91, 95, 98, 103, 114, 129,
136, 161, 162, 163, 164, 171, 183,
219, 240, 241, 245, 249, 250, 252,
2r>.\ 258, 262, 264, 270, 276, 279,
290, 294, 316, 360, 351, 362, 358,
382
Poseidon Nauplins, 241
Polameidea (see also Nymphs), 171
Potamitt, 123
Pothoa, 92. 194
PotlFhar 252
,301
Priierestc -lO'J
Prama, 393
Praxiteles, 1, 22, 31, 61. 95. 132, 191
Priam, 336, 340, :M4, 346, 347
Priamus, 298, 324
Priapue, H8, 398
Prithivi, 392
Procles, 200
Procne, 271
Procria(aeeCephaln8),187, 188, 272
Procrastes, 303
ProdicuB, 281
Proetna, 242, 243,248, 252
Promachos (Van of Battle), 103
424
INDEX.
Prometheus, 88, 89, 90. 96, 232, 233,
236, 236, 237, 238, 239, 266, 295,
298
Propootis, 69
Proserpina (see also Persephone),
40, 64, 66, 66, 67, 69, 92, 136
Proteus, 161
Prymno, 170
Psyche (see also Amor, Cupid, and
Eros), 189, 191, 193, 194
Psychopompos, 61, 134, 407
Pthah, 395, 396, 400
Ptolemy Philadelphus, 406
Punic Wars, 35, 111, 148
Pyanepsia, 306
Pygmalion, 92
Pygmies, 295
Pylades, 348, 349
Pylos, 65, 64, 134, 299, 329
Pylus, 272
Pyramids, Egypt, 43
Pyriphlegethon, 61
Pyroses, 117
Pyrrha, 47, 233, 234
Pythagoras, 13
Pythia, 109
Pythian Festivals, 14
Pythian Games, 111
Pythius, 113
Pytho, 112
Python, 104, 111, 113, 229
QuoASiB, 383
Ra, 399j 400, 407
Rainbow, 359
Rakshasas, 382
Kama, 393
Ramayana, 372, 393
Ranno, 398
Keate, 84
Regin, 374
Reifriesen, 370
Reimthursen, 357
Remus, 81, 84, 354
Rerir, 372
Rhadamanthus, 64, 274, 278, 282
RhamnuSj 213
Rhanmusia^ 213
Rhea (see also Cybele\ 26, 28, 29,
31, 33, 34, 35, 47, 59, 69, 77, 158,
159, 400, 402
Bhea SUvia, 81
Rhegium, 293
Rhine, 375
Rhodes, 37, 106, 166
Rhodes, Colossus at, 43
Rhodia (Nymphs), 170
Rhodope, 268
Rhoetus, 44
Rigveda, 380, 382, 384
Rime, 357
River Gods, 167
Rome, 48, 66, 81, 84, 89, 102, 110,
111, 114, 148, 203, 204, 210, 213,
214, 293, 354
Romulus, 81, 84, 89, 147, 282, 354
Sabaeism, 400
Sabazia, 131
Sabines, 147
Saecular Games, 64
Saga, 361, 372, 374, 376
Sais, 399
Saivas, 388
Salacia, 67
Salamis, 66, 100, 110
Salii, 86
Samos, 60, 51, 65, 190
Samothrace, 70, 137
Sanscrit, 376
Santorin, 86
Saranyu, 378
Saraswati, 389, 390
Sardis,36
Sardonic Laughter, 278
Saronic Gulf, 77
Sarpedon, 274, 278
Sati, 395, 398, 408
Saturn (see also Saturn us), 31, 32,
33, 145, 146, 157
Saturnalia, 30, 32, 33, 227
Satumia, 31
Satumus, 16, 27, 31, 32, 152, 153
Satyavrata, 392
Satyrisci, 166
Satyrs (see also Sileni), 132, 156, 166,
158, 159, 160, 169, 170, 240, 241,
260
Sauroctonos, 118
Savitar, 383
Saxnot, 368
Scandinavia, 366
Sceleratus Campus, 80
Sciron, 303
INDEX.
425
Scopas, 191
Scylla, 352
Scyros, 55, 330, 331, 344
Scythia, 295
Seb, 400, 401, 402
Selene (see also Laoa), 24, 76, 118,
123, 128, 185
Selinus, 219, 248
Selli, 38
Semele, 40, 50, 129, 130, 164, 165,
257
Semnae (see also Erinys), 216
Serapis (see also Osiris), 404, 405
ISeriphus, 244, 245, 246
Servius TulUus, 81, 124, 127, 203
Seth, 400
Seven Wonders of Ancient World,
43
Sibylline Books, 110
Sibylline Fates, 35
Sicily, 89, 91
Sicyon, 106, 235, 243, 260, 318
Sidon, 274
Siegfried, 64, 283
Siggeir, 373
Sigi, 372
Sigmund, 366, 373
Sigmund Sigfusson, 357
Signy, 373
Sigurd, 366, 373, 374, 375
Sileni (see Satyrs^ 90, 132, 155, 158
Silenus (see also Sileni), 130, 132,
158, 159, 160
Silvanus, 155, 156, 157
Silver Age, 44
Sinis, 303
Sinon, 346, 347
Sinope, 405
Sintians, 86
Sirens, 69, 165, 166, 352
Sirius, 120
Sisyphus, 62, 63, 64, 249, 250
Siva, 388, 391
Skirnir, 366
Sleep. 222, 223, 224
Sleipnir, 359
Smyrna, 35, 213, 214
Snowland, 356, 357
Socrates, 1, 15, 205
Sol (see also Helios), 104, 114
Solar Myth, 372, 374, 395
Solymi, 253
Soma, 383, 384, 386
Somnus (see also Hypnos), 222
Sophocles, 1, 262, 375
Soteira, 100
Sparta, 84, 94, 102, 106, 107, 122,
175, 190, 197, 198, 213, 280, 328
Spartae, 256, 257 .
Sphinx, 261, 262 ^
Sterility, 402
Steropes, 26
Stesi^orus, 284
Stheino, 219
Stheneboea, 242, 262
Sthenelus, 282
Strymon, 268
Stymphalian Birds, 288, 297
Stymphalus, 288
Styx, 60, 116, 130, 181, 359
Styx (Nymph), 209
Suada, 199
Suadela, 92, 199
Sudri, 358
Sulla, 111
Sun, 24, 44, 83, 383
Sunium, Cape, 103
Suovetaurilia, 84
Surtr, 371
Surya, 382, 388
Sweden, 356
Sybaris, 106
Symplegades, 312, 313
Syrinx, 149
Taenarum, 55, 295
Talos, 273, 277, 278
Tantalus, 62, 63, 261, 278
Taranis, 365
Tarentum, 106
Tarquin, 110
Tartarus, 16, 23, 24, 27. 30, 62, 63,
64, 76, 94, 161, 221, 222. 224, 242,
264, 279
Tauric Artemis, 122, 349
Taurus, 217, 334, 349
Taygete, 288
Tegea, 84, 300
Telamon, 298, 341
Teleia, 50
Telemachus, 330, 353
Telephassa, 255
Telephus, 332. 334, 344
Telesphorus, 207
Telesto (Nymphs), 170
Tempe, 6. 54. 262
Temple of Victory, 35
426
INDEX.
Tenedos, 165, 347
TeiMM. 55
Tereiu, 271
Terminalia, 148
Terminus, 148
Terpsichore (see Mosee). 180, 181
Tethys, 21, 26. 57, 160, 161, 163
Teutamias 246
Teutons. ;i55 .S56, 357
Thalaasius, 195
Thalia (see Muses), 177, 179, 198
Thallo, 142
Thalysia, 72
Thamyris, 268
Thanatos (see also Mors), 222, 224
Thargelia, 108
Thargelius, 108
Thasos, 131
Thaumas, 181, 218
Thebais, 316, 396, 398
Thebe, 260
Thebes. 6. 83. 109, 129, 130, 131,
141, 188, 232, 240, 254, 256, 257,
258, 200, 261, 262. 271, 283, 300,
316, 317, 318, 320, 322, 323
Theia, 185
Themis Hf Justice), 26,40, 112, 113,
140, 141, 142. 144, 212, 325
ThemistocieH 110
Theophane, 54
Theophania, 111
Theoxenia, HI
Thersites, :U2
TheseuLi, .SOG
Theseus, oo, 97, 100, 181, 199, 2,32,
•25:^. 2()4, Ti'^, 27<), '2S0, 290. 296,
1^02, :wr>, :iO 4, 305, 30G, 308, 310,
320, 328
Thesmoi, 72
Thesmophoria, 72
Thesmophorus, 72
Thespiae, 190, 283
Thespius, 283
Thessaly, 30, 35, 55, 63, 71, 246, 262,
308, 309, 325
Thetis, 23, 49, 86, 141,161,170,177,
279, 330, 331 , 338, 340, 342, 344
Thia, 26
Thiassi, 370
Thoe, 163
Thor, 359, 360, 363, 364, 369, 370,
380, 385
Thoth, 401, 407, 408
Thrace, 84, 131, 255, 266, 268, 271
Thucydides, 1
Thyene, 171
Thyestes, 279, 280
Tiber, 204
Tiber, Father, 167
Tiresias, 61, 322, 362
Tiryns, 242. 247
Tisiphone, 27, 217
Titaea, 174
Titan Ooeanus, 39
Titanomachia} 31, 44
Titans, 20, 24, 26, 27, 30, 33, 39, 43,
44, 51, 76, 140, 150,160,161, 175,
180, 186, 229, 236, 262
Tithonus, 187, 188, 342
Tityus, 63, 229
Tower of Winds, 184
Triformb, 77
Trimurti, 388
Trinacia, 115, 352
Trinity. 398, 399
Triptolemus, 70, 73, 76, 76
Tritogeneia, 95, 96
Triton, 163, 164, 166
Tritonia, 95, 96
Tritonis, 96
Trivia, 77
Troezen, 55, 141, 175, 302, 303
Troilus, 336
Trojan War, 102, 108, 200, 298, 324
Trojans, 49, 55, 82
Trollweiber, 372
Tro8,203
Troy (see also llion), 54, 79, 98, 102,
120, 203, 232, 258, 280, 299, 316,
324, 326, 329, :«1, 3.S4, 335. 336,
338, 340, 341, 342, 344, 345, 346,
350 352
Tyche (see also Fortuna), 208, 212
Tydeus, 318, 320, 342
Tyndareus, 300, 328
Typho, 395, 401, 402
Typhon, 183, 284, 285, 407
Tyrrhenian, 131
Ullr, 360
Ulysseus (see Odysseus), 330, 331, 373
Urania ( see Themis and Muses), 94,
140, 178, 179
Uranus, 16, 20, 25, 26, 27, 28, 31 , 33,
44, 91, 140, 160, 177, 190, 379
Ushas, 368, 386, 387, 400
Usijas, 384
Vaishnavas, 388, 390
Wegloin, 383
Valsskialf, 359
Western Oceanus, 223
Valerius Publkola, 64
Westri, 358
Vali, 360
Will, 358
Vftlkjrien, 372
Wind Gods, 183
Valkyrior, 371
Winds, Tower of, 184
Van of Battle, 103
Woden, 360, 396
Varaha, 392
Wuotau, 360, 396
Varuna, 379, 380. 384, 385
Vatican, 117, 346
Vayu, 384, 385, 388
XuTHUS, 272
Ve,360
Vedas, 8, 376, 385, 389
YooDBAstL, 359, 369
Vedic Mythology, 376, 378, 379
Ymir, 357, 358
Vedism, 378
Veneralia, 94
Venilia, 57
Zend A VEST A, 358
Venus (see also Aphrodite), 23, 40,
Zephyrus (see also Wind Oods), 107,
83, 85, 90, 93, 94, 104. 198, 214,
145, 183, 184, 186, 186
223, 325
Zetes, 218, 310
Venus of Capua, 95
Vencs of Milo, 95
Zelhus, 258, 259, 260, 261, 232
Zeus (see also Jupiter). 34, 35. 30,
Venus, Victrix, 95
37, 38, 39, 40, 41, 42, 44, 45. 46,
Vergil, 56
47, 48, 49, 50. 51, 52. 63, 64, 55,
VertumnuB (see also Pomona), 145
56, 57, 59, 63, 64. 65. 76, 78, 81,
Vesta (see alw Heslia), 23, 28, 33,
83,86,87,91.92,95,97,100,109,
77, 78, 79, 80, 85, 158
111,114, 116,117,121,-122,129,
Vestal, 79
130,132,133,134,135, 136, 137,
Vestal Virgins, 81
Vestalia, 81
13S, 140, 141, 142, 143, 145, 149,
102, 163, 165, 170, 171, 173, 174,
Victoria (see also Nike), 209, 297
175,181,183, 186,187,190,198,
Victory, Temple of, 35
199, 200, 202, 203, 20^ 205. 2(S,
Vikings, 356
Vingolf, 358
209,210, 212,213, 215, 216,217,
225, 229, 231, 234, 235, 236, 239,
Vishnu, 365, 377, 384. 385, 388, 390,
241, 243, 248. 249, 254, 255, 257,
391,392,393
268, 260, 263, 264, 268, 27(^ 274,
Vithar, 360, 369
276,277, 278, 280,282, 283,284,
Volsung S-wa, 372, 374. 375
VoUungs, ^6, 372. 373
290, 292, 301, 311, 320, 322, 325.
327, 338. 340. 858, 360, 361, 362,
Vritra, 382, 384, 395
363, 364, 368, 376, 379. 380, 396
Vulcan (see also Hephaestus), 23, 26.
40, 44, 49, 83, 85, 87, 89, 92, 95,
Zens, LjcaeuB, 292
Zeua, Ombrios, ;J60
104,198,396
Zeus, Otricola, 47
Vulcanalia, 89
Zeus, Meliaohios, 47
Zeuxis, 1
Zin. 368
Walhalla, 358, 362, 371, 372
Zwerge, 370
We, 358
Zygi»,60
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