ANTHROPOMORPHIC:
The nature of the Olympian Gods
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Olympian gods
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• Idealized (im)mortals
endowed with
- physical beauty
- intense emotions
- superhuman powers
to:
* change shape
* become invisible
* fly
Divine anatomy
• ICHOR = divine blood
• NECTAR = divine drink
• AMBROSIA = divine food
Olympian Deities
• Twelve major deities
• Dwelling in splendid houses on Mt.
Olympus
• Worshiped by mortals in temples and
shrines
Chthonic Deities
(Gods of the Earth)
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• Associated with the
underworld and earth
• E.g.: Erinyes (Furies)
• (Hades is both an
Olympian and a
chthonic deity)
Nymphs
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Female spirits who animate aspects of nature
Not necessarily immortal
NAIADS inhabit waters
DRYADS inhabit trees
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FOURTEEN MAJOR GREEK
DEITIES
Zeus’ “Cabinet” = his immediate family
• 6 children of Cronus and Rhea (including
Zeus himself)
• 7 children of Zeus
• Aphrodite
Children of Cronus and Rhea
• The sky is the domain of ZEUS/JUPITER, the
supreme ruler of the gods.
• The sea is the domain of POSEIDON/NEPTUNE.
• The underworld belongs to HADES/MERCURY.
• HERA/JUNO is Zeus’ wife the queen of heaven.
• DEMETER/CERES and HESTIA/VESTA reign
on Earth, the first has the jurisdiction of the space
within the house, the second of the open space of
the Earth.
Children of Zeus
…and Hera
• HEPHAESTUS/VULCAN, metalworker of
the gods
• ARES/MARS, god of war
…and Leto
• APOLLO, god of arts, healing, disease
• ARTEMIS/DIANA, goddess of wilderness
More Children of Zeus
…and Metis
• ATHENA/MINERVA, goddess of wisdom and
domestic arts and crafts
…and Maia
• HERMES/MERCURY, god of cunning,
communicaton, business, and theives
…and Semele
• DIONYSUS/BACCHUS, god of wine, theatre,
and madness
The 12th Olympian:
APHRODITE/VENUS, goddess
of desire
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ZEUS AND HERA
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• ZEUS: god of the sky
• Representations: A
bearded man with a
scepter and a bolt of
lightening and thunder in
his hand.
• Often carries his shield,
the AEGIS
HERA: originally an earth
mother goddess.
• Usually accompanied by
IRIS goddess of rainbow
Sacred Marriage
• Sacred marriage
• A metope from a
temple in Selinunte
(Sicily)
• Hera loosens her veil in
front of the groom.
FATES
Personifications of Destiny
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Daughters of Zeus and Themis (or Night and Erebus)
CLOTHO: "spinner," spins out the thread of life.
LACHESIS: "apportioner," measures the thread.
ATROPOS: "inflexible," cuts the thread.
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Birth and Youth of
HEPHAESTUS
Version A
• Son of Hera alone
• Lame from birth
• Cast out of Olympus
by Hera
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Birth and Youth of
HEPHAESTUS
Version B
• Son of both Zeus and Hera
• Interfered in a quarrel
between parents on behalf
of Hera
• Hurled down from
Olympus by Zeus
• Landed on the island of
Lemnos, which became
his cult-place.
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“Adult” Life of Hephaestus
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• Restored to Olympus
• Married Aphrodite
• God of the forge and
its fire
• Assisted by the three
Cyclopes
• Created masterpieces
HEPHAESTUS, APHRODITE,
AND ARES
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• Ares and Aphrodite had an affair
• Hephaestus ensnared the lovers in a magical net
• He summoned other gods to witness the scene
A Digression: Life of Myth
Tintoretto
Vulcan surprises Venus and Mars
(Old Pinakotheka, Munic)
Tintoretto (1518-1594)
• True name: Jacopo
Robusti
• Lived in Venice
• Studied with Titian
• Wore a beard
Aphrodite’s Progeny
• BY ARES: Anteros, Deimos, Phobos,
Harmonia, (? +) Priapos, (?+ Eros)
• BY HERMES: Eros, Hermaphroditus
• BY ANCHISES: Aeneas
• BY ADONIS: ancestor figures of several
tribes
GANYMEDES
• Zeus kidnapped
GANYMEDES
• G. became cupbearer
to the gods
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9 MUSES: DAUGHTERS OF ZEUS
AND MNEMOSYNE
MNEMOSYNE= “Memory”
MUSES: Reminders: Goddesses of the arts.
• They live
- either in Pieria in northern Thessaly and are called the
PIERIDES
- or near the fountain Hippocrene on Mt. Helicon in Boeotia
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The domains of the Muses
• CALLIOPE: epic poetry
• CLIO: history, lyre
playing
• ERATO: love poetry
• EUTERPE: lyric poetry,
flute playing
• MELPOMENE: tragedy
and lyre playing
• POLYHYMNIA: sacred
music
• TERPSICHORE: choral
dancing
• THALIA: comedy
• URANIA: astronomy
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Poseidon and Sea Deities
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POSEIDON: anthropomorphic god of the sea
AMPHITRITE: Nereid, wife of Poseidon
PONTUS: “open sea” produced by Gaia
OCEANUS: the stream of Ocean
TRITON: son of Poseidon and Amphitrite
NEREUS: Old Man of the Sea 1
PROTEUS: Old Man of the Sea 2
TRITON
• Human above the waist, fish-shaped below
• Often blew on a conch shell and thus he was
known as the trumpeter of the sea.
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PROTEUS
• Pre-Olympian deity who became an
attendant or son of Poseidon and Amphitrite
• Old man of the sea who could foretell the
future and could also change his shape at
will (shape-shifter)
NEREUS
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• Old man of the sea
• Could foretell the future
and change his shape
• Son of Pontus and Gaia
• Fathered fifty daughters
called NEREIDS
• Among them THETIS,
GALATEA, and
AMPHITRITE
PELEUS AND THETIS
• Thetis was destined to
bear a son mightier than
his father, and so the gods
(specifically Zeus)
avoided her
• A man named Peleus
become her husband
• The wedding of Peleus
and Thetis was famous
(Eris and the apple… “to
the fairest”)
• They became the parents
of Achilles
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SCYLLA
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• Poseidon made
advances to SCYLLA
• Amphitrite threw
magic herbs into
Scylla's bathing place
• Scylla turned into a
vicious monster,
encircled with a ring
of dog's heads.
SCYLLA and CHARYBDIS
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CHARYBDIS
• Daughter of Poseidon and Gaia
• Drew in mountains of water and spewed them out again.
ATHENA GODDESS OF WISDOM,
WAR, AND WEAVING
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ATHENA
Her mother is Metis (“cunning”)
Born from the head of Zeus, her father
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APPEARANCE OF ATHENA
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• Often accompanied by
an owl or a snake
• Helmet, spear, and
shield or aegis with a
depiction of the head
of Medusa
• NIKE [nee'kay]=
”Victory"
THE CONTEST BETWEEN
ATHENA AND POSEIDON
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• Object: Control of
Athens and Attica
• Poseidon produces a
salt spring or a horse
• Athena creates an
olive tree and is
proclaimed the victor
THE PANATHENAEA OR
PANATHENAIC FESTIVAL
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• Annual festival
celebrating the
birthday of Athena
• Sacrifices and games
• Panathenaic amphoras
• Embroidered robe
(peplos)
THE PARTHENON AND ITS
SCULPTURE
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PARTHENON the great
temple to Athena
Parthenos on the
Acropolis of Athens
Athena Parthenos:
monumental statue of
Athena
PALLAS ATHENA
TRITOGENEIA
Linked with Triton, a
river-god
PALLAS
ATHENA AND ARACHNE
• ARACHNE challenged Athena to a weaving
contest
• Athena lost and turned her rival into a spider
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Aphrodite and Eros
THE DUALITY OF
APHRODITE (VENUS):
• Aphrodite Urania:
HEAVENLY, or
CELESTIAL,
APHRODITE of
philosophy and religion.
• Aphrodite Pandemos:
"Aphrodite of the People"
or "Common Aphrodite,"
the goddess of sex and the
procreation of children,
whose concerns are of the
body and not of the mind,
the spirit, or the soul.
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ATTENDANTS OF
APHRODITE
CHARITES: the Three
Graces
• feminine personifications
of charm and loveliness.
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HORAE (2 - 4): Hours or
Seasons
• Daughters of Zeus and
Themis
• Represent the attractive
attributes of the various
times/seasons of the year
PRIAPUS
• Son of Aphrodite,
personifies the
elemental, sexual side
of his mother's nature
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PYGMALION
• Pygmalion falls in
love with his own
creation, a sculpture of
a woman named
Galatea
• Aphrodite gives live to
the statue
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APHRODITE AND ADONIS
• Aphrodite’s love for
Adonis
• Adonis’s death
• PERSEPHONE also falls
in love with in Adonis
• They have to share:
Adonis will spend one part
of the year below with
Persephone and one part
in the upper world with
Aphrodite
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APHRODITE AND
ANCHISES
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• Aphrodite seduces the
Trojan Anchises by
tricking him into
believing that she was
a mortal
• AENEAS, son of
Aphrodite and
Anchises, becomes the
great hero of the
Romans
EROS
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• EROS 1 came out of
Chaos before the birth
of Aphrodite.
• EROS 2 the son of
Aphrodite and Ares