Week 3
Apollo & Artemis
Demeter and Persephone
Hermes
Dionysus
Apollo and Artemis
• Ca. 460 BCE Apollo
and Artemis avenging
Leto’s honor
ARTEMIS
• Daughter of ZEUS
and LETO
• Twin sister of
APOLLO
• Born on the island of
DELOS
The Lady of Animals
• Has lions in her
retinue
• Horns and skin of pray
hung on tree in honor
of Artemis
• Since Homer: a girl
NIOBE AND HER
CHILDREN
•
Leto dishonored in
Thebes: queen NIOBE
boasts to have borne seven
sons and seven daughters
• Apollo kills all sons;
Artemis all daughters
• Niobe turned to stone
Myths of Artemis 2
ACTEON
• Hunting, A. saw
Artemis in her bath
• She transformed him
into a stag
• His dogs tore him to
pieces
CALLISTO
Zeus, disguised as Artemis,
raped her friend Callisto
• Artemis expelled Callisto
• Callisto gave birth to
ARCAS
• Hera turned her into a bear
• Arcas almost killed his
mother
• Zeus transformed both
into constellations
ORION
• ORION tried to seduce
Artemis
• The goddess produced a
scorpion that killed him
OR
• Orion pursued the PLEIADES
• They were all transformed into
constellations (SIRIUS, Orion's
hunting dog, became the Dog
Star)
CHARACTERISTICS OF
ARTEMIS
• Vehement virgin with characteristics of a
fertility goddess
• Moon-goddess linked with the lunar cycle
and menstrual period
• Goddess of nature itself personifying its
pristine purity
Artemis: A Virgin Fertility
Goddess
HECATE an Artemis-like
figure
• Fertility goddess of the Underworld depicted with
a blazing torch
• Accompanied by fierce hounds
• Goddess of the crossroads
• Skilled in the arts of black magic
Hecate and the crossroads
• To the Romans Hecate
was “Trivia” of the
crossroads
• Received offerings of
food called Hecate's
suppers
DELOS: BIRTHPLACE OF
APOLLO
• In the hymn “To Delian
Apollo" there is no
mention of Artemis
• Apollo nursed on nectar
and ambrosia
miraculously becomes a
mighty god
• Curved bow and the lyre
become his attributes
• Prophecy to mortals his
domain
SANCTUARY OF APOLLO
AT DELPHI
• Apollo chose a place under Mt. PARNASSUS for
his oracle and temple.
• He slew a dragon named PYTHO
• Apollo given the epithet PYTHIAN, his
prophetess, PYTHIA
• Apollo from Lycia in Asia Minor
• Ephebos, kouros
• Phoibos = Fox-like
• Lykeios = wolf-like
The Omphalos
“The Navel" an archaic
stone shaped like an egg.
Explanations:
a) marks the center of the
world
b) marks the tomb of Python
c) Is the stone Cronus
swallowed instead of
Zeus
• Apollo sitting on the
Omphalos
• Silver tetradrachma
from 3rd BCE
Pythian Games
• From Apollo’s
sanctuary at Delphi
• Ca. 470 BCE
Theater in Delphi
APOLLO'S LOVES: SIBYL
• Title of the prophetess of Apollo
• The original Sibyl from Cumae in Italy was
pursued by Apollo
• When she rejected him, the god granted her
immortality without eternal youth
• She eventually to became only a voice
Apollo’s loves: CASSANDRA
• Daughter of the Trojan King Priam
• Agreed to give herself to Apollo and
received the gift of prophecy.
• Changed her mind
• Apollo made sure that her true prophecies
would never be believed
Apollo’s Loves: CYRENE
• Apollo fell in love with
her when he saw her
wrestling with a lion.
• He took her to the city in
Libya that would bear her
name.
• They had a son Aristaeus,
a keeper of bees.
Apollo’s Loves: DAPHNE 1
• “Laurel"
• Apollo offended Eros
• Eros sent a dull,
leaden arrow that
repels love at Daphne,
and a bright short
arrow at Apollo.
Apollo and Daphne 2
• Daphne vowed to remain a
virgin devoted to Artemis,
and fled Apollo
• When she reached the
waters of the Peneus (her
father) she was
transformed into a laurel
tree
Apollo’s Loves: HYACINTHUS
• Hyacinthus was wounded and killed while competing at
throwing discus with Apollo.
• Apollo caused a new flower, the hyacinth, to arise from
his blood.
Apollo, Hiacynthus and
Cyparissus
Apollo’s Loves: CORONIS
• CORONIS was pregnant
with Apollo’s child when
the raven saw her in the
arms of another lover
• The god shot her with one
of his arrows, but saved
the baby ASCLEPIUS
who became the god of
medicine
Apollo’s Musical contests:
MARSYAS
• The satyr Marsyas picked
up the flute invented by
Athena.
• He challenged Apollo to a
contest
• Apollo won and he
decided to flay Marsyas
alive
Apollo’s Musical Contests:
PAN
• Pan dared to engage in a contest with Apollo.
• TMOLUS the god of the mountain was the judge.
• He declared Apollo the victor, but MIDAS, the
king of Phrygia declared the verdict unjust.
• Apollo changed Midas’ ears into the ears of an
ass.
Apollo and Pan
THE NATURE OF APOLLO
•
•
•
•
God of shepherds, associated with music
God of medicine
God of the sun PHOEBUS Apollo "bright."
Symbol of classical restraint, of "Know thyself"
and "Nothing too much."
• Can bring enlightenment, atonement, truth, and a
new civic order of justice and is often contrasted
with Dionysus
Apollo
Apollo 11, 1961
Demeter and the Eleusinian
Mysteries
The Homeric Hymn to Demeter
Demeter and the abduction of
Persephone by Hades
Persephone: daughter
of
Demeter and Zeus
was
kidnapped by Hades
Demeter’s Grief
• Hecate heard
Persephone’s
screams
• The sun-god Helius
saw Hades
• Demeter suspects
Zeus
Demeter in Eleusis
• Daughters of KELEUS, and
METANEIRA invite her
• She refuses to taste food or
drink until IAMBE, with jests
and jokes caused her to smile
and laugh.
• She then accepted a drink called
KYKEON.
Baubo
Demeter the nurse of
Demophoon
• Attempts to make him
immortal through fire.
• When Metaneira
interrupts her Demeter
reveals her divinity.
• She then disappears
but promises to teach
her rites to the
inhabitants of Eleusis.
Demeter’s Anger
• Demeter causes a year
with no harvest.
• Zeus orders Hades to
release Persephone.
• Before leaving
Persephone eats a
pomegranate seed.
Final Compromise
• 1/3 third part of the
year below
• 2/3 with her mother
• Demeter restores
fertility
• establishes her
Eleusinian Mysteries
The Final Message of the Hymn
Happy is the one of
mortals on earth who has
seen these things. But
those who are uninitiated
into the holy rites …
never are destined to a
similar joy when they are
dead in the gloomy realm
below.”
The Greater Eleusinian Mysteries
The Greater Mysteries
• September and October
• Splendid procession between Athens and
Eleusis with "holy objects" carried by
priests and priestesses
• Sacrifices, prayers, and cleansing in the sea
The Eleusinian Procession
•
•
•
•
Ritual cleansing
Torches
Fasting and vigil
Hymns and
obscene jests
The Sacred Rites
• KYKEON the sacred
drink
• Dramatic performance
? vision of Afterlife
? religious purification
• The revelation of the
hiera, "sacred objects"
HADES
• Roman names: DIS,
PLUTO (both names
mean wealth)
• ORCUS by the
Romans
• God of death and
agricultural plenty
TARTARUS
• Place of punishment
• Name for Hades’
realm as a whole
• Erebus
- The darkness of
Tartarus
- Tartarus itself
Elysian Fields
• Elysium, the Elysian
Fields. Paradise in the
Underworld.
Three Judges
• MINOS
RHADAMANTHUS,
• and AEACUS
• Pass sentence on the
just and unjust souls
Charon
• The Ferryman
• Transports souls
across the river Styx,
or Acheron.
• He demands as fare
the coin that is buried
in the mouth of a
corpse
Hermes Psychopompus
• Hermes
Psychopompus
Hermes as "leader of
the soul" takes our
souls, after death, to
Charon.
Cerberus
• The Hound of
Hades
• Guards the realm
• Ferocious, with (at
least) three snarling
heads
The Furies
• ERINYES
• Born from Uranus’
blood
• Pitiless and just
avengers of crime,
especially murder and
blood-guilt within the
family
Dionysus (Bacchus)
God of Ecstasy
Satyrs making wine
THE BIRTH of Dionysus
• Zeus loved SEMELE, daughter of CADMUS
• Hera convinced Semele to trick Zeus into revealing
himself
• Semele was burned, but their unborn child was saved by
Zeus
• Dionysus was born from Zeus’ thigh and brought up by
nymphs and Semele's sister Ino on a mountain named Nysa
THE BACCHAE OF
EURIPIDES 1
• Dionysus comes to
Thebes where his
religion is repudiated
• The women of Thebes
become possessed by
frenzy (animal skins,
tambourines, with the
thyrsus) on Mt.
Cithaerion
THE BACCHAE OF
EURIPIDES 2
• Cadmus’ grandson
Pentheus is vehemently
opposed to the new
religion
• Deceived by Dionysus, he
participates in his rites
disguised as a woman
• He is discovered and torn
to pieces by the Bacchae
led by his mother AGAVE
Pentheus’ death
THE NATURE OF DIONYSUS
• God of vegetation
• God of wine
• Represents the
irrational in human
beings
• Dionysiac ecstasy,
MANIA, combines
the bestial and the
sublime
THE RELIGION OF
DIONYSUS
• Dionysus took possession of his
worshipers
• In a ceremony called
OMOPHAGY they ate raw
flesh of the sacrificial animal
• The congregation that engaged
in this ritual communion was
called THIASUS
Animal sacrifice: Nepal 1964
DIONYSUS’ FOLLOWERS
•
Female followers of D. called
MAENADS or BACCHAE are
women possessed by the god
•
These names are also given to the
mythological nymphs, spirits of
nature, in Dionysus' retinue
QuickTime™ and a
TIFF (Uncompressed) decompressor
are needed to see this picture.
DIONYSUS’ FOLLOWERS
•
SATYRS male counterparts of the
Maenads, part man and part animal,
with a horse's tail and ears and a
goat's beard and horns
•
SILENI are older satyrs, some of
whom are wise
DIONYSIAC PROPS
• Animal skins and
garlands
• THYRSUS = a pole
wreathed with ivy or
vine leaves, pointed at
the top to receive a
pinecone
DIONYSUS AND APOLLO
• Dionysus = unrestrained
freedom and passion
• Apollo = the lyre's
disciplined melody,
reason, and self-control.
• Friedrich Nietzche's study
of drama entitled The
Birth of Tragedy
emphasizes this contrast
as an essential feature of
Greek drama.
DIONYSUS-ZAGREUS
• Zeus mated with his daughter
Persephone, and she bore a son
ZAGREUS
• Hera incited the Titans to
dismember the child and devour
the pieces
• The heart of the child was
saved; and Dionysus was born
again, through Semele and
Zeus, as recounted above.
Dionysus
• Zeus in anger
destroyed the Titans
• From their ashes
mortals were born
• We inherit our bodies
from the Titans and
our souls from the
god they had devoured
DIONYSUS AND ARIADNE
• ARIADNE gave the hero
Theseus a thread by which he
could find his way out of the
labyrinth after killing the
Minotaur.
• He abandoned her on the island
of Naxos
• She was rescued by Bacchus,
who fell in love with her
ICARIUS
• Dionysus rewarded the
hospitality of
ICARIUS by giving
him the gift of wine
• The people who first
felt its effects thought
that they had been
poisoned and killed
Icarius
KING MIDAS OF PHRYGIA
• Silenus was captured and
brought before King
Midas who recognized
him and returned him to
the god.
• Dionysus promised to give
the king any gift that he
wished
• Midas asked for “golden
touch”
Poussin: Midas and Bacchus
The Homeric Hymn to Dionysus
• Pirates carried D. off on
their ship.
• The bonds miraculously
would not hold
• A vine entwined about the
mast and grew up to the
very top of the sail
• The god became a
terrifying lion
• The sailors leaped into the
sea and became dolphins
PAN
• God of shepherds and
of music
• Part man, with the
horns, ears, and legs of
a goat
• His father often
identified as Hermes
SYRINX
• Fled the advances of
Pan
• Was transformed into
a bed of marsh reeds
• Pan cut two of them,
fastened with wax, and
fashioned his own
musical instrument,
the pan-pipe
ECHO 1
• Ran away from Pan
• Spread such "panic"
among a group of
shepherds that they
tore her to pieces
• Only her voice
remained
ECHO 2
• Conspired with Zeus
to divert Hera’s
attention
• Was deprived of
speech
• Fell in love with
Narcissus
• Withered away
Hermes
God of Boundaries
Hermes
THE HOMERIC HYMN TO
HERMES
• Zeus loved MAIA luxurious cave, and
• She bore HERMES (MERCURY).
• This precocious baby was born at dawn, by
midday he was playing the lyre, and in the
evening he stole the cattle of Apollo.
Hermes Invents the Sevenstringed Lyre
• He used:
- a hollowed tortoise
shell
- reeds
- an ox's hide
- strings of sheep gut
Hermes Steals Apollo's Cattle
• At night, he cut off 50
cows from the herd
• He made them walk
backwards, their heads
facing him
• He walked straight
ahead, wearing sandals
of wicker that he had
woven to disguise his
tracks
Apollo Tracks Down Hermes
•
•
•
Apollo heard of a child driving a
herd backwards
The guessed the thief’s identity and
found Hermes in his cradle
He took the baby to the Mt.
Olympus, where he sought justice
from Zeus
The Reconciliation of Hermes
and Apollo
• Zeus laughed and ordered
Hermes to lead Apollo to
the cattle
• Hermes returns the cattle
• He shows the lyre to
Apollo and offers it to him
• Apollo gives Hermes a
golden staff and directs
him to three goddesses
who will teach him the art
of prophecy
Hermaphroditus
• Son of Hermes and Aphrodite
• The nymph of a spring
Salmacis fell in love with
young H.
• H. rejected her
• S. clung to H. when he was
swimming in the spring
• Their two bodies were joined
together
THE NATURE OF HERMES
• God of shepherds
• Patron of thieves and
business people
• Master of persuasion
• Psychopompus
• Messenger of the gods
• Archetypal trickster
ATTRIBUTES OF HERMES
• PETASUS a broad-brimmed
hat, sometimes winged
• Sandals often winged.
• CADUCEUS a herald's staff,
sometimes entwined with two
snakes
Herms
• Rectangular or square
pillars equipped with
male genitals and with
the head or bust of
Hermes on top.
• Brought fertility and
good luck