Mythology. Animism: sees spirits in everything in nature. Spirits are undefined and unnamed. Animistic religion is the earliest form going back as

ANCIENT GREEK RELIGIONMythology

ANCIENT GREEK RELIGION

Animism: sees spirits in everything in nature. Spirits are undefined and unnamed.

Animistic religion is the earliest form going back as far as Neanderthal (intentional burial, preparing the body for the afterlife) or possibly earlier.


In Greece, animism gave way to the Primordial deities, Gaia (earth) and Uranus (heaven/sky)

Gaia was the great mother of all: the primal Greek Mother Goddess; creator and giver of birth to the Earth and all the Universe; the heavenly gods, the Titans, and the Giants were born to her. The gods reigning over their classical pantheon were born from her union with Uranus (the sky), while the sea-gods were born from her union with Pontus (the sea). Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra.


Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth. According to Hesiod's Theogony, Uranus was conceived by Gaia alone, but other sources cite Aether as his father. Uranus and Gaia were the parents of the first generation of Titans, and the ancestors of most of the Greek gods, but no cult addressed directly to Uranus survived into Classical times, and Uranus does not appear among the usual themes of Greek painted pottery. Elemental Earth, Sky and Styx might be joined, however, in a solemn invocation in Homeric epic.


From the Primordial deities, the Titans developed. The Titans for the most part are representations of the forces of nature.

We will discuss the major twelve. 1. Mnemosyne was the personification of

memory in Greek mythology. A Titanide, or Titaness, she was the daughter of Uranus and Gaia, and the mother of the nine Muses by Zeus.


2. In Greek mythology, Tethys daughter of Uranus and Gaia, was an archaic Titaness and aquatic sea goddess, invoked in classical Greek poetry, but not venerated in cult.

3. Theia is also called Euryphaessa "wide-shining“. The name Theia alone means simply "goddess" or "divine"; Theia Euryphaessa (Θεία Εὐρυφάεσσα) brings overtones of extent and brightness. Her brother/consort is Hyperion, a Titan and god of the sun, and together they are the parents of Helios (the Sun), Selene (the Moon), and Eos (the Dawn).


4. Phoebe was traditionally associated with the moon (see Selene). Her consort was her brother Coeus, with whom she had two daughters, Leto, who bore Apollo and Artemis, and Asteria, a star-goddess who bore an only daughter Hecate. Given the meaning of her name and her association with the Delphic oracle, Phoebe was perhaps seen as the Titan goddess of prophecy and oracular intellect.


5. In early traditions, Rhea is known as "the mother of gods" and therefore is strongly associated with Gaia and Cybele, who have similar functions. The classical Greeks saw her as the mother of the Olympian goddesses and gods, but not as an Olympian goddess in her own right. The Romans identified her with Magna Mater (their form of Cybele), and the Goddess Ops.


6. Themis is described as "of good counsel", and is the personification of divine order, law, natural law and custom. Themis means "divine law" rather than human ordinance, literally "that which is put in place", from the Greek verb títhēmi (τίθημι), meaning "to put“.


7. Oceanus was the divine personification of the sea, an enormous river encircling the world. The Greeks saw the earth as a flat, round coin. Oceanus encircled the entire edge of the coin. Monsters lived close to the edge of Oceanus.

8. Hyperion, "The High-One" was, led by Cronus to overthrow Uranus and were themselves later overthrown by the Olympians. With his sister, Theia, Hyperion fathered Helios (Sun), Selene (Moon) and Eos (Dawn).


9. Coeus was the embodiment of the celestial axis around which the heavens revolve (in Latin he is called Polus). The etymology of Coeus' name provided several scholars the theory that Coeus was also the Titan god of intellect, who represented the inquisitive mind.


10. Cronos overthrew his father and ruled during the mythological Golden Age, until he was overthrown by his own son Zeus and imprisoned in Tartarus. He was usually depicted with a harpe, scythe or a sickle, which was the instrument he used to castrate and depose Uranus, his father. In Athens, on the twelfth day of the Attic month of Hekatombaion, a festival called Kronia was held in honor of Cronus to celebrate the harvest, suggesting that, as a result of his association with the virtuous Golden Age, Cronus continued to preside as a patron of harvest. Cronus was also identified in classical antiquity with the Roman deity Saturn.


11. Crius was the least individualized among the Titans. Mostly mentioned fighting in the Titanomachy (battle) where he was defeated with the other Titans and placed in Tartarus. Consorting with Eurybia, daughter of Earth (Gaia) and Sea (Pontus), he fathered Astraios (Dusk) and Pallas (Warcraft) as well as Perses (Destruction). The joining of Astraios with Eos, the Dawn, brought forth Eosphoros, the other Stars and the Winds.


12. Iapetus ("the Piercer") is the one Titan mentioned by Homer in the Iliad (8.478–81) as being in Tartarus with Cronus. He is a brother of Cronus, who ruled the world during the Golden Age. His name derives from the word iapto ("wound, pierce") and usually refers to a spear, implying that Iapetus may have been regarded as a god of craftsmanship, though scholars mostly describe him as the god of mortality.


As the Primordial deities gave way to the Titans (forces of nature), the Titans eventually were replaced by the Olympian gods and goddesses who represent human characteristics, development, and achievement. The Olympians may have been immortal, but they thought and acted like mortals. This phenomenon is referred to as Anthropomorphism– changing into mankind. Now the gods and goddesses look like humans (only larger and more powerful) and their likenesses become the major focus of Greek art.

We will focus on the 12 Olympians.


1. Zeus, Jupiter: King of the gods and ruler of Mount Olympus; god of the sky, lightning, thunder, law, order, justice. Youngest child of the Titans Cronus and Rhea. Symbols include the thunderbolt, eagle, oak tree, scepter, and scales. Brother and husband of Hera, although he had many lovers, also brother of Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, and Hestia.


2. Hera, Juno: Queen of the gods and the goddess of marriage and family. Symbols include the peacock, cuckoo, and cow. Youngest daughter of Cronus and Rhea. Wife and sister of Zeus. Being the goddess of marriage, she frequently tried to get revenge on Zeus' lovers and their children.


3. Poseidon, Neptune: God of the seas, earthquakes, and tidal wave. Symbols include the horse, bull, dolphin, and trident. Middle son of Cronus and Rhea. Brother of Zeus and Hades. Married to the Nereid Amphitrite, although, like most male Greek Gods, he had many lovers.


4. Demeter, Ceres: Goddess of fertility, agriculture, nature, and the seasons. Symbols include the poppy, wheat, torch, cornucopia, and pig. Middle daughter of Cronus and Rhea.


5. Athena, Minerva: Goddess of wisdom, reason, intelligent activity, literature, handicrafts and science, defense and strategic warfare (Just war). Symbols include the owl and the olive tree. Daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Metis, she rose from her father's head fully grown and in full battle armor after he swallowed her mother. Was one of the virgin goddesses.


6. Apollo, Apollo: God of light, prophecy, inspiration, poetry, music and arts, medicine and healing. Son of Zeus and Leto. Symbols include the sun, lyre, swan, and mouse. Twin brother of Artemis.

GREEK RELIGION

7. Artemis, Diana: Goddess of the hunt, virginity, archery, the moon, and all animals. Symbols include the moon, deer, hound, she-bear, snake, cypress tree, and bow and arrow. Daughter of Zeus and Leto and twin sister of Apollo. She is one of the virgin goddesses.


8. Ares, Mars: God of war, violence, and bloodshed. Symbols include the boar, serpent, dog, vulture, spear, and shield. Son of Zeus and Hera, all the other gods (except Aphrodite) despised him. His Latin name, Mars, gave us the word "martial."


9. Aphrodite, Venus: Goddess of love, beauty, and desire. Symbols include the dove, bird, apple, bee, swan, myrtle, and rose. Daughter of Zeus and the Oceanid Dione, or perhaps born from the sea foam after Uranus' “member” was dropped into the sea after being castrated by his youngest son, Cronus. Married to Hephaestus, although she had many adulterous affairs, most notably with Ares. Her name gave us the word "aphrodisiac", while her Latin name, Venus, gave us the word "venereal".


10. Hephaestus, Vulcan: Master blacksmith and craftsman of the gods; god of fire and the forge. Symbols include fire, anvil, axe, donkey, hammer, tongs, and quail. Son of Hera, either by Zeus or alone. Married to Aphrodite, though unlike most divine husbands, he was rarely ever licentious. His Latin name, Vulcan, gave us the word "volcano."


11. Hermes, Mercury: Messenger of the gods; god of commerce, thieves, eloquence and streets. Symbols include the caduceus (staff entwined with two snakes), winged sandals and cap, stork, and tortoise (whose shell he used to invent the lyre). Son of Zeus and the nymph Maia. The second-youngest Olympian, just older than Dionysus.


12. Hestia, Vesta: Goddess of the hearth and of the right ordering of domesticity and the family; she was born into the first Olympian generation and was one of the original twelve Olympians. Some lists of the Twelve Olympians omit her in favor of Dionysus, but the speculation that she gave her throne to him in order to keep the peace seems to be modern invention. She is the first child of Cronus and Rhea, eldest sister of Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus.


13. Dionysus, Bacchus: God of wine, celebrations, and ecstasy. Patron god of the art of theatre. Symbols include the grapevine, ivy, cup, tiger, panther, leopard, dolphin, goat, and pinecone. Son of Zeus and the mortal Theban princess Semele. Married to the Cretan princess Ariadne. The youngest Olympian god, as well as the only one to have a mortal mother.


14. Hades, Pluto: God of the Underworld, dead and the riches under the Earth; he was born into the first Olympian generation, the elder brother of Zeus, Poseidon, Hera, and Demeter, and younger brother of Hestia, but as he lives in the Underworld rather than on Mount Olympus, he is typically not included amongst the twelve Olympians.

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Mythology. Animism: sees spirits in everything in nature. Spirits are undefined and unnamed. Animistic religion is the earliest form going back as