gods_book_process_ by Martina K

The Book for The Diagramm and Stories of The

Greek Gods MARTINA London 2011

CONTENTS

Preface List of illustrations Breakdown of diagram 0 The Main Gods 1 Darkness 2 Earth 3 Love 4 Hell 5 Night 6 Titans:

3 4 5 6 10 12 18 22 30 38

6.1 Nurse, Ocean 6.2 Sight, Highness 6.3 Ram, Shine, Axis 6.4 Piercer 6.5 Custom, Memory 6.6 Flow, Time Referencies

40 44 48 54 58 62 76

PREFACE

This book is made as a supporting information for the diagram of Greek Gods. Most of the text about Gods is taken from www.godchecker.com. Possibly people many things take for granted also names of the Greek Gods. Of course everyone knows few, for example, Eros means Love, but not many of them. This is where people start misunderstand Gods and making a barrier between self and ‘them’. For such thing not to happen and for us to stop imagine that Greeks are somewhere far away, that we don’t understand their language and don’t know what the strange names of ‘their’ gods stand for. Many people tried to translate Greek God names, not all successfully, as in some cases it is really not easy. I tried to find existing translations, but where I did not found it, I gave mine.

ILLUSTRATIONS

1. Black Hole, NASA image 2. NYX. William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - La Nuit (1883) 3. The Birth of Venus(Aphrodite) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485 4. Psyche revived by the kiss of Love. Marble, 1793 Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757–1822) 5. William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Flora And Zephyr (1875) 6. Nicolas Régnier: Allegory of Vanity — Pandora, c. 1626 7. Frederic Leighton: The Garden of the Hesperides, c. 1892 8. John William Waterhouse: A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph, 1893 9. Elihu Vedder: The Pleiades, 1885 10. Jean-Marc Nattier: Thalia, Muse of Comedy, 1739 11. Cesare da Sesto (Copy after Leonardo da Vinci): Leda and the Swan, 1515-1520

6.5

6.6

6.4 3 6.3

0 1

6.2 6.1 BREAKDOWN OF DIAGRAM

0 1 2 3 4 5 6

The Main Gods Darkness Earth Love Hell Night Titans: 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6

Nurse, Ocean Sight, Highness Ram, Shine, Axis Piercer Custom, Memory Flow, Time

0 Protogonus (The Main Gods) 0

1. Black Hole, NASA image

CHAOS (Black Hole) Goddess of Emptiness and Confusion. She is the gaping shapeless void who gave birth to the universe. Gaia and Eros came from Chaos, as did Nyx. Nobody knows much about her, so if you know something about nothing let us know. Deity EROS (Love) God of Love, Desire and Fertility. One of the most popular Gods of all time. Ancient legends tell how Eros was born of Chaos and helped Uranus (Heaven) and Gaia (Earth) get it together. Their offspring helped to populate the universe and fill the pages of mythology encyclopedias. As the beautiful bittersweet God of Love, he’s in charge of the heart and carries a lethal love weapon which no-one can withstand. With two strings to his bow, he can fire golden arrows for love or leaden ones for indifferMARTINA

ence, so it’s best to get on his good side if you’re feeling smoochy. Warning: if you reject the love of another in a nasty manner, his brother Anteros will take his revenge. The most eligible batchelor in the universe, Eros finally married Psyche after accidentally pricking himself with one of his own arrows. This was a match made not in Heaven, but in the Underworld. He is also known as cuddly Cupid to the Romans and Profit to the manufacturers of Valentine cards. After the Romans took over the Greek flowers and choccies empire, Eros went roaming to Londinium, where he now resides at Picadilly Circus. If you feel there’s something lacking in your love life, you should pay him a visit. We suggest you take a large bulls-eye. Deity Greek Gods

GAIA (Earth) Big Vista Earth Mother Goddess, and still incredibly popular. Born of Chaos, she gave birth to Pontus, the sea, and Uranus the sky. Then she married Uranus and became the unfortunate mother of the huge Titans, the Cyclopes and the Hecatonchires. Her husband was shocked at the nature of their offspring, so she hid them all inside herself to protect them. Which was terribly uncomfortable for all concerned. Luckily her youngest, Cronus, came to the rescue armed with a large cutting tool. But all that’s behind her now. She became best friends with Hera, giving her the Golden Apples of Immortality as a wedding present, and always gathered the utmost respect. As fertile as they come, her offspring also includes Acheron, the God of Rivers, Python, and who knows who else? Nowadays, Gaia is a Big Mother in the New Age world. Symbolising all that’s good with feminimity, nature, fertility and spirit, she’s extremely popular with Pagans, Witches and all Earthy types. Deity

EREBUS (Darkness) God of Primordial Darkness and son of Chaos. Even with the lights turned out he managed to father Charon, Thanatos, Hypnos, Eros and the Fates. His consort appears to be Nyx, the Goddess of Night. Although it’s hard to see what they get up to in the dark, we understand that Erebus spreads his gloomy mists to obscure Aether’s shining daylight... and Hemera wafts him away again each morning. Deity

TARTARUS (Hell) Primeval God of Hell, and the place of ultimate punishment. One of the first Gods to arise from the void of Creation, Tartarus, like his siblings Nyx and Chaos, personifies ultimate formless gloom. Little is known of his personality but as the first God of Hell we assume him to be a dour and depressing being. Tartarus lives in the bowels of the Earth, many miles below as the anvil falls, and holds together the bottomless pits of the world. Presumably Hades rents the Underworld from him on favorable terms. As Greek Mythology developed, Tartarus sank into oblivion, giving his name to the dark places of punishment for those that have been judged guilty of unspeakablenesses. Deity

Greek Gods

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2. NYX. William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) La Nuit (1883)

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NYX (Night) Goddess of the Night and daughter of Chaos. Being a real night person, she loves the dark. Which explains why she is the consort of Erebus the God of Darkness — or at least liked him enough for a fling which resulted in Aether, Hemera and the Fates. Every evening she coaxes him out to spread his gloomy darkness, which obscures the shining Aether and lets the stars come out to play. It’s up to daughter Hemera to waft away the darkness every morning to let the sun shine. Like many other Greek deities, Nyx has also donated her name to a celestial object. Previously known as S/2005 P1, this gloomy moon circles the remote planetoid Pluto in a suitably shadowy and mysterious manner. Strangely, astronomers have decided to spell the name ‘Nix’ instead of ‘Nyx’. We imagine there must be a Disney character with a similar nixname waiting in the wings. We have no more light to shed on the darkness at present. Deity

Greek Gods

1 Erebuss (Darkness)

AETHER (Light) Air God of the Upper Atmosphere. The son of Erebus and Nyx, he looks after the air the Gods breathe. Not the polluted old rubbish we have to put up with; this is the Supergrade 5 Godstar variety. Very invigorating. Aether floats above Aer and is illuminated with Heavenly light. He’s a very bright lad, and even on the clearest day we only see the merest trace of his splendor as it filters down to us. At night his mother Nyx draws the curtains and the gloom of Erebus descends upon the world. When morning comes, his sister Hemera wafts away the murky mists and his radiant glow is seen again. Attempts to discover traces of the aether on Earth were carried out by Michelson and Morley in a famous experiment of 1887. Did they find any? Nope. This nonresult led directly to Einstein’s Theory of Relativity, but dashed their hopes of selling bottled aether to the physics community. Deity

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AERGIA(Sloth and Laziness) was the female spirit (daimon) of idleness, laziness, indolence and sloth. Her opposite number was probably Hormes (Effort). THALASSA (Sea - female) Goddess of the Sea. Her male counterpart was Pontus. Deity TELCHINES Whatever they were, there were nine of them and they came from the sea. They had dog heads and sealion bodies when they weren’t busy shape-changing into something else. They roamed around Rhodes or Crete and could kill anything with a poison look, so protection was not a problem and they could spend all their time gamboling around indulging in silly pranks and tomfoolery. They upset Zeus by messing with the weather and Poseidon tried to flood them out which is a bit silly for things that can swim. They just moved on and can pop up almost anywhere from time to time causing havoc in coastal areas. Fabulous Creature

Greek Gods

2 Gaia (Earth)

URANUS (Sky) Great primeval God of the Sky. Born of Gaia, the Earth, he covered the world in the form of a vast bronze dome and ruled over everything. Taking Gaia to wife, he impregnanted her with many children but was not prepared to deal with the consequences. In fact he was terrified of the monstrous brood of Titans forming inside her and threatened terrible reprisals should they ever pop out. Gaia, wanting to protect her children, kept them inside herself as long as she could, but pretty soon the pain was unbearable. Relief only came when their youngest son Cronus stepped in. Or rather, popped out. Armed with a sickle, he lopped off Uranus’s... er, well, let’s not go into details. Suffice to say that Uranus was cut off in his prime and Cronus took over as supreme being. Deity TITANS The twelve giant offspring of Gaia and Uranus. They come in brother-sister pairs: Cronus and Rhea, Oceanus and Tethys, Hyperion and Thea, Iapetus and Themis, Crius and Mnemosyne, and Coeus and Phoebe. They were so big and painful in labour that poor Gaia couldn’t bear to bear any more. So she got Cronus to help with some radical birth control and newly neutered Uranus was overthrown. After the deed was done, Cronus and Rhea ruled over the Gods and the world entered a Golden Age of peace and prosperity. Of course this didn’t last as the Gods warred against them and a disgruntled Zeus banished them all to Tartarus Prison. Deity

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CYCLOPES What with the one eye and Odysseus yarn, most people thing of Cyclops in the singular. Not so. There’s a whole race of them. The first three were born to Uranus and Gaia, and bore the names Arges, Brontes and Sterops. Very big and tough, they moved mountains with their bare hands. When the giant Titans appeared on the scene the Cyclopes were outnumbered and locked away in the Underworld. There they languished for a million years until the Gods got born. During the war against the Titans, Zeus found the oneeyed guys one visiting day and smuggled in five-star jars of nectar, which refreshed all the parts which had not been reached for so long. Zeus then set them up with a prison workshop, including forge. Here they put together a helmet of invisibility for Hades, a missile trident for Poseidon and a stock of thunderbolts which pleased Zeus so much he had them out on parole. They were relocated to larger premises at Mount Etna, where the forge was prone to erupt now and then. After the wars were over, the Cyclopes became part of the community — and one-eyed babies of great bonniness began to appear. They were mostly peaceful farming and shepherd types. Only Polyphemus turned out really nasty, went into exile and gave them a bad name. Fabulous Creature

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HECATONCHIRES These hundred-handed giants were the sons of Uranus and Gaia. They were not too bright, not having twigged they were mostly tree. After naming them Briareus, The Vigorous, Cottus, The Furious and Gyges, The Big-Limbed, the parents decided they had done enough and hurled them to the world below the Underworld. There they stayed for a million or so years knowing no better life, until the time came when Cronus put paid to the fatherhood of Uranus and the big Gods vs Titans dust-up started. Mother Earth Gaia was trying to be neutral, but she kept getting stomped and trampled on by both sides. She moaned to Zeus that this wouldn’t happen if her lads were around because they’d love their mum if she told them to. Zeus, needing all the help he could get, nipped down to see the lads with a goodly selection of Godly liquid refreshment to win undying support. Selecting Briareus as the spokesman (as he could mumble more coherently than the others), Zeus managed to cut out some of the repetitive responses as the giants had fifty heads apiece without a decent brain between them. Eventually the unanimous ‘Yurse!’ was taken to be an oath of allegiance. In action the brothers had the mindless violence and loyalty that ensured victory for the Gods, and as a special reward Zeus said they could go back to the lowest Underworld and guard such Titans as had surrendered. That would have been the end of the matter if one day Zeus hadn’t got in a spot of bother. Apollo, Hera and Poseidon had ganged up on him with enough grievances to cause rebellion and had tied Zeus to his bed with a hundred unbreakable knots of cord. Somehow Zeus managed to sneak a trunk call to the Underworld and Briareus came storming to the rescue like a dog to its master. If a dog resembled a very large tree that is. Wagging his branches and not knowing the knots were unbreakable, he snapped them without thinking and stood by as Greek Gods

Zeus drew up some oaths of loyalty from the rebels. Briareus thought he wood (all his thoughts were wood) be offered a new job as a minder for Zeus, but by the time this thought had sapped slowly through his heads he was back with his brothers guarding the Titans again. He is still trying to figure out why he is not still in Olympus. It is a knotty one and brings him out in knotholes. “I coulda been a contender,” he mumbles. Fabulous Creature ERINYES Furies. Tisiphone Murder, Megaira Yelousy, Alekto Anger. No! No! No! These are the Goddesses of Rough Justice. If you see three black robed Goddesses with whips and snaky hair loitering outside your door, you can bet your boots you have been up to something anti-social and they have come to get you. They sometimes go under the name of Eumenides, or the ‘Benevolent Ones’. But not for your benefit. Made from the freshly spilt blood of Uranus, their mission is to torment the guilty. Not to mention terrify everyone else. Deity APHRODITE (Sea Foam) The beautiful Goddess of Love. Daughter of Uranus, she was born of sea foam and thus has a soft spot for surfers. So if you’re surfing the net in search of love, remember Aphrodite, the Goddess of Chat Room Romance. Whoever wears her magic girdle immediately becomes an object of love. But where can it be found? We’ve no idea. Try looking on Ebay. She was so beautiful that Zeus married her off to the crusty old Hephaestus to prevent all-out war among the randy Gods. Deity

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3. The Birth of Venus(Aphrodite) by Sandro Botticelli, 1485.

PONTUS (Sea - male) God of the Sea. In fact he is the sea, born of Earth Mother Goddess Gaia. Deity NEREUS (Wet) Son of Pontus and Gaia, he’s the Sea God of Wet. Really really wet. He lives in an underwater palace and floats around with Doris his wife, who is one of the Titans. They have 50 daughters who are known collectively as the Nereids and all are into water sports and not much else. Nereus is a slippery sort of shape-changer but if you manage to dribble through to him he’s a reliable — if somewhat reluctant — oracle. Although a friendly chap, he’ll do almost anything to avoid answering a straight question, as Heracles found out when asking the way to the Hesperides. “Yes, of course I know how to reach the Golden Apples of Immortality. I’ll tell you if you just go away — we want to go water skiing.” Deity NEREIDES Sea Nymphs. They’re the fifty daughters of Nereus and Doris — and what a jolly lot they are. Much splashing and frolicking in the waves and playing with dolphins. Spiritual Being PHORKYS Everywhere you go there are Old Men of the Sea, with seaweedy beards festooned in cockles riding along on the crest of a wave with wild and wonderful sex lives whenever they surf the beaches. The bathing beauty who did most of the motherhood bit with Phorcys was his wife Ceto. And they spawned monsters without exception. Amongst their offspring were the Graeae, the Gorgons, a Dragon called Ladon and just possibly the Hesperides, according to the findings of some beachcombers. Deity

Greek Gods

MEDUSA Most famous of the Gorgons, the hideous snake-haired hags. Unlike her sisters Euryale and Stheno, Medusa started off as a gorgeously beautiful woman, but she was turned into Gorgonzola by a jealous Athena. She was now so horribly ugly that anyone who saw her face turned instantly to stone. But, being mortal, Medusa was killable. So Perseus found it quite easy to cut off her head and use it to frighten people to death. From her blood sprang Pegasus the Wonder Horse. Which Perseus promptly nicked and used to make his escape. EURYALE One of the three Gorgons, horrible snakehaired hags. She is a bit of a rolling stone and wanders all over the place. Being immortal, she’s still going strong although there have been no reported sightings for centuries. Demon STHENO One of the three Gorgons, hideous snakehaired hags. Unlike her sister Medusa, she’s immortal and unkillable. She’s also known as the forceful one, and we’re quite willing to take that on trust. Demon GRAEAE The Old Grey Ones. If you think the Gorgons are ugly you should see their sisters Deino, Enyo and Pemphredo. These grey-haired beauties have only one eye and one tooth between them. The squabbling over whose turn it is to read the newspaper or nibble a carrot is neverending. The daughters of Ceto and Phorcys, they are very wise (hence the grey hair) but notoriously unhelpful. Such a grey area. Demon

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THAUMAS Sea God of Wonders. The son of Pontus and Gaia, he got it together with Electra, one of the Oceanids, and they filled the sea with delights. Their rainbow daughter Iris was a great joy to them, but what a disappointment when the other daughters turned out to be Harpies. Deity HARPIES Nasty Nasty Nasty! These are demonic winged women with beaks and claws, into punishment, torture and death. Starting off as stormy Tornado Goddesses, they were originally fair-haired and beautiful, but soon realised this did not really project the right image. One quick makeover and they became screechy, scratchy, vicious and downright unsavoury in every way. The daughters of Thaumas and Electra, their names are Aello, Celaeno and Ocypete (but see Aello’s entry for a possible fourth Harpy). They are mentioned in many tales as snatchers and grabbers of people, and so far only the Boreads have ever managed to get the better of them. The Harpies can fly at the speed of sound, and one of their favorite tricks is to defecate upon the unworthy from a great height. It’s not aeroplane toilets you should blame when frozen lumps of crap fall out of the sky… Deity

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IRIS (Rainbow) Goddess of Rainbows. The daughter of Thaumas and Electra, she’s sadly deficient in followers. One day over the rainbow she used to bring Hera’s messages to mankind, but now spends most of her time stuck on Greek vases waiting to be noticed as bypassers gabble into their cell phones. Once her courier service for Hera and Zeus was second to none. Not even Hermes. She never fluffed her lines, muffled her messages or got her wings in a flap however fast she flew. She never slept and was always in constant attendance waiting to take the latest ‘Tell-a-Gram’ over the Rainbow. If, as reported, she had had an affair with or married Zephyrus, she must have done it on the wing; and if she was the mother of Eros as some claim, it is not surprising he was born with wings and delivered messages of his own by arrow. Deity

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3 Eros (Love) 3

PSYCHE (Soul) Soul. Goddess of Beauty and wife of Eros. Princess Psyche was the most amazingly beautiful mortal ever. She was almost as beautiful as Aphrodite with chickenpox on a bad hair day. People were known to forget their own names and swoon at her feet. Although not usually a malicious Goddess, Aphrodite wanted the princess out of the way. Her temples were being neglected by Psyche fans and it just wasn’t on. So she conspired with Eros to make the princess fall in love with the ugliest man they could find. That would soon get her out of the public eye. Eros fluttered off and got ready to launch an Arrow of Love at the innocent Psyche. But by chance, he pricked his finger on that very arrow and fell hopelessly in love with her himself. This caused all kinds of problems for all concerned, and eventually Psyche found herself cut off from mortals and Gods alike as Aphrodite’s wrath pursued her. She contemplated suicide by drowning, but even the waves refused to take her. The only way to salvation was by passing Aphrodite’s cruel and unusual tests. Forget sorting poppy seeds from lentils before daybreak or grabbing a cup of water from a mountain monster — the ultimate challenge was this: Go down to the Underworld and steal Persephone’s beauty cream. Her heart quailed, but Princess Psyche made her radiant way down the gloomy steps. Seeing the approach of loveliness, Cerberus, the ill-tempered Hound of Hell, rolled over like a puppy. One sweetie from her maidenly hand and he was friends for life. And grim Charon, taking one look at her youthful beauty, blushed to his boots and gave her free passage. So finally she arrived at the throne room of Hades himself. Now Hades is very proud of his domain, and doesn’t tolerate the living turning up. It spoils the atmosphere of gloom and despair. So he would’ve killed Psyche there and then, but his wife Persephone saw this was no ordinary interloper and asked why she’d come. As the story unfolded, Persephone took MARTINA

pity on Psyche and gave her a big jar of her finest beauty cream. Hades sighed and allowed her to return, making a mental note to cancel Cerberus’s doggie chocs for the next hundred years. Psyche struggled back to the land of the living with the jar of beauty cream. What did Aphrodite want with beauty cream anyway? she wondered. It must be something really potent and special. Surely a little dab on her cheek wouldn’t do any harm… So Psyche opened the jar, poked her finger inside, and instantly fainted away. It was very powerful beauty cream indeed. In fact it could have transformed Medusa, ugliest of the Gorgons, into a chart-busting sex kitten with the three Graeae sisters on backing vocals. Psyche was about to wither away under the influence when Eros Turned up and whisked her off to Olympus. With Zeus’s blessing, they were at last married. Aphrodite didn’t mind too much as she now had a goodly supply of face cream to play with. Deity HEDONE (Pleasure) was the spirit (daimona) of pleasure, enjoyment and delight. As a daughter of Eros (Love) she was associated more specifically with sensual pleasure. Her opposite number were the Algea (Pains). The Romans named her Voluptas. POULYA (Birds) In Tartarus, Eros mingled with Chaos and the race of Birds was born (see also Myths of Creation). (www.maicar.com/GML/Eros.html)

Greek Gods

4. Psyche revived by the kiss of Love. Marble, 1793. Antonio Canova (Italian, 1757â&#x20AC;&#x201C;1822)

HIMEROS God of sexual desire, one of the young Erotes (winged Love-Gods). When the goddess Aphrodite first emerged new-born from the sea-foam’s she was greeted by the twin loves Eros and Himeros. Some say Aphrodite was born pregnant with the twins, and birthed them with her birth. The pair were her constant companions, agents of her divine power Himeros was usually depicted as winged youth or child, as were the other Erotes. He was frequently depicted alongside Eros in the scene of Aphrodite’s birth, fluttering around the goddess sailing across the sea in her conch-shell. At others times he appears as one of a triad of love gods, his brothers being Eros and Pothos (Love and Passion). As an individual god, however, Himeros possessed no distinct mythology or cult of his own. When paired with Eros he was probably identified with Anteros (reciprocal love).

POTHOS The god of sexual longing, yearning and desire. He was one of the winged love-gods known as Erotes. Late classical writers describe him as a son of Zephyros (the west wind) and Iris (the rainbow) to represent the variagated passions of love. The three Erotes--Pothos, Himeros and Eros--were often depicted together in Greek vase painting. In the image right, Pothos sprinkling the essence of desire down upon the bull-riding maiden Europa from his cup.

ANTEROS God of Mutual Love. He was created as a brother for Eros, who was in danger of pining away from loneliness. Anteros is basically the Anti-Eros. Instead of causing people to fall in love, he punishes people who scorn the loving advances of others. That’s why it’s best to turn them down gently. Deity HEDYLOGOS God of sweet-talk, one of the winged gods of love known as the Erotes. Hedylogos is not mentioned in any extant literature, but he does occur in at least one ancient vase painting where he is shown beside Pothus (Longing) drawing the chariot of Aphrodite.

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Greek Gods

4 Tartarus (Hell) 4

EKHIDNA (Serpent) A monstrous scaly serpent woman who, with the aid of Typhon, gave issue to almost every x-rated Greek horror. Although they have never publicly admitted it, her parents were Gaia and Tartarus. She was a strange mix of a serpent with the head of a woman. According to Milton, she ‘seemed a woman to the waist, and fair; but ended foul in many a scaly fold; voluminous and vast.’ But Typhon obviously fancied her, and she gave birth to most of the classic creatures of horror. Try not to think Nemean-Lion, Chimera, Hydra, Sphinx, Cerberus and Orthrus, the Eagle that gnawed Prometheus, and various dragons and things. Her children could chew the living daylights out of all but the toughest Heavyweight Champion Deities. And Zeus was quite pleased about all this. He enjoyed watching a good fight. He often let the nasties survive to the next round. Echidna was eventually killed by Argus, the hundred-eyed security guard, who only ventured to undertake such a task when she was asleep. Demon TYPHOEUS (Storm) The son of Earth Mother Gaia and Tartarus the Fathomless Gulf, Typhon is one baaaad baddy. In comparison, Mike Tyson in his heyday was a cuddly kitten. A smokey black color, he had a hundred dragon heads with flame-flashing eyes. He liked to spit molten rock, and his snake arms and legs were too numerous and writhy to check out. He scared the hell out of the Gods, who fled from Olympus and hid out in Egypt. When Zeus could no longer take the ‘cowardy custard’ jibes of Athena, he was forced to fight. And got his ass badly whipped. Typhon then took the badly battered God off to his cave to tear him to bits at leisure. He started by hacking out a few sinews so Zeus could not move. Typhon then took a few days off to go clubbing and left a monsteress called Delphyne to keep an eye on his prisoner. “Call yourselves friends?” sneered Athena MARTINA

at the cowering Gods, who were all disguised as animals to avoid involvement. Eventually Pan and Hermes volunteered to go and suss things out. They found the cave and saw Typhon wasn’t in. So Pan let out one of his wild echoing panic-inducing cries. Delphyne panicked, ran up a wall and clung to a dark corner. Hermes rushed in and hurriedly popped Zeus’s sinews back into what he hoped were the right places, leaving the healing process to immortality — which is pretty foolproof and almost instantaneous. After all the humiliation, Zeus was more than somewhat peeved. The return fight was on in almost no time. It would have been a sell-out if the Gods had bothered about such stupid things as money. Zeus trained hard, and various supporters of his plied Typhon with drink... Wham! Bam! Bam! Slam! This was one of the ding-dongs of all time. No blows barred. Forget the Rocky films — this was a battle with real rocks. Not to mention torn-up trees and mountain-tops. Zeus Eventually decked Typhon with the whole of Mount Etna. It’s doubtful he will beat the count of ten. Which for a fight this big is measured in years. Ten thousand years to be exact. But Typhon still left a lot of trouble behind — his wife Echidna gave birth to the nastiest set of horror monsters ever to crawl across the pages of Greek Mythology… Demon

Greek Gods

AETOS KAUKASIOS (Eagle) Gigantic eagle set by Zeus to feed on the ever-regenerating liver of the Titan Prometheus, after he was chained to the peak of Mount Kaukasos as punishment for stealing fire from the gods. The eagle was variously described as a bronze automaton constructed by the god Hephaistos, or as a member of the brood of fell creatures spawned by the daemon Ekhidna. Its siblings included the Nemean Lion and the Hydra. When Herakles set out to free Prometheus from his bonds, he shot down the eagle with a volley of arrows. Afterwards the Eagle, the Titan and the Arrow were placed all amongst the stars in the form of the constellations Aquila, the Kneeler and Saggita. THE HUS KROMMYON (Saw) Sow was monstrous wild pig which terrorized the countryside around Krommyon on the Korinthian Isthmus. It was the pet of an old hag named Phaia (“the Grey”). Both the boar and its mistress were slain by Theseus when the hero was travelling the road from Troizenos to Athens clearing the thoroughfare of its assorted bandits and miscreants. The boar is quite common in Athenian vase painting depicting the Labours of Theseus. THE HUS KALYDONIOS (Boar) Gigantic boar sent by Artemis to ravage the countryside of Kalydon to punish King Oineus for neglecting her in the offering of the first fruits to the gods. The king summoned heroes from throughout Greece to hunt down the beast. The famed Calydonian Boar Hunt which ensued was led by the king’s own son Meleagros (Meleager) who struck the killing blow. The hero, however, awarded the skintrophy to Atalanta as a prize for drawing the first blood. She dedicated it to Artemis, hanging it from a tree in a sacred Arkadian grove.

Greek Gods

DRAKONES TROIADES (Dragon) Two massive Sea-Dragons (or serpents) which were summoned from the deep by Athena to slay the Trojan seer Laokoon who tried to warn the Trojans that the Wooden Horse was a ruse. DRAKON KHOLKIKOS (Dragon) An ever-wakeful, giant serpent which guarded the golden fleece in the sacred grove of Ares at Kolkhis. When Jason and the Argonauts came to fetch the fleece, the beast was either slain by the hero or put to sleep by the witch Medea. In one version of the story, preserved only in vase painting (image right), Jason was first devoured and disgorged by the dragon. The teeth of the dragon were harvested by King Aeetes for their magical property. One of the labours he assigned Jason was the sowing of these teeth in a field using a plough drawn by fire-breathing bulls. When they were planted, a tribe of warlike men (Spartoi) sprang fully grown from the earth. The teeth of the closely related Ismenian Drakon of Thebes, sown by Kadmos, produced a similar crop of men. KHIMARA Monstrous daughter of Typhon, Echidna, and some weird and unsavory sex toy. She is a vicious mix-and-match monster without the match. Part goat, snake and lion, with three heads at the last count, she is a fire-breathing horror who ravaged the living daylights out of her surroundings. She was killed by Bellerophon, a hero, whose boasting of the event led to his downfall. The word ‘chimera’ has now become a byword for fabulous and fantastic — but utterly mixed-up — ideas. Demon

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CERBEROS (Dog) The Three-Headed Monster Hound who guards the entrance to the Greek Underworld. No-one can enter or leave without getting past him. Another Typhon and Echidna production (like his brother Orthrus), Cerberus belongs to Hades and has the disposition of a pit-bull rottweiler in a butcher’s shop. Eyes: clear, bright and vicious. Tongue: a healthy red and very slobbery. Claws: highly polished. Coat: sleek, glossy and reptilian. Tail: poisoned and barbrous. Teeth: er, let’s not go into too much detail here. Only Heracles ever managed to take the Hell Hound for walkies. In fact only three other beings who weren’t dead managed to get past him at all. Psyche charmed him with her beauty and a doggie choc. The Sibyl-Of-Cumae gave him a cake containing a funny substance, and Orpheus lulled him to sleep with his lyre. The Labors of Heracles Episode 12: The Capture of Cerberus From the Hesperides to Hades, and for his final mission Heracles was told to bring back the Hound of Hell — alive! To avoid any long stay complications, which is always a hazard with Underworld visits, first he went through a lot of purification rituals. Then Athena and Hermes guided him as far as the River Styx. When he saw monsters like Medusa on the other side he had to be restrained from shooting arrows at them. “They are only phantoms now,” Hermes informed him, “you can’t harm them, or they you.” So they indulged in some friendly chit-chat instead. Charon the boatman took one terrified look at Heracles and decided not to argue the toss. He even waived his usual fee as he ferried him over in a frenzy of fear. Once across, Heracles strode to the Gates of Tartarus and found various old friends trussed up in acute discomfort. His attempts to free them were not too successful, but he did manage to roll a rock of Ascalaphus. Spotting a herd of cattle, he thought a sacrifice to gratify the ghosts might be a good thing. A hellish herdsman was not too happy about this, and a wrestling match ensued. MARTINA

Herc was just about to crush the ribs of the herdsman when Persephone appeared. She pleaded for the life of her servant. “Only in return for Cerberus,” demanded our Hero. Hades, attracted by the rumpus, appeared in a pleasantly compliant mood. “Be my guest. Take our dog for a walk by all means, only you must not use any weapons against him.” Chained to the gates was the object of the quest. Cerberus, Hell’s own watchdog. Having his protective lionskin courtesy of the Nemean-Lion, Heracles had no trouble taking the dog in hand. Or rather both hands. He squeezed its three necks until it stopped slavering poison and lashing its tail, and became meekly compliant. With the dog on a chain it was back to the upper-world at a furious pace. Cerberus, never having seen daylight before, was violently sick. From his black bile grew the first Aconite plant. On arrival at Mycenae, King Eurystheus was, as usual, terrified. Even though he was in the midst of a feast, he turned and fled. The Labors were well and truly at an end. Nobody wanted Cerberus so Heracles let it go. It ran whining all the way back to Hell, only stopping for a pee now and then, creating barren patches on which nothing will ever grow. To see what happened after the Labors, return to the entry on Heracles… Demon

Greek Gods

SPHINX The Greek version seems to run parallel with the Egyptian Sphinx, except the Greek one can produce a birth certificate. She was the monstrous daughter of Typhon and Echidna along with her siblings Cerberus, Chimera, Hydra and The Nemean-Lion. This Miss Sphinx was woman from the waist up and lion from the waist down. She seems to have sported vulture wings, making her part-harpy, although this would need to be confirmed by DNA testing. Miss Sphinx asked the same silly riddle to anyone who came along. And then invariably ate them. Oedipus looked into the matter and shouted “For God’s sake man! What do you think you’re up to?” He obviously mistook her sex, but this seemed to be the right answer. She was so surprised she flew up into the air, forgot to take off into the wind, spun out of control and crashed onto a rock, breaking her neck. The Egyptian version is really called Harmakhis, is much nicer and could even be male although it is hard to tell. Fabulous Creature NEMEIOS LEON (Lion) Another Typhon and Echidna monster production. This big beastie was zapped as usual by the laboring Heracles... The Labors of Heracles Episode 1: The Nemean Lion The Nemean-Lion was never a cuddly cub. When it came of age, it became a mean machine in the Nemean Valley, munching up whatever it fancied for Dish of the Day. When Heracles tracked it to its lair, he found his arrows might as well have been matchsticks. When he closed in with his club, it might as well have been a feather duster. But our man of action was never one to admit defeat. He got in really close and throttled the monster with his bare hands. Impressed with its resilient skin, he skinned the lion with its own claws and made himself a nice body armour tunic. It was so resilient, he’s still wearing it. Next Episode: The Hydra… Fabulous Creature Greek Gods

KYON ORTHROS (Dog) Two-headed, serpent-tailed dog, a brother of monsters such as Kerberos and the Khimaira. He mated with the latter, siring the Sphinx and Nemean Lion. His master was the three-bodied giant Geryon, king of the sunset isle of Erytheia. Orthros was set to guard his master’s fabulous herd of red-skinned cattle. When Herakles was sent to fetch these as one of his twelve labours, he slew Orthros, the herdsman Eurytion and Geryon. The word orthros in Greek means “morning twilight.” His name was also spelt Orthos, after another word meaning “straight” or “height.” HYDRA (Snake) Dog monster with nine indestructable serpent heads and deadly poisonous blood, Hydra was another nasty spawning from Typhon and Echidna... The Labors of Heracles Episode 2: The Lernean Hydra After defeating the Nemean-Lion, it was off to the Lake of Lerna where the nineheaded serpent Hydra lurked. This time Heracles took his nephew Iolaus along for a bit of company. He soon found that bashing the Hydra’s heads with his club did not do a lot of good. Whenever a head was knocked for six, it immediately grew back again. Time for a cunning plan. Being somewhat swampy, Iolaus was able to gather reeds and twist them into firebrands. With a bit of ignition, they tried a slash-and-burn technique with great success. Cauterisation seemed to do the trick where new heads were concerned and the monster was soon dispatched. However, there was one left-over loppedoff head which refused to die. So Heracles buried it and hoped no-one would notice. Not one to waste anything, he dipped some of his arrowheads in pools of Hydra’s leftover venom. This made them very deadly indeed. One day he would regret doing that. Next Episode: The Ceryneian-Hind… Demon MARTINA

ANEMOI (Winds) Daimones (Spirits) of the violent storm winds, sons of the monstrous storm-giant Typhoeus. They were kept locked away inside the floating island of Aiolos to be released only at the command of the gods to wreak their havoc. Their female counterparts were the Aellai, Thuellai or Harpyiai. They were frequently identified with the gentler Anemoi, gods of the four directional winds - Boreas (North), Notos (South) and Zephyros (West) and Euros (East). (www.theoi.com/Titan/AnemoiThuellai. html) 5. William-Adolphe Bouguereau (1825-1905) - Flora And Zephyr (1875)

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Greek Gods

GIGANTES They were a tribe of one hundred Giants born of Gaia the Earth. Some say their father was Tartaros the hell pit, others that they were born from the blood of the castrated Ouranos (Heaven). At the instigation of Gaia they made war on the gods but were destroyed in the ensuing battle with the help of Herakles. The most famous of the combatants were Enkelados who was burried beneath the island of Sicily by Athena, Polybotes who was crushed beneath the rock of Nisyros by Poseidon, and Porphyrion who was slain by Zeus and Herakles when he attempted to violate Hera. The Gigantes were depicted as either hoplite warriors dressed in armour and wielding spears or as primitives wearing panther skins armed with rocks and flaming torches. In sculpture and mosaic they were usually shown with the tails of serpents for legs. The Gigantes might have represented the primitive northern tribes of Thrake, whose barbarian culture was viewed as standing in opposition to Greek civilisation. Some say the Thrakian tribes were born from the blood or ashes of the vanquished Giants. In Italy the turning of these buried giants was believed to be the cause of volcanism and thermal activity, from the thermal plains of Campania, to the volcanoes of Etna and Vesuvius.

ALKYONEUS The eldest of the Thrakian Gigantes. He was immortal but only within the confines of his homeland of Pallene. Herakles encountered the giant during his travels, and sneaking up upon him as he was sleeping, disabled him with blows of his club or a volley of arrows. The hero then dragged the wounded giant beyond the confines of Pallene to die. Alkyoneus’ seven mourning daughters were transformed into a flock of kingfishers (Greek alkyones). The etymology of the giant’s name is unclear. Several stories connect Alkyoneus with the kingfisher bird (alkyôn), and his brother Porphyrion with the purple-coot. However, it is more likely that his name is prefixed with the word alk- “the strong,” since most of the other Gigantes possess warrior or warlike names. ALKYONIDES They were seven nymph daughters of Alkyoneus, the King of the Giants. When Herakles slew their father, they cast themselves into the sea and were transformed by Amphitrite into kingfishers. ARISTAIOS The only one of the Gigantes to survive the war with their gods. He was hidden by his mother Gaia (the Earth) on the island of Sikelia (Sicily) in the shape of a dungbeetle. AGRIOS A Gigante clubbed to death by the Moirai (Fates) with maces of bronze. DAMYSOS A swiftest of the Gigantes who was slain in the war against the gods. Kheiron exumed his body and extracting the swift “astragale” from his foot placed it in the heel of the hero Akhilleus.

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EPHIALTES A Gigante slain by Apollon and Herakles in the war against the gods. Each each pierced one of the Giganteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s eyes with their arrows. He was probably the same as the Aload giant Ephialtes.

POLYBOTES A Gigante who fought Poseidon in the war against the gods. When he fled the battlefield, Poseidon pursued and crushed him beneath the rock of Nisyros on the island of Kos.

ENKELADOS A Gigante who fought Athene in the war against the gods. When he fled from the battlefield, Athene crushed him beneath Sicilian Mount Aitna.

MIMAS A Gigante slain by Hephaistos with a volley of molten iron in the war against the gods.

EURYTOS A Gigante slain by Dionysos with his pinecone tipped thyrsos in the war against the gods. HIPPOLYTOS A Gigante slain by Hermes with his sword and wearing the cap of invisibility in the war against the gods. KLYTIOS A Gigante immolated by the torches of Hekate in the war against the gods.

PORPHYRION The King of the Gigantes who attempted to rape Hera in the war against the gods. Zeus struck him down with a thunderbolt and Herakles with an arrow. PELOREUS A many-armed Gigante who fought the gods wielding Mount Pelion. THOON A Gigante clubbed to death in the war against the gods by the Moirai (Fates) with maces of bronze.

LEON A Gigante who battled Herakles in the war against the gods. The hero made a protective cloak from his leonine skin. PALLAS A Gigante slain by Athena in the war against the gods. She stripped off his goatish skin and made of it a shield for the battle (the aigis). He was perhaps the same as the Titan of the same name. THEODAMAS One of the Gigantes.

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Greek Gods

5 Nyx (Night)

HEMERA (Day) The Day. Goddess of Daytime and Daylight. Her ‘Who’s Who’ entry informs us that she is the daughter of Erebus and Nyx and is the mother of Thalassa. Her pedigree goes right back to Chaos and she was the first Goddess of the Day. Every morning she pulls away the dark curtains of Erebus to let her brother Aether’s light shine forth. Deity PANDORA (Gifted) Don’t open that box(jar)! If she was a Goddess, she’d be Goddess of Curiosity. But Pandora was the first woman, invented by Hephaestus on the orders of Zeus. The Gods showered her with all the gifts of womankind, including beauty, intuition, persuasion and the ability to pack suitcases. This all seemed very pleasant and lovely for humankind. But it turned out that Zeus had an ulterior motive. In fact he was absolutely livid that Prometheus had stolen the secret of fire from Heaven and had decided that Olympus was going to teach mankind a lesson they would never ever ever forget. The innocent Pandora was introduced by the Gods to Prometheus’s dozy brother Epimetheus — along with a mysterious box. “Whatever you do, don’t open it,” they said. With amazing restraint, Pandora resisted the temptation for almost twenty minutes before having just a little peek inside... As soon as she opened the box, blam! all the evils of the world burst out. Much to her surprise. What a sneaky underhand trick, she thought. The misfortunes of mankind zoomed off to cause havoc, leaving an embarrassed Pandora to discover Elpis (Hope) lurking at the bottom of the box. Along with a little note saying ‘Fooled you!’ Pandora might be blamed for all the world’s problems, but as she was the first woman, we think it’s only fair to forgive her. After all, Adam’s Eve did pretty much the same thing and everyone blames the snake. Don’t MARTINA

6. Nicolas Régnier: Allegory of Vanity — Pandora, c. 1626.

forget, without Pandora’s daughter Pyrrha, the human race would be extinct. So try to think outside the box. Legendary Mortal ELPIS (Hope) Goddess of Hope. Last seen clinging to the inside of Pandora’s box. Possibly a child of Nyx, she’s a young lady deity usually portrayed optimistically holding a fresh flower. She always looks on the bright side and is a real comfort when things are looking bleak. When the Romans came across her, they renamed her Spes and built several temples in her honor. Deity OSSA (Rumour) Goddess of Rumor. We heard on the grapevine that she’s a shadowy winged woman who looms overhead. Whispers and snippets come drifting from her persuasive tongue; slippery tidings of good or evil which you can never pin down. Ossa works hand in hand with gossip-monger Pheme, who shows up afterwards to get tongues a-wagging. Always very popular. Deity

Greek Gods

KERES These are Hades hit men who will finish you off in no uncertain manner if called upon. They have red robes, claws and terrible teeth. They also tend to drink on the job. Just the red stuff. Demon THANATOS The God of Death and brother of Hypnos. God of Death? It’s all so morbid. Why can’t we have a God of Death by Chocolate? But we can soften the blow and call him the God of Everlasting Sleep. Deity GERAS The spirit (daimon) of old age, one of the malevolent spirits spawned by the goddess Nyx (Night). He was depicted as a tiny shrivelled up old man. Geras’ opposite number was the goddess of youth, Hebe. DYSSEBIA The spirit (daimona) of impiety. She was a daughter of Hybris (Excessive Pride) and sister of Koros (Disdain). HYBRIS The goddess or spirit (daimon) of insolence, violence, wantonness, reckless pride, arrogance and outrageous behaviour in general. The Romans the personification as Petulantia.

HYPNOS The God of Sleep, which he induces with purest opium smoked through a horn. Potentially also the God of Hyppies, he could also be the God of Dangerous Addictions, as he works for Hades with his brother Thanatos, the God of Death. Luckily he’s recently found a better use for his talents and gave his name to Hypnosis, the mesmerising modern miracle of psycho-physiological somnambulism. You are feeling sleepy... Sleeeeepy. He has three sleepy sons, most famous of which is probably Morpheus. Deity PHANTASOS (Apparition) God of Dreams. Particularly the surreal ones where you’re flying over a lake of custard and seventeen giraffes blow raspberries at you. The brother of Morpheus and Phobetor, who are far more down-to-earth, Phantasos specialises in symbolic dreams of a deeply meaningful nature. Dreams prompted by him are rich in imagery, and may yield important hints of past, present or future. But you’ll have to go elsewhere to find out what it all means because Phantasos isn’t telling. But be careful reading too much into his dreams as they are notoriously tricky to interpret. Where else do you think the word ‘fantasy’ comes from? Deity

KOROS The daimon (spirit) of satiety and surfeit, insolence and disdain. He was a son of Hybris (Excessive Pride) and brother of Dyssebia (Impiety).

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MORPHEUS (Shaper) God of Dreams. “I met at eve the Prince of Sleep, his was a still and smiling face.” Son of Hypnos and Pasithea, Morpheus is also the nephew of Thanatos, the God of Death. This gives him a very good pedigree in the Greek Slumberland World. While his brothers Phobetor and Phantasos veer toward the more bizarre scenarios, Morpheus specialises in ultra-realistic dreams — of the kind where you find yourself naked at the office party. When he stands beckoning in the twilight of your dreams, girls looking for nocturnal pleasure will be unlucky, for they will be very much on their own. We reckon further research needs to be done on this beckoning business. Of his private life, very little is known. He sleeps in a darkened cave with Poppy, but who is she? Vague rumors circulate that this could be Opium Poppy. Which explains a lot. Yet in most tomes of Greek geekishness he is a sadly neglected figure. Scholars appear to have dozed off at the very mention of his name and indexes bear witness to this indolence. Perhaps Morpheus himself has encouraged this fading dream memory with his metaphorical metamorphosis into a shadowy handsome figure waiting in the wings of the dusk. His legacy is Morphine, named after him and found in most medical works, so think of him as medical history. He is also known as the Sandman, but you can call him Sandy for short. Deity

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PHOBETOR (Nightmares) God of Nightmares. Especially ones involving big hairy spiders, bloodthirsty rats, or slavering Bugblatter Beasts. The brother of Dream Gods Morpheus and Phantasos, he specialises in dreams involving animals, and is also responsible for night-time fears and phobias. So if you suffer from bad dreams, it’s Phobetor you need to talk to. Just remember the name: Phobetor = Phobia. And if you’re scared of him, you may be suffering from Phobophobia. Deity NEMESIS Goddess of Retribution and Vengeance in a big way. She knows where you are. Don’t try to get too clever, too lucky or too rich. Nemesis particularly hates arrogance and offences against the natural order of things. Jaywalking may carry divine penalties — and don’t even think of running a red light. Nemesis is depicted as a stern-looking woman holding a whip, or sometimes a pair of scales. In the Hellenistic period she was occasionally shown holding a steering wheel — which just proves what we were saying about the red lights. Deity APATE Goddess of Lies and Deceit. She’s the daughter of Nyx and was one of the first out of Pandora’s box. Deity MOMOS God of Blame, Mockery and Criticism. Found fault with everything and was kicked out of heaven by Zeus for his whinging complaints. So what is he doing now? According to our sources, he’s either turned cross-dresser and teamed up with Comus for a double act, or else moved to Scotland to make pervy pop music. Either way, biting lightning wit has not had such a rival since the days of Dorothy Parker. Deity

Greek Gods

ERIS Goddess of Strife and Discord. She stole one of the Golden Apples of Immortality, given to Hera as a wedding present by Gaia, and turned it into the Sour Apple of Discord. What caused the Trojan War? Thanks to Eris and her apple, it was chaos, confusion and top quality bitching! Miffed at not being invited to the all-star Olympus wedding of Peleus, King of Thessaly, and Thetis, future mother of Achilles, Eris sneaked in anyway. There’s always a bit of bitchiness among the top Greek Goddesses, but Athena and Hera were swanning around quite happily until Eris tossed the Golden Apple among them, bearing the label ‘For The Fairest’. Well, that upset the applecart. Forget the wedding — this was far more important. Who was the fairest of them all? The glamorous Goddesses clamoured around Zeus, asking who it should be. As he was already married to insanely jealous Hera, he wasn’t going to fall for that one. Instead he passed the buck. “This question must be decided by a mortal,” he said. And that really started the apple rolling. A dishy guy named Paris was chosen. Speedy messenger boy Hermes whisked them all off to Mount Ida. Paris, good-looking but crafty, suggested the apple should be shared. Hermes was having none of it. Fly them all that way for a bit of fun and have it fizzle out? No way. “Look here chummy, there has to be a firm choice, or you’ll get a thunderbolt up your whatsit. Do yourself a favor, you great mortal idiot. Go for bribes.” So the gorgeous contestants lined up in their Olympic bathing costumes and Paris judged them, one by one. None of the Goddesses wanted to travel the world and work for charity, so he went for the bribery option. Athena offered him Wisdom. Hera offered him Royal Power. But Aphrodite offered him the most beautiful woman in the whole world, the daughter of Zeus and Leda, whose name happened to be Helen. Greek Gods

You’ve sussed it, haven’t you? He chose Aphrodite. Athena and Hera were furious. But what Aphrodite didn’t tell him was that Helen was already married. To none other than the incredibly butch Greek ruler Menelaus. And Paris, who was a Troy boy, was therefore obliged to abduct her. This, of course, started the Trojan War, which lasted for ten long-suffering years and caused a severe drain on the world’s supply of spears. And all because of a simple piece of fruit! Meanwhile Eris laughed like a drain. “That Trojan Horse thing — what a cackle!” she shrieked as she shared the joke with her sisters. Who, we have reason to believe, just happened to be Nemesis and the Fates. Nowadays Eris is held in the highest esteem by Discordians, Pranksters and those who like to set the cat amongst the pigeons. Little wonder that the solar system’s ‘tenth planet’ — discovered in 2005 and the cause of much astronomical discord and argument — has been named after her. Deity Hesiod, Theogony 226 ff (trans. EvelynWhite) (Greek epic C8th or C7th B.C.) : “But abhorred Eris (Strife) bare painful Ponos (Toil), and Lethe (Forgetfulness), and Limos (Starvation), and the Algea (Pains), full of weeping, the Hysminai (Fightings) and the Makhai (Battles), the Phonoi (Murders) and the Androktasiai (Man-slaughters), the Neikea (Quarrels), the Pseudo-Logoi (Lies), the Amphillogiai (Disputes), and Dysnomia (Lawlessness) and Ate (Delusion), who share one another’s natures, and Horkos (Oath).” PHILOTES The spirit (daimona) of friendship and affection. Her opposite number were the Neikea (Feuds). Alternatively Philotes was the daimona of sexual intercourse (the other meaning of philotês in Greek), which is perhaps more likely considering she is described as a daughter of Nyx (the Night).

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MOIRAI The goddesses of fate who personified the inescapable destiny of man. They assinged to every person his or her fate or share in the scheme of things. Their name means “Parts.” “Shares” or “Alottted Portions.” Zeus Moiragetes, the god of fate, was their leader,. Klotho, whose name meant ‘Spinner’, spinned the thread of life. Lakhesis, whose name meant ‘Apportioner of Lots’--being derived from a word meaning to receive by lot--, measured the thread of life. Atropos (or Aisa), whose name meant ‘She who cannot be turned’, cut the thread of life. At the birth of a man, the Moirai spinned out the thread of his future life, followed his steps, and directed the consequences of his actions according to the counsel of the gods. It was not an inflexible fate; Zeus, if he chose, had the power of saving even those who were already on the point of being seized by their fate. The Fates did not abruptly interfere in human affairs but availed themselves of intermediate causes, and determined the lot of mortals not absolutely, but only conditionally, even man himself, in his freedom was allowed to exercise a certain influence upon them. As man’s fate terminated at his death, the goddesses of fate become the goddesses of death, Moirai Thanatoio. The Moirai were independent, at the helm of necessity, directed fate, and watched that the fate assigned to every being by eternal laws might take its course without obstruction; and Zeus, as well as the other gods and man, had to submit to them. They assigned to the Erinyes, who inflicted the punishement for evil deeds, their proper functions; and with them they directed fate according to the laws of necessity. As goddesses of birth, who spinned the thread of life, and even prophesied the fate of the newly born, Eileithyia was their companion. As goddesses of fate they must necessarily have known the future, which at times they revealed, and were therefore prophetic deities. Their ministers were all the soothsayers and oracles. As goddesses of death, they appeared toMARTINA

gether with the Keres and the infernal Erinyes. The Moirai were described as ugly old women, sometimes lame. They were severe, inflexible and stern. Klotho carries a spindle or a roll (the book of ate), Lakhesis a staff with which she points to the horoscope on a globe, and Atropos a scroll, a wax tablet, a sundial, a pair of scales, or a cutting instrument. At other times the three were shown with staffs or sceptres, the symbols of dominion, and sometimes even with crowns. At the birth of each man they appeared spinning, measuring, and cutting the thread of life. The Romans called the goddess Parcae and named the three Nona, Decuma and Morta. MOROS The spirit (daimon) of doom. He was the force which drove a man towards his fate. In a sense he was also the spirit of depression. Aeschylus describes how Prometheus saved mankind from the misery of seeing their doom (moros) with the gift of hope (elpis). Moros’ siblings Thanatos and Ker represented the physical aspects of death--Ker was the bringer of violent death and killing sickness, while Thanatos represented a peaceful, passing away. OIZYS The spirit (daimona) of misery and woe, distress and suffering. She was one of the malevolent children of Nyx (Night).

Greek Gods

HESPERIDES (Evenings) Three Golden Ones. The three Nymphs, daughters of Nyx, who look after the very rare apple tree Golden Immortalitus, not to be confused with Golden Delicious. This shines with the golden radiance of a glorious sunset, which is why the Hesperides are also Sunset Goddesses. The Golden Apples were given to Hera as a wedding present by Gaia. Troublemaker Eris stole one, and to preserve the rest Hera planted them in a beautiful garden. A Golden Apple tree grew there, and along flounced some nymphs to nibble at the fruit. Wagging a warning finger, Hera put a dragon called Ladon on guard duty. The nymphs took one look at his hundred slavering heads and turned over a new golden leaf. From that moment they devoted themselves to tending the tree. Hera tended not to trust them but Ladon was there to prevent any scrumping. Aegle does the shining, Hespera does the watering (she was also known as Arethusa but took on an alternative name to avoid confusion with the well-known nymph), and Erytheia pores over the best times for pruning and picking. Hestia pops in from time to time to tend the flowerbeds. The Hesperides are best of friends with Atlas, who is a close neighbor. Some legends even claim he is their father by Hesperis. Other legends give Zeus the credit, and one or two cynical folk claim the Hesperides are simply a flock of golden sheep. The Labors of Heracles Episode 11: The Apples Of The Hesperides Heracles had originally been sentenced to Ten Labors. Returning in triumph with the Cattle of Geryon, he was hoping to take a well-deserved vacation. But the meanminded Eurystheus claimed two of the Labors were null and void. “That Hydra business — your nephew did half the work, and there seems to be a head missing. As for the stable-cleaning scam for profit — for which a court case is still pending — no way! Still two Labors to go, laddie.” Greek Gods

7. Frederic Leighton: The Garden of the Hesperides, c. 1892.

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Steam came out of Heracles’s ears but he stayed in control and headed off to find the Golden Apples. No-one could tell him where they were, and he floundered around until he came across the sleeping Sea God Nereus. Knowing of his wisdom, he seized him by the beard and twisted both advice and information out of him... The plan involved using Atlas, who was best friends with the Golden Apple nymphs. To avoid unnecessary delays, Heracles climbed up the orchard wall and shot Ladon the dragon with a Hydra dart, leaving the coast clear for nymph negotiations. Atlas was holding up the Celestial Globe of the Heavens at the time. So Herc offered to take over his burden whilst the deed was performed. ATLAS could not believe his luck. It was such a weight off his shoulders. What a relief! Atlas certainly took his time hobnobbing with the Hesperides. To the sweating Heracles, he seemed to be gone for years. Finally he sauntered back with three Golden Apples and a big grin. Atlas was in no hurry to resume his supporting role. “I’ll tell you what mate,” he said, “hang on in there and I’ll take the apples back to Eurywhotsit for you. It’s no trouble. I’ll be back in a month or two.” After Ten Labors, Heracles had learnt to match wits with the best. And Atlas was far from smart. “Sure thing, bud. Thanks very much. Oh, before you go, I’m getting a bit of a headache. Can you take over for a sec while I put a bit of padding on my head..?” Was Atlas that gullible? Yes he was, and found himself holding up the Heavens once more. So Heracles returned to Mycenae with the Golden Apples, which Eurystheus then donated to Athena... who then returned them to the Hesperides where they’d come from in the first place. Heracles may have been heard to use bad language at this point. Final Episode: The Capture Of Cerberus… Spiritual Being

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Greek Gods

6 Titans

TITANS The twelve giant offspring of Gaia and Uranus. They come in brother-sister pairs: Cronus and Rhea, Oceanus and Tethys, Hyperion and Thea, Iapetus and Themis, Crius and Mnemosyne, and Coeus And Phoebe. (The six sisters are also called the Titanides, by the way.) They were so big and painful in labour that poor Gaia couldnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t bear to bear any more. So she got Cronus to help with some radical birth control and newly neutered Uranus was overthrown. After the deed was done, Cronus and Rhea ruled over the Gods and the world entered a Golden Age of peace and prosperity. Of course this didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t last as the Gods warred against them and a disgruntled Zeus banished them all to Tartarus Prison. Deity

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Greek Gods

6.1 Oceanus, Tethys (Ocean, Nurse)

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OCEANUS (Ocean) One of the Titans. Married to Amphitrite, he’s the Father of River Gods and also has the Oceanids to help out. His own father was Uranus with longstanding helpmate Gaia. Deity TETHYS (Nurse) One of the Titans. She was Goddess of the Fertile Ocean and proved it by marrying her brother Oceanus and bearing three thousand children. Her daughters are the Oceanids, all sea nymphs of a very festive nature and fond of flowery garlands. Tethys wasn’t just a salty Goddess to be salted away. She liked to turn up in fresh places and could spring out of springs and spring surprises all over the place. Deity OCEANIDS (Ocean Nymphs) All self-explanatory. These are the Sea Nids (or Nymphs) that live in the Ocean run by their father Oceanus. Except they also spend a lot of their time in the clouds generating sea mists and ocean air. Very atmospheric. Spiritual Being POTAMOI (Rivers) The gods of the rivers and streams of the earth, sons of the great earth-encirling river Okeanos. Their sisters were the Okeanides, goddesses of streams, clouds and rain, and their daughters were the Naiades, nymphs of fresh-water springs. The River-God was depicted in one of three forms:--as a man-headed bull; or a bull-horned man with the body of serpentine-fish from the waist down; or as a man reclining with an arm resting upon an amphora jug pouring water.

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NAIADES (Streams) They were fresh-water Nymphs who inhabited the rivers, streams, lakes, marshes, fountains and springs of the earth. They were immortal, minor divinities who were invited to attend the assemblies of the gods on Mount Olympos. The Naiad Nymphs were often classified by their domain: Pegaiai were the Naiad nymphs of the springs; Krinaiai, the Naiads of fountains; Potameides, the Naiads of rivers & streams; Limnades and Limnatides, Naiads of the lakes; Eleionomai, the Naiad Nymphs of marshes and wetlands. The Naiades, along with Artemis, were regarded as the divine nurses of the young, and the protectors of girls and maidens, overseeing their safe passage into adulthood. Similarly Apollon and the RiverGods (fathers of the Naiades) were the patron gods of boys and youths. Many of the Naiades married local kings and played a prominent role in the genealogies of the royal families of myth. Others, such as the beautiful Naiad daughters of Asopos, were loved by the gods. They often gave their names to towns, cities and islands, and as such were most likely regarded as the goddess-protectors of the community’s water supply, which usually consisting of a spring, stream-fed fountain, or well. The Pegaiai with their distinctive natural springs, and the Krinaiai who presided over town fountains, were the mostly commonly worshipped and individualised of the Nymphs. Those who possessed waters with some special property (or which were believed to have some special property), often had proper cults and shrines established in their honour. Examples of these include the Anigrides of Elis whose waters were believed to cure disease, and the Nymphs of Helikon and Delphoi whose waters were thought to bestow poetical and prophetic inspiration respectively. The Naiades were depicted in ancient art as beautiful, young women, either seated, standing or reclining beside their springs, and holding a hydria (water jug) or branch of lush foliage.

Greek Gods

8. John William Waterhouse: A Naiad or Hylas with a Nymph, 1893.

METIS (Counsel) The first Mrs Zeus. She was the Goddess of Wisdom and Zeus was warned that any resulting children would be much smarter than him. Now any sensible God would have abstained from sex, but randy Zeus was so turned on by her shape-shifting abilities that he couldn’t resist. So when she became pregnant he remembered the prophecy and decided to take precautions. (Better late than never.) So he swallowed Metis whole — but himself gave birth to Athena, Goddess of Wisdom, making him sadder but wiser. One or two sources claim that Metis is also the mother of Porus. Deity STYX (Gloom) Goddess of the Underworld River and Unbreakable Oaths. ‘Styx and Stones may break my bones but words will never hurt me.’ Well, they will if you swear by the River Styx and then break your oath. The River Styx goes through the Underworld and is in the charge of the Goddess of that name. She’s the daughter of the Ocean and had four children with Pallas, son of Titan Crios, Force, Might, Victory and Zeal who helped the Gods in the War against the Titans. She was rewarded with her own ten-channel river, a palace in the Underworld and dominion over the Oaths of the Gods. Anyone swearing such an oath has to drink from her ice cold waters to bind their vow. Quite a chilling experience as these drinks can freeze the blood and destroy mere mortals. Deity

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EURYNOME (Broadness) One of the Oceanids, and the Goddess of Broad Pastures. The daughter of Oceanus and Thetis, she was waltzing around in Olympus before the arrival of Cronus and Rhea, who lost no time in slinging her into the sea and taking over. She’s a delightfully charming and kind Sea Nymph. Her kindest act was taking Hephaestus under her fin after he was kicked out of Olympus for being ugly. Together with Thetis, she nursed his bruises and his ego until he was ready to kick some ass among the Gods. Eurynome is also the mother of the Graces via a fling with Zeus. She was always doing favors for people. Deity

Greek Gods

6.2 Hyperion, Theia (Highness, Sight)

6.2

HYPERION (Highness) If you can believe the hype, Hyperion is one of the Titans. He married his bashful sister Thea and fathered the sun (Helios), the moon (Selene) and the dawn (Eos). Deity THEIA (Sight) One of the Titans, married to her brother Hyperion. Claim to fame: She gave birth to Helios the sun, Eos the dawn and Selene the moon. Deity HELIOS (Sun) This bright young thing is God of the Sun. It’s sunshine sunshine all the way as he shines through the sky in his goldenwinged chariot. From up there he sees everything that happens and is often called upon to shed light on events. Son of Hyperion and Thea, he has a frankly staggering number of children. By turning the tables and following the sun from behind a cloud we have peered into his love life — and it seems to be ‘Go for it sunshine all the way’. With his wife Perse he bore Pasiphae and Circe. He’s the father of seven daughters called the Heliades and his ill-fated son Phaeton. Then he has moved nearer to someone called Neara daughter Lampetia arrived in time prove most useful in looking after his sacred cattle flocks. Then he had the hots for Leocothea, but her sister Clytie who had already enjoyed Helios’s favors was jealous, and told her dad King Orcharios of Babylon — who condemned Leocothea to be buried alive. Helios arrived too late to restore her and so changed her into a shrub. In remorse, Clytie exposed herself to nature until she faded away, gazing all the time at Helios zooming through the Heavens. She was transformed at last into a heliotrope, which as you should know is a sunflower. We last see him chasing after Anaxibia, another of the Nymphs, who seems so far to have eluded him. Phew! Deity

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PHAETON (Beaming) Secret son of Sun God Helios by Clymene. He managed to track down his old man and tried to drive his sunny chariot, but hadn’t passed his driving test and made a right pig’s ear of it. Zeus zonked him out of the sky to prevent him scorching the Earth. Legendary Mortal KIRKE (Falcon) Daughter of Helios and Perse, she was a bit on the witchy side. Something of a radical feminist, she thinks all men are swine, a theory she has put to the test with positive results. Just ask Odysseus. Deity LAMPETIA (Luster) The Shining Goddess of Light. She’s the daughter of Helios who, with her sister Phaethusa, looked after her father’s cattle investments in Sicily. Lampetia stood guard over the holy sheep with a silver crook while her sis played cowgirl. Lampetia is also claimed to be mother of Panacea. Deity PASIPHAE (Glowing) Daughter of Sun God Helios and Perse, one of the Sea Nymphs. She married King Minos of Crete and then it all turns into a load of old bull, which involves Poseidon getting her to mate with an underwater bull (the Cretan-Bull) which afterwards went mad. She gave birth to the Minotaur which was rather maddening for her, as it may have eaten her. She also apparently gave birth to Ariadne, who fell in love with Theseus and married Dionysus. These are only the bare outlines, the story has almost as many twists and turns as the labyrinth itself and we seem to have lost the thread. We’ve certainly lost Pasiphae so we can be reasonably sure she was swallowed. Deity

Greek Gods

THE HELIADES (Twinkles) Seven nymph daughters of the sun-god Helios. When their brother Phaethon was struck from the chariot of the sun by Zeus, they gathered around his smoky grave on the banks of the River Eridanos and in their unrelenting grief were transformed into poplar-trees and their tears into golden amber. SELENE (Moon) Silvery Goddess of the Moon. She is pale, beautiful and indefinably alluring. Her brother is Helios, the Sun and her sister is Eos, the Dawn. Secretive and shy, she enjoys flitting silently through the night with a pearl-white or silvery chariot. But she quite likes being glimpsed through the clouds — and her coyness is somewhat calculated. For Selene also enjoys romance, and has shared kisses with more people than you could count on a long winter’s night. Who spread the rumor that her reflection in water could be trapped and that if you kept very quiet she would draw nearer and nearer — until you could snatch her from the sky and make her your servant? We tried that and it didn’t work. What a tease. Deity FIFTY MENAI (50 Months) The goddesses of the lunar months, daughters of Selene (the Moon) and Endymion king of Elis and Olympia, the home of the Olympic Games. The Menai represented the fifty lunar months of the four-year Olympiad - a basic unit in the Ancient Greek measurement of time. The eight year Octaeteris (which was used in place of our modern day counting by decades) consisted of two Olympiads of fifty and forty-nine months respectively. This 99 lunar month cycle equates to 8 solar years, and marks the convergence of these two primal heavenly cycles.

Greek Gods

PANDEIA (Brightness) Daughter of the sky-god Zeus and the moon-goddess Selene. It is likely that she was a goddess of the full moon (panselênê in Greek) and of the earth-nourishing dew (hersê). HERSE (Dew) The goddess of the plant-nourishing dew. She was a daughter of the sky-god Zeus and moon-goddess Selene. Herse may be the same as Pandeia, a daughter of the same gods described in the Homeric Hymns. Another Herse, described as a daughter of Kekrops, was worshipped by the Athenians. EOS (Dawn) The rosy-fingered goddess of the dawn. She and her siblings Helios (the Sun) and Selene (the Moon) were numbered amongst the second-generation Titan gods. Eos rose up into the sky from the river Okeanos at the start of each day, and with her rays of light dispersed the mists of night. She was sometimes depicted riding in a golden chariot drawn by winged horses, at other times she was shown borne aloft by her own pair of wings. Eos had an unquenchable desire for handsome young men, some say as the result of a curse laid upon her by the goddess Aphrodite. Her lovers included Orion, Phaethon, Kephalos and Tithonos, three of which she ravished away to distant lands. The Trojan prince Tithonos became her official consort. When the goddess petitioned Zeus for his immortality, she neglected also to request eternal youth. In time he shrivelled up by old age and transformed into a grasshopper. Eos was closely identified with Hemera, the primordial goddess of day. In some myths-such as the tales of Orion and Kephalos-Eos stood virtually as a non-virginal substitute for Artemis.

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PHAINON (Shining) God of wandering star (aster planetos) Kronion, the planet Saturn, or else Dios, the planet Jupiter. He was a son of the heavenly gods Astraios (Starry Heaven) and Eos (Dawn), or a handsome youth crafted by the Titan Prometheus who was placed amongst the stars by Zeus. The planet was dedicated to the Greek god Kronos or Zeus. ASTRA PLANETA (Stardom) Gods of the five wandering stars or planets. They were named Phainon (the planet of Kronos, Roman Saturn), Phaethon (the planet of Zeus, Roman Jupiter), Pyroeis (the planet of Ares, Mars), Eosphoros (the planet of Aphrodite, Venus), and Stilbon (the planet of Hermes, Mercury). In Greek vase painting they were depicted as youths diving into the river Okeanos with the rising of Helios the sun. The planets invisible to the naked eye-Uranus, Neptune and Pluto--were only discovered and named in modern times. They were unknown to the ancients.

PYROEIS (Midnight) God of the wandering star (aster planetos) Areios, the planet Mars. His name was derived from the Greek word for fire pyra, so-called for his reddish tinge. He was also named Mesonyx, the Midnight Star. Unlike his brother Eosphoros (Venus the dawn-star), Pyroeis was scarcely personified. The star belonged to the god of war Ares or else Herakles. EOSPHOROS (Evening) Gods of the star (astron planeta) Venus. They were originally regarded as two quite distinct divinities--the first, whose name means “dawn bringer,” was the god of the dawn-star, while the second, “Evening,” was the star of dusk. The two star-gods were later combined. In Greek vase-painting Eosphoros-Hesperos was as a youthful man, either in the form of a bust surrounded by the shining orb of his star, or as a winged god holding a torch and crowned with a starry aureole.

PHAETHON (Blazing) The god of wandering star (aster planetos) Dios, the planet Jupiter. Others identified him with the aster Kronion, the planet Saturn. Phaethon was either a star-born son of Eos (the Dawn) who was carried off by Aphrodite, or the boy Phaethon, son of Helios (the Sun) who was struck down by Zeus with a lightning bolt when he lost control of the chariot of the sun. His name was derived from the Greek verb phaethô, meaning “to shine” or “blaze.” STILBON (Gleaming) God of the wandering star (aster planetos) Hermaon, the planet Mercury. His name was derived from the Greek verb stilbô meaning “to gleam” or “glitter.” Out of all the five planets, he was the least personified. The star belonged to Hermes, the herald of the gods.

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Greek Gods

6.3 Coeus, Phoebe, Koios (Ram, Shine, Axis) 6.3

KOIOS (Axis) God of Intelligence and Deep Searching Questions. One of the Titans, he’s as bright as they get and is always probing the limits of knowledge. If you’re looking for an intellectual challenge, why not try the Coeus Bumper Book of Quantum Brain Teasers and Quadratic Hexadecimal Equations? He’s married to his sister Phoebe, who spends most of her time answering his questions to six decimal places. His daughters are Asteria and Leto. Deity PHOEBE (Shine) One of the Titans, she’s Goddess of Wise Counsel, Thoughtful Replies and Snappy Answers. Phoebe is the daughter of Uranus and Gaia. She’s the consort of Coeus, the intellectual God of Tricky Questions, and the two of them must have some fascinating conversations. Her offspring includes Asteria and Leto. She’s also granny to Apollo, to whom she donated her Oracle at Delphi after getting bored with all the Frequently Asked Questions. Deity COEUS (Ram) One of the Titans. Of whom we know not what. Except that he was known as ‘The Ram’. Before Crius, along with all the other Titans, was cast into the fathomless depths of Tartarus below the basement of the Underworld in Hades, he had been around long enough to become, along with Eurybia, a parent of Astraeus. Deity

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LELANTOS The younger Titan god of air and the hunter’s skill of stalking prey. His name was derived from the Greek words lêthô, lanthanô, and lelathon, meaning “to escape notice,” “move unseen” or “go unobserved.” On a geographical level, Lelantos was probably associated with the Lelantian plain of Euboia. However Nonnus transfers the myth to Phrygia. Lelantos is apparently the male counterpart of Leto, just as his daughter, the virgin huntress Aura (“Breeze”), is the counterpart of Leto’s Artemis. Aura was the Titan goddess of the breeze and the fresh, cool air of early morning. She was a virgin-huntress who was excessively proud of her maidenhood. In her hubris she dared to compare her body with that of the goddess Artemis, claiming that the goddess was too womanly in form to be a true virgin. Artemis sought out Nemesis (Retribution) to avenge her dignity, and as punishment, Aura suffered rape at the hands of Dionysos. This crime drove her to madness and in her fury she became a ruthless, slayer of men. When her twin sons were born, Aura swallowed one whole, whilst the second was snatched to safety by Artemis. Zeus then transformed her into a stream (or perhaps her namesake breeze “aura”). LETO Daughter of Koios and Phoebe and mother of the twins Artemis and Apollo. She’s quite a bird. We’re not being sexist — she was a quail at the time. Blame Zeus — it was his doing that the twins were born with egg on their faces. Disguising themselves as birds and getting intimate on a floating island was the only way for Leto and Zeus to escape the attentions of a jealous Hera. Which helps to explain why Leto was known as The Hidden One. Deity

Greek Gods

ARTEMIS Wild Goddess of Hunting, Animal Liberation, Feistiness and Feminism. She was the result of a wild fling by Zeus with a lovely lady called Leto. He was married to Hera at the time, and not wanting his wanton ways to reach her jealous ears, changed himself and Leto into quails. Gods can do that sort of thing. Especially randy Zeus, who must have experienced sex in the guise of almost every animal at some time or another. So Zeus laid Leto, and Leto laid Artemis — and it must have been a double yolker as Apollo was born at the same time. Maybe it was the thought of having a sexmad quail dad that put Artemis off men. When she grew up, she ran off into the wild and took to hunting with a band of women’s liberation Nymphs (particularly the Dryads) such as Callisto, who joined her with vows of chastity. Despite the hunting, Artemis cares deeply for animals. But she has little respect for human males. When a prowling peeper called Acteon caught sight of her bathing naked in a pool, she hounded him to death with his own hounds. Then the Great Hunter Orion (who was up to much the same thing) got belted into oblivion with the aid of a large scorpion. We are not sure how, as eyewitnesses are understandably reluctant to come forward. There are many ‘hunting accidents’ when the name Artemis crops up. But who wants to point the finger? It would probably be chopped off. But she wasn’t a complete man-hater, as her efforts on behalf of Hippolytus show. Her temple at Ephesus contained a statue of a female who, it seems, had undergone breast implants on a multiple scale. She was festooned with them. For a Goddess so keen on keeping her nakedness private, that could just be someone’s idea of a joke. But in fact the busty statue was actually Cybele, a Goddess known for having lashings of lust (and bloodlust). It must be a feminist thing. Worshippers of Artemis revelled in their womanhood in all its forms. And they still do. Greek Gods

In due course the Romans came and revitalised ritualistic religion. They changed the name of Artemis to Diana and her public relations were much improved. Now she is top Goddess of the feminist movement — and by far the most requested deity at Godchecker.com. She’s also an inspiration to animal rights activists, as long as quails aren’t involved. Deity APOLLO Greek all-rounder. The son of Zeus and Leto, he has his Godly fingers in every pie. Sun God. Music God. Archery God. Poetry God. Painting God. Prophecy God. Plagues and Healing God. Animal Welfare God. God of Radiance. God of Ploughing. And much much more! Send for free brochure with no obligation. See him conduct the Holy Choir of Muses, tickets available at the box office. Book now for Apollo Space Mission. Also, he has undiminished Beauty and Virility. You name it, he has it. Thoroughly sickening to us mere mortals. But he is not entirely the Mr Nice Guy he would have us believe. There are women he pursued who won’t talk due to transformation or worse. Daphne is now a laurel tree and Clytia is a sunflower. Sudden deaths are not uncommon when he is around — and don’t try to compete with him musically. It’s all very well to be played alive but not flayed alive like poor old Marsyas. Or to be given the ears of an ass like poor old King Midas. Cassandra never got another chance either, nor was he very pleasant to the Sibyl-Of-Cumae, granting her immortality but leaving out the age clause. His son Asclepius was the result of another unfortunate lapse. Having had an affair with the mortal daughter of a king, Apollo was consumed with jealousy when he discovered she had another suitor, and, out of control, he killed her. In a fit of remorse he was just in time to rescue her unborn child and have him brought up with the best education to be Asclepius, the Deity Doctor. He met his match in Zeus, and a tussle MARTINA

for power earned him a period in exile; but as Zeus had zapped his son Asclepius, zapping the Cyclope thunderbolt makers seems justifiable. It can be very tough at the top and all in all Apollo handles it very well what with Zeus being his dad, having Artemis for a twin sister, etc. Deity ASCLEPIUS God of Medicine. Also known as Asklepios and Aesculapius, depending whether you are Greek, Roman or dyslexic. He’s Doctor Deity, having learnt his stuff from Chiron, the medical centaur of all healing knowledg. Sadly he was struck off the register by a thunderbolt from Zeus after raising Hippolytus from the grave. The dead were supposed to stay dead, and the Gods did not approve of miracle cures. If all the dead came back to life, the Underworld would empty and Hades would be out of a job. So now Asclepius is a sort of Public Health Service God. Sleep at his shrine and you can take advantage of his healing dreams. We don’t know if any beds are currently available. We have it on good authority that the illegible inscriptions carved on Asclepius clay tablets were the very first doctor’s prescriptions. Which have remained unreadable ever since. With Epione he fathered Panacea, who attempts to cure with soothing sooths. Panaceas are still used to this day. Perhaps he is best known in modern times as the original source of the logo of medicine (a staff with two snakes twisted around it) which is based on his symbolic staff, the sacred snake of his daughter Hygeia wrapped around it. Or is it? Let us introduce you to the parasitic Guinea Worm, a tiny but very nasty organism which, if accidentally swallowed, secretly festers and grows under your skin, incredibly reaching upwards of a metre in length. When it is ready to release its baby egglets into the world, the tip of its tiny tail bursts through the skin, causing extreme anguished pain. MARTINA

The only way to remove a Guinea Worm from the body is to gently tease the tail out and slowly wind it around a stick. This laborious process can take several months. We are pleased to report that thanks to modern health campaigns, the Guinea Worm is now almost totally extinct. But in ancient times the parasitic plague was widespread and may even have been the ‘Flaming Serpent’ which afflicted the Hebrews. The ancient medical symbol of the staff and snakes could easily be inspired by Dr Asclepius patiently winding a worm around a stick... Deity HYMENAEUS God of Weddings and Getting Married. He’s in charge of the wedding procession, the marriage feast, and the little bits of confetti. You’d better pray to him it all goes well. (His brother Priapus no doubt offers support for the night-time ceremony.) Ironically for a God of Weddings, his parentage is subject to a degree of speculation. Was his dad Apollo with one of the Muses for a mum? Or was it Dionysus and Aphrodite? He certainly has strong love lines from somewhere and is irresistably handsome. Deity LINUS You will have to read between the lines. He is either a song, a character in ‘Peanuts’, a son of Apollo who may have killed him for being a better musician or a son of one of the Muses who tried to teach Heracles sharps and flats and got flattened for his pains. Legendary Mortal

Greek Gods

PANACEIA Goddess of Cures, Ointments and Panaceas. Don’t panic. She’s the soothing daughter of Asclepius and Epione. Deity HYGEIA The goddess of good health. She was a daughter and attendant of the medicinegod Asklepios, and a companion of the goddess Aphrodite. Her sisters included Panakeia (All-Cure) and Iaso (Remedy). IASO The goddess of cures, remedies and modes of healing. She was a daughter and attendant of the medicine-god Asklepios. Her sisters included Panakeia (All-Cure) and Hygeia (Good-Health). ASTERIA Daughter of Coeus and Phoebe, she was the mother of Hecate and another object of Zeus’s affections. He chased her all over the place, until finally she changed into a quail to escape him. Zeus thought about this and turned himself into a quail too, but Asteria cast herself into the sea and turned into an island. Zeus turned the quail failure around by pursuing her sister Leto instead. Deity

Greek Gods

HEKATE Goddess of Hidden Wisdom, Change and Darkness. She’s also the Queen of Witches. But Hecate is not the evil hag that popular legend suggests. In fact she seems to have started out as Heket, the Egyptian Goddess of Childbirth. Her considerable power over nature ensured her continued popularity, but she’s never fitted in with the crowd. Any crowd. She’s very much her own Goddess. Her role and attributes are hard to sum up in a few words. She has the power of change, whether for good or evil, and is the one invoked when spells are cast. A good lunar calender is essential as the power she gives is related to the phases of the moon. That’s why it’s best to start new projects when there’s a full moon. (If nothing else, at least you’ll be able to see what you’re doing.) Hecate is often seen with three heads: dog, horse and lion (or snake). These symbolise the attributes of Selene, Artemis and Persephone (but not necessarily in that order), as Hecate is something of a three-in-one Goddess in the attribute department. Over the centuries, her esoteric nature has led to a lot of misunderstandings and bad press. The modern conception of a wicked cackling witch with broomstick and warts is more or less the result of early Christian anti-Hecate propaganda. (After all, any decent witch could cure warts in a jiffy.) Trivia: Hecate was known by the Romans as Trivia. Deity

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PERSES The Titan god of destruction. He was the father of Hekate--his one and only child-by the goddess Asteria (“the Starry One”). Pallas One of the Titans. The winged husband of Styx, he’s the father of Nike and (if the rumors are true) Eos. Some legends claim that he’s the father of Athena, possibly because of her nickname Pallas-Athena. He attempted to rape her but she skinned him — and used his skin to cover her shield. She found that his wings, once attached to her feet, came in very useful for those Business Class Air Travels. Deity

ZELOS The spirit (daimon) of eager rivalry, emulation, envy, jealousy and zeal. He and his siblings, Nike (Victory), Bia (Force) and Kratos (Strength), were the winged enforcers of Zeus who stood in attendance of his throne.

BIA Goddess of Force. The daughter of Pallas and Styx, she was the only one strong enough to bind Prometheus to that rock. Hence the term ‘biasbinding’. Deity KRATOS The god or daimon of strength, might, power and sovereign rule. He and his siblings, Nike (Victory), Bia (Force) and Zelos (Rivalry), were the winged enforcers of Zeus, angel-like beings who stood in attendance of the heavenly throne. NIKE The Famous Goddess of Victory. The daughter of Styx and Pallas, she is often confused with Athena, the Goddess of War. This often gives rise to outrageous rumors which may be true. Meanwhile, the two of them are the best of friends and complement each other nicely. A winning combination. With wings and a flowing robe, she has absolutely no connection to any American Sports Clothing Company and has been unable to claim any royalties for label design. Deity

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Greek Gods

6.4 Iapetus (Piercer) 6.4

IAPETUS (Piercer) One of the Titans. Was known as the Father of Mankind and also managed mountains in his spare time. The husband of Clymene, he did mankind a big favour by fathering Atlas, Epimetheus and Prometheus, with Menoetius being the black sheep of the family. Deity EPIMETHEUS Dumb God of Creature Creation. The son of Iapetus and Clymene, he populated the world with newly invented animals, but made such a big deal about it that his brother Prometheus became jealous. This lead to the theft of fire and a whole lot of trouble for the Gods. They got their own back by offering Epimetheus the first prototype woman, and, despite the warnings of Prometheus, he was sillly enough to accept. Her name was Pandora. Deity PROMETHEUS Son of Iapetus and Clymene. He was a rival to his brother Epimetheus in the creature creation game. He was eventually punished for stealing fire from the Gods and bringing it to mankind. In Zeus’s eyes, this was the most terrible crime, almost as bad as giving the developing world access to broadband internet connections. He was furious, and dished out a terrible punishment. Don’t mention liver. Let’s just say Prometheus was chained to a rock with BIA’s patented God-bonds which only an immortal could break. He was left there to suffer agony and torment forever. Ewww and Ouch. The punishment was supposed to last for all eternity, but as luck would have it Chiron the Centaur came along… Deity

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ATLAS God of Weightlifting and Heavy Burdens. He’s the one with the whole world on his shoulders. Literally. During the war of the Titans, Atlas stormed Olympus and threatened the Gods. And as punishment for this war crime, Zeus sentenced him to hold up the heavens and bear their weight on his shoulders forever. Now the heavens might be made mostly of cloud, but you’d be surprised how heavy they are. (In fact it’s a miracle they managed to stay up so long before Atlas showed up.) So Atlas was very relieved when the laboring Heracles came along offering to give him a hand in return for a little help with some Golden Apples from the Hesperides. Atlas nipped off to get the apples but wasn’t inclined to resume his burden. “Here, hold this a minute while I scratch my back,” said Heracles. And Atlas, not the brightest apple in the barrel, did so while HERACLES made a sharp exit. The awful burden was made slightly easier for Atlas to bear when Perseus came along and turned him to stone with the head of Medusa. He’s now known as Mount Atlas. Atlas is usually depicted as a strong silent type carrying a globe. (Well, it’s easier to draw than the heavens.) Just for the record he was the son of Clymene and Iapetus. Deity CALYPSO Goddess of Silence. Which makes you wonder why Calypso music is so boisterous. The daughter of Atlas, she was one of the Nymphs and lived on the island of Ogygia in a state of extreme loneliness and boredom. She had a fling with the shipwrecked Odysseus but it was a very quiet affair. When he was rescued by Hermes she apparently died of grief. Deity

Greek Gods

DIONE A nymph daughter of the Titan Atlas and the wife of the Lydian king Tantalos. She was probably a star- and mountainnymph like her sisters the Pleiades and Hyades, who resided on the Lydian Mount Sipylos. HYADES Rainy day Nymphs. More daughters of Atlas. We would try to name them but they seem to be as numerous as raindrops. Spiritual Being PLEIADES Atlantides More daughters of Atlas who sought stardom after nearly having their careers ruined by Orion. They all had casting couch affairs with leading directors of the day except one, Merore, who was propositioned by Sisyphus, a pushy mortal so she doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t get to shine so brightly as the others. Maia, Taygete and Electra were chosen by Zeus giving a three-star rating. Alcyone and Celoneo got Poseidon and a two-star rating. Sterope got Ares, so we only give her one star. Spiritual Being MAIA Pleiades star loved by Zeus. The mother of Hermes, she was so content with her status she renewed her contract under the Romans. Spiritual Being

TAYGETE Another Pleiades star chosen by Zeus. Spiritual Being ALCYONE She comes in two versions. No. 1 as one of the Pleiades via Poseidon. No. 2 as being happily married to Cyx, who was son of the Morning Star but sadly mortal. When he was shipwrecked and drowned she was inconsolable. As the shipwreck had been caused by Zeus and Hera in a fit of jealousy at seeing a couple so much happier than them, they then took pity and turned the lovers into a couple of immortal kingfishers. Spiritual Being KELAINO Pleiades Star. Another Poseidon conquest. Also the name of a Harpy. Spiritual Being STEROPE A Pleiades star courtesy of Ares and his casting couch. Spiritual Being MEROPE A Pleiades starlet possibly sponsored by Sisyphus. Spiritual Being

ELECTRA Daughter of Atlas and Pleione. She was another Zeus seduction resulting in Dardanus, first King of Troy, and Iasion. She did try to fight Zeus off, and hid behind the statue of the Palladium which Athena had installed. Zeus threw it out of Heaven and it landed in Troy. The Trojans kept it as a lucky mascot. Bad choice. The Romans made her the wife of a Prince Corythus, and for Dardanus Troy became Troad. Deity

Greek Gods

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9. Elihu Vedder: The Pleiades, 1885.

6.5

6.5 Themis, Mnemosine (Custom, Memory)

THEMIS (Custom) One of the Titans. A stern Goddess of Order and Justice. She’s the one with the blindfold and scales presiding over the Old Bailey lawcourts in Londinium. Also does a lot of oracling on the side. She was also the second Mrs Zeus and gave birth to the Horae and possibly the Fates. A peaceful separation settlement seems to have been arrived at and she and ZEUS remained good friends. Deity EIRENE One of the Horae. The daughter of Zeus and Themis, she is a Goddess of Peace. Deity EUNOMIA Goddess of Lawfulness. One of the Horae, she ensures good order, peace and a lawabiding society. Deity DICE Goddess of Justice. She’s one of the Horae and was born as a human to keep the peace on Earth. When this didn’t work, Zeus resorted to Plan B and dragged her up to Mount Olympus instead. Deity HESYKHIA The spirit (daimona) of quiet, rest, silence and stillness. She was a daughter of Dike (Lady Justice). Her Roman equivalents were Quies (Quiet) and Silentia (Silence). MNEMOSYNE (Memory) One of the Titans. The Goddess of Memory but we can’t remember why. She was seduced by her nephew Zeus. This short time contender in the Zeus marriage stakes only lasted nine days, but resulted in the nine daughters who became the Muses. Deity

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9 MUSES (waste time) Godly sisters in charge of the Arts and Sciences. Born of Zeus and Mnemosyne, they inspire poets, musicians, writers, philosophers and website designers. The world would be a far poorer place without Calliope, Clio, Erato, Euterpe, Melpomene, Polyhymnia, Terpsichore, Thalia and Urania, so give them a call and see what they can do for you. Their sublime choir is conducted by Apollo, who ensures they perform everything in perfect blissful harmony. We can only assume he was on vacation when Country & Western music was invented. Deity MELPOMENE (tragedy) One of the Muses. Melpomene is the Goddess of Tragedy and inspires playwrights and actors to create sorrowful drama. The nearest she gets to a happy ending is when the two tragic lovers die pointless horrible deaths due to a silly misunderstanding over a shopping list. Deity CLIO (history) One of the Muses, Clio deals with Historical Epics and Poetry. So she’s probably the Muse that Homer turned to for inspiration when he could only think of corny oneliners during Iliad fight scenes. As well as stirring the creative juices, Clio also introduced the Phoenician alphabet to Greece and did great things for the parchment industry. Deity EUTERPE (music) One of the Muses. She’s the delightful Goddess of Joy and Pleasure. A wonderful flautist, Euterpe invented the double flute to give double the pleasure. We don’t think she had anything to do with the saxophone (although we suspect Eris had a hand in it). Deity

Greek Gods

THALIA (comedy) One of the Muses. She’s the amusing Muse of Comedy. Thalia is particularly fond of pastoral sit-coms involving mistaken identity, outrageous mother-in-laws and hilarious sheep. She also works part-time as part of the Graces. Deity TERPSICHORE (dance and choral song) One of the Muses. She’s the Goddess of Dramatic Dancing. Terpsichore looks after the weighty chorus line of ancient plays, which were far more serious than they are now, with little in the way of high-kicks and frilly costumes. Strangely enough for a Dancing Goddess, she’s usually depicted sitting down. Deity ERATO (lyric and love poetry) One of the Muses. She’s the lovely Goddess of Love Songs and Erotic Poetry. Erato is responsible for romantic ballads, sexy dance vibes and smoochy lurve music. Tip: Put a small statue of her on your stereo during a candlelit dinner and see what happens. And talking of entertaining, Erato has a little party trick — she’s very good at impersonations after a few glasses of wine. Deity

10. Jean-Marc Nattier: Thalia, Muse of Comedy, 1739.

URANIA (astronomy) One of the Muses. Her field is Space, Astronomy and Astrology. She carries a globe and holds a peg in her right hand for reasons we are not at liberty to divulge. With her eyes firmly fixed on the night sky, she’s an inspiration to astronomers and those seeking the answers to deep cosmic questions. Her cloak is covered with stars and if you petition her nicely she might reveal the secrets of the universe. While you’re at it, ask her about the peg. Deity

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CALLIOPE (epic poetry) The Goddess of Eloquence and Poetry. Eldest and most distinguished of the Muses, she has a beautiful voice which inspires brilliance in debate and makes even the wimpiest poetry resound with epic meaning. Why she should give her name to a cheesy fairground organ is beyond us. The lover of Apollo, she gave birth to his sons Orpheus and Linus. She also took a shine to heroic Achilles, but contented herself with teaching him rowdy drinking songs. Deity POLYHYMNIA (sacred song and oratory) One of the Muses. She inspires the writing and singing of hymns, and doesnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t seem to enjoy it very much. When sheâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s not singing mournfully or dancing miserably, she sits around looking worried and sometimes chews her fingernails. Has something terrible happened? Deity

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Greek Gods

6.6

6.6 Rhea, Kronos (Flow, Time)

RHEA (Flow) Mother of the Gods. Married to her brother Cronus, she gave birth to Zeus, Poseidon, Hades, Demeter, Hera and Hestia. These didn’t have much time to get acquainted with the world before Cronus swallowed them in a male menopausal panic. But Rhea tricked him by hiding Zeus and substituting a stone wrapped in baby clothes. So Cronus swallowed that instead, not realising that a fully-grown Zeus would return to rescue his siblings. Deity KRONoS (Time) Father of the Gods and one of the Titans. He’s known as the Castrator, definitely a no-no. His mighty father Uranus was terrified of the great ugly kids pregnant Gaia was producing and had them banished to the bowels of the Earth. In other words, Gaia’s bowels. She found this so painful (and not just emotionally) that she enlisted the aid of youngest son Cronus to put an end to Uranus’s machinations. With a well-aimed swipe of a sickle, Cronus cut his father off in his prime. With Uranus out of the way, Cronus became Top God and ruled a Golden Age of peace and prosperity. With his wife Rhea he fathered all the other Top Gods. But it was a case of like father, like son. He was so fearful of his own powerful children, he gobbled them all up and only baby Zeus escaped to save the day. Deity

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DEMETER (Harvest) Demeter is the Top Earth Goddess of Crops, Harvests, Agriculture and Fertility. She taught nomadic mankind how to plough the fields and settle down, thus making civilisation possible. Very popular with the rural folk. The daughter of Cronus and Rhea, she was rather beautiful and the object of many Gods’ affections. But she had a liaison with a mortal prince called Iasion by whom she had two children; Plutus, who went on to do well from a financial point of view, and Philomenus who either went on the wagon or invented it. Zeus, who’d admired Demeter from afar, was not happy. When Demeter sloped off at a Godly Wedding to begin the fling thing, he flung a furious thunderbolt where Iasion happened to be standing. But before Zeus could take advantage, the equally horny Poseidon leapt in. To escape, Demeter changed into a mare and hid in the herd of King Oncus. But Poseidon changed into a stallion and she didn’t resist. The result was Arion, a little horse who could speak and had feet. There was also a daughter named Despoena, who became something of an Eleusinian mystery. Jealous Zeus could stand it no longer and managed to pin Demeter down for a liason of his own. A daughter was duly born, the beautiful Persephone. Now it was the turn of Hades to be jealous. One day while Persephone was playing, the Earth swallowed her up. When Demeter found her daughter missing she became demented. Tearing her hair, she ran round in the dark with flaming torches, but could shed no light on what had happened. Then Helios, the Sun God and right old nosy parker, had a quick word in Demeter’s ear. He’d seen everything and told her that Persephone was now the consort of Hades in the Underworld. Weeping and wailing, Demeter wandered far and wide. She refused to send as much as a postcard to the Gods and in her absence crops became crestfallen, wheat withered and livestock limped to a breeding halt. Greek Gods

The Gods gnawed their fingers and beseeched her to return. But she refused to capitulate unless she could see her daughter. One day she stopped for a breather on the palace steps of kindly King Celeus of Eleusis, who, not realising who she was, employed the poor miserable creature as a nurse and didn’t ask for references. Now who should be serving in the palace as a skivvy but Iambe, the saucy daughter of Pan and Echo. Her unflagging sense of humor managed to make Demeter laugh at last. Demeter tended to Demophon, the son of King Celeus and Metaneira, who were amazed at how bonny the child became — and were even more amazed when they found Demeter about to wrap him in flames. She tried to explain this was only to make the child immortal — but they were not convinced until she turned on a bit of radiance and revealed her Godliness. Thereupon she was held in great esteem and installed in her own temple at Eleusis. Here she started her very own Secret Society and Mystery Club. It’s no good asking about it. Nobody knows. Not even Helios managed to peep through the keyhole. She taught Triptolemus, the eldest son of Celeus, to plough and sow and harvest, and gave him air miles vouchers for dragonpowered chariots to spread the news. Meanwhile, the starving Zeus sent Hermes to the Underworld for negotiations with Hades and Persephone. A mother and daughter meeting was agreed, but Hades had a trick in hand. Because Persephone had eaten the mystic Underworld pomegranates, she was tied to the realm of death. But a deal was struck and she was allowed out for half the year. Demeter was so pleased to see her that flowers bloomed and summer was born. But when Persephone was summoned back to Hades six months later, Demeter became very depressed. Leaves fell off the trees and along came the first winter. And it’s been that way each year ever since. Deity

Greek Gods

PERSEPHONE Queen of the Underworld. If you want her phone number try looking in the Telephone Book of the Dead. It’s best to ring in the spring. She is the illicit daughter of Zeus and Demeter and grew into such a beauty, men would look at her open-mouthed and say ‘Cor!’ or in Greek ‘Kore!’ — which is what she came to be called. Although she always insisted her proper name was Persephone. With Zeus and his brother Poseidon always getting the pick of ravishing beauties, the third brother Hades felt very left out, what with being stuck in the Underworld. So Zeus promised him a beautiful woman named Kore when she was old enough. What he neglected to do was let Demeter or Persephone know. Persephone was engaged in the innocent pursuit of picking flowers when a blackhorsed chariot came surging up from a chasm and she was snatched. To all intents and purposes she had vanished without trace. There is an unbreakable bond that those who partake of food in the Underworld are tied to it forever. Hades, who fancied her rotten, tricked the silly girl into nibbling a few pomegranate seeds. This caused some concentrated arbitration, but Zeus being the wily old diplomat he was, brought Rhea into the equation and stitched up an agreement whereby Persephone could stay with Demeter for the spring and summer to help with the growth industries and then pop down to live with Hades for six months or so, creating a winter break and season ticket for nature to take time off. Demeter’s never been happy about this, and that’s why winters are so bleak. So think of Hades when you are cuddled up cosily in front of a live fire. Deity

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ZAGREUS (Great Hunter) He was the “first-born Dionysos,” a god of the Orphic Mysteries. He was a son of Zeus and Persephone, who the god seduced in the guise of a serpent. After he was Zeus set him upon the throne of heaven armed with lightning bolts. The Titanes, inspired by the jealous goddess Hera, sneaked into Olympos, tricked the godling into setting aside the lightning bolts with the temptation of toys, then seized and dismembered him with knives. Zeus recovered the child’s heart and making it into a potion, fed it to his love Semele. From the drink she conceived the younger Dionysos, as a reincarnation of the first. In another tale, the genitals of Zagreus were recovered by the Kabeiroi gods of Samothrake. They deposited them in a sacred cave on the isle and instituted the Samothrakian Mysteries in his honour. MELINOE (Dark Mind) A frightful underworld Goddess who presided over the propitiations offered to the ghosts of the dead. She wandered the earth at night with a retinue of ghosts, striking fear into the hearts of mankind. Her limbs were black one one side of her body and white on the other, revealing her dual chthonian and heavenly aspects. The word meilia, which forms the first part of her name, was often used to describe propitiatory offerings made to the ghosts of the dead. Melinoe was probably an Orphic title for the goddess Hekate, who was sometimes named as a daughter of Zeus and Persephone. HESTIA Daughter of Cronus and Rhea, she’s the Goddess of Hearths and Domesticity. With fire the only means of cooking and heating, she kindled a lot of respect. Hestia retained her virginity and became a re-born virgin when the Romans re-introduced her as Vesta. Deity

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HADES Greek God of the Underworld and son of Cronus and Rhea. When the family fortune was divvied up, he got the Underworld share while his brothers Zeus and Poseidon were given the Earth and Sea. There’s nothing wrong with nepotism as long as you keep it in the family. They even named the place after him. Unlike many Underworld Gods, Hades is quite affable provided you treat him with respect. And although a dingy and dull place, Hades itself seems to be a very popular joint — Greek heroes are always nipping down there to rescue their mates or consult the dead. But Hades doesn’t really approve of these shady goings-on. The Land of the Dead is supposed to be for the dead, alright? Even if you get past Charon and Styx, there’s a whole team of demonic officials to fend off enquiries, including Thanatos, Charon and Hypnos. Watch out for their bureaucratic dead tape. And don’t eat any pomegranates or you’ll be trapped there like his wife Persephone. Hades, known to the Romans as Pluto, has an enormous guard dog named Cerberus keeping watch on the entrance to the Underworld. The sign on Hell’s Gate does not read ‘Beware of the Dog’. It reads: ‘Beware of the Three-Headed Serpent-Maned Monster Hound with Slavering Jaws and Deadly Halitosis’. Very few people have ever tried to reason with it. Deity MAKARIA (Blessed) The goddess of death, a minion of her parents Haides and Persephone. She may have been a more merciful counterpart of the death-god Thanatos; or was perhaps somehow connected with the passage of souls to the Nesoi Makarioi (Islands of the Blest).

Greek Gods

POSEIDON God of the Sea. Took charge of the waves while his brothers Zeus and Hades plumped for the earthy bits. Feared by sailors, he can cause storms and shipwrecks with the aid of his threepronged trident, but if he’s in a good mood he can soothe the sea to sleep. He’s father of many Gods and heroes, including Theseus, Triton, Polyphemus, Orion and Pegasus. His wife is the reluctant Amphitrite but he still leaps from one lusty affair to the next. With Iphimedeia he produced the ill-fated Aloadae twins Otus and Ephialtes. Demeter presented him with Arion and Despoena. And so on. Sea air is obviously good for the libido. Check out his flowing beard and ruddy complexion. Under the Romans, Poseidon was poised and ready to become Neptune. Deity HEROPHILE A Nymphe daughter of Poseidon and Aphrodite. AREION An Immortal Horse owned by the heroes Herakles and Adrastos. He was the son of Poseidon and Demeter, born following their mating in the shape of horses. PEGASOS An Immortal winged Horse owned by the hero Bellerophon. He was a son of Poseidon and Medousa, sprung from his mother’s severed neck. TRITON A fish-tailed Sea-God. He was a son of Poseidon and Amphitrite. PROTEUS An elderly Sea-God who was the son and seal-herder of Poseidon. RHODE A Sea Nymphe or Goddess of the Island of Rhodes (Greek Aegean),. She was the wife of the god Helios and a daughter of Poseidon by one of three goddesses: Amphitrite, Aphrodite or Halia.

Greek Gods

BENTHESIKYME A Sea-Nymphe and Queen of Aithopia (Ethiopia in Africa). She was a daughter of Poseidon and Amphitrite. KYMOPOLEIA A Sea-Nymphe or Giantess daughter of Poseidon. HERA Mrs Zeus. Supreme Greek Goddess and the Queen of Olympus. She’s also a Goddess of Marriage and Birth, which is somewhat ironic considering that her notoriously unfaithful husband Zeus produced an incredible number of illicit offspring with an entire pantheon of lovely ladies. If he wasn’t liasing with Leto and Leda, he was getting friendly with Danae, Themis or Mnemosyne — all behind Hera’s back. He used every trick in the book to mislead and divert her away from his affairs. Although as regal as they come, Hera is not the most Godly of Goddesses. She can be spiteful, vicious and extremely jealous, but who can blame her with all the carryingon Zeus did? Their arguments and fighting make Mount Olympus shake to its roots. And when Hera starts throwing the Holy Crockery you know it’s time to make a rapid exit. Even Zeus is scared of his formidable wife. After seeing what she did to his illegitimate son Heracles we can understand why. The one time he managed to get the better of her by force, by chaining her to a mountain with horrifically heavy weights, Zeus didn’t hear the end of the matter for centuries. No wonder he spends most of his time delayed at the office. We have to admire Hera’s strength and determination. She certainly gives as good as she gets. And if you’re lucky enough to be in her good books, she can be wonderfully gracious and charming. But she’s best avoided at parties unless you happen to be carrying a sacred pomegranate in your pocket. Deity

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HEPHAESTUS Son of Hera, he’s the Lame Blacksmith God. “Well,” said the disappointed Hera, “with legs like those he is never going to play for Olympus,” and tipped him over the edge of a cloud. He fell into the sea but two Goddesses, Eurynome and Thetis, rescued him. They taught him to make seaside souvenirs from seashells and coral and he turned out to be an amazing craftsman... and graduated from this to greater and grander things. Apart from his ugly mug and withered legs, he became a muscular hunk. With his strength went strength of purpose and he went for Blacksmithery in a big way. If you can run an underwater forge you have unassailable skills. Such was his fame, he was allowed back to Olympus and Zeus had him making thunderbolts and supervising the Cyclopes when the war with the Titans was in full swing. Peace came and with it new demands as he could make just about anything: clockwork tables, armour of invincibility, wrought iron pub signs and robotic statues. He even got to marry Aphrodite; quite a consolation — even if she did cheat on him a lot. But he did have a small revenge when he caught her and Ares in-flagrante in a net of his own devising and put them on display for a bit. This made him even more popular. For all his strength he is not a God to go about causing trouble and smiting folk. Like his works, he is well-tempered, and has acted as a role model for smithery the world over. The Romans couldn’t wait to commit forgery and sign him up as Vulcan. If you wish to know more about his products please send for the catalogue. Deity

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PHILOPHROSYNE Friendliness, Kindliness, Welcome. Philophrosyne was the spirit (daimona) of friendliness, kindness and welcome. She and her sisters Eukleia (Good Repute), Euthenia (Prosperity) and Eupheme (Acclaim) were probably the goddesses known collectively as the younger Kharites (Graces). EUKLEIA The goddess or daimona of good repute and glory. She and her sisters Eupheme (Acclaim), Euthenia (Prosperity) and Philophrosyne (Welcome) were probably the goddesses known collectively as the younger Kharites (Graces). In Greek vase paintings Eukleia was frequently depicted amongst the attendants of the goddess Aphrodite, where she represented the good repute of a chaste bride. She was sometimes identified with Artemis. EUTHENIA The spirit (daimona) of prosperity, abundance and plenty. Her opposite number was Penia (Poverty). She and her sisters Eukleia (Good Repute), Philophrosyne (Welcome) and Eupheme (Acclaim) were probably the goddesses known collectively as the younger Kharites (Graces). EUPHEME The spirit (daimona) of words of good omen, acclamation, praise, applause and shouts of triumph. Her opposite number was Momos (Critique). She and her sisters Eukleia (Good Repute), Euthenia (Prosperity) and Philophrosyne (Welcome) were probably the goddesses known collectively as the younger Kharites (Graces).

Greek Gods

HEBE Goddess of Youth and daughter of Zeus and Hera. She was Cupbearer to the Gods until one night she got a bit squiffy at a Banquet and ended up falling over with a lot of indecent exposure. She got the sack, but eventually managed to get into the sack with Heracles and became his wife. Deity ARES God of War. The son of Zeus and Hera, he turned out to be a swaggering bully boy and yobbo God. He had the hots for Aphrodite and even after being caught in a net by Hephaestus in full flagrante delicto this did not diminish his adulterous activities. The only thing he enjoyed more was war. Ares loved battles and violence. Never mind which side he was on, so long as there was plenty of blood. His bloodthirsty sons Deimos and Phobos are in constant attendence, and if all is peaceful, it doesn’t take long for his sister Eris to knock up a little strife. He was not very popular with most of the other Gods. He sided mostly with the Trojans in the Big Bust Up, and was wounded by a mortal with a little help from Athena who blatted him with a rock, and he fled howling back to Olympus. Heracles sent him packing with an arrow in the thigh after killing one of his obnoxious offspring, and the Aloadae held him captive in a bronze jar for over a year because they could. His mortal sons were so vile Heracles killed two, Diomedes (see Mares-Of-Diomedes) and Cicnus, and Apollo put paid to another, Phlegyas. Talking of Heracles, he also dealt with the iron-feathered StymphalianBirds which Ares kept as pets. When the Romans re-cast him, he was identified with Mars, the Blood-Red Planet of War. It was only then that he got any respect. Deity

Greek Gods

EILEITHYIA Goddess of Childbirth. The daughter of Zeus and Hera, she holds aloft a burning torch, symbolising the pain of labor and the bringing forth of babies from the womb into the light. Or perhaps she just likes holding torches. Following the pleas of Hera, she delayed the birth of Heracles so his arch-rival Eurystheus could nip in ahead of him to claim Kingship of Mycenae. Deity HARMONIA Goddess of Harmony, daughter of Ares and Aphrodite. SOSIPOLIS A child god, a son of Eileithyia, goddess of childbirth. He was worshipped by the Eleans as the protector of their city and depicted as a boy clothed in a star-spangled robe with a cornucopia or Horn of Plenty. Sosipolis may have been identified with Ploutos, who was also represented as a child holding the horn of plenty, or else with Eros, who in some old hymns was described as the son of Eileithyia. ANIKETOS & ALEXIARES Two minor Olympian gods who presided over the defence of fortified towns and citadels. Their names mean respectively “the unconquerable one “ and “he who wards off war.” They were sons of Herakles, born after the hero’s ascension to Olympos, and his marriage to the goddess Hebe. The pair may have been regarded as the gatekeepers of Olympos, a role which was often assigned to their immortal father. The were probably the same as the “Princes,” two boy-god sons of Herakles, worshipped in the town of Thebes. In Aiskhylos’ play the Seven Against Thebes, Zeus is invoked as Alexeterios by the defending Thebans.

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HERMES Messenger of the Gods. He’s also the God of Merchants and Commerce, Athletics and Travel, Public Speaking, Shepherds and Thieves. Quite a mixed bag. The son of Zeus and Maia, he was barely a day old before he was stealing sheep, bartering goods and contemplating the small print of manufacturers’ warranties. Born in a cave and finding his mum asleep, Hermes toddled off to see what was what. What he found was a herd of cattle, and innocently decided to take them home to play with. He didn’t know they belonged to Apollo but, instinctively realising that adults can be a bit funny, covered their tracks anyway. Apollo went ballistic when he found 50 cattle missing and no clues. He offered a reward for information. Eventually someone mentioned they had heard music from a cave in the district. Apollo investigated and found two cow hides stretched to dry at the entrance. Inside was a sleeping woman with a baby. Maia, when roused, was incredulous. “My little Hermes? He’s only two days old!” But the little cherub was quite non-plussed. “Yes, I took them,” he admitted. “There’s only two missing. I killed ‘em as a sacrifice to the Twelve Gods of Olympus.” “Twelve Gods?” queried Apollo. “Who is the Twelth?” “Er, your servant, I think it is going be me. Did you know Zeus is my dad..?” “Aww, isn’t he a cheeky little chap?” said Zeus as Hermes faced judgment. “A chip off the old block indeed. Well Apollo, there’s no harm done if he returns your cattle and promises not to do it again. Take him back and sort it out.” Apollo sullenly agreed and whisked Hermes back to the cave, where the baby Godlet attempted to placate him. “The herd is round the corner, here are the two cow skins... Oh, and I also used some cow gut to make this.” Hermes produced a small lyre made from a tortoise shell, and played a few amazing chords using a plectrum (another Hermes copyright). As a musician, ApollO was very impressed indeed. He just had to have these MARTINA

two musical items. So he offered the cattle in exchange. Hermes agreed and, as they started talking music, cut some reeds into pan pipes so they could have what may have been the world’s first jam session. Apollo was enthralled and had to have the pipes as well. He offered his golden cattle-herding staff in exchange. “I dunno,” said Hermes, scratching his head, “you seem to get the best of all these bargains. An old staff for a precision instrument like this? Still, you can really blow, man. How can I deny such a groovy musician as you?” So they became music buddies, and Apollo took Hermes back to Olympus where all was happily resolved and Hermes successfully pursued his claim for Godly status. His gift of the gab made him the perfect choice for messenger duties. Zeus made him a Herald and kitted him out with a winged hat and sandals. Powered by these he can zoom all over the place delivering news that’s worse than it sounds. The staff he used may be the one he traded with Apollo. Hermes then made a vow to Zeus: “I will never tell lies — although I cannot promise always to tell the whole truth.” Despite wheeling and dealing by the seat of his pants, Hermes always manages to leave his customers perfectly satisfied. Mostly due to his incredibly cunning sales talk. He’s such a persuasive salesman he could sell pyramids to the Egyptians. (Wait! He already has!) Those sandals make him fleet of foot and an expert runner, which is why he’s also the God of Racing and Athletics. Perfect for chasing after new clients. Or running away from old ones. His dodgy dealing tactics were also passed down to his son Autolycus. Under the Romans he changed his name to Mercury and floated himself on the stock market. Deity

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AUTOLYCUS The Prince of Thieves. Shifty and nifty, he was an expert in covering his tracks when he hustled and rustled. His cattle camouflaging technique came unstuck when Sisyphus branded his cattle — on the bottoms of their hooves. Although the cattle had changed colour, the proof of ownership was in the hoof. The son of Hermes and Chione, Autolycus liked to be known as The Lone Wolf. He travelled with the Argonauts and taught Heracles the art of boxing. Plenty of opportunity to demonstrate bobbing, weaving, slipping and skipping skills there. He is the father of Anticlea, who married Laertes and gave birth to his son Odysseus, although Sisyphus also claims to be the parent, having seduced her in revenge for that cattle business. But whatever the truth, Autolycus kept heroics in the family by giving Odysseus a stolen camouflage helmet enabling him to sneak unseen into Troy. Legendary Mortal

PAN God of Shepherds, Flocks and Fornication. What does that tell you about the ancient Greek countryfolk then? The son of Hermes, and possibly a goat, Pan was one of the Dionysus drinking crowd, with all the leering lusty living this entailed. Woodland glades. Nymphs. Orgies. Flutes. That sort of thing. You get the picture. As a God with his hooves firmly placed on the ground, Pan was (and still is) worshipped as a potent deity of fertility and earthiness. He was known as Faunus by the faunicating Romans. In time, his carefree lifestyle began to upset the early Christians, who saw his earthy temptations as a manifestation of the Devil. Who would’ve thought that the horny old goat would become the blueprint for popular conceptions of Satan — cloven hooves, horns and all? Deity

HERMAPHRODITUS His and Hers. Tits and bits. Greek up the Creek. Handsome man meets beautiful nymph in lakeside liason and she ends up moving into his place. Literally. Two can live as cheaply as one when you share the same body. Hermaphroditus started as the handsome son of Hermes and Aphrodite until he got jumped by one of the Nymphs who was very persistent. She wanted to be with him body and soul, and clung on until some sort of cloning took place. The first example of genetic modification? That kind of thing is all very well until you have your first real argument. And then you realise that you have to throw the crockery at yourself. Deity

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DIONYSUS God of Sex, Wine and Intoxication. But not necessarily in that order. There are conflicting accounts of his genealogy and conception. The Gods involved were probably too drunk at the time to remember. But although Zeus may have had a one-night stand with Persephone, we plump for Zeus and Semele — on the assumption there is no smoke without fire. Why else would Hera, the jealous wife of Zeus, arrange Semele’s death by insisting he appear before her in all his robes of radiant glory? It was too much for Semele who sizzled away to a cinder, leaving an unborn baby to bounce around in a Godly game of ‘pass the parcel’. The bouncing baby got slipped to Zeus who, full of remorse and guilt, popped it into his thigh. Gods are way ahead of any modern surgery. When it was born he called it Dionysus. Hera called it something else and sent some babysitting Titans to tear the baby to bits and eat it. Rhea, bless her, managed to save the bits. Dionysus, disguised as a girl, was whisked off to be brought up in secrecy by Auntie Ino and Uncle Athamas. Not the best of step-parents. Hera discovered the plot, turned Dionysus into a ram and gave him as a plaything to a band of nymphs. If you think you have troubles, consider being born twice with a dadly birth, not knowing what sex you are, and then suddenly finding you have four legs, horns and an undetachable woolly coat. Dionysus had many wild and woolly adventures until his Godly status became apparent. He put in for a God grant and was given a more befitting body — and a tutor. The tutor turned out to be a fat boozy, bald old buffer called Silenus. They got on very well together, and under tuition Dionysus made two exciting discoveries. 1) How to make wine. 2) How to make orgasms which could drive you to the brink of madness. These new ideas brought him an enormous cult following of wild young females (the Maenads), not to mention his ever-attendant nymphomaniac Nymphs. Dionysus MARTINA

was a real whizz with women, and set up a special 18-30s Club for them on Mount Cithaeron. At some point he got involved with a Cretan princess named Ariadne, but they drifted apart when she turned into a constellation. The next few years were spent in hard drinking, and driving excited females into a frenzy. This drinking and driving got him into a lot of trouble with the authorities. News on the grapevine warned of police raids and arrests, and even Dionysus realised it was time to stagger off to start afresh. So he fled the place, pursued by jealous husbands of the Maenads, and headed for Rome. Wishing to be unknown, he changed his name to Liber for a bit and laid low until he emerged as Bacchus. With the Bacchae Backup Band recruiting the gang from his former Mad Maenads, he made a big attempt to be more userfriendly. The orgy-making was a popular as ever, but by now, with all the debauchery and gluttony, Dionysus was starting to look more like the middle-aged and balding boozer Silenus. Deity IACCHUS He is probably the son of Dionysus and Demeter making him the half brother of Persephone. Associated with the Eleusian Mysteries whatever they are, he leads the celebrations bearing a torch. A flaming one, so we expect something gets burnt if not revealed. Deity

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KOMOS God of Comedy, Jokes and Revelry. Always good for a laugh, and a bit of a practical joker. He’s the son of Circe and Dionysus (or possibly Hermes), and must have inherited his parent’s talent for brewing and sorcery because he invented a magic potion which gives anyone who tastes it the head of a beast. Later found fame as Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream (“Tremendous entertainment — Glasgow Herald”) and revitalised the sit-com industry. Deity METHE The Bakkhe nymph of drunkeness, one of the companions of the god Dionysos. She was the wife of Staphylos (“Bunch of Grapes”) and the mother of Botrys (“Grapes”). TELETE The daimona (spirit) who presided over the initiation rites of the Bacchic orgies. She was a daughter of the god Dionysos. THYSA The Bakkhiad nymphe who personified the wild frenzy of the Bakkhic orgies. She was a daughter and companion of the god Dionysos. AGLAIA Youngest of the Graces and occasionally rumored to be the wife of Hephaestus. She’s the radiant shining one. Deity EUPHROSYNE Goddess of Joy and one of the three Graces. She is the happy smiling one, bubbling over with laughter. Deity THALIA One of the Muses. She’s the amusing Muse of Comedy. Thalia is particularly fond of pastoral sit-coms involving mistaken identity, outrageous mother-in-laws and hilarious sheep. She also works part-time as part of the Graces. Deity Greek Gods

HERACLES Not a God to start with. Just an oldfashioned heavy. The Sylvester Stallone of Greek mythology, in fact. Just because he (Heracles, not Stallone) was begotten by Alcmena and Zeus, it didn’t mean he had Godly status. After all, Zeus did put it about a bit, and his wife Hera was terribly jealous. (You might be a descendent of his for all you know. Put in an immortality claim and see what happens.) Heracles means ‘Hera’s Glory’, but after she drove him mad and forced him to kill his own children it was more like Gory. Hera detested most of Zeus’s extra-marital kids, but she hated Heracles with a divine vengeance and plotted the most evil plots against him. (See Eurystheus.) Poor Herc, reeling from the murder of his children, went to the Oracle of Apollo for psychological counselling and was told that a bit of physical labor would take his mind off things. Thus began The Labors Of Heracles. These tasks, in truth devised by Hera and implemented by his arch enemy and rival Eurystheus, lasted many years — and were designed solely for the purpose of wiping him out. But he didn’t know that. “Complete those Labors and immortality shall be yours,” the Oracle had said, and poor Herc didn’t know any better. So he went off and battled monsters, cut heads off things, stole Golden Delicious apples and had adventures which were far too exciting to be related here... while Eurystheus taunted him and tricked him and cooked up devious schemes to trouble him. The Labors Of Heracles (in 12 volumes) First Labor: The Nemean-Lion Second Labor: The Lernean Hydra Third Labor: The Ceryneian-Hind Fourth Labor: The Erymanthian-Boar Fifth Labor: The Augean-Stables Sixth Labor: The Stymphalian-Birds Seventh Labor: The Cretan-Bull Eighth Labor: The Mares-Of-Diomedes Ninth Labor: The Girdle Of Hippolyta Tenth Labor: The Cattle Of Geryon Eleventh Labor: The Apples Of The Hesperides MARTINA

Twelfth Labor: The Capture Of Cerberus Although Heracles succeeded in every quest, this only made Hera hate him the more. The poor guy travelled everywhere doing his best to right wrongs, but she plagued him with storms and evilness for many years afterwards. Finally, after many more adventures, including being sold as a slave, becoming a pirate and fighting for Olympus against the giant sons of the Titans, he died in a mix-up over a magic potion, and was accidentally tainted with the blood of the Hydra from one of his own arrowheads. But as a reward for all his trials and tribulations, he was offered a grudging kind of immortality and a share of the film rights. Reconciled to Hera at last, he married her daughter Hebe and now lives happily ever after. And then did it all over again for the Romans under the name Hercules... Deity THE KENTAUROI KYPRIOI Cyprian Centaurs were a tribe of bullhorned centaurs native to the island of Kypros. They were probably local fertility spirits (daimones), attendants of Aphrodite, probably related to the satyr-like Kerastai, the bull-horned priests of the goddess. In myth, the Cyprian centaurs were born of Gaia the earth when she was accidentally impregnated by the god Zeus during his failed attempt to seduce the goddess Aphrodite, who had just emerged from the sea. Despite their similar appearance, they were not connected with the more famous Centaurs of Thessaly. DIOSCURI/ POLLUX AND CASTOR Twins. Otherwise known as Castor & Pollux, Inc. Are they an engineering firm, estate agents or chemical industrialists involved in genetics? No — they are halfbrothers known as the Dioscuri, although genetics are very much involved. Both were sons of Leda, her husband Tyndareos and Zeus as a swan. Plus two daughters. Here is where it gets tricky as the Godlets were all hatched from an egg. We did tell you Zeus was a swan at the time. The egg MARTINA

was a double yolker with Castor and his sister Clytemnestra being in Tyn’s portion and Pollux and Helen with Zeus’s egg on their faces. The Dioscuri popped up everywhere doing valiant deeds, saving Helen from fates worse than death, adventuring with the Argonauts, biffing away in battles and walking off with the prizes at sporting events. They did get a bit above themselves and assumed they could walk off with anything they wanted. What they wanted at this time were the two daughters of one King Leucippus. So they took them — but he took off after them, together with the fellows they just happened to be betrothed to at the time. The furious pursuit ended in a savage fracas and Castor got diced up, which was a nasty surprise as he found he was not immortal. Pollux was only saved from slaughter by Zeus Snatching him up before he bled to death. “He’s one of mine!” he roared, “and I invoke the immortality clause!” Pollux was so upset at his brother’s death, he didn’t wish to continue. The only way Zeus could console him was to let Castor be immortal every other day. Which must be somewhat unsettling. You would think this would be an end to them — but no. All their legendary exploits were exaggerated and expanded until they became Godly Celebrities. The Romans were thrilled to re-cast them in a repeat series with their own catchphrase. By Castor and Pollux! became a much-used Oath of oafs. They were granted their own equestrian festival on 15th of July, and were given a prime site temple in Rome facing that of Vesta. So don’t lose heart — all you need is a few connections and a little intervention from above. Deity

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ATHENA Famed Greek Goddess of War, Wisdom, Art, Technical Skill and Creative D.I.Y. The daughter of Zeus and Metis, she almost didn’t get born at all after Gaia predicted that doom, woe and Olympian take-over bids would be the result. Zeus, remembering how he’d overthrown his own father, grew nervous at the thought of having a daughter with attitude. With the birth rapidly approaching, he finally hit upon a plan and swallowed Metis just before the crucial moment. But it wasn’t long before strange tapping and banging noises began to emanate from inside him. What on earth was she doing in there? He was getting a headache. A little while of this and the pain began unbearable. Hephaestus, hearing the cries of agony, came running in and bashed his dad over the head with an Olympic wrench. And from the split in Zeus’s skull sprang forth his daughter Athena. She was fully grown, fully dressed and fully armed with newly forged weapons and helmet. That’s what all the noise was about. Although wise and thoughtful, Athena is no shy maiden. Her best friend is Nike, the Goddess of Victory, and she carries the Aegis, a flashy-looking device for zapping enemies. She is, of course, highly skilled in arts, crafts and matters of intelligence. Her symbol is the owl, and in matters of wisdom she is always right. After all, who’s going to argue with a War Goddess? Deity

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HELEN A daughter of Zeus via Leda laying an egg. Naturally he wished to keep very quiet about this and came to an arrangement with Tyndareous King of the Spartans to do the fatherhood honours. She grew up to be very beautiful and this was her downfall — also the downfall of Troy due to the manipulations of Eris. Legendary Mortal

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11. Cesare da Sesto (Copy after Leonardo da Vinci): Leda and the Swan, 1515-1520.

REFERENCIES

www.godchecker.com www.mlahanas.de/greeks/greekmythology.htm www.myastrologybook.com/genealogy-of-greek-mythology-origin-of-gods.htm www.spaceandmotion.com/theology-greek-gods-myths.htm www.ranknoodle.com/article/genealogy-of-greek-gods#thumb www.mythweb.com/ historylink102.com/greece2/sources.htm www.apodimos.com/arthra/06/dec/greek_mythology_the_principal_gods/index.htm www.maicar.com/gml/nyx.html www.goddessaday.com/ www.desy.de/gna/interpedia/greek_myth/place.html www.sacred-destinations.com/categories/greek-temples www.pantheon.org/areas/mythology/europe/greek/articles.html www.theoi.com/ http://books.google.com/books?id=wguz01ybumec&pg=pa183&dq=orphism+thracian&hl =bg&ei=bc4gtcugd4j0sgak2nj7cq&sa=x&oi=book_result&ct=result&resnum=1&ved= 0ccuq6aewaa#v=onepage&q=orphism%20thracian&f=false www.sacred-texts.com/cla/hesiod/theogony.htm en.wikipedia.org/wiki/theogony

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