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presented to the UNIVERSITY LIBRARY UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA SAN DIEGO
by
JUDGE J.M. CARTER
M A. 1ST TJ A.
OF
MYTHOLOGY:
GREEK AND ROMAN,
NORSE, AND OLD GERMAN, HINDOO AND EGYPTIAN MYTHOLOGY.
BY
ALEXANDER S. MURRAY,
DEPARTMENT OF GREEK AND ROMAN ANTIQUITIES, BRITISH MUSEUM
REPRINTED FROM THE SECOND REVISED LONDON EDITION.
WITH 45 PLATES ON TUTTED PAPER,
REPRESENTING MORE THAN 90 MYTHOLOGICAL SUBJECTS.
NEW YORK:
CHARLES SCRIBNER'S SONS, 1893.
PUBLISHERS' NOTE.
MURRAY'S MANUAL OF MYTHOLOGY has been known to the American public thus far only through the English edition. As originally published, the work was deficient in its account of the Eastern and Northern Mythology; but with these imperfections it secured a sale in this country which proved that it more nearly supplied the want which had long been felt of a compact hand-book in this study than did any other similar work. The preface to the second English edition indicates the important additions to, and changes which have been made in, the original work. Chapters upon the North- ern and Eastern Mythology have been supplied ; the descrip- tions of many of the Greek deities have been re-written ; accounts of the most memorable works of art, in which each
deity is or was represented, have been added ; and a number
iii
IV PUBLISHERS NOTE.
of new illustrations have been inserted. This American edition has been reprinted from the perfected work. Every illustration given in the original has been carefully repro- duced ; and the new chapters upon Eastern and Northern Mythology have been thoroughly revised by Prof. W. D. Whitney, of Yale College, who has corrected some minor inaccuracies which had escaped observation in the English edition. The volume in its revised form is without a rival among manuals upon this interesting subject. For the pur- pose of a text-book in high schools and colleges, and a guide to the art student or general reader, it will be found invalu- able.
PREFACE.
VHE rapid sale of the first edition of "THE MANUAL 01 MYTHOLOGY" was so signal an assurance of public favour, that in preparing the second edition, which is now called for, every effort has been made to render it efficient as a standard text-book. The descriptions of the Greek deities have been largely re-written, and at the end of each has been added, in smaller type, an account of the most memorable works of art in which each deity is or was
•
represented. Among the leeends of the Greek heroes, those of the labours of Herakles have been re-written and greatly enlarged. The chapters on the Eastern and Northern Mythology are entirely new, and have been fur- ther made more readily comprehensible by the addition of new illustrations.
Vi PREFACE.
With these alterations, it is hoped that the MANUAL will now justify its claim to be a trustworthy and complete class-book for Mythology. This much it may also claim: to be no longer aescnoea as tounaea c.i the works of Petiscus, Preller, and Welcker. Not that in its new form it owes less to the splendid researches of Preller and Welcker. On the contrary, it owes more than ever to them, but this time as masters whose works have rather been an assistance which it is a pride to acknowledge, than models to copy wiih exactness.
CONTENTS.
PAGB
INTRODUCTION ........ i
GREEK AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY —
The Creation of the World . . . .22
, Deities of the Highest Order .... 26
Inferior Deities . . . . . . .129
Demigods or Heroes ...... 200
NORSE AND OLD GERMAN MYTHOLOGY . . . 309 MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF THE HINDOOS —
The Vedic Gods 328
The Brahmanic Gods . . .337
MYTHOLOGY AND RELIGION OF EGYPT . . . 341
INDEX 35.
vii
LIST OF PLATES
A.MAZON: xxxiii., 268. ANDROMEDA: xxxii., 216. APHRODITE (VENUS) : viii., ix.,
xxviii., 77, 83, 168. APOLLO: xi., 88, 96. ARES (MARS): viii., xxviii.,
75, 168.
ARIADNE: xvi., 120. ARTEMIS (DIANA) : xiv., 109. ASKLEPIOS ( ./ESCULAPIUS ) :
xxxi., 178. VTHENE (MINERVA) : xi., xii.,
88, 96.
AURORA. See Eos. BACCHUS. See DIONYSOS. BELLEROPHON: xxxii., 221. BRAHMA, with SARASWATI :
xlii-, 337-
CERES. See DEMETER. CHLORIS (FLORA): xxi., 165.
CUPID. See EROS. DEMETER (CERES) : vi., 57. DIANA OF EPHESUS : xv., 115. DIONYSOS (BACCHUS) : xiv.,
117.
DIOSKURI: xxxiii., 286. Eos (AURORA): xxvii., 167. ERATO: xiv., 161. ERINYS: xxix., 189. EROS (CUPID): xxviii., xxix.,
168, 173.
EUTERPE: xxiv., 160. FENRIS: xl., 320. FLORA. See CHLORIS. FORTUNA. See TYCHE. FREIJA: xxxvii., 314. FREYR: xxxix., 317. FRIGG: xxxvi., 314. GANYMEDES: xxviii., 178. HADES. See PLUTO.
LIST OF PLATES.
HEBE: xxvi., 176. HECATE: vii., 70. HELIOS (SOL): xi., 96. HEPHJESTOS (VULCAN) : viii. ,
x., 79, 125.
HERA QUNO): iv., v., 46, 50. HERAKLES (HERCULES) : xxx.,
245- HERMES (MERCURY) : x., xvii.,
121, 134.
HESTIA (VESTA) : vi., 71. HOR/E: xxv.,xxxi., 129, 184. HYGIEA: xxxi., 181. HYMEN: xxvi., 172. INDRA: xli., 329. IRIS: xxvi., 162. Isis: xlv., 350. JANUS: xvii., 132. JUNO. See HERA. JUPITER. See ZEUS. KALLIOPE: xxiii., 160. KAMADEVA: xliii., 339. KLIO: xxii., 159. KRONOS: i., 29. KURETES: vii., 29, 34. LAOKOON: xxxiv., 299. LATONA. See LETO. LETO (LATONA): xviii., 100. MARS. See Ares. MELEAGROS : xxxiii., 269. MELPOMENE: xxii., 159.
MERCURY. See HERMES. MINERVA. See ATHENE. MUSES, MOTHER OF : xxiii.,
161.
NEPTUNE. See POSEIDON NIKE (VICTORIA) : xxx., 183. NILE GOD: xliv.3 348. NIOBE: xiii., 100. ODIN: xxxv., 313. V0^y/i7r«c. Frontispiece. OSIRIS: xliv., 347. PAN: xix., 136. PEGASOS: xxi., 155. PERSEUS: xxxi., xxxii., 192,
216.
PLUTO: vi., 56. POLYHYMNIA: xxiv., 160. POSEIDON (NEPTUNE) : v., 50. PROSERPINA: vi., 63. PSYCHE: xxviii., xxix., 170,
171.
RHEA: i., ii., 29, 33. SATYR: xix., 141. SERAPIS : xlv., 350. SIREN: xx., 149. SIVA: xliii., 338. SOL. See HELIOS. TERPSICHORE: xxv., 161. THALIA: xxii., 159. THEMIS: xviii., 127. THESEUS: xxxiv., 265.
LIST OF PLATES.
XI
TKOR: xxxviii., 315. TRIMURTI (HINDOO TRINITY):
xli., 336.
TRITONS: xx., 148. TYCHE (FORTUNA) : xxi., 182. URANIA: xxiv., 160. VENUS. See APHRODITE.
VESTA. See HESTIA. VICTORIA. See NIKE. VISHNU: xlii., 338. VULCAN. See HEPH^STOS. ZEUS QUPITER): ii., iii., 35-
45-
INTRODUCTION.
THERE is a charm in the name of ancient Greece ; there is glory in every page of her history; there is a fas- cination in the remains of her literature, and a sense of un- approachable beauty in her works of art ; there is a spell in her climate still, and a strange attraction in her ruins. We are familiar with the praises of her beautiful islands ; our poets sing of her lovely genial sky. There is not in all the land a mountain, plain, or river, nor a fountain, grove, or wood, that is not hallowed by some legend or poetic tale. The names of her artists, Pheidias, Praxiteles, Apelles, and Zeuxis ; of her poets, Homer, Pindar, ^Eschylus, Sophocles, Euripides; of her philosophers, Socrates, Plato, Epicurus; the names of her statesmen and orators, Pericles and Demosthenes ; of her his- torians, Herodotus, Thucydides, and Xenophon ; of her ma- thematicians, Archimedes and Euclid, are familiar to us a& household words. We IOOK hack over a period of more than two thousand years with feelings of wonder at her achieve- ments on the battle-field and in the arts of peace. We emu- late her in many ways, but always confess to failure ; and when we have no desire of emulation, we are still ready in most cases to admire.
How far we may find just cause for admiration or the con- trary with regard to her religion remains to be seen. But
INTRODUCTION.
whichever way it be, we shall at any rate find abundant evi- dence of the intense hold it had upon the great mass of the people, and of the important influence it was calculated to exercise on their civilization. For it was in the firm belief of his interests being the special care of a deity that the husband- man sowed his seed, and watched the vicissitudes of its growth ; that the sailor and trader entrusted life and property to the capricious sea. The mechanic traced the skill and handicraft which grew unconsciously upon him by practice to the direct influence of a god. Artists ascribed the mysterious evolution of their ideas, and poets the inspiration of their song, to the same superior cause. Daily bread and daily life, the joy and gladness that circulated at festal gatherings, were duly acknow- ledged as coming from the same high source. Everywhere in nature was felt the presence of august invisible beings : in the sky, with its luminaries and clouds ; on the sea, with its fickle, changeful movements ; on the earth, with its lofty peaks, its plains and rivers. It seemed that man himself, and everything around him, was upheld by Divine power ; that his career was marked out for him by a rigid fate which even the gods could not alter, should they wish it on occasion. He was indeed free to act, but the consequences of all his actions were settled beforehand.
These deities to whom the affairs of the world were entrusted were, it was believed, immortal, though not eternal in their existence, as we shall see when we come to read the legends concerning their birth. In Crete there was even a story of the death of Zeus, his tomb being pointed out ; and, further, the fact that the gods were believed to sustain their existence by means of nectar and ambrosia, is sufficient proof of their '^ing usually deemed subject to the infirmities of age. Being
INTRODUCTION.
immortal, they were next, as a consequence, supposed to be omnipotent and omniscient. Their physical strength was ex- traordinary, the earth shaking sometimes under their tread. Whatever they did was done speedily. They moved through space almost without the loss of a moment of time. They knew all things, saw and heard all things with rare exceptions. They were wise, and communicated their wisdom to men. They had a most strict sense of justice, punished crime rigor- ously, and rewarded noble actions, though it is true that they were less conspicuous for the latter. Their punishments came quickly, as a rule ; but even if late, even if not till the second generation, still they came without fail. The sinner who escaped retribution in this life was sure to obtain it in the lower world ; while the good who died unrewarded enjoyed the fruit of their good actions in the next life. To many this did not appear a satisfactory way of managing human affairs, and htnce there frequently arose doubts as to the absolute jus- tice of the gods, and even the sanctity of their lives. These doubts were reflected in stories, which, to the indignation of men like the poet Pindar, represented this or that one of the gods as guilty of some offence or other, such as they were be- lieved to punish. Philosophers endeavored to explain these stories, some as mere fictions of the brain, others as allegories under which lay a profound meaning. But the mass of the people accepted them as they came, and nevertheless believed in the perfect sanctity of the gods, being satisfied that human wickedness was detested and punished by them.
Whether the gods were supposed to love the whole of man- kind, or v,nly such as led good lives, is not certain. It would seem, however, from the universal practice of offering sacrifice and expiation on the occasion of any wrong, that they were be
INTRODUCTION.
lieved to be endowed with some deep feeling of general love, which even sinners could touch by means of atonement. At all events they were merciful. They hated excessive prosperity among individual men, and would on such occasions exercise a Satanic power of leading them into sin. They implanted unwritten laws of right and wrong in the human breast. So- cial duties and engagements were under their special care, as were also the legislative measures of states.
There were tales of personal visits and adventures of the gods among men, taking part in battles, and appearing in dreams. They were conceived to possess the form of human beings, and to be, like men, subject to love and pain, but al- ways characterized by the highest qualities and grandest form that could be imagined. To produce statues of them that would equal this high ideal was the chief ambition of artists ; and in presence rf statues in which success had been attained, the pop- ular mind felt an awe as if in some way the deity were near. But while this was the case with regard to the renowned ex- amples of art, such as the statue of Zeus at Olympia, by Phei- dias, it was equally true with regard to those very ancient rude figures of deities which were believed to have fallen from hea- ven, and were on that account most carefully preserved in temples, the removal or loss of such a figure being considered an equivalent to the loss of the favour of the deity whose image it was. This was idolatry. At the same time, owing to the vast number of beautiful and grand statues of gods, there gradually arose a feeling of the deification of man and a struggle to become more and more like these beings of nobler human form and divine presence. For it is one of the advantages of having gods possessed of human form that mankind can look up to them with the feeling of having something in common,
INTRODUCTION.
\
and the assurance of pity and favor. This was a powerful element in the Greek religion, and led more than any other to the extraordinary piety of the Greek race, in spite of all the awkward stories which we are accustomed to ridicule.
It would seem that the gods were not looked on, at any rate popularly, as having created the world. Perhaps the mass of the people cared nothing for speculation as to the origin of what actually existed, their chief thoughts being concentrated in the changes that took place in what existed and directly affected their interests. In this spirit they looked on the gods as only maintaining and preserving the existing order and system of things according to their divine wisdom. Hence it was that the Greeks never arrived at the idea of one absolute eternal God, though they very nearly approached that idea in the case of Zeus, who occasionally exercised control or sove- reignty over the other gods who presided in particular depart- ments in the management of the world. Their natural tendency to polytheism may have been further aggravated by the pecu- / liar circumstances of their early history as a race. It has been suggested with much plausibility that a number of their deities, as Dione, Hera, Gaea, and Demeter, resemble each other so much as to warrant the reasonableness of the conclusion that their separate existence in the mythology was due to a coales- cence at some remote early time of distinct tribes of the Greek race, each possessing beforehand a god or gods of their own, with separate names and slightly different attributes, though in the main capable of identification and a common worship. It is probable that, in consequence of such amalgamation, some of the earliest gods have disappeared altogether ; while others, who in after times, as in the case of Dione, held subordinate positions, may have originally been deities of the first order.
INTRODUCTION.
At the time with which we are here concerned, the Greek nation inhabited the country still known by the name of Greece, though its present population has small claim to be descendants of the ancient race. It was spread also in colonies over the islands of the Archipelago and Mediterranean, along the coasts of Asia Minor and the Black Sea, in the Crimea, on the north coast of Africa, and on the south coast of France. In many of its features the mainland of Greece may be com- pared with England, both having the same comparatively vast extent of sea coast, very few parts of the country being out of sight of the sea. Both are well supplied with mountains that invigorate the climate, and stir the spirit of adventure. In both cases it may be that this proximity of the greater part of the population to the sea, with its horizon tempting young minds to penetrate beyond its ever-receding line, was the main cause of the general desire of commerce and distant coloniza- tion. At any rate, the natural features of Greece, her beauti- ful bays, the vivid lines of her mountain peaks, her delightful groves and valleys, made a deep impression on the people; and colonists, wherever they spread, retained the warmest re- collection of them; of snow-clad Olympos, where the gods lived ; of the lovely vale of Tempe ; of the smiling banks of the Peneios ; of the sacred grove at Delphi ; of peaceful Arcadia, with its pastoral life; of the broad plain of Olympia, with its innumerable temples, statues, and treasure-houses of costly presents to the gods ; of Corinth, with its flag that ruled the sea; of Athens; of Thebes, with its ancient citadel founded by Cadmus; of Eleusis, and many other places.
We propose now to examine more particularly the religious belief of the Greeks and Romans, with the view of preparing the way for the descriptions that follow of the gods indivi-
INTRODUCTION.
dually. But first of all let us explain the meaning of the wtrrd " mythology." According to its derivation from the Greek mythos, a tale, and logos, an account, it would mean " an ac- count of tales," the tales in this case being confined to the origin, character, and functions of the ancient gods, to the origin of mankind, and the primitive condition of the visible world. To understand these stories we must try to understand the circumstances under which they were invented, and must endeavour to comprehend the condition and circumstances of a nation in the early stage of its existence. For this purpose we can compare the early tales relating to the gods of other nations, of the Indian on the one hand and the German oa the other ; or we may also compare the condition of races at present in an uncivilized state. From these sources it would seem that the youth of a nation, like that of an individual, b the period at which the activity of imagination and fancy is greatest in proportion as knowledge is least. The mystery of surrounding nature strikes forcibly on the mind, its phenomena on the senses. There is a feeling of alarm when thunder crashes on the ear, of gladness in the warm light of day, of terror in the darkness of night, and of a strange dread at the darkness of death. The accidents of daily life bind men to- gether, and repel the rest of the animal creation, over which the human superiority soon becomes known. Men learn to know each other when as yet they know nothing else. They know their own passions and instincts. They measure every- thing by themselves, by feet, paces, palms, and ells; and when they seek to fathom or measure the cause of the phenomena of nature they have no standard to employ at hand, except them- selves. They might, it is true, imagine the cause of the thun- der under the form of a great invisible lion ; but in that case
8 INTRODUCTION.
they could not commune with and implore the thunderer foi pity, as they are moved to do. He must therefore be con- ceived as fashioned like a man, endowed with the highest ima- ginable qualities of a man. As knowledge and civilization advance, those qualities become higher and higher. It seems probable that the first phenomena that appealed to the mind were those of the change of weather, of seasons, the revolving day and the revolving year. At any rate, the earliest deities, as well as we can trace them, appear to be those who presided over the movements of the celestial sphere.
We seem to recognise the influence of such phenomena in the chief characteristics of mankind in a primitive stage of existence — the sense of order and regularity, the feeling of fatality, the conviction that whatever temporary disturbances might arise, the course of human life obeyed some fixed law, coming with bright light, and departing in darkness, but only to commence another day of happy life elsewhere. We know that the name of the highest god of the ancients signified the "light of the world," in a literal sense. In time, as the per- ceptive faculties expanded, and the wants of men multiplied, the other phenomena of the world became the subject of in- quiry, and were, as usual, ascribed to the direct influence of deities. The singular part, however, of this process of invent- ing deities is, that having, at the commencement, obtained one great powerful god, they did not simply extend his func- tions to all the departments of nature, instead of finding a new god to preside over each. It may be that the apparent conflict frequently observed between the elements of nature was hostile to such an idea, while on the contrary nothing was more readily imaginable than a quarrel among different gods as the cause of such' phenomena. By a similar process
INTRODUCTION
the combination of different elements, as, for example, warmth and moisture, was appropriately described from the human point of view as a prolific union or marriage of two deities. The sun and moon were called brother and sister.
Another opinion, somewhat at variance with this, is, that the primitive stage of all religions is a universal belief in one great god — such a belief, it is said, being as natural to man as the use of his arms and legs. But this earliest and pure form of belief became, they say, in course of time debased into a belief in the existence of many gods, originating in such a method of ex- plaining the phenomena of nature as we have described.
On the other hand, the oldest religious records we know of — the Vedas — speak of hosts of divine beings ; while in the primitive religion of the American Indians the Great Spirit is surrounded by a crowd of lesser spirits, who represent the va- rious phenomena of nature. It would seem that when the notion of one god did arise, it was of the one true God as opposed to the other and false gods, and this did not take place till a high stage of civilization was reached. In the best times of Greece, no doubt, thinking men acknowledged but one supreme being, and looked on the crowd of other gods as merely his servants, and in no sense really different from our idea of angels.
In due time the religion of the ancients became a polytheism on a very extensive scale ; every phase of nature, sky, sea, and earth, every phase of human life, its habits, accidents, and impulses, being provided with a special guardian and control- ling deity. In all the varying circumstances of life men turned to one or other of these divine persons in gratitude or for help. Temples, sanctuaries, altars, were erected to them every- where, one being worshipped with special favour here, and an-
10 INTRODUCTION.
other there ; one with special favour at one season of the year, another at another season. Many of them were only known and worshipped in particular localities; as, for instance, ma- rine deities among people connected with the sea. Others be- longed to particular periods of the national history. This li- mitation, however, with regard to local differences, applies only to the vast number of minor deities whose names and at- tributes have come down to our times ; for a belief in the su- perior order of gods was the common property of the whole nation, whether learned or unlearned, and of whatever occu- pation. The mysteries of Eleusis united the people in honour of Demeter ; the national festivals united them in honour of other gods, as of Zeus at Olympia. Every one believed in the oracular power of Apollo, in the might of Poseidon, in the grim character of Hades, that Hera was the wife of Zeus, that Athene was his daughter, that Aphrodite was the goddess of love, Artemis of the moon, and Ares the god of war.
It was believed that these higher deities inhabited Olympos, living together in a social state which was but a magnified re- flection of the social system on earth. Quarrels, love passa- ges, mutual assistance, and such incidents as characterize hu- man life, were ascribed to them. It must however be borne in mind that these human attributes, and the stories connected with them, whether they represent admirable qualities or the reverse, were not in the first instance ascribed to the gods out of a desire to make their resemblance to man more complete, but were the natural result of identifying the gods with the elements of nature over which they were supposed to preside, of conceiving and representing the combination or conflict of elements visible in nature as the result of the combination of invisible beings of human form. In later times of higher
INTRODUCTION. II
civilization and greater refinement, when the origin of the gods as personifications of natural phenomena was lost sight of, many of these stories came to be viewed as disgraceful, and by being made the subject of public ridicule in plays tended largely to uproot the general faith in the gods. Phi- losophers attempted to explain them as allegories. Others^ who did not themselves see their way to believing them, ye advised that the popular faith in them should not be disturbed. But we who live in other times, having no need of a religion that has long since passed away, and desiring only to trace its origin and the source of its long and deep influence on a great nation, may look at them in a calmer mood. It is our part to admire as far as possible, and not to condemn without first taking into account every extenuating circumstance.
Turning now to the rites and ceremonies by which the Greeks and Romans expressed their belief in and entire de- pendence on the gods, we would call attention first to the offering of sacrifices. These were of two kinds, one consist- ing of fruits, cakes, and wine ; the other of animals, which were led to the altar decked with garlands and ribbons, after various ceremonies slain, and part of the flesh consumed upon the altar fire, the smell of it being supposed to rise agreeably to the gods. It was necessary that the animals selected for this purpose should be spotless and healthy, that the persons participating in the ceremony should be cleanly in person and in mind ; for no costliness could make the offering of a sinner acceptable to the gods. The colour, age, and sex of the ani- mal were determined by the feeling of appropriateness to the deity for whom it was slain. The time chosen for the cere- mony was the morning in the case of the gods of heaven, the evening in the case of the gods of the lower world. To these
1 2 INTRODUCTION.
latter deities the victim was always offered entire, as it was not deemed possible that they could share in a feast in com- pany with men. The fire on the altar was considered holy, and special care was taken that it should be fed with wood that gave a pure flame. In early times it would seem that even human beings were offered as sacrifices to certain gods, the victims in such cases being occasionally, to judge from the instance of Iphigenia, closely connected by ties of blood and affection with the person required to make the sacrifice. But these were, perhaps, mostly cases in which the will of the gods was specially communicated through a seer or prophet ; whereas sacrifice generally was a spontaneous gift to the gods, either for the purpose of expressing gratitude for the blessings bestowed by them, or of atoning for some sin of which the person sacrificing was conscious. Sacrifices were not pre- sented intermittently and at mere pleasure, but regularly when occasion offered, as at harvest time, when the fruits of the fields and gardens were gathered in. The herdsmen sacrificed the firstlings of his flock, the merchant gave part of his gain, and the soldier a share of his booty in war. The gods to whom all prosperity and worldly blessings were due expected such of- ferings, it was thought, and punished every instance of neglect. There was, however, another class of sacrifices, springing from a different motive, and with a different object in view ; for example, to obtain by means of an examination of the entrails of an animal an augury as to the issue of some enter- prise,— a form of sacrifice which was held of great importance at the commencement of a battle ; or to sanctify the ratification of a treaty, or some important bargain between man and man ; or to obtain purification for some crime. In this last case it was supposed that the victim took the sin upon its own
INTRODUCTION. 13
head, and that both perished together. Hence no part of such victims was eaten.
How the gods were supposed to partake of the share of sacrifices allotted to them is not always clear, though in the case of burnt offerings they may be imagined to have been satisfied with the smell that rose in the air, and in the case of libations with the aroma of the wine. With regard to the sacrifices in honour of the deities of the lower world, it seems to have been the belief that the blood of the victim, if poured into a hole in the ground, would sink down to them, and be acceptably received. In the same hole, or near by, were buried the ashes that remained on the altar on which the victim was consumed. The portions assigned to marine or river deities were sunk in deep water.
It was the duty of the priests to perform the ceremony of offering up the sacrifices brought to the gods in whose service they were. The first part of the ceremony was to take a bas- ket containing the sacrificial knife, some corn, and perhaps also flowers, and to pass it, along with a vessel containing wa- ter, round the altar from left to right. The water was next purified by dipping a brand from the altar in it. Thereupon the people who had brought the sacrifice sprinkled themselves and the altar, and taking a handful of corn from the basket, scattered it on the head of the victim as it approached. The priest then, after shearing a lock of hair from the head of the animal, and distributing it among the bystanders to be thrown on the altar fire, commanded silence, prayed that the offering might be acceptable to the god, and slew the victim. The blood, except in the case of the deities of the lower world, as has been observed, and the entrails, were mixed with wheat, wine, and incense, and placed upon the fire.
14 INTRODUCTION.
The strong feelings of piety, gratitude, dependence, or con- sciousness of guilt, which gave rise to such offerings, gave rise also to a universal habit of prayer, and a desire to frequent on all possible occasions the temples and altars of the god?. Morning and evening, at the beginning of meals, at the open- ing of business in the courts of justice and public assemblies, a prayer was offered up, now to one god, now to another, or, if no particular deity appeared to be an appropriate guardian for the time and occasion, to the gods generally. There was this peculiarity in the Greek prayers, which we must not omit to mention, that after calling on a deity by his usual name a clause was added to save the suppliant from any possible dis- pleasure of the deity at the name employed ; for how could man know the true name of a god ? We have an example of such a prayer in ^Eschylus: "Zeus, whoever thou art, and by whatever name it please thee to be named, I call on thee and pray." In praying to the gods above it was the custom of the Greeks to lift the hands and turn the face towards the east ; of the Romans, to turn towards the north. A suppliant of the sea gods stretched out his hands towards the sea, and a suppliant of the gods of the lower world beat the earth with his hands. When a prayer was offered up in a temple the rule was to turn towards the sacred image. In cases of great dis- tress the suppliant would carry an olive branch, or a rod with wool twined round it, throw himself on the ground before the sacred image, and embrace its feet. Pythagoras, the philoso- pher, taught his followers to pray with a loud voice ; but loud prayers do not appear to have been customary. On the con- trary, it happened not unfrequently that the prayers were writ., ten on tablets, sealed and deposited beside the image of the god, that no human being might be aware of the request con-
INTRODUCTION. 1 5
tained in them. Here is a specimen of what seems to have been the usual form: "Zeus, our lord, give unto us whatever is good, whether we ask it of thee or not; whatever is evil keep far from us, even if we ask it of thee. ' '
Besides sacrifice and prayer there is still another class of ceremonies, in which we recognize the deep piety of the Greeks: first, the custom of consulting oracles, especially that of Apollo at Delphi, in times of great perplexity ; and secondly, the universal practice, in cases of less or more sudden emer- gency, of trying to interpret the will of the gods by means of augury or divination in a vast variety of ways. Sometimes the augury was taken from the direction in which birds were observed to fly overhead. If to the right of the augur, who stood with his face to the north, good luck would attend the enterprise in question ; if to the left, the reverse. At other times an animal was slain, and its entrails carefully examined, the propitiousness of the gods being supposed to depend on the healthy and normal condition of these parts. But the gods were also believed to communicate their will to men in dreams, by sending thunder and lightning, comets, meteors, eclipses, earthquakes, prodigies in nature, and the thousands of unex- pected incidents that occur to men. As few persons were able to interpret the bearing of these signs and wonders, there was employment for a large class of people who made this their particular business.
Finally, we must not forget to mention as a proof of the wide- spread religious feeling of the Greeks the national festivals, or games, as they are called, established and maintained in honour of certain gods. While these festivals were being celebrated it was necessary to suspend whatever war might be going on be- tween separate states, and to permit visitors to pass unmolest-
1 6 INTRODUCTION.
ed even through hostile territory. These festivals were four in number: the Olympian, Pythian, Nemean, and Isthmian.
The first-mentioned was held in honour of Zeus, on the plain of Olympia, in Elis. It occurred every fifth year, and the usual method of reckoning time was according to its re-occurrence, by Olympiads, as we say. The games with which it was cele- brated consisted of running, wrestling, boxing, a combination of the two latter, horse-racing, either with chariots or only with riders. The prize of victory was simply a wreath of olive, and yet athletes trained themselves laboriously and travelled great distances to compete for it. Kings sent their horses to run in the races, and counted a victory among the highest ho- nours of their lives. The fellow-townsmen of a victorious athlete would raise a statue in his honour. Occasionally writers, as we are told of Herodotus, took this occasion of a vast assem- blage of their countrymen to read to them part of their writings. The Pythian games were held in honour of Apollo, in the neighbourhood of Delphi, and occurred every fifth year, there being competition in music as well as in athletics. The prize was a wreath of laurel. At the Nemean games, which were held in honour of Zeus, the prize was a wreath of ivy. The Isthmian games were held in honour of Poseidon, on the Isthmus of Corinth, and occurred every third year ; the prize was a wreath of pine.
It is remarkable and surprising that, with all the piety and religious ceremonies of the ancients, there existed among them no established means of instruction for the mass of the people, as to the character and functions of the gods whom they worshipped. There was, indeed, a regular priesthood, whose duty it was to conduct the public ceremonies, to offer up sacrifices, and to perform other offices peculiar to the god in
INTRODUCTION. I J
whose service they were. But there their duties ceased. These ceremonies had been handed down from time immemorial, and that was perhaps sufficient guarantee of their importance to make the ordinary Greek assiduous in his observance of them. At any rate, this assiduity is not traceable to a clear and explicit knowledge of the character of the gods derived from public instruction. In regard to that, whatever unanimity existed was unquestionably due in the first instance to the influence of poets like Homer and Hesiod, and in the second, to the exertion of the persons connected with the oracle at Delphi. The effect of this state of things was a great amount of confusion in the popular mind, and not only in the popular mind, but also in the minds of men like Socrates, who con- fessed he did not know whether there was one Aphrodite or two, and wondered why Zeus, who was believed to be one god, had so many names.
The preceding remarks, it should be here observed, apply for the most part only to the mythology of the Greeks, and do not extend to that of the Romans, except so far as they refer to the most primitive class of myths, such as those con- cerning the origin of the world. For the practice of identi- fying the mythologies of those two nations has no foundation in fact. Both races, it is true, belonged to one and the same great branch of the human family, and from that source de- rived a common kernel of religious belief. But before this kernel had developed far the two nations parted, and formed for themselves distinct and isolated settlements in Europe. In the long period of isolation, that followed, the common seed of religious belief with which both started grew up, was pro- pagated under quite different circumstances, and assumed a very different aspect. The Romans — in the early period of their
1 8 INTRODUCTION.
history a pastoral, agricultural, simple, and more or less uni- ted people — had no need of a various multitude of deities, such as the Greeks found necessary, scattered and separated as they were into a variety of tribes with a variety of occupations.
From this, among other causes, it happens that many, even of the very early Greek myths, were quite foreign to the Ro- mans. To this class belong, for instance, the myths that de- scribe the conflict between Uranos and his sons : Kronos de- vouring his children to escape, as he thought, being dethroned by them, and Zeus placing his father, Kronos, in durance in Tartaros. No less strictly peculiar to the Greeks were those accounts of quarrels among the gods, wounds, and occasion- ally the banishment of certain gods to a period of service on earth. To these we may add the carrying off of Persephone by Pluto, and several other stories. With regard to the cere- monies which accompanied the worship of certain gods, we observe the same great difference between the two nations, and would cite as an example the wild unrestrained conduct of those who took part in the festivals of Dionysos, remark- ing that when in later times of luxury a festival of this kind was introduced into Italy in honour of Bacchus, the Roman equivalent for the Greek Dionysos or Bakchos, the new festi- val was forbidden, and those who took part in it were viewed as persons of unbridled desires. Nor did Mercury ever ob- tain the wide-spread worship and honour paid to Hermes in Greece; and even Saturnus, in spite of the Roman poets, was a very different god from the Greek Kronos.
At the time when the Roman poets began to write, " Greece captured was leading her captor captive." Greek literature was the usual means of education ; Greek philosophy, Greek art, — everything pertaining to the Greeks,— -constituted the
INTRODUCTION. 19
principal pursuit of educated men. Many would rather em- ploy the Greek than their own language in writing. Poets, constructing their poems often in close imitation of Greek models, replaced the names of gods that occurred in the Greek originals by names of native deities possessing some similari- ty of character, and told a Greek story of a native Italian god; or, failing such, employed the Greek name in a Latin form. At the same time no real adaptation or coalescence of the two religious systems ever took place. The Roman ceremo- nies and forms of worship remained for the most part distinct from the Greek, and peculiar to the race. In modern times, however, the literature (especially the poetry) of the ancient Romans was more familiarly known than the facts relating to their ceremonies and forms of worship. It was more early and familiarly known than the literature of Greece, and in- stead of upon the latter, the modern notions of Greek mytho- logy were founded on the statements of the Roman poets. Hence, arose a confusion which our own poets, especially those of the last century, only made worse confounded. To meet this confusion we shall give the accredited Roman equivalent by the side of the Greek gods, throughout our descriptions, and point out as far as possible the differences between them. Thus far our observations have been confined to the mytho- logy and religious ceremonies of the Greeks and Romans, es- pecially of the former. We have had very little to say of the Romans, because, though equal perhaps to the Greeks in their piety and trust in the gods, they appear to have been very deficient in that quality of imagination which could readily invent some divine personification for every phenomenon of nature that struck the mind. As, however, it is our intention to include a description, even if very brief, of the mythology
20 INTRODUCTION.
of the Indian and Teutonic or Germanic races, it may be. well to call attention here to the fact, now clearly ascertained, that these races are sprung from the same common family or hu- man stock to which the Greeks and Romans belonged, and that at least certain ideas concerning the origin and primitive condition of the world are common to the mythologies of them all. From this it is reasonable to conclude that these ideas were arrived at previous to the separation of this great Indo- Germanic family, as it is called, and its development into distinct and isolated nations, as we find it at the dawn of historical times. From the Ganges to Iceland we meet with traces of a common early belief that the wild features of the earth had been produced by some long past convulsive conflict of Titanic beings, whom, though invisible, the stormy elements of nature still obeyed. We find that everywhere, within these limits of space and time, there existed among men the same sensitiveness to the phenomena of nature, — to light and dark- ness, to heat and cold, to rain and drought, to storms and peacefulness, — and the same readiness and power of imagining invisible beings of human form, but loftier attributes, as the cause of these phenomena. To these beings actions and habits of life were ascribed, such as were suggested by the phenomena which they were supposed to control ; and in no case, it should be borne in mind, was any feeling of morality or immo- rality intended to be conveyed. For instance, when we find the natural process by which the clouds pour out their rain up- on the earth, and are again filled from the sea, described as Her- mes (the god of rain) stealing the cattle (clouds) of Apollo, w? cannot attach to the story the idea of criminality which it at first suggests. Similar interpretations we must be prepared to seek throughout the mythologies of the Indo-Germanic races
INTRODUCTION.
It may now be asked, from what source is this knowledge derived of the mythology of the ancients? To this we reply, from the works of ancient writers, poets, historians, philo- sophers, and others, to whom the religious belief of their countrymen was a subject of great importance, and whose writings have survived to our times ; in the second place, from the representations of gods and mythological scenes on the im- mense number of ancient works of art that still exist, whethe* in the form of statues in marble and bronze, painted vases, engraved gems, or coins. These are the sources of our know- ledge, and without becoming more or less familiar with them it is perhaps impossible to understand fully the spirit of these ancient myths ; and contrariwise, to be able to appreciate at its real worth the beauty of ancient works, whether in literature or in art, it is necessary to become acquainted with the mytho- logy and the religious spirit which guided their authors ; and if that be not sufficient temptation to follow our descriptions of the various deities and heroes of ancient times, we can still appeal to this, — that a great part of our grandest modern poetry and works of art can only be intelligible to those who know the ancient mythology.
Drawing near, as we are now, to the details of our subject, we become anxious to guard against all feelings of impropriety in what we may have occasionally to relate. We would there- fore remind the reader of the principle of interpretation which we have endeavoured to explain in the preceding pages. We would also repeat that we have here to do with a system of religious belief which, whatever its apparent or real shortco- mings may have been, exercised enormous influence on the education of at least two of the most civilized nations of the earth.
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
IN thinking of the origin of the world in which they lived, the Greeks for the most part, it would appear, were satis- fied with the explanation given by the poet Hesiod, — that in the beginning the world was a great shapeless mass or chaos out of which was fashioned first the spirit of love, Eros (Cupid), and the broad-chested earth, Gaea ; then Erebos, darkness, and Nyx, night. From a union of the two latter sprang ./Ether, the clear sky, and Hemera, day. The earth, by virtue of the power by which it was fashioned, pro- duced in turn, Uranos, the firmament which covered her with its vault of brass, as the poets called it, to describe its appearance of eternal duration, the mountains, and Pontos, the unfruitful sea. Thereupon Eros, the oldest and at the same time the youngest of the gods, began to agitate the earth and all things on it, bringing them together, and making pairs of them. First in importance of these pairs were Ura- nos and Gaea, heaven and earth, who peopled the earth with a host of beings, Titans, Giants, and Kyklopes, of far greater physical frame and energy than the races who succeeded them. It is a beautiful idea, that of love making order out of chaos, bringing opposite elements together, and preparing a world to receive mankind.
Another apparently older and certainly obscure notion, is that expressed by Homer, which ascribes the origin of the world to Okeanos, the ocean. How the earth and heavens
22
THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 23
sprang from him, or whether they were conceived as co-exist- ing with him from the beginning, we are not told. The numerous ancient stories, however, concerning floods, after which new generations of men sprang up, and the fact that the innumerable fertilizing rivers and streams of the earth were believed to come from the ocean, as they were seen to return to it, and that all the river gods were accounted the offspring of Okeanos, suggest the prevalence of such a form of belief with regard to the origin of the world in times pre- vious to Hesiod. We are told that the ocean encircled the earth with a great stream, and was a region of wonders of all kinds ; that Okeanos lived there, with his wife Tethys ; that there were the islands of the blest, the gardens of the gods, the sources of the nectar and ambrosia on which the gods lived. Within this circle of water the earth lay spread out like a disc with mountains rising from it, and the vault of heaven appearing to rest on its outer edge all round. This outer edge was supposed to be slightly raised, so that the water might not rush in and overflow the land. The space between the surface of the earth and the heavens was seen to be occupied by air and clouds, and above the clouds was sup- posed to be pure ether, in which the sun, moon, and stars moved. The sun rising in the eastern sky in the morning, traversing the celestial arch during the day, and sinking at evening in the west, was thought to be under the guidance of a god in a chariot drawn by four splendid horses. After sinking into Okeanos, it was supposed that he took ship and sailed during the night round to the east, so as to be ready to begin a new day.
In the region of air above the clouds moved the higher order of gods ; and when, for the sake of council or inter-
24 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD.
course they met together, the meeting place was the summit of one of those lofty mountains whose heads were hid in the clouds, but chief of all, the inaccessible Olympos in Thessaly. Round the highest point of it was the palace of Zeus, with the throne on which he sat in majesty to receive such visits as those of Thetis (Iliad i. 498) when she came to plead for her son. On plateaus or in ravines lower down were the mansions of the other gods, provided, as was thought, with the con- venience of store-rooms, stabling, and all that was usual in the houses of princes on earth. The deities who thus inhabi- ted Olympos, and for that reason were styled the Olympian deities, were twelve in number. We do not, it is true, always find this number composed of the same gods, but the follow- ing may be taken as having been the most usual ; Zeus (Jupiter), "Hera (Juno), Poseidon (Neptune), Demeter (Ceres), Apollo, Artemis (Diana), Hephaestos (Vulcan), Pallas, Athene (Minerva), Ares (Mars), Aphrodite (Venus), Hermes (Mercury), and Hestia (Vesta). Though allied to each other by various degrees of relationship, and worshipped in many places at altars dedicated to them as a united body, they did not always act together in harmony, a most memorable instance of their discord being that (Iliad viii. 13-27) in which Zeus threatened to hurl the others into Tartaros, and challenged them to move him from Olympos by letting themselves down with a golden chain and pulling with all their might. Should they try it, he said, he could easily draw them up with earth and sea to the bargain, fasten the chain to the top of Olympos, and let the whole hang in mid air. The name of Olympos was not confined to the Thessalian mountain, though it may have had the earliest, as in after times it had the principal, claim to the title, but was
4 THE CREATION OF THE WORLD. 25
applied to no less than fourteen mountains in various parts of the Greek world, each of which appears to have been regarded as an occasional meeting place, if not a permanent seat of the gods. Finally, the word was used to designate a re- gion above the visible sky, from which, to express its height, it was said that once a brazen anvil fell nine days and nine nights before it reached the earth. At an equal distance be- neath the surface of the earth was Tartaros, a vast gloomy space walled in with brass, where the Titans lived in banishment. The lower order of deities, having naturally no place in Olym- pos, were restricted to the localities on earth where they exer- cised their powers — as, for instance, the Naiads, or Nymphs of fountains, to the neighbourhood of fountains and springs ; the Oreads, or mountain Nymphs, to the mountains and hills; and the Dryads, or Nymphs of trees, to trees. With regard to the place of residence of the heroes or semi-divine beings after their translation from earth, there existed considerable variety of opinion, of which we shall afterwards have occasion to speak.
Representations of the deities assembled in Olympos for a particular occa- sion— as at the birth of Athene from the head of her father Zeus — occur not unfrequently on the Greek painted vases. This was the subject chosen by Pheidias for the sculptures in one of the pediments of the Parthenon now in the British Museum. The loss, however, of many of the figures renders it impossible to say now who were the deities he selected, or whether he even adhered to the usual number of twelve. At one end of the pediment the sun rises in his chariot from the sea, at the other the moon rides away. The event must therefore have taken place at the break of day. The same fact is to be observed in the scene at the birth of Aphrodite, in presence of the assem- bled deities, with which Pheidias adorned the base of his statue of Zeus at Olympia, and of which we have Ltill the description in Pausanias (v. 403.) At one end was the Sun stepping into his chariot, next to him Zeus and Hera, then Hephaestos (?) and Charis, then Hermes and Hestia. In the centre was Eros receiving Aphrodite as she rises from the sea, and Peitho crowning Aph- rodite ; then Apollo and Artemis, next Athene and Herakles, then Poseidon and Amphitrite, and lastly the Moon (Selene) riding away. The deities are thus grouped in pairs of male and female, those of greater importance being 'owards either end of the composition.
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
URANOS
IS a personification of the sky as the ancients saw and under- stood its phenomena, and with him, according to the ver- sion of mythology usually accepted by the Greeks, commences the race of gods. Next succeeded Kronos, and lastly, Zeus. With regard to this triple succession of supreme rulers of the world, we should notice the different and progressive signification of their three names, Uranos signifying the hea- vens viewed as husband of the earth, and by his warmth and moisture producing life and vegetation everywhere on it; Kronos, his successor, being the god of harvest, who also ripened and matured every form of life ; while in the person of Zeus, god of the light of heaven, as his name implies, cul- minated the organization and perfectly wise and just dispensa- tion of the affairs of the universe. Uranos, as we have already observed, was a son of Gaea (the earth), whom he afterwards married, the fruit of that union being the Titans, the Hekatoncheires, and the Kyklopes.
The Hekatoncheires, or Centimani, beings each with a hundred hands, were three in number; Kottos, Gyges or Gyes, and Briareus, and represented the frightful crashing of waves and its resemblance to the convulsion of earthquakes. The Kyklopes also were three in number : Brontes with his 26
URANOS. 27
thunder, Steropes with his lightning, and Arges with his stream of light. They were represented as having only one eye, which was placed at the juncture between nose and brow. It was, however, a large flashing eye, as became beings who were personifications of the storm-cloud, with its flashes of destructive lightning and peals of thunder. From a similarity observed between the phenomena of storms and those of volcanic eruptions, it was usually supposed that the Kyklopes lived in the heart of burning mountains, above all, in Mount Etna, in Sicily, where they acted as apprentices of Hephaes- tos (Vulcan), assisting him to make thunderbolts for Zeus, and in other works. Uranos, it was said, alarmed at their promise of fierceness and strength, had cast the Hekatonchei- res and Kyklopes at their birth back into the womb of the earth from which they had sprung.
The Titans were, like the Olympian deities, twelve in number, and grouped for the most part in pairs: Okeanos and Tethys, Hyperion and Theia, Kreios and Eury- bia, Koios and Phoebe, Kronos and Rhea, Japetos and Themis. Instead of Eurybia we find frequently Mnemo- syne. Their names, though not in every case quite intelli- gible, show that they were personifications of those primary elements and forces of nature to the operations of which, in the first ages, the present configuration of the earth was supposed to be due. While Themis, Mnemosyne, and Jape- tos may be singled out as personifications of a civilizing force in the nature of things, and as conspicuous for having off- spring endowed with the same character, the other Titans appear to represent wild, powerful, and obstructive forces. In keeping with this character we find them rising in rebellion first against their father and afterwards against Zeus.
28 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
In the former experiment the result was that Uranos, as we learn from the poetic account of the myth, threw them into Tartaros, where he kept them bound. But Gaea, his wife, grieving at the hard fate of her offspring, provided the youngest son, Kronos, with a sickle or curved knife, which she had made of stubborn adamant, and told him how and when to wound his father with it irremediably. The enter- prise succeeded, the Titans were set free, married their sisters, and begat a numerous family of divine beings, while others of the same class sprang from the blood of the wound of Uranos as it fell to the ground. Of these were the Giants, monsters with legs formed of serpents; the Melian nymphs, or nymphs of the oaks, from which the shafts used in war were fashioned ; and the Erinys, or Furise, as the Romans called them, — Tisiphone, Megaera, and Alekto, — crea- tures whose function it was originally to avenge the shedding of a parent's blood. Their form was that of women, with hair of snakes and girdles of vipers. They were a terror to criminals, whom they pursued with unrelenting fury. The whole of these divine beings, however, with the exception of the Erinys, who were worshipped at Athens under the name of the "venerable deities," were excluded from the religion of the Greeks, and had a place only in the mythology, while among the Romans they were unknown till later times, and even then were only introduced as poetic fictions, with no bold upon the religious belief of the people.
Kronos.
Rhea.
KRONOS. 29
KRONOS, (PLATE i.,)
'The ripener, the harvest god,' was, as we have already re- marked, a son of Uranos. That he continued for a long time to be identified with the Roman deity, Saturnus, is a mis- take which recent research has set right, and accordingly we shall devote a separate chapter to each. Uranos, deposed from the throne of the gods, was succeeded by Kronos, who married his own sister Rhea, a daughter of Gaea, who bore him Pluto, Poseidon (Neptune), and Zeus (Jupiter), Hestia (Vesta), Demeter (Ceres), and Hera (Juno). To prevent the fulfilment of a prophecy which had been commu- nicated to him by his parents, that, like his father, he too would be dethroned by his youngest born, Kronos swallowed his first five children apparently as each came into the world. But when the sixth child appeared, Rhea, his wife, determined to save it, and succeeded in duping her husband by giving him a stone (perhaps rudely hewn into the figure of an infant) wrapped in swaddling clothes, which he swallowed, believing he had got rid of another danger.
While the husband was being deceived in this fashion, Zeus, the newly-born child, was conveyed to the island of Crete, and there concealed in a cave on Mount Ida. The nymphs Adrastea and Ida tended and nursed him, the goat Amalthea supplied him with milk, bees gathered honey for him, and in the meantime, lest his infantile cries should reach the ears of Kronos, Rhea's servants, the Kuretes, were appointed to keep up a continual noise and din in the neighbourhood by dancing and clashing their swords and shields.
JO DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
When Zeus had grown to manhood he succeeded by the aid of Gaea, or perhaps of Metis, in persuading Kronos to yield back into the light the sons whom he had swallowed and the stone which had been given him in deceit. The stone was placed at Delphi as a memorial for all time. The libe- rated gods joined their brethren in a league to drive their fa- ther from the throne and set Zeus in his place. This was done; but the change of government, though acquiesced in by the principal deities, was not to be brooked by the Titans, who with the exception of Okeanos proceeded to war. The seat of war was Thessaly, with its wild natural features sug- gestive of a conflict in which huge rocks had been torn from mountain sides and shattered by the violence with which they had been thrown in combat. The party of Zeus had its posi- tion on Mount Olympos, the Titans on Mount Othrys. The struggle lasted many years, all the might which the Olympians could bring to bear being useless until, on the advice of Gaea, Zeus set free the Kyklopes and Hekatoncheires, of whom the former fashioned thunderbolts for him, while the latter ad- vanced on his side with force equal to the shock of an earth- quake. The earth trembled down to lowest Tartaros as Zeus now appeared with his terrible weapon and new allies. Old Chaos thought his hour had come, as from a continuous blaze of thunderbolts the earth took fire and the waters seethed in the sea. The rebels were partly slain or consumed, and partly hurled into deep chasms, with rocks and hills reeling after them, and consigning them to a life beneath the surface of the earth. The cause of Kronos was thus lost for ever, and the right of Zeus to rule established for all time.
The island of Crete, where civilization appears to have Dawned earlier than elsewhere in Greece, and where the story
SATURNUS. 31
of the secret up-bringing of Zeus was made the most of, was the principal centre of the worship of Kronos. Here, how- ever, and in Attica, as well as in several other districts of Greece, it was less as the grim god who had devoured his chil- dren that he was worshipped than as the maturer and ripener, the god of harvest, who sends riches and blessings, prosperity and gladness. So it happened that his festivals in Greece, the Kronia, and the corresponding Saturnalia in Italy, were of that class which imposed no restraint on the mirth and pleasure of those present, and seemed like a reminiscence of an age when under the rule of Kronos there had been a per- petual harvest time on earth. As the devourer of his children Kronos bears some resemblance to the Phoenician Moloch, and it is highly probable that this phase of his character ori- ginated in Crete, where the influence of Phoenician settlers had been felt from very remote times. It is also to be noted that his wife Rhea enjoyed a very early and wide-spread wor- ship in Asia Minor.
The scene where Rhea presents the stone carefully wrapped up to her hus- band as he sits on his throne, was the subject of a sculpture executed for Pla- taeae by Praxiteles (Pausanias ix. 2, 7), from which it is possible that the relief may have been made which is represented in Plate I, and is now in the Capitoline Museum, Rome. The thoughtful attitude of Kronos, and espe- cially the veiled head, seem to indicate a plotting mind, while the sickle in his left hand is emblematical of his function as god of harvest, and at the same time a memorial of the deed he wrought upon his father Uranos. The war with the Titans (Titanomachia) was superseded in popular estimation as early as the time of Euripides by the Gigantomachia, or war of Giants, which will be described in connection with Zeus. Artists following the popular taste neglected the former altogether as a source of subjects.
SATURNUS,
According to the popular belief of the Romans, made his first appearance in Italy at a time when Janus was reigning
32 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
king of the fertile region that stretches along the banks of the Tiber on either side. Presenting himself to Janus, and being kindly received, he proceeded to instruct the subjects of tht latter in agriculture, gardening, and many other arts then quite unknown to them: as, for example, how to train and nurse the vine, and how to tend and cultivate fruit-trees. By such means he at length raised the people from a rude and comparatively barbarous condition to one of order and peaceful occupations, in consequence of which he was every- where held in high esteem, and in course of time was selected by Janus to share with him the government of the kingdom, which thereupon assumed the name of Saturnia, ' a land of seed and fruit.' The period of Saturn's government was in later times sung of by poets as a happy time when sorrows and cares of life were unknown, when innocence, freedom, and gladness reigned throughout the land, in such a degree as to deserve the title of the golden age. Greek mythology also has its golden age, said to have occurred during the reign of Kronos, and this, perhaps, more than any other circumstance, led to the identification of Saturnus and Kronos, in spite of the real difference between the two deities. The name of Saturn's vife was Ops.
Once a year, in the month of December, the Romans held a festival called Saturnalia in his honour. It lasted from five to seven days, and was accompanied by amusements of all kinds. During those days the ordinary distinctions were done away with between master and servant or slave. No assemblies were held to discuss public affairs, and no punish- ments for crime were inflicted. Servants or slaves went about dressed like their masters, and received from them costly presents Children received from their parents or relatives
II.
Rhea.
Zeus, or Jupiter.
RHEA. 33
presents of pictures, probably of a gaudy type, purchased in the street where the picture dealers lived.
There was a temple of Saturn in Rome, at the foot of the Capitoline Hill, containing a figure of him with his feet wrapped round with pieces of woollen cloth, which could only be removed during the festival of the Saturnalia. In one hand he held a curved garden-knife, as a sign of his having been the first to teach the people how to trim the vine and olive. In this temple were preserved the state chest and the standards <3f the army.
RHEA. (PLATES i. AND u.)
As Uranos, the representative of the fertilizing force in nature, was superseded by Kronos the representative of a ripening force, so Gaea, the primitive goddess of the earth with its productive plains gave way to Rhea, a goddess of the earth with its mountains and forests. Gaea had been the mother of the powerful Titans. Rhea was the mother of gods less given to feats of strength, but more highly gifted: Pluto, Poseidon, and Zeus, Hera, Demeter, and Hestia. Her titles — as for example, Dindumene and Berekuntia — were derived for the most part from the names of mountains in Asia Minor, particularly those of Phrygia and Lydia, her worship having been intimately associated with the early civilization of these countries. There her name was Kybele or Kybebe, which also, from its being employed to designate her sanctuaries (Kybela) in caves or mountain sides, points to her character as a mountain goddess. 3
34 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The lofty hills of Asia Minor, while sheltering on theil cavernous sides wild animals, such as the panther and lion, which it was her delight to tame, also looked down on many flourishing cities which it was her duty to protect. In this latter capacity she wore a mural crown, and was styled Mater turrita. But though herself identified with peaceful civilization, her worship was always distinguished by wild and fantastic excitement, her priests and devotees rushing through the woods at night with torches burning, maiming and wounding each other, and producing all the din that was pos- sible from the clashing of cymbals, the shrill notes of pipes, and the frantic voice of song. To account for this peculiarity of her worship, which must have been intended to com- memorate some great sorrow, the story was told of how she had loved the young Phrygian shepherd, Attis, whose extra- ordinary beauty had also won the heart of the king's daughter of Pessinus ; how he was destined to marry the princess, and how the goddess, suddenly appearing, spread terror and con- sternation among the marriage guests. Attis escaped to the mountains, maimed himself, and died beside a pine tree, into which his soul transmigrated, while from his blood sprang violets like a wreath round the tree. The goddess implored Zeus to restore her lover. This could not be. But so much was granted that his body should never decay, that his hair should always grow, and that his little finger should always move. The pine was a symbol of winter and sadness, the violet of spring and its hopeful beauty.
The first priests of Rhea-Kybele were the Kuretes and Korybantes, for whom it was also claimed that they had been the first beings of mere human form and capacity that had appeared on the earth, having sprung from the mountain side
III.
Zeus, or Jupiter.
7F.US OR JUPITER. 35
like trees. The great centre of her worship was always at Pessinus in Phrygia, under the shadow of Mount Dindymon, on .which was a cave containing what was believed to be the oldest of her sanctuaries. Within this sanctuary was the tomb of Attis, and an ancient image of the goddess in the shape of a stone, which was said to have fallen from heaven. The first temple at Pessinus had been erected, it was said, ty King Midas. Successive rulers of Phrygia maintained and endowed it so liberally that it continued to be a place of im- portance long after Phrygian civilization had sunk. Spread- ing from this centre, the worship of Kybele took hold first in the neighbouring towns of Sardis, Magnesia, Smyrna, Ephe- sus, Lampsakos, and Kyzikos ; thence to Athens, and in later times to the mountainous district of Arcadia, where it was locally believed that Zeus had been born and that the creation of mankind had taken place.
In Plate II. Rhea is represented as Mater turrita, or turrigera. In Plate I. she appears as the goddess of mountain tops, riding on a lion, and holding a sceptre in one hand and a cymbal in the other ; beside her the moon and a star. At other times she is seated on a throne with a lion in her lap, or with a lion at each side, or in a chariot drawn by lions or panthers.
ZEUS OR JUPITER.
(PLATES n. AND in.)
THIRD and last on the throne of the highest god sat Zeus. The fertile imagination of early times had, as we have seen, placed his abode on Mount Olympos in Thessaly. But a later and more practical age usually conceived him as in- habiting a region above the sky, where the source of all light was supposed to be. He was god of the broad light of day,
36 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
as his name implies, had control of all the phenomena of the heavens, and accordingly sudden changes of weather, the gathering of clouds, and, more than all, the burst of a thun- der-storm made his presence felt as a supernatural being in- terested in the affairs of mankind. Hence such titles as 'cloud -gatherer,' 'god of the murky cloud,' 'thunderer,' and 'mighty thunderer,' were those by which he was most fre- quently invoked. On the other hand, the serenity and bound- less extent of the sky over which he ruled, combined with the never-failing recurrence of day, led him to be regarded as an everlasting god : ' Zeus who was and is and shall be. ' To in- dicate this feature of his character he was styled Kronides or Kronion, a title which, though apparently derived from his father Kronos, must have assumed even at a very early time a special significance ; otherwise we should expect to find it applied also to his two brothers, Poseidon and Hades. The eagle soaring beyond vision seemed to benefit by its approach to Zeus, and came to be looked on as sacred to him. Similarly high mountain peaks derived a sanctity from their nearness to the region of light, and were everywhere in Greece associated with his worship, many of them furnishing titles by which he was locally known — as, for instance, Aet- naeos, a title derived from Mount JEtna. in Sicily, or Ata- byrios, from a mountain in Rhodes. Altars to him and even temples were erected on hill tops, to reach which by long toiling, and then to see the earth spread out small be- neath, was perhaps the best preparation for approaching him in a proper spirit. In contrast with this, and as testimony to the saying of Hesiod that Zeus Kronides lived not only in the pure air but also at the roots of the earth and in men, we find the low ground of Dodona in Epiros viewed with
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 37
peculiar solemnity as a spot where direct communion was to be enjoyed with him. A wind was heard to rustle in the branches of a sacred oak when the god had any communica- tion to make, the task of interpreting it devolving on a priest- hood called Selli. A spring rose at the foot of the oak, and sacred pigeons rested among its leaves, the story being that they had first drawn attention to the oracular powers of the tree. It should here be noted that the real importance of this worship of Zeus at Dodona belonged to exceedingly early times, and that in the primitive religion of the Italian, German, and Celtic nations the oak was regarded with similar reverence.
As the highest god, and throughout Greece worshipped as such, he was styled the father of gods and men, the ruler and preserver of the world. He was believed to be possessed of every form of power, endued with wisdom, and in his do- minion over the human race partial to justice, and with no limit to his goodness and love. Zeus orders the alternation of day and night, the seasons succeed at his command, the winds obey him, now he gathers, now scatters the clouds, and bids the gentle rain fall to fertilize the fields and meadows. He watches over the administration of law and justice in the state, lends majesty to kings, and protects them in the exer- cise of their sovereignty. He observes attentively the general intercourse and dealings of men — everywhere demanding and rewarding uprightness, truth, faithfulness, and kindness ; everywhere punishing wrong, falseness, faithlessness, and cruelty. As the eternal father of men, he was believed to be kindly at the call of the poorest and most forsaken. The homeless beggar looked to him as a merciful guardian who ; punished the heartless, and delighted to reward pity and sym • ;
38 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
pathy. To illustrate his rule on earth we would here give a familiar story.
Philemon and Baukis, an aged couple of the poorei class, were living peacefully and full of piety towards the gods in their cottage in Phrygia, when Zeus, who often visited the earth, disguised, to inquire into the behaviour of men, paid a visit, in passing through Phrygia on such a journey, to these poor old people, and was received by them very kindly as a weary traveller, which he pretended to be. Bidding him welcome to the house, they set about preparing for their guest, who was accompanied by Hermes, as excellent a meal as they could afford, and for this purpose were about to kill the only goose they had left, when Zeus interfered ; for he was touched by their kindliness and genuine piety, and that all the more because he had observed among the other in- habitants of the district nothing but cruelty of disposition and a habit of reproaching and despising the gods. To punish this conduct he determined to visit the country with a destroying flood, but to save from it Philemon and Baukis, the good aged couple, and to reward them in a striking man- ner. To this end he revealed himself to them before opening the gates of the great flood, transformed their poor cottage on the hill into a splendid temple, installed the aged pair as his priest and priestess, and granted their prayer that they might both die together. When after many years death over- took them they were changed into two trees, that grew side by side in the neighborhood — an oak and a linden.
While in adventures of this kind the highest god of the Greeks appears on the whole in a character worthy of admira- tion, it will be seen that many other narratives represent him as labouring under human weaknesses and error. The first
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 39
wife of Zeus was Metis (Cleverness), a daughter of the friendly Titan Okeanos. But as Fate, a dark and omnis- cient being, had predicted that Metis would bear Zeus a son who should surpass his father in power, Zeus followed in a manner the example of his father Kronos, by swallowing Metis before she was delivered of her child, and then from his own head gave birth to the goddess of wisdom, Pallas Athene (Mi- nerva). Next he married, it is said, but only for a time, The- mis (Justice), and became the father of Astraea and the Horae. Mischief love was, however, always for Hera (Juno,) with her many charms, who, after withstanding his entreaties for a time, at length gave way, and the divine marriage took place amid great rejoicing, not on the part of the gods of hea- ven alone, for those other deities also, to whom the manage- ment of the world had been in various departments delegated, had been invited, and went gladly to the splendid ceremony. Hera became the mother of Hebe, Ares (Mars), and Hephaestos (Vulcan). Zeus did not, however, remain con- stant and true to the marriage with his sister, but secretly in- dulged a passion for other goddesses, and often, under the dis- guise of various forms and shapes, approached even the daugh- ters of men. Hera gave way to indignation when she found out such doings. From secret intercourse of this kind De- meter (Ceres) bore him Persephone (Proserpina) ; Leto (Latona) became the mother of Apollo and Artemis (Diana) ; Dione, the mother of Aphrodite (Venus) ; Mne- mosyne, of the Muses; Eurynome, of the Charites (Graces) ; Semele, of Dionysos (Bacchus) ; Maia, of Hermes (Mercury) ; Alkmene, of Herakles (Hercules) ; several of the demigods, of whom we shall afterwards speak being sons of Zeus by other and different mothers.
40 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
These numerous love passages of Zeus (and other gods as well), related by ancient poets, appear to us, as it is known they appeared to the right-thinking men amongst the ancients themselves, unbecoming of the great ruler of the universe. The wonder is how such stories came into existence ; unless indeed this be accepted as a satisfactory explanation of their origin, — that they are simply the different versions of one great myth of the marriage of Zeus, peculiar in early times to the different districts of Greece, each version representing him as having but one wife, and being constant to her. Her name and the stories connected with their married life would be more or less different in each case. In after-time, when the various tribes of the Greeks became united into one peo- ple, and the various myths that had sprung up independently concerning Zeus came, through the influence of poets and by other means, to be known to the whole nation, we may ima- gine that the only way that presented itself of uniting them all into one consistent narrative was by degrading all the wives, except Hera, to the position of temporary acquaint- ances. It is, however, unfortunate that we cannot now trace every one of his acquaintances of this sort back to a primitive position of sufficiently great local importance. At the same time, enough is known to justify this principle of interpreta- tion, not only with regard to the apparent improprieties in the conduct of Zeus, but also of the other deities wherever they occur. Properly Zeus could have but one wife, such be- ing the limit of marriage among the Greeks.
Of the several localities in Greece where the worship of Zeus was conducted with unusual ceremony and devotion, the two most deserving of attention are Athens and Olympia. In Athens the change of season acting on the temperament of
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 41
the people seemed to produce a change in their feelings to- wards the god. For from early spring and throughout the summer they called him the friendly god (Zeus Meilichios), offered public sacrifices at his altars, and on three occasions held high festival in his honour. But as the approach of win- ter made itself felt, thoughts of his anger returned, he was called the cruel god (Zeus Maemaktes), and an endeavour was made to propitiate him by a festival called Maemakteria. At Olympia, in Elis, a festival, which from an early period had assumed national importance, was held in his honour in the month of July (Hekatombaeon) every fifth year, that is, after the lapse of four clear years. It lasted at least five and perhaps seven days, commencing with sacrifice at the great altar of Zeus, in which the deputies from the various states, with their splendid retinues, took part. This ceremony over, a series of competitions took place in foot-racing, leap- ing from a raised platform with weights (halteres) in the hands to give impetus, throwing the disk (a circular plate of metal or stone weighing about 8 lb.), boxing with leather thongs twisted round the arm and sometimes with metal rings in the hands, horse-racing, chariot-racing with two or four horses, and lastly, a competition of musicians and poets. The lists were open to all free-born Greeks, except such as had been convicted of crime, or such as had entailed in former contests the penalty of a fine and had refused to pay it. Intending competitors were required to give sureties that they had gone through a proper course of training, and that they would abide by the decision of the judges. Slaves and foreigners might look on, but the presence of married women was forbidden. The entire management of the festival was in the hands of a board elected from their own number by the people of Elis.
42 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The plain of Olympia, where this national meeting in honour of Zeus was held, is now a waste ; but some idea may still be- gathered from the description of Pausanias of its magnificent temple and the vast number of statues that studded the sacred grove. Within the temple was a statue of the god, in gold and ivory, the work of Pheidias, the most renowned of an- cient sculptors. It was forty feet in height, and for its beauty and grandeur was reckoned one of the Seven Wonders* of the ancient world.
As some would have it, these games had been established by Zeus himself to commemorate his victory over the Titans, and even the gods in early times are said to have taken part in the contests. The people of Elis maintained that the fes- tival had been founded by Pelops, while others ascribed that honour to Herakles. The usual method of reckoning time was by the interval between these festivals, one Olympiad being equal to four years. The first festival from which the reckoning started, as ours does from the birth of Christ, oc- curred in the year 776 B. c.
The birth and early life of Zeus, up to the period, when, after a long and fierce war around Olympos, he defeated the Titans and established his right to reign in the place of his father Kronos, has already been related. That his two
* The seven wonders of the ancient world were — (i) The Pyramids of Egypt; (2) The Walls of Babylon; (3) The Hanging Gardens of Babylon; (4) The Temple of Diana at Ephesus ; (5) The Statue of Zeus at Olympia ; (6) The Mausoleum at Halicarnassus ; (7) The Colossus at Rhodes; all monuments of art of extraordinary beauty or stupendous dimensions. In statues of gold and ivory, such as that of Zeus at Olympia, and many others, the face and nude parts of the body were made of ivory, while the hair and drapery were reproduced in gold, richly worked in parts with enamel. We obtain an idea of the expense of such splendid statues, from the statement that a single lock of the hair of Zeus at Olympia cost about ^"250 of our money.
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 43
brothers, to whose assistance he had been greatly indebted during the war, might have a share in the management of the world, lots were cast; and to Poseidon fell the control of the sea and rivers, while Hades obtained the government of the vvorld under the earth. Opposition, however, on the part of the kindred of Kronos had not yet ceased, and the new dy- nasty of gods had to encounter a fresh outbreak of war even more terrible than had been that of the Titans, the enemy be- ing in this case the Giants, a race of beings sprung from the blood of Uranos. The Giants took up their position on the peninsula of Pallene, which is separated from Mount Olympos by a bay. Their king and leader was Porphyrion, their most powerful combatant Alkyoneus, against whom Zeus and Athene took up arms in vain. Their mother Earth had made the Giants proof against all the weapons of the gods — not, however, against the weapons of mortals; and knowing this Athene brought Herakles on the scene. Sun and moon ceased to shine at the command of Zeus, and the herb was cut down which had furnished the giants with a charm against wounds. The huge Alkyoneus, who had hurled great rocks at the Olympians, fell by the arrows of Herakles; and Por- phyrion while in the act of seizing Hera, was overpowered. Of the others, Pallas and Enkelados were slain by Athene, the boisterous Polybotes fled, but on reaching the island of Kos was overtaken by a rock hurled at him by Poseidon and buried under it, while Ephialtes had to yield to Apollo, Rhoetos to Dionysos and Klytios to Hecate or Hephaes- tos. To the popular mind this war with the Giants had a greater interest than the Titanomachia. Ultimately the twc were confounded with each other.
wars over, there succeeded a period which was called
44 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
the Silver Age on earth. Men were rich then, as in the Golden Age under the rule of Kronos, and lived in plenty,' but still they wanted the innocence and contentment which were the true sources of human happiness in the former age ; and, accordingly, while living in luxury and delicacy, they became overbearing in their manners to the highest degree, were never satisfied, and forgot the gods, to whom, in their confidence of prosperity and comfort, they denied the rever- ence they owed. To punish them, and as a warning against such habits, Zeus swept them away and concealed them under the earth, where they continued to live as daemons or spirits, not so powerful as the spirits of the men of the Golden Age, but yet respected by those who came after them.
Then followed the Bronze Age, a period of constant quar- relling and deeds of violence. Instead of cultivated lands and a life of peaceful occupations and orderly habits, there came a day when everywhere might was right ; and men, big and powerful as they were, became physically worn out, and sank into the lower world without leaving a trace of their having existed, and without a claim to a future spiritual life.
Finally came the Iron Age, in which enfeebled mankind had to toil for bread with their hands, and, bent on gain, did their best to overreach each other. Dike or Astraea, the goddess of justice and good faith, modesty and truth, turned her back on such scenes, and retired to Olympos, while Zeus determined to destroy the human race by a great flood. The whole of Greece lay under water, and none but Deukalion and his wife Pyrrha were saved. Leaving the summit of Parnassos, where they had escaped the flood, they were commanded by the gods to become the founders of a new race of men — that is, the present race. To this end, it is said,
ZEUS OR JUPITER. 45
they cast around them as they advanced stones, which pre- sently assumed the forms of men, who, when the flood had quite disappeared, commenced to cultivate the land again and spread themselves in all directions; but being little better than the race that had been destroyed, they, too, often drew down the displeasure of Zeus and suffered at his hands.
Among the Romans Jupiter held a place of honour cor- responding in some degree to that held by Zeus among the Greeks. His favorite title was Optimus Maximus. His name being of the same derivation as that of Zeus, indicates his function as god of the broad light of day and armed with the weapon of lightning. Temples and altars were erected for the purposes of his worship, statues were raised, and public festivals held in his honour. As to sacrifice, both he and Zeus delighted most in bulls. To both the eagle, the oak, and the olive were sacred.
The growth of religious feeling precedes the development of artistic faculty in man, and accordingly we find that in the earliest ages the presence of a god was symbolized only by some natural object. In the case of Zeus this was an oak-tree, while in the case of Rhea-Kybele it was, as we have seen, a stone which was believed to have fallen from heaven. The first artistic efforts to reproduce the image of a god were called xoana, and consisted of a pillar rudely shaped like a human figure seen at a distance, the artist's attention being mostly directed to the head. Of this kind was the figure of Zeus Labrandeus as represented on the coins of Caria, the figure of Zeus with three eyes at Argos, and the figure of him without ears at Crete. Piety caused these rude and strange images to be retained till long after the art of sculpture had become equal to the production of imposing figures. The gold and ivory statue of Zeus at Olympia, of which mention has already been made, repre- sented him seated on his throne, and some small idea may still be gained of it from what is no doubt a copy of it on the coins of Elis. The bust of plate iii., known as the Zeus of Otricoli, is perhaps the best existing example of the face of Zeus as conceived by the Greek sculptors. The attributes of Zeus are the eagle, a sceptre, a thunderbolt, and, in the case of an ancient image in Caria, an axe. He is represented sometimes with Hera by his side, sometimes witt
46 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
Athene, or with both, or with Athene and Herakles. When he leaves hi* throne it is generally to rise in might against an enemy such as the Giants, and in these cases he is always armed with the thunderbolt, and either stands in the act of hurling it, or drives in a chariot attended by other gods, as he is fre- quently to be seen on the ancient painted vases. Another favourite subject on these vases is the birth of Athene from the head of Zeus. In works of art no distinction is made between Zeus and Jupiter, for this reason, that Rome .had no distinctive sculpture of its own. Plate vii. represents the infancy of Zeu? in Crete.
HERA, OR JUNO,
(PLATES iv. AND v.),
WAS a divine personification of what may be called the female power of the heavens — that is, the atmosphere, with its fickle and yet fertilizing properties; while Zeus represented those properties of the heavens that appeared to be of a male order. To their marriage was traced all the blessings of nature, and when they met, as on Mount Ida in a golden cloud, sweet fragrant flowers sprang up around them. A tree with golden apples grew up at their marriage feast, and streams of ambro- sia flowed past their couch in the happy island of the west. That marriage ceremony took place, it was believed, in spring, and to keep up a recollection of it, an annual festival was held at that season in her honour. Like the sudden and violent storms, however, which in certain seasons break the peaceful - ness of the sky of Greece, the meetings of this divine pair often resulted in temporary quarrels and wrangling, the blame of which was usually traced to Hera ; poets, and most of all Homer, in the Iliad, describing her as frequently jealous, angry, and quarrelsome, her character as lofty and p^nid, cold, and not free from bitterness. Of these scenes of discord we have several instances, as when (Iliad i. 586) Zeus actually
HERA OR JUNO. 47
beat her, and threw her son Hephaetos out of Olympos ; or (Iliad xv. 1 8) when, vexed at her plotting against Herakles, he hung her out of Olympos with two great weights (earth and sea) attached to her feet, and her arms bound by golden fetters — an illustration of how all the phenomena of the visible sky were thought to hang dependent on the highest god of heaven; or again (Iliad i. 396) when Hera, with Poseidon and Athene, attempted to chain down Zeus, and would have succeeded had not Thetis brought to his aid the sea giant Aegaeon. As goddess of storms, Hera was consistently de- scribed as the mother of Ares, herself taking part in war occa- sionally, as against the Trojans, and enjoying the honour of festivals, accompanied by warlike contests, as at Argos, where the prize was a sacred shield.
Her favourite companions, in periods of peace, were the Charites (Graces) and the Horae (Seasons), of which the latter are also found in company of her husband. Her con- stant attendant was Iris, goddess of the rainbow. The pea- cock, in its pride and gorgeous array, and the cuckoo as herald of the spring, were sacred to her. In the spring-time occurred her principal festival, at which the ceremony consisted of an imitation of a wedding, a figure of the goddess being decked out in bridal attire, and placed on a couch of willow branches, while wreaths and garlands of flowers were scattered about, because she loved them. Another singular festival was held in her honour every fifth year at Olympia in Elis, the cere- mony consisting in the presentation of a splendidly embroi- dered mantle (peplos) to the goddess, and races in which only girls and unmarried women took part, running with their hair streaming down, and wearing short dresses, — the judges on the occasion being sixteen married women.
48 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The character, however, in which Hera was most generally viewed was that of queen of heaven, and as the faithful wife of Zeus claiming the highest conceivable respect and honour. Herself the ideal of womanly virtues, she made it a principal duty to protect them among mortals, punishing with severity all trespassers against her moral law — but, naturally, none so much as those who had been objects of her husband's affec- tions— as, for instance, Semele, the mother of Dionysos, or Alkmene, the mother of Herakles. Her worship was re- stricted for the most part to women, who, according to the various stages of womanhood, regarded her in a different light : some as a bride, styling her Parthenia; others as a wife, with the title of Gamelia, Zygia or Teleia ; and others again in the character of Eileithyia, as helpful at child- birth. Of these phases of her life that of bride was obviously associable with the phenomena of the heavens in the spring- time, when the return of dazzling light and warmth spread everywhere affectionate gaiety and the blooming of new life. As queen of heaven and wife of Zeus she will be found, in connection with the legends of Argos and its neighbourhood, possessed, from motives of jealousy, of a hatred towards the nocturnal phenomena of the sky, and especially the moon, as personified by the wandering lo, whom she placed under the surveillance of Argos, a being with innumerable eyes, and ap- parently a personification of the starry system.
The town of Argos, with its ancient legends, which clearly betray some powerful sensitiveness to the phenomena of light, was the oldest and always the chief centre of this worship of Hera. There was her principal temple, and within it a statue of the goddess, by Polykleitos, which almost rivalled in grandeur and beauty the Zeus at Olympia, by Pheidias. Next
IV.
Hera, or Juno.
HERA OR JUNO. 49
came Samos, with its splendid temple erected for her by Poly- krates. In Corinth also, in Eubcea, Bceotia, Crete, and even in Lakinion, in Italy, she had temples and devotees.
Juno, the Roman equivalent of Hera, was mostly regarded from the maternal point of view, and in accordance with that frequently styled Lucina, the helper at child-birth. Temples were erected and festivals held in her honour — of the festivals that called Matronalia being the chief. It was held on the ist of March of each year, and could only be participated in by women, who went with girdles loose, and on the occasion received presents from husbands, lovers, or friends, making presents in turn to their servants. The spirits that guarded over women were called in early times Junones.
The image of Hera is said to have consisted at first of a long pillar, as in Argos, and in Samos of a plank, and to have assumed a human form only in comparatively late times. The statue of her by Polykleitos, mentioned above, was of gold and ivory and of colossal size. It represented her seated on a throne, holding in one hand a pomegranate, the symbol of marriage, and in the other a sceptre on which sat a cuckoo. On her head was a crown orna- mented with figures of the Charites (Graces) and Horae. We can still in some measure recall the appearance of the statue from the marble head known as the Juno Ludovisi (on plate iv.), from the coins of Argos, and from several ancient heads in marble of great beauty. Praxiteles made a colossal statue of her in the character of the protectress of marriage rites, and also a group of her seated, with Athene and Hebe standing beside her. On the painted vases the scene in which she most frequently occurs is that where she appears befora Paris to be judged of her beauty.
50 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE.
(PLATE v.)
IT has already been told how, when all the resources had failed which the Titans could bring to bear for the restora- tion of Kronos to the throne, the government of the world was divided by lot among his three sons, Zeus, Poseidon, Hades. To Zeus fell, besides a general supremacy, the con- trol of the heavens ; and we have seen how he and his con- sort Hera, representing the phenomena of that region, were conceived as divine persons possessed of a character and per- forming actions such as were suggested by those phenomena. To Poseidon fell the control of the element of water, and he in like manner was conceived as a god, in whose character and actions were reflected the phenomena of that element, whether as the broad navigable sea, or as the cloud which gives fertility to the earth, growth to the grain, and vine, or as the fountain which refreshes man, cattle, and horses. A suitable symbol of his power, therefore, was the horse, ad- mirably adapted as it is both for labour and battle, whilst its swift springing movement compares finely with the advance of a foaming wave of the sea. " He yokes to the chariot," sings Homer in the Iliad, " his swift steeds, with feet of brass and manes of gold, and himself, clad in gold, drives over the waves. The beasts of the sea sport round him, leaving their lurking places, for they know him to be their lord. The sea rejoices and makes way for him. His horses speed lightly, and never a drop touches the brazen axle. ' '
It may have been to illustrate a tendency of the sea to en- v roach in many places on the coast, as well as to show the
V.
Hera, or Juno.
Poseidon, or Neptune.
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE. 51
importance attached to a good supply of water, that the myth originated which tells us of the dispute between Poseidon and Athene for the sovereignty of the soil of Attika. To settle the dispute, it was agreed by the gods thai: whichever of the two should perform the greatest wonder, and at the same time confer the most useful gift on the land, should be entitled to rule over it. With a stroke of his trident Posei- don caused a brackish spring to well up on the Acropolis of Athens, a rock 400 feet high, and previously altogether without water. But Athene in her turn caused the first olive tree to grow from the same bare rock, and since that was deemed the greatest benefit that could be bestowed, obtained for all time sovereignty of the land, which Poseidon there- upon spitefully inundated.
A similar dispute, and ending also unfavourably for him, was that which he had with Hera concerning the district of Argos. But in this case his indignation took the opposite course of causing a perpetual drought. Other incidents of the same nature were his disputes with Helios for the possession of Corinth, with Zeus for ^Egina, with Dionysos for Naxos, and with Apollo for Delphi. The most obvious illustrations, however, of the encroaching tendency of the sea are the mon- sters which Poseidon sent to lay waste coast lands, such as those which Hesione and Andromeda were offered to appease.
In the Iliad Poseidon appears only in his capacity of ruler of the sea, inhabiting a brilliant palace in its depths, travers- ing its surface in a chariot, or stirring the powerful billows till the earth shakes as they crash upon the shore. This limi- tation of his functions, though possibly to be accounted for by the nature of the poem, is remarkable for this reason, that among the earliest myths associated with his worship are those
52 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
in which he is represented in connection with well-watered plains and valleys. In the neighbourhood of Lerna, in the parched district of Argos, he had struck the earth with his trident, and caused three springs to well up for love of Amymone, whom he found in distress, because she could not obtain the water which her father Danaos had sent her to fetch. In Thessaly a stroke of his trident had broken through the high mountains, which formerly shut in the whole country and caused it to be frequently flooded with water. By that stroke he formed the pleasant vale of Tempe, through which the water collecting from the hills might flow away. A district well supplied with water was favourable to pasture and the rearing of horses, and in this way the horse came to be doubly his symbol, as god of the water of the sea and on the land. In Arcadia, with its mountainous land and fine streams and valleys, he was worshipped side by side with Demeter, with whom, it was believed, he begat that winged and wonderfully fleet horse Arion. In Boeotia, where he was also worshipped, the mother of Arion was said to have been Erinys, to whom he had appeared in the form of a horse. With Medusa he became the father of the winged horse Pegasos, which was watered at springs by Nymphs, and appeared to poets as the symbol of poetic inspiration. And again, as an instance of his double capacity as god of the sea and pasture streams, the ram, with the golden fleece for which the Argonauts sailed, was said to have been his offspring by Theophane, who had been changed into a lamb. Chief among his other offspring were, on the one hand, the giant Antaeos, who derived from his mother Earth a strength which made him invincible, till Herakles lifting him in the air overpowered him, and the Kyklops, Polyphemos : on
POSEIDON, OR NEPTUNE. 53
the other hand, Pelias, who sent out the Argonauts, and Neleus the father of Nestor.
To return to the instances of rebellious conduct on the part of. Poseidon, it appears that after the conclusion of the war with the Giants a disagreement arose between him and Zeus, the result of which was that Poseidon was suspended for the period of a year from the control of the sea, and was further obliged during the time to serve, along with Apollo, Laomedon the King of Troy, and to help to build the walls of that city. Some say that the building of the walls was voluntary on the part of both gods, and was done to test the character of Laomedon, who afterwards refused to give Posei- don the reward agreed upon. Angry at this, the god de- vastated the land by a flood, and sent a sea-monster, to ap- pease which Laomedon was driven to offer his daughter He- sione as a sacrifice. Herakles, however, set the maiden free and slew the monster. Thus defeated, Poseidon relented none of his indignation towards the Trojans, and would have done them much injury in after times, when they were at war with the Greeks, but for the interference of Zeus.
Though worshipped generally throughout Greece, it was in the seaport towns that the most remarkable zeal was displayed to obtain his favour. Temples in his honour, sanctuaries, and public rejoicings were to be met with in Thessaly, Bceotia, Arcadia, at Aegae, and Helike, on the coast of Achaea, at Pylos in Messenia, at Elis, in the island of Samos, at Corinth. Nauplia, Troezen, in the islands of Kalauria, Euboea, Skyros, and Tenos, at Mycale, Taenarum, Athens, and on the Isthmus — that belt of land which connects Peloponnesos with the rest of Greece. In the island of Tenos an annual festival was held in his honour, at which he was worshipped in the cha
54 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
racter of a physician. People crowded to the festival from neighbouring islands, and spent the time in banquets, sacrifice, and common counsel. But chief of all the gatherings in his honour was that held on the Isthmus of Corinth in the au- tumn, twice in each Olympiad — a festival which had been es- tablished by Theseus, and in reputation stood next to the Olympian games, like them also serving the purpose of main- taining among the Greeks of distant regions the consciousness of their common origin. The Corinthians had the right of arranging and managing them, the Athenians having also cer- tain privileges. It was in his double capacity of ruler of the sea and as the first to train and employ horses that the honours of this festival were paid to him. His temple, with other sanctuaries, stood in a pine grove, a wreath from which was the prize awarded to the victors. The prize had originally been a wreath of parsley. In this sacred pine grove was to be r,een the Argo, the ship of the Argonauts, dedicated to Poseidon as a memorial of the earliest enterprise at sea; and there also stood the colossal bronze statue of the god, which the Greeks raised to commemorate the splendid naval victory gained over the Persians at Salamis. Horses and bulls were sacrificed to him, the method of performing the sacrifice being to throw them into the sea. It was the practice of fortu- nate survivors of shipwreck to hang up some memento of their safety in one of his temples.
The Romans, living mostly as herdsmen and farmers in early times, had little occasion to propitiate the god of the sea, and it was probably, therefore, rather as the father of streams that they erected a temple to Neptunus'in the Campus Martins, and held a festival in his honour attended with games, feasting, and enjoyment like that of a fair.
AMPHITRITE. 55
Between Zeus and Poseidon there is, in works of art, such likeness as would be expected between two brothers. But Poseidon is by far the more powerful of the two physically — his build, like that of Herakles, expressing the greatest conceivable strength. But unlike Herakles, his attitudes and especially his head, are those of a god, not of an athlete. His features, one by one, resemble those of Zeus, but his hair, instead of springing from his brow, falls in thick masses over the temples, and is matted from the water. His attributes are a trident and dolphin. Possibly the sacred figures of him in his temples repre- sented him seated on a throne, and clad in the Ionian chiton. But in the colossal statues of him erected on promontories and in harbours, to secure his favour, he was always standing wearing only a slight scarf, which concealed none of his powerful form, holding out a dolphin in his left, and the trident in his right hand, often with one foot raised on the prow of a vessel. In works of art not connected directly with his worship he was figured (as on plate v.), traversing the sea in a car drawn by Hippocamps, or other fabulous creatures of the sea. In one of the pediments of the Parthenon the dispute between him and Athene was represented.
AMPHITRITE,
THE rightful wife of Poseidon, was the goddess of the sea, had the care of its creatures, could stir the great waves, and hurl them against rocks and cliffs. She was a daughter of Okeanos and Tethys, or, according to another report, of Nereus and Doris. Usually she was represented with flow- ing hairand the toes of a crab protruding from her temples ; sometimes seated on the back of a triton or other creature of the deep, alone among sea-animals and seaweed, or accom- panying Poseidon. She may be compared with the sea-god- dess of the Romans, Salacia, Neverita, and Venilia.
56 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
HADES, OR PLUTO. (PLATE vi.)
WE have seen how Zeus, Hera, and Poseidon came to be con- ceived as the three great deities who between them controlled the elements of heavens, sky, and sea, and how a character came to be ascribed to each of them such as was most natu- rally suggested by the phenomena of the provinces of the world in which they respectively ruled. But there still re- mained a region which could not escape the observation of people like the Greeks, gifted with so keen a sense of the va- rious operations of nature. That region was, however, itself invisible, being under the surface of the earth. The growth of vegetation was seen to be steadily upward, as if impelled by some divine force below. The metals which experience showed to be most precious to mankind could only be ob- tained by digging into that dark region under the earth. Thi- ther returned, after its day on earth was spent, every form of life. In conceiving a god who should be supreme in the management of this region, it was necessary to attribute a double character to him : first, as the source of all the trea- sures and wealth of the earth, as expressed in his name Plu- ton ; and secondly, as monarch of the dark realm inhabited by the invisible shades of the dead, as expressed in his name of Ai'des.
While by virtue of his power of giving fertility to vegeta- tion, of swelling the seed cast into the furrows of the earth, and of yielding treasures of precious metal, he was justly viewed as a benevolent deity and a true friend of man, there was another and very grim side to his character, in which he
VI.
Pluto and Proserpina.
Demeter, or Ceres.
Hestia, or Vesta.
HADES, OR PLUTO. 57
appears as the implacable, relentless god, whom no cost of sa- crifice could persuade to permit any one who had once passed his gates ever to return. For this reason, to die, to go to Hades' house, to pass out of sight, to be lost in the darkness of the lower world, was looked forward to as the dismal in- evitable fate awaiting all men. Yet there must have been some consolation in the belief that the life thus claimed by him had been originally his gift, as were the means of com- fort and pleasure in life thus cut off. In later times, when the benevolent side of his character came more into view, assur- ing hopes arose concerning a future happy life that robbed death of its terrors. To impart such hopes was the purpose of the Eleusinian Mysteries.
It seems to have been to make this union of two such oppo- site powers in the person of one god more explicit that the myth concerning his marriage with Persephone originated, she being, as we shall afterwards see, a personification of young blooming life. The grim god of the dead carries off by force a young goddess full of life. But no new life issues from the marriage. Yet she loved him, it would seem ; for when her mother, Demeter (Ceres), implored her to come back to earth, her answer was that she had accepted from her husband the half of a pomegranate, or apple of love as it was called, and had eaten it. It is apparently in reference to this that both Hades and Persephone are represented in works of art holding each a fruit.
Hades, being a son of Rhea and Kronos, was entitled, after the dethronement of the latter, to a share along with his two brothers, Zeus and Poseidon, in the management of the world. They cast lots, and to Hades fell the dominion over the lower world. The importance assigned to his domi<
58 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
nion may be judged from the fact of its monarch being a bro- ther of Zeus, and styled, too, sometimes, "Zeus of the lower world."
With regard to the region where the realm of Hades was to be looked for we find the ancient authorities at variance, some representing it as in the under-world proper — that is, under the crust of the earth, others in the remote west, in Okeanos, where were the gloomy groves of Persephone. It was entered from the upper world by any spot of sufficiently sombre or wild natural aspect, particularly chasms with dark waters such as inspire terror. The most celebrated place of this kind was Lake Avernus, at Cumae in Italy, of which it was said, as of the Dead Sea, that no bird tried to fly across it but fell lifeless in its waters. Beyond these entrances was an open gate through which all comers had to pass, and having passed could not as a rule retrace a step. Exceptions to the rule were made in favour of heroes such as Herakles and Orpheus, who were permitted to visit the home of the dead, and return alive. The entrance was guarded by the dog of Hades, the dreaded Cerberus, a monster with three heads and a serpent's tail, fawning on those who entered, but show- ing his horrible teeth to those who tried to pass out. But be- sides by this gateway, the lower was separated from the up- per world by rivers with impetuous torrents, of which the most famous was the Styx, a stream of such terrible aspect that even the highest gods invoked it as witness of the truth of their oaths. Across this river the departed were conveyed by an aged ferryman appointed by the gods, and called Cha- ron, but not until their bodies had been buried in the earth above with all due ceremony of sacrifice and marks of affec- tion. Till this was done, the souls of the departed had to
HADES, OR PLUTO. 59
wander listlessly about the farther bank of the Styx, a pros- pect which was greatly dreaded by the ancients. For the ferry Charon exacted a toll (nauloti), to pay which a piece of money (danake) was placed in the mouth of the dead at bu- rial.
The other rivers of the under-world were named Ache' ron, that is, the river of "eternal woe"; Pyriphlege- thon, the stream of "fire"; and Kokytos, the river of " weeping and wailing." To these is added, by a later myth. Lethe, the river of " forgetfulness " — so called because its waters were believed to possess the property of causing the departed who drank of them to forget altogether their former circumstances in the upper world. The purport of this myth was to explain and establish the idea that the dead could not take with them into the realm of everlasting peace the con- sciousness of the pains and sorrows of their lot on earth. In the waters of Lethe they drank a happy oblivion of all past suffering, wants, and troubles,— an idea of the means of for- getting sorrow which later poets have made frequent use of.
In the last book of the Odyssey the souls of the slain suitors, conceived as small winged beings, are described as being conducted to the realm of Hades by Hermes in his ca- pacity of Psychopompos (see Plate VI). The way is dark and gloomy. They pass the streams of Okeanos, the white rock, the gates of Helios, the people of dreams, and at last reach the Asphodel meadow, where the spirits of the dead inhabit subterraneous caves.
With regard to the condition of the dead under the do- minion of Hades, the belief was that they led a shadowy sort of apparent life, in which, as mere reflections of their former selves, they continued as in a dream, at any rate without dis-
60 DEITIES 0 .!• THE HIGHEST ORDER.
tinct consciousness, to perform the labours and carry on the occupations to which they had been accustomed on earth. It was only to favoured individuals like the Theban seer, Teiresias, of whom we have more to say afterwards, that the privilege of complete consciousness was granted. Such was the sad condition of the dead ; and how they bore it may be guessed from the complaint of Achilles to Odysseus, in the Odyssey: " I would rather toil as a day-labourer on the earth than reign here a prince of dead multitudes. ' ' Occasion- ally the shades of the dead were permitted to appear to their friends on earth. It was also possible to summon them by a sacrifice, the blood of which, when they had drunk of it, restored consciousness and speech, so as to enable them to communicate with the living.
We must, however, clearly distinguish between this under- world as the abiding place of the great mass of the dead, and two other regions where spirits of the departed were to be found, — the one Elysion (the Elysian Fields), with the islands of the blest, and the other Tartaros. The former region was most commonly placed in the remotest West, and the latter as far below the earth as the heavens are above it. In early times it appears to have been believed that Elysion and the happy islands were reserved less for the virtuous and good than for certain favourites of the gods. There, under the sovereignty of Kronos, they lived again a kind of second golden age of perpetual duration. But in later times there spread more and more the belief in a happy immortality re- served for all the 'good, and particularly for those who had been initiated inl:o the Eleusinian Mysteries (see below). Tartaros, on the. other hand, was the region where those were condemned t } punishment who had committed any crime
HADES, OR PLUTO. 6l
against the gods while on earth. What was the misery of their condition we shall be able to judge from the following account of a few of the best known of those condemned to such punishment, — asTantalos, Ixion, Sisyphos, Tityos, and the Dana'ides.
Tantalos, once a king of Phrygia, had given offence to the gods by his overbearing and treachery, as well as by the cruelty which he had practised on his own son. For this he was doomed to Tartaros, and there to suffer from an unceasing dread of being crushed by a great rock that hung above his head, he the while standing up to the throat in water, yet possessed of a terrible thirst which he could never quench, and a gnawing hunger which he tried in vain to allay with the tempting fruits that hung over his head but withdrew at every approach he made.
Ixion, once a sovereign of Thessaly, had, like Tantalos, outraged the gods, and was in consequence sentenced to Tar- taros, there to be lashed with serpents to a wheel which a strong wind drove continually round and round.
Sisyphos, once king of Corinth, had by treachery and hostility incurred the anger of the gods in a high degree, and was punished in Tartaros by having to roll a huge stone up a height, which he had no sooner done, by means of his utmost exertion, than it rolled down again.
Tityos, a giant who once lived in Eubcea, had misused his strength to outrage Leto (the mother of Apollo and Arte- mis), and was condemned by Zeus to Tartaros, where two enormous vultures gnawed continually his liver, which always grew again.
The Dana'ides, daughters of Danaos, king of Argos (of whom see below), were sentenced to Tartaros for the murdei
62 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
of their husbands. The punishment prescribed for them was to carry water, and continue to pour it into a broken cistern or vase, the labour being all in vain, and going on for ever.
Hades and Persephone, however, were not only rulers over the souls of the departed, but were also believed to exer- cise the function of judges of mankind after death. In this task they were assisted by three heroes who while on earth had been conspicuous for wisdom and justice, — Minos, Rhada- manthys, and ./Eakos, the last being also, apart from this, the gate-keeper of the lower region, according to a later opinion.
Both among the Greeks and Romans the worship of Pluton- Hades was wide-spread, and the honours paid him great. In Greece his principal temples were at Pylos, Athens, and Olym- pia in Elis. The cypress, narcissus, and boxwood were sacred to him. In Rome a great festival was held in his honour in the month of February, at which sacrifices {februationes} of black bulls and goats were offered, and the officiating priests wore wreaths of cypress, the whole ceremony extending over twelve nights. The Saecular Games, which were held once in a century, were in his honour, and as a tribute to the dead.
In works of art Hades is represented as having inherited the same type of face as his brothers Zeus and Poseidon, differing only in a certain grimness of expression. His hair shades his brow in heavy masses. In attitude he ia either seated on a throne with Persephone by his side (as on plate vi.), or standing in a chariot and carrying her off. His attributes are a sceptre like that of Zeus, and a helmet, which, like the cloud cap of Siegfried in German mythology, made its wearer invisible. His attendant is the three-headed dog Cerberus. On the painted vases scenes of torment in Tartaros are not unfre- quent — such, for example, as the Dana'ides pouring water into the broken rase, or Ixion bound to the wheel, or Sisyphos pushing up the stone: Hera- kles carrying off Cerberus, and Orpheus on his memorable visit to bring baclj Eurydike, are also represented on the vases.
PERSEPHONE, OR PROSERPINA. 63
PERSEPHONE, OR PROSERPINA, (PLATE vi.,)
Or Persephoneia, also called Kora by the Greeks, and by the Romans Libera, was a daughter of Zeus and De- meter, and the wife of Aides, the marriage being childless. Struck with the charms of her virgin beauty, Hades had ob- tained the sanction of his brother Zeus to carry her off by force ; and for this purpose, as the myth relates, he suddenly rose up from a dark hole in the earth near to where she was wandering in a flowery meadow not far from ^Etna in Sicily, plucking and gathering the narcissus, seized the lovely flower- gatherer, and made off with her to the under-world in a chariot drawn by four swift horses, Hermes leading the way. Perse- phone resisted, begged and implored gods and men to help her ; but Zeus approving the transaction let it pass. In vain Demeter searched for her daughter, traversing every land, or, as other myths say, pursuing the escaped Hades with her yoke of winged serpents, till she learned what had taken place from the all-seeing and all-hearing god of the sun. Then she en- treated with tears the gods to give her daughter back, and this they promised to do provided she had not as yet tasted of anything in the under-world. But by the time that Hermes, who had been sent by Zeus to ascertain this, reached the under-world, she had eaten the half of a pomegranate which Hades had given her as an expression of love. For this reason the return of Persephone to the upper world for good became impossible. She must remain the wife of Hades. An arrange- ment was however come to, by which she was to be allowed to stay with her mother half the year on earth and among the
64 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
gods of Olympos, while the other half of the year was to be spent with her husband below.
In this myth of Persephone- Kora, daughter of Zeus, the god of the heavens, which by their warmth and rain produce fertility, and of Demeter, the maternal goddess of the fertile earth, we see that she was conceived as a divine personification of the process of vegetation — in summer appearing beside her mother in the light of the upper world, but in the autumn dis- appearing, and in winter passing her time, like the seed, under the earth with the god of the lower world. The decay observed throughout Nature in autumn, the suspension of vege- tation in winter, impressed the ancients, as it impresses us and strikes modern poets, as a moral of the transitoriness of all earthly life ; and hence the carrying off of Persephone ap- peared to be simply a symbol of death. But the myth at the same time suggests hope, and proclaims the belief that out of death springs a new life, but apparently not a productive life, and that men carried off by the god of the under-world will not for ever remain in the unsubstantial region of the shades. This at least appears to have been the sense in which the myth of Persephone and her mother was presented to those initiated into the Eleusinian Mysteries, which, as we have remarked before, held out assuring hopes of the imperishableness of human existence, and of an eternal real life to follow after death.
As queen of the shades Persephone had control over the vari- ous dreaded beings whose occupation, like that of the Sirens, was to beguile men to their death, or like that of the Erinys, to avenge murder and all base crimes. She shared the honours paid to her husband in Greece, lower Italy, and especially in the island of Sicily. Temples of great beauty were erected for her in the Greek Locri, and at Kyzikos on the Propontis.
DEMETER, OR CERES. 65
The principal festivals held in her honour in Greece occurred in the autumn or in spring, the visitors at the former appear- ing dressed in mourning to commemorate her being carried off by Pluto, while at the spring festival all wore holiday gar- ments to commemorate her return.
There remains, however, the important phase of her charac- ter in which she returns to the upper world and is associated with her mother Demeter. But this it will be more conve- nient to consider in the next chapter. The attributes of Perse- phone were ears of corn and poppies. Her attribute as the wife of Hades was a pomegranate ; her sacrifice consisted of cows and pigs. In works of art she has a more youthful ap- pearance, but otherwise closely resembles her mother Demeter. The Roman Proserpina, though the name is clearly the same as Persephone, appears to have had no hold on the religious belief of the Roman nation, their goddess of the shades being Libitina, or Lubentina.
DEMETER, OR CERES,
(PLATE vi.,)
A daughter of Kronos and Rhea, was the goddess of the earth in its capacity of bringing forth countless fruits, the all- nourishing mother, and above all the divine being who watched over the growth of grain, and the various products of vegeta- tion most important to man. The first and grand thought in her worship was the mysterious evolution of life out of the seed which is cast into the ground and suffered to rot — a pro- cess of nature which both St. Paul (i Corinthians xv. 35) and St. John (xii. 24) compare with the attainment of a new life through Christ. The seed left to rot in the ground was in the 5
66 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
keeping of her daughter Persephone, the goddess of the lowei world, the new life which sprang from it was the gift of Deme- ter herself; and from this point of view the two goddesses, mother and daughter, were inseparable. They were regarded as "two in one," and styled "the great deities."
From being conceived as the cause of growth in the grain Demeter next came to be looked on as having first introduced the art of agriculture, and as being the source of the wealth and blessings which attended the diligent practice of that art.
When Hades carried off her young loved daughter, Demeter, with a mother's sorrow, lit her torch, and mounting her car drawn by winged snakes, drove through all lands searching for her, leaving, wherever she rested and was hospitably re- ceived, traces of her blessing in the form of instruction in the art of agriculture. But nowhere in Greece did her blessing descend so richly as in the district of Attica; for there Keleos, of Eleusis, a spot not far from Athens, had received her with most cordial hospitality. In return for this she taught him the use of the plough, and before departing presented to his son, Triptolemos, whom she had nursed, the seed of the barley along with her snake-drawn car, in order that he might tra- verse all lands, teaching by the way mankind how to sow and to utilize the grain, a task which Triptolemos performed faithfully, and so extended the art of agriculture to most distant lands.
In Arcadia, Crete, and Samothrace we find her associated with a mythical hero called Jasion, reputed to have been the first sower of grain, to whom she bore a child, whose name of Plutos shows him to be a personification of the wealth de- rived from the cultivation of grain. In Thessaly there was a legend of her hostility to a hero sometimes called Erysich- ton, ' the earth upturner ' or 'the ploughman,' and some-
DEMETER, OR CERES. 67
times Aethon, a personification of famine. Again we find a reference to her function as goddess of agriculture in the story that once, when Poseidon threatened with his superior strength to mishandle her, Demeter took the form of a horse and fled from him ; but the god, taking the same shape, pursued and overtook her, the result being that she afterwards bore him Arion, a wonderful black horse of incredible speed, and gifted with intelligence and speech like a man. Pain and shame at the birth of such a creature drove her to hide for a long time in a cave, till at last she was purified by a bath in the river Ladon, and again appeared among the other deities. From the necessities of agriculture originated the custom of living in settled communities. It was Demeter who first inspired mankind with an interest in property and the ownership of land, who created the feeling of patriotism and the maintenance of law and order.
The next phase of her character was that which came into prominence at harvest time, when the bare stubble fields re- minded her worshippers of the loss of her daughter Perse- phone. At that time two kinds of festivals were held in her honour, the one kind called Haloa or Thalysia, being ap- parently mere harvest festivals, the other called Thesmo phoria. Of the latter, as conducted in the village of Hali- mus in Attica, we know that it was held from the 9th to the 1 3th of October each year, that it could only be participated in by married women, that at one stage of the proceedings Demeter was hailed as the mother of the beautiful child, and that this joy afterwards gave way to expressions of the deep- est grief at her loss of her daughter. At night orgies were held at which mysterious ceremonies were mixed with bois- terous amusements of all sorts. The Thesmoi or ' institu-
68 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
tions ' from which she derived the title of Thesmophoros aj> pear to have referred to married life.
We have no means of knowing to what extent the ancient Greeks based their belief in a happy existence hereafter on the mysterious evolution of life from the seed rotting in the ground, which the early Christians adopted as an illustration of the grand change to which they looked forward. But that the myth of the carrying off of Persephone, her gloomy exist- ence under the ground, and her cheerful return, originated in the contemplation of this natural process, is clear from the fact that at Eleusis Demeter and Persephone always retained the character of seed goddesses, side by side with their more conspicuous character as deities in whose story were reflected the various scenes through which those mortals would have to pass who were initiated into the Mysteries of Eleusis. These mysteries had been instituted by Demeter herself, and whatever rites they may have consisted in, we know from the testimony of men like Pindar and Aeschylos, who had been . initiated, that they were well calculated to awaken most pro- found feelings of piety and a cheerful hope of better life in future. It is believed that the ceremony of initiation con- sisted, not in instruction as to what to believe or how to act to be worthy of her favour, but in elaborate and prolonged representations of the various scenes and acts on earth and under it connected with the myth of the carrying off of Per- sephone. The ceremony took place at night, and it is pro- bable that advantage was taken of the darkness to make the scenes in the lower world more hideous and impressive. Pro- bably these representations were reserved for the Epoptae or persons in the final stage of initiation. Those in the earlier stages were called Mystae. Associated with Demeter and
DEMETER, OR CERES. 69
Persephone in the worship at Eleusis was Dionysos in his youthful character and under the name of Jacchos. But at what time this first took place, whether it was due to some af- finity in the orgiastic nature of his worship, or rather to his local connection with Attica as god of the vine, is not known.
Two festivals of this kind, Eleusinia, were held annually, —the lesser in spring, when the earliest flowers appeared, and the greater in the month of September. The latter occupied nine days, commencing on the night of the 2oth with a torch- light procession. Though similar festivals existed in various parts of Greece and even of Italy, those of Eleusis in Attica continued to retain something like national importance, and from the immense concourse of people who came to take part in them, were among the principal attractions of Athens. The duties of high priest were vested in the family of Eumolpidae, whose ancestor Eumolpos, according to one account, had been installed in the office by Demeter herself. The festival was brought to a close by games, among which was that of bull-baiting.
In Italy a festival founded on the Eleusinian Mysteries and conducted in the Greek manner was held in honour of Bacchus and Ceres, or Liber and Libera as they were called. It appears, however, to have never commanded the same respect as the original. For we find Romans who had visited Greece, and like Cicero been initiated at Eleusis, re- turning with a strong desire to see the Eleusinian ceremonies transplanted to Rome. Altogether it is probable that the Roman Ceres was but a weak counterpart of the Greek Demeter.
The attributes of Demeter, like those of Persephone, were ears of corn and poppies ; on her head she wore a modius o;
70 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
corn measure as a symbol of the fertility of the earth. Hei sacrifice consisted of cows and pigs.
Statues that can positively be assigned to Demeter are very rare, the best by far being that found at Cnidus and now in the British Museum, which repre- sents her seated, draped, and with a veil falling from the back of her head On her head is neither the modius nor the crown which she also wears some- times. On the painted vases, however, figures of her are less rare. On a vase in the British Museum she appears beside Triptolemos, who is seated in the winged car which she gave him. On another vase, also in the national collec- tion, we find the scene at the institution of the Eleusinian Mysteries. In the centre is Triptolemos seated in the car ; before him Persephone (here called Pherophatta, a more ancient form of her name), and a figure called Eleusis; behind him Demeter and Eumolpos ; on the other side of the vase are Zeus, Dionysos, Poseidon, and Amphitrite. A marble relief, found at Eleusis, rep- resents, it is believed, Demeter, Persephone, and the youthful Jacchos.
HECATE, (PLATE vii.,)
Though, properly speaking, not one of the supreme order of deities, is entitled to be placed here on account of a resem- blance to Persephone in her mysterious functions both in the upper and lower world. She is a goddess of Titanic origin, daughter of Tartaros and Night, or of Parses and Aste- ria (Starry-Night), the sister of Leto, according to other accounts. The stories current among the ancients concern- ing her vary greatly, and often confuse her with other deities, especially those of the night, such as Selene or Luna, the goddess of the moon, while standing to Persephone in the re- lation of servant or companion. She belongs to the class of torch-bearing deities, like Artemis, and was conceived as carrying a burning torch, to suit the belief that she was the nocturnal goddess of the moon, and a huntress who knew hej
VIL
Kuretes Keeping Guard over Infant Zeus.
HESTIA, OR VESTA. 71
way also in the realm of spirits. All the secret powers of Nature were at her command, it was thought. She had a control over birth, life, and death, and enjoyed great honoui among the gods of Olympos as well as in the under-world. To express her power in the three regions of nature, heaven, earth, and the under-world, she was represented as of triple form, and named Triformis. Dogs were sacred to her. Her character being originally that of a mysterious deity, it hap- pened that more prominence was always given in the concep- tion of her to her gloomy and appalling features, her chief function being held to be that of goddess of the nether world, of night and darkness, mistress of all the witchcraft and black arts which were believed in as much in antiquity as in the middle ages. Accordingly her festivals were held at night, worship was paid her by torchlight, and sacrifices of black lambs presented with many strange ceremonies. Her presence was mostly felt at lonely cross-roads, whence she derived the name of Trivia.
A mysterious festival was held in her honour every year in the island of ^gina, in the Saronic Gulf. Beside the lake of Avernus, in lower Italy, was a dark grove sacred to her.
HESTIA, OR VESTA, (PLATE vi.,)
Sister of Demeter, and daughter of Kronos and Rhea. was
worshipped both by Greeks and Romans as the goddess of the home-fire, or hearth, the name of which was identical with her own. She was properly, therefore, the guardian of family life ; her altars were everywhere, the hearth of every house being her sanctuary, and when the family gathered round i;
72 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
daily it was .vith feelings of regard for -that goddess. Every meal prepared on the fire at home revived a grateful sense of the common enjoyments of family life. In every building of public resort she had a sanctuary in the shape of a fire ; and when in Greece, a body of colonists were about to emigrate to new and distant homes, one of their chief considerations was to take with them some portion of fire sacred to Hestia, in order to carry with them the favour of the goddess ; for the Greeks looked upon the state as a great family, with an altar of Hestia as its central point : and thus, by taking with them to their new homes a portion of the fire from that altar, or state hearth, thp colony retained its interest and participation in the public affairs of their parent state. No enterprise was commenced without sacrifice and prayer at her altar ; and when the fire of one of those holy places chanced to be extinguished, it could only be rekindled by a light from some other sanctuary, not by ordinary and impure fire.
As the goddess of a pure element, Hestia despised love, and, though pressed to consent both by Poseidon and Apollo, obtained from Zeus the privilege she prayed for, of remaining in a single state. Her spotless purity fitted her peculiarly to be the guardian of virgin modesty.
Though zealously worshipped throughout Greece, there was no temple specially devoted to her. Her proper sanctuary was, as we have said, by the fire of every house where people gathered together. She had a share in all the sacrifices offered at the temples of other gods, and at every burnt-offering her presence was recognised as goddess of the sacred hearth and altar flame, as it was also in the libations of water, wine, and oil, and in the prayers addressed to her. At the same time she had her own peculiar sacrifices, consisting of young shoots of grain,
HESTIA, OR VESTA. 73
the first-fruits of the harvest, and young cows. Her priestesses had to remain virgins.
In Rome, however, there was a temple to Vesta that had been built by Numa Pompilius. It was of a round shape, and contained in its centre her symbol of an altar, with a fire that was never allowed to go out. This temple, which stood open by day but was closed by night, contained, besides other very old figures of deities, the Palladium, a small wooden image of Minerva (Pallas-Athene), which, according to the myth, originally fell from heaven upon the citadel of Troy, and was carried thence to Greece, and afterwards to Rome. Upon the preservation of this figure depended, the people believed, the safety and existence of the Roman empire. Her priestesses, six in number, were called vestal virgins, their duty being to feed the sacred flame of her temple, and to present sacrifices and prayers for the welfare of the state. To this office they were chosen by the high-priest, who was styled Pontifex maximus. They wore robes of white, with a fillet round the hair, and a veil, additional ornaments being per- mitted in later times. It was necessary that the girls selected for this service should be between six and ten years of age, and that they should take a vow of chastity, and serve in the temple for thirty years. After that period they were per- mitted to leave it, and even to marry, though neither proceed- ing was viewed with pleasure by the public, who feared the goddess to whom they had been devoted might take offence in either case. While engaged in the services of the temple the vestal virgins enjoyed great esteem and important privi- leges. Their person was inviolable, they were free from paternal control, and had the right of disposing of their own property. In their festal processions through the streets of
74 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
Rome they were preceded by lictors (or officers of justice), who carried with them the fasces, that is, a number of twigs tied together into a bundle, out of which an axe projected as a symbol of sovereign power, — an honour which, besides them, only the consuls or highest magistrates of Rome were entitled to. And in the course of the procession, should they meet a criminal on his way to expiate his crime by death, they had the prerogative of ordering him to be set free.
With all this respect and esteem, they were very severely dealt with when guilty of neglect of duty, such as permitting the sacred flame of the altar of Vesta to die out, which could only be rekindled by means of a burning glass held up to the rays of the sun. A priestess guilty of this was condemned by the high-priest of the goddess to a dark chamber, and there flogged. For the crime of forfeiting her chastity she was conveyed to a place called the Campus Sceleratus, or " criminals' field," and there placed in a sub- terranean chamber provided with a bed, a lighted lamp, and some bread and water. The chamber was then closed upon her, the earth thrown over it and made smooth, and the unfortunate priestess left to die a most agonizing death. Her seducer was publicly scourged to death. The whole city was sorrowful, and sacrifice and long earnest prayers were offered up to appease the injured goddess. The procession, in which the condemned priestess was carried to her crypt, tied down on a litter, and so closely covered up that even her screams could not be heard, was a spectacle that raised a shudder, and caused that day to be remembered as one of the greatest pain and grief throughout the city.
At first there were only two vestal virgins, this number being afterwards increased to four, and again by King Servius
ARES, OR MARS. 75
to six. They were chosen always from the noblest families of Rome. If the legend concerning the foundation of the city of Rome be true, even Romulus and Remus, the founders of that city, were sons of a vestal priestess named Rhea Sylvia and Mars.
The sacred fire on the hearth of the goddess, and the laurel that shaded it, were renewed on the ist of March of each year; on the i5th of June her temple was cleaned and re- paired. But previous to this, on the gth of June, a festival was held in her honour, called the Vestalia, only women being admitted to the temple, and these barefooted, and in the character of pilgrims.
ARES, OR MARS, (PLATES vm. AND xxvm.,)
A son of Zeus and Hera, according to the belief of the Greeks, was originally god of the storm and tempest, and more particularly of the hurricane ; but this his natural mean- ing was lost sight of at an earlier period, and more completely than in the case of most of the other gods, the character in which he appears to us being exclusively that of " god of the turmoil and storms in human affairs," in other words, " god of dreadful war," or more correctly, " of the wild confusion and strife of battle. ' ' Of all the upper gods he was the most fierce and terrible, taking pleasure in slaughter and massacre. In this respect he forms a striking contrast to Pallas - Athene, the goddess of well-matched chivalrous fights, whom we often find opposed to him in mythical narratives. When fighting she was invulnerable, and always on the side of the victor; while Ares being not only god of battle but also a per
76 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
Bonification of war, with its double issue of victory and defeat, was sometimes wounded, and even taken prisoner. When assisting the Trojans in their war with the Greeks, in the course of which he took under his special protection theii leader, Hector, he was wounded by the Greek hero Diome- des, aided by the goddess Athene. He fell — so Homer describes the event in the Iliad (v. 853) — with a thundering crash to the ground, like the noise of nine or ten thousand warriors engaged in battle. Again (Iliad xxi. 400) he was wounded by Athene and fell, his armour clanking, and his body covering with his fall seven acres of ground, — an ob- vious reference to the roar and destruction attending a great storm. He was once captured by Otos and Ephialtes, the giant sons of Aloeus the planter, and kept imprisoned in a great bronze vase (Iliad v. 385) for thirteen months — a space of time which, when we remember that the names of the two heroes are derived from husbandry, seems to indicate a full year of peaceful agriculture. Like himself, his offspring were distinguished for their prowess or delight in strife ; as, for example, Meleager, the prince of Kalydon, who speared the Kalydonian boar (see below) ; Kyknos, whom Herakles slew, and for this would have been avenged by Ares had not Zeus stopped the conflict of his two powerful sons by a flash of lightning; then Parthenopseos, one of the seven leaders in the assault on the town of Thebes (see below); Oenomaeos,, and others. The expression, "a son or offshoot of Ares," frequently applied to other heroes, must not be understood literally, but merely as indicating physical strength and valour, equal to that of his actual descendants.
Eris, the personification of fatal strife, was usually by his side, Dread and Alarm (Deimos and Phobos) attended on his
ARES, OR MARS. 77
steps. On the other hand we find him, even in the Iliad (v. 355 and xxi. 416), where his general character is that of a huge fierce combatant, associated with Aphrodite, the goddess of love. In the Odyssey (viii. 266) the story is told of his secret visit to her, when he was detected by Helios, who in- formed Hephaestos of the fact, whereupon the latter devised a cunning net, and catching the two together under it exhibited them to the gods of Olympos, and called upon Zeus to bring them to trial. This relation of Ares to Aphrodite, who was even worshipped as his proper wife in Thebes, indicates very probably the peace and rest that follow the turmoil of war.
It is true that Ares was worshipped in Greece, but not as a great protecting deity, such as he was deemed by the Romans. In Athens the Areopagos, or "Mars' Hill," on which was held a court of justice for the decision of cases involving life and death, derived its name from him, the story being that he had once appeared before it in a cause against Poseidon. The warlike people of Tegea, the Spartans, who had a very ancient temple in his honour, the Athenians, for whom Alkamenes the sculptor, a contemporary and rival of Pheidias, made a statue of him, and the Eleans, all worshipped him with more or less zeal. But the real home and centre of his worship was Thrace, with its wild warlike population and its stormy tempestuous sky. It was in Rome, however, with its conquests and pride of military power, that he enjoyed under the name of Mars the highest honour, ranking next to Jupiter as guardian of the state. The Romans considered themselves to be actual descendants of Mars, on the ground of his having been, as was believed, the father of Romulus and Remus, styling him Marspiter, that is, Mars Pater, their father Mars. At Reate, in Italy, he had even an oracle. In Rome there was a field
78 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
consecrated to him, and named the "Field of Mars," where military exercises and manoeuvres took place, athletic compe- titions, called "martial games," were held, and public assem- blies were summoned to consider important questions of the state. The race course and the temples of the god were there ; and there every four years were held the census and muster of citizens liable to be called into the field in the event of war. On this occasion a sacrifice was presented to him, consisting of a bull, a ram, and a goat, which, before being slain, were led three times round the assembled crowd, while during the ceremony a prayer was offered up that the immortal gods might still enlarge and ennoble the Roman empire more and more, or as it was expressed in later times, that they might give stability and endurance to the Roman state. Chariot- races were held there twice a year, at the beginning of March and in October ; the ceremony of sacrificing to Mars the off- horse of the biga that won the race — the October horse as it was called — being performed at the latter. In the " Field of Mars ' ' was dedicated the booty brought back from campaigns, and no Roman general went to war without first proceeding to the temple of Mars, to swing the sacred shield and spear, adding the words, "Watch over us, O Mars!" This shield (ancile) was believed to have fallen from heaven at the time when Numa Pompilius was king of Rome, and, like the Palla- dium in the temple of Vesta, was looked on with veneration. Both it and a sacred spear were preserved in the temple of Mars, under the custody of priests, who were called Salii, and whose duty it was every year to celebrate a festival of thanks- giving for this important present from the gods. In the ear- liest times the sacrifices offered to Mars consisted of human be'ngs, particularly those who had been taken prisoners in
VIII.
Ares, or Mars. Aphrodite, or Venus.
HEPHAESTOS, OR VULCAN. 79
battle ; but in later times this custom was abandoned, and horses, rams, dogs, and a portion of the booty captured from enemies, offered instead. Besides these animals, the wolf, cock, and woodpecker were sacred to him.
The attributes of Ares were a spear and a burning torch, such as, according to ancient custom, his priests carried when they advanced to give the sign of battle to opposing armies. The animals chosen as his symbols were the dog and the vulture, the constant visitants of battle-fields.
In works of art Ares is represented generally as of a youthful but very pow- erful build, armed with helmet, shield, and spear. At other times he is bearded and heavily armed. A favourite subject was his meeting with Aphrodite, as on plate xxviii.
HEPHAESTOS, OR VULCAN, /
(PLATE VHI.,)
Was the divine personification of the fire that burns within the earth and bursts forth in volcanic eruptions — fire which has no connection with the sun or the lightning of heaven ; and such being his character, we can readily understand the mutual dislike which existed between him and the god of the light of heaven. He was indeed the son of Zeus and Hera, the supreme deities of heaven ; but he was born to be a cause of quarrel between them, and alternately at enmity with both. Once, when he took his mother's part, Zeus seized him by the heels and tossed him out of Olympos (Iliad i. 560). Through the air he fell for one whole day ; at evening, as the sun went down, reaching the island of Lemnos, where he was found by some Sintian people, and taken under friendly care. The place where he was found, and where in after times was the
80 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
principal centre of his worship, was the neighbourhood of the burning mountain Mosychlos.
Another version of the myth has it that Hera, ashamed of the decrepit form which he presented at his birth, threw him with her own hands from Olympos. Falling into the sea, he was picked up by Thetis and Eurynome, was cared for by them, remained for nine years in the abode of the sea-gods, none but they knowing his whereabouts, and executed there many wonderfully clever examples of handiwork. It may be that this belief originated in observing the nearness of volcanic mountains to the sea-shore, and the fact of whole islands, like the modern Santorin, being suddenly thrown up from the sea by volcanic force. Among the works which he fashioned in the palace of the sea-gods was a cunningly devised throne, which he presented to Hera, as a punishment for casting him out of heaven, knowing that when she sat down on it she would be locked within its secret chains so firmly that no power but his could free her. This happened, and Ares went to bring him by force to her assistance, but was compelled to retreat in fear of the fire brand with which Hephaestos assailed him. At last Dionysos, the god of wine, succeeded by his soft conciliatory speech in restoring friendship between mother and son, and her bonds were forthwith undone. Perhaps it is from this intimacy with Dionysos that he is said to have once appeared as cup-bearer in Olympos, on which occasion the assembled deities could not contain themselves with laughter at the droll figure limping from couch to couch. It seems to be the unsteady flicker of flame that is represented in the lameness of the fire-god, and it may have been the genial influence of the hearth which was the source of the quaint stories about him.
HEPHAESTOS, OR VULCAN. 8l
From being originally god of fire, Hephaestos naturally de- veloped into god of those arts and industries dependent on fire, especially the arts of pottery and working in metal. He was the artist god who worked in a smoky smithy down in the heart of burning mountains, and produced clever works of dazzling beauty, which he gave freely away to gods and to favourite heroes. For Zeus he made the dreaded aegis and a sceptre; for Achilles and Memnon their armour; for him- self two wonderful handmaidens of gold, who, like living beings, would move about and assist him as he walked ; and when Homer has to describe any bronze work of great beauty, his highest praise is always that it was the work of Hephaestos. The throne which he made for Hera, and the net in which he caught Aphrodite and Ares, have already been mentioned.
From being god of the warmth within the earth — of vol- canic fire, Hephaestos came also, when the fertility of a vol- canic soil became known by experience, to be looked on as one who aided the spread of vegetation, this function of his being recognized most in the spread of the vine, which thrives and bears its best fruit on volcanic soil. It was from know- ledge of this fact, no doubt, that the idea arose of the close friendship between him and the wine-god Dionysos, which we find exemplified partly in the joint worship of these two deities, and partly in the story already told, of how Dionysos led Hephaestos back to Olympos, and smoothed his differ- ences with the other gods.
His worship was traceable back to the earliest times, "Lemnos being always the place most sacred to him. There, at the foot of the burning mountain Mosychlos, which is now extinct, stood a very ancient temple of the god — on the very spot, it was said, where Prometheus stole (he heavenly fire,
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
and for the theft was taken away among the Caucasus moun« tains, there nailed alive to a rock by Hephaestos, and com- pelled to suffer every day an eagle sent by Zeus to gnaw his liver, which daily grew afresh. A somewhat gloomy cere- mony of expiating this theft of fire took place annually in the island, all fires being put out, and forbidden to be relit until the return of the ship that had been despatched to the sacred island of Delos to fetch new fire. Then, after being nine days extinguished, all the fires in dwelling-houses and in work-shops were rekindled by the new flame.
Next to Lemnos, perhaps the most important seat of his worship was Athens, where the unusually large number of persons employed in the potteries and in metal-working recog- nized him as their patron god, and associating him with Athene, held annually in October a festival called Chalkeia, in "honour of both. In the same month occurred the festival Apaturia, at which, by the side of Zeus and Athene a pro- minent place was assigned to Hephaestos in his capacity of god of the hearth, and protector of the domestic life which gathered round it. On this occasion sacrifices were offered at the hearth, and a public procession took place of men clad in festival garments, carrying lighted torches and singing songs in his praise. Again, the torch race, which formed part of the Panathenaic games, was intended to commemorate the theft of fire by Prometheus. In connection with this com- munity of worship existing between Athene and Hephaestos at Athens, it was said that he once endeavoured to obtain the love of the goddess, and that even though this failed she had devoted special care to Erichthonios, the offspring of his in- tercourse with Gaea, the goddess of the earth.
In Sicily Hephaestos had a temple on Mount Etna, which
HEPHAESTOS, OR VULCAN. 83
was watched by dogs possessed of the faculty of distinguishing the pious from the impious and profane, whose approach they fiercely resisted. His worship had also spread to lower Italy and the Campania.
In Rome it was said that Vulcan had a temple as early as the time of Romulus, who, in fact, caused it to be erected, and instituted the festival called Vulcanalia, which was wont to be held on the 23d of August, the ceremony consisting of a sacrifice for the purpose of averting all the mishaps that arise from the use of fire and lights ; for the days were then beginning to be noticeably shorter, and the necessity of light to work by in the evenings to be felt.
The wife of Hephaestos, according to the Iliad, was Charis, but the popular belief of later times assigned that place to Aphrodite. By neither had he any children.
In works of art Hephaestos is represented as an aged bearded man, with serious furrowed face, wearing a short chiton or exomis and a pointed cap or pilos, the mark of workmen or fishermen (which Odysseus also wears), ham- mering at an anvil, his attitude showing the lameness of which the myth speaks. On the early coins of Lemnos he appears without a beard. One of the favourite subjects both of poets and artists was the story of his catching Hera in the throne which he gave her, the ludicrousness of it making it an attractive subject for the ancient comedy. On a painted vase in the British Museum is a scene from a comedy in which Hera appears seated on the throne, while Ares and Hephaestos are engaged in combat before her. Another scene which frequently occurs on the painted vases is that in which Hephaestos appears on his way back to Olympos in a state of intoxication, riding on a mule, or walking, and accompanied by Dionysos, Sileni, and nymphs. At the birth of Athene it was he who split open the head of Zeus to let the goddess come forth, and in the frequent representations of this scene on the vases he appears hammer in hand. At other times we find him fashioning the armoul of Achilles or fastening Prometheus to the rock.
84 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
APHRODITE, OR VENUS, (PLATES vin., ix., AND xxvui.,)
Was the goddess of love in that wide sense of the word which in early times embraced also the love of animals, and the love which was thought to be the cause of productiveness through- out nature. Accordingly we find in her character, side by side with what is beautiful and noble, much that is coarse and unworthy. In the best times of Greece the refined and beautiful features of her worship were kept in prominence, both in poetry and art ; but these, when times of luxury suc- ceeded, had to give way to impurities of many kinds.
The feelings awakened by observing the productive power of nature had, it would seem, given rise to a divine personifi- cation of love in very remote early times among the nations of the East. The Phoenicians called this personification As- tarte, and carried her worship with them wherever they es- tablished factories or markets in Greece, in the islands of the Mediterranean, and on to Italy. The early Greeks coming in contact vith these traders, and obtaining from them a knowledge of coinage, weights, measures, and other necessa- ries of commerce and trade — including, it is said, a system of writing — appear to have transferred some of the functions of the oriental goddess to their own Aphrodite, as, for in- stance, the function of protecting commerce. The earliest known Greek coins — those of ^Egina — the weights of which correspond accurately with the oriental standard, have the figure of a tortoise, the well-known symbol of Aphrodite.
How much else of the character of their goddess the Greeks may have derived from the Phoenicians it would be impossi-
IX.
Aphrodite, or Venus.
APHRODITE, OR VENUS. 85
ble to say. But the extraordinary zeal with which she con- tinued to be worshipped in Cyprus, Cytherea, Corinth, Car- thage, Sicily, and wherever in early times the Phoenicians had made settlements, may signify that others of her functions besides that of protecting commerce had been borrowed from the oriental goddess. The older Aphrodite worshipped in Greece previous to the introduction of Phoenician "elements in her character is described as a daughter of Zeus (Iliad v. 312) and Dione, and through her mother was associated with the ancient worship at Dodona.
The younger goddess, on the other hand, is described (Hesiod, Theogony, 188-206) as the offspring of Uranos, born among the foam of the sea, first stepping on land in Cyprus, and styled Anadyomene, or "she who came out of the sea." Under the title of Urania she was regarded as a personification of that power of love which was thought to unite heaven, earth, and sea into one harmonious system, and as such was distinguished from Aphrodite Pandemos, the personification of love among men. As the goddess born of the foam of the sea, she naturally came to be held in venera- tion by the fishermen and sailors on the coast as the goddess of the smiling sea, and the cause of prosperous voyages. Hence it was the custom in the island of ^Egina to follow up the sacrifice and banquet in honour of Poseidon with a festival of great rejoicing and excitement in honour of Aphrodite. In Knidos she was styled and worshipped as goddess of the peaceful sea ; a character which is symbolized by the dolphin frequently given her as an attribute. The island of Cytherea (Cerigo) derived its name from one of her titles, Cythere, the belief being that she had appeared there before landing on Cyprus.
86 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The earlier and pure Greek phase of her character, in which she is called a daughter of Zeus and Dione, was that of a goddess who presides over human love ; she is described as accompanied by her son Eros (Amor or Cupid), the Cha- rites (Graces), the Horse, Himeros (God of the desire of love), Pothos (God of the anxieties of love), and Peitho (Suadela, or the soft speech of love). But her special favour- ite was the young rosy shepherd Adonis ; her grief at his death, which was caused by a wild boar, being so great that she would not allow the lifeless body to be taken from her arms until the gods consoled her by decreeing that her lover might continue to live half the year, during the spring and summer, on the earth, while she might spend the other half with him in the lower world, beside Persephone (Proser- pina) ; a reference to the change of seasons, which finds its explanation in the fact of Aphrodite being also goddess of gar dens and flowers. Her presence in nature was felt in spring, her absence ;n winter. This change of the seasons was further observed and celebrated by a festival in honour of Adonis, in the course of which a figure of him was produced, and the ceremony of burial, with weeping and songs of wailing, gone through; after which a joyful shout was raised, "Adonis lives, and is risen again !" She was called Adonaia and Adonias, with reference to this love passage. Next to him her chief favourite was Anchises, to whom she bore /Eneas, who through his son Ascanius, or Julius, became, as story goes, the founder of the great Julian family in Rome. With regard to the story of Pygmalion, the Adonis of Cyprus, into whose statue of her she breathed life on the occasion of one of her festivals, perhaps the same meaning is intended to be conveyed as in the alternate life and death of Adonis — that is,
APHRODITE, OR VENUS. 87
the alternate fervour and coldness of love, or the alternate bloom and frost of nature.
The husband of Aphrodite was Hephaestos (Vulcan), whose manner of punishing her when he found her in the company of Ares has already been related. Among her children, but not by Hephaestos, were Eros (Amor), and Anteros, Hymen, and Hermaphroditus.
But if she had favours for some she had strong antipathies for others, and proved this spirit on Hippolytos, whom she slew; on Polyphonte, whom she changed into an owl; on Arsinoewhom she turned to stone; and Myrrha, whom she transformed into a myrtle tree. Of her strife and competi- tion with. Hera and Athene for the prize of beauty, which the Trojan prince, Paris, awarded to her, we shall give an account later on, in connection with the narrative of the Trojan war.
As a result of her power to unite by means of love all beings, whether in heaven, or earth, or in blackest Tartaros, she came to be viewed as a goddess presiding over married life and marriage ceremonies. She had a number of temples in the island of Cyprus, but none of them so splendidly deco- rated as that in the town of Paphos, whither thousands of visitors streamed to take part in the annual festival and rejoicings in her honour. There also she had an oracle, and, as Urania, was worshipped jointly with Ares (Mars) ; the latter fact showing that her connection with this god was founded in the religious belief of the people. At times, and particularly in her very ancient sanctuary in the island of Cythere, as also in Sparta, Argos, and on the Acropolis of Corinth, she was represented armed.
The worship of Venus did not become general in Rome till later times. A festival, called Veneralia, was held in
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
her honour every year, a great part of the ceremony consisting of nocturnal dances and passionate enjoyment in gardens and among blooming arbours. She had a temple on the Capitol, and one of the Colline gates was consecrated to her. The month of April was held sacred to her, for then the flowers bud and plants shoot; or, as the Greek myth expresses it, Adonis comes back from the under-world.
The symbols of Aphrodite were the dove, ram, hare, dolphin, swan, and tortoise, with the rose as a flower, the myrtle tree, and other beautiful plants, the apple, and fruits of various kinds.
In Paphos the earliest form or image under which she was worshipped was that of a ball or a pyramid, surrounded with burning torches or candelabra, as is to be seen on the coins of Cyprus ; but gradually, as art advanced, she took a finer form, fresh charms being continually added, till all the resources of expressing imperious overpowering beauty were exhausted. In the best days of art she was always represented draped, in later times nude, and in various attitudes. The scene of her birth from the sea was represented by Pheidias, on the base of the statue of Zeus at Olympia, as taking place in presence of the gods of Olympos, she being received first by Eros, who elsewhere is called her son. One of the most famous pictures of Apelles represented her as rising out of the sea. To indicate her connection with Ares she was represented as Venus Victrix, standing with one foot on a helmet and with both arms raising a shield. Of this type are the Venus of Capua and the Venus of Milo. In a temple erected to her as Euploia or goddess of prosperous voyages, in Knidos, was a statue of her by Praxiteles, which was celebrated above all her other statues in ancient times ; and of which the so-called Medicean Venus if believed to be a free copy.
PALLAS-ATHENE, OR MINERVA,
(PLATES xi. AND xn.,)
Called also Tritogeneia or Tritonia and Athenaea, is usually described, in the myths concerning her birth, as having
XI.
Pallas-Athene, or Minerva.
Apollo.
Helios, or Sol.
PALLAS-ATHENE, OR MINERVA.
sprung into life, fully armed, from the head of Zeus, with its thick black locks, all heaven and earth shaking meanwhile, the sea tossing in great billows, and the light of day being extin- guished. Zeus, it was said, had previously swallowed his wife Metis (Intelligence), to prevent her giving birth to a son. The operation of laying his head open, that Pallas might come forth, was performed by Hephsestos (Vulcan), or, according to other versions of the story, Prometheus. There is, however, another myth, which ascribes her origin to a connection of Poseidon (Neptune) with the nymph Tritonis, adding that Zeus merely adopted her as his daughter. But this seems to have had no foundation in the general belief of the people, and to have been only an invention of later times, when her name, Tritogeneia, or Tritonia, had become unintelligible.
No being connected with the earth, whether deity or mortal, had a part in her birth. She was altogether the issue only of her father, the god of heaven, who, as the myth very plainly characterizes it, brought her into being out of the black tem- pest-cloud, and amidst the roar and crash of a storm. Her character must therefore be regarded as forming in some way a complement to his. The purpose for which she was brought into existence must have been that she might do what he would plan, but as the supreme and impartial god, could not carry out. She is at once fearful and powerful as a storm, and in turn, gentle and pure as the warmth of the sky when a storm has sunk to rest and an air of new life moves over the fresh- ened fields.
To express both these sides of her character — terrible and mighty as compared with open, gentle, and pure — she had the double name of Pallas-Athene : the former was applied to her function of goddess of storms — she who carried the aegis
90 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
or storm-shield of her father. And further, as Pallas, she became the goddess of battle — valiant, conquering, frighten- ing with the sight of her aegis whole crowds of heroes when they vexed her, and even driving Ares before her with her lightning spear. At the same time the soft, gentle, and heavenly side of her character took from her functions, as goddess of battle, that desire of confused slaughter and mas- sacre which distinguished Ares, and formed the contrast we have already mentioned between the two deities of war. Pal- las presides over battles, but only to lead on to victory, and through victory, to peace and prosperity.
When the war has been fought out, and that peace estab- lished which — whether it be amid the political life of nations here on earth, or whether it be amid the passions of individual men — is always the result of conflict and war, then it is that the goddess Athene reigns in all gentleness and purity, teach- ing mankind to enjoy peace, and instructing them in all that gives beauty to human life, in wisdom and art. If we observe and keep clearly before our minds these two sides of her char- acter, the inseparable union of both, and their action and re- action upon each other, we shall see that this goddess, Pallas- Athene, is one of the most profound conceptions of a deep religious feeling — a being into whose hands the pious Greek could, with due reverence, commit his keeping.
The mutual relation of these two sides of her character is sufficiently obvious in the various myths relating to the god dess. The principal of these we shall proceed to narrate. But, first, we must call attention to this point, that Athene is represented in the myths as for ever remaining a virgin, scorn- ing the affections which are said to have been frequently offered to her. Instead of suggesting her liability, in the
PALLAS- ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 91
smallest degree, to earthly passions and foibles, the myth shows admirably that she was a divine personification of mind, always unfettered in its movements ; a personification, at the same time, of the origin of mind from the brain of the su- preme Divine Being : a proof that mind is neither of a male nor of a female order, but a single and independent power at work throughout the whole of nature.
In the course of the war with the Giants Pallas rendered most valuable assistance to Zeus, both by advice and deed ; being, in fact, the cause of his calling in the aid of Hera- kles, and thus completing successfully the subjugation of the rebels. Single-handed she overpowered the terrible giant Enkelados ; but when Zeus' rule was at last firmly estab- lished, she took up the task of assisting and protecting those heroes on earth whom she found engaged in destroying the grim creatures and monsters upon it. In this capacity she was the constant friend of Herakles in all his hardships and adventures (see below), and of Perseus, whom she helped to slay the Gorgon Medusa, whose head she afterwards wore upon her aegis, and for this reason obtained the name of Gor- gophone, or Gorgon slayer. Along with Hera she protected the Argonauts, while to her assistance was due the success with which Theseus (see below) overcame and slew monsters of all kinds. She stood by the Greeks in their war against Troy, which we shall describe aftenvards, and devised the scheme by which, after ten years' duration, it was brought to a close.
But, in times of peace, her power as goddess in all kinds of skill and handicraft, of clearness like that of the sky, and of mental activity, was uniformly exercised, as has been said, for the general good and prosperity. The arts of spinning
93 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
and weaving were described as of her invention. She taught how to tend and nurse newly-born infants; and even the heal- ing art was traced back to her among other gods. The flute, too, was her invention. As became the goddess of war, it was her duty to instruct men in the art of taming horses, of bridling and yoking them to theTwar-chariot — a task which we find her performing in the story of Bellerophon, for whom she bridled the winged horse Pegasos; and in the story of Erichthonios, at Athens, the first mortal who learned from her how to harness horses to chariots. In a word, she was the protectress of all persons employed in art and industry, of those whose business it was on earth to instruct and educate mankind, and therefore to help forward the general happiness. The principal scene of her influence and actions was Attica, that district of Greece which, according to the myth related above, she obtained as her special and peculiar province, after a contest for it with Poseidon, the god of the sea. There her worship and honour surpassed that of all other deities, and from her was named the chief town of the land. The visible proof and testimony of her guardianship of Attica was the olive on the Acropolis of Athens, which she created in the contest with Poseidon, and from which the Athenians be- lieved all the olive trees of Attica to have spread. In the produce of the olives consisted the chief wealth of the land. Ancient writers relate a touching story concerning this olive tree on the Acropolis, which reveals how firmly the belief of their goddess was rooted in the minds of her people. When the Persians advanced with their overwhelming forces against Greece, it is said that Athene presented herself at the throne of her father, and begged for the preservation of her city. But (ate had otherwise decreed : Athens must perish, in order that
PALLAS- ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 93
a better and nobler city might rise from its ruins, and accor- dingly Zeus was obliged to refuse the prayer of his beloved daughter. The Athenians took to their fleet, abandoning al- together the city, which the Persians then entered, and de- stroyed utterly with fire and sword, not even sparing the sacred olive of the goddess. But, lo ! as a sign that she had not for- saken her city even in ruins, there sprang suddenly from the root which remained a new shoot, which, with wonderful quickness, grew to a length of three yards, and was looked on as an emblem of the regeneration of the city. With the aid of their goddess the Athenians fought foremost of all the Greeks in the famous sea-fight that ensued at Salamis, in which the Persian fleet, though vastly superior in numbers, was wholly destroyed, while the troops on the mainland were compelled to escape with shame and immense losses from Greece.
Among the great variety of her titles, some derived from her functions as a goddess, and others from the localities where her worship had a special hold on the people, we find Athene at Elis styled " mother," in consequence of her care over the nursing of children ; in Athens and several other places, Polias, the " protectress of cities " ; Soteira, the " saviour" ; Glaukopis, "blue-eyed goddess"; Parthenos, " the vir- gin " ; Hippia, " tamer of horses " ; Ergane, " mistress of industry", Nike, the "victorious"; and Mechanitis, " ingenious." Every year a festival lasting several days, and called Panathenaea, was held in her honour at Athens, to commemorate the part she had taken in the war against the Giants : every fourth year — that is, every third year of the current Olympiad — it was celebrated with redoubled splen- dour. This festival is said to have been instituted by Theseus, or at least to have first derived its importance from him ; in
94 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
any case it was a festival of very great antiquity. Festal pro- cessions were formed, athletic games were held, while sacrifices and banquets took place on a large scale — all the Athenians, whether at home or abroad in colonies, having the privilege of taking part. The prizes in the games consisted of large painted earthenware vases filled with pure olive oil, the pro- duct of the tree sacred to Athene. Of these vases a small number have been preserved down to our times. On one side is painted a figure of the goddess striding forward in the atti- tude of hurling her spear, with a column on each side of her, to indicate the race course. On the reverse side is a view of the contest in which a particular vase was won. But perhaps the chief attraction of the festival was the procession in which a new robe or peplos, woven and embroidered for the goddess by a select number of women and girls in Athens, was carried through the town spread like a sail on a mast, placed on a wagon in the form of a ship. In this procession it" appears as if the whole population of Attica took part, the youth of the nobility on horseback or in chariots, the soldiery in arms, and the burgesses with their wives and daughters in holiday attire. The new robe was destined for the very ancient statue of Athene which was preserved in the Erechtheum. This custom of placing actual drapery on statues appears to have been handed down from remote times, when the art of sculp- ture was unequal to the task of imitating the human figure, and it is not improbable that the statue of Athene, of which we are speaking, dated from that early time. The magistrates of Athens offered sacrifices to her at the commencement of spring. The services of her sanctuary were conducted by two virgins elected for the period of one year.
In Rome the worship of Minerva was conducted with as
PALLAS-ATHENE, OR MINERVA. 95
much zeal as that of Athene at Athens, her character as god- dess of wisdom and serious thought being admirably calculated to attract a people like the Romans. She was the protectress of their arts and industries, of the domestic operations of spinning and weaving and embroidering, just as she was among the Greeks. In Rome she had several temples, one of the oldest of them being that on the Capitol. A festival which lasted from March ipth to 23d was annually held in her honour. But the object connected with her, which the Romans venerated above all things else, was the Palladium, or an- cient figure of the goddess, the story of which was that it had originally fallen from heaven, and had thereupon become the property of the royal family of Troy, the possession of it being from that time always considered an assurance of the safety of that city. But in the course of the war between the Greeks and Trojans it was secretly carried off by Diomedes and Odysseus, upon which followed the capture of the town by means of the wooden horse. Another version of the story has it that ,/Eneas took it with him when he fled from the city ; and in consequence of this inconsistency in the story it happened in later times that more than one city claimed the pos- session of the real Palladium — as, for example, Argos, Athens, and Rome. Wherever it was believed to be, there the firm conviction existed that the endurance of the city depended on the possession of the image, and so it happened afterwards that the expression Palladium was employed in a wider sense to objects thought to be of similar importance; and when, for instance, we hear of the "Palladium of Freedom being carried off," we understand that the principal provision and security of freedom has been lost. The symbols of Athene were the owl, the cock, the snake, and the olive tree.
96 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
In works of art Athene generally appears as a virgin of serious aspect, armed with helmet, shield, and spear, wearing long full drapery, and on her breas' the aegis, with a border of snakes, and the face of Medusa in the centre. She is often accompanied by an owl. Of the many statues of her, the two most famous in antiquity as works of art were those by the sculptor Pheidias : the one of gold and ivory stood in her great temple at Athens, the Parthenon. Some idea is given of it by Plate XII., which represents a restoration from a presumed copy of the original.
The other was of bronze (Plate XL), colossal in size, and stood on the Acropolis, towering above the temple just named, the crest of her helmet and point of her spear being visible from the sea as far away as Cape Sunium, the most southern point of Attica. Her attitude was that of preparing to hurl hei spear, and the title she bore, that of Promachos, or "Van of Battle." A representation of the statue is to be seen on the coins of Athens on which a view of the Acropolis is given.
The last record we have of the statue of gold and ivory is in the year 375 A. D., how and when it perished remaining still a mystery. The attitude of the bronze statue exists, it is believed, in several small statuettes, of which there is one in the British Museum, which was found in Athens. On the painted vases we find many representations of her birth, of her contest with the Giants, of her assisting heroes, such as Perseus and Herakles, in their exploits. The subjects of the sculptures, now in the British Museum, which decorated the pediments of the Parthenon, were, in the front, her birth, and at the back, her contest with Poseidon. In the Erechtheum at Athens was an ancient figure of the goddess, believed to have fallen from heaven; while another ancient figure of her, the Palladium properly so called, was preserved in the city under the care of a priestly family named Byzigi. It also was believed to have fatten from heaven. In its presence was held a court for the trial of cases of bloodshed.
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. (PLATE xi.)
From the sun comes our physical light, but that ligi-it is at the same time an emblem of all mental illumination, of know- ledge, truth, and right, of all moral purity ; and in this respect a distinction was made between it as a mental and a physical phenomenon — a distinction which placed Phcebos-Apollo
XIT.
Pallas- Athene, by Pheidias./
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. 97
on one side and Helios on the other. Accordingly Phcebos- Apollo is the oracular god who throws light on the dark ways of the future, who slays the Python, that monster of darkness which made the oracle at Delphi inaccessible. He is the god of music and song, which are only heard where light and security reign, and the possession of herds is free from danger. Helios, on the other hand, is the physical phenomenon of light, the orb of the sun, which, summer and winter, rises and sets in the sky. His power of bringing secrets to light has been already seen in the story of Vulcan and Venus.
The myth of Apollo is, like that of Aphrodite, one of the oldest in the Greek system, but, unlike the latter, which is at least partly traceable to oriental influence, is a pure growth of the Greek mind. No doubt certain oriental nations had deities of the sun and of light similar in some points to Apollo, but this only proves the simple fact that they viewed the movements of the sun and the operations of light in a general way similarly to the Greeks. We have seen in the preceding chapters how the sky, earth, sea, and lower world were per- sonified by divine beings of a high order, while in the same way other forces and powers in nature were imagined as beings. In the myth of Apollo we shall find represented the various operations of the eternal light of the sun.
It is the sun's rays, or the arrows of Apollo, that every- where, as the fields, and gardens teach us, quicken life, and foster it towards ripeness ; through them a new life springs all around, and in the warmth of their soft, kindly light the jubilant voice of nature is heard and awakens an echo in the human soul. At the same time these arrows destroy the life of plants and animals ; even man falls under them in southern climates, such as Greece. Their light penetrates to dark 7
98 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
corners, and is capable of reaching to inmost recesses. All these ideas are represented in the myth of Apollo, who is therefore conceived in various ways corresponding to the genial radiance of the sun, with all its friendly influences : (i) as the personification of youth and beauty ; (2) as god of earthly blessings; (3) as god of the herds that graze on the fields which are warmed by him, — a character in which he appeared herding the cattle of Laomedon, which multiplied largely under his care, and when alone piping on his flute, till the wild beasts were attracted from their dens ; (4) as god of medicine, who provided for the growth of healing plants ; (5) as god of music, for everywhere were heard happy, joyful sounds, when his kindly beams spread light and warmth over nature ; (6) as god of oracles which reveal the secrets of the future, as the light of heaven dispels all darkness, and detests nocturnal gloom. The sun appears ever young and powerful in the heavens, and so also must eternal youth, strength, and endurance be ascribed to Apollo. For this reason he came to be a pro- tector of youth when engaged in athletic contests, as well as in war. But summer heat produces plagues, and so it was necessary to view Apollo as the cause of the same, as the god of death, whose unerring arrows carry destruction with them. In this latter phase of his character we find him styled Karneios, and worshipped with particular zeal in Sparta, a festival being held annually in his honour in the month of August, the entire population withdrawing from the town and for several days encamping in tents in the neighbourhood, like a besieging army — the object being, by living in tents, to avoid the injurious effects of the intense heat of the dog-days. The name of this festival was Karneia. As a religious cere- mony, the intention of it was to appease the dreaded god, and
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. 99
accordingly it was attended with great reverence in Sparta, and from thence transplanted to Kyrene, a Greek colony on the north coast of Africa, to the islands of Rhodes and Sicily, and to the Greek cities in lower Italy — such as Tarentum and Sybaris. The finest of the temples in honour of this Apollo was at Amyklae.
Another phase of his character, in which his destroying power is combined with his function as god of youth and blooming vegetation, is represented in the myth from whicK he derived the title of Hyakinthios, and enjoyed a form of worship which was for the most part peculiar to the Pelo- ponnesos, the modern Morea, extending over the whole of the south coast of it, to Sikyon, Messenia, Amyklse, and Sparta. It was accompanied by laments sung from place to place, and by poetic competitions, the idea to be conveyed in the whole ceremony being the transitoriness of nature, and the return of life again in course of time. In this spirit the fes- tival of the Hyakinthia was celebrated annually at Sparta in July, and lasted nine days, commencing with sadness and ex- pressions of grief, and concluding with joyous excitement.
The myth to which this festival related tells how Apollo accidentally killed, in throwing his disc, the beautiful Hya- kinthos, whom he dearly loved, the youngest son of Amy- klas; or, in another version, how Zephyros, the wind-god, who also loved the boy, hurled back the disc at the head of Hyakinthos, out of jealousy towards Apollo. The sorrow at the beginning of the festival of the Hyakinthia was to com- memorate his death, while the belief that he had been trans formed into the flower which sprang up where his blood fell, and bears his name, gave occasion afterwards to happy feel- ings of confidence in his return. Clearly the object of the
DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
myth, like that of Persephone, was to point to the alter- nating decay and return of life in nature, which in this in- stance is conceived under the form of a youth, the disc of Apollo being equally clearly a symbol of the sun, which scorches up vegetation.
A similar idea seems to run through the story which relates how Apollo and Artemis, taking offence at Niobe because, with a mother's pride, she had boasted herself higher than Leto as the mother of beautiful children, shot down her children, — Apollo the sons, and Artemis the daughters. When one after another had fallen before -the angry deities, all but the youngest daughter, Niobe, with the child cling- ing to her, implored them in anguish to spare the last of her many children, but could not avert the fatal shaft. When ii struck, her mother's heart became like a stone, and she refused to murmur or complain. She was transformed, it was said, into a rugged rock, down which tears trickled silently (see plate XIII.).
While bringing sometimes a pleasant death with his arrows, Apollo at other times, as during the Trojan war, when he took part against the Greeks, appears to exercise his destroying power with irresistible fury. Whole ranks of fighting men fall dead when he shakes his segis. and the walls raised by the Greeks tumble like structures of sand made by children at play.
As god of the sun in its friendly influence upon the face of nature, we find Apollo styled Thargelios, and a festival, called Thargelia, being held in his honour at Athens in the month of May, to celebrate the ripening of the fruits of the field under the warmth of the sun, and at the same time to serve as a festival of expiation in memory of the human sacri- fices of ancient days. In August occurred another festival at
XIII.
Niobe
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. »O1
Athens, called Metageitnia, at which Apollo, as god of harvest and plenty, was thought of as entertaining the othel gods and encouraging neighbourly feelings among his wor- shippers. In October the first fruits of the field were presented to him as a sacrifice, and in September was held a festival at which he was invoked as a helper in battle. Under the title of Nomios he was regarded by herdsmen as their patron god. But the genial influence of the sun is felt on the sea as well as on land, and for this reason he was styled Delphinios, and in this capacity worshipped, among other places, at Athens, where his temple, called the Delphinion, was in early times a place of refuge and a court for the trial of capital crimes. An annual festival was held in May, called Delphinia, to commemorate the tribute of seven boys and seven girls, whom Athens had been compelled in remote times to send every year to Crete to be offered as sacrifices to the Minotaur.
As a god of the sun in its annual course, Apollo was thought to spend the winter away in a northern region among a mythical peoiie called Hyperboreans, to whom it was always light. As tVe winter approached poets sang farewell to him. At his birth Zeus had given him a mitra (or cap), a lyre, and a car drawn by swans, in which he was to proceed to Delphi, but the swans carried him off to the bright land of the Hyper- boreans. When the summer came the priests of Delphi hailed his return iu festal songs. The voice of the nightingale wel- comed hi*n back. A peculiar festival, the Daphnephoria, was held at Thebes every eighth year in honour of Apollo Ismemiyfl, the ceremony consisting of a procession in which was cu»'!f.'d a branch of olive hung with wreaths and represen- tations >ri the sun, moon, stars, and planets, and called the From the statement that the number of wreaths was
102 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
365, to indicate the days of the year, it may be gathered that the festival as we know it was not of very high antiquity, symbols so obvious as this being usually of late origin. On the other hand, it may be supposed, from the character of Apollo as sun-god, that the ceremony had existed in a simpler form in early times. The number seven was sacred to him. Sacred swans made a circle seven times round the island of Delos at his birth, which occurred on the seventh day of the month. From this he took the title of Hebdomeios.
One of the oldest forms of his worship appears to have been that in which he was regarded simply as god of light, and styled Lykios, the original centre of this worship being Lycia in the south-west of Asia Minor.
Turning now to that phase of his character in which he represents the light of the sun as the symbol of an all-seeing and all-knowing power, we find Apollo regarded as the great god of oracles, with Delphi as the principal centre of his activity. His oracles were there communicated through a priestess, with the title of Pythia, who sat aloft on a sacred tripod of gold which stood above the opening o( a chasm in the rock. Out of this chasm rose a continuous stream of cold vapour, which drove the priestess into a state of frenzy when she sat above it. Her method of prophesying was by uttering in her frenzy single words or sounds, which persons educated for the purpose caught up and put into verse, generally in such a cunning way as to have, instead of a clear incontro- vertible meaning, a double and easily mistaken import.
To give one example : the oracle, when consulted by the Athenians for advice as to how to meet best the approach of the Persian force, returned as its answer, "Trust to your cita- de1 of wood." This the Athenian sages misunderstood, and
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. lOj
proceeded to have the Acropolis protected with wooden bulwarks, which naturally could not for a moment resist the enemy. Themistocles, however, and the younger men of the day declared that the words referred to the fleet, and suc- ceeded in persuading the people to take to the ships, the result of which was the glorious victory of Salamis. Had the interpretation of the sages been accepted generally, the oracle would have had the answer ready, that it meant the fleet. It was only by such tricks that the oracle of Delphi, clever and far-seeing as the priests were, could have maintained its repu- tation for unerringness and its vast influence.
Of the same nature, but apparently older, were the oracles of Apollo in Asia Minor; as for instance those of Colophon and Didymi near Miletus, the latter of which was in the hands of the priestly family of the Branchidae. Sometimes the god exercised the power of communicating the prophetic gift to mortals, as he did to Cassandra, and to Deiphobe, a daughter of Glaukos. The latter lived in a grotto beside the town of Cumaj, in the Campania of Italy, and was known by the name of the Cumaean Sibyl. It was from her that Tarquin the Proud, the last king of Rome, acquired the three Sibylline books which contained important prophecies con- cerning the fate of Rome, and were held in great reverence by the Romans. They were preserved carefully in the Capitol down to the time of Sulla, when they perished in a fire. In Greece also was a famous seer or prophet, and favourite of Apollo Epimenides, of whom the myth reports that when a herdsman he fell asleep in a grotto, slept for fifty-six years, and on awakening found himself endowed with the prophetic gift in a high degree.
Connected with his gift of prophecy was his power of mu i
104 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
For not only were the oracles expressed in verse, but the strains of music, when spontaneous, were thought to originate in an inspired foresight into the future. As god of music he was leader of the Muses, Musagetes ; and himself played on a wonderful lyre which Hermes had made for him.
At Delphi he was styled Apollo Pythios, and enjoyed several annual festivals, such as the Theophania, to cele- brate his return from the Hyperboreans, and the Theoxenia, at which, it being harvest time, he was supposed to receive the other gods at his hospitable table. The principal festival, however, was that at which the Pythian Games were held. The games had been instituted to commemorate the victory of Apollo over the dragon Python, which resisted his en- trance upon his duties as oracular god at Delphi. They were held at first every seventh, afterwards every ninth, and latterly every fifth year.
As being himself possessed of eternal youth, and of the finest conceivable athletic form, Apollo came to be regarded as a patron of the athletic contests of youth, and in this capa- city ranked with Herakles and Hermes. He was the god also to whom persons polluted either with disease or crime turned for purification, and on this account his high power was brought home frequently and seriously to a great part of the people. He was, therefore, properly viewed as the fathei of Asklepios, the god of medicine.
The story of the birth of Apollo is that he, with his twin sister Artemis, was a son of Zeus and Leto (or Latona) ; that Leto, after wandering long hither and thither, pursued by the jealous Hera, at last found shelter in the island of Delos, in the Egean sea, and there was delivered. It was said that hitherto that island had been only a waste rock driven about
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. 105
in the sea, but that it became fixed in its present position on the occasion of the birth of Apollo and Artemis, an event which was celebrated by a blaze of golden light shed over the island, while sacred swans flew round encircling it seven times. This was in May, and for that reason his festival at Delos, the Delia, was held in that month. But Leto was compelled, through the pursuit of Hera, to abandon her children. They were entrusted to Themis, a name which signifies "justice," and indicates here the indisputable sense of right present with Apollo from his birth. By her he was fed on ambrosia and nectar, upon which he grew so strong, and that, too, so quickly, that within only a few hours after his birth he was a youth of dazzling appearance, and escaped his divine nurse, proclaiming that his destiny was to be a bowman, a player on the lyre and to give truthful oracles to mankind.
To accomplish the end of his ambition he set out at once on a pilgrimage to search for a suitable place for an oracle, neither too public nor too retired. After searching through many districts of Greece he arrived at the quiet rocky valley of Delphi, or Pytho, which he recognized as the desired spot, on account of its peaceful position in the heart of Greece. Moreover there had been an oracle of Themis there from a remote early time, and she was willing to hand over her duties to the young god. A terrible dragon, however, called Python, stood in the way, refused entrance, and tried to repel him ; but in vain, for the young god, confident in the unerring aim of his arrows, attacked the monster, and slew it after a short combat. In this way he acquired his world-famed oracle, and from his victory over the dragon obtained the title of Pythios.
From that time forward, with one exception, Apollo re-
106 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
mained in undisputed possession of the sacred tripod and oracle at Delphi, and that was when he had to take up their defence against Herakles, who, because the acting priestess did not prophesy as he wished, offered her violence and carried off the tripod. Apollo hastened to the aid of his priestess, and Zeus had to settle the quarrel between his two sons, who there- after lived in the closest friendship.
Amongst the other incidents of his life, it is related that Apollo once incurred the severe displeasure of Zeus, and was driven for a time out of Olympos, through having shot at some of the Kyklopes in revenge for Zeus having struck Asklepios (^Esculapius), a son of Apollo, with a thunder- bolt. During his exile on earth, he acted as a herdsman to his friend Admetos, the king of Pherae, in Thessaly, and again in the same capacity to Laomedon, prince of Troy. In vexation at his banishment he joined with Poseidon in an at- tempt to dethrone Zeus. But the scheme failed, and both deities were in consequence sentenced to assist in building the walls of Troy. Laomedon refused to give them the pay- ment agreed on for the service, and Apollo revenged himself by sending a dreadful pestilence which depopulated the town and neighbourhood of Troy. During the time of his servitude he had also a quarrel with Pan, who insisted that the flute was a better instrument than the lyre. The decision, which was left to Midas, a king of Lydia, was given in favour of Pan, for which Apollo punished Midas by causing his ears to grow long like those of an ass. Marsyas, too, had boasted that he could surpass Apollo in the art of playing on the flute, and for this had to suffer the cruel punishment of being flayed alive.
In Rome the worship of Apollo was not established till 320
PHCEBOS-APOLLO AND HELIOS, OR SOL. 107
u. c., a temple being raised to him in that year in consequence of a pestilence that had visited the city. Afterwards a second temple to him was erected on the Palatine hill. The Apolli- narian Games were instituted during the second Punic war.
No distinction was made by the Greek poets of later times between Apollo and the sun-god, Helios. As little did the Romans distinguish between Apollo and Sol. In both cases the confusion arose from the fact that the fundamental idea of both deities was that of sun-gods. The title of Phcebos plainly designated Apollo as god of pure streaming light, particularly of the light of heaven, and this phase of his character was made more conspicuous by the fact of his mother's name being Leto, "darkness," strictly "goddess of the dark night." But this, his original signification, came in time to be lost sight of in the variety of other functions which he assumed. Helios, or Hyperion, on the contrary, remained, properly speaking, only the orb of the sun which is visible in the heavens by day, and disappears by night in a regular course. That was the only signification he had. The number seven was sacred to him, as it was to Apollo, and in the island of Trinakia, sup- posed to be Sicily, it was said, he had seven herds of cows and seven herds of lambs, fifty in each herd, which never in- creased or diminished in numbers. It was one of his pleasures to see them grazing when he rose in the morning and when he descended in the evening.
Of the sons of Helios the most famous is Phagthon, of whom it is said that he once had a dispute about his origin with Epaphos, a son of Zeus and lo, and in consequence begged Helios, if he really was his father, to prove himself such by granting one request ; upon which Helios called the river Styx to witness that he would not refuse to grant it
I08 DEITIES OF THE HIGHEST ORDER.
The request was, that he, Phaethon, should be permitted foi one day to drive the chariot of the sun. Helios, astonished at the boldness of the request, and alarmed at the danger that threatened his son in such an undertaking, endeavoured to move him from his determination. But Phaethon only clung to the bargain all the more firmly, and Helios, finding him- self bound by his oath, instructed his son how to drive and manage the horses, and handed over to him the task for one day. The youth, however, through being unused to the work, and unacquainted with the right way, soon became confused, and lost his strength and his senses. The spirited horses wheeled out of the right course, and brought the chariot of the sun so near to the earth that in some places the latter took fire, fountains were dried up, rivers began to boil, and part of the human race became black in colour. Zeus, alarmed at the unexpected danger in which both heaven and earth were thus placed, slew Phaethon with a stroke of lightning, and cast him from the chariot of the sun down into the river Eridanos. The three sisters of Phaethon, Heliades, as they were called • — that is, daughters of Helios, Phaethusa, >Egle, and Lampetia, wept for him a long time, and finally became transformed into larch trees, that overhang the river's banks, the tears that continually flowed from them being changed by the sun into amber (elcktron.*} Phaethon's friend Kyknos mourned his loss deeply, and was transformed into a swan, while Helios was so grieved at his son's death that only the entreaties of the gods could prevail on him to resume the reins of the chariot of the sun.
The symbols of Helios were horses' heads, a crown of seven rays, a cornucopia, and a ripened fruit. The symbols of Apollo v?ere the wolf, swan, raven, stag, dolphin, laurel, and lyre.
XJV.
Artemis, or Diana.
Dionysos, or Bacchus.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE, OR LUNA. 1 09
In works of art Apollo is usually represented as having the figure of a youth- ful athlete — perhaps the finest existing statue of him being the Apollo Belvi- dere of the Vatican. His hair is long, and usually tied, like that of his sistei Artemis, in a large knot above his forehead. In the character of Musagetes he wears, long ample drapery girt at the waist, a diadem round his head, and long tresses falling on his shoulders. Though the general representation of him is that in which he is engaged in playing on the lyre, or resting from doing so, as in plate xi., we find him also with bow and arrows, as Sauroktonos, kill- ing a lizard, holding forth his segis to destroy his enemies, and present at the flaying of Marsyas.
ARTEMIS, OR DIANA; AND SELENE OR LUNA.
(PLATES xiv. AND xv.)
Originally Artemis was the divine personification of the moon, just as her brother Apollo was originally god of the sun. But by degrees, as the moon came to be viewed like the sun, on the one hand as a mere illuminating orb, and on the other as possessing a real or apparent and generally believed influence upon vegetation, and on human as well as animal life, there grew up a distinction between moon-goddesses of two kinds, corresponding to the sun-gods of two kinds. The one was Selene, or Luna, whose signification was merely that of goddess of the orb of night, as Helios, the sun, was of the orb of day. The other was Artemis, or Diana, who embraced in her