1.
Chronos
–
Chronos is the personification of Time in pre-Socratic philosophy and later literature. Chronos already was confused with, or perhaps consciously identified with, the identification became more widespread during the Renaissance, giving rise to the allegory of Father Time wielding the harvesting scythe. He was depicted in Greco-Roman mosaics as a man turning the Zodiac Wheel, Chronos might also be contrasted with the deity Aion as Eternal Time. Chronos is usually portrayed as an old, wise man with a long, grey beard, during antiquity, Chronos was occasionally interpreted as Cronus. According to Plutarch, the Greeks believed that Cronus was a name for Chronos. In addition to the name, the story of Cronus eating his children was also interpreted as an allegory to an aspect of time held within Cronus sphere of influence. During the Renaissance, the identification of Cronus and Chronos gave rise to Father Time wielding the harvesting scythe, the original meaning and etymology of the word chronos are uncertain. Some of the current English words whose etymological root is khronos/chronos include chronology, chronometer, chronic, anachronism, in the Orphic tradition, the unaging Chronos was engendered by earth and water, and produced Aether and Chaos, and an egg. It produced the hermaphroditic god Phanes who gave birth to the first generation of gods and is the creator of the cosmos. Pherecydes of Syros in his lost Heptamychos, around 6th century BC, the semen of Chronos was placed in the recesses and produced the first generation of gods
Chronos
–
Chronos, sleeping on the grave of Georg Wolff, a merchant
2.
Sickle
–
Falx was a synonym but was later used to mean any of a number of tools that had a curved blade that was sharp on the inside edge such as a scythe. Since the beginning of the Iron Age hundreds of variants of the sickle have evolved, initially of iron. The serrated blade that originated in prehistoric sickles still dominates in the reaping of grain and is found in modern grain-harvesting machines. The development of the sickle in Mesopotamia can be traced back to times that pre-date the Neolithic Era, large quantities of sickle blades have been excavated in sites surrounding Israel that have been dated to the Epipaleolithic era. Formal digs in Wadi Ziqlab, Jordan have unearthed various forms of early sickle blades, the artifacts recovered ranged from 10 to 20 cm in length and possessed a jagged edge. This intricate ‘tooth-like’ design showed a degree of design and manufacturing credence than most of the other artifacts that were discovered. Sickle blades found during this time were made of flint, straight, flints from these sickles have been discovered near Mt. Carmel, which suggest the harvesting of grains from the area about 10,000 years ago. The sickle had a impact on the Agricultural Revolution by assisting in the transition to farming. It is now accepted that the use of sickles led directly to the domestication of Near Eastern Wild grasses, research on domestication rates of wild cereals under primitive cultivation found that the use of the sickle in harvesting was critical to the people of early Mesopotamia. The relatively narrow growing season in the area and the role of grain in the late Neolithic Era promoted a larger investment in the design. Standardization to an extent was done on the measurements of the sickle so that replacement or repair could be more immediate and it was important that the grain be harvested at the appropriate time at one elevation so that the next elevation could be collected in the proper time. The sickle provided an efficient option in collecting the grain. The sickle remained common in the Bronze Age, both in the Ancient Near East and in Europe, numerous sickles have been found deposited in hoards in the context of the European Urnfield culture, suggesting a symbolic or religious significance attached to the artifact. In archaeological terminology, Bronze Age sickles are classified by the method of attaching the handle, E. g. the knob-sickle is so called because of a protruding knob at the base of the blade which apparently served to stabilize the attachment of the blade to the handle. The sickle has been discovered in southwest North America with a unique structure and these sickles are said to possibly have originated from the Far East. There is evidence that Kodiak islanders had for cutting grass “sickles made of an animal shoulder blade”. The artifacts found in present-day Arizona and New Mexico resemble curved tools that were made from the horns of mountain sheep, a similar site discovered sickles made from other material such as the Caddo Sickle, which was made from a deer mandible. Scripture from early natives document the use of sickles in the cutting of grass
Sickle
–
Sickle from
Panchkhal,
Nepal
Sickle
–
Ancient Greek iron sickle,
Kerameikos Archaeological Museum, Athens.
Sickle
–
Neolithic sickle
Sickle
–
Harvesting sickle from Iraq dated to be around 3000 B.C.
3.
Scythe
–
A scythe is an agricultural hand tool for mowing grass or reaping crops. It has largely replaced by horse-drawn and then tractor machinery. The word scythe derives from Old English siðe, in Middle English and after it was usually spelt sithe or sythe. However, in the 15th century some began to use the sc- spelling as they thought the word was related to the Latin scindere. Nevertheless, the sithe spelling lingered and notably appears in Noah Websters dictionaries, a scythe consists of a shaft about 170 centimetres long called a snaith, snath, snathe or sned, traditionally made of wood but now sometimes metal. Simple snaiths are straight with offset handles, others have an S curve or are bent in three dimensions to place the handles in an ergonomic configuration but close to shaft. The snaith has either one or two handles at right angles to it, usually one near the upper end and always another roughly in the middle. The handles are usually adjustable to suit the user, a curved, steel blade between 60 to 90 centimetres ) long is mounted at the lower end at 90°, or less, to the snaith. The cutting edge of a blade is traditionally maintained by occasional peening followed by frequent honing. Peening requires some skill and is using a peening hammer. American style blades use a harder, more brittle, steel than European blades and are not usually peened, some examples have a laminated construction with a hard, brittle, core providing the edge and softer sides providing strength. The use of a scythe is traditionally called mowing, now often scything to distinguish it from machine mowing. The mower holds the top handle in the hand and the central one in the right, with the arms straight, the blade parallel and very close to the ground. The body is twisted to the right, the blade hooks the grass and is swung steadily to the left in a long arc ending in front of the mower. The mower takes a step forward and repeats the motion, proceeding with a steady rhythm. The correct technique has an action on the grass, cutting a narrow strip with each stroke, leaving a uniform stubble on the ground. The mower moves along the mowing-edge with the grass to the right. Each strip of ground mown by a scythe is called a swathe or swath, mowing may be done by a team of mowers, usually starting at the edges of a meadow then proceeding clockwise and finishing in the middle
Scythe
–
A traditional wooden scythe.
Scythe
–
A modern scythe of a pattern common in parts of
Europe
Scythe
4.
Harpe
–
The harpē was a type of sword or sickle, a sword with a sickle protrusion along one edge near the tip of the blade. The harpe is mentioned in Greek and Roman sources, and almost always in mythological contexts, the harpe sword is most notably identified as the weapon used by Cronus to castrate and depose his father, Uranus. Alternately, said weapon is identified as a more traditional sickle or scythe, the harpe, scythe or sickle was either a flint or adamantine blade, and was provided to a then-unborn Cronus by his mother, Gaia. This state of affairs left Gaia in increasingly-excruciating pain, as she fell pregnant with even more and more children and this disregard for her own wellbeing also enraged Gaia, who plotted Uranus downfall. Gaia beseech each of her children to rise up against Uranus and free her. So, Gaia provides him with a blade, and when Uranus next came to lay with Gaia, Cronus lept up into action and castrated his father, overthrowing him, thus the blade, became a symbol of Cronus power. Perseus, is regularly depicted in statues and sculpture, armed with a harpe sword in his quest to slay the Gorgon, Medusa. Perseus was provided with such a sword by his father, Zeus, in Greek and Roman art it is variously depicted, but it seems that originally it was a khopesh-like sickle-sword
Harpe
–
"
Perseus with the Head of Medusa '" depicts Perseus armed with a harpe sword when he beheaded Medusa.
Harpe
–
Real
5.
Rhea (mythology)
–
Rhea is the Titaness daughter of the earth goddess Gaia and the sky god Uranus, in Greek mythology and sister and wife to Cronus. In early traditions, she is known as the mother of gods and therefore is associated with Gaia and Cybele. The classical Greeks saw her as the mother of the Olympian gods and goddesses, the Romans identified her with Magna Mater, and the Goddess Ops. Alternatively, the name Rhea may be connected with words for the pomegranate, ῥόα, the name Rhea may ultimately derive from a pre-Greek or Minoan source. Cronus sired six children by Rhea, Hestia, Hades, Demeter, Poseidon, Hera, and Zeus in that order. Apart from Zeus, he swallowed all as soon as they were born, because he had learned from Gaia and Uranus that, as he had overthrown his own father, he was destined to be overcome by his own child. When Zeus was about to be born, however, Rhea sought Uranus and Gaia to devise a plan to him, so that Cronus would get his retribution for his acts against Uranus. Rhea gave birth to Zeus in Crete, and saved him by handing Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling clothes, Rhea hid Zeus in a cave on Mount Ida in Crete. Her attendants, the warrior-like Curetes and Dactyls, acted as a bodyguard for the infant Zeus, Rhea had no strong local cult or identifiable activity under her control. She was originally worshiped in the island of Crete, identified in mythology as the site of Zeuss infancy and her cults employed rhythmic, raucous chants and dances, accompanied by the tympanon, to provoke a religious ecstasy. Her priests impersonated her mythical attendants, the Curetes and Dactyls, with a clashing of bronze shields, in Roman religion, her counterpart Cybele was Magna Mater deorum Idaea, who was brought to Rome and was identified in Roman mythology as an ancestral Trojan deity. On a functional level, Rhea was thought equivalent to Roman Ops or Opis, the one at Mycenae is most characteristic, with a lioness placed on either side of a pillar that symbolizes the goddess. In Homer, Rhea is the mother of the gods, although not a mother like Cybele. In the Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes, the fusion of Rhea, for her temenos they wrought an image of the goddess, a xoanon, from a vine-stump. They leapt and danced in their armour, For this reason the Phrygians still worship Rhea with tambourines, the name of the bird species rhea is derived from the goddess name Rhea. The second largest moon of the planet Saturn is named after her, gantz, Timothy, Early Greek Myth, A Guide to Literary and Artistic Sources, Johns Hopkins University Press,1996, Two volumes, ISBN 978-0-8018-5360-9, ISBN 978-0-8018-5362-3. Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd.1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, Homer, The Iliad with an English Translation by A. T
Rhea (mythology)
–
Rhea presenting Cronus the stone wrapped in cloth.
Rhea (mythology)
–
Rhea rides on a lion, Pergamon Altar,
Pergamon Museum,
Berlin
Rhea (mythology)
–
In the dry stone
Cyclopean masonry of the
Lion Gate of the
Mycenae acropolis, the pillar flanked by lionesses represents the deity
6.
Zeus
–
Zeus /ˈzjuːs/ is the sky and thunder god in ancient Greek religion, who ruled as king of the gods of Mount Olympus. His name is cognate with the first element of his Roman equivalent Jupiter and his mythologies and powers are similar, though not identical, to those of the Indo-European deities such as Indra, Jupiter, Perun, Thor, and Odin. Zeus is the child of Cronus and Rhea, the youngest of his siblings to be born, in most traditions, he is married to Hera, by whom he is usually said to have fathered Ares, Hebe, and Hephaestus. At the oracle of Dodona, his consort was said to be Dione, Zeus was also infamous for his erotic escapades. These resulted in many godly and heroic offspring, including Athena, Apollo, Artemis, Hermes, Persephone, Dionysus, Perseus, Heracles, Helen of Troy, Minos, and the Muses. He was equated with many foreign weather gods, permitting Pausanias to observe That Zeus is king in heaven is a common to all men. His symbols are the thunderbolt, eagle, bull, and oak, in addition to his Indo-European inheritance, the classical cloud-gatherer also derives certain iconographic traits from the cultures of the Ancient Near East, such as the scepter. Zeus is frequently depicted by Greek artists in one of two poses, standing, striding forward with a thunderbolt leveled in his right hand. The gods name in the nominative is Ζεύς Zeús and it is inflected as follows, vocative, Ζεῦ Zeû, accusative, Δία Día, genitive, Διός Diós, dative, Διί Dií. Diogenes Laertius quotes Pherecydes of Syros as spelling the name, Ζάς, Zeus is the Greek continuation of *Di̯ēus, the name of the Proto-Indo-European god of the daytime sky, also called *Dyeus ph2tēr. The god is known under this name in the Rigveda, Latin, Zeus is the only deity in the Olympic pantheon whose name has such a transparent Indo-European etymology. The earliest attested forms of the name are the Mycenaean Greek
Zeus
–
The Jupiter de Smyrne, discovered in
Smyrna in 1680
Zeus
–
The Chariot of Zeus, from an 1879 Stories from the Greek Tragedians by Alfred Church.
Zeus
–
Zeus, at the Getty Villa, A.D. 1 - 100 by unknown.
Zeus
–
"
Cave of Zeus ",
Mount Ida (Crete).
7.
Hera
–
Hera is the goddess of women and marriage in Greek mythology and religion. She is the daughter of the Titans Cronus and Rhea, Hera is married to her brother Zeus and is titled as the Queen of Heaven. One of her characteristics is her jealous and vengeful nature against Zeuss other lovers and offspring, Hera is commonly seen with the animals she considers sacred including the cow, lion and the peacock. Scholar of Greek mythology Walter Burkert writes in Greek Religion, Nevertheless, there are memories of an aniconic representation, as a pillar in Argos. Her counterpart in the religion of ancient Rome was Juno, According to Plutarch, Hera was an allegorical name and an anagram of aēr. So begins the section on Hera in Walter Burkerts Greek Religion, in a note, he records other scholars arguments for the meaning Mistress as a feminine to Heros, Master. John Chadwick, a decipherer of Linear B, remarks her name may be connected with hērōs, ἥρως, hero, a. J. van Windekens, offers young cow, heifer, which is consonant with Heras common epithet βοῶπις. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin and her name is attested in Mycenaean Greek written in the Linear B syllabic script as
Hera
–
The
Campana Hera, a
Roman copy of a
Hellenistic original, from the
Louvre
Hera
–
Jupiter and
Juno by
Annibale Carracci.
Hera
–
The Temple of Hera at
Agrigento,
Magna Graecia.
Hera
–
Roman copy of a Greek 5th century Hera of the "
Barberini Hera " type, from the
Museo Chiaramonti
8.
Poseidon
–
Poseidon was one of the twelve Olympian deities of the pantheon in Greek mythology. His main domain was the ocean, and he is called the God of the Sea, additionally, he is referred to as Earth-Shaker due to his role in causing earthquakes, and has been called the tamer of horses. He is usually depicted as a male with curly hair. The name of the sea-god Nethuns in Etruscan was adopted in Latin for Neptune in Roman mythology, both were sea gods analogous to Poseidon. According to some folklore, he was saved by his mother Rhea, who concealed him among a flock of lambs and pretended to have birth to a colt. There is a Homeric hymn to Poseidon, who was the protector of many Hellenic cities, according to the references from Plato in his dialogues Timaeus and Critias, the island of Atlantis was the chosen domain of Poseidon. The form Ποτειδάϝων appears in Corinth, the origins of the name Poseidon are unclear. Walter Burkert finds that the second element da- remains hopelessly ambiguous, another theory interprets the second element as related to the word *δᾶϝον dâwon, water, this would make *Posei-dawōn into the master of waters. There is also the possibility that the word has Pre-Greek origin, Plato in his dialogue Cratylus gives two alternative etymologies, either the sea restrained Poseidon when walking as a foot-bond, or he knew many things. If surviving Linear B clay tablets can be trusted, the name occurs with greater frequency than does di-u-ja. A feminine variant, po-se-de-ia, is found, indicating a lost consort goddess. Poseidon carries frequently the title wa-na-ka in Linear B inscriptions, as king of the underworld, the chthonic nature of Poseidon-Wanax is also indicated by his title E-ne-si-da-o-ne in Mycenean Knossos and Pylos, a powerful attribute. In the cave of Amnisos Enesidaon is related with the cult of Eileithyia and she was related with the annual birth of the divine child. During the Bronze Age, a goddess of nature, dominated both in Minoan and Mycenean cult, and Wanax was her companion in Mycenean cult. It is possible that Demeter appears as Da-ma-te in a Linear B inscription, in Linear B inscriptions found at Pylos, E-ne-si-da-o-ne is related with Poseidon, and Si-to Po-tini-ja is probably related with Demeter. Tablets from Pylos record sacrificial goods destined for the Two Queens, the Two Queens may be related with Demeter and Persephone, or their precursors, goddesses who were not associated with Poseidon in later periods. The violated Demeter was Demeter Erinys, in Arcadia, Demeters mare-form was worshiped into historical times. Her xoanon of Phigaleia shows how the local cult interpreted her, a Medusa type with a horses head with snaky hair, holding a dove and a dolphin, probably representing her power over air and water
Poseidon
–
Poseidon from
Milos, 2nd century BC (
National Archaeological Museum of Athens)
Poseidon
–
Poseidon, Paella Museum
Poseidon
–
Poseidon in
Kadriorg Palace,
Tallinn
Poseidon
–
Poseidon holding a
trident. Corinthian plaque, 550-525 BC. From Penteskouphia.
9.
Hades
–
Hades was the ancient Greek chthonic god of the underworld, which eventually took his name. In Greek mythology, Hades was regarded as the oldest son of Cronus and Rhea and he and his brothers Zeus and Poseidon defeated their fathers generation of gods, the Titans, and claimed rulership over the cosmos. Hades received the underworld, Zeus the sky, and Poseidon the sea, Hades was often portrayed with his three-headed guard dog Cerberus. The Etruscan god Aita and Roman gods Dis Pater and Orcus were eventually taken as equivalent to the Greek Hades and merged as Pluto, the origin of Hades name is uncertain, but has generally been seen as meaning The Unseen One since antiquity. Modern linguists have proposed the Proto-Greek form *Awides, the earliest attested form is Aḯdēs, which lacks the proposed digamma. West argues instead for a meaning of the one who presides over meeting up from the universality of death. In Homeric and Ionic Greek, he was known as Áïdēs, other poetic variations of the name include Aïdōneús and the inflected forms Áïdos, Áïdi, and Áïda, whose reconstructed nominative case *Áïs is, however, not attested. The name as it came to be known in classical times was Háidēs, later the iota became silent, then a subscript marking, and finally omitted entirely. Perhaps from fear of pronouncing his name, around the 5th century BC, Plouton became the Roman god who both rules the underworld and distributed riches from below. This deity was a mixture of the Greek god Hades and the Eleusinian icon Ploutos, and from this he received a priestess. More elaborate names of the genre were Ploutodótēs or Ploutodotḗr meaning giver of wealth. Epithets of Hades include Agesander and Agesilaos, both from ágō and anḗr or laos, describing Hades as the god who carries away all. He was also referred to as Zeus Katachthonios, meaning the Zeus of the Underworld, by avoiding his actual name. In Greek mythology, Hades the god of the underworld, was a son of the Titans Cronus and he had three sisters, Demeter, Hestia, and Hera, as well as two brothers, Zeus, the youngest of the three, and Poseidon. Upon reaching adulthood, Zeus managed to force his father to disgorge his siblings, after their release, the six younger gods, along with allies they managed to gather, challenged the elder gods for power in the Titanomachy, a divine war. The war lasted for ten years and ended with the victory of the younger gods, following their victory, according to a single famous passage in the Iliad, Hades and his two brothers, Poseidon and Zeus, drew lots for realms to rule. Some myths suggest that Hades was dissatisfied with his turnout, but had no choice, Hades obtained his wife and queen, Persephone, through abduction at the behest of Zeus. Despite modern connotations of death as evil, Hades was actually more altruistically inclined in mythology, Hades was often portrayed as passive rather than evil, his role was often maintaining relative balance
Hades
–
Hades with
Cerberus
Hades
–
Persephone and Hades: tondo of an Attic red-figured
kylix, ca. 440–430 BC
Hades
–
Oil painting of Hades abducting Persephone. 18th Century. Oil on wood with gilt background. Property of Missing Link Antiques.
Hades
–
Mictlan
10.
Hestia
–
In Ancient Greek religion, Hestia is a virgin goddess of the hearth, architecture, and the right ordering of domesticity, the family, the home, and the state. In Greek mythology, she is a daughter of Cronus and Rhea, Hestia received the first offering at every sacrifice in the household. In the public domain, the hearth of the prytaneum functioned as her official sanctuary, with the establishment of a new colony, flame from Hestias public hearth in the mother city would be carried to the new settlement. Hestias name means hearth, fireplace, altar, the oikos, likewise, the hearth of the later Greek prytaneum was the community and governments ritual and secular focus. Hestias name and functions show the importance in the social, religious. It was essential for warmth, food preparation, and the completion of sacrificial offerings to deities, in the latter, Hestia was the recipient of a preliminary, usually cheap. She was also offered the first and last libations of wine at feasts and her own sacrificial animal was a domestic pig. At the level of the polis, the hearths of Greek colonies, Hestias nearest Roman equivalent, Vesta, had similar functions as a divine personification of Romes public, domestic, and colonial hearths, and bound Romans together within a form of extended family. Responsibility for Hestias domestic cult usually fell to the woman of the household. Evidence of her priesthoods is extremely rare, most stems from the early Roman Imperial era, when Sparta offers several examples of women with the priestly title Hestia, Chalcis offers one, a daughter of the local elite. Existing civic cults to Hestia probably served as stock for the grafting of Greek ruler-cult to the Roman emperor, in Athens, a small seating section at the Theatre of Dionysus was reserved for priesthoods of Hestia on the Acropolis, Livia, and Julia, and of Hestia Romaion. A priest at Delos served Hestia the Athenian Demos and Roma, an eminent citizen of Carian Stratoniceia described himself as a priest of Hestia and several other deities, as well as holding several civic offices. Hestia is a goddess of the first Olympian generation and she was the eldest daughter of the Titans Rhea and Cronus, and sister to Zeus, Poseidon, Demeter, Hera, and Hades. As first to be devoured. and the last to be yielded up again, Hestia rejects the marriage suits of Poseidon and Apollo, and swears herself to perpetual virginity. She thus rejects Aphrodites values and becomes, to some extent, her chaste, domestic complementary, Zeus assigns Hestia a duty to feed and maintain the fires of the Olympian hearth with the fatty, combustible portions of animal sacrifices to the gods. Wherever food was cooked, or an offering was burnt, she thus had her share of honour, among all mortals she was chief of the goddesses. At Athens in Platos time, notes Kenneth Dorter there was a discrepancy in the list of the chief gods. The altar to them at the agora, for example, included Hestia, Hestia was known for her kindness, but no ancient source or myth describes such a surrender or removal
Hestia
–
"Hestia full of Blessings", Egypt, 6th century tapestry (
Dumbarton Oaks Collection)
Hestia
–
The
Giustiniani Hestia in O. Seyffert, Dictionary of Classical Antiquities, 1894
11.
Demeter
–
In ancient Greek religion and Greek mythology, Demeter is the goddess of the harvest and agriculture, who presided over grains and the fertility of the earth. Her cult titles include Sito, she of the Grain, as the giver of food or grain, though Demeter is often described simply as the goddess of the harvest, she presided also over the sacred law, and the cycle of life and death. She and her daughter Persephone were the figures of the Eleusinian Mysteries that predated the Olympian pantheon. In the Linear B Mycenean Greek tablets of c, 1400–1200 BC found at Pylos, the two mistresses and the king may be related with Demeter, Persephone and Poseidon. It is possible that Demeter appears in Linear A as da-ma-te on three documents, all three dedicated in religious situations and all three bearing just the name. It is unlikely that Demeter appears as da-ma-te in a Linear B inscription, on the other hand,
Demeter
–
Demeter, enthroned and extending her hand in a benediction toward the kneeling
Metaneira, who offers the triune wheat (c. 340 BC)
Demeter
–
Didrachme from Paros island, struck at the
Cyclades and representing Demeter
Demeter
–
Demeter drives her horse-drawn chariot containing her daughter
Persephone-Kore at Selinunte, Sicily 6th century BC.
Demeter
–
Demeter rejoiced, for her daughter was by her side
12.
Chiron
–
In Greek mythology, Chiron was held to be the superlative centaur amongst his brethren. Chiron was notable throughout Greek mythology for his youth-nurturing nature and his personal skills tend to match those of Apollo, his foster father, medicine, music, archery, hunting, prophecy. His parents were Cronus and Philyra, although a centaur, Chirons physical appearance often differs somewhat from other centaurs, demonstrating his status and heritage. This clearly sets Chiron apart from the centaurs, making him easily identifiable. This difference may also have highlighted Chirons unique lineage, being the son of Cronus, Chiron is often depicted carrying a branch with dead hares he has caught hanging from it. Chiron is also depicted wearing clothes, demonstrating he is more civilised. The Education of Achilles wall painting, from the basilica in Herculaneum, is one of the most common Roman depictions of Chiron, as he teaches Achilles the lyre. In this version we see Chiron with a fully equine lower body, in addition to this reconfiguration, Chiron’s appearance is further altered with his ears. Whereas previously human, Chiron’s ears now match those of a satyr and this rendering creates a more bestial version of Chiron, much more akin to a standard centaur. This may then, not be a reworking of the Chiron myth on the part of the Romans. It has also suggested that this fresco is a reproduction of an actual statue in the Roman forum. Like satyrs, centaurs were notorious for being wild, lusty, overly indulgent drinkers and carousers, violent when intoxicated, Chiron, by contrast, was intelligent, civilized and kind, but he was not related directly to the other centaurs. He was known for his knowledge and skill with medicine, according to an archaic myth, he was sired by the Titan Cronus when he had taken the form of a horse and impregnated the nymph Philyra. Myths in the Olympian tradition attributed Chirons uniquely peaceful character and intelligence to Apollo, some sources speculate that Chiron was originally a Thessalian god, later subsumed into the Greek pantheon as a centaur. Chiron lived predominantly on Mount Pelion, there he married the nymph Chariclo who bore him three daughters, Hippe, Endeïs, and Ocyrhoe, and one son Carystus. A great healer, astrologer, and respected oracle, Chiron was said to be the first among centaurs and highly revered as a teacher, Dionysus was loved by Chiron, from whom he learned chants and dances, the bacchic rites and initiations. There is also a persistent link with Peleus throughout Chirons myth, Chiron saved the life of Peleus when Acastus tried to kill him by taking his sword and leaving him out in the woods to be slaughtered by the centaurs. Chiron retrieved the sword for Peleus, Chiron then explained to Peleus how to capture the nymph Thetis, leading to their marriage
Chiron
–
'The Education of
Achilles by Chiron '
fresco from
Herculaneum (Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples).
Chiron
–
Amphora suggested to be Achilles riding Chiron. British Museum ref 1956,1220.1.
Chiron
–
A
lekythos depicting Chiron and Achilles
Chiron
–
The Education of Achilles, by
Eugène Delacroix.
13.
Uranus (mythology)
–
Uranus was the primal Greek god personifying the sky. His name in Roman mythology was Caelus, in Ancient Greek literature, Uranus or Father Sky was the son and husband of Gaia, Mother Earth. According to Hesiods Theogony, Uranus was conceived by Gaia alone, elemental Earth, Sky and Styx might be joined, however, in a solemn invocation in Homeric epic. The most probable etymology traces the name to a Proto-Greek form *worsanós enlarged from *ṷorsó-, the basic Indo-European root is *ṷérs- ‘to rain, moisten’, making Ouranos the ‘rainmaker’. A less likely etymology is a derivative with meaning ‘the one standing on high’ from PIE *ṷérso-, georges Dumézil’s equation of Ouranos’ name with that of the Vedic deity Váruṇa, god of the sky and waters, is etymologically untenable. In Hesiods Theogony, Uranus is the offspring of Gaia, the earth goddess, alcman and Callimachus elaborate that Uranus was fathered by Aether, the god of heavenly light and the upper air. Under the influence of the philosophers, Cicero, in De Natura Deorum, claims that he was the offspring of the ancient gods Aether and Hemera, Air, according to the Orphic Hymns, Uranus was the son of Nyx, the personification of night. Uranus was the brother of Pontus, the God of the sea, further, according to the Theogony, when Cronus castrated Uranus, from Uranus blood, which splattered onto the earth, came the Erinyes, the Giants, and the Meliae. In the Olympian creation myth, as Hesiod tells it in the Theogony, Uranus came every night to cover the earth and mate with Gaia, but he hated the children she bore him. Hesiod named their first six sons and six daughters the Titans, Uranus imprisoned Gaias youngest children in Tartarus, deep within Earth, where they caused pain to Gaia. She shaped a great flint-bladed sickle and asked her sons to castrate Uranus, only Cronus, youngest and most ambitious of the Titans, was willing, he ambushed his father and castrated him, casting the severed testicles into the sea. For this fearful deed, Uranus called his sons Titanes Theoi, from the blood that spilled from Uranus onto the Earth came forth the Giants, the Erinyes, the Meliae, and, according to some, the Telchines. From the genitals in the sea came forth Aphrodite, after Uranus was deposed, Cronus re-imprisoned the Hekatonkheires and Cyclopes in Tartarus. Uranus and Gaia then prophesied that Cronus in turn was destined to be overthrown by his own son, zeus, through deception by his mother Rhea, avoided this fate. These ancient myths of distant origins were not expressed in cults among the Hellenes, the function of Uranus was as the vanquished god of an elder time, before real time began. After his castration, the Sky came no more to cover the Earth at night, but held to its place, Uranus was scarcely regarded as anthropomorphic, aside from the genitalia in the castration myth. He was simply the sky, which was conceived by the ancients as a dome or roof of bronze. Olympus is almost always used of, but ouranos often refers to the sky above us without any suggestion that the gods
Uranus (mythology)
–
Aion -Uranus with
Terra (Greek
Gaia) on
mosaic
Uranus (mythology)
–
The Mutilation of Uranus by Saturn: fresco by
Giorgio Vasari and
Cristofano Gherardi, c. 1560 (Sala di Cosimo I,
Palazzo Vecchio)
14.
Gaia (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Gaia, also spelled Gaea, is the personification of the Earth and one of the Greek primordial deities. Gaia is the mother of all life, the primal Mother Earth goddess. She is the parent of Uranus, from whose sexual union she bore the Titans and the Giants. Her equivalent in the Roman pantheon was Terra, the Greek word γαῖα is a collateral form of γῆ meaning Earth, a word of uncertain origin. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek origin, in Mycenean Greek Ma-ka also contains the root ga-. Gaia is the personification of the Earth and these are her offspring as related in various myths, some are related consistently, some are mentioned only in minor variants of myths, and others are related in variants that are considered to reflect a confusion of the subject or association. *Some said that those marked with a * were born from Uranus blood when Cronus castrated him, hesiods Theogony tells how, after Chaos, wide-bosomed Gaia arose to be the everlasting seat of the immortals who possess Olympus above, and the depths of Tartarus below. He then tells that Gaia brought forth her equal Uranus to cover her on every side, Gaia also bore the hills, and Pontus, without sweet union of love. After them was born Cronos the wily, youngest and most terrible of her children, as each of the Cyclopes and Hecatonchires were born, Uranus hid them in a secret place within Gaia, causing her great pain. She created a grey flint sickle, and Cronus used the sickle to castrate his father Uranus as he approached Gaia to have sex with her. From Uranus spilled blood, Gaia produced the Erinyes, the Giants, from the testicles of Uranus in the sea came forth Aphrodite. By her son Pontus, Gaia bore the sea-deities Nereus, Thaumas, Phorcys, Ceto, and Eurybia. Because Cronus had learned from Gaia and Uranus that he was destined to be overthrown by one of his children, but when Rhea was pregnant with her youngest child, Zeus, she sought help from Gaia and Uranus. When Zeus was born, Rhea gave Cronus a stone wrapped in swaddling-clothes in his place, which Cronus swallowed, with the help of Gaias advice, Zeus defeated the Titans. But afterwards, Gaia, in union with Tartarus, bore the youngest of her sons Typhon, according to Hyginus, Earth, along with Heaven and Sea were the children of Aether and Day. According to Apollodorus, Gaia and Tartarus were the parents of Echidna, Zeus hid Elara, one of his lovers, from Hera by stowing her under the earth. His son by Elara, the giant Tityos, is sometimes said to be a son of Gaia. Gaia is believed by some sources to be the deity behind the Oracle at Delphi
Gaia (mythology)
–
Gaia, by
Anselm Feuerbach (1875)
Gaia (mythology)
–
Gaia hands her newborn, Erichthonius, to
Athena as Hephaestus watches - an Attic
red-figure stamnos, 470–460 BC
Gaia (mythology)
–
Aion and Gaia with four children, perhaps the personified seasons, mosaic from a Roman villa in
Sentinum, first half of the third century BC, (
Munich Glyptothek, Inv. W504)
15.
Titan (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, the Titans and Titanesses were members of the second generation of divine beings, descending from the primordial deities and preceding the Olympian deities. Based on Mount Othrys, the Titans most famously included the first twelve children of the primordial Gaia and they were giant deities of incredible strength, who ruled during the legendary Golden Age, and also comprised the first pantheon of Greek deities. The first twelve Titans comprised the females Mnemosyne, Tethys, Theia, Phoebe, Rhea, and Themis and the males Oceanus, Hyperion, Coeus, Cronus, Crius, like Cronus overthrowing his father Uranus, the Titans were overthrown by Cronus children, in the Titanomachy. The Greeks may have borrowed this mytheme from the Ancient Near East, Greeks of the classical age knew of several poems about the war between the Olympians and Titans. The dominant one, and the one that has survived, was in the Theogony attributed to Hesiod. A lost epic, Titanomachia was mentioned in passing in an essay On Music that was attributed to Plutarch. The Titans also played a prominent role in the poems attributed to Orpheus, although only scraps of the Orphic narratives survive, they show interesting differences with the Hesiodic tradition. Sometimes the elders are supplanted, and sometimes the rebels lose and are either cast out of power entirely or incorporated into the pantheon, the Titanomachy lasted for ten years. The Titans were imprisoned in Tartarus after the war had ended, Tartarus is the deepest spot known in the Underworld, where the most evil beings would be cast into to be tortured for all eternity. Hesiod does not have the last word on the Titans, surviving fragments of poetry ascribed to Orpheus preserve some variations on the myth. In such text, Zeus does not simply set upon his father violently, instead, Rhea spreads out a banquet for Cronus so that he becomes drunk upon fermented honey. Rather than being consigned to Tartarus, Cronus is dragged—still drunk—to the cave of Nyx, another myth concerning the Titans that is not in Hesiod revolves around Dionysus. At some point in his reign, Zeus decides to give up the throne in favor of the infant Dionysus, who like the infant Zeus, is guarded by the Kouretes. The Titans decide to slay the child and claim the throne for themselves, they paint their faces white with gypsum, distract Dionysus with toys, then him and boil. Zeus, enraged, slays the Titans with his thunderbolt, Athena preserves the heart in a gypsum doll and this story is told by the poets Callimachus and Nonnus, who call this Dionysus Zagreus, and in a number of Orphic texts, which do not. Pindar, Plato, and Oppian refer offhandedly to the Titanic nature of humans, according to them, the body is the titanic part, while soul is the divine part of humans. Other early writers imply that humanity was born out of the malevolent blood shed by the Titans in their war against Zeus, Martin Litchfield West also asserts this in relation to shamanistic initiatory rites of early Greek religious practices. Beekes connects the word with τιτώ, burket, Walter, The Orientalizing Revolution, Near Eastern Influence on Greek Culture in the Early Archaic Age, Harvard University Press,1995
Titan (mythology)
–
Rhea, a Titan daughter of the earth goddess
Gaia, was both sister and wife to
Cronus.
16.
Mnemosyne
–
Mnemosyne, source of the word mnemonic, was the personification of memory in Greek mythology. A Titanide, or Titaness, she was the daughter of the Titans Uranus, zeus and Mnemosyne slept together for nine consecutive nights, thus birthing the nine Muses. Mnemosyne also presided over a pool in Hades, counterpart to the river Lethe, dead souls drank from Lethe so they would not remember their past lives when reincarnated. In Orphism, the initiated were taught to instead drink from the Mnemosyne, the river of memory, for more about the incriptions connection with Orphic poetry, see Zuntz,1971. Although she was categorized as one of the Titans in the Theogony, Titans were hardly worshiped in Ancient Greece, and were thought of as so archaic as to belong to the ancient past. They resembled historical figures more than anything else, later, once written literature overtook the oral recitation of epics, Plato made reference in his Euthydemus to the older tradition of invoking Mnemosyne. The character Socrates prepares to recount a story and says “ὥστ᾽ ἔγωγε, καθάπερ οἱ ποιηταί, δέομαι ἀρχόμενος τῆς διηγήσεως Μούσας τε καὶ Μνημοσύνην ἐπικαλεῖσθαι. ”Which translates to “Consequently, like the poets, I must needs begin my narrative with an invocation of the Muses and Memory”. Aristophanes also harked back to the tradition in his play Lysistrata when a drunken Spartan ambassador invokes her name while prancing around pretending to be a bard from times of yore. Mnemosyne was one of the deities worshiped in the cult of Asclepius that formed in Ancient Greece around the 5th century BC. Asclepius, a Greek hero and god of medicine, was said to have been able to cure maladies, the exact order of the offerings and prayers varied by location, and the supplicant often made an offering to Mnemosyne. After making an offering to Asclepius himself, in some locations, the hope was that a prayer to Mnemosyne would help the supplicant remember any visions had while sleeping there. Titans in popular culture, Mnemosyne Mnemonic Meme Moneta Aeschylus, Persians, edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press,2009, online version at Harvard University Press. Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd.1921. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, caldwell, Richard, Hesiods Theogony, Focus Publishing/R. Hesiod, Theogony, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd.1914. Online version at the Perseus Digital Library, hymn to Hermes, in The Homeric Hymns and Homerica with an English Translation by Hugh G. Evelyn-White, Cambridge, MA. Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd.1914, online version at the Perseus Digital Library
Mnemosyne
–
Mnemosyne (1881), a
Pre-Raphaelite interpretation of the goddess by
Dante Gabriel Rossetti
17.
Oceanus
–
Strictly speaking, Oceanus was the ocean-stream at the Equator in which floated the habitable hemisphere. Thus, the sun rises from the deep-flowing Oceanus in the east, in Greek mythology, this world-ocean was personified as a Titan, the eldest son of Uranus and Gaia. In Hellenistic and Roman mosaics, this Titan was often depicted as having the body of a muscular man with a long beard and horns. In Roman mosaics, such as that from Bardo he might carry a steering-oar, some scholars believe that Oceanus originally represented all bodies of salt water, including the Mediterranean Sea and the Atlantic Ocean, the two largest bodies known to the ancient Greeks. Oceanus consort is his sister Tethys, and from their union came the ocean nymphs, also referred to as the three-thousand Oceanids, and all the rivers of the world, fountains, and lakes. In most variations of this myth, Oceanus also refused to side with Cronus in the revolt against their father. R. S. P. Beekes has suggested a Pre-Greek proto-form *-kay-an-, when Odysseus and Nestor walk together along the shore of the sounding sea they address their prayers to the great Sea-god who girdles the world. It is to Oceanus, not to Poseidon, that their thoughts are directed, Heracles forced Helios to lend him his golden bowl, in order to cross the wide expanse of the Ocean on his trip to the Hesperides. When Oceanus tossed the bowl about, Heracles threatened him and stilled his waves, the journey of Heracles in the sun-bowl upon Oceanus became a favored theme among painters of Attic pottery. Oceanus appears in Hellenic cosmography as well as myth, cartographers continued to represent the encircling equatorial stream much as it had appeared on Achilles shield. Apollonius of Rhodes calls the lower Danube the Keras Okeanoio in Argonautica, accion in the fourth century Gaulish Latin of Rufus Avienus, Ora maritima, was applied to great lakes. At the end of the Okeanos Potamos, is the island of Alba, sacred to the Pelasgian Apollo. Hecateus of Abdera refers to Apollos island from the region of the Hyperboreans and it was on Leuke, in one version of his legend, that the hero Achilles, in a hilly tumulus, was buried. Leto, the Hyperborean goddess, after nine days and nine nights of labour on the island of Delos gave birth to the god of the antique light. Old Romanian folk songs sing of a monastery on a white island with nine priests, nine singers, nine altars. Oceanid Ogyges Rasā Uranus Aeschylus, Persians, edited and translated by Alan H. Sommerstein. Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press,2009, online version at Harvard University Press. Apollodorus, Apollodorus, The Library, with an English Translation by Sir James George Frazer, Cambridge, MA, Harvard University Press, London, William Heinemann Ltd.1921
Oceanus
–
Oceanus in the
Trevi Fountain,
Rome
Oceanus
–
Oceanus, at right, with scaly tail, in the
Gigantomachy of the
Pergamon Altar.
18.
Tethys (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Tethys, was a Titan daughter of Uranus and Gaia, and the wife of her brother the Titan-god Oceanus, and the mother by him of the river gods and the Oceanids. Tethys had no role in Greek mythology, and no established cults. Tethys was one of the Titan offspring of Uranus and Gaia, Hesiod lists her Titan syblings as Oceanus, Coeus, Crius, Hyperion, Iapetus, Theia, Rhea, Themis, Mnemosyne, Phoebe, and Cronus. Tethys married her brother, Oceanus, an enormous river encircling the world, and was, by him, the mother of sons, who were river-gods. According to Hesiod, there were three thousand river-gods, also according to Hesiod, there were three thousand Oceanids. Passages in a section of the Iliad called the Deception of Zeus, suggest the possibility that Homer knew a tradition in which Oceanus and Tethys were the parents of the Titans. Twice Homer has Hera describe the pair as Oceanus, from whom the gods are sprung, however, for M. L. West, these lines suggests a myth in which Oceanus and Tethys are the first parents of the whole race of gods. Tethys played no part in Greek mythology, the only early story concerning Tethys, is what Homer has Hera briefly relate in the Iliads Deception of Zeus passage. Hera relates this while dissembling that she is on her way to visit Oceanus and Tethys, in hopes of reconciling her foster parents, who angry with each other, are no longer having sexual relations. Originally Oceanus consort, at a later time Tethys came to be identified with the sea, in Ovids Metamorphoses, Tethys turns Aesacus into a diving bird. Tethys was sometimes confused with another sea goddess, the sea-nymph Thetis and this possible correspondence between Oceanus and Tethys, and Apsū and Tiamat, has been noticed by several authors, with Tethys name possibly having been derived from that of Tiamat. Representations of Tethys prior to the Roman period are rare, Tethys appears, identified by inscription, as part of an illustration of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis on the early sixth century BC Attic black-figure Erskine dinos by Sophilos. Tethys, accompanied by Eileithyia, the goddess of childbirth, follows close behind Oceanus, Tethys is also conjectured to be represented in a similar illustration of the wedding of Peleus and Thetis depicted on the early sixth century BC Attic black-figure François Vase. Tethys probably also appeared as one of the fighting the Giants in the Gigantomachy frieze of the second century BC Pergamon Altar. Only fragments of the figure remain, a part of a chiton, below Oceanus left arm, the above are the only artistic representations of Tethys known prior to the Roman period. Her identifying attributes are wings sprouting from her forehead, a rudder/oar, and a ketos, a creature from Greek mythology with the head of a dragon and the body of a snake. The earliest of these mosaics, identified as Tethys, decorated a triclinium overlooking a pool, excavated from the House of the Calendar in Antioch, dated to shortly after AD115. Tethys, reclining on the left, with Oceanus reclining on the right, has long hair, a ketos twines around her raised right arm
Tethys (mythology)
–
The goddess Tethys, who may have been a primordial deity of Archaic Greece and who in Classical myths was described as the mother who oversaw the chief rivers of the world known to the Greeks, mid-fourth-century mosaic, Philipopolis (today
Shahba,
Syria), Shahba Museum
Tethys (mythology)
–
Roman mosaic of Tethys from
Antioch,
Turkey
19.
Theia
–
In Greek mythology, Theia, also called Euryphaessa wide-shining, is a Titaness. Her brother/ consort is Hyperion, a Titan and god of the sun, and together they are the parents of Helios, Selene, the name Theia alone means simply goddess or divine, Theia Euryphaessa brings overtones of extent and brightness. Hesiods Theogony gives her an equally primal origin, said to be the eldest daughter of Gaia, robert Graves also relates that later Theia is referred to as the cow-eyed Euryphaessa who gave birth to Helios in myths dating to Classical Antiquity. Theias alternate name Euryphaessa has been adopted for a species of Australian leafhoppers Dayus euryphaessa, Greek mythology in popular culture Smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London
Theia
–
In the frieze of the
Great Altar of Pergamon (Berlin), the goddess who fights at Helios' back is conjectured to be Theia
20.
Themis
–
Themis /ˈθiːmᵻs/ is an ancient Greek Titaness. She is described as of counsel, and is the personification of divine order, fairness, law, natural law. Her symbols are the Scales of Justice, tools used to remain balanced, Themis means divine law rather than human ordinance, literally that which is put in place, from the Greek verb títhēmi, meaning to put. To the ancient Greeks she was originally the organizer of the affairs of humans. Moses Finley remarked of themis, as the word was used by Homer in the 8th century BCE, to evoke the social order of the 10th- and 9th-century Greek Dark Ages, Themis is untranslatable. A gift of the gods and a mark of civilized existence, sometimes it means right custom, proper procedure, social order, Finley adds, There was themis—custom, tradition, folk-ways, mores, whatever we may call it, the enormous power of it is done. The world of Odysseus had a developed sense of what was fitting. The only consort for Themis mentioned in the sources below is Zeus, one of her few children was called Natura, the Greek goddess of the forest. With Zeus she more certainly bore the Horae, those embodiments of the right moment – the rightness of order unfolding in time – and Astraea. First generation, Auxo Carpo Thallo Second generation, Dike Eirene Eunomia Followers of Zeus claimed that it was him that Themis produced the Moirai. Clotho Lachesis Atropos The personification of abstract concepts is characteristic of the Greeks, the ability of the goddess Themis to foresee the future enabled her to become one of the Oracles of Delphi, which in turn led to her establishment as the goddess of divine justice. Some classical representations of Themis showed her holding a sword, believed to represent her ability to cut fact from fiction, Themis built the Oracle at Delphi and was herself oracular. According to another legend, Themis received the Oracle at Delphi from Gaia, when Themis is disregarded, Nemesis brings just and wrathful retribution, thus Themis shared the Nemesion temple at Rhamnous. Themis is not wrathful, she, of the cheeks, was the first to offer Hera a cup when she returned to Olympus distraught over threats from Zeus. Themis presided over the relation between man and woman, the basis of the rightly ordered family, and judges were often referred to as themistopóloi. Such was also the basis for order upon Olympus, even Hera addressed her as Lady Themis. The name of Themis might be substituted for Adrasteia in telling of the birth of Zeus on Crete, Themis was present at Delos to witness the birth of Apollo. According to Ovid, it was Themis rather than Zeus who told Deucalion to throw the bones of his Mother over his shoulder to create a new race of humankind after the deluge
Themis
–
Themis from the Temple of
Nemesis,
Rhamnous, Attica, signed by the sculptor Chairestratos, c. 300 BCE
Themis
–
Statue of Themis,
Chuo University,
Japan.
Themis
–
Statue of Themis, outside the former
Law Courts,
George Street,
Brisbane,
Queensland,
Australia.
21.
Hekatonkheires
–
Their name derives from the Greek ἑκατόν and χείρ, each of them having a hundred hands and fifty heads. Hesiods Theogony reports that the three Hecatoncheires became the guards of the gates of Tartarus, the Hundred-Handed-Ones are giants of great storms and hurricanes. Other accounts make Briareos one of the assailants of Olympus, after his defeat, he was buried under Mount Aetna. According to Hesiod, the Hecatoncheires were children of Gaia and Uranus and they played no known part in cult. They were, Briareos Strong, also called Aegaeon, spelled in Latin as Briareus, gyges or Gyes, possibly Limb or Curved. Soon after they were born, their father Uranus threw them into the depths of Tartarus because he saw them as hideous monsters. The Hecatoncheires remained there, guarded by the dragon Campe, until Zeus rescued them, advised by Rhea that they would serve as allies against Cronus. During the War of the Titans, the Hecatoncheires fought against the Titans, throwing rocks as big as mountains, one hundred at a time, after this, the Hecatoncheires became the guards of Tartarus. Briareos became the son-in-law of Poseidon, who gave him Kymopoliea his daughter to wed, scholia on Apollonius of Rhodes represent Aegaeon as a son of Gaea and Pontos, the Sea, ruling the fabulous Aegaea in Euboea, an enemy of Poseidon and the inventor of warships. In Ovids Metamorphoses and in Philostratus Life of Apollonius of Tyana he is a marine deity, in the Iliad by Homer, translated by Butler, Achilles asks his mother to appeal to Zeus on account of a previous interaction with Briareus, or Aegaeon. In Gargantua and Pantagruel it is mentioned that a waiter needs as many hands as Briareus, the giant is also mentioned in Cervantes Don Quixote, in the famous episode of the windmills. Briareos is mentioned in Book I of John Miltons Paradise Lost alongside Typhon as an analogue to the fallen Satan, Briareos is mentioned in The History of Tom Jones, a Foundling, by Henry Fielding, in a conversation between Tom Jones and Mr. Partridge. In Don Juan, Byron makes a crude joke, musing whether enviable Briareus. Hadst all things multiplied in proportion, in the Magic, The Gathering expansion Theros, based on Greek mythology, there is a card named Hundred-Handed One, a reference to the Hecatonkheires. Kottos, styled as Cottus is mentioned in John Keats Hyperion as a deity in the aftermath of the Titanomachy. Asura Greek mythology in popular culture Hesiods Theogony, 147ff, bibliotheca I.1.1 Ovid, Fasti iv.593 Horace Carminae II.17.14, III.4.69 Karl Kerenyi, Gods of the Greeks, London, Thames and Hudson,1951
Hekatonkheires
–
Etching by Tommaso Piroli after a drawing of
John Flaxman.
22.
Cyclops
–
A cyclops, in Greek mythology and later Roman mythology, was a member of a primordial race of giants, each with a single eye in the center of his forehead. The word cyclops literally means round-eyed or circle-eyed, other accounts were written by the playwright Euripides, poet Theocritus and Roman epic poet Virgil. In Hesiods Theogony, Zeus releases three cyclopes from the pit of Tartarus. They provide Zeus thunderbolt, Hades helmet of invisibility, and Poseidons trident, in a famous episode of Homers Odyssey, the hero Odysseus encounters the cyclops Polyphemus, the son of Poseidon and Thoosa, who lives with his fellow cyclopes in a distant country. The connection between the two groups has been debated in antiquity and by modern scholars and it is upon Homers account that Euripides and Virgil based their accounts of the mythical creatures. Strabo describes another group of seven Lycian cyclopes, also known as Bellyhands because they earned from their handicraft and they had built the walls of Tiryns and perhaps the caverns and the labyrinths near Nauplia, which are called cyclopean. All the other sources of literature about the cyclopes describe the cyclops Polyphemus, various ancient Greek and Roman authors wrote about cyclopes. Hesiod described them as three brothers who were primordial giants. ”However others suggest that Homer’s Polyphemus may have had two eyes and it is pointed out that in the Odyssey when the actual blinding occurs there is a reference to plural brows and lids. It is also noted that the first artistic or graphic depiction of the episode appears on an amphora that was created by the Polyphemos Painter c. 680-650 B. C. and the artist shows the blinding stake has two prongs, as two eyes are being targeted. In the Theogony by Hesiod, the cyclopes – Brontes, Steropes and the bright Arges – were the sons of Uranus and Gaia and brothers of the Hekatonkheires. As such, they were blood-related to the Titan and Olympian gods and they were giants with a single eye in the middle of their forehead and a foul disposition. According to Hesiod, they were strong and stubborn, collectively they eventually became synonyms for brute strength and power, and their name was invoked in connection with massive masonry. They were often pictured at their forge, Uranus, fearing their strength, locked them in Tartarus. Cronus, another son of Uranus and Gaia, later freed the cyclopes, along with the Hekatonkhires, Cronus then placed them back in Tartarus, where they remained, guarded by the female monster Campe, until freed by Zeus. They fashioned thunderbolts for Zeus to use as weapons, and helped him overthrow Cronus, the lightning bolts, which became Zeus main weapons, were forged by all three cyclopes, in that Arges added brightness, Brontes added thunder, and Steropes added lightning. According to a hymn of Callimachus, they were Hephaestus helpers at the forge, the cyclopes were said to have built the cyclopean fortifications at Tiryns and Mycenae in the Peloponnese. The noises proceeding from the heart of volcanoes were attributed to their operations, Euripides only extant comedy is his play Cyclops, which takes place on the island of Sicily near the volcano Mount Etna
Cyclops
–
The Cyclops, gouache and oil by
Odilon Redon, undated (
Kröller-Müller Museum)
Cyclops
–
Polyphemus, by
Johann Heinrich Wilhelm Tischbein, 1802 (Landesmuseum Oldenburg)
Cyclops
–
Statue of a Cyclops at the Natural History Museum in London
Cyclops
–
Syracuse,
Italy, -
Museo archeologico regionale Paolo Orsi - Elephas Falconeri
23.
Erinyes
–
In Greek mythology the Erinyes, also known as the Furies, were female chthonic deities of vengeance, they were sometimes referred to as infernal goddesses. A formulaic oath in the Iliad invokes them as the Erinyes, walter Burkert suggests they are an embodiment of the act of self-cursing contained in the oath. They correspond to the Dirae in Roman mythology, the Roman writer Maurus Servius Honoratus wrote that they are called Eumenides in hell, Furiae on earth, and Dirae in heaven. According to variant accounts, they emerged from a more primordial level—from Nyx. Their number is usually left indeterminate, Virgil, probably working from an Alexandrian source, recognized three, Alecto or Alekto, Megaera, and Tisiphone or Tilphousia, all of whom appear in the Aeneid. Dante Alighieri followed Virgil in depicting the same three-character triptych of Erinyes, the word Erinys in the singular and as a theonym is first attested in Mycenaean Greek, written in Linear B, in the following forms,
Erinyes
–
Orestes at
Delphi flanked by
Athena and
Pylades among the Erinyes and
priestesses of the
oracle, perhaps including
Pythia behind the tripod - Paestan
red-figured bell-krater, c. 330 BC
Erinyes
–
The Remorse of
Orestes, where he is surrounded by the Erinyes, by
William-Adolphe Bouguereau, 1862
24.
Half-siblings
–
A sibling is one of two or more individuals having one or both parents in common. A male sibling is a brother, and a sibling is a sister. In most societies throughout the world, siblings often grow up together, the emotional bond between siblings is often complicated and is influenced by factors such as parental treatment, birth order, personality, and personal experiences outside the family. However, there are cases where siblings grow up in separate homes and it is known that both nature and nurture figure in development, researchers are attempting to ascertain just which one plays the larger role. Identical twins share 100% of their DNA, full siblings are first-degree relatives and, on average, share 50% of their genes out of those that vary among humans. Half-siblings are second-degree relatives and have, on average, a 25% overlap in their genetic variation. Full siblings have the same parents and are 50% related. Identical twins by definition are 100% related, there are two types of twins, identical and fraternal. Identical twins have exactly the same genes, fraternal twins are no more similar than regular siblings, often, twins with a close relationship will develop a twin language from infanthood, a language only shared and understood between the two. Studies suggest that identical twins appear to display more twin talk than fraternal twins, at about 3 years of age, twin talk usually ends. Researchers were interested in subjects who were in the years of life. They knew that past studies suggested that genetics played a role in ones personality in the earlier years of their life. However, they were curious about whether or not this was later on in life. They gathered subjects with an age of 59, who included 99 pairs of identical twins. They also gathered twins who were reared together,160 pairs of identical twins and they studied the most heritable traits in regard to personality, which are emotionality, activity level and sociability, also known as EAS. This study found that identical twins resembled each other twice as much as fraternal twins, furthermore, environment influences personality substantially, however, it has little to do with whether they are reared together or apart. This study also suggests that heritability is substantial, but not as substantial as for younger subjects, half-siblings are people who share one parent but not both. They may share the same mother but different fathers, or they may have the same father and they share only one parent instead of two as full siblings do and are on average 25% related
Half-siblings
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Two brothers
Half-siblings
–
The Benzon Daughters by
Peder Severin Krøyer
Half-siblings
–
Portrait of Lady Cockburn and her Three Eldest Sons, by
Joshua Reynolds
Half-siblings
–
Sibling Physical Conflict
25.
Aphrodite
–
Aphrodite is the Greek goddess of love, beauty, pleasure, and procreation. She is identified with the planet Venus, and her Roman equivalent is the goddess Venus, as with many ancient Greek deities, there is more than one story about her origins. According to Hesiods Theogony, she was born when Cronus cut off Uranuss genitals and threw them into the sea, according to Homers Iliad, she is the daughter of Zeus and Dione. In Plato, these two origins are said to be of hitherto separate entities, Aphrodite Ourania and Aphrodite Pandemos, Aphrodite had many lovers—both gods, such as Ares, and men, such as Anchises. She played a role in the Eros and Psyche legend, and was lover and surrogate mother of Adonis. Many lesser beings were said to be children of Aphrodite, Aphrodite is also known as Cytherea and Cypris after the two cult sites, Cythera and Cyprus, which claimed to be her place of birth. Myrtle, roses, doves, sparrows and swans were sacred to her, the ancient Greeks identified her with the Ancient Egyptian goddess Hathor. Aphrodite had many names such as Acidalia and Cerigo, each used by a different local cult of the goddess in Greece. The Greeks recognized all of these names as referring to the single goddess Aphrodite, despite the differences in what these local cults believed the goddess demanded of them. The Attic philosophers of the 4th century, however, drew a distinction between a celestial Aphrodite of transcendent principles, and a separate, common Aphrodite who was the goddess of the people, hesiod derives Aphrodite from aphrós sea-foam, interpreting the name as risen from the foam. Michael Janda, accepting this as genuine, claims the birth myth as an Indo-European mytheme. Likewise, Witczak proposes an Indo-European compound *abʰor- very and *dʰei- to shine and it has been argued that etymologies based on comparison with Eos are unlikely since Aphrodites attributes are entirely different from those of Eos or the Vedic deity Ushas. A number of improbable non-Greek etymologies have suggested in scholarship. One Semitic etymology compares Aphrodite to the Assyrian barīrītu, the name of a demon that appears in Middle Babylonian. Hammarström looks to Etruscan, comparing prϑni lord, an Etruscan honorific loaned into Greek as πρύτανις and this would make the theonym in origin an honorific, the lady. Hjalmar Frisk and Robert Beekes reject this etymology as implausible, especially since Aphrodite actually appears in Etruscan in the borrowed form Apru, the medieval Etymologicum Magnum offers a highly contrived etymology, deriving Aphrodite from the compound habrodíaitos, she who lives delicately, from habrós and díaita. The alteration from b to ph is explained as a characteristic of Greek obvious from the Macedonians. Aphrodite is usually said to have been born near her chief center of worship, Paphos, on the island of Cyprus, however, other versions of her myth have her born near the island of Cythera, hence another of her names, Cytherea
Aphrodite
–
Aphrodite Pudica (Roman copy of 2nd century AD),
National Archaeological Museum, Athens
Aphrodite
–
Petra tou Romiou ("The rock of the
Greek "), Aphrodite's legendary birthplace in
Paphos, Cyprus.
Aphrodite
–
The Birth of Venus by
Sandro Botticelli, circa 1485.
Aphrodite
–
Venus and Adonis by
Titian, circa 1554.
26.
Typhon
–
Typhon, also Typhoeus, Typhaon or Typhos, was a monstrous giant and the most deadly creature in Greek mythology. Typhon was the last son of Gaia, and was fathered by Tartarus, Typhon and his mate Echidna were the progenitors of many famous monsters. The mythographer Apollodorus adds that Gaia bore Typhon in anger at the gods for their destruction of her offspring the Giants, numerous other sources mention Typhon as being the offspring of Gaia, or simply earth-born, with no mention of Tartarus. However, according to the Homeric Hymn to Apollo, Typhon was the child of Hera alone. Hera, angry at Zeus for having given birth to Athena by himself, prayed to Gaia to give her a son as strong as Zeus, then slapped the ground and became pregnant. Hera gave the infant Typhon to the serpent Python to raise, several sources locate Typhons birth and dwelling place in Cilicia, and in particular the region in the vicinity of the ancient Cilician coastal city of Corycus. The poet Pindar calls Typhon Cilician, and says that Typhon was born in Cilicia and nurtured in the famous Cilician cave, in Aeschylus Prometheus Bound, Typhon is called the dweller of the Cilician caves, and both Apollodorus and the poet Nonnus have Typhon born in Cilicia. The b scholia to Iliad 2.783, preserving a possible Orphic tradition, has Typhon born in Cilicia, Gaia, angry at the destruction of the Giants, slanders Zeus to Hera. So Hera goes to Zeus father Cronus and Cronus gives Hera two eggs smeared with his own semen, telling her to them, and that from them would be born one who would overthrow Zeus. Hera, angry at Zeus, buries the eggs in Cilicia under Arimon, the Homeric Hymn to Apollo describes Typhon as fell and cruel, and neither like gods nor men. Three of Pindars poems have Typhon as hundred-headed, while apparently a fourth gives him only fifty heads, a Chalcidian hydria, depicts Typhon as a winged humanoid from the waist up, with two snake tails below. For Nicander, Typhon was a monster of enormous strength, and strange appearance, with heads, hands, and wings. As far as the thighs he was of human shape and of such prodigious bulk that he out-topped all the mountains, one of his hands reached out to the west and the other to the east, and from them projected a hundred dragons heads. From the thighs downward he had huge coils of vipers, which when drawn out, reached to his very head and his body was all winged, unkempt hair streamed on the wind from his head and cheeks, and fire flashed from his eyes. The most elaborate description of Typhon is found in Nonnuss Dionysiaca, Nonnus makes numerous references to Typhons serpentine nature, giving him a tangled army of snakes, snaky feet, and hair. Nonnus also gives Typhon legions of arms innumerable, and where Nicander had only said that Typhon had many hands, according to Hesiods Theogony, Typhon was joined in love to Echidna, a monstrous half-woman and half-snake, who bore Typhon fierce offspring. The Theogony next mentions an ambiguous she, which refer to Echidna. The lyric poet Lasus of Hermione adds the Sphinx, later authors mostly retain these offspring of Typhon by Echidna, while adding others
Typhon
–
Zeus throwing his thunderbolt at Typhon, Chalcidian black-figured
hydria, c. 550 BC,
Staatliche Antikensammlungen (Inv. 596)
Typhon
–
Depiction by
Wenceslas Hollar
27.
Python (mythology)
–
In Greek mythology, Python was the serpent, sometimes represented as a dragon, living at the centre of the earth, believed by the ancient Greeks to be at Delphi. Python, sometimes written Phython, presided at the Delphic oracle, Greeks considered the site to be the centre of the earth, represented by a stone, the omphalos or navel, which Python guarded. Python became the enemy of the later Olympian deity Apollo. These were the most famous and revered in the ancient Greek, there are various versions of Pythons birth and death at the hands of Apollo. Robert Graves, who habitually read into primitive myths a retelling of archaic political and social turmoil, saw in this the capturing by Hellenes of a pre-Hellenic shrine. To placate local opinion at Delphi, he wrote in The Greek Myths, regular games were instituted in honour of the dead hero Python. Erwin Rohde wrote that the Python was a spirit, who was conquered by Apollo, and buried under the Omphalos. Actually became an Apollonian serpent, and Pythia, the priestess who gave oracles at Delphi, was named after him. Many pictures show the serpent Python living in amity with Apollo and guarding the Omphalos, the sacred navel-stone and mid-point of the earth, which stood in Apollos temple. This myth has been described as an allegory for the dispersal of the fogs and clouds of vapor which arise from ponds, Apollo Belvedere Delphi Dragons in Greek mythology Pythia Serpent Saint George and the Dragon Metaphor of the sun Burkert, Walter, Greek Religion 1985. Deane, John Bathurst, The Worship of the Serpent,1833, farnell, Lewis Richard, The Cults of the Greek States,1896. Fontenrose, Joseph Eddy, Python, a study of Delphic myth, guthrie, William Keith Chambers, The Greeks and their Gods,1955. Hall, Manly Palmer, The Secret Teachings of All Ages,1928, ch.14 cf. Greek Oracles, www, PRS Harrison, Jane Ellen, Themis, A Study of the Social Origins of Greek Religion,1912. Cf. Chapter IX, p.329 especially, on the slaying of the Python, the Gods of the Greeks especially pp 135–6. Homeric Hymn to Pythian Apollo Rohde, Erwin, Psyche,1925, smith, William, Dictionary of Greek and Roman Biography and Mythology, London
Python (mythology)
–
Apollo killing Python. A 1581 engraving by
Virgil Solis for
Ovid 's
Metamorphoses, Book I.
Python (mythology)
–
Sculpture by Pietro Francavilla of Apollo's first triumph, when he slew with his bow and arrows the serpent Python, which lies dead at his feet. The Walters Art Museum.
28.
Saturn (mythology)
–
Saturn is a god in ancient Roman religion, and a character in myth. Saturn is a complex figure because of his associations and long history. In later developments he came to be also a god of time and his reign was depicted as a Golden Age of plenty and peace. The Temple of Saturn in the Roman Forum housed the state treasury, in December, he was celebrated at what is perhaps the most famous of the Roman festivals, the Saturnalia, a time of feasting, role reversals, free speech, gift-giving and revelry. Saturn the planet and Saturday are both named after the god, the Roman soil preserved the remembrance of a very remote time during which Saturn and Janus reigned on the site of the city before its foundation, the Capitol was named mons Saturnius. The Romans identified Saturn with the Greek Cronus, whose myths were adapted for Latin literature, in particular, Cronuss role in the genealogy of the Greek gods was transferred to Saturn. As early as Livius Andronicus, Jupiter was called the son of Saturn, Saturn had two consorts who represented different aspects of the god. The name of his wife Ops, the Roman equivalent of Greek Rhea, means wealth, abundance, the association with Ops though is considered a later development, as this goddess was originally paired with Consus. Earlier was Saturns association with Lua, a goddess who received the weapons of enemies destroyed in war. Under Saturns rule, humans enjoyed the spontaneous bounty of the earth without labour in the Golden Age described by Hesiod, according to Varro, Saturns name was derived from satu, meaning sowing. Even though this etymology looks implausible on linguistic grounds nevertheless it does reflect a feature of the god. A more probable etymology connects the name with Etruscan god Satre and placenames such as Satria, an ancient town of Latium, and Saturae palus and this root may be related to Latin phytonym satureia. Another epithet, variably Sterculius, Stercutus, and Sterces, referred to his agricultural functions, agriculture was important to Roman identity, and Saturn was a part of archaic Roman religion and ethnic identity. His name appears in the ancient hymn of the Salian priests, the temple was consecrated in 497 BC but the area Saturni was built by king Tullus Hostilius as confirmed by archaeological studies conducted by E. Gjerstad. It housed the state treasury throughout Roman history, the position of Saturns festival in the Roman calendar led to his association with concepts of time, especially the temporal transition of the New Year. In the Greek tradition, Cronus was sometimes conflated with Chronus, Time, in late antiquity, Saturn is syncretized with a number of deities, and begins to be depicted as winged, as is Kairos, Timing, Right Time. The figure of Saturn is one of the most complex in Roman religion, G. Dumézil refrained from discussing Saturn in his work on Roman religion on the grounds of our insufficient knowledge. Brelich and G. Piccaluga as his basis, the main difficulty scholars find in studying Saturn is in assessing what is original of his figure and what is due to later hellenising influences
Saturn (mythology)
–
16th-century engraving of Saturnus
Saturn (mythology)
–
Ruins of the Temple of Saturn (eight columns to the far right) in February 2010, with three columns from the
Temple of Vespasian and Titus (left) and the
Arch of Septimius Severus (center)
Saturn (mythology)
–
Relief held by the
Louvre thought to depict the veiled throne of Saturn, either a Roman work of the 1st century AD or a Renaissance copy
Saturn (mythology)
–
Alatri's main gate of the cyclopical walls
29.
Greek mythology
–
It was a part of the religion in ancient Greece. Greek mythology is explicitly embodied in a collection of narratives. Greek myth attempts to explain the origins of the world, and details the lives and adventures of a variety of gods, goddesses, heroes, heroines. These accounts initially were disseminated in a tradition, today the Greek myths are known primarily from ancient Greek literature. The oldest known Greek literary sources, Homers epic poems Iliad and Odyssey, focus on the Trojan War, archaeological findings provide a principal source of detail about Greek mythology, with gods and heroes featured prominently in the decoration of many artifacts. Geometric designs on pottery of the eighth century BC depict scenes from the Trojan cycle as well as the adventures of Heracles, in the succeeding Archaic, Classical, and Hellenistic periods, Homeric and various other mythological scenes appear, supplementing the existing literary evidence. Greek mythology has had an influence on the culture, arts. Poets and artists from ancient times to the present have derived inspiration from Greek mythology and have discovered contemporary significance and relevance in the themes, Greek mythology is known today primarily from Greek literature and representations on visual media dating from the Geometric period from c. Mythical narration plays an important role in every genre of Greek literature. Nevertheless, the only general mythographical handbook to survive from Greek antiquity was the Library of Pseudo-Apollodorus and this work attempts to reconcile the contradictory tales of the poets and provides a grand summary of traditional Greek mythology and heroic legends. Apollodorus of Athens lived from c, 180–125 BC and wrote on many of these topics. His writings may have formed the basis for the collection, however the Library discusses events that occurred long after his death, among the earliest literary sources are Homers two epic poems, the Iliad and the Odyssey. Other poets completed the cycle, but these later and lesser poems now are lost almost entirely. Despite their traditional name, the Homeric Hymns have no connection with Homer. They are choral hymns from the part of the so-called Lyric age. Hesiods Works and Days, a poem about farming life, also includes the myths of Prometheus, Pandora. The poet gives advice on the best way to succeed in a dangerous world, lyrical poets often took their subjects from myth, but their treatment became gradually less narrative and more allusive. Greek lyric poets, including Pindar, Bacchylides and Simonides, and bucolic poets such as Theocritus and Bion, additionally, myth was central to classical Athenian drama
Greek mythology
–
Bust of
Zeus,
Otricoli (Sala Rotonda,
Museo Pio-Clementino,
Vatican).
Greek mythology
–
Greek Mythology
Greek mythology
–
Prometheus (1868 by
Gustave Moreau). The myth of Prometheus first was attested by
Hesiod and then constituted the basis for a tragic trilogy of plays, possibly by Aeschylus, consisting of
Prometheus Bound,
Prometheus Unbound, and
Prometheus Pyrphoros.
Greek mythology
–
The Roman poet
Virgil, here depicted in the fifth-century manuscript, the
Vergilius Romanus, preserved details of Greek mythology in many of his writings.
30.
Greek language
–
Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages, native to Greece and other parts of the Eastern Mediterranean. It has the longest documented history of any living language, spanning 34 centuries of written records and its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the major part of its history, other systems, such as Linear B and the Cypriot syllabary, were used previously. The alphabet arose from the Phoenician script and was in turn the basis of the Latin, Cyrillic, Armenian, Coptic, Gothic and many other writing systems. Together with the Latin texts and traditions of the Roman world, during antiquity, Greek was a widely spoken lingua franca in the Mediterranean world and many places beyond. It would eventually become the official parlance of the Byzantine Empire, the language is spoken by at least 13.2 million people today in Greece, Cyprus, Italy, Albania, Turkey, and the Greek diaspora. Greek roots are used to coin new words for other languages, Greek. Greek has been spoken in the Balkan peninsula since around the 3rd millennium BC, the earliest written evidence is a Linear B clay tablet found in Messenia that dates to between 1450 and 1350 BC, making Greek the worlds oldest recorded living language. Among the Indo-European languages, its date of earliest written attestation is matched only by the now extinct Anatolian languages, the Greek language is conventionally divided into the following periods, Proto-Greek, the unrecorded but assumed last ancestor of all known varieties of Greek. The unity of Proto-Greek would have ended as Hellenic migrants entered the Greek peninsula sometime in the Neolithic era or the Bronze Age, Mycenaean Greek, the language of the Mycenaean civilisation. It is recorded in the Linear B script on tablets dating from the 15th century BC onwards, Ancient Greek, in its various dialects, the language of the Archaic and Classical periods of the ancient Greek civilisation. It was widely known throughout the Roman Empire, after the Roman conquest of Greece, an unofficial bilingualism of Greek and Latin was established in the city of Rome and Koine Greek became a first or second language in the Roman Empire. The origin of Christianity can also be traced through Koine Greek, Medieval Greek, also known as Byzantine Greek, the continuation of Koine Greek in Byzantine Greece, up to the demise of the Byzantine Empire in the 15th century. Much of the written Greek that was used as the language of the Byzantine Empire was an eclectic middle-ground variety based on the tradition of written Koine. Modern Greek, Stemming from Medieval Greek, Modern Greek usages can be traced in the Byzantine period and it is the language used by the modern Greeks, and, apart from Standard Modern Greek, there are several dialects of it. In the modern era, the Greek language entered a state of diglossia, the historical unity and continuing identity between the various stages of the Greek language is often emphasised. Greek speakers today still tend to regard literary works of ancient Greek as part of their own rather than a foreign language and it is also often stated that the historical changes have been relatively slight compared with some other languages. According to one estimation, Homeric Greek is probably closer to demotic than 12-century Middle English is to modern spoken English, Greek is spoken by about 13 million people, mainly in Greece, Albania and Cyprus, but also worldwide by the large Greek diaspora. Greek is the language of Greece, where it is spoken by almost the entire population
Greek language
–
Idealized portrayal of
Homer
Greek language
–
regions where Greek is the official language
Greek language
–
Greek language road sign, A27 Motorway, Greece
