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Myths e. Ancient myths and legends of the peoples of the world. The source of the myths of ancient Greece

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We're sure many of you still believe in unicorns. It seems wonderful to imagine that they do exist somewhere, and we just haven't found them yet. However, even the myth of such a magical creature has a very prosaic and even somewhat frightening explanation.

If it seems to you that site is very skeptical and no longer believes in magic, then at the end of the article a real miracle awaits you!

Great flood

Scientists believe that the legend of the Great Flood was based on the memory of major flood, the epicenter of which was Mesopotamia. At the beginning of the last century, during the excavations of the tombs of Ur, a layer of clay was found, which separated two cultural layers. Only a catastrophic flood of the Tigris and Euphrates could lead to the appearance of such a phenomenon.

According to other estimates, for 10-15 thousand years BC. e. an incredible flood happened in the Caspian Sea, which spilled over an area of about 1 million square meters. km. The version was confirmed after the discovery by scientists on the territory of Western Siberia of sea shells, the nearest distribution area of which is in the Caspian Sea zone. This flood was so powerful that the place of the Bosphorus there was a huge waterfall, through which about 40 cubic meters were poured per day. km of water (200 times the volume of water passing through Niagara Falls). The flow of such power was at least 300 days.

This version seems insane, but in this case it is impossible to accuse the ancient people of exaggerating events!

Giants

In modern Ireland, legends are still being told about people of gigantic stature who can create an island by simply throwing a handful of land into the sea. Endocrinologist Martha Korbonitz came up with the idea that ancient traditions may have a scientific basis. Incredibly, the researchers found what they were looking for. A huge number of Irish residents have mutations in the AIP gene... It was these mutations that caused the development of acromegaly and gigantism. If in Great Britain the carrier of the mutation is 1 in 2,000 people, then in the province of Mid-Ulster - every 150th.

One of the famous Irish giants was Charles Byrne (1761-1783), his height was over 230 cm.

Legends, of course, endow the giants with tremendous power, but in fact, not everything is so rosy. People with acromegaly and gigantism often suffer from cardiovascular disease, vision problems and frequent joint pain. Without treatment, many giants may not live to see their 30s.

Werewolves

The legend of the werewolves has several origins at once. Firstly, the life of people has always been associated with the forest. From the deepest antiquity, rock carvings of hybrids of people and animals have come down to us. People wanted to be stronger, they chose a totem animal and wore its skin... On the basis of these beliefs, drugs also worked, which the warriors took before the battle and imagined themselves to be invincible wolves.

Secondly, belief in the existence of werewolves was also supported by the presence in humans of such a genetic disease as hypertrichosis- profuse growth of hair on the body and face, which is called "werewolf syndrome." Only in 1963 did the doctor Lee Illis give the disease a medical justification. In addition to a genetic disease, there was also a mental one, known as lycanthropy, during the attacks of which people lose their minds and lose their human qualities, considering themselves wolves. In addition, there is an exacerbation of the disease in certain lunar phases.

By the way, the wolf from the world famous "Little Red Riding Hood", according to, was none other than a werewolf. And he did not eat his grandmother, but fed it to his granddaughter.

Vampires

The theory of the connection between the bones of dinosaurs and dragons finds its confirmation in Mongolia. There, the word "dragon" is present in various place names. This is due to the fact that in some areas of the Gobi Desert dinosaur bones can easily be found by anyone, because they lie on the surface of the earth's layers... There are many of them even now, so much so that all the time excavations are being carried out illegally.
An important detail: in Africa, there are no such myths, as well as access to the remains of dinosaurs.

However, why do dragons appear in the human mind in the form of reptiles, with scales and claws? This question is explained by the observation of people. The external appearance of the skeleton is similar to the bones of modern lizards., snakes, crocodiles. They enlarged these animals many times - and the result was a dragon. And, by the way, it is in lizards and snakes that sometimes not one, but two heads are formed, just like some fabulous dragons.

Centaurs

The image of the centaur was known as early as the 2nd millennium BC. e. Presumably it originated in Greece as the fruit of the imagination of representatives of civilized, but not yet familiar with riding peoples, who first encountered the horsemen of some northern nomadic tribes: Scythians, Kassites or Taurians. This explains the fierce nature of the centaurs. The nomads really lived in the saddle, skillfully shot from a bow and galloped very quickly. The hyperbolized fear of a farmer who first saw a man so skillfully riding in a saddle could well turn into a story about a hybrid of a man and a horse.

According to an ancient Greek legend, under the palace of King Minos there was a huge labyrinth in which a formidable monster, a half-bull-half-human Minotaur, was imprisoned. The lust for blood torments the monster so much that its roar shakes the earth.

The island of Crete, where the monster lived, is very interesting for its seismic activity. Part of the island is on a continent called Aegean plate and the other part is on oceanic Nubian plate, which moves directly under the island. This geological phenomenon is called the subduction zone. It is in these zones that there is an increased risk of earthquakes. In Crete, the situation is aggravated by the fact that the African plate presses on the oceanic Nubian plate (and you can imagine how huge it is), and a phenomenal thing happens: under the interaction of the plates, the island is simply pushed to the surface. Since the inception of civilization, Crete has experienced several such rises, some of them as much as 9 meters. It is not surprising that the ancient people thought that a furious monster lived in the depths, because each earthquake was accompanied by terrible destruction.

Cyclops

In ancient Greek mythology, cyclops are groups of characters, in different versions they are divine beings (children of Gaia and Uranus) or a separate people. The most prominent representative was the son of Poseidon Polyphemus, whom Odysseus deprived of his only eye. The Scythian people of the Arimasps were also considered one-eyed.

As for the scientific substantiation of these myths, then in 1914 the paleontologist Otenio Abel suggested that the finds in antiquity of the skulls of dwarf elephants caused the birth of the myth of the cyclops, since the central nasal opening can easily be mistaken for a giant eye socket... It is curious that these elephants were found precisely on the Mediterranean islands of Cyprus, Malta, Crete.

Sodom and Gomorrah

We don't know about you, but we have always thought that Sodom and Gomorrah are a very large-scale myth and rather a kind of personification of vicious cities. However, this is a completely historical fact.

For a decade, an ancient city has been excavated at Tell el-Hammam in Jordan. Archaeologists believe they have found the biblical Sodom... The approximate location of the city was always known - the Bible described the "Sodom Pentapolis" in the Jordan Valley. However, its exact location has always raised questions.

In 2006, excavations began, and scientists found a large ancient settlement surrounded by a powerful rampart. According to researchers, people lived here between 3500 and 1540 BC. e. There is no other version of the name of the city, otherwise the mention of such a large settlement would have remained in written sources.

Kraken

The Kraken is a legendary mythical sea monster of gigantic proportions, a cephalopod mollusk, known from the descriptions of sailors. The first extensive description was made by Eric Pontoppidan - he wrote that the kraken is an animal "the size of a floating island." According to him, the monster is able to grab a large ship with its tentacles and drag it to the bottom, but the whirlpool that occurs when the kraken quickly sinks to the bottom is much more dangerous. It turns out that a sad end is inevitable - both in the case when the monster attacks, and when he escapes from you. Really creepy!

The rationale for the "creepy monster" myth is simple: giant squids exist to this day and reach 16 meters in length.

When it comes to unicorns, we immediately think of a graceful creature with a rainbow horn in its forehead. Interestingly, they are found in the legends and myths of many cultures. The earliest images are found in India and are over 4,000 years old. Later, the myth spread throughout the continent and reached Ancient Rome, where they were considered absolutely real animals.

The main "candidate" for the role of the prototype of the unicorn is Elasmotherium - rhinos of the steppes of Eurasia, inhabited during the ice age... Elasmotherium somewhat resembled a horse (albeit at a stretch) with an extremely long horn in its forehead. It became extinct at the same time as the main megafauna. However, according to the materials of the Swedish Encyclopedia and the arguments of the researcher Willie Leigh, individual representatives could have existed for a long enough time to get into legends.

Bonus: the path of Moses

Surely each of us has heard about a story from the Bible, which tells how the sea parted in front of Moses. But few people know that such a phenomenon can be seen near Jindo Island in South Korea. Here the waters between the islands part for an hour, opening a wide and long road! Scientists attribute this miracle to the time difference between ebb and flow.

Of course, many tourists come there - in addition to simple walks, they have the opportunity to see the sea inhabitants who remained on the land that opened up. The amazing thing about the Moses Trail is that it leads from the mainland to the island.

A long time ago - so long ago that even time then flowed in the opposite direction, the ancient Hellenes lived on the Balkan Peninsula, who left the peoples of the whole world with a rich heritage. These are not only magnificent buildings, beautiful antique wall paintings and marble statues, but also great works of literature, as well as, which have come down to our days, ancient legends - the myths of Ancient Greece, which reflect the idea of the ancient Greeks about the structure of the world and, in general, about all processes occurring in nature and in society. In a word, their worldview and worldview.

Greek mythology has evolved over several centuries, passed from mouth to mouth, from generation to generation. Myths have reached us already in the poetry of Hesiod and, as well as in the works of the Greek playwrights Aeschylus, and others. This is why they had to be collected from a variety of sources.

Mythographers appeared in Greece around the 4th century BC. These include the sophist Hippias, as well as Heraclitus of Pontic and many others. For example, Dionysius Samoisky compiled genealogical tables and studied tragic myths.

In the heroic period, mythological images are centralized around the myths associated with the legendary Mount Olympus.

According to the myths of Ancient Greece, you can recreate the picture of the world in the representation of its ancient inhabitants. So, according to Greek mythology, the world was inhabited by monsters and giants: giants, one-eyed cyclops (Cyclops) and mighty Titans - formidable children of Earth (Gaia) and Heaven (Uranus). In these images, the Greeks personified the elemental forces of nature, which were conquered by Zeus (Diaz) - the Thunderer and the Thunderbolt, who established order in the world and became the ruler of the Universe.

Jean-Baptiste Moses
Jean Auguste Dominique Ingres

In the beginning, there was only eternal, boundless, dark Chaos , which contained the source of the life of the world: everything arose from Chaos - the whole world, and the immortal gods, and the goddess Earth - Gaia, giving life to everything that lives and grows on it; and the mighty force that animates everything, Love - Eros.

Deep underground, gloomy Tartarus was born - a terrible abyss full of eternal darkness.

Creating the world, Chaos gave birth to the Eternal Darkness - Erebus and the dark Night - Nikta. And from the Night and Darkness came the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful bright Day - Hemera (Imera). The light spread throughout the world, and night and day began to replace each other.

Mighty, blessed Gaia gave birth to the boundless blue Sky - Uranus, which spread over the Earth, reigning in the whole world. The high Mountains, born of the Earth, proudly ascended to him, and the eternally rustling Sea spread wide.

After Heaven, Mountains and Sea originated from Mother Earth, Uranus took the blessed Gaia as his wife, from whom he had six sons - powerful, formidable titans - and six daughters. The son of Uranus and Gaia - the titan Ocean, flowing around like a boundless river, the whole earth, and the goddess Thetis gave birth to all the rivers that rolled their waves to the sea, as well as sea goddesses - oceanids. Titan Hiperion and Theia gave the world the Sun - Helios, the Moon - Selena and the ruddy Dawn - rosy-finned Eos. From Astrea and Eos came all the stars that burn in the night sky, and all the winds: the north wind - Boreas (Βορριάς), the east - Evrus (Εύρος), the southern Note (Νοτιάς) and the western, gentle wind Zephyr (Ζέφυρος), carrying abundant rain clouds.

Noelle Coypel

In addition to the titans, the mighty Earth gave birth to three giants - cyclops with one eye in their forehead - and three fifty-headed hundred-handed giants - Hecatoncheires, against whom nothing could resist, because their elemental strength knew no limit.

Uranus hated his giant children and imprisoned them in the bowels of the Earth, not allowing them to come out into the light. Mother Earth suffered from the fact that she was crushed by a terrible burden, enclosed in the depths of her bowels. Then she summoned her children, the Titans, to persuade them to rebel against Uranus. However, the titans were afraid to raise a hand against their father. Only the youngest of them, the insidious Kronos, by cunning overthrew Uranus, taking away his power.

In punishment to Kronos, the goddess Night gave birth to Thanat - death, Erida - discord, Apatu - deception, Ker - destruction, Hypnos - a dream with nightmarish visions, Nemesis - revenge for crimes - and many other gods who brought into the world Kronos, who reigned on the throne of his father , horror, strife, deception, strife and misfortune.

Kronos himself did not have confidence in the strength and durability of his power: he was afraid that his children would rebel against him and he would suffer the fate of his own father Uranus. In this regard, Kronos ordered his wife Rhea to bring him children who were born, five of which he mercilessly swallowed: Hestia, Demeter, Hera, Hades and Poseidon.

Noelle Coypel
Charles William Mitchell

Rhea, in order not to lose her last child, on the advice of her parents, Uranus-Heaven and Gaia-Earth, retired to the island of Crete, where she gave birth to her youngest son Zeus in a deep cave. Hiding the newborn in a cave, Rhea let the cruel Kronos swallow a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes instead of his son. Kronos did not even suspect that he was deceived by his wife, while Zeus grew up in Crete under the supervision of the nymphs Adrasteia and Idea, who fed him with the milk of the divine goat Amalfea. Bees carried honey to little Zeus from the slopes of the high mountain of Dikta, and at the entrance to the cave, young kuretas hit their shields with swords whenever little Zeus cried so that the all-powerful Kronos would not inadvertently hear his cry.

The Titans were replaced by the kingdom of Zeus, who defeated his father Kronos and became the supreme deity of the Olympic pantheon; the lord of the heavenly forces, commanding thunder, lightning, clouds and showers. Dominating the universe, Zeus gave people laws and kept order.

In the view of the ancient Greeks, the Olympian gods were like people and the relationship between them resembled the relationship between people: they quarreled and reconciled, envied and interfered in people's lives, took offense, took part in wars, rejoiced, had fun and fell in love. Each of the gods had a specific occupation, being responsible for a specific area of life:

Zeus (Diaz) is the ruler of the sky, the father of gods and people.
Hera (Ira) is the wife of Zeus, the patroness of the family.
Poseidon is the lord of the seas.
Hestia (Estia) is the protector of the family hearth.
Demeter (Dimitra) - the goddess of agriculture.
Apollo is the god of light and music.
Athena is the goddess of wisdom.
Hermes (Ermis) - god of trade and messenger of the gods.
Hephaestus (Ifestos) is the god of fire.
Aphrodite is the goddess of beauty.
Ares (Aris) is the god of war.
Artemis is the goddess of the hunt.

People on earth turned to the gods - to each according to his "specialty", erected temples for them and, in order to propitiate them, brought gifts as sacrifices.

The beginning of the world

Once upon a time, there was nothing in the Universe but dark and gloomy Chaos. And then the Earth appeared from Chaos - the goddess Gaia, powerful and beautiful. She gave life to everything that lives and grows on her. And everyone has since called her their mother.

The Great Chaos also gave birth to the gloomy Darkness - Erebus and the black Night - Nyukta and ordered them to guard the Earth. It was dark on Earth at that time and gloomy. So it was until Erebus and Nyukta got tired of their hard, permanent work. Then they gave birth to the eternal Light - Ether and the joyful shining Day - Hemera.

And so it has been since then. Night guards peace on Earth. As soon as she lowers her black veils, everything plunges into darkness and silence. And then a cheerful, radiant Day comes to replace it, and it becomes light and joyful around.

Deep underground, as deep as one can imagine, the terrible Tartarus was formed. Tartarus was as far from the Earth as the sky, only on the other side. Eternal darkness and silence reigned there ...

And above, high above the Earth, stretched the endless Sky - Uranus. God Uranus began to reign over the whole world. He married the beautiful goddess Gaia - Earth.

Gaia and Uranus had six daughters, beautiful and wise, and six sons, mighty and formidable titans, and among them the majestic titan Ocean and the youngest - the cunning Cronus.

And then the mother of the Earth gave birth to six terrible giants at once. Three giants - cyclops with one eye in their foreheads - could frighten anyone who just looked at them. But the other three giants looked even more terrible, real monsters. Each of them had 50 heads and 100 hands. And they were so terrible in appearance, these hundred-armed giants-hecatoncheires, that even the father himself, the mighty Uranus, feared and hated them. So he decided to get rid of his children. He imprisoned the giants deep in the bowels of their mother Earth and did not allow them to come out into the light.

The giants rushed about in deep darkness, wanted to break out, but did not dare to disobey the orders of their father. It was hard for their mother Earth, she suffered greatly from such an unbearable burden and pain. Then she called her titan children and asked them to help her.

“Rebel against your cruel father,” she persuaded them, “if you do not now take away his power over the world, he will destroy us all.

But no matter how Gaia tried to persuade her children, they did not agree to raise a hand against their father. Only the youngest of them, the ruthless Cronus, supported their mother, and they decided that Uranus should no longer reign in the world.

And then one day Cronus attacked his father, wounded him with a sickle and took away his power over the world. The drops of blood of Uranus, which fell to the ground, turned into monstrous giants with snake tails instead of legs and disgusting, disgusting Erinyes, who wriggled snakes instead of hair on their heads, and in their hands they held lighted torches.

These were terrible deities of death, strife, revenge and deceit.

Now the powerful and unforgiving Cron, the god of Time, has reigned in the world. He took the goddess Rhea as his wife.

But there was no peace and harmony in his kingdom either. The gods quarreled among themselves and deceived each other.

Gods war

For a long time, the great and powerful Cronus, the god of Time, reigned in the world, and people called his kingdom the golden age. The first people were just born on Earth then, and they lived without knowing any worries. The Blessed Land itself fed them. She gave bountiful harvests. Bread grew by itself in the fields, wonderful fruits ripened in the orchards. People only had to collect them, and they worked as much as they could and wanted.

But Crohn himself was not calm. Long ago, when he was just beginning to reign, his mother, the goddess Gaia, predicted to him that he, too, would lose power. And one of his sons will take it away from Crohn. Here Kron was worried. After all, everyone who has power wants to reign as long as possible.

Kron also did not want to lose power over the world. And he commanded his wife, the goddess Rhea, to bring him her children as soon as they were born. And the father mercilessly swallowed them. Reya's heart was breaking with grief and suffering, but she could not help it. It was impossible to persuade Crohn. So he has already swallowed five of his children. Another child was soon to be born, and the goddess Rhea, in despair, turned to her parents, Gaia and Uranus.

“Help me save my last baby,” she pleaded with tears. - You are wise and all-powerful, tell me what to do to me, where to hide my dear son so that he can grow up and avenge such atrocity.

The immortal gods took pity on their beloved daughter and taught her how to act. And so Rhea brings Rhea to her husband, the ruthless Cronus, a long stone wrapped in swaddling clothes.

“Here is your son Zeus,” she told him sadly. - He was just born. Do what you want with him.

Cronus grabbed the bundle and swallowed it without unwrapping it. In the meantime, the delighted Rhea took her little son, made her way to Dikta in a black dead night and hid him in an inaccessible cave on the wooded Aegean Mountain.

There, on the island of Crete, he grew up surrounded by kind and cheerful demons-kurets. They played with little Zeus, brought him milk from the sacred goat Amalfea. And when he cried, the demons began to clatter their spears against the shields, danced and drowned out his cry with loud cries. They were very afraid that the cruel Cronus would hear the cry of the child and realize that he had been deceived. And then no one will be able to save Zeus.

But Zeus grew very quickly, his muscles were filled with extraordinary strength, and soon the time came when he, mighty and omnipotent, decided to fight his father and take away his power over the world. Zeus turned to the Titans and invited them to fight with him against Crohn.

And a great dispute broke out among the titans. Some decided to stay with Crohn, others sided with Zeus. Filled with courage, they were eager to fight. But Zeus stopped them. At first, he wanted to free his brothers and sisters from his father's womb, so that only later he would fight with them against Crohn. But how do you get Crohn to let his children go? Zeus understood that by force alone he could not defeat the mighty god. We need to think of something to outwit him.

Then the great titan Ocean came to his aid, who in this struggle was on the side of Zeus. His daughter, the wise goddess Thetis, prepared a magic potion and brought it to Zeus.

“O mighty and all-powerful Zeus,” she told him, “this miraculous nectar will help you free your brothers and sisters. Just make Crohn drink it.

Cunning Zeus figured out how to do it. He sent Cronus a luxurious amphora with nectar as a gift, and Cronus, suspecting nothing, accepted this insidious gift. He happily drank the magic nectar and immediately vomited out of himself, first a stone wrapped in diapers, and then all his children. One after another they came out into the world, and his daughters, the beautiful goddesses Hestia, Demeter, Hera, and sons - Hades and Poseidon. During the time they were sitting in the womb of their father, they became quite adults.

All the children of Cronus united, and a long and terrible war began between them and their father Cronus for power over all people and gods. New gods established themselves on Olympus. From here they fought their great battle.

Omnipotent and formidable were the young gods, the mighty titans supported them in this struggle. Cyclops forged for Zeus formidable thunderous thunder and fiery lightning. But on the other hand, there were powerful opponents. The mighty Cronus was not at all going to give his power to the young gods and also gathered around him formidable titans.

This terrible and cruel battle of the gods lasted ten years. No one could win, but no one wanted to surrender either. Then Zeus decided to call for the help of the mighty hundred-armed giants who were still sitting in a deep and gloomy dungeon. Huge terrible giants came to the surface of the Earth and rushed into battle. They tore off entire rocks from mountain ranges and hurled them at the Titans besieging Olympus. The air was torn to pieces by the wild roar, the Earth moaned in pain, and even the distant Tartarus shuddered from what was happening above. From the heights of Olympus, Zeus threw down fiery lightning, and everything around was blazing with a terrible flame, the water in the rivers and seas boiled with heat.

Finally the titans wavered and retreated. The Olympians fettered them and threw them into gloomy Tartarus, into the deaf, eternal darkness. And at the gates of Tartarus, formidable hundred-armed giants stood guard so that the mighty titans could never break free from their terrible captivity.

But the young gods did not have to celebrate the victory. The goddess Gaia was angry with Zeus for treating her titan sons so cruelly. In punishment, she gave birth to the terrible monster Typhon and sent him to Zeus.

The Earth itself shuddered, and huge mountains rose up when the huge Typhon crawled out into the light. All his hundred dragon heads howled, howled, barked, shouted at different voices. Even the gods flinched with horror when they saw such a monster. Only Zeus was not taken aback. He swung his mighty right hand - and hundreds of fiery lightning struck Typhon. Thunder rumbled, lightning flashed with unbearable brilliance, water boiled in the seas - real hell was happening on Earth at that time.

But then the lightning, sent by Zeus, reached the goal, and one after another the head of Typhon flashed with a bright flame. He collapsed heavily onto the wounded Earth. Zeus raised a huge monster and threw it into Tartarus. But even there Typhon did not calm down. From time to time he begins to rampage in his eerie dungeon, and then terrible earthquakes happen, cities collapse, mountains split, fierce storms sweep all living things off the face of the earth. True, now Typhon's rampage is already short-lived, he will throw out his wild powers - and will calm down for a while, and again everything on earth and in heaven goes on as usual.

This is how the great battle of the gods ended, after which new gods reigned in the world.

Poseidon, Lord of the Seas

Deep at the very bottom of the sea, the brother of the mighty Zeus, Poseidon, now lives in his luxurious palace. After that great battle, when the young gods defeated the old ones, the sons of Cronus threw lots, and Poseidon got the power over all the sea elements. He went down to the bottom of the sea, and so he remained to live there forever. But every day Poseidon rises to the surface of the sea to go around his endless possessions.

Majestic and beautiful, he rides on his mighty green-maned horses, and the obedient waves part before their master. Zeus himself is not inferior to Poseidon in power. Still would! After all, as soon as he waved his formidable trident, a violent storm rises to the sea, huge waves rise to the sky and with a deafening roar crash down into the abyss itself.

The mighty Poseidon is terrible in anger, and woe to those who find themselves at such a time on the sea. Like weightless splinters, huge ships rush along the raging waves until, completely broken and twisted, they collapse into the depths of the sea. Even marine life - fish and dolphins - are trying to get deeper into the sea to wait out there safely the wrath of Poseidon.

But now his anger passes, he majestically raises his sparkling trident, and the sea calms down. Unprecedented fish rise from the depths of the sea, attach themselves to the chariot of the great god from behind, merry dolphins rush after them. They tumble in the waves of the sea, entertaining their mighty master. The beautiful daughters of the sea elder Nereus are splashing in merry flocks in the coastal waves.

Once Poseidon, as always, was racing across the sea in his fast-flying chariot and on the coast of the island of Naxos he saw a beautiful goddess. It was Amphitrite, the daughter of the sea elder Nereus, who knows all the secrets of the future and gives wise advice. Together with her Nereid sisters, she rested in a green meadow. They ran and frolicked, holding hands, led merry round dances.

Poseidon immediately fell in love with the beautiful Amphitrite. He had already directed the mighty horses to the shore and wanted to take her away in his chariot. But Amphitrite was afraid of the frantic Poseidon and eluded him. She slowly made her way to the titan Atlanta, who holds the firmament on his powerful shoulders, and asked him to hide her somewhere. Atlas took pity on the beautiful Amphitrite and hid her in a deep cave at the bottom of the Ocean.

Poseidon was looking for Amphitrite for a long time and could not find her in any way. Like a fiery whirlwind, he rushed across the sea; all this time the fierce storm did not subside at sea. All the inhabitants of the sea: fish, dolphins, and all underwater monsters - went in search of the beautiful Amphitrite to calm their raging master.

Finally, the dolphin managed to find her in one of the distant caves. He sailed quickly to Poseidon and showed him the refuge of Amphitrite. Poseidon rushed to the cave and took his beloved with him. He did not forget to thank the dolphin who helped him. He placed it among the constellations in the sky. Since then, the dolphin has lived there, and everyone knows that there is the constellation Dolphin in the sky, but not everyone knows how it turned out there.

And the beautiful Amphitrite became the wife of the powerful Poseidon and happily lived with him in his luxurious underwater castle. Since then, fierce storms rarely occur at sea, because the gentle Amphitrite is very good at taming the anger of her powerful husband.

The time has come, and the divine beauty Amphitrite and the ruler of the seas Poseidon had a son - the handsome Triton. How beautiful is the son of the ruler of the seas, so playful. As soon as he blows into the sink, the sea will immediately overflow, the waves will rustle, a formidable storm will fall on the unlucky sailors. But Poseidon, seeing the pranks of his son, immediately raises his trident, and the waves as if by magic subside and, gently whispering, serenely splashing, caressing the transparent, clean sea sand on the shore.

Elder of the sea Nereus often visits his daughter, and her cheerful sisters also come to her. Sometimes Amphitrite goes with them to play on the seashore, and Poseidon no longer worries. He knows that she will no longer hide from him and will definitely return to their wonderful underwater palace.

Dark kingdom

Deep underground lives and reigns the third brother of the great Zeus, the harsh Hades. He got the underworld by lot, and since then he has been a sovereign master there.

It is dark and gloomy in the kingdom of Hades, not a single ray of sunlight penetrates there through the thickness. Not a single living voice breaks the sad silence of this gloomy kingdom, only the plaintive groans of the dead fill the entire dungeon with a quiet, indistinct rustle. There are already more dead here than living on earth. And they all come and come.

The sacred river Styx flows on the borders of the underworld, and after death the souls of the dead arrive on its banks. Patiently and meekly they are waiting for the carrier Charon to sail after them. He loads his boat with silent shadows and takes them to the other side. Only in one direction does he take everyone, his boat always floats back empty.

And there, at the entrance to the kingdom of the dead, sits a formidable guard - the three-headed dog Cerberus, the son of the terrible Typhon, evil snakes hissing and wriggling around his neck. Only he guards the exit more than the entrance. He lets through the souls of the dead without delay, but none of them will come back.

And then their path lies to the throne of Hades. In the middle of his underworld, he sits on a golden throne with his wife Persephone. Once he kidnapped her from the earth, and since then Persephone has lived here, in this luxurious, but gloomy and joyless underground palace.

Every now and then Charon brings new souls. Frightened and trembling, they huddle in a flock before the formidable ruler. I feel sorry for them Persephone, she is ready to help all of them, calm them down and console them. But no, she can't do it! Relentless judges Minos and Radamant are also sitting nearby. They weigh unhappy souls on their terrible scales, and it immediately becomes clear how much a person has sinned in his life and what fate awaits him here. It is bad for sinners, and especially for those who themselves did not spare anyone during their lifetime, robbed and killed, mocked the defenseless. Not a minute of peace will now be given to them by the inexorable goddesses of vengeance Erinia. They rush around the entire dungeon for criminal souls, drive them, brandishing terrible whips, hideous snakes wriggle on their heads. Sinners cannot hide from them. How they would like, at least for a second, to be on the ground and tell their loved ones: “Be kinder to each other. Don't repeat our mistakes. A terrible reckoning awaits everyone after death. " But there is no way to land from here. There is only here from the ground.

Leaning on his formidable smashing sword, the terrible god of death Thanat in a wide black cloak stands near the throne. As soon as Hades waves his hand, Thanat breaks loose from his place and on his huge black wings flies to the bed of the dying person for a new victim.

But it was as if a light beam swept through the gloomy dungeon. This is the beautiful young Hypnos, the god who brings sleep. He came down here to greet Hades, his master. And then again he will rush to the ground, where people are waiting for him. It happens badly for them if Hypnos lingers somewhere.

He flies over the ground on his light, delicate wings and pours soporific oil from his horn. He gently touches his eyelashes with his magic wand, and everything plunges into a sweet dream. Neither people nor immortal gods can resist the will of Hypnos - he is so powerful and omnipotent. Even the great Zeus obediently closes his terrible eyes when he waves the beautiful Hypnos with his wonderful rod.

Often the gods of dreams accompany Hypnos on flights. They are very different, these gods are just like people. There are kind and cheerful, and there are gloomy and unfriendly. And so it turns out: to whom what god will fly, a person will see such a dream. Someone will have a joyful and happy dream, while others will have an alarming, unhappy dream.

And the terrible ghost Empusa with donkey legs and the monstrous Lamia, who loves to sneak into children's bedrooms at night and drag off little children, also roam the underworld. The terrible goddess Hecate rules over all these monsters and ghosts. As soon as night falls, all this terrible company comes out on the ground, and God forbid anyone to meet with them at this time. But at dawn, they again hide in their gloomy dungeon and sit there until dark.

This is how it is - the kingdom of Hades, terrible and joyless.

Olympians

The most powerful of all the sons of Crohn - Zeus - remained on Olympus, he got the sky by lot, and from here he began to reign over the whole world.

Below, on Earth, hurricanes and wars are raging, people are aging and dying, but here, on Olympus, peace and tranquility reign. There is never winter and frost here, no rains and no winds blow. A golden glow spreads around day and night. Immortal gods live here in luxurious golden palaces, which were built for them by the master Hephaestus. They feast and rejoice in their golden palaces. But they do not forget about business, because each of them has its own responsibilities. And now, Themis, the goddess of the law, called everyone to the council of the gods. Zeus wanted to discuss how best to manage people.

The great Zeus sits on a golden throne, and in front of him in a spacious hall all the other gods are located. Near his throne, as always, is the goddess of peace Eirena and the constant companion of Zeus, winged Nike, the goddess of victory. There is also the swift-footed Hermes, the messenger of Zeus, and the great warrior goddess Athena Pallas. The beautiful Aphrodite shines with her heavenly beauty.

The always busy Apollo is late. But here he flies up to Olympus. Three beautiful Ora, who guard the entrance to high Olympus, have already opened a thick cloud in front of him to make way for him. And he, shining with beauty, strong and mighty, throwing his silver bow over his shoulders, enters the hall. His sister, the beautiful goddess Artemis, a tireless huntress, happily rises to meet him.

And here the majestic Hera enters the hall, in luxurious clothes, a beautiful, light-haired goddess, the wife of Zeus. All the gods rise and respectfully greet the great Hera. She descends next to Zeus on her luxurious golden throne and listens to what the immortal gods are talking about. She also has her own constant companion. This is the light-winged Iris, the goddess of the rainbow. At the first word of her mistress, Irida is ready to fly to the most remote corners of the Earth in order to fulfill any of her orders.

Today Zeus is calm and peaceful. The rest of the gods are also calm. So everything is in order on Olympus, and on Earth, things are going well. Therefore, today the immortals have no griefs. They joke and have fun. But it also happens in another way. If the powerful Zeus gets angry, he will wave his formidable right hand, and then a deafening thunder will shake the whole Earth. One after another he throws dazzling lightning bolts. It is bad for someone who somehow did not please the great Zeus. It happens that the innocent becomes at such moments an unwitting victim of the unbridled anger of the sovereign. But there's nothing you can do about it!

There are also two mysterious vessels at the gates of his golden palace. There is good in one vessel, and evil in the other. Zeus scoops up from one vessel, then from another and throws it in handfuls on the Earth. All people should get an equal share of good and evil. But it also happens that someone gets more good, and only evil pours down on someone. But no matter how much Zeus sends from his vessels of good and evil to Earth, he still cannot influence the fate of people. This is done by the goddesses of fate - moira, who also live on Olympus. The great Zeus himself depends on them and does not know his fate.

A brief excursion into history

Greece was not always called that. Historians, in particular Herodotus, distinguish even more ancient times in those territories that were later called Hellas - the so-called Pelasgian.

This term comes from the name of the Pelasgians ("storks") tribe who came to the mainland from the Greek island of Lemnos. According to the conclusions of the historiographer, the then Hellas was called Pelasgia. There were primitive beliefs in something unearthly, saving for people - the cults of invented creatures.

The Pelasgians united with a small Greek tribe and adopted their language, although they never grew from barbarians to a nationality.

Where did the Greek gods and myths about them come from?

Herodotus assumed that the Greeks adopted the names of many gods and their cults from the Pelasgians. At least, the veneration of lower deities and kabirs - great gods who, with their unearthly power, saved the earth from troubles and dangers. The Sanctuary of Zeus in Dodona (a city near today's Ioannina) was built much earlier than the still famous Delphic. From those times came the famous "troika" of cabirs - Demeter (Axieros), Persephone (Axiokers, in Italy - Ceres) and her husband Hades (Axiokersos).

In the Papal Museum in the Vatican, there is a marble statue of these three cabirs in the form of a triangular pillar by the sculptor Scopas, who lived and worked in the 4th century BC. e. At the bottom of the pillar, miniature images of Mitra-Helios, Aphrodite-Urania and Eros-Dionysus are carved as symbols of an unbreakable chain of mythology.

From there also the names of Hermes (Camilla, lat. "Minister"). In The History of Athos, Hades (Hell) is the god of the other world, and his wife Persephone gave life on earth. Artemis was called Kaleagra.

The new gods of Ancient Hellas descended from the "storks" and took away their right to reign. But they already had a human appearance, albeit with some exceptions left over from zoomorphism.

The goddess, patroness of the city named after her, was born from the brain of Zeus, the main god of the third stage. Consequently, before him, the heavens and the earthly firmament were ruled by others.

The first ruler of the earth was the god Poseidon. During the capture of Troy, he was the main deity.

According to mythology, he ruled both seas and oceans. Since Greece has a lot of island territories, the influence of Poseidon and his cult belonged to them. Poseidon was the brother of many new gods and goddesses, including such famous ones as Zeus, Hades and others.

Then Poseidon began to stare at the continental territory of Hellas, for example, at Attica, a huge part south of the central mountain range of the Balkan Peninsula and up to the Peloponnese. He had a reason for this: in the Balkans there was a cult of Poseidon in the form of a fertility demon. Athena wanted to deprive him of that influence.

The goddess won the dispute over the land. Its essence is as follows. Once there was a new alignment of the influence of the gods. At the same time, Poseidon lost his right to land, he was left with the seas. The sky was intercepted by the god of thunder and lightning thrower. Poseidon began to challenge the rights to certain territories. He hit the ground during a dispute on Olympus, and water came from there, and

Athena gave Attica an olive tree. The gods judged the dispute in favor of the goddess, believing that the trees would be more useful. The city was named after her.

Aphrodite

When the name of Aphrodite is pronounced in modern times, it is mainly her beauty that is revered. In ancient times, she was the goddess of love. The cult of the goddess first originated in the colonies of Greece, its current islands, founded by the Phoenicians. Worship similar to Aphrodite was then reserved for two other goddesses - Ashera and Astarte. In the Greek pantheon of gods

Aphrodite was more suited to the mythical role of Ashera, a lover of gardens, flowers, a resident of groves, the goddess of spring awakening and voluptuousness in pleasure with Adonis.

Reincarnating as Astarte, "the goddess of heights", Aphrodite became impregnable, always with a spear in her hand. In this guise, she guarded family loyalty and doomed her priestesses to eternal virginity.

Unfortunately, in later times, the cult of Aphrodite bifurcated, so to speak, the differences between the various Aphrodites.

Ancient Greece myths about the gods of Olympus

They are the most common and most cultivated in both Greece and Italy. This supreme pantheon of Mount Olympus included six gods - the children of Kronos and Hera (the thunderer himself, Poseidon and others) and nine descendants of the god Zeus. Among them, the most famous are Apollo, Athena, Aphrodite and others like them.

In the modern interpretation of the word "Olympian", besides the athletes participating in the Olympics, it means "calmness, self-confidence, external greatness." And earlier there was also Olympus of the gods. But at that time, these epithets referred only to the head of the pantheon - Zeus, because he fully corresponded to them. We talked about Athena and Poseidon in detail above. They also mentioned other gods of the pantheon - Hades, Helios, Hermes, Dionysus, Artemis, Persephone.

The oldest gods of Ancient Greece, known to us from myths, were personifications of those forces of nature, whose activity determines physical life and arouses in the heart of a person either fear and horror, then hope and trust - personifications of forces mysterious for a person, but obviously dominating his fate, which were the first objects of worship among all peoples. But the gods of ancient Greece were not only symbols of the forces of external nature; they were at the same time the creators and keepers of all moral goods, the personification of all the forces of moral life. All those forces of the human spirit that create cultural life, and the development of which among the Greek people gave it such an important meaning in the history of mankind, were invested by him in the myths of the gods. The gods of Greece are the personification of all the great and wonderful forces of the Greek people; the world of the gods of Ancient Greece is a complete reflection of Greek civilization. The Greeks made their gods in myths like people, therefore they felt obliged to become like gods; the concern for cultivation was a religious duty for them. Greek culture has a close relationship with the Greek religion.

Legends and myths of Ancient Greece. Cartoon

Different generations of the gods of ancient Greece

The foundation of the religion of Ancient Greece in the Pelasgian time was the worship of the forces of nature, manifested in heaven, on earth, in the sea. Those gods, who were among the pre-Greek Pelasgians the most ancient personifications of the forces of earth and sky, were overthrown by a series of catastrophes, the legends about which were preserved in the ancient Greek myths about the struggle of the Olympians with the titans and giants. The new gods of Ancient Greece, who took the dominion from the previous ones, descended from them, but already had a completely human image.

Zeus and Hera

So, the world began to be ruled by new humanoid gods, the main of which was Zeus, the son of Cronus in the myths; but the former gods, the personified forces of nature, retained their mysterious efficacy, which even the all-powerful Zeus cannot overcome. As the omnipotent kings are subject to the laws of the moral world, so Zeus and other new gods of Ancient Greece are subject to the laws of nature and fate.

Zeus, the main god in the myths of Ancient Greece, is a cloud collector, sitting on a throne in the height of the ether, shaking with his lightning shield, Aegis (thundercloud), life-giving and fertilizing the earth, at the same time the installer, the guardian of the legal order. All rights, especially family rights and the custom of hospitality, are under his protection. He tells rulers to be concerned about the welfare of the ruled. He gives prosperity to kings and peoples, cities and families; he is also justice. He is the source of all that is good and noble. He is the father of the goddesses of hours (Ohr), personifying the correct course of annual changes in nature and the correct order of human life; he is the father of the Muses who give joy to the heart of man.

His wife, Hera, in the myths of Ancient Greece, is a grumpy goddess of the atmosphere, who has as her servants a rainbow (Iris) and clouds (the Greek name for a cloud, nephele, a feminine word), at the same time she is the installer of the sacred marriage union, in honor of which the Greeks performed on the holiday of abundant spring flowers solemn ceremonies. The goddess Hera is a strict guardian of the sanctity of the marriage union and under her protection is a housewife faithful to her husband; she blesses marriage with children and protects children. Hera relieves women in childbirth; she is assisted in this care by her daughter Eileithyia.

Athena Pallas

The virgin goddess Athena Pallas, according to the myths of Ancient Greece, was born from the head of Zeus. Initially, she was considered the goddess of the clear sky, who scatters dark clouds with her spear, and the personification of victorious energy in any struggle. Athena has always been depicted with a shield, sword and spear. Her constant companion was the winged goddess of victory (Nika). Among the Greeks, Athena was the guardian of cities and fortresses, she also gave people the correct, just social and state order. The image of the goddess Athena personified wise balance, calm, discerning mind, necessary for the creators of works of mental activity and art.

The Virgin Athena statue in the Parthenon. Sculptor Phidias

In ancient Greece, Pallas was most revered by the Athenians, the inhabitants of the city named after this goddess. The public life of Athens was imbued with the service of Pallas. A huge statue of Athena by Phidias stood in the magnificent temple of the Athenian Acropolis - the Parthenon. Many myths associated Athena with the famous ancient Greek city. The most famous of these was the myth of the dispute between Athena and Poseidon over the possession of Attica. The goddess Athena won it, giving the region the basis of her agriculture - an olive tree. Ancient Athens celebrated many festivals in honor of its beloved goddess. The main ones were two holidays of the Panathenes - Great and Small. Both, according to the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, were established by one of the most ancient progenitors of Athens - Erechtheus. The Lesser Panathenes were celebrated annually, and the Great ones - once every four years. For the great Panathenaea, all the inhabitants of Attica gathered in Athens and arranged a magnificent procession, during which a new mantle (peplos) was carried to the Acropolis for the ancient statue of the goddess Pallas. The procession marched from Keramik, along the main streets, where people in white robes crowded.

God Hephaestus in Greek myths

Hephaestus, the god of heavenly and earthly fire, was close to Pallas Athena, the goddess of the arts. The strongest activity of Hephaestus was manifested by volcanoes on the islands, especially on Lemnos and Sicily; but in the application of fire to the affairs of human life, Hephaestus greatly helped the development of culture. Prometheus also has a close relationship with the concept of Athena, who brought fire to people and taught them the arts of life. The Attic festival of running with torches was dedicated to these three gods, a competition in which the winner was the one who was the first to reach the goal with a burning torch. Pallas Athena was the inventor of the arts for women; lame Hephaestus, often joked about by poets, was the founder of blacksmithing and a master in metalwork. Like Athena, he was in Ancient Greece the god of the home of family life, therefore, under the auspices of Hephaestus and Athena, a wonderful holiday of the "state family" was celebrated in Athens, the holiday of Anaturia, at which newborn children were carried around with a steep hearth, and this rite consecrated their acceptance into a family union the state.

God Vulcan (Hephaestus). Statue by Thorvaldsen, 1838

Hestia

The significance of the hearth as the center of family life and the beneficial effect of a solid domestic life on moral and social life were personified in the myths of Ancient Greece by the virgin goddess Hestia, a representative of the concepts of a solid settled life, a comfortable home life, the symbol of which was the sacred fire of the hearth. Originally, Hestia was in the ancient Greek myths about the gods the personification of the earth, over which the ethereal fire of the sky burns; but after that it became a symbol of civil accomplishment, which receives strength on earth only through the union of earth with heaven, as a divine institution. Therefore, in every Greek home, the hearth was the religious center of the family. Whoever approached the hearth and sat on its ashes acquired the right to patronage. Each tribal union of ancient Greece had a common sanctuary of Hestia, in which they reverently performed symbolic rites. In ancient times, when there were kings and when the king offered sacrifices as a representative of the people, resolved litigations, gathered noble people and ancestors for a council, the hearth of the royal house was a symbol of the state connection of the people; after, the same meaning was given to pritania, the religious center of the state. An unquenchable fire burned on the state hearth of the pritanei, and the pritans, the elected rulers of the people, were to be in turn permanently at this hearth. The hearth was the connection of the earth with the sky; therefore Hestia was in ancient Greece and the goddess of sacrifice. Each solemn sacrifice began with the offering of a sacrifice to her. And all kinds of public prayers of the Greeks began with an appeal to Hestia.

Myths about the god Apollo

For more details, see the separate article God Apollo

The god of shining light, Apollo, was the son of Zeus from Latona (who was the personification of the dark night in ancient Greek myths). His cult was brought to Ancient Greece from Asia Minor, where the local god Apelyun existed. According to Greek myths, Apollo spends the winter in the distant land of the Hyperboreans, and in the spring he returns to Hellas, infusing life into nature, and into man - the joy and desire to sing. Apollo was therefore recognized as the god of singing - and in general of that inspiring power that gives rise to art. Thanks to the revitalizing qualities, the cult of this god was also associated with the idea of healing, protection from evil. With his well-aimed arrows (sunbeams) Apollo destroys all filth. This idea was symbolically expressed by the ancient Greek myth of the killing of the terrible serpent Python by Apollo. The skillful shooter Apollo was considered the brother of the goddess of the hunt Artemis, with whom he killed the sons of the overly proud with arrows Niobe.

The ancient Greeks considered poetry and music to be the gift of Apollo. Poems and songs were always performed at his holidays. According to legend, having defeated the monster of darkness, Python, Apollo composed the first paean (victory hymn). As the god of music, he was often depicted with a cithara in his hands. Since poetic inspiration is akin to prophetic inspiration, in the myths of Ancient Greece, Apollo was also recognized as the supreme patron of soothsayers, who gives them a prophetic gift. Almost all Greek oracles (including the main one - Delphic) were founded in the sanctuaries of Apollo.

Apollo Saurocton (killing a lizard). Roman copy of a statue of Praxiteles IV century. B.C.

The god of music, poetry, singing Apollo was in the myths of Ancient Greece the ruler of the goddesses of the arts - muses, nine daughters of Zeus and the goddess of memory Mnemosyne. The groves of Parnassus and Helikon located in the vicinity of Delphi were considered the main abode of the muses. As the ruler of the muses, Apollo had the epithet "Muzageta". Clea was the muse of history, Calliope - epic poetry, Melpomene - tragedy, Thalia - comedy, Erato - love poetry, Euterpe - lyrics, Terpsichore - dances, Polyhymnia - hymns, Urania - astronomy.

The sacred plant of Apollo was laurel.

The god of light, purity and healing, Apollo in the myths of Ancient Greece not only heals people from ailments, but also cleanses from sins. From this side, his cult comes into closer contact with moral ideas. Even after the victory over the evil monster Python, Apollo found it necessary to cleanse himself of the filth of murder and, in redemption, went to serve as a shepherd for the Thessalian king Admet. By this, he gave people an example that the one who committed bloodshed must always repent, and became the god-purifier of murderers and criminals. In Greek myths, Apollo healed not only the body, but also the soul. Penitent sinners found forgiveness with him, but only with sincerity of repentance. According to ancient Greek customs, the murderer was supposed to earn forgiveness from the relatives of the murdered, who had the right to take revenge on him, and spend eight years in exile.

Apollo was the main tribal god of the Dorians, who celebrated two great holidays in his honor every year: Carnea and Iacinthia. The Carnean festival was celebrated in honor of the Warrior Apollo, in the month of Carneus (August). During this holiday, war games, singing and dancing competitions were held. Iakinthia, celebrated in July (nine days), were accompanied by sad ceremonies in memory of the death of the beautiful young man Iakinth (Hyacinth), the personification of flowers. According to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, Apollo accidentally killed this pet while throwing a disc (a symbol of how the disc of the sun kills flowers with its heat). But Hyacinth was resurrected and taken to Olympus - and at the holiday of Iakinthy, following the sad rites, cheerful processions of young men and women with flowers passed. The death and resurrection of Iakinth personified the winter death and spring rebirth of plants. This episode of ancient Greek myth seems to have developed under strong Phoenician influence.

Myths about the goddess Artemis

Apollo's sister, Artemis, the virgin goddess of the moon, hunted through the mountains and forests; bathed with nymphs, her companions, in cool streams; was the patroness of wild animals; at night she watered the thirsty land with life-giving dew. But at the same time, Artemis was in the myths of Ancient Greece and the goddess who killed seafarers, so in ancient times of Greece people were sacrificed to her to propitiate her. With the development of civilization, Artemis became the goddess of virgin integrity, the patroness of brides and girls. When they got married, they brought gifts to her. Artemis of Ephesus was the goddess of fertility, who gave crops to the land and children to women; in the idea of it, eastern concepts probably joined the myths of Ancient Greece. Artemis was depicted as having many nipples on her chest; this meant that she was a generous nurse for the people. At the magnificent temple of Artemis there were many hierodules and many servants, dressed in men's clothing and armed; therefore, in ancient Greek myths, it was believed that this temple was founded by the Amazons.

Artemis. Statue in the Louvre

The original physical meaning of Apollo and Artemis in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods was more and more hidden by the moral. Therefore, Greek mythology created a special sun god, Helios, and a special moon goddess, Selene. - The representative of the healing power of Apollo was also made a special god, the son of Apollo, Asclepius.

Ares and Aphrodite

Ares, the son of Zeus and Hera, was originally a symbol of the stormy sky, and his homeland was Thrace, the land of winter storms. Among the ancient Greek poets, he became the god of war. Ares is always armed; he loves the noise of battles. Ares is furious. But he was also the founder of the sacred Athenian tribunal, which tried murder cases, which had a seat on the hill dedicated to Ares, the Areopagus, and was also named after this hill Areopagus. And as the god of storms, and as the fierce god of battles, he is opposite to Pallas Athena, the goddess of the clear sky and the judicious conduct of battles. Therefore, in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, Pallas and Ares are hostile to each other.

In the concepts of Aphrodite, the goddess of love, a moral element was also added to the physical character of love in ancient Greek myths over time. The cult of Aphrodite passed to Ancient Greece from the colonies founded by the Phoenicians in Cyprus, Kythera, Thasos and other islands. In the myths of the Phoenicians, the concept of the perceiving and giving birth element of the forces of nature was personified by two goddesses, Ashera and Astarte, ideas about which were often mixed. Aphrodite was both Ashera and Astarte. In the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, she corresponded to Ashera, when she was a goddess who loves gardens and flowers, living in groves, the goddess of joyful spring and voluptuousness, enjoying the love of the beautiful youth Adonis in the forest on the mountain. She corresponded to Astarte, when she was revered as the "goddess of heights", as the stern, armed with a spear Aphrodite Urania (heavenly) or Aphrodite of Acreus, whose places of service were the tops of the mountains, who imposed on her priestesses the vow of eternal girlhood, guarded the chastity of conjugal love and family morality ... But the ancient Greeks knew how to combine these opposite ideas and from their combination they created in myths a marvelous image of a graceful, charming, physically beautiful and morally sweet goddess, who delights the heart with the beauty of her forms, arouses tender affection. This mythological combination of physical feelings with moral affection, giving sensual love its natural right, protected people from the rough vulgarity of oriental unbridled voluptuousness. The ideal of feminine beauty and grace, the sweetly smiling Aphrodite of ancient Greek myths and the goddess of the East burdened with heavy and precious attire - these are completely different creatures. The difference between them is the same as between the joyful service to the goddess of love in the best times of Ancient Greece and the noisy Syrian orgies, in which the goddess, surrounded by eunuchs, served with an unbridled revelry of rough sensuality. True, in later times, with the corruption of morals, vulgar sensuality also penetrated into the Greek service to the goddess of love. Aphrodite of Heaven (Urania), the goddess of honest love, the patroness of family life, was pushed aside in the myths about the gods by Aphrodite of the People (Pandemos), the goddess of voluptuousness, whose holidays in big cities turned into a rampant vulgar sensuality.

Aphrodite and her son Eros (Eros), turned by poets and artists into the oldest among the theogonic gods, into the youngest of the Olympian gods, and who became a young man accompanying his mother, later even a child, were favorite objects of ancient Greek art. Sculpture usually depicted Aphrodite naked, emerging from the waves of the sea; she was given all the charm of a beauty, whose soul is full of feelings of love. Eros was portrayed as a boy with soft, rounded body outlines.

Myths about the god Hermes

With the development of culture in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, the Pelasgian god of nature Hermes, to whom the Arcadian shepherds sacrificed on Mount Killene, also received moral significance; he was their personification of the power of the sky, which gives grass to their pastures, and the father of their ancestor, Arkas. According to their myths, Hermes, still a baby wrapped in a lullaby (in the fog of dawn), stole the flocks (bright clouds) of the sun god, Apollo, and hid them in a damp cave by the sea coast; pulling the strings on the shell of a turtle, he made a lyre and, giving it to Apollo, acquired the friendship of this more powerful god. Hermes also invented the shepherd's flute, with which he walks through the mountains of his homeland. Subsequently, Hermes became the guardian of roads, crossroads and travelers, the keeper of the streets, boundaries. On the latter, stones were placed, which were symbols of Hermes, and his images, giving the boundaries of the sites holiness and strength.

God Hermes. Sculpture Phidias (?)

The Herms (that is, the symbols of Hermes) were originally just heaps of stones piled on the borders, along the roads, and especially at the intersections; these were boundary and track signs that were considered sacred. Passers-by threw stones to those laid before. Sometimes oil was poured on these heaps of stones dedicated to the god Hermes, as on primitive altars; they were decorated with flowers, wreaths, ribbons. Subsequently, the Greeks put triangular or tetrahedral stone pillars with track and boundary marks; over time, they began to give them a more skillful finish, they usually made a pillar with a head, sometimes with a phallus, a symbol of fertility. Such herms stood on the roads, and along the streets, squares, at the gates, at the doors; put them in palaestrah, in gymnasiums, because Hermes was in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods the patron saint of gymnastic exercises.

From the concept of the god of rain penetrating the earth, the concept of mediation between heaven, earth and the underworld developed, and Hermes became in the myths of Ancient Greece a god who escorted the souls of the dead to the underworld (Hermes Psychopompos). Thus, he was put in close connection with the gods living in the earth (chthonic gods). These ideas came from the concept of the relationship between the emergence and death of plants in the cycle of life in nature and from the concept of Hermes as the messenger of the gods; they served as the source of many ancient Greek myths that put Hermes in a very diverse relationship to the everyday affairs of people. The original myth already made him cunning: he deftly stole the cows of Apollo and managed to make peace with this god; with clever inventions, Hermes was able to extricate himself from difficult situations. This trait remained an invariable attribute of the character of the god Hermes in the later ancient Greek myths about him: he was the personification of everyday dexterity, the patron saint of all occupations in which success is given by the ability to speak cleverly and the ability to be silent, hide the truth, pretend, deceive. In particular, Hermes was the patron god of trade, oratory, embassies and diplomatic affairs in general. With the development of civilization, the concepts of these activities became predominant in the concept of Hermes, and its original pastoral meaning was transferred to one of the minor gods, Pan, the "god of the pastures", just as the physical meaning of Apollo and Artemis was transferred to less important gods. Helios and Selene.

God pan

Pan was in ancient Greek myths the god of goat herds that grazed on the wooded mountains of Arcadia; there he was born. His father was Hermes, his mother was the daughter of Driopa ("the forest god"). Pan walks through the shady valleys; caves serve as his shelter; he has fun with the nymphs of the forest and mountain springs, dancing to the sounds of his shepherd's flute (syringa, syrinx), an instrument that he invented; sometimes he himself dances with the nymphs. Pan is sometimes kind to the shepherds and enters into friendship with us; but sometimes he does trouble to them, raising a sudden fright in the herd ("panic" fear), so that the whole herd scatters. God Pan remained forever in Ancient Greece as a merry shepherd's holidays, a master of playing the reed pipe, funny for the townspeople; later art characterized Pan's closeness to nature, giving his figure goat legs, or even horns and other features of animals.

God Pan and Daphnis, the hero of the ancient Greek novel. Antique statue

Poseidon in the myths of ancient Greece

For more details, see the separate article God Poseidon

The gods of the sea and flowing waters and the gods living under the earth, more than the deities of heaven and air, retained the original meaning of the personified forces of nature: but they also received human features. Poseidon - in the myths of Ancient Greece, the divine power of all waters, the god of the sea and all rivers, streams, sources that fertilize the earth. Therefore, he was the main god on the seashore and on the capes. Poseidon is strong, broad-shouldered, and has an indomitable character. When he strikes the sea with his trident, a storm rises, waves beat against the cliffs of the shores so that the earth trembles, the cliffs crack and collapse. But Poseidon is a good god: he brings springs out of the cracks of the rocks to fertilize the valleys; he created and tamed the horse; he is the patron saint of horse racing and all war games, the patron saint of all daring trips, whether on horseback, in chariots, over land, or by sea in ships. In ancient Greek myths, Poseidon is a mighty builder who established the land and its islands, who laid the solid boundaries of the sea. He raises storms, but he also gives a favorable wind; at his beck, the sea swallows up the ships; but he also conducts the ships in the pier. Poseidon is the patron saint of navigation; he guards the maritime trade and rule the course of the naval war.

God of ships and horses, Poseidon played, according to the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods, an important role in all the campaigns and sea expeditions of the heroic age. The homeland of his cult was Thessaly, the land of the Neptune formation, herds of horses and navigation; then his service spread to Boeotia, Attica, across the Peloponnese, and his holidays early began to be accompanied by war games. The most famous of these games in honor of the god Poseidon took place in the Boeotian city of Onhest and on Isthma. In Onheste, his sanctuaries and their grove stood picturesquely on a beautiful and fertile hill above Lake Kopai. The terrain of the Isthmian Games was a hill near Shin (Schoinos, "Reeds", a lowland overgrown with reeds), shaded by a pine grove. Symbolic rituals borrowed from the legend of the death of Melikert, that is, from the Phoenician service to Melkart, were introduced into the worship of Poseidon on Isthma. - The horses of the heroic age, fast as the wind, were created by the god Poseidon; in particular, Pegasus was created by him. - Poseidon's wife, Amphitrite, was the personification of the rustling sea.

Like Zeus, Poseidon had many love affairs in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, many sea gods and goddesses, and many heroes were his children. Newts belonged to Poseidon's retinue, the number of which was innumerable. They were cheerful creatures of the most varied forms, the personification of noisy, ringing, sliding waves and mysterious forces of the depths of the sea, fantastically transformed sea animals. They played on pipes made of shells, frolicked, trailed after the Nereids. They were one of my favorite pieces of art. Proteus, the sea god, the soothsayer of the future, who, according to ancient Greek myths, had the ability to take all kinds of forms, also belonged to the numerous retinue of Poseidon. When the Greek sailors began to sail far away, then, returning, they astonished their people with myths about the wonders of the western sea: about sirens, beautiful sea girls who live there on underwater islands under the bright surface of the waters and with seductive singing insidiously lure sailors into destruction, about the good Glaucus , the sea god predicting the future, about the terrible monsters Scylla and Charybdis (personifications of a dangerous rock and whirlpool), about the wicked cyclops, one-eyed giants, the sons of Poseidon, living on the island of Trinacria, where Mount Etna is, about the beautiful Galatea, surrounded by a rocky, rocky , on which the god of the winds Aeolus lives cheerfully in a magnificent palace with his airy sons and daughters.

Underground Gods - Hades, Persephone

In the myths of Ancient Greece, the worship of those gods of nature who acted both in the bowels of the earth and on the surface of it had the greatest similarity with eastern religions. Human life is in such close connection with the development and withering of vegetation, with the growth and maturation of bread and grapes, that divine services, popular beliefs, art, religious theories and myths about gods combined their most profound ideas with the mysterious activities of the gods of the earth. The range of phenomena of plant life was a symbol of human life: luxurious vegetation quickly fades from the heat of the sun or from the cold; dies at the onset of winter, and is reborn in the spring from the earth, in which its seeds were hidden in the fall. It was easy to draw a parallel to ancient Greek mythology: so a person, after a short life under the joyful light of the sun, descends into a dark underworld, where instead of the radiant Apollo and the bright Pallas Athena, the gloomy, stern Hades (Hades, Hades) and the strict beauty, his wife, reign in a magnificent palace , the formidable Persephone. Thoughts about how close birth and death are, about the fact that the earth is both the mother's womb and the coffin, served in the myths of Ancient Greece as the basis for the cult of the underground gods and gave it a dual character: there was a joyful side in it, and there was a sad side. And in Hellas, as in the East, the service to the gods of the earth was exalted; his rituals consisted in the expression of feelings of joy and sadness, and those who performed them had to indulge in the action of the emotional disturbances they caused. But in the East, this exaltation led to the perversion of natural feelings, to the fact that people mutilated themselves; and in ancient Greece, the cult of the gods of the earth developed the arts, aroused thinking about religious issues, led people to acquire lofty ideas about the deity. The feasts of the gods of the earth, especially Dionysus, contributed a lot to the development of poetry, music, dancing; plastic loved to take objects for their works from the circle of ancient Greek myths about funny fantastic creatures accompanying Pan and Dionysus. And the Eleusinian mysteries, the teachings of which spread throughout the Greek world, gave deep interpretations to the myths about the "earth-mother", the goddess Demeter, about the abduction of her daughter (Cora) Persephone by the harsh ruler of the underworld, about the fact that Persephone's life goes on earth, then under the ground. These teachings inspired a person that death is not terrible, that the soul experiences the body. The powers that reign in the bowels of the earth aroused awe in the ancient Greeks; one could not speak of these forces fearlessly; thoughts about them were transmitted in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods under the guise of symbols, were not expressed directly, had only to be guessed under allegories. Mysterious teachings surrounded with solemn mystery these formidable gods, in the treasure of darkness creating life and perceiving the dead, ruling the earthly and afterlife of man.

The gloomy husband of Persephone, Hades (Hades), "Zeus of the underworld," reigns supreme in the depths of the earth; there are sources of wealth and fertility; therefore he is also called Pluto, the "enricher." But there are all the horrors of death. According to ancient Greek myths, wide gates lead to the vast dwelling of the king of the dead, Hades. Everyone is free to enter them; their guard, the three-headed dog Cerberus, gently lets in those who come in, but does not allow them to go back. Weeping willows and barren poplars surround the vast palace of Hades. The shadows of the dead sweep over gloomy fields overgrown with weeds, or nest in the crevices of underground rocks. Some of the heroes of Ancient Greece (Hercules, Theseus) went to the underworld of Hades. According to different myths in different countries, the entrance to it was always in the wilderness, where rivers flow through deep gorges, the water of which seems to be dark, where caves, hot springs and vapors show the proximity of the kingdom of the dead. For example, there was an entrance to the underworld at Thesprotia Gulf in southern Epirus, where the Acheron River and Lake Acherus infected their surroundings with miasma; at Cape Tenar; in Italy, in the volcanic area near the city of Qom. In the same areas there were also those oracles, whose answers were given by the souls of the dead.

Ancient Greek myths and poetry talked a lot about the kingdom of the dead. Fantasy sought to give curiosity accurate information, which science did not give, to penetrate into the darkness surrounding the afterlife, and inexhaustily created new images belonging to the underworld.

The two main rivers of the underworld, according to the myths of the Greeks, are Styx and Acheron, "a dull rustling river of eternal sorrow." In addition to them, there were three more rivers in the kingdom of the dead: Lethe, whose water destroyed the memory of the past, Piriflegeton ("River of Fire") and Cocytus ("Sobbing"). The souls of the dead were taken to the underground kingdom of Hades by Hermes. Stern old man Charon transported in his boat through the surrounding Styx under the earthly kingdom those souls whose bodies were buried with an obol placed in a coffin to pay him for the transportation. The souls of the unburied people were to wander homelessly along the river bank, not accepted into Charon's boat. Therefore, whoever found an unburied body was obliged to cover it with earth.

The ideas of the ancient Greeks about the life of the dead in the kingdom of Hades changed with the development of civilization. In the oldest myths, the dead are ghosts, unconscious, but these ghosts instinctively do what they did when they were alive; - these are the shadows of living people. Their existence in the kingdom of Hades was dreary and sad. The shadow of Achilles tells Odysseus that she would like to live better on earth as a day laborer with a poor man than to be the king of the dead in the underworld. But offering sacrifices to the dead improved their miserable lot. The improvement consisted either in the fact that the severity of the underground gods was softened by these sacrifices, or in the fact that the shadows of the dead drank the blood of the sacrifices, and this drink restored their consciousness. The Greeks sacrificed the dead on their tombs. Turning their faces to the west, they cut the sacrificial animal over a deep pit, purposely dug in the ground, and the animal's blood flowed into this pit. Later, when the idea of the afterlife was more fully developed in the Eleusinian mysteries, the myths of Ancient Greece began to divide the underworld of Hades into two parts, Tartarus and Elysium. In Tartarus, villains, condemned by the judges of the dead, led a miserable existence; they were tormented by Erinias, strict guardians of moral laws, inexorably avenging every violation of the requirements of moral feeling, and countless evil spirits, in the invention of which Greek fantasy showed the same inexhaustibility as Egyptian, Indian and medieval European. Elysium, lying, according to ancient Greek myths, by the ocean (or an archipelago on the ocean, called the Islands of the Blessed), was the area of the afterlife of the heroes of ancient times and the righteous. There the wind is always soft, there is no snow, no heat, no rain; there, in the myths of the gods, the good Cronus reigns; the land yields there three times a year, the meadows there bloom forever. The heroes and the righteous lead a blissful life there; they have wreaths on their heads, garlands of the most beautiful flowers and branches of beautiful trees near their hands; they enjoy singing, horseback riding, gymnastic games.

The wisest kings, the legislators of the mythical Cretan-Carian time, also live there, Minos both Radamant and the pious ancestor of the Eakids Eak, who according to the later myth became the judges of the dead. Under the chairmanship of Hades and Persephone, they investigated the feelings and deeds of people and decided on the merits of the deceased person whether his soul should go to Tartarus or Elysium. - Both they and other pious heroes of ancient Greek myths were rewarded for their beneficial activities on earth for continuing their studies in the afterlife, so the great lawless people of mythical stories were subjected to divine justice to punishments consistent with their crimes. The myths about their fate in the underworld showed the Greeks what bad inclinations and passions lead to; this fate was only a continuation, development of the deeds they committed in life and gave rise to the torment of their conscience, the symbols of which were the pictures of their material torment. So, the impudent Titius, who wanted to rape the mother of Apollo and Artemis, lies thrown to the ground; two kites constantly torment his liver, an organ that, according to the Greeks, was a repository of sensual passions (an obvious reworking of the myth of Prometheus). The punishment for another hero of myths, Tantalus, for his former lawlessness was that the cliff hanging over his head constantly threatened to crush him, and besides this fear he was tormented by thirst and hunger: he stood in the water, but when he bent down to drink, the water moved away from his lips and went down "to a black bottom"; fruits hung before his eyes; but when he stretched out his hands to pluck them, the wind lifted the branches upward. Sisyphus, the treacherous king of Ether (Corinth), was condemned to roll a stone up the mountain, constantly rolling down; - the personification of waves constantly running on the banks of Isthm, and escaping from them. The eternal vain labor of Sisyphus symbolized unsuccessful cunning in ancient Greek myths, and the cunning of Sisyphus was the mythical personification of the quality developed in merchants and sailors by the riskiness of their affairs. Ixion, king of the Lapiths, "the first murderer", was tied to a fiery, ever-turning wheel; this was a punishment to him for the fact that, while visiting Zeus, he violated the rights of hospitality, wanted to rape the chaste Hera. - The Danaids always carried water and poured it into a bottomless barrel.

Myths, poetry, art of Ancient Greece taught people good, turned them away from vices and evil passions, depicting the bliss of the righteous and the torment of the wicked in the afterlife. There were episodes in the myths showing that, having descended into the underworld, one can return from there to earth. So, for example, about Hercules it was said that he overcame the forces of the underworld; Orpheus, by the power of his singing and his love for his wife, softened the harsh gods of death, and they agreed to return Eurydice to him. In the Eleusinian mysteries, these legends served as symbols of the thought that the power of death should not be considered irresistible. The concepts of the underworld of Hades were interpreted in new myths and sacraments, which reduced the fear of death; the gratifying hope of bliss in the afterlife was manifested in ancient Greece under the influence of the Eleusinian mysteries, and in works of art.

In the myths of ancient Greece about the gods, Hades gradually became the kind ruler of the kingdom of the dead and the giver of wealth; the trappings of horror were removed from the notion of him. The genius of death in the most ancient works of art was depicted as a dark-colored boy with twisted legs, symbolically denoting the idea that life is broken by death. Little by little, in ancient Greek myths, he assumed the form of a beautiful youth with a drooping head, holding an overturned and extinguished torch in his hand, and became completely like his meek brother, the Genius of sleep. They both live with their mother, night, in the west. From there every evening a winged dream flies in and, sweeping over people, sprinkles tranquility on them from a horn or from a poppy stalk; it is accompanied by the genius of dreams - Morpheus, Fantaz, bringing joy to the sleeping. Even the Erinias lost their ruthlessness in ancient Greek myths, they became Eumenides, "Well-wishers." So with the development of civilization, all the ideas of the ancient Greeks about the underground kingdom of Hades softened, ceased to be terrible, and its gods became beneficial, life-giving.

The goddess Gaia, who was the personification of the general concept of the earth, giving rise to everything and taking everything back into itself, did not appear in the myths of Ancient Greece in the foreground. Only in some of the sanctuaries that had oracles, and in the theogonic systems that set out the history of the development of the cosmos, was it mentioned as the mother of the gods. Even the ancient Greek oracles, which originally all belonged to her, passed almost all under the rule of the new gods. The life of nature, developing on earth, was produced from the activity of the deities who ruled over its various areas; the service of these gods, who had a more or less special character, is in very close connection with the development of Greek culture. The power of vegetation, producing forests and green meadows, grapevines and bread, even in Pelasgian times, was explained by the activities of Dionysus and Demeter. Later, when the influence of the East penetrated into Ancient Greece, a third, borrowed from Asia Minor, the goddess of the earth, Rhea Cybele, was added to these two gods.

Demeter in the myths of ancient Greece

Demeter, "mother earth", was in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods the personification of that power of nature, which, with the assistance of sunlight, dew and rain, gives rise and ripeness to bread and other fruits of the fields. She was a "fair-haired" goddess, under whose patronage people plow, sow, reap, knit bread in sheaves, thresh. Demeter gives harvests. She sent Triptolemus to walk all over the earth and teach people about arable farming and good manners. Demeter combined with Yason, the sower, and bore him Plutos (wealth); she punished with insatiable hunger the wicked Erisichton, "spoiling the earth." But in the myths of Ancient Greece, she is also the goddess of married life, giving birth to children. The goddess who taught people agriculture and proper family life, Demeter was the founder of civilization, morality, family virtues. Therefore, Demeter was the "law-governor" (Thesmophoros), and the five-day feast of Thesmophorii, the "statutes," was celebrated in her honor. The rites of this holiday, performed by married women, were a symbolic glorification of agriculture and marriage. Demeter was the main goddess of the Eleusinian festival, the rituals of which had as their main content a symbolic glorification of the gifts received by people from the gods of the earth. The Union of Amphictyons, meeting at Thermopylae, was also under the auspices of Demeter, the goddess of civil amenities.

But the highest significance of the cult of the goddess Demeter was that it contained the doctrine of the relationship between life and death, the light heavenly world and the dark kingdom of the bowels of the earth. The symbolic expression of this teaching was the beautiful myth of the abduction of Persephone, the daughter of Demeter, by the ruthless ruler of the underworld. Demeter "the Sorrowful" (Achaia) walked all over the earth, looking for her daughter; and in many cities the feast of Demeter the Sorrowful was celebrated, the sad rites of which were similar to the Phoenician cult of Adonis. The human heart longs for an explanation of the question of death; The Eleusinian mysteries were among the ancient Greeks an attempt to solve this riddle; they were not a philosophical presentation of concepts; they acted on the feeling with aesthetic means, consoled, aroused hope. Attic poets said that blessed are those dying who are initiated into the Eleusinian mysteries of Demeter: they know the purpose of life and its divine principle; for them, the descent into the underworld is life, for the uninitiated it is horror. The daughter of Demeter, Persephone, was in the myths of Ancient Greece about the gods as a link between the kingdom of the living and the underworld; she belonged to both.

Myths about the god Dionysus

For more details, see the separate article God Dionysus

Dionysus in the myths of ancient Greece about the gods originally personified the abundance of plant power. It was clearly manifested in the form of bunches of grapes, whose juice intoxicates people. The vine and wine became symbols of Dionysus, and he himself became the god of joy and brotherly rapprochement of people. Dionysus is a powerful god who overcomes everything hostile to him. Like Apollo, he gives inspiration, excites a person to sing, but not harmonious, but wild and violent songs, reaching exaltation - those that later formed the basis of the ancient Greek drama. In the myths of Ancient Greece about Dionysus and in the holiday of Dionysius, various and even opposite feelings were expressed: the fun of that time of the year when everything blooms, and sadness when the vegetation withers. Joyous and sad feelings later began to be expressed separately - in comedies and tragedies that arose from the cult of Dionysus. In ancient Greek myths, the symbol of the generative force of nature - the phallus - was closely related to the veneration of Dionysus. Dionysus was originally the rude god of the common people. But in the era of tyranny, its importance increased. The tyrants, who most often acted as the leaders of the lower classes in the struggle against the nobility, deliberately opposed the plebeian Dionysus to the refined gods of the aristocracy and gave the festivities in honor of him a wide, nationwide character.

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