Don’t Know Much About® Mythology (28 page)

But Zeus’s work is not done. Before he can fully assert his rule, Zeus must also defeat a race of Giants—born from the blood spilled by Uranus’s castration. With the help of the half-human, half-god Heracles (Hercules to the Romans), Zeus and the gods defeat the Giants, who, according to legend, were then buried under volcanoes in various parts of Greece and Italy. When Greeks later unearthed the bones of prehistoric animals, they believed they had found remains of the Giants.

Finally, Zeus defeats Typhon (or Typhoeus), a monster with one hundred dragon heads, fire-blazing eyes, and many voices, using thunderbolts to blast him down to the Tartarus region, where he remained the source of hurricanes. (The word “typhoon” is actually a blending of this Greek name, adapted later in Arabic, with the Chinese words
toi fung
, for “big wind.”) With Titans, Giants, and monsters all reduced to notches on his godly belt, Zeus is chosen to be ruler by the other gods and goddesses, who agree to live with him on Mount Olympus. The highest mountain in Greece, Olympus rises 9,570 feet (2,917 meters) in northern Greece, and divides the region of Thessaly from Macedonia. The summit is usually covered with snow and hidden in clouds, adding to its mystery as the traditional home of the gods. (The first recorded climb to the summit was not made until 1913.)

The origins of Hesiod’s Greek Creation tale have been a source of debate. Historically, it is believed to be part of a much older oral tradition before Hesiod set it down in poetic form. However, symbolically, it has been thought that the story of Zeus gaining supremacy was an allegory of the gradual ascent of male power over female, with the warlike male Zeus supplanting a more primitive earth goddess. Part of this suggestion was that the Mycenaeans brought their macho mythology with them when they invaded Greece and replaced the kinder, gentler goddess worship of the Minoans. But many scholars believe that these Greek stories are actually rooted in other ancient Near Eastern myths, such as the Babylonian
Enuma Elish
or the myths of the Indo-European Hittites who ruled central Anatolia (now Turkey) and were in place before the Mycenaeans arrived. Either way, the fact remains that the Greek myths, like many other mythic systems, were drawn from earlier sources and beliefs, but were ultimately crafted into their own unique, classic Greek form.

WHO’S WHO OF THE OLYMPIANS

This list of the central gods of Mount Olympus shows their Greek name, followed in parentheses by the name used by the Romans, who later adapted much of Greek mythology as their own. Traditionally, twelve gods are called Olympians, but that list was not always the same, as some gods became more or less important at different times in Greek history. (The gods listed with a bullet are the twelve who appeared on a frieze on the Parthenon, the great temple to Athena in Athens.)

While Hesiod and Homer provided much of the earliest written source for Greek mythology, other later playwrights and poets added immensely to the traditions and stories of the gods. The famous trio of Greek tragedians—Aeschylus, Euripides, and Sophocles—took the old tales and transformed them into dramatic works of timeless power. During the Roman era, Roman poets took the Greek traditions and added new layers of complexity. Chief among these sources is Ovid (43 BCE–17 CE?), best known for his witty and sophisticated love poems, including
The Art of Love
, which is a verse “how-to” manual on finding and keeping a lover. More significant from the perspective of mythology was the
Metamorphoses
, which Ovid believed was his greatest work. In this narrative poem, largely filled with stories of mythical and magical “transformations,” Ovid moves from the creation of the world to his own time. The poem describes the adventures and love affairs of deities and heroes, with more than two hundred tales taken from Greek and Roman legends and myths.

The Roman poet Virgil added a Roman dimension to Greek myth by connecting the fall of Troy to the foundation of Rome (see below,
Was Homer on the Romans’ reading list?
). Other important sources for these Greek (and, later, Roman) myths were later Roman poets and playwrights, and an Alexandrian Greek Apollodorus, who collected many of the myths in his library (usually dated to the first and second centuries CE).

In addition to these classical literary sources, recent archaeological and linguistics studies have greatly contributed to our understanding of the “historical” origins of these deities.

Aphrodite (Venus)
Goddess of love and beauty, “Golden Aphrodite” supposedly emerges fully formed from the sea foam when the genitals of the castrated Uranus are cut off by Cronus and thrown into the sea. Her birth is a popular theme in art, and is perhaps most famously depicted in Sandro Botticelli’s Italian Renaissance masterpiece
The Birth of Venus
, in which she is seen standing on a half-shell. That was Hesiod’s version of the story. In Homeric versions, she is born of the union between Zeus and a goddess named Dione, again reflecting different regional traditions.
An ancient goddess who embodies overpowering sexuality and reproduction capability, Aphrodite may have been connected to other ancient Eastern fertility goddesses of Mesopotamia and Canaan, such as Inanna, Ishtar, and Astarte. In many ancient cities, Greek girls about to be married made a sacrifice to Aphrodite in the hopes that their first sexual experience would be productive. Aphrodite was also worshipped by prostitutes, of which there were two classes in Greece. The hetaerae were the “courtesans,” or call girls, who entertained at the drinking-and-sex parties known as symposia, enjoyed by aristocratic Greek men; and
porne
were the common prostitutes. (The original Greek meaning of the word “pornography” was, literally, to “write about prostitutes.”) Aphrodite was apparently highly revered in Corinth, a city of merchants famed for its prostitutes. Corinthian prostitutes were said to be especially beautiful and lived in luxury, and the city, as Thomas Cahill notes in
Sailing the Wine-Dark Sea
, became a “byword for sybaritic self-indulgence.”
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In Greek myth, Aphrodite is always accompanied by
Eros (Cupid)
, the god of carnal desire. According to Hesiod, Eros is a much older deity, who emerges from Chaos at the same time as Gaia. But in later accounts, Eros is viewed as Aphrodite’s son, always armed with a bow and quiver of arrows that cause anyone struck by them to fall in love with whatever he or she sees. Greek (and, later, Roman) myths are filled with stories of Eros shooting his arrows at random, without concern for the consequences of the sexual passion he arouses.
Among her many lovers, Aphrodite counts the other gods Ares, Poseidon, Dionysus, and Zeus. She also sleeps with Hermes in return for one of her sandals, which had been stolen by Zeus’s eagle. The result of this union with the messenger god is Hermaphroditus, a boy of remarkable beauty. In a story made famous in Ovid’s
Metamorphoses
, a water nymph sees Hermaphroditus walking in the woods and falls in love with him. As he bathes in a spring, the nymph jumps into the water and clings to the boy, praying that they will never be separated. The nymph’s prayers are answered as they are joined into a single being with a woman’s breasts and a man’s genitals—source of the word “hermaphrodite.”
Another tale from Ovid involving Aphrodite is the famous story of Pygmalion, the legendary king of Cyprus. Pygmalion has grown so disenchanted with the women of his land that he carves a statue of a perfect maiden. He is so taken by it that he falls in love with the statue and prays that it might become real. Aphrodite hears his prayer and grants his wish. This story is the inspiration for George Bernard Shaw’s play
Pygmalion
, about a linguistics professor who teaches a working-class girl to behave like royalty. Shaw’s play, in turn, inspired the musical
My Fair Lady
.
Priapus, an ancient Near Eastern god who appears in other mythologies, is another of Aphrodite’s children. Because he is a very old fertility symbol and a popular god of procreation, statues of Priapus were often placed in Greek and Roman gardens. Although Priapus is dwarflike, these statues always depict him with an enormous, erect phallus, and he is also supposedly a good-luck god who could ward off the “evil eye.” Priapus was even more popular among the Romans, who liked to suspend obscene poetry from the prominent phallus on his statues. (“Priapic” now means “relating to the phallus,” and a disease called “priapism” is a persistent and usually painful erection, not related to sexual arousal. With Viagra, Levitra, and Cialis crowding the market, it’s a wonder no drug company has decided to market “Priapus.”)

Apollo (Apollo)
The son of Zeus and the Titan Leto, Apollo (who is also known as Phoebus, which means “bright” or “radiant”) is worshipped as the god of light. Although not the true sun god, Apollo is later identified with the sun and is also seen as the civilizing god of music, poetry, and prophecy, as well as the protector of flocks and herds.
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Apollo’s origins in Greek mythology are mysterious, and he may have been introduced to Greece as late as during the Dark Ages. But he was well known to Homer and Hesiod, and becomes one of the greatest gods in the Greek pantheon. Associated with the healing arts and medicine, he is also the god of disease whose arrows bring plagues. Apollo’s role in prophecy was especially important, and his cult shrine at Delphi was one of the most significant in Greece. (See below,
What was the Delphic Oracle?
)
By the classical period in Greece, Apollo represented the Greek ideal of vigorous manhood, but he was not especially lucky in love. In one myth, he falls in love with one of his priestesses, the Sibyl at Cumae, one of the mythical women gifted with the power of prophecy. Taken by her beauty, Apollo offers to give her as many years in her life as grains of sand she can scoop in her hand. She accepts his offer, but then refuses to sleep with Apollo. Keeping his word, Apollo grants her long life, but denies her everlasting youth, so she becomes a shriveled old crone.
In another myth, Apollo falls in love with Daphne, a nymph. Unimpressed by Apollo’s come-on, she prays for help to her father, a river god, and is changed into a laurel tree. The laurel became Apollo’s sacred plant, and the crown of laurels a symbol of victory in Greece, adorning the heads of winners at the Olympic games.
Apollo also has a taste for young men. One of these is Hyacinth, a beautiful boy. While he and Apollo are practicing the discus, a gust of wind causes the discus to hit Hyacinth in the head and kill him. From the dead youth’s blood, Apollo creates the flower called a hyacinth—a white flower with splashes of red.

Ares (Mars)
A son of Zeus and Hera, Ares is the god of battle, blood lust, and war—in its destructive sense, as opposed to Athena, who represents the orderly use of war to defend the community. Disliked by Zeus, and less popular among the gods, Ares was not widely worshipped by the Greeks, but was highly admired and honored by the more militaristic Romans as Mars. Although he had no wife, Ares did have a very steamy affair with Aphrodite. Among their children were
Phobos (Panic)
and
Deimos (Fear)
, who accompanied Ares on the battlefield. They also provide the names of the two moons that orbit the planet Mars. (While Ares ruled the battlefield, the honored title of goddess of victory in battle went to
Nike
, rewarded by Zeus because she fought with the gods against the Titans. Otherwise unimportant in mythology, Nike is also the goddess of athletic victory—hence her connection to the footwear with the Olympian price tag.)
In the
Odyssey
, Homer tells a humorous story of the adulterous couple being “caught in the act” by the cuckolded Hephaestus, the lame blacksmith god to whom Aphrodite was married. When the sun god Helios sees the lovers in bed as he crosses the sky, he snitches on them to Hephaestus, who has fashioned a net hidden in the bed that catches Aphrodite and Ares in flagrante. Suspended in midair, Aphrodite and Ares become an Olympian spectacle when Hephaestus summons all of the other gods to see the netted lovers in this awkward, compromising position. In Homer’s words, the gathered Olympians see “the lovebirds, snuggled so sweetly together.”