hari, Ine. ERR INTRODUCTION ph Campbell, the work's leading authoriy on tology, fas sid that all ms are essentially the emt, Whether itis the stories ofthe Norse ods ve Aneccan indian tales ofthe spit worgs the cat tbl ales of Ac, or the equally aacent ‘ns of Indi, all myths ultimately are the one 1 ofthe interaction ofthe eupemnaurl with the word in which we morale live ‘HE 1E GREEK/ROMAN. CONNECTION rao Romans wee avarice inot cesar cues, they wanted mialy to extend their land fings' sad physial poner, not promote an logical or teligious sem. Thus, when Dey {usted people they would rarely impose Roman Sand beliefs upon them. Moreover, they would n adopt the gods and nyt of the people they spre and wth minor variations, incorporate ino the Reman mythology. Nowbere wa thi ‘more apparent than with the Greeks. A Inge f} portion of the Roman pantheen perhaps the most mportant pact, is directly attiboable 10 th (Grek, This as let some confision onthe pat oder day students 26 to "whose god iti sia?” This ection endeavors to explain his, {The go nl eee ow ar edi phate by lr Gres nones tw bald. The oman fone Sm el s.r tate, ed se ‘frmaton ame pce ens kee The goddess of love, The daughter of Fg Zeusidnpiter, she is said to have arisen i from the sea (in aome tees, ea- oam) fully grows. While the Roman goddess was almost stictly ‘sexual, her Greek counterpart embraced all forms otlove, including Faia, socal, fete. Ax efits her calling, she was fnvolved im umerous romantic Tiisons including martiage to Hephaestos/Vulean, st least one lover in Ares! Mars, and the eduction of 8 moctal Paris who, ia a contest amongst the odidesses (0 determine the “fairest” was convinced 10 nome her and award het a golden apple. Equaly iting for the goddess of love, her | on was BrosiCupid (@.%). Scholats believe she possibly was an offshoot of | the Phosnicien goddess, Astat. GREEK/ROMAN TE RSI: _ ACADEMIC ouTLiNE ELSPA APOLLO/PHOEBUS (PRONOUNCED: FEE ~BUS) ‘Although gos of such high minded sree as the intellect, healing, the at, andl even light oat (he sun) he was not the most able ofthe gos, Thr sor ‘of Zeus and Leto was not above petty revenge. He ‘ranted Cassandea the git of prophesy, but when she rejected im, he added the proviso tht no one would belive ber. Similarly, wes Sibyl was grated ‘ternal ie, her rejection caused him to “forget” to ‘ad eternal youth, 90 she became 2 withered crone ‘who begged for death On the pus sde he was, in fone version ofthe myth, the father of Aesculapius (Esskew-lay-pee-or), the god of medicine & healing. (In another version, however, Aseulapius was @ “| oral who angered the gods because | he develope the ability tobeal and wes struck dows by a thunderbolt) Apollo sso killed the Python, a dragon thet aarded the oncle of Delphi, whieh sused a “ARES/MARE ‘Aes, the god of war and he eon of Zeus asd Hera | ‘dapter & Juno, was the lest popular ofthe gods | caong the gods. nthe Greek maths le was a brutal and viclous bully who, lke all bulls, timed || cowardly when thretened or hurt by someone | Sronges. His one ally was his sister Eris, sotless of discord. He hed an adulterous affair with Aphrodite, which caused ber husbond Hephaestus to ensnare thers “in the act" and parade the momiied couple before the other gods. At fone point in his lie, ro eildren {albeit giant childeen, Orus & Ephlales, seed hin ina bronze jar for over a yeas, In the Roman aythology he was exalted as brave and fierce, with none of the cowardly aspect of the Greek Jegends to diminish is pone, ARTEMIC/ DIANA 1 Greck, Apollo's vin sister (whom she helped lever only moments afer her own bith) was stady in contass. Although «hunter, she was soem 8 the protector of the young. A virgin and the | goddess of chesity, she nonetheless Became the || godess of childbinth as well. This connected is 10 “4 woman's reproductive cycle, whieh in turn onnected her tothe lar eye. Hence, she wae also goddess of the moon, The Romans applied ‘hese some atebutes to hor under the rare Dian PIRES a A COMPREHENSIVE ¢ GUIDE: TO GREEK ‘AND ROMAN MYTHOLOGY maonaren ican) ATHENA/MINERVA.- “The gosiéess of wisdom, she had one ofthe mest Interesting bith in Greek mythology. Zeus learned ‘hat Metis, 2 Tianess (the Thans were the gods before the Olympians the Greek gos ofthis chat = took over) nas pregnant with is child. He Is ‘warned by at oracle tha, ltbough sis one wil be & female, Metis ex child wil be a male who wil Kl Zeus. To avoid this possiblity, Zeus eat Melis, A ‘while lle, he experienced great agoay ~ headaches beyond belie: Hermes persuaded eter Hephaestas ‘oF Prometheus (Che stories vary) 0 split Zeus sel ‘open fo relieve the pain, and oat pops Athena, fully grown Sho then became a militant roddess who wot ‘ivays on the side of the wines, siace the Greeks Believed that wars aro ouly Won by these that poststed the greatest wisdom, To the Gree, she, hot the Busterng Ars, was de Wue guide of Baile ‘Additonal, she was the goddess of trea and na seen the protector of the iy of athens, which was ramod in Ber honor and perceived athe center oF ‘wisdom and cultore at the time. A vigin, she Produced no offspring, CRonus/6ATURN (AL60 KNOWN Af CHRONOS, CRONOS, oR Kronos) In Greek ntoloy be asthe ing Tita go and the father ofthe Olympians (co called because ey ‘évet on Must Olympus, the Greek equivalent of Heasoo) Wil Bis wile Rta be sed Zev, Poseidon, Maes, Hera Mest, sod Demeter (ll qv). When he fold tht one ofhis children woul ever i, he did hot Zeus would ler do to Mets (he ‘ery. All that i Ace Zea, who estaped wih has lp. Zeus then filled the peephscy by evechowing Cros and (Teadrs ith sense stamsebs pause tee) feng him to thw wp his brothers and ser. ‘As the most poserfl of the as, Cross webs {o contra ine (especially the seuss and he tine fee planting spd harvesting) and thus Wak hiked 19 the Ronan od ofthe vest, Sau, DEMETER/CERES “The geless of truss ad vgetaion, When Hades amie off er daugher Persephone, Demeter searched ‘he wold Find he Ths caused the exps go Bare te diz, leading to great starvation, 2 skaton Zeus ‘ald not tolerate He oxdered Persephone eur, at totbefreshetid eaten six pomeraate seeds the ‘dered (Mlades* domain). Hence, Persephone ws Tore Yo spend six mente eile each peo, ‘sing, nthe, Demat to mourn efor thare mont ‘This “eepais the growing sears where hal he eae land sol nd hav, hal itl and pe with tow, By the way i om her Roman counerpat Cres tit we dvr era, (te: Tonga hese ns we rad aout ters ond ‘oes arin hen eben aad ante dicing iter lees ond nephews, even aera molest tang" te ciel th a lake apo es tee oven the tne Hat wal thet mene fren eon “erly nobly ih ke rary gol ofa sellclons bette dente "uninse e pry f he Bonin nici or @ common curece no ‘mate aw ret igh oe pera pac)Dionybus/ Baccus 2c iisece nn ee meres h D 3 Ay the celebrations brought on by the Followers of fh gods involved consuming large quantties of meted spi, which gave us toch phases as Momsian revels, and. Bacchanalias, Its leo lieved ha the singing and "playing tat went ona EILeITHYIA/LUCINA he Gree & Reman goddesses of edb Eof/Aurora he goddess ofthe dawn (unis) EUMENIDEG/FURIES (ERinves) hee Titan sisters who ectuslly preceded the | "ymplans, Theie mother was Geen fg). Their ner” vn the blood of Uraaus fom thigh they «ew Although their nsne(s) meant either "th Ind once” (Eamenides) or “the angry ones nye), depending on the circumstances: both mes vere aetallyincorest in that they eelly dno human emotions, save revenge against | ‘ything that dstrbed the “natural orger” When is occurred, their job was fe put things back in lace and punish the dsturbers, rganler ofthe | aton tht the natal ender was gitirbed. They tually did s0 by causing unbearable attacks of AIM! and conselence tha Ansgressors 1 imumutably harm themselves i Erif/Difcordia he godess of discord. Night was her fer Ares Jars was her brother Her offspring were responsible atthe sie in the world When she showed up at | telling being golden apple labeled only "or he inet” the discord among the diferent podeses 38 ‘© whom this vas meant ultimately fed ro Paes toosing Aphrodite, afr she biked him wid the “ume that his Beloved ten wold tum of with zm, Since Felen was the wife of King Measlasus of Dara atthe sine, and since Pais abducted her 10 ‘9p this ed sey to The Trojan Hr ately lead the | Quicksand Erof/Cupi | The god of toe. One of the more interesting | ‘examples ofthe deftation of a god. Originally, he nas consiered he son ofthe Titan, Chaos, and was cen | Seentceator (eo ony of personal reaonsis, [tte otc | | | { and civilization, which led to the building of great, cites, et.) Late, for reasons unknown, the Greeks decided he was, instead the son of Aphrodite sensual desi. n thi ineamatos hho wae quite ‘mnemretional, > By the time the oman hoped | his persona as | Cupid, be bad been | ite ase oe np “aby i bv ain con of i ove (or lust) indscriinately GAEA/TELLUS | (ALf0 CALLED GAIA AND GE) | ‘The Barth goddess. Although pre-Olympian, she was certaialy the forerenner of the family. | She was the daughter of Chaos and the mother of Uranus snd Pontus (the heavens ond the ocean). Because they were gods, she was also married t0 them both and by them produced, among others, the Cyclops and the Titans with | Uranus, andthe erentures of the sea with | | Pontus. She wae initially worshiped as the source ofa life, a concept that is gaining fevor in modern times among coeainealt groups. The Roman Tellus is closely akin to her. A Hape6/PLuto (ato | Dif, PLutus, AND Orcus) — Hades wat the god ofthe under he pice where souls went after death, Av such his ame Came 0 mean the place isl, en further, fo be associated with the Cristian soncept of el jest athe Elsi Pields ave seen a “Teavon Thin however, was a reat misconception, ‘The underworld was wel a place of punishment "Breryone went to Iisa place there they roamed in simple boredom. threnghost eternity, he exepions eng the tandh of sous wom the Bot, for" whatever renton,sibes fevored oom thy ight hve owe Livig god if, oon Srl ono, leet prt inthe caiation. A tenos EF conection was atso msde | BAR) sconces tades and Pry te sod of wealth since wealthy fa those day, ws often esos wit high crop yl, snd since crops come et ofthe ground the fon the inservor HeBe/JuveNnTas Reyesening youn an (inthe Greet) pace, tas Satter of Za and Hera vaste eopherer othe ‘od, vail « moval Tiejan youth mame Ganymede ‘as granted immorality and ive the job - HEcATE/TRIVIA Hecate was 9 Titan, Yet thie granddaughter of Uranus and Rhea retained her powece when ll the over Tians lad been displaced by the Olympians, fn Zeus had replaced Cros ter fthe). Se was fn stendant ro Persephone when Persephone was With Hades in the Underwort, It was trough tis undenserld connection, that she bectme sseesstd Wwith ghosts and iches. (Nore: In William Shakespeare's Macheth, she appeared to be the Queen of witches,) Advays depicted as sinister, she fn the rather unique “honor” of being eoved wilh tree bodies aod tree heads: those of harse, ado, anda len! She was werhiped a crossroads, which ‘the main reason she js associated by scholars with the Roman Trivia (rimilece vrs; thu acrossrow) vv otherwise, is more clesly associated. with ‘Artemis-Diana (3) (lok The moo omg of the ord “ra” wae Seed rom te goddar nome Ths nat, hve Sonat aap ate “ena ox big wero Ta fae omen Selig tha can gt a dns an avert one fom te san pla orca be 4 “cui fam he Inport Since. cso yf ‘heron om Be npertont ft lee ont hereon ot {gn rial mattreuoreofin ne afte beholder ‘hs donc onan oe ds) HEPHAESTUS/VULCAN Here is another example ofa god who was more comple in the Greek tan nthe Roman. Crippled by Zeus when be was town ovr the Wall of heaven er Interfering in w_quaeel between Zeus and Hera, 0s survive o become the goof, for want of a better phrase, “physical creation” (he. Craftsmanship, Arehitecure, Nesponry, ete.) ‘Among is creations were: the place ofthe gods; Zeus’ thunéetbolte; Achilles armor; Harmonins ecklace; he axe which spi Zeus skull allowing er the “birt” of Athena (qv) an, arguably his ost important _peojet, the fist (earthly) woman Pandora. By the te the Romans transformed im inte Vien, however, he los alt ie postive, creative leanings and becarse merely the god of Fire (ously ine most detactive ens, (Mote Iv bath myelin leno a toh et he ‘atest te orga the gs) HERA/JUNO Zeus’ /tiper sister, and aso bis wit. By views of| this, even inan esseally male dominated soley she ‘sas the second most poneful fal the go Heri 48 protector of the home, morsngs ad cil, suds quite benevolent. Howeve, sho nay have taken tte die 9 Vit too senousiy, as she was {nowt bean inplaesbls ences ‘of those women wth whom Zeus “daleg” 95 ell as their of spring and any thers who were Stound ther. On these she wteaked fete vengeance s she dv to “Trojans when Paris awarded the siden apple to Aphredtte (9), te of Karlene Savon goddesses. 8IeRCULES/HERACLES ugh he was not @ god, but a deni-god, he is IMs here heease he easily the most famaus oF Greco Roman heroes (evea before the TV shove anu the movie). He was the son of Zeus and the mortal Aleme, whom Zevs impregnated io the fuse of her fisband Anmphitryon. Hira bata him foo birth and speat much of he time devising ways od heself of him. She es been sed of fending to serpents toil im in his fe, which he, although a mere ito, sang, eer, some accounts say that, as Hercules was va “vin” ie was Amghittyan to placed the ces bis path o see which baby was his Is ven that Hers caused Hereles to go insane and hi wife and children. Te one foe this, he eto his firmus 12 Labors, These were, in 20 | icolar order (ines. seholrs disagres on the 19}: 1) Captured the Cerynean Stag: 2) Cleened ‘Augean stables; 3) Killed the Hydra; 4) Killed | Nemean Libo; 5) Killed the birds of Stymphalus, 6) Killed the Eynuanthian oar: 7) Captared the ‘Cretan ball 8) Captured the (man- ‘ating) horses of Dlomedes of “Thrace; 9) Capned the oxen of Geryon; 10) Stole te glee of Hippotyte (Queen of the Bi) Arvazons); 11) Retieved the Apples ofthe Hesperides; and 12). Brought Cerberus, the three headed dog, up from Hades (the place, not the ged. Hercules vas" killed. by poisoned blood fiom Nessus, Centaur, afer which he ‘was taken 10 Olympus and vas married to Hebe, thos becoming immortal HERME6/MERCURY _ god.ef commerce, wealth, good lucky and roads. was one ofthe frity gods, a8 wel s one of | ‘gods of dreams, He was also the patron of ‘Shins, thieves, ad deception. He was leo the ssenge ofthe gods the herald ofthe gods, and condoetor ofthe dead te Hades Is it any wonder > he has conte to represent speed? The son of ss and Maia (Whe most beautiful of he Pleads, as? seven nymph daughters), one of Hermes lest endeavors (om the day he was boen, wa to 1150 bead of etl fom Apollo by getting ther valk backwards, hus making it ficult to tock 1». When Apollo did rack them, the infant ted Apollos anger by giving bim a lyre -rmes also invented the Ise, which he made by ching strings to lrge ise shel. by noon he day he was born). #0 plessed the 1 god that he not y forgave the cious chil be made him one oie fois. Hermes washer to Decome the fates of Antolyeus, & > gamer fame surpassing all ss. in "sealing ying” HE6TIA/VeEsTA “The vvgin goddess of the earth (the fireplacefeoaking area around which the family gutered for wan), peace, andthe family. Inthe Geek, she was seen asthe moet mild and peace oF the Olympians. The Romass, who alse worshiped her In avery asco ent a tp firth They erected a special temple in her hoa, Wwith an “ternal Fame” tht was attended by six este rns who were ‘usen by the age of sc (to ens tei parity) and ‘served a minimum of 3 yess in he poi. Ieshoulé te ote that, i ring tee tenure aay of them lost, the vig, he follower of this goddess of peace ee ude would have them slain ramet, Hypnof/bomnus ‘As implied fiom the name(s), the god of sleep. He vs the son of Night (the Gree geddess Nyx who represented ot oaly the night that follows the day, ‘ut all diskness, including the void that existed before the Earth andthe other gods, were formed), sa the brother of death (the Greek god Thanatos ‘vom ll, including the gods themselves, feared and hated) Ha would bing slesp by Tigh tous the heads of the weary, or some cases, pouring @ “aleepligid” over them ftom a hor. His chide in the Greek) were the “bringers of dream” Morpheus, Phantasus, sad Telus LETO/| LATONA ‘A Titanes, Her mia claim to fare vas being the ‘mother, wih Zeus, of Artemis sd Apollo. Mount OLymput/ TEMPLES OF THE GODS (Ouympus) ‘To the Greeks, the highest mounts in hele cour, ‘he then unavsllable Mount Olympus, was the hhome ofthe pods, The erly Romans, before adopting rmany ofthe Greeley ad making them thei ova, sav beir gods as more ephemeral, existing “in space” and not needing a physical dveling pace. They did, however, bulld mony temples devoted to each specific gd, the mest famous being te temple ‘of Jupiter on the Capitoline Hil AS the Romans sbsovbed the Greek gods, 5000 did hey absoxb nace land mee ofthe Greeks view ofthe plyseaiy ofthe sods, Nonetheless, they never gave a. paicular Ihomlend to therm, Many merely accepted Olympus ‘se good a place as ay Others simply continued to tui and worship them at temples nd at spelfyng that they stall del there. “THE MOERAE/ PARCAE (Tue Fares) “These thre old women card oat the wil othe ges in contrling all inv (hanan) destiny. Lahess ‘rated o cach ond every newhor ister fae anal entails Clotho spun out the “ead” upon which Ot [fe roceeded and Atropos eld the shears ht ct tha. then fo bring deat. nha way, the Gree same foe hr meant “he one who cant be stopped” (ote: The eocelled "math corn” dg, Api. it tamed ther honor as ls effet te 10 remove the Intro hot ae cot rest tling De mh) vithost NIKE/Victoria ‘Although she was the goddess of vietory, she ‘ida’t provide i, but verified it. Thus, she was usually seen a9 a winged messenger carrying & palm leaf or branch im one hand and garland fate other, These were the traditional symbols of victory, and for centuries the sinners of tverything from battles to sporting contests ‘were often crowned with a wreath of palms. To this diy, the placing of medals upon the winners of the Olympic games is symbolic of the placing of the garland upon them. PAN/FAuNUs (Atfo INuus) ‘As Pan, he was the Greek god of herds, Mocks, ‘nd things rural. He combined his vocation with Tis appearance by having the face and torso of a human with goars horas on his head anda goats trunk and lege for his lower bedy. Although ‘generally froiesome and “impish,” he detested being awakened from bis naps and would impose fearsome curses on any who did so. He was also capable of inspiring totally iretional fears in whomever he chose (Panle"). One of his more well-knowra aributes was lehery, and when he pursued the mountain rympb Arcadia, she as feansformed into e reed! to protect her chastity Pan then took the reed end fashioned. the ‘poxplpe, which bo is often pictured plying, and ‘wich i stil played today. Hie various attributes were split by the Romans into Fawaus, the god of herdsmen, forest and things rutl, and draws who was, most particularly, the god of ferlicy Tor herds and flocks PERSEPHONE/ PROSPERINA (atfo Kore) She war the daughter of Zeutapter and Deneteniere. Se was then hy Had Pato fo ‘he undrwo s hs is. Thi up er mth {te goles of vegetation ga thatohe dante al of her tmetoseaching fr ba ager, Tis caused all plat ie ed vegetation to wicr and ie wither fendace. When Pesepione was lly Teun, Zeus ordered Hates to retin et unless Hades oul ote any evidence tat se had wilighy gone with tim ond won wing yh Ba ile fn the anderen ling thlen anywhere from o0e 103i Pomesrertes (occomis vary) Tht Sas ann as suengtening Hodes" case, for Zewe comprominel"by alonies’ @ Fersephone to Teste Hades only part of the tine, Siooe i was feccpted that vegetation flourished when he as wh termtie, an died when she ‘ehied fo Hades, he length ‘ther yeni say vein he felling. Ta con range ypbere fom st montsan twrh sad six in the Ml Servolo tes mantis on cath. and nine low, Spending th erie seson of feplon ecaie of hi, se was be _ pees of bth ety and deat